Chương 70: Please Take Us to the Elves!

POV: The Dark Lord, Milo Miles The table went quiet after I proposed the idea of going to the elven kingdom.

"Are you serious?" Nyx said.

"Well, how else do we get to the bottom of any of this? None of us knows the first thing about elven lore, and the elf out there barely knows anything about the prophecy herself. If we go, we can actually sit down with the elf elders and get straight answers." I pressed on before anyone could object.

"You said we can pick this whole place up and move it, right? So let's do it. Staying this close to Astrea isn't doing us any favors anyway." I thought it made sense.

"Honestly, there's no real reason to still be here. We stayed put before so nobody would suspect Evelisse of leaking word about the second attack. Then we had to fight Ywain, thinking that'd be the end of this whole—uhh, stuff." I caught myself almost saying Lulu and Afterport. The save wasn't smooth, but at least the words didn't get out. Man, I really needed Nyx to tell me today how much of this I was cleared to share with Evelisse. I cleared my throat.

"Which, we also kind of failed at. So now Ywain's out there gunning for us again, and Evelisse is already branded a traitor by the Church. I say we move." Nyx's face shifted, like something had just come back to her.

"Right, about that. There's something I probably need to tell everyone." Huh? Why did I have a bad feeling about this?

"So... Ywain's not back?" Evelisse said. Nyx nodded.

"That's what some random Church functionary told me, and they weren't panicking about it, either. Apparently he's off on a quick pilgrimage, to obtain something that'll end the Dark Lord once and for all.'" What? Wouldn't that be the Mooncleaver? He already had one of those. We'd buried the real one, sure, but he'd just made himself another. So this had to be something else, I guess? Something that's even stronger than the holy sword? And if it was, then it was almost certainly another of Lulu's cheats.

"Also," Nyx added, "none of the Church people I spoke to knew anything about Evelisse. They didn't know where she is or what state she's in."

"So you're saying nobody's actually branded her a traitor yet?" I asked.

"Seems that way. Though the shield goon back there talked like he wasn't the only one who suspected it, so maybe it's only a handful of Church members who know or suspected." So we could still move around without the law coming down on us. For now, at least. Lulu could spread Evelisse's betrayal whenever it suited her.

"Any word on the two missing party members?" Lunessa asked.

"No. When I asked, they claimed they had no idea where they were." Nyx shrugged.

"Either still with Ywain, or dead in the fighting. Either way, they're not announcing anything until they know for sure."

"Good." Lunessa nodded.

"That means our Arkhay plan can still work."

"So we've got no clue where Ywain is, and he might come back stronger," I said.

"Which is one more reason to leave. Maybe once Astrea's made its announcement and we've handed the two party members back."

"Will moving take much effort?" Lunessa asked.

"Not really," Nyx said.

"The house can be dismissed and rebuilt with magic, whenever we want." So that settled it, relocating was the plan. Another day or two, drop the two party members off near Astrea, and then find somewhere new. I'd raised the elven kingdom as the destination, but with how little any of us knew about the place, perhaps that was a bit of a stretch. Still, I could not think of a better and faster way to get to the bottom of things aside from paying the elves a visit.

"I'm sure you just want to ogle the pretty elves," Nyx said at one point.

"What the—no!" I sputtered.

"My reasoning's solid, isn't it? We'd get more on the prophecy there, and who knows? The elves might even help us against Ywain, if I really am their prophesied Hero!"

"Mm-hm. Sure, makes perfect sense." Nyx examined her nails.

"Doesn't mean you're not looking forward to eyeing up the girls." I glanced at Evelisse. She was watching me with a small, uncertain frown. Crap, Nyx, you are actively sabotaging me here. I really needed to find a moment to set things straight with Evelisse. Maybe once Nyx had squared things with Greg and I could finally tell her about the Afterport, all of it would make more sense to her.

"A-anyway!" I shot up out of my chair.

"We should ask the elf how long it even takes to reach the elven kingdom!" We were back out on the porch. Lunessa and Mel had opted to stay inside, volunteering to put lunch together, which mostly meant laying out what Lunessa and I had picked up in Arkhay earlier: a few crusty bread rolls, some ready-to-eat meat skewers, and a wedge of hard cheese. I suspected the real reason was that neither of them wanted to hear another insult from the elf or to watch us 'interrogate' her again.

Fair enough since it was not a pleasant sight. Luke was still watching the elf intently, her three eyes still not blinking. That's… somewhat scary. I stepped up closer to the elf. The glowing purple ring still sat locked around her neck; Evelisse had told me that it's a spell that had been keeping her from casting any mid-tier magic to escape.

"Okay, so…what's your name?"

"You don't deserve to know." She lifted her chin.

"Our names are elegant, sacred, and to be respected. They are not to be spoken by a pervert like you." I really wanted to point out that, for an elf, her behavior so far had been anything but elegant. Granted, we'd made her look bad with our questionable interrogation methods, but she'd been firing insults at us since well before any of that. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Right." I thought about it.

"Then I'll just call you Squirt. On account of you being, you know, short." The name came from a story I'd read before. There'd been a short elf in it who went by the same name. It was a good story. Shame I could never read it anymore in this world. The elf's face twitched, visibly agitated, but she clamped her mouth shut and said nothing. Nyx caught it at once and decided to play along, a smile spreading across her face.

"All right, little Squirt. I need you to tell us how to reach the elven kingdom, and how long it'll take to get there."

"Stop calling me that!"

"But you wouldn't tell us your name!" I said. The elf's face pinched even tighter.

"Look, Squirt." Nyx crossed her arms.

"You don't want to talk? Fine. We leave you tied up like this for a few more days. Then your elf friends show up to rescue you, like you said. We beat them, tie them up, force them to talk through the same method, and I guarantee you, one of them will crack and tell us everything you won't." At that, something in the elf shifted. Her defiance faltered, and she turned her face away. She looked like someone who was genuinely afraid for her friends, and that made me feel like garbage for the whole thing.

I crouched down until we were eye to eye.

"Listen. Squi—" I caught myself.

"Miss Elf. I'm sorry for all of this, for what we did to you. We didn't mean you any harm. We just want to understand what's going on."

"Isn't it a little late for that?" she said. Well, she had a point, but stil… Nyx stepped up beside me and leaned down toward the elf.

"It's your own fault for refusing to talk. You've done nothing but insult every single one of us since you got here."

"Oh, right." The elf's lip curled.

"I was supposed to be respectful to the people who tied me to a post."

"If I hadn't, you'd have run…" Evelisse jumped in.

"I didn't even hurt anyone! Your stupid dog hurt me first!"

"Y-you were spying on us." Evelisse faltered slightly.

"That's—that's not appropriate either!"

"Who cares about any of this?" Nyx cut across them.

"We're not saints. I say we stop dancing around it and just make her talk, whatever it takes—""Okay, okay. Let me try something." Nyx turned to me.

"What?"

"We untie her." Nyx stared at me.

"Are you an idiot? I mean, I know you're an idiot, but are you a freaking idiot?"

"She can't do much, Nyx. The binding ring's still on her." I nodded at it.

"If she runs without any buff, Luke can just freeze her." Evelisse considered it, then nodded.

"I think we should." She looked at the elf.

"And…I'm sorry. For tying you up." Nyx's jaw tightened. For a moment she looked like she had a whole speech ready to go. Then she just exhaled.

"Whatever. Do whatever you lovebirds want." She turned and stomped off into the living room, shutting the door behind her. Evelisse and I looked at each other for a moment, then she glanced away, as if embarrassed, and moved to untie the rest of the elf. Once her arms came free, the elf rolled her shoulders and worked her wrists in slow circles, wincing at the stiffness.

She reached down and undid the ropes around her legs herself, tugging the knots loose, and then drew her legs up and settled into a cross-legged sit on the wooden porch.

"Okay. Can we talk now?" I asked.

"I'd appreciate it if you got the creepy dog-girl to stop glaring at me like that." The elf shot a wary glance to the side.

"She's been making my skin crawl for a while now."

"Sure. Luke, you can stand down. We've got this." Luke eased out of her rigid posture, her three eyes blinking a few times in slow succession. She gave a small nod and padded off toward the right side of the house.

"So, do you trust us now?" I asked.

"No I don't. You're just undoing things that shouldn't have been done to me in the first place." I sighed, then glanced at Evelisse, who'd stayed silent after freeing the elf's arms. Her brow was drawn, her mouth pressed into a small, unhappy line, like an apologetic look. She was probably blaming herself since she'd been the one to tie the elf up. I couldn't let that sit. Evelisse hadn't done anything wrong; she'd tied the elf up so she wouldn't escape or lash out, which was reasonable.

If anyone had made things worse, it was me, with the whole tickling idea. So I would try this myself, and if I couldn't get through to her, maybe I'd call Lunessa's help and let her handle it.

"Listen to me, Miss Elf. You're free to say whatever you want when I'm done, but at least hear me out to the end. I promise it won't be a waste of your time."

"And why should I?"

"Because I'm trying to help you." I kept my voice level.

"Look at where things stand. You can't run. We outnumber you., and honestly? Nyx could walk right back out here, tie you up again, and put you through exactly what she did earlier until you talked." The elf's shoulders tensed.

"But that's the thing. We figured we'd need you to guide us to the elven kingdom, and forcing you to do that while threatening you the whole way wouldn't work out well for anyone. Not if we're going to travel together."

"You're still threatening me. You literally just said you could tie me up and torture me again."

"Yeah, but I'm also telling you we'd rather not." I spread my hands.

"That should count for something. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to get to the bottom of this; the same as your elders do." That gave her pause.

"They sent you to see whether the current Dark Lord fits the prophecy," I went on.

"I don't know what's happening in the elven lands, but a prophecy about someone coming to save them? That tells me something's wrong there. Something bad."

"W-well... that's..." Her gaze dropped. Seemed like I was right.

"And I do fit it, at least a little, or they'd never have sent you to watch me in the first place. So you should hear this: I have no intention of destroying anything. If we go to the elven kingdom, I swear I won't bring it a single ounce of harm. In fact, if there's a problem there I can actually solve, then I'll solve it." She said nothing, watching me.

"So take us there. Let the elders decide whether I fit the prophecy. If I do, they tell me what I'm supposed to do about it. If I'm just a nobody after all, fine. We leave. No harm done."

"How am I supposed to trust that?" Her voice cracked with frustration.

"That's the whole reason I'm hesitating. I need the elders' confirmation first. If I bring you home and you do tear the place apart, then I'm the one who let in the thing that destroyed the kingdom."

"I think you'll just have to trust us on it." I held her eyes.

"Like I said, you don't have a lot of other options, and I'm not telling you all this to corner you. I'm telling you so you can breathe a little, instead of sitting here scared and braced for the worst at every moment." Her jaw worked, frustration and fear tangling on her face.

"We need to understand what's going on, Miss Elf. There are things happening here; things bigger than what any of us thought was even possible. And the elves might be the only ones who know something about them." I couldn't afford to let this slip away. If we released her now and the elders ruled I wasn't the prophesied one, we might never get another chance to reach the kingdom.

And they had this prophecy, which meant they might have a way to reach the Afterport, or something there we could use to catch Lulu off guard. On top of that, there was safety: a base out in the elven lands would put us well beyond Ywain's reach. Raising the Terror Level would get complicated out there, sure, but we'd figure that out.

"Please," I said. The elf looked at me a long moment, weighing it, the calculation plain in her eyes.

"Three days."

"... Sorry?"

"It takes about three days," she said, "to reach the elven kingdom."... Did I just succeed? With my pleading eyes?