To Rescue an Elf!

Chapter XXII

To Rescue an Elf!

“Mistress is a royal!” It had come as a shock to Nilsei when she heard it. Eithea had been a mother and a sister to her and the other girls. What if she wants to go back to the palace? “I’m going to be left behind.” Nilsei flopped on her bed. They all had returned from the capital and were now at Eithea’s farm. Hearing that Enji now had his own villa saddened her even more, as it meant he would not return to the farm after his training. Silma is learning fast, and Popa will soon follow in her footsteps. Popa had learned to cast fire and a simple barrier, but Nilsei had never been proficient with magic; she could strengthen her body and add speed, but that was all she was able to do. Her sword skill was something she had honed with years of training and perseverance, but she felt she had hit a wall in her progress.

Nilsei was glad that her sister Silma got to spend time with Enji; she wasn’t even jealous of Skia, understanding her circumstances. Sol had told her about a particular oddity of the blood drinkers. When they were almost at death’s door, if they drank blood from someone, that person became imprinted in their soul for life. That was what had happened to Elpinia with Sol. She almost died in an accident, and Sol saved her.

“I want to be indispensable to you, Lord Enji!” She covered her face, as if that action could hide her tears from herself. Enji... my love. Nilsei wouldn’t be able to see Enji for some time, as he would be leaving for the labyrinth in two days, and if they found Tona alive, it would mean Enji would return to his land. Her heart hurt.

Nilsei turned to the side, hoping for sleep to come quickly and grant her the solace of dreams.

“Nilsei, are you there?” Popa knocked on the door.

Nilsei sat straight, wiping the tears from her face. “Popa?”

“Mistress wants all of us downstairs,” Silma added.

“I’m going!” She almost fell over in her rush to leave the bed. She combed her hair with her hands, not wanting Enji to see her disheveled. “Let’s go,” she said once outside.

Popa stared at her face but refrained from commenting.

***

“Lady Galakei, can you make more of the translators?” Enji raised the arm where he wore the arm brace.

“The enchantment is exhausting, but I’ll manage with enough rest.” Galakei sat down, sipping from her cup the red wine she was fond of.

“What type of magic do you use to make it? No circles appeared when you chanted it.” Enji sat next to her on the sofa.

“It’s ancient magic. Not many can yield it.”

“I noticed you were called grand mage. Is it the same as a high mage?”

“No. A grand mage is one level above. I don’t consider myself one because of my failure.” She gestured with her hand to show what she had become.

She’s even more awesome than she lets on! “To me, you are beyond grand!” Galakei turned her face away from him. Did she blush? He couldn’t tell due to her grayish skin tone.

After a few moments, she turned to face him. “I surmise you want to equip the others with the translator for them to take advantage of your incantations, am I wrong?”

“No, you are correct. With the translator, customizable spells that required input before executing would be easier.”

“Like the flame spell you used in the duel?”

“Yes. Not only can you regulate the intensity of the flame, but you can also make it appear where you want it.”

“Elucidate me.”

“It’s simple. If you—”

“We are back!” Silma, Popa, and Nilsei arrived. Soon after, Pol and Sol came from outside, and a few moments later, Eithea descended the stairs, followed by Elpinia and the three vampire girls.

Due to a lack of chairs for such a big group, some people sat on the floor. Enji relinquished his seat to Elpinia.

Urged to continue by Galakei, Enji resumed his explanation.

“In the spells that ask for variables to locate their effects, you need to give them in relative coordinates. What it means is that, for example, in this room, Pol is the one farther away from me. If I know his distance from me, I’ll input it by first stating how much he is to the left or right of my line of sight, next, how far he is away, and last, the height from the floor. I say he’s three meters away, so I’ll input 0, 3, 0.5. I’m using 0.5 because he is sitting on the floor. Any questions?

“I have several, but let’s hear from the rest first,” Galakei replied.

“I still don’t understand this, you call meters. We measure in rods, which is equivalent to a stride.” Silmai said.

“But it is not very precise because each person has different strides,” Eithea chirped in.

“A meter is a unit of measurement developed where I’m from. Remember the straight instrument I have with me, the one divided into little lines? Its length is thirty centimeters, and if I buy another ruler or measuring tape, the distances will all be the same for the divisions. It is called a standard. One hundred centimeters makes a meter.”

“Then we have to copy and learn your meter,” Galakei stated.

Oh, is this world getting Metricfied? I hope no Americans get isekaid here; they will have a fit. “As long as my ruler can be copied with precision.”

“We have excellent craftsmen,” Eithea proudly claimed.

“Lord Enji, you said ‘line of sight,’ what do you mean by it in respect to the spell?” Elpina asked.

Enji adjusted his body and head to avoid looking at Pol straight on. “Now, my line of sight has changed from before. The distance and height are still the same, but since Pol is now to my left, I need to input that number in the first string of variables. Previously, the values were 0, 3, and 0.5. Now, they will be 1, 3, 0.5. This is what is known as relative coordinates.”

“Hey, worm, what if you are constantly moving?”

“Good question, Skia. What I discovered was that whatever input I specified for what I was looking at gets locked, and I could move after the spell took the input in without losing the target. Another approach could be to provide the target location in absolute terms, but that requires establishing a fixed point, which I’m still unsure how to achieve with magic.”

“You said that the spells ask for... variables, was that the word? How?” Nilsei asked.

“I can hear it with this.” Enji showed them his translator.

“And we will be able to if we get one like yours?” Sol asked.

“Yes, but it is up to Lady Galakei.”

“Do you know that overworking me would affect my sleep, so necessary for my beauty?”

“You are beautiful enough as you are now.” Eithea followed up on her joke. “Anyway, we need to talk about the Labyrinth. Skia, you are up.”

“Yes, lady Eithea.” Skia rose from the floor and stood next to Enji. “I discussed this previously with Eithea and the Mage and came up with the following formation for our party.”

Party? Hell yeah, a party! A bona fide dungeon-crawling party! Except we are going into a labyrinth. Enji tried to suppress his excitement, probably without much success, by the glare Skia cast on him.

“On the vanguard will be me at the center with Nilsei and Popa at my flanks. We don’t have a heavy brawler, so three swordmen would suffice. Enji will be in the middle. Behind him, Pol and Sol will be armed with bows, with Silma serving as the long-range attacker.”

Huh? What about Lia, Maka, Eithea, and Galakei? He figured that Lia and Maka had to guard Elpinia, and Eithea was royalty. Enji couldn’t help but look at Galakei.

“In case you are wondering...” Eithea, with a big smile on her face, addressed the group. “It will be a test of your abilities. We decided that if you, young kids, as a party, rescued those guild mages, not only your prestige will increase, ours will too.”

The members of the newly formed party looked at each other. Before they had a chance to process the situation, Eithea ordered, “Enji, Elpinia, get to work on those spell crystals. Gala, begin enchanting those translators. We only have two days!”

“Slave driver!” was Galakei’s reply.

***

The sun was almost touching the mountain’s summit when they arrived at the entrance of the labyrinth. Enji had envisioned the maze as being inside ruins or underground, akin to a dungeon. Galakei had explained that this particular labyrinth was a forest, where trees formed intricate passageways that periodically changed, confusing those who explored it.

The labyrinth was located in what was called the Forest of Thorns. It lay to the north of Eithea’s farm and east of the domain’s main village, where the lord had his mansion. It took three days by carriage to get there, adding the two days it took for the party to prepare, plus the four since the guild mages failed to report back, which meant that nine days had passed, rendering the mages’ survival chances highly slim.

“Everyone, let’s hurry.” Skia dismounted from her horse. “My worm, are you ready?” Skia was the captain of the party; she imparted the necessary orders to each member.

“I’m on it!” Enji set up a staff on the ground, capped with a crystal stone, at the entrance. The idea had occurred to him when they discussed ways to avoid getting lost inside, since no maps could be made of the ever-changing maze. The reason they chose to enter the maze at night was that the trees of this labyrinth formed clearings open to the sky, allowing them to see the stars and navigate by them, as long as the sky wasn’t covered with clouds, like when the tripods attacked the domain lord’s carriage. The trees emitted a faint luminescence that enabled them to see without the aid of magic or torches.

Enji’s idea was to set a beacon that, at fixed intervals, emitted a pulse of magic detectable by another enchanted device. Galakei was the one who made them since it was beyond what Enji could do with his understanding of Basic applied to this world’s magic.

It was Silma’s job to carry the ‘receiver,’ a crystal pendant, around her neck, as she was the best at using magic in the group. Only one of such pendants could be made since it needed to be tuned to the staff’s crystal as a pair.

“Remember, remain in the formation we practiced, and report anything out of the ordinary; it doesn’t matter if it looks stupid afterward, understood?”

They all acknowledged Skia’s order.

The party journeyed deeper into the maze, hoping that Sol’s innate ability to track living things would detect signs of the guild’s mages. After an hour of travel, Sol raised his arm. “Do you feel it?”

Everyone stopped, their weapons readied.

Pol concentrated for a moment and replied, “Yes, it’s heavy.”

“I feel it too. The [sug] feels heavy, oppressive,” Silma confirmed. “This high concentration of [sug] is what probably led to spawning this labyrinth.”

Are the labyrinths alive? Enji had read several manga that used such tropes.

The party reached the first clearing.

“Silma.” Skia looked at the cat-eared girl.

Silma knew what she wanted. She infused the crystal pendant with magic; it rose from her chest, tugging her chain toward a certain direction. “The entrance is that way.” She pointed.

Skia, Sol, and Pol, the three who would use the stars to navigate, looked up to make a mental note of the direction they had been traveling.

“We don’t know how far in, but at least it looks like we aren’t traveling in circles,” was Pol’s assessment.

“There are three possible ways to continue. What do you say?” Skia asked Sol.

“I haven’t detected anyone yet, so any of those paths is good.” Sol shrugged his shoulders.

“Worm?”

Enji jumped, startled; he hadn’t expected to be asked for his opinion. He looked at each path open between the dense tree walls. Like Sol had stated, any path seemed fine to follow. Should we flip a coin? If he chose at random, with his rotten luck, they would surely end in a dangerous predicament. The hell with it! Here I go. At any other time or place, he would probably have chosen the middle trail, or maybe the one on the right. “Left, let’s take the left path.”

“To the left it is.” Skia stepped through it first, followed by Popa and Nilsei.

Sol nodded to Enji and went on with Pol. Enji followed with Silma at his side.

By Enji’s reckoning, they had walked for half an hour when Skia signaled for all to stop.

“What is it?” Sol asked.

“Haven’t you noticed that it’s getting colder?”

Enji, the only one who couldn’t use a barrier to isolate himself from the weather, grasped what Skia had felt. “Yes, it has been so gradual that I haven’t registered yet.”

“Well, unlike you, worm, our race is susceptible to cold weather.” Skia glared at Enji.

Why are you mad at me? It’s not my fault! “Do you want my jacket?” Enji offered.

“Die!” Skia turned around and proceeded with the march. Nilsei gave Enji a faint smile. Popa seemed not to understand what happened.

Hey, Silma is supposed to be the tsundere, not you, Skia! Enji resumed walking.

The party reached another clearing, and Skia gave the order to rest. Three of them would sit while the other four watched the perimeter.

Popa, Nilsei, Skia, and Enji stood each watching one of the four paths. Enji was given the opening from which they had emerged; he figured Skia had placed him in the least dangerous position, given they had already gone through it.

“Do you hear that?” Silma, her upper ears perked, rose from the log she had been resting on.

Everyone stood ready; only Popa had a hearing as fine as Silma’s, while the rest tried to guess where the sound was coming from.

“Above! Above! They are flying monsters!” Silma shouted.

Enji felt his skin crawl. Coming from the opening above them, a swarm of creatures dove down at them. He first thought they were insects, but then realized they were birds —hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tiny feathered birds.

“Take cover!” Skia commanded as the birds swooped down at them. “Cover your ears!”

Huh? My ears? Doesn’t she mean the eyes? Enji ran to the nearest opening where Popa had taken refuge. “Do they bite, eat people?”

“No. That is their attack!”

“Cowards!” “Hey, stupid!” “Pissed pants!” “Mud eater!” the birds uttered.

What is this? Are those supposed to be insults? An elementary kid can come up with better ones. Enji looked in disbelief at the little parrots.

“Cover your ears, Enji Lo; their chant can cloud your mind.” Popa tried to cover her four ears. Enji, seeing that she was struggling, covered her human ears. Popa gawked at him wide-eyed. Enji figured that if she remained unaffected, she was stronger than he was and could get him out of danger when he succumbed to the parrot’s charms.

The tiny parrots settled on the ground and continued with their cacophony of silly insults.

“If they don’t attack or eat people, what is the purpose of their chants?” Enji tried to gesticulate the words with his mouth for Popa to understand without uncovering her ears, but she seemed to be falling into a daze. “It’s not affecting me!”

There was a roar that overpowered the parrots’ drone. Skia and Nilsei ran from the opening they had taken refuge, and dove inside another.

The owner of the roar emerged from where Skia and Nilsei had been earlier. It trotted to the center of the clearing, spewing vapor from its nose. The parrots moved out of its way, some perching themselves on its back.

Enji, now understood. The creature, which resembled a gigantic boar, had a symbiotic relationship with the birds. They secured the prey for the monster. He didn’t know what the monster boar offered the birds in return, but at this moment, he didn’t care. Especially since the boar had been looking in his direction.

Enji hauled the stunned Popa to his shoulder and ran deeper into the pathway. Why do I keep carrying potato sacks?

Enji heard the boar’s snorts getting closer. It was useless; the boar could outrun him even without the load. Nevertheless, he pressed on. Luck may have it that he happened upon a clearing. With space to move, he searched for a branch that could be accessible to them to escape the monster boar.

Choosing one, he pushed Popa up, and she climbed slowly. She resembled a sloth. “Hurry! Please, hurry.” Enji pushed her behind. “Why did you have to wear a skirt and that tiny bikini bottom?!” A distraction like that was something he didn’t want to cope with at the moment.

“Don’t you like it?” Popa’s words came out slurred.

“Keep climbing, you silly drunk! ” Damn parrots! Now he understood when Galakei had said that flying monsters were a nuisance.

“What is that?” Popa, having gained a much higher branch, pointed down, behind Enji.

The boar had emerged from the opening and was eyeing Enji. Perhaps it was weighing whether he was worth the effort or not. The monster seemed to have decided, as evidenced by lowering his head and pawing the ground, that he was getting ready to charge.

Enji jumped to the nearest branch and hoisted himself up. He looked up. Popa was about three meters up. Good girl.

He was almost knocked off the branch by the shock of the boar slamming against the trunk of the tree they were on.

“Hey, cut that out!” Enji hugged the trunk as the boar slammed into it again. He tried to reach another branch, but then the world around him erupted in a thunderous noise, and he felt like he was falling.

Enji rolled on the ground. He couldn’t believe that the boar had toppled the tree. He searched for Popa. She had held to the branches and was about five meters away from him.

But what held Enji’s attention was the new nightmare that had appeared. An enormous snake had grabbed the boar in its mouth, much like a regular snake would grab a rat on Earth.

It swallowed it whole and, far from being satiated, was now eyeing Enji.