Chương 34: Chapter 33: One Man Army Against Elves

The instant I took out my sword, the elf king gave his command to start the battle. The elf army then rushed forward with their massive numbers. As I didn't have a grudge with the elves, I decided I would try not to kill them. Whoever came, I knocked them out instead. As there were so many of them, I started slashing my sword to create a gust of wind to knock them away, slamming them into the ground unconscious. As I kept going, the elf king and his guards also joined in.

Since their levels were so high, trying not to kill them was somewhat difficult. I started to use more power as we were locked in a stalemate. Soon, the elf king and his guards were overwhelmed by my attacks, as I was still splitting my attention to the rest of the army. After a long, drawn-out fight, I saw an opening and knocked out one of the elf king's guards, making the situation much lighter. With a newfound power gap, it didn't take long until I knocked both the king and his remaining guard unconscious.

Now, the only people left were the thousands of soldiers behind the king. I went to engage the rest of the elf army, which was a very tedious process when you try not to kill them. These elves also refused to surrender, as they constantly charged forward looking for an opening. I constantly knocked more of them unconscious, but while doing so I was starting to get very annoyed as the day passed by. After an entire day of effort, the entire elf army had been taken captive, as I had things to discuss with their king.

The elves were then taken back to the kingdom and locked away until I reached an agreement with their king. As I took the elves through the kingdom, the civilians were wondering what was happening as they saw so many elves captured. Some greedy people even thought that I captured elves for slaves and asked how much it would cost. I ignored these people, as it wouldn't do much to try to correct them.

The elves originally in the kingdom who were slaves, seeing such a grand display, felt like their race had been captured and the future would be very difficult for the elves. It would take too long to explain to every civilian, so I just continued to take the elves away. Once back at the headquarters of our kingdom, I had locked all the elves away other than the king. I woke the king and had him sit in front of me. The king of the elves, now awake, asked, "Now that you have captured us, what do you want to do?"

I replied, "I said I wanted to make peace with you elves. Since I won the war, it means now I can make demands, right?" The king replied, "Since you won the war, you have the right to make demands. Please just don't make the demands too hard on my people." I explained, "I don't need your people to do anything difficult. All I need is for you not to attack the humans and make friendly relations with us from now on." The king of the elves asked, "With the grudge of my people, how do you expect us to just let it go?

They would never agree to become friendly with humans." I replied, "I will open the kingdom for trade. You elves can now trade with us for supplies in the future. I refuse to believe after years of interaction from trading, the elves will still remain stubborn." The elf king then thought about my idea. Though it had many holes in the plan, it had some merit. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The elf king replied, "It is possible, but we need to refine the details later on. For now, I will agree, but if it doesn't work out, I can only promise you we won't attack again for a while." As I had no choice, I agreed to the deal for the time being. The elf king then asked, "Can you release my people now?" I agreed and took the elf king to where I was keeping his soldiers. Soon, all the soldiers were released, and the elf king took command of them.

I then took the liberty to try to ease their hatred of humans somewhat by gathering the elf slaves in the kingdom and setting them free. This resulted in many slaves being reunited with their family among the elf soldiers. The hatred in some of their eyes started to dim as they had achieved what they came here for. The elf king, seeing my gesture, said, "Maybe what you said might be possible. In the future, there might be some room for us to coexist."

The elf king, after saying his piece, led his soldiers and left the kingdom. They peacefully retreated, and I hoped we could be peaceful in the future. Over the course of the next month, I interacted heavily with the elf king through distant messaging, as I had Claire keep an eye on the elves. We slowly opened up trade routes, and elf commodities started entering the kingdom's market. The elf commodities had their own appeal to the humans in the kingdom and were quite popular.

As the trades continued, both kingdoms started to relax around each other as they traded for what they wanted. A certain balance formed between the two kingdoms, and I felt I no longer had to worry about the elves, so I told Claire to come back. With this peaceful resolution, I thought we would have some peace for a while. As I thought this, I realized I couldn't remain lax, as the goddess Trish wouldn't just leave things be after I killed her apostles.

I continued to prepare countermeasures in case she ever came again. Though nothing has happened since the elf war, the kingdom experienced an unprecedented peace despite all my worry, and half a year passed by without anything occurring. During this time, Shiro has been looking for other weapons that she could make, as she simply couldn't find any more materials for nuclear bombs. With the singular one we had left, it was unsustainable, so she started looking for other means.

As she was doing that, I continued to train to no avail, as my skills refused to level up. Then, on another peaceful day like any other, something finally happened. Akane came back with news from the dwarves. Though dwarves are neutral to humans and even provide their resources in exchange for materials, they always wanted to expand for more resources. The current kingdom and most other human kingdoms before we took over were settled on top of resource-rich lands.

Dwarves always wanted more resources, so they had been eyeing us for a while now. The only thing that was holding them back was the current ruler of the dwarves. The current ruler is part of a conservative faction who tries to hold the status quo and hasn't tried anything so far. Unfortunately, the current dwarven ruler is getting old and will soon be forced to retire and give his role to the next generation.

Since this was the case, Akane had been sent back to keep an eye on the dwarves, as she could blend in as she was a half-dwarf, even if they don't particularly like her. Now that she was back, it seemed something had happened and she was back to report. Once Akane arrived, she started her report: "The dwarven leader will step down in a month, and anyone can become the new ruler depending on their skill in blacksmithing. The winner of the blacksmith contest in a week will be the new ruler."

From the report she had given so far, I couldn't understand what the problem was. Such a harmless thing as a competition shouldn't have caused her to come back. I asked curiously, "What's wrong about the blacksmith contest for you to come back? Is there some kind of problem to be worried about?" Akane continued, "The problem lies in who is competing. The current favorite to win is part of the radical dwarf faction. Not to mention, this person is the most radical out of all of them.

The instant he wins, he will lead the dwarves to conquer human lands for their resources." It seemed another problem had arisen, and I wasn't sure how to solve it peacefully. Currently, the dwarves are still neutral, but they might soon turn to enemies. I asked, "What do you recommend we do, since you have been watching them for so long?" Akane started giving her suggestion: "How about I compete in the competition? Though I'm not completely confident, I should have a decent chance at winning."

I asked, "Are you allowed to compete? I remember dwarves very much dislike half-breeds." Akane answered, "Though they dislike me, the rule is only for the participant to be a dwarf. Though I'm only half, I'm still considered a dwarf." I thought about it for a moment and decided this was a good idea, as we could resolve the situation peacefully. I then replied, "Then let's go with your idea, and I will support you. Just tell me if you need any help on this matter."

Akane answered, "Then you can come with me in case something happens. If I fail, we will have to face the dwarves anyway, so we might as well strike first." I liked this idea and nodded my head in agreement. I then asked, "Do you need to prepare in any way, or can we set off now?" Akane shook her head and said, "I can leave whenever you are ready." Since this was the case, I had nothing to prepare either. The two of us then set off to resolve another problem caused by the dwarves.