Chapter 73

The operation this time was something that was not known to the outside.

Both his own appearance and Gal’s were quite eye-catching, so it was necessary to return through a back road rather than the regular one.

“I had my doubts when I received the message from the kids… but you were alive?”

“Did you wish for your master to die?”

Duberv, summoned by the secret signals of a mysterious thief guild outside Pohelrn’s city wall, looked at him with an expression as if he had seen a ghost, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well, it’s a rough world, isn’t it? If someone goes missing for about half a year due to bad circumstances, wouldn’t you think that? How safe can it really be out there?”

Duberv scratched his head in response.

He flinched to step back as flakes of dandruff fell from his hair, but Duberv continued speaking undeterred.

“Honestly, I figured you wouldn’t die, but what about this elf guy over here?”

“…Just think of him as part of the party.”

Duberv asked Gal but seemed to have little interest in Duberv, as his eyes began to scan around the city wall.

In a rare serious expression for Gal, he muttered something like, “This is… how could the monkeys…”.

“Well, I don’t really mind. Recently, I’ve been seeing elves who were shrouded in mystery quite often.”

“…? Have you seen other elves besides me?”

“Those big guys.”

“Those sentenced to execution.”

“…Those sentenced to execution came back whimpering in tatters and not long after that, a bunch of them visited.”

“With the way you talk, a bunch? How many came?”

Elves, who had to manage a vast forest relative to their population, suffered from chronic manpower shortages.

Eighteen years was not enough time for the elves, who valued their numbers so highly, to raise the next generation.

Therefore, it was hard to send out many troops.

However, it seemed that as soon as they realized he had gone missing through his mother’s branches or Saras’s protector, they instantly started to move.

It felt a bit embarrassing but also somewhat proud.

‘Perhaps about twenty came. The leader is probably someone like Palas or Elmony?’

He estimated that this was about the limit they could send without breaking the balance.

“It seems that three of your teacher’s siblings came with around eighty others.”

“Eighty!?”

Moreover, three of his siblings.

It was a number that far exceeded what he had imagined.

It was almost a third of the elves’ total strength.

‘…The atmosphere seems more serious than I thought.’

The feeling of being cared for by his brothers turned into nervousness as cold sweat trickled down his back.

He felt as if he had done something horribly wrong and was now trembling in fear at the thought of definitely being scolded when he returned home.

‘…Is this really a big deal?’

If one of his brothers suddenly went missing outside, he would react similarly.

But that was that.

“…Are the elves still residing in Pohelrn?”

“Yes. They came last fall and said they would be moving after staying until this spring, so they should be moving soon.”

‘…I suddenly don’t want to return to Pohelrn…’

He didn’t know who the three siblings who had come to search for him were, but he was sure he couldn’t avoid being nagged.

But it’s not like he could avoid going home just because he was scared of being nagged and scolded by a fully grown adult who had set his mind on something.

He sighed and said to Duberv.

“Anyway, it seems I need to return to the Grand Temple. Can you guide me in a way that is as inconspicuous as possible?”

◈ ◈ ◈

Thus, he followed Duberv through the hidden passage of the sewer back to the Grand Temple.

When they returned to the Grand Temple, unlike him, who had tried to contain the energy he emitted as much as possible, Gal had no intention of hiding himself at all.

Thanks to that, the elves staying in the Grand Temple immediately sensed his presence and rushed out.

And the result was the current scene of devastation.

“I know what you’re thinking, but try to calm down a bit. We need to explain—though it’s not exactly a misunderstanding, we need to clarify the situation.”

“Did this guy attack you?”

“…That’s true, but I need to explain a bit.”

“That’s strange, Araya. I feel like you’re defending that deer bone-like creature here, who is the root of all our problems.”

“Is it strange that what is mine is looking out for me?”

“Gal! Could you please just shut up? Doesn’t your presence just make the situation even more bizarre?”

Palas, who had been looking at him, snapped his head up and glared at Gal with a murderous intent.

If Palas had reached an elevated state of confidence, Gal’s body would have been torn to shreds more than a thousand times over.

But that wasn’t the only issue.

“Hmm. I thought it was a large lizard, but why does it look just like us?”

“Saras… Anya.”

The two with Palas were Saras and Anya.

Anya seemed restless, but Saras was smiling.

That wasn’t good.

Though Anya seemed not to know, Saras’s gaze was quite menacing behind his usual laid-back tone.

Palas was straightforward, but at such times, Saras had a tendency to act impulsively like a snake.

Since childhood, it may have seemed like he had the upper hand in strength, but whenever he angered Saras, it was always him who ended up in trouble.

That gaze passed Gal’s face and, upon seeing him holding Araya, he smiled gently.

“Oh, Araya. You look healthy! You threw away the branch your mother gave you and the protector I gave you, and instead brought back a dashing young man? I was worried about you for half a year, and you troubled your mind.”

Though he smiled, she sensed the swallowed anger, so she could only respond with an awkward smile.

“So?”

Saras stood slightly behind Palas, nodding as he looked at Gal.

Unlike his usual front-footed demeanor, the fact that he was positioned behind Palas indicated he might be thinking of jumping into the fight at any moment.

The forest guardians were slowly positioning themselves in suitable places around the Grand Temple.

“What were you thinking to come before us now?”

Gal spoke calmly, without caring about the surrounding hostile energy directed at him.

“Do I have to explain that?”

“What?”

“Don’t test my patience, elf. The only reason I’m tolerating your ridiculous attitude, as I said before, is that you are Araya’s kin.”

“Huh. You’re more impressive than I thought.”

Saras made an incredulous expression, slowly stepping back as he started to retreat.

But no fool here thought that Saras was afraid and retreating.

As he began to move into a combat stance near his heart, Gal’s gaze began to shift as well.

“Is a lesser form urging for respite?”

“I don’t know how confident you are in yourself, but do you know? In the history of this planet, beings like you have perished twice already? And I, being intelligent, think today will mark the third record of that history.”

“Wait, wait, there’s no need to escalate it this far. This isn’t the time for us to be engaging like this!”

“Araya. Come here.”

“…Saras!”

“It’s an order. I’ve received full authority on this matter from Demis.”

The smile had vanished from Saras’s face.

“I don’t know what has happened to you, but this Gal Dragon is a dangerous existence. We need to deal with it while we have the chance.”

“You’re foolishly and carelessly spewing nonsense without knowing your place, elf. Do you really think you could harm me? How amusing. You don’t appear to be so dim-witted as to not know the difference in power. Why don’t you bear yourself accordingly like that elf trembling over there?”

Gal said, looking at Anya, who was shaking. His words made all eyes focus on her, and she rolled her eyes nervously.

“Arrogance is the closest path to ruin. Most do not realize that until the end.”

Saras replied with a straight face.

Gal chuckled ominously and flicked his finger.

The forest guardians, regarding this as a mere provocation, sharpened their murderous intent, but the high elves reacted differently.

Especially, Saras’s reaction was dramatic.

“…No way!”

“I checked outside, and it’s truly absurd. Do these monkeys know what they’re doing? The misdeeds of a great monkey from hundreds of years ago seem like a joke.”

With each flick of Gal’s finger, tiny vibrations began to ripple through the Grand Temple.

“You were confident before me because of this? But how foolish it is—the way a newly hatched chick, unaware of its place, is chirping with an item that is unbefitting before a creator and a true punisher… It’s just downright ridiculous. Even if you were confident in handling mana, at the very least, one should have intercepted me before I got here.”

“…Kugh.”

Saras’s expression cracked, and cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.

Palas also sensed that things were taking a turn for the worst and stepped in to block the path between Gal and Saras.

As Gal’s pupils elongated and began to glimmer ominously, he whispered.

“You confuse your overwhelming power for your own.”

“Enough!”

The situation was on the verge of exploding.

With one hand still around himself, Gal took a deep breath, not unlike how he had endured attacks from formidable foes in the past, his chest sunk in against the impact.

Holding his caved chest, he coughed up blood and collapsed, and I gazed at him with a pitiful expression.

Yet, I didn’t care much.

For one, wounds like that were nothing significant for Gal, who was not even human; secondly, no matter how much shock he received, he always just brushed it off and continued to insist on doing his own thing.

“You’ve made enemies of everyone just by leaving me alone. Don’t you realize the situation? If you clash with my brothers, who benefits the most?”

“Araya… you…!”

“I know you’ve lived in the northern corner alone and are aware of your social shortcomings, but I wish you’d think about the situation a bit more. It would be good if you also stop this with Saras. If you honestly fight with Gal, even with this much power, things won’t end well.”

“Araya.”

『Saras. We have our own circumstances. We, too, are essentially refugees who fled from the north.』

I interrupted Saras’s words and conveyed this through telepathy.

Saras’s eyes widened in surprise at the revelation that Gal and I had fled together.

‘We’ll talk properly later.’

He had a thoughtful expression, nodded, and mouthed words before calming his energy.

“…Saras?”

Palas, always ready to charge in, expressed confusion when Saras suddenly began to fight off the surrounding elves.

“Step back, Palas.”

“…”

“It’s an order.”

Palas seemed to realize that this wasn’t the time for a fight.

However, Palas disregarded Saras’s words and took two steps closer to Gal, who was still reeling from the blow.

“Get up, deer bone. You’re not going to whine just because you got hit by a girl, are you?”

It wasn’t something to say to someone who had just coughed blood while their chest was caved in, but perhaps that words stirred Gal’s pride?

His lips twitched, and the perfectly recovered Gal stood there with an impassive face, staring at Palas with a look full of killing intent, less than two finger widths apart.

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