Zich’s eyes shone.
“Now that I think about it, you said you saw a future where I was the hero, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, do you remember any other futures for Glen Zenard?”
“Um…” Lyla shuffled through her incomplete memories and replied, “…No, nothing. I might have just lost my memories of it, but I can’t remember anything.”
“In the period where I was a hero, what kind of person was Glen Zenard?”
“When you were a hero?” Lyla also became more curious when Zich mentioned it. However, she couldn’t remember. “I am interested, but I also can’t remember it.”
“Okay, that’s fine.” After Zich patted Lyla’s shoulders a couple of times since she looked sorry, Zich sent her back to her room. ‘Even if Lyla lost her memories, it’s strange that she can’t remember Glen Zenard’s other futures.’
It was baffling how Lyla saw two completely opposite futures for Zich: one where he was a hero and another one where he was a Demon Lord, but she didn’t see any other future for Zenard. Of course, it could be a coincidence and Lyla could have simply forgotten.
‘But it is truly suspicious.’ Zich’s suspicions toward Glen deepened even more.
* * *
After Zich and his companions were officially hired by the Lake Tribe, they immediately moved. They didn’t want to have a late start; and even though Leona wanted to join them, Dronian protested and Zich also refused.
“Since we have to look like a third-party group of humans, we can’t have an elf with us,” Zich explained. D’niel guided them to the path that led to Mentis. D’niel also planned to return after he guided them to the path, and after they passed through a thick forest, they reached their destination.
“That place is Mentis,” D’niel pointed at a place, and everyone exclaimed in surprise.
It was a large lake—no, calling it a lake was an understatement. They saw a long horizon on the other side of the lake. If D’niel hadn’t told them it was a lake, everyone would’ve certainly thought it was an ocean.
At the center of that large lake, there was a gigantic island. The island they saw beyond the fog looked incredibly mysterious and magnificent.
“As you can see, since the surroundings are covered by a lake, it can be used as a strong defense advantage. There’s only one passage too.”
The lake and Mentis were connected by only one bridge. Like the city they saw at the Lake Tribe’s capital, the place was made from a mix of tangled, living trees. It was an incredibly large bridge, but it wasn’t big enough to make up for the uncomfortable placement and limited access.
Zich focused his eyes and looked around Mentis.
“It’s different from the elf cities that we have seen so far.” Unlike the Lake Tribe’s city where most structures were made out of trees, most of the buildings in Mentis were made out of stones. There were still some trees, but they were nothing compared to other elf cities.
‘It actually looks more like a human city,’ Zich thought.
“There are no elves living in that city—just a couple who manage the area. It’s too uncomfortable for us to stay in it.” Then, D’niel took out a piece of scroll from his belongings. “This is the map of Mentis that our prince wanted to give you.”
Zich took the map and opened it. On the map, there were descriptions of the interior structure of the big island and a couple of places circled in red.
“The places with red circles are the areas where we think our captives are.”
“When we have the chance, let’s take a look at the place.” Zich placed a map inside the magic box, and D’niel continued his explanation.
“You all might not have noticed because this area is surrounded by forests, but there are many eyes observing this place right now, including our tribe. I’m sure other tribes hid their own troops around here, not to mention the scouts.”
Zich sensed a considerable number of presences; they all belonged to elves.
“Then, I will leave now. I wish you good luck.” With those words, D’niel instantly disappeared into the forest. His movements were expected of an elf, often known as a resident of the forest.
“What are you going to do now?” Lyla asked. Zich stared at Mentis from far away.
“For now, we have to show that humans are intervening in this war.” Zich smirked and said, “Let's exercise a bit rougher this evening.”
* * *
The sun set and the moon rose. The lake glittered with the reflection of stars, but everything else was blanketed by pitch-black darkness. However, there was one place where movements drove the darkness away: Mentis. As if it was trying to replicate the daytime brightness, mass torches burned and lit up the city.
Armed forces came in and out of the city. As if they were trying to avoid a single blindspot, an incredible number of forces patrolled the area. A dark figure passed between these forces. Two patrolling elves walked to a remote area of Mentis. No matter how large the force was, it wasn’t enough to cover the city due to the size of the entire area, but unfortunately for these two elves, a shadow approached the two and intercepted their path.
Whoosh!
“Kuh!”
“Keh!”
With one swing of a sword, the two elves’ necks were sliced in half, and the elves collapsed to the ground. Since they weren’t dead yet, they twitched a bit; a moment later, their airways were cut off so that they couldn’t make a sound, and it didn’t take long before they stopped moving. Zich had killed the elves, and he began to slowly move. He hid his presence and killed moving elves to continue scouting the area.
After a while, all the surrounding elves disappeared. Zich stood in the middle of the land by himself and put Windur on his shoulder.
‘They’re probably going to start noticing.’
No matter how secretly Zich took care of the elves, he had killed too many soldiers. As if to validate his claim, he heard a loud commotion from the distance. He also heard fervent footsteps.
‘Then should I start?’
“Whish!” Zich whistled. The other elves seemed to have heard his whistle, as Zich sensed them turning towards him. However, Zich did not run away. It was not long before a group of armed elves came running towards Zich.
“Over there!” The commanding officer pointed at Zich, and the elf soldiers immediately pointed their arrows at Zich. The commanding elf was surprised to see Zich.
“…A human?”
With his words, the elves behind began murmuring amongst themselves.
“A human?”
“How could a human come all the way here…!”
“Be quiet!” The commanding officer hushed his surprised subordinates. Then, he slowly looked around Zich and his surroundings. He saw the dead corpses of his species, and veins bulged out on his face.
“…Is this your doing?”
“Ah, this?” Zich lightly kicked the elf corpses a few times. “I killed them because I thought they might make too much noise.”
Then Zich smirked at the elves in front of him. “Ah, was I not supposed to kill him? Is he perhaps your younger brother? If that’s true, then I apologize. I’m sorry.”
Then Zich took out a coin from his pocket and threw it towards the commanding officer. Even in the human world, it was almost a worthless coin.
“Can’t you forgive me for this? I’m just saying this because I don’t have much money, but wasn’t your brother just a piece of trash who was going to rip you off? If you think about that, shouldn’t I receive money for taking care of him?”
Zich made a perfectly sincere face as if he really felt regretful. The commanding officer’s face turned red. The faces of the elves behind him also became more stiff. Zich tilted his head and kicked the corpse again. “What? Was this guy not your brother?! No way! Your stupid and worthless brother who rips you off is still alive? I’m sorry. This is my mistake, so stop glaring at me like that and tell me where your brother is—”
“Catch himmmm!” The commanding officer screamed until his throat felt as if it would explode. The soldiers also gritted their teeth and shot arrows at Zich. However, Zich swung Windur and struck all the arrows.
Clash! Clash! Clash!
A few of the soldiers took out their swords, and Zich ran towards them. The rest of the elf soldiers kept shooting arrows at him. As expected of elves, the elves that were shooting at Zich had very impressive shooting skills. However, Zich easily struck all the arrows down again and had enough time to whistle.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Suddenly, the sound of sharp metal could be heard, and fully armed soldiers poured out from both sides.
“Huh? What?”
The commanding officer was bewildered. His soldiers also stopped attacking Zich and stared at the armored soldiers.
Zich loudly shouted, “Haha! It’s war, you bastards! It’s the holy and precious land of noble elves! There’s going to be a ton of precious and expensive goods, so take a lot for yourselves!”
“Hyaaaaaaaat!” The armored soldiers cried loudly and ran towards the elves.
“Who the heck are these bastards?”
“Where the hell did they come from?”
“Don’t be taken aback!” The commanding officer shouted to his soldiers and continued, “Get into line formation and stand against them! Our reinforcements are coming soon—!”
“No.” A shiver ran down the commanding officer’s back. He tried to quickly swing his sword, but before he could, a sword pierced through his chest.
“Agh!!”
With trembling eyes, the commanding officer looked at the individual that pierced him. The human that mocked him was standing in front of him before he realized it.
“It’s common knowledge to kill the commanding officers first.”
Splash!
Zich took out his sword, and blood splattered everywhere. The commanding officer collapsed immediately to the ground. Before he fell, all he could see were his soldiers that were sprawled on the ground with blood flowing out and the armored soldiers slaughtering his other subordinates.
* * *
Mentis was in a frenzy. A group of armed soldiers suddenly appeared and swept the island. The Iron Tribe was slow to react, because in order to prevent any intruders, most of their military force was allocated around the bridge. The soldiers that were spread out on the island were stationed there to respond against small groups of elite guards or soldiers sent to rescue the hostages.
Yet, no one expected a large number of troops to enter the island from the rear side.
“What’s all this commotion!” the Iron Tribe’s king, Reno un tu Dras, asked his subordinate.
“Intruders have entered through the island’s rear area!”
“Why is there so much commotion for a few intruders!”
Regardless of how skilled and elite the infiltrators were, it was bewildering to be pushed back like this by a few infiltrators. However, his subordinate contradicted his words.
“Sir, it’s not just a few intruders! There’s a significantly high number of enemies!”
“What do you mean by a significantly high number of enemies! How could such a large number of troops enter from the rear! What were the guards doing! I kept telling them to watch out for any intruders travelling by boat!”
“Sir, we checked, but no boats came near this island!”
“Then how the hell did those bastards infiltrate this island!”
The subordinate bowed his head, as he was unable to answer. Reno huffed for a while and then finally spoke again.
“Which tribe is it!”
“Sir, it’s not a tribe!”
Renu was flabbergasted by his subordinate’s next line.
“Our opponent is a human!”