Renu moved his fingers and tried touching the clothes he was wearing. They were rare and precious—cleaner and better managed than what those scruffy-looking, imprisoned kings wore. They were the clothes that only he, the king and the soon-to-be winner, was allowed to wear.
Then, Renu recalled the fate of the Iron Tribe. “Do you think we…” he said and stretched out his hands to Zich, “would bow our heads to humans once again!”
Pop!
A fireball shot out of Renu’s hand.
‘Silent incantation magic. As expected of an elf king.’ However, Zich’s admiration stopped there. After all, there was a monster on his side who could use that kind of magic much more adeptly than Renu. This ‘monster’ was so amazing that Zich was hardly surprised by seeing one silent incantation.
‘Furthermore, it doesn’t even have much power.’ Zich took out Windur, which had changed shape, and swung it.
Clang!
The fireball split into two and disappeared in vain.
‘Yeah, this is silent incantation magic.’ Magic created by silent incantation lagged far behind in power and range than the ones created by spoken incantation. ‘To think that Lyla’s silent incantation magic is as strong as normal incantation magic. It’s unbelievable.’
Zich was happy to see ‘real’ silent incantation magic when his sense of reality had been warped. However, he kept all these thoughts to himself, and on the outside, he continued to act stern.
He said, “I suppose this is your answer.”
“Hmph! The Iron Tribe has no desire to go under anyone! We will rule over everyone else now—including you all!”
“Do you think it’s possible?”
“Of course!”
“I see. Then, I wish you luck.” Zich placed his sword back into his belongings. Then, he turned around and walked towards the staircase.
“Do you think you can escape out of here!” Renu shouted. His voice was full of confidence like he had already become the ruler of this world. “The only exit to this place is that staircase, and my tribe’s troops will come running in here from the explosion they just heard.”
Zich stopped walking. Renu thought Zich was beginning to feel a sense of danger, and his voice grew louder and more passionate, “You might try to capture me as a captive, but I have enough power to protect myself.”
Zich turned his head around.
Renu continued, “I also killed your predecessor. It was a beautiful sight, seeing how they begged for their lives. It made me realize that I had no reason to join hands with you guys!”
“It must have been enjoyable. Congratulations,” Zich responded. His tone sounded calm and agitated Renu.
Renu had thought this and still did, but Zich and the members of his organization didn’t seem like normal humans. They were too cold and callous like they were looking down on him, and this made Renu hate them even more.
Zich turned his body fully so that he faced Renu. He couldn’t tell if Zich had given up on running away, but Zich didn’t look like someone who was cornered.
“Renu Ent Draus. How much do you actually know about us?”
“…Do I need to know that?”
“Yeah, I guess you know almost nothing.”
“…”
Renu had already betrayed the organization and tortured the previous robed figure, but he didn’t get much from that experience. Like Zich said, Renu didn’t know much about the organization.
“Our contract was to help you, the Iron Tribe, to rule over the tribes. Isn’t that right?”
“…Yeah.”
‘So, that was really it,’ Zich thought. He had thrown this question out knowing that in the future, the Iron Tribe ruled over other elves in the Great Adrowon Forest, and Renu took the bait.
“Based on what you’re doing right now, it’s obvious that you haven't given up on your plan to rule over all the other tribes. Yet, you still pushed us away. No, you didn’t just push us away, but you began to antagonize us. That means one thing: you got your hands on an even greater power that it wouldn’t matter if you had our help or not.”
“…”
“Furthermore, that power exists beyond that wall that you are standing in front of.”
“…!” Renu was surprised. The robed figure in front of him was the first person from the organization that he had met since he killed the other robed guy he kept communicating with. Yet, the figure in front of him seemed to have grasped the whole situation in an incredibly short amount of time.
“Let me ask you one question, Renu Ent Draus.”
“What?”
“Do you think you would be able to escape our rage just because you got some extra power?” Zich’s voice was neither rough nor aggressive. There was no change in his tone, making it look like he was peacefully talking about his calm, daily life. Yet, when Renu heard Zich’s words, he swallowed his saliva without meaning to; Zich’s calm speech made Renu feel a greater sense of danger than shouting since Zich’s attitude seemed to indicate that the future was already decided.
Renu still answered with confidence, “Yeah!”
“…Then, there’s nothing more for me to say. I hope that you will continue to hold onto that hope.” Zich turned around again and headed towards the staircase.
“I already told you! You can’t escape!”
“If that’s the case, you’ll see my corpse soon. Why don’t you tell me once more then?” With those words, Zich disappeared into the staircase.
After Zich disappeared, Renu let out a deep breath and thought, ‘That organization is really something.’
Renu didn’t know the organization’s true identity, but if he thought about the support they had given him for war preparations, it was clear that it was a large-scale group. Furthermore, each and every robed figure from the organization was strong. Normally, he wouldn’t have even dared to antagonize a group like that, but it didn’t matter now.
‘If I just gain this power, everything will be alright.’ Renu swiped the wall behind him, and he felt the fear that gripped his heart disappear. Rage soon filled the new gap that had opened up in his heart.
‘How dare he threaten me!’ Renu waited for his subordinates to capture that organization’s human and bring that man to him.
There was only one path, and the robed figure had consumed a considerable amount of time by conversing with him. Renu had no doubts that his soldiers would be able to capture the mysterious figure.
However, the soldiers who stormed back to him had nothing in their hands. His soldiers not only failed to capture the mysterious figure, but they also didn’t know what was happening. Renu could not help but burst out in fury by shouting at them.
* * *
While Renu was shouting at his soldiers that they were worthless bastards, Zich quietly escaped from the castle.
‘They want to capture me? How funny.’ Zich laughed at them. His escape was even easier than he thought. After he activated the artifact Lyla gave him, he stuck his body to the ceiling on top of the staircase; none of the elves noticed him. After that, everything went on smoothly. All he had to do was quietly get out of the castle while the elves frantically went around to search for him.
Zich stared at the castle. Now that he found out that the castle might be related to the ancient empire, it looked different to him compared to before.
‘I was able to roughly get all the information I wanted.’
Zich found out that the shaman was in the castle. With this, Zich now knew where all the hostages were kept. Moreover, he was able to find out information he hadn’t expected to gain.
‘These guys are also related to the robed figures.’
By this time, Zich had sort of expected this.
‘But I was able to find out that the Iron Tribe betrayed them.’
Renu probably betrayed the robed figures after finding some kind of power underneath the castle.
‘I don’t think there was something like that before my regression though.’
Combining what the shaman said and Zich’s own judgement of him, Renu was definitely a coward. To be more precise, he was extremely cautious. Rather than taking a risk for a large amount of benefits, he was the type of individual to avoid all risks. He was a guy that prioritized safety over benefits.
However, a type of guy like that made all the tribes around him and even his collaborators, the assassin organization, into his enemies. That behavior definitely didn’t belong to a guy that made safety his top priority.
Then had Renu’s outlook on life suddenly changed?
‘Instead of that, I think the power under that castle is just that impressive.’
It was to the extent where Renu would think it would not be dangerous for him to turn against all the tribes and make the assassin organization his enemy.
‘But I don’t remember such a great power before my regression.’
Renu spoke as if he could immediately bring humans to his knees if he had the power. However, the Iron Tribe wasn’t even trying to bring humans to their knees right now. All they were doing right now was pressuring the tribes around them.
‘And if there was such a great power, there’s no way rumors wouldn't spread about it.’
Humans and elves rarely interacted with each other, but it wasn’t as if they didn’t interact with each other at all.
‘There are two possibilities. The first possibility is that the power is not as great as Renu hoped.’
However, there was a low probability that this was likely. If seen favorably, Renu was an extremely careful elf and if seen negatively, he was a coward—if a guy like that was so confident about the power inside the castle, there must be a solid reason for his belief. Then the second possibility was more likely.
‘The future has changed.’
Before Zich regressed, the elves could control the other tribes with the help of the assassin organization, but the Iron Tribe no longer needed them now.
‘In the past timeline, Renu probably wasn’t able to discover that power.’
However, if this was true, another question popped up in his mind.
‘Why did it change?’
So far, a lot of things had changed from the past. However, all the changes happened as a result of Zich’s actions. Before Zich intervened, people were walking down the exact path they walked before.
‘This place is way too far for me to even think that I might have played a role in changing the future.’
The elves that lived in the Great Adrowon Forest lived independent lives from humans. Was there a possibility that Zich’s influence in the human world reached all the way to the elf world?
‘The possibility is too low.’
Then Zich recalled Renu’s words.
‘He said something about how his tribe was ruled by humans.’
From what Renu and the shaman said, it seemed as if only the Iron Tribe was ruled by humans at one point.
‘No wonder they seem a bit different from the other elves.’
Unlike the Lake Tribe that wore light uniforms and mainly used bows and arrows, the Iron Tribe wore armor made out of iron and excelled at close combat. Zich thought it was because of the Iron Tribe’s unique characteristics as an “iron” tribe and the current location of their battles, but it might actually be because they were influenced by the time they were ruled by humans.
‘Then did those guys continue interacting with humans?’
However, that was also strange. Renu seemed embarrassed that his tribe was ruled by humans in the past. Moreover, from the conversation between him and the shaman, it seemed as if the other tribes didn’t know that the Iron Tribe was ruled by humans at one point.
‘It seems as if only the shaman knew about it…’
If this was true, then the Iron Tribe also probably didn’t interact with humans much.
‘Then the next possibility might be…’
There must have been an existence that allowed Renu to become confident enough to make the other tribes and the robed figures his enemy; an existence that appeared in this timeline but not in the past.
‘That power underneath the castle. Is that the variable?’
Zich predicted that the castle was a remnant of the ancient empire; and there was a power underneath that castle.
‘There’s a high chance that the power is related to the power of the ancient empire.’
Then what kind of power was it?
‘Is it a sword like Windur or Estellade or Tornium? Even though they are very good swords, they’re not enough to assure victory in a war.’
Regardless of how good the swords were, their fundamental strength involved increasing the strength of their owners (Zich wasn’t sure about Windur though.)
‘Then are they like the moving statues or the shadows we saw in the ancient tomb?’
Those things had a higher possibility than a sword.
‘I should go back first.’
Zich turned his back towards the castle.
‘I can check back later. If I save all the hostages, wiping them out is gonna be a piece of cake.’
After he wiped them out, Zich could take his time investigating more about this. Zich completely hid his presence and began moving.