As soon as they got down in a small port town located to the west of the elven forest, Leina and Fio headed straight for their destination, guided by Nowa.
Even from a distance, it was obvious that something wrong was going on with the forest; there was no palpable life coming off from those trees, which should have been covered in a green lush. Just by slightly pinching one of the leaves—which were supposed to be enveloped by a green vitality—, it crumbled into a dead leaf.
If left alone, before long the forest would wither, the earth losing its energy and rotting away like a swamp.
“Err… I’d like you two to listen very carefully.”
The half-elf stopped suddenly, and addressed the two walking behind her.
“We’ll be entering the elven forest in a while, but there’s one thing I’d like to make clear before that.”
She turned a serious look at them both.
[On the way from Sheldan, we’ve already heard the general situation from her. If she’s bringing it up again, there must be a deep meaning in her words.]
“This battle is to protect the elven forest, it has nothing to do with the Queen's Blade. Will you still lend me your strength?”
“Whaat, is that what it was?”
The blonde smiled, reaching for the head of the girl with the worried expression.
“I became a warrior to help people in need. Something like Queen’s Blade comes second. As long as you participate in a battle, you can cross swords with powerful enemies and form a connection…”
Leina continued, patting Nowa’s head:
“I think what matters the most is the reason why we fight.”
“Well, you owe a big debt to Nowa, Leina.”
Fio added, quite clearly as well.
“Things like debts don’t matter.”
The blonde removed her hand from the girl’s head, and pouted in discontent.
It wasn’t that long ago that she had visited the desert area, burning with a sense of duty as an ally of justice, only to be captured by a subordinate of Menace and ending up hypnotized, all as part of the princess’ plan to revive the Amara dynasty.
It was only due to Nowa’s cooperation that the heiress was brought back to her senses and convinced Menace.
“But, it’s the truth.”
“Well, yeah… but that’s water under the bridge by now.”
Still pouting, she lightly poked his head.
“Thanks, you two.”
Nowa wiped out the tears seeping out with her fingertip.
“It will be alright, we have the Sword of the Unicorn here; if it’s just stuff like wraiths, we’ll purify them in a second.”
Fio pointed to the weapon hanging by Leina’s waist with a smile. The holy sound it emitted when receiving a kiss from a virgin had the effect of driving away all kinds of curses and wraiths.
“Still, can I ask you something?”
The boy had been wondering about one particular point for a while:
“Can’t other countries help you? The Queen’s territory, or the free city…?”
If it was a crisis of this magnitude, surely other countries would have noticed, he figured. Naturally, they had to be taking some sort of action, but…
“Maybe the information hasn’t gotten through to them…?”
Nowa hesitated on what to say, but Leina replied in her stead.
“Forest elves have almost no interaction with other races, even trade is done scarcely. If Nowa hadn’t come to us, I don’t think we’d have heard before it was too late.”
“Yup… Nowa thinks it’s as Miss Leina says.”
Frowning, the half-elf ratified her words.
***
Alleyne was marched off to the assembly hall with both arms bound, and she was at a loss for words when she saw the sight that spread before her eyes.
The council leaders, including Mother Elder, were around the round table of the assembly, not having left their seats. The foremost authorities of the forest were being detained.
“They are stubborn. They won’t tell me the whereabouts of the spirit tree no matter what.”
Hell Scream spoke to her in a calm tone.
“What did you do to the elders?”
Anger mixed in the elf’s words. The eyes of the elders restrained in their chairs had no light in them, she could barely feel a will behind them.
“I did nothing to them. I’m keeping them well fed. Even we would be troubled if they die.”
Saying that, he fitted Alleyne with a collar featuring a suspicious pattern, the same one the elders had fastened to their neck.
“Kuh…”
Her sight wobbled, everything becoming dark for a moment.
‘It’s as if I had anemia’, the elf thought.
“You fiend…”
The elf glared at his dimly shining face, and understood it all. Far before she surrendered, the elders already had been made into sacrifices to keep the wraiths in this world.
“A liar on top of a coward, you’re a villain beyond salvation.”
The elf warrior spat out, shooting him a gaze full of contempt. She had lost almost all the strength in her body from the moment the collar had been tightened around her neck, she could barely stand by now.
“It’s because I am beyond salvation that I became a specter, Lady Alleyne.”
*Ku-ku-ku*, he laughed, as he moved the claws in his gauntlet: *clack clack*.
“The vitality I’m getting from you is quite enriching.”
His pale face smiled.
“Misjudging her enemies, how low has this Alleyne fallen.”
Muttering in self-mockery, the elf walked to get to the elders’ side. Fortunately, her feet weren’t restrained.
[I have to confirm if they’re alive…]
The lower spirits clang to her feet, playing around with the elf walking unsteadily. Those summoned by Airi really seemed to like the low angles.
“Kuh.”
Shuddering, with a horrible feeling crawling up her thighs, Alleyne firmly moved her legs, one step at a time. Usually she’d ignore them or brush them off, but unfortunately, both her arms were immobilized.
“Hiah!”
The subtle vibrations brought about by the orbs wrapping around her made her scream involuntarily, and she lost her balance.
[Apparently, the effect of the holy water has worn out. No wonder I’m sweating after only moving this much.]
“A-Aah.”
Even if they were spiritual entities without substance, having one’s body incessantly groped was nothing but unpleasant.
She lost her balance, and fell to the floor; her own ungraceful figure made her bit her lips.
“So, what do we do now, Lady Airi?”
Hell Scream asked the maid, who was watching the situation from the entrance to the hall with her arms folded.
“Why don’t you do whatever you like.”
The maid regarded him with a cold gaze, and with a snap of her fingers, instructed the lower spirits to leave the elf warrior.
“Lady Airi, no fair, booo~”
“Getting in the way of our enjoyment, that’s too much, booo~”
Ignoring the complaints of her underlings, Airi turned her face away from the specter and left the hall. The lower spirits that had been enjoying the elf’s body followed after their boss.
“Then, I’ll accept your kind offer.”
Hell Scream whispered softly at the closed door, then returned his gaze to the elf crawling on the floor towards the elders.
“Kuh…”
Feeling the shimmering revenant-like eyes of his under the hood, Alleyne reached their leader, Mother Elder.
“Why would you come back?”
The other scolded her in a cool-headed tone.
“I never said I was running away.”
The warrior replied flatly.
“If our role is to protect the forest, it’s only natural that I come back.”
“You have lived for a thousand years and still can’t see the big picture?”
She couldn’t avoid being puzzled at the Mother Elder’s exasperated murmur.
“The big picture?”
“Whatever the wraiths do, as long as we have the spirit tree, the forest will not perish. Even if we die, as long as the spirit tree remains, the forest will be safe; why can’t you understand?”
“Even if we have the spirit tree, without you, Mother Elder, the culture of us forest elves would die. Like our southern brethren.”
Alleyne took a breath, and changed her spoken language to ancient elven. It was scarcely used even between elves, and since it was a language unknown in other countries, there was no problem with the wraiths overhearing.
“The children escaped to the east forest. These fiends didn’t seem to be willing to chase after them.”
There was a settlement used to trade with humans in the east forest. In fact, it was from a group of pilgrims dropping by that same forest where Alleyne had been able to obtain anti-wraith equipment like the holy water, after she escaped danger once.
If the mantle kept working to fool the wraiths’ eyes, the children would be able to reach the forest without difficulty.
“If the children are safe, it’s fine.”
Rarely for her, Mother Elder gave a sigh of relief. She might have had to say something harsh in front of Airi and the others, but it didn’t change the fact that children were important.
“The bad news is…”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t think we can expect reinforcements.”
“That’s not bad news, because I never intended to accept help from any humans.”
Despite being invaded by wraiths, the elders seemed like they would still refuse human aid rather stubbornly.
“You’d rather perish than accept the help from humans… is that what you’re saying?”
“If we are to perish, such must be our fate.”
“Isn’t it too early to give up?”
Alleyne rebuked the already resigned elder.
“I was able to buy enough time. Let’s hope Nowa has more luck than me.”
“Do you mean that half-breed?”
Mother Elder frowned hearing the girl’s name.
“She might be that, but she’s still my student.”
The green warrior ignored the derogatory term used by the elder, and looked up at the crystal ball at the hall, sighing at the completely transformed appearance of the forest.
“Just who is that Hell Scream individual?”
He seemed to give a significant smile at the whisper in ancient elven.
“I don’t know either. He’s not just an ordinary wraith, that’s for sure…”
Mother Elder shook her head, crestfallen.
***
Leina’s party traversed the woods, following the trackless path.
If they hadn’t been guided by Nowa, they would be long lost by now; people who weren’t residents of the forest couldn’t even keep track of their own direction.
The only thing Leina could use as a reference to determine how far they were from their goal was how the forest showed signs of withering, out of energy, the closer they got to the elves’ village.
Now that they were close, the deterioration of the forest was even more evident. On that note, they couldn’t see any glimpse of the animals that should have been living in the woods. Even back at the harbor, they hadn’t seen any birds flying across the trees.
Fio’s hands involuntarily shuddered when he saw the absence of life, as it reminded him of Airi’s hideout at Sheldan’s underground.
“We’re here.”
Nowa stopped at the place where the forest broke off.
The scenery that spread before the open space, as sunlight filtered through the foliage, took Leina’s breath away.
There were many residences built in the hollow of the big trees, as if it was a citadel, and air corridors connecting those same big trees. No matter where anyone looked in the Continent, they wouldn’t find a city so integrated with nature.
The size of the giant trees already deviated from the norm, but the skillfully arranged elven mansions skewered the feeling of perspective: were the trees big, or the residences small? One just couldn’t tell at a glance.
“It’s no use, my senses have gone all weird.”
Despite saying so, the blonde found herself unable to look away.
“This is kinda odd… isn’t it?”
In contrast with the impressed heiress looking up at the tree city, Fio only frowned.
“Odd? Sure, your sense of distance gets messed up, or is it something else…?”
[Did he figure out something I didn’t notice?]
Leina asked him with a blank look on her face.
“It’s not something I want to speak out loud… but what I can say: the atmosphere feels like it’s in ruins, doesn’t it.”
He said, pointing at the city spreading before his eyes.
“For a capital like this, I think we should be seeing people somewhere, right?”
After his question, she looked again over the tree city.
“That’s…”
She couldn’t see any signs of people anywhere. Despite the street lights, she couldn’t hear anyone moving around. Even if elves favored a quiet life, it was certainly abnormal not to see any signs of life at all.
“It can’t be… it’s not too late, is it…?”
Nowa abruptly dropped her shoulders. As the Forest Keeper, she was the one who should have protected the peace.
The glittering lights like water bathed in the sunlight were gone, and she couldn’t even hear the faint laughter of children anymore.
The girl jabbed her staff into the ground, and looked up at the city with a stunned expression.
“We don’t know yet whether it’s too late.”
Leina patted her shoulder gently to encourage her.
“Yup. I think Leina is right. If our opponents are wraiths, maybe they just disappear during daytime.”
“That’s right. And if they are really wraiths, this serenading blade can just do away with them.”
The blonde took her Sword of the Unicorn, ready for battle. Its size was only around a knife’s at the time. A bit of an underwhelming size for it to perform.
She gently grabbed the Sword’s handle with her right hand, and tried stroking the rounded back end part with her left palm.
“Ugh…”
Fio let out a small moan at the shivering touch. The Sword of the Unicorn was his other half, a magic sword in close relationship with his body; any stimulus given to the sword was transmitted to his body, and any changes in his body reflected the Sword’s shape. In other words, they changed its size.
Leina showed a satisfied smile when she felt the weapon quickly growing, apparently not noticing the suppressed moan and the blushing of the boy behind her.
“Now, let’s go. Nowa, lead the way.”
“Right, if the spirit tree hasn’t withered, there may be some hope yet.”
“The spirit tree?”
“It’s in the center of the forest. Nowa hasn’t visited it even once, but I did hear its rough location from Captain, so if it comes to it…”
That’s when Nowa stopped talking.
As she had seen in the desert adventure, Fio’s special ability was undoing curses by exchanging a kiss; did that miraculous power of healing the other’s wounds also work with the weakened spirit tree?
“If that’s what it comes to, I won’t let you down.”
Fio continued her words, as if sensing her intention.
“If only I can pull it off, I won’t run away.”
‘You can’t run away. Face your problems.’
Those two ground rules were what he had learned from Leina.
“If we can solve this situation with my power, I’ll do so gladly.”
“Fio, thanks.”
Nowa looked up at the tree city, holding back the tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.
‘I have to deliver Fio to the source of the spirit tree’, Nowa pledged to herself.
***
Air corridors extended in all directions from the assembly hall in the center of the tree city. Airi was sitting down in one of the fences, sighing.
[This isn’t any fun.]
She might have managed to convince herself due to her mistress’ orders, but she didn’t have the ability to lead large armies.
She could manipulate lower spirits, but she lacked enough spiritual power to control wraiths like herself. That was why Hell Scream had been summoned exclusively for this operation, and even though Airi should be in a position above him… subtle changes had happened to that position during the last month or so.
This time, the mission given to Airi was to gain control of the spirit tree in the elven forest, by driving a “stake” into it that would transfer all the vitality the spirit tree had to its owner. If that had been all, Airi could have sneaked in by herself, without any need for armies, but…
“Maybe Mistress has a deeper plan, but… aah, I want to go back to the castle as soon as I can.”
A sigh mixed in with her complaint.
“Aw, Airi complaining? Now I’ve seen it all.”
Among a rustle of scattered dead leaves, a cheerful voice came from overhead.
“Well, I gotta agree this is taking a bit too long, y’know?”
A semi-transparent liquid fell from the branches of a tree into the air corridor, then rose slowly as its surface undulated. A woman with slender arms, softly swaying breasts and well-rounded hips appeared from the liquid.
“Melona, is the matter I asked you for going smoothly?”
“Just leaaave it to mee, it’s going just fine.”
As the Protean Assassin Melona shook her pink body, she gave a firm thumbs up.
Another factor that wasn’t amusing at all to Airi was that they were acting together this time.
[She’s another servant with the same position as me, I can’t avoid being anxious at this current situation where there’s nobody by Mistress’ side.]
“Since the wraiths are aggressively absorbing the life force around us, I discovered the location of the spirit tree, now it’s just unlocking the barrier.”
It was nearly impossible to find the center of the elven forest, the spirit tree—basically, the source of the elves’ life—, in such a vast forest. However, as a result of the wraiths indiscriminately absorbing the trees’ vitality, it was easy to notice how the only leaves of the trees still green were the ones inside the spirit tree’s barrier. Despite having previously given the order of searching it to the wraiths, they weren’t Airi’s first choice for the mission; that had ultimately been Melona.
“ ’You can find it if you spend some time on it, even if you don’t hear it straight from the elves’… This is getting less and less fun.”
[It’s not fun that things are progressing how Hell Scream said at the beginning of this strategy.]
He should know a lot, but wouldn’t tell Airi any of it. She didn’t want to force it all out of him, but all that secretive vibe wasn’t doing wonders for her mood.
“If it’s not fun, let’s finish quickly and leave. I also want to hurry and eat crayfish in the swamp~. Ah, just saying it made me hungry.”
Even though Melona could increase her body mass by taking in creatures around her, it seemed she could get more out of absorbing animals than plants, and she kept grumbling about wanting to eat crayfish at every opportunity.
“I agree.”
[Now that we know the whereabouts of the spirit tree, let’s finish our work straight away. I will return home with Melona, and leave the aftermath to Hell Scream.]
The moment Airi smoothly got up from the handrail, a spirit orb came flying out of the hall.
“Visitors have arrived~”
The orb jumped into Airi’s chest, shouting loudly.
*Bam!*
He rebounded against something soft and elastic with a pleasant sound; the maid then grabbed it silently and threw him violently at the floor.
“Guhah!”
The orb scattered dim ectoplasm as if he was a rotten fruit, and got stuck to the floor.
“Getting too careless, are we?”
Airi asked, trampling on the orb with her toe.
“Owow, grind me more~”
“Please give me a detailed report.”
The redhead glared at the orb, a vein popping on her temple.
“Y-Yes~. They’re intruders from the west side~. The wraiths went there on the lookout, under Lord Hell Scream’s orders~”
The orb answered with a happy tone, its pale flame rocking to and fro as if writhing.
“Can I go as well? I’ve already found the location of the spirit tree, so I don’t really got anything to do.”
With a grin, the pink girl handed a black crystal ball to Airi. Enclosed inside it was the location of the spirit tree, as well as the way to break the barrier. With that on hand, even a wraith like her could get close to the spirit tree.
“Please feel free to, you are not my subordinate.”
The maid received the crystal ball and answered as if she wasn’t interested in what her partner would do.
“I’ll do as I like then. I wanted to try this shape I came up with in Gainos, after staying there for a while.”
Laughing with a *kishishi*, Melona jumped down from the air corridor.
Of course, an amorphous creature such as she was strong against shocks. Just before she collided against the ground, she took on the shape of a ball and bounced off like that, aiming to roll towards her destination.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself…”
With a deep sigh, Airi looked into the crystal ball she had just received from the shapeshifter.
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