From the forgotten fifth elephant
If you haven’t seen my previous post, then please read it over here. TLDR: I’m moving to Xant and Minions. This site will still be here for all the previous chapters.
Also, YnO chapter 49 has been released on Xant and Minions.
Hopefully, the next few chapters will come out more quickly!
Anyways, happy winter holidays to you all! Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year! I hope your finals all went well.
Hi guys. It’s been a while since you’ve seen a chapter from me. I’m sorry that this is not a chapter, but I’ll make it (hopefully) worth your while to read through all of this.
First things first: After having started and maintained this site for a over a year, I have decided to move in and join Xant & Minions, where my side series is also hosted. Any future chapters from me will be on their site. I will hopefully be able to provide higher quality (read: gooder englrishu) translations there. I do NOT intend to drop this series.
Old chapters will still be here, so don’t worry ’bout that. Also, I’ll make sure the new releases show up on Novel Updates (which if you don’t know about it, it’s a useful site. google it.) You’ll probably see another post from me when the next chapter is out.
Feel free to talk to me on Discord on the World Turtle server (discord.gg/3hSbGWs) , or the Xant and Minions server (https://discord.gg/mdMV4jw). (I’d be willing to give those who join the World Turtle server a sneak peek at Chapter 49, if you ask) For anybody who still wants access to the Google Docs that I’ve been putting at the top of the chapters that still have the raw Japanese and the English translations side-by-side (for whatever reason) then ask me for it on Discord (or by email, but preferably Discord), and I’ll set up a way to keep that going.
I have almost completed chapter 49, and am about a third of the way through the Christmas sidestory. I’ll make sure that gets out on X&M’s Christmas release. Well, everybody, thanks for reading my series, and also thanks for reading this announcement to the very end. I look forward to seeing all of you at my new home!
And finally, to close with something kinda poetic:
In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part… See… Great A’Tuin the turtle comes, swimming slowly through the interstellar gulf, hydrogen frost on his ponderous limbs, his huge and ancient shell pocked With meteor craters. Through sea-sized eyes that are crusted with rheum and asteroid dust He stares fixedly at the Destination. In a brain bigger than a city, with geological Slowness, He thinks only of the Weight. Most of the weight is of course accounted for by Berilia, Tubul, Great T’Phon and Jerakeen, the four giant elephants upon whose broad and startanned shoulders the disc of the World rests, garlanded by the long waterfall at its vast circumference and domed by the baby-blue vault of Heaven.
— Terry Pratchett
Well, school started, lots of stuff to do, and hard lines make me lose my motivation. But you know what they say: Sloane’s Teddy wins the race. I’ll have to also do double duty and get started on the Christmas SS, if I ever want it done by Christmas…
GDoc here.
“I’m sorry for yelling so loudly.”
The requester was a woman in her mid-twenties named Laura. After realizing that Paul wasn’t a kidnapper, Laura invited the three into her home.
At her feet, a brown sheepdog observed the three adventurers vigilantly, its ears standing straight up.
GDoc here. Happy Eclipse Day to the USA-ians! (Not the reason this chapter was so late…)
Enjoy the new arc! (Arc 2.5, by the author’s numbering.)
AN: A short extra arc before arc 3.
The Adventurer’s Guild.
Wherever people lived, there would also be a branch of the Guild present, in the nearest town or city.
Wow… it’s almost a month since the last chapter… uhh… sorry?
GDoc here. Hmm… I wonder if I should keep doing this…
A meeting to discuss the recent campaign, and Petersia’s involvement, was held in a room of the palace.
Prince Alfred presided over the meeting. In attendance were ministers in charge of domestic affairs, bureaucrats, officers of General rank and above, and also certain nobles.
They were discussing whether or not to wage war against Petersia.
GDocc Here. Would anybody believe me if I claimed that I delayed it for USA independence day?
(AN: I couldn’t think of a good title. (lol) <TN: the title was marked with a “temporary” tag, since it’s supposed to be a placeholder>)
“I am very sorry, Sir.”
In a tent at the corner of the Imperial Knight Order main campground, Jade van Cliffdorf sifted through paperwork. Upon hearing a familiar voice behind him, he looked up.
GDoc here. To all of you who have been waiting so long for a curb stomp battle, here it is.
With his dying breath, the chief’s second-in-command cast an explosion spell.
As he intended, the explosion successfully caused his allies to return to Doria Village, but the sound also alerted Royce to the fact that the situation had changed.
Royce, along with the young woman who was waiting with him, hurried towards Doria Village.
Doc Google here.
Sorry it’s late! Also, I have backtracked and brought Onii-chan back!
This chapter is brought to you by your favorite friend, timeskips!
Hmm… my program doesn’t seem to be adding the separators for the sections… meh… I’ll change that later.
(AN: I didn’t think I would be able to finish this before midnight, but I did! [TL: I didn’t!])
The elves were gathered outside the cell.
Seeing Wynn come out pulling Leticia’s hand, they made a path.
Standing amongst the crowd, Tiara caught a glimpse of Wynn’s angry face and Leticia’s teary expression in the light of the World Tree, and started to go after them, but then—
She shook her head, and instructed the other elves in the crowd to avoid getting in the couple’s way.
As Tiara and the other elves watched, Wynn and Leticia walked to the towards the World Tree sapling and stopped at its roots.
“How pretty. I can’t imagine how many more breathtaking sights there are in the world.”
Wynn looked up at the World Tree sapling.
From its trunk, from its branches, from its leaves, many different colored balls of light — red, blue and yellow– spilled out from the all over tree, just like dewdrops of light.
Leticia also looked up.
“…It truly is pretty.”
She whispered in amazement.
Unlike Wynn, it wasn’t the first time Leticia had seen the World Tree sapling. She had even seen the World Tree in the elven capital.
But when she thought back on it, she didn’t remember feeling moved.
The World Tree would normally touch anybody who saw it, but she considered it as moving as a pebble on the roadside. Back then, she thought of the World Tree as a source of magic power for transfer magic. Merely a convenient tool.
Beside Wynn, Leticia also looked at that mystifying sight. She held her hand up and caught one of the floating droplets of light. Like snow, the light melted and and dissipated.
“Hey, Leti.”
As he looked up, Wynn started to speak.
“Leti should stop fighting. Especially in battles between humans.”
Leticia looked towards Wynn.
Wynn kept watching the lights floating down from the tree.
“You might be the Brave who slew the Demon Lord. Praised by everybody, admired by the people, respected by all. However—”
His gaze moved from the tree to Leticia.
“You can’t let them believe that you would wield that power against humans. You are strong, Leti. You are extraordinarily strong. If you got involved in a conflict, the side you supported would definitely win. I don’t have much knowledge about the outside world, apart from what I learned in school and read in books. Coming to this elven village made me realize how the world I knew was only a small part of the real world. I truly can’t imagine how big the world really is. Even if I had knowledge of the World Tree sapling, seeing it in person is completely different from seeing it in books.”
Wynn once again looked up at the tree.
“But I do know one thing. People can change their perceptions of you. Since you are a noble of the Empire, it should be justified for you to fight in the defense of the country. But, as Leticia van Mavis the Brave, you can’t do that. You saved the world by defeating the demons. You will not use that power against humans. That’s what the people believe. ”
“However, if people begin to believe that you could turn that power towards humanity, then the praise and respect people give you as the Brave can easily turn into fear and paranoia. If that happens, then it’ll be difficult to change their impression of you. They dread the notion that a power that exceeds human understanding could be turned against them. From the Brave to a monster— you would become the new Demon Lord. I don’t want to see Leti thought of that way by other people.”
Leticia thought back to the day the oracle proclaimed her the Brave.
Even as they praised her strength, their eyes betrayed their fear as they drew away from her.
―“Is she… really… human?”
―“Could she be a demon in disguise? What a monster…”
―“The Brave really is different from us humans.”
―“She’s definitely a monster.”
‘I— I’m not… a monster…’
‘They saw me as an existence that surpassed human limits. That’s right, shouldn’t I have understood that best? I must have noticed it before Wynn pointed it out to me, right?‘
Wynn looked at Leticia, who was crying while hanging her head.
He gently stroked Leticia’s hair. The lights emanating from the World Tree caused Leticia’s flaxen hair to sparkle.
Those who didn’t know better would never believe that this girl possessed immense power. But those who did know would want to obtain her as a pawn to manipulate as they pleased.
The easiest way to do that was to hold Wynn hostage.
‘That’s no good. Like this, I’m just holding Leti back… Becoming a knight is my dream. But should I just stop there? What should I do?’
“Hey, Onii-chan…”
Leti spoke right then.
“I understand well why you tell me not to fight. I really needed to realize that I had gotten Onii-chan involved.”
“No, Leti, it’s not like that—”
Leti smiled at Wynn’s words.
And then, Leticia—
Clatter.
“Ah… S- sorry”
Sherry said in a small voice.
Everybody was startled by that sound.
Sighing, Kelvin leaned back against the wall of the stone cell.
”Hey, Kelvin. Even though it’s been a long time, you don’t seem lively”
“There’s nothing to be lively about, being locked up in this place. It’s been a while, Rosefeld. Even though it’s been so many years, you don’t look any different.”
“Like I would change after a couple of years or so! — is what I would like to say, but you’ve both changed quite a lot these past few years. Especially Royce. How the heck did he become like that? I almost thought he was a different person when I saw him from afar, you know?”
“He became fatter from indulging in his fortunes. He’ll have to cut down quite a bit later… but enough of that.”
Kelvin then turned towards Locke, who was standing beside him.
“Please take Sherry out for now. Rosefeld, we will take the girl into our custody. That won’t be a problem, right?”
”Right now the Elders are occupied with the preparations for a reception, so…”
Rosefeld poured two cups of the wine he brought, then held one cup out to Kelvin. Since he was cold, he gratefully received the alcohol. Kelvin drank it all down in one sip.
The sweet and sour taste of the fruit wine filled his mouth.
”Was what that boy said before true? Were you really trying to use the Brave?”
“…Eh, well… ”
Rosefeld also downed his wine.
“I don’t intend to criticize you. It’s a reasonable course of action in your position. But for you two, it’s not that simple, right?”
”Yes. The first step was to find out the enemy’s movements from you. They are acting within the forest. There is no way the ‘Rulers of the Forest’ would not have grasped their actions.”
”Well, if they entered the forest, that is inevitable. We may not have caught everything, but…”
Rosefeld and Kelvin exchanged information and plans over the wine.
Once Kelvin heard the information he needed, he stood up.
”Thank you very much. You helped us out.”
“I was just repaying my debt to you two. I’ll also tell you where their hideout is. Please, have something to eat. It will reflect badly on the Elders if you refuse our hospitality. Especially since the princess is here.”
”Princess?”
“Tiara Sciurus Belfa. You call her the Great Sage, right?”
”I see.”
‘Oh yeah, the Great Sage was a High Elven princess, wasn’t she?’
”Kelvin. I said that it was a reasonable course of action to use the Brave, but the elves would never allow it. If you humans wrong the Brave in any way, we elves will take her side. Don’t forget that.”
Kelvin shrugged off Rosefeld’s suddenly lower and harder tone of voice.
He left the cell.
They could hear the sounds of the elves bustling about.
Even though they were separated from the main scouting platoon, and had to return as soon as they could, Kelvin decided that it would be fine to stay a night.
He would be able to get some warm food. Remembering that he had worried about what to eat when he arrived, Kelvin quickly started walking as his stomach growled.
It was the day after the scouting platoon returned to the camp.
“Sir, Lieutenant Royce wishes to make a report.”
“I don’t want to see him. I would rather eat rubbish than see his ugly face!”
He dipped a soft loaf of bread into the warm cream stew made with a generous amount of milk. The stew contained the meat and vegetables set aside for the high-ranking officers. Drinking down the luxurious grape wine, General Feyl, commander of the advance troops, started yelling at his guards when he heard the name of the subordinate that he detested the most.
“But Sir, Lieutenant Elstead wishes to report an urgent matter.”
“Shut up. I am in the middle of my meal. If he needs to, he may see me afterwards!”
“B-but…”
“Good morning Sir. While everybody is busy preparing to set out, you are gracefully indulging in your food, I see.”
Brushing aside the knights who were guarding the entrance to the tent, Royce barged into the tent’s spacious interior.
“Imbecile! Who gave you permission to enter! What are you doing, reaching out like that!”
Without minding him, Royce picked up a piece of grilled chicken from the plate atop the table and took a bite. He stroked his chin while holding a piece of the chicken.
As soon as Feyl saw Royce’s face, his appetite became replaced with nausea.
“Wasn’t it an urgent matter? Did you just come here to steal my food!?”
“I am very sorry. It looked so delicious— oh, this is delicious. You can tell that a first-class chef from the Logistics Division made this meal. You should share this with your men.”
Even though he apologized, he wore an unrepentant smile, and kept eating the meat. His every word dripped with sarcasm.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay at the back to protect the commoner last night! Why did you abandon your post?”
“Last night, the girl that we brought back told us the location of the enemy camp. That is what I wish to report.”
“Oh? Where is it?”
“Doria village. Two villages away from Torc Village, where we got the first report.”
“Hmph. How foolish.”
Feyl laughed at Royce.
“Now look here. This is the information we received from the main army. The location of their camp is written here. It is only a few hours from here by horse. We should crush them immediately.”
Feyl smirked and tossed the missive from the main force onto the table. Royce looked down and read it silently.
“We should immediately halt our departure.”
“What!?”
“Sir. Looking at the current state of affairs, it seems that our movements are being leaked to the enemy. Please think about it. There is a traitor within the main army— no, a rebel who was enticed by another country. Those orders may be a trap.”
“What sort of foolish drivel are you spouting? Which one is correct, the information from a village girl, or the information from the main army? Even a fool could tell!”
Enraged, Feyl shouted at Royce, but Royce’s expression remained unperturbed.
“Sir. There seems to be something amiss with the enemy movements. Why is the Petersian army attacking and annihilating villages? If Petersia wanted territory, it doesn’t make sense to act like this. They infiltrated our border defenses, and are slowly going around raiding our territories. It’s only reasonable to believe that there is somebody on the inside guiding their movements.”
Royce pushed aside the dishes on the table, and gestured to the knights who were standing by. Feyl frowned at Royce’s inconsiderate action, but did not object. It may have been because seeing Royce made him lose his appetite.
Royce unrolled a map on the now-cleared table.
“The attacks on the villagers and merchants all happened near the border: within the fiefdoms of Count Valessia, Marquis Remrandt, Marquis Cliffdorf, and regrettably, my own. But of those, only in Marquis Cliffdorf’s lands have merchant caravans been attacked, while none of the villagers were. I believe that the wise General Feyl can connect the dots?”
“M- Marquis Cliffdorf is the traitor, you claim. But is that all supposition?”
“No, of course it is nothing more than a conjecture. The origins of those merchant caravans also haven’t been investigated. But what is more puzzling is their current position. Up until now, we had just barely missed them. We are clearly being guided to that location.”
Feyl also looked down at the map. The route they had taken until then did seem to lead them to the place the latest orders indicated. But it could also be just a coincidence due to their pursuit.
There was something special about that location.
There, the border between the Remulshil Empire and the Kingdom of Petersia was unclear.
But Feyl’s disdain for Royce influenced his judgement. He cast away his suspicions.
“Silence. Nobody will listen to you. The orders are orders. We will move as planned!”
“Then, we should at least scout out the area thoroughly once more before we depart.”
“How insolent! We don’t need to doubt whether or not the orders we received from the main army are real or not. It wastes time and energy. We have five hundred men. They have two hundred. We outnumber them more than two to one. What are you so afraid of?”
Incensed, Feyl accused Royce of being a coward.
“The expedition has been decided upon. Anymore will be seen as insubordination.”
“…Please excuse me.”
Royce bowed. Dissatisfaction clearly lingered on his face.
“…Lieutenant Royce. What’s with that expression? I see… You really are scared of the enemy.”
“I don’t fear them. I don’t even know who our enemies are.”
“By the way, your squadron was in charge of protecting that commoner. I had told you to stay in the back, but if the commoner hangs around among the other knights, it would affect morale. You will protect the commoner in the rearguard.”
“…Are you referring to when we reach the battlefield?”
“That’s right. Life is precious to you, right? Honorable Count. You will comply with the request, right? You will be sent to the back to protect the commoner. The orders give you the perfect opportunity to flee from the battle. Rather, you will become a hero for saving the people.”
Royce smiled along with Feyl’s coarse laughter.
“I see. That will be fine. I do think life is precious. I will take the commoner to the rearguard and protect her there.”
With a salute, Royce left the tent.
“What a coward!”[3]
Feyl spat at Royce’s back.
Royce paid no heed to him and continued to walk away.
‘Good. I have now removed him from the battlefield. There is no way he can meddle anymore.’
Feyl looked at the orders solemnly. They were to use their numerical advantage to overrun the enemy’s camp.
‘Those guys are history. I have the upper hand. Soon, I will…’
Those thoughts made Feyl more determined.
“Thanks for your work, Lieutenant Royce. How did it go?”
Royce shook his head.
“Rejected as usual. He didn’t listen.”
The previous night, Rosefeld had visited Royce in secret. He told him where the the enemy base was.
“I had wanted to stay behind and observe.”
“Is there a problem?”
Royce recounted his exchange with General Feyl.
“It’s clearly a trap. What should we do?”
“We can just stay at the back and protect the civilians. I promised to do that. We can act independently. I don’t want to fight, but it doesn’t seem that we can avoid it. If that happens, Reeno and Wedge’s movements will become critical. Well, I guess all my preparations won’t have been in vain.“
Royce smiled at Kelvin.
Kelvin couldn’t be faulted for thinking ‘Whoa, what a vicious smile.’
Under the pretense of going to the rearguard to protect the commoners, Wynn’s platoon advanced and went towards Doria village, the village Rosefeld had indicated.
Right there, was the enemy base.
Reeno and Wedge were currently headed towards Count Elstead’s territory.
They carried a letter from Lieutenant Royce—Count Elstead— asking him for reinforcements.
As a noble with the influence of a Count himself, Royce had his own personal knight order.
It would be beyond his authority to arbitrarily summon troops, but Royce wasn’t attached to his own status. He would do anything to protect his territory.
Wynn’s squadron approached the edge of the village, observing it. They could see several houses, a few fields, and some chickens being raised.
The chickens were grazing outside the coop, clucking.
It seemed like an ordinary idyllic village.
However, instead of villagers, armoured men holding swords and spears walked the streets and fields.
They weren’t the original inhabitants of Doria Village. It was likely that they were all confined in one of the buildings.
Some of the men wore simple clothing and worn-out leather armour. They weren’t Petersian soldiers, they were probably the bandits and mercenaries that were colluding with them.
Among them, they could see a group of soldiers with uniform metal armour and weapons.
Unlike the unruly bandits, their disciplined movements clearly indicated that they were knights.
“Hm? That man… Where have I…?”
Upon seeing an aged man among the group, Kelvin felt a tinge of unease.
If he was from Petersia, Kelvin shouldn’t have met the old man before, but the old man still felt familiar.
The man who appeared to be the leader rode on horseback at the front of the group.
They were planning on attacking the advance force from behind.
The three people could only grind their teeth in frustration as they watched the group depart. The reinforcements from Count Elstead had not arrived.
They could only see seven or eight people left behind to guard the base.
It would be better for them to join up with the reinforcements from the Knight Order of Count Elstead’s fiefdom. Sherry and Royce had stayed behind to wait for the reinforcements.
Locke, Wynn and Kelvin quietly turned back— rather, they were about to turn back.
With a crash, a young girl was flung out of a building.
Two— no, three men came out from the door. They wore vulgar smiles on their faces.
They kicked the girl, who was desperately trying to get up and run away while screaming, and then leaned over her. They ripped off her plain villager’s clothing.
The girl screamed once again.
Wynn clenched his teeth, trying to hold back his anger.
“Those… those bastards.”
Locke clenched his teeth, watching the barbaric scene angrily.
“Please bear with it. We need to wait for reinforcements first. Then we can save them all.”
Despite his words, Wynn could see unbridled rage in his eyes.
“…I’m sorry, Vice-Captain… I wanted to… No, I will becme a knight who protects the weak. Before my eyes is somebody who needs help. I can’t just abandon her!”[4]
“Wynn…”
Kelvin sighed.
“…As a commander, I would have to reject that reasoning. It’s too idealistic. If you lose sight of the forest for the trees, you could lose everything… However…”
The corners of Kelvin’s lips curled up slightly.
“Frankly, I also agree with your point of view. Captain Royce might get angry, but if it’s just some bandits of that level, the three of us will be fine.”
“Right now, everybody is looking at that girl. They’re full of openings, Vice-Captain.”
Locke, who was monitoring the village as he listened to Kelvin and Wynn’s conversation, cut in.
Even the men who were supposed to be keeping watch were also looking at the men surrounding the woman, not paying attention to their surroundings..
“Let’s go!”
On Kelvin’s command, they all leapt from behind the thickets where they were hiding.
“Wha!?”
“What is it?”
Wynn slipped past the guards, who had their backs turned to him. He jumped into the middle of the men surrounding the girl.
He swung his sword. All the men around the dishevelled victim were cut down in an instant.
They couldn’t put up much resistance, since they taken off their armour and thrown their weapons off to the side.
Wynn slashed the backs of the men who were crawling away while letting out pitiful moans.
“You bastards!”
The lookouts came to their senses and tried to counterattack, but were stabbed in the back with the spear in Locke’s hands.
“I’ll leave this place to you!”
Saying that over his shoulder, Kelvin leapt into the building where the other villagers were being held.
He wanted to defeat the bandits before the ones inside realized what was going on outside and took hostages.
They heard angry shouts from the bandits and screams from the villagers, but it soon became quiet.
“That was easier than I thought.”
Kelvin walked out of the building, blood dripping from the sword dangling in his hand.
“Wh- Who are you…?”
An elderly man followed Kelvin out of the building. After him came an elderly woman, who rushed towards the woman that the men had pinned down and hugged her.
“Now, we should evacuate… but that will be a bit difficult, won’t it?”
‘Shit… I’ll kill them.’
One of the men Wynn had cut, the bandit group’s second-in-command, felt his consciousness slowly fading away. However, fueled by anger and vengeance, he held on.
He was once a knight of a knight order.
He simply loved to kill.
But during the war with the Demon Lord’s monsters, that personality was not a problem.
Rather, skilled as he was in the Knight Order, he was a hero on the front lines, where his personality was extremely convenient.
However, after the war, his personality became too much for the knight order.
When those times of spending everyday doing nothing but fight were replaced by a time of peace, he couldn’t adapt.
One day, he went a bit too far during one of the missions.
Instead of just killing just the monsters, he ended up attacking civilians and other knights too.
After fleeing the Knight Order before they could punish him, he eventually ended up as a bandit.
As a former knight, he was more skilled than the chief, but since he disliked thinking hard, he was content as the second-in-command.
‘I’ll kill them… I’ll beat them to death. I’ll kill you all too!’
In the end, he was taken by surprise, and would die a dog’s death, but he put the last of his energy into chanting a spell. It was an explosion spell he learned during his time as a knight.
Not much time had passed since the aged man had left Doria Village with the troops.
“Locke! That one is still alive!”
‘Too late! Go to hell, you bastards!’
With a ghastly smile, the man detonated a nearby building with his spell..
On the brink of death, the explosion wasn’t as large as he had hoped, but it was enough to bring down the worn-out building.
The building collapsed with a thunderous crash.
“Shoot!”
Locke finished the man off with his spear.
“Hurry up, please. That sound will cause the enemy to come back!”
‘How could there still be somebody who could use magic…!’
Kelvin clenched his teeth.
The enemy would be able to chase them down on horseback if they simply fled.
“To the forest! Hurry!”
They could only flee into the forest, where the horses couldn’t follow. Kelvin showed the villagers the place where Royce was waiting.
‘Now the rest is up to fate. I’ll leave it to you, Wynn. I’ll also rely on you, Captain Royce!’
The sound of the hoofsteps gradually grew louder. The sounds announced impending death, but Kelvin just smiled fearlessly and drew his sword.
“Now then, I think the chances of winning this gamble are quite high. I just have to try a bit harder!”
Wynn held up his sword, and Locke prepared his spear.
And then, in the corner of the town square, three men faced off against two hundred men.
Translator Notes
Previous Chapter||Next Chapter
Sorry it’s late! I blame my fun summer lab! It’s somehow more fun than school! Translating code from C++ to Java made me a bit too tired to translate from Japanese to English… Tehepero~
I was aiming to at least get this chapter done by May 31st, since that was exactly a year after I started TLing this series…
Well, after some thought, and to those who commented on last chapter, I have changed it back to Onii-chan… (I can’t remember if I’ve changed it in the previous chapter… somebody tell me, cuz I’m a bit too lazy to check…) I feel like Onii-chan’s equivalent in English would be a sort of pet name, and not Big Brother. I can’t think of a good pet name, since Wynn is already short.
I propose another solution, but I don’t expect anybody, including me, to like it…
Wynn -> Win -> Victor
Onii-chan -> Vick
This is a long TL note/rant… Anyways. For those confused by the timeskips, the chronology for Wynn should be something like this:
GDoc Here. I used to just use italics for spells, but due to the appearance of Elvish, I’ll use with <Angle brackets and italics> for spells…
Enjoy the chapter! I really enjoyed TLing this one! I think the arc is finally heating up!
“Please… don’t kill me… I’m begging you…”
The little girl cowered while sobbing in a weak voice.
Bewildered, Wynn turned towards Kelvin and Locke.
But they also seemed dumbfounded.
“…it hurts”
“Ah, So- sorry!”
Wynn realized that he was tightly clutching her right wrist, so he hastily let go of her wrist.
While rubbing her right wrist, the girl curled up tighter, as if to conceal her body.
“Umm, I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, uh, hey, I won’t do anything.”
With a stiff smile, he held his hands out and took a step backwards to show that he meant no harm.
Not expecting it to be a girl, Wynn’s heart was also pounding furiously.
“Your words… Are you… from the empire?”
Still crouching, she looked up at Wynn’s face. Her face still showed signs of trepidation.
“Umm…”
Wynn once again looked towards Kelvin.
Kelvin nodded in affirmation, and Wynn knelt down to meet the little girl’s eyes.
The little girl wore simple clothes, and tied around her head was a light-colored kerchief, acting like a scarf. Her clothes were somewhat dirty, but they weren’t dishevelled.
Although they were covered in tears, the girl’s large eyes were beautiful. She appeared to be around Wynn’s age. Her eyes were slightly swollen from crying, but she had an attractive face.
“We are from the Imperial Knight Order. I am Knight Cadet Wynn. That is the person in charge of our unit, Lieutenant Kelvin. And that is Apprentice Knight Locke. What is your name?”
“Sherry… Sherry Torc.”
“Sherry, is it? I’m sorry for scaring you. Is your wrist alright?”
Sherry nodded in response to Wynn’s question. Her kerchief, which was shifted when the blankets were pulled off of her, came untied and fell off when she nodded.
“Ah…”
“Your ears…”
The ears were longer than a human’s ears.
“No! Don’t look!”
Sherry shut her eyes tightly and covered her ears.
“A half-elf, huh?”
Her eyes were a dark brown. All elves had blue or light blue eyes. There were no elves with dark brown eyes.
Sherry curled up and began to tremble when Wynn said the words “Half-elf”.
“It’s alright, don’t worry.”
The three knights waited for Sherry to calm down. In any case, they couldn’t do anything else, and there was plenty of time.
After waiting a while for her to calm down, she eventually stopped trembling.
“Are you from Torc Village? Could you tell us what happened?”
Sherry timidly raised her head. Tears once again started to fall from her eyes. However, she was calmer than before.
She began telling them of how Torc village was attacked, and of the tragedy that happened that day.
“Hey, Rosefeld. Hey!”[1]
“What is it?”
“Is it fine to lock up the Imperial Knights there? If we end up clashing with the Empire, what will we do?”
“How would I know! Tell that to the elders!”
Rosefeld, the leader elf, spat out those words.
With an expression of disgust, he walked quickly as if to get away from the stone building where the humans were being held as quickly as he could.
Rosefeld’s feelings became stronger when he saw the girl who was already being held in that building.
It was hidden by the scarf on her head, but he could tell what she was from her distinctive magic power.
A Half-elf— or as the elders would say, a Tainted One.
The elves lived in the forest, but that didn’t mean that they spent all their lives in their communities. When they went out to hunt or forage, they would sometimes end up pretty close to human settlements.
Some of them ended up leaving the elven commune, yearning for the humans’ towns.
That was fine.
The news about the human world that they brought back was important.
But some people kidnapped the elves that wandered in the outside world.
Many elves were flawlessly beautiful.
That was because elves were closer to the divine than humans were. The ruling tribe of elves were High Elves.
That beauty would stimulate the lust of the humans, so elves were sometimes treated as sexual commodities. As a result, some of the captured female elves would give birth to unwanted children.
The result of a union between a human and elf would be a Half-elf.
The elves couldn’t tolerate their existence, since they were a mark of humiliation.
”Shit! I just can’t accept it…”
”Be it a debt we owe, or a retribution to be had, always settle one’s scores with others.”
That was the Elven Law.
That was why Rosefeld couldn’t hold back his irritation.
Due to the Elders’ old-fashioned thinking, they would repay kindness with hostility.
Rosefeld walked straight to the largest building in the village, where the Elders were, while recalling the day he had met with the elders. He thought of his brothers-in-arms from the past—
“Shit! Resist it! If we fall here, this front will crumble. The pride of us elves are at stake!”
Rosefeld cut down the spider monsters that were leaping at him.
‘There’s too many of them!’
He gasped for air as he looked around him.
His comrades had numbered almost a hundred, but only a third of them were left. Moreover, none of them, including Rosefeld, were unscathed.
It was a dismal situation.
Quite a long time had passed since the battle started. Elves had more magic power than the other races, but even that had its limits.
Rosefeld’s own magic power and stamina were already rock-bottom.
All of the other elves lined up with him were also breathing heavily.
Their enemy, spider-shaped monsters the size of a cow, had slowly cornered the now injured elves with their reckless leaps, and were closing in.
All the fatigue that he had ignored in the heat of battle came crashing down upon him as he rested.
The exhaustion he felt made it feel like his arms and legs were made of lead.
The spider monsters slowly tightened their encirclement, their fangs chattering. Their fear slowly intensified, like a silken noose around their necks.
The cause of it was—
‘No, I should worry about that later! We’re already lucky that that monster already left, since we would have no chance of winning against it. Instead, I should focus on the mess in front of us.’
He shook his head. The existence that led the horde of monsters was no longer on the battlefield. The monsters right here had nothing to do with that existence anymore.
They couldn’t hope for reinforcements.
The whole battlefield faced a similar crisis. Since the Demon Lord appeared on the battlefield, their allies were defeated one after another.
It was a hopeless war of attrition, a fight against despair.
Even worse, there was nobody near Rosefeld’s group to provide support. Rather, even if there were, they wouldn’t be able to help.
“Shit! So it ends here. Then I should take out as many as I can!”
Rosefeld gripped his tattered sword, and imbued the remainder of his magic power into it. Strengthening his body, he glared at the spider monsters that were about to jump at any moment.
”Let them come! Show them the resolve of the elves! Take as many as you can with you to hell!“
“““Yes Sir!!!”””
The other elves responded to Rosefeld’s rallying cry. They channeled the rest of their magic power into their swords, intending to fight to the end.
The spider monsters leapt off the ground, their fangs making an eerie sound.
They would fight to the death. Blood and flesh were scattered through the air. Another life, extinguished.
Rosefeld and his comrades desperately fought, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.
Completely overwhelmed, the number of elves still standing slowly decreased.
Time became meaningless to them. The seemed to have fought for an eternity.
Rosefeld lost track of how many monsters he had slaughtered.
The tip of his sword was already bent, but he still impaled the monsters through sheer strength.
“Behind you, Rosefeld!”
“Tch!”
He forced himself to turn around at his comrade’s warning— and his feet slipped.
‘Damn it!’
He didn’t know whether he slipped on the blood of his comrades or the fluids of the monsters. He lost his balance.
He tried to recover his footing, but all the strength left his legs due to fatigue, and he was pushed down by a monster.
‘So this is it.’
The monster’s fangs drew near.
The elf who had warned him was already occupied by other monsters, and wouldn’t come to his aid.
Rosefeld braced himself for death.
Then suddenly—
<Split!>
The head of the spider monster that had pinned Rosefeld down went flying as the gleam of a sword flashed by.
‘What?’
Crawling out from under the collapsed monster, what Rosefeld saw was—
“You elves! Get inside the wall I made! The medics will treat you with healing magic as soon as they can! Hurry!”
His saviour was a young man with long blonde hair tied behind him, and narrow blue eyes. Among the humans, a knight was giving out orders one after another to his subordinates in a clear voice.
”Humans? You humans… saved us?”
“Can you stand?”
Rosefeld realized that the knight held out his hand and called out to him to help him up.
”Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Saying his thanks, he took the hand.
The man who killed the monster that had pinned him down smiled gently.
Rosefeld questioned whether or not this was a dream.
”You might not be able to believe that humans had just come to your aid, but it would be bad if you guys fell here and we got attacked from behind. That’s why General Zaunas ordered us to support you.”
He judged that Rosefeld was the elves’ commander and spoke to him in Elvish.
“However, we were only able to spare two hundred men.”
“Thank you. This is plenty. You saved us”
Rosefeld bowed his head in gratitude. He had thought that there wouldn’t be any reinforcements.
He had believed that fighting alongside humans would hold them back, since the humans would squabble amongst themselves even in battle.
For those humans to have saved him—
“Hey, Kelvin, how long are you going to play around? You can’t do anything but fight, so clean all those things up in one go.”
The knight who was giving out orders a while ago walked over. To even an elf like Rosefeld, he was good-looking.
“Don’t say such an unreasonable thing, Sir Royce. I certainly do like fighting, but even I can’t defeat all those monsters in one go.”
“If you have the time to object, then just hurry up and go!”
“Okay, okay.”
Despite his reluctant sounding words, the young man called Kelvin wore a joyful expression as he leapt into the horde of monsters.
He must have used a unique magic. Every time he swung his sword, a section of the monster the blade hit went flying.
He was strong.
Even Rosefeld could tell that Kelvin was a better swordsman than he was.
Those monsters’ body fluids sprayed onto Kelvin. He didn’t bother wiping it off and instead leapt at his next prey with glee.
“Sheesh, what a battle maniac…”
Royce watched Kelvin fight for a moment, then turned to face Rosefeld, who was still slightly dazed.
”Are you the elven commander? I am attached to the Remulshil Empire’s Northeastern army, Colonel Royce. I came to support you under Commander Zaunas’s orders. We were told to come under your command. Currently, we are treating the wounded and allowing the troops to recover their stamina, but we will obey your orders.”
“…You human knights are under my command?”
He couldn’t believe it.
All of the races cooperating with each other to defeat the monsters was one thing, but one race taking commands from another race was completely different.
However, Royce smiled boldly while closing one of his eyes.
“That way, there will not be any confusion. If there are two commanders in this small battlefield, it would cause confusion. Since you have the positional advantage, and there’s no time for you to completely recover your magic power, you elves will stay back and give us orders and provide support. That is the most efficient option.”
The elves treated their wounds and recovered any stamina and magic power they could while they devoted themselves to providing command and support from the rear as the human knights fought with Royce and Kelvin at their center.
From a section of the battlefield, the army made of both humans and elves, at a cost, fought the weakened monsters until dawn and were able to prevent the collapse of the defensive line.
‘We always repay our debts. Especially a debt to our brothers-in-arms.’
Returning to the present, Rosefeld smiled as he arrived in front of the building where the elders were.
A bright flash came from the roots of the World Tree’s sapling.
‘I’m sorry, Kelvin. I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can. That little girl as well. What taint? There isn’t any such thing. That girl is innocent. I’ll get you out of there quickly, and then treat you guys to good food and drink!’
He smiled at the chance to finally be able to repay his old friend.
In the World Tree sapling’s roots, many layers of elaborate patterns from magic formations emerged in mid-air. The formations spun and shone in a bright light.
As the light faded away, two people were in its place.
“Hah, Thank you for bringing me here, Tiara.”
“No problem. More importantly, I look forward to meeting your cherished person, Leti.”
“Onii-chan probably hasn’t arrived. This sure is convenient though. Can we really go anywhere the World Tree’s roots reach with this?”[2]
“Well, not anywhere. ”
“I have to thank Prince Alfred for allowing me to meet Onii-chan.”
“I can’t understand human society. It’s so weird that you can’t move freely even though you’re the Brave.”
“Isn’t it a bit cold?”
“Transfer magic takes time. It must be night already.”
Leticia shivered slightly.
“Well, the sun doesn’t even shine here during the day, so the nights are cold. Should I get you something else to wear?”
“No, it’s fine.”
As they spoke, Leticia and Tiara walked towards the center of the commune.
Noticing the light from the transfer magic, a handful of elves had gathered.
“No way… The Princess!?”
“Why would she come to such a remote place like this?”
The people greeted the Great Sage Tiara, and a well-known member of the elven royalty, and Leticia the Brave. Tiara raised her hand in response.
”I am sorry for coming so late in the night. I had thought that guests from the Empire arrived, but…”
The elves looked at each other.
Four elves stepped out from the crowd.
”Ah, Princess. You must have come a long way. We extend to you our most sincere welcome. What business brings you here today?”
“There should be knights from the Empire here. Have they not arrived?”
”The… knights? If it’s about the knights that invaded our territory, then they were brought to the jail.”
“Jail!?”
Leticia, who had been silent as Tiara and the elves conversed, interrupted them.
“What do you mean by jail?”
“Princess, who is that?”
Brave Mavis.
The blood instantly drained from the elders’ faces.
“Onii-chan!”
The doors to the magic sealing holding cell were flung open with a bang.[3]
“L- Leti?”
“Huh? Lady Leticia?”
There stood Leticia, who should have been in the Remulshil Empire, panting in the doorway of the cell.
Startled, Wynn threw off the blankets and got up from the floor as quickly as he could.
“Wh-why are you here?”
“Are you alright, Onii-chan? Did they do anything to you?”
“Nothing happened to me. Well, I was locked up here, but…”
“That’s good…”
Leticia hugged Wynn with a relieved expression.
Wynn’s heart started to race as he was hugged.
“Wh-why are you here, Leti?”
“Of course, I’m going to help you, Onii-chan!”
“Eh? Lady Leticia is going to get involved!?”
Locke also jumped to his feet in shock.
“With Lady Leticia on our side, there’s no way we’d lose! Right, Wynn?”
Leticia looked up at Wynn with a wide smile.
If Leticia, who could destroy the Demon Lord and hordes of monsters, were with them, then no matter how many people were part of the Petersian army, they would be no match for her.
“Could it be that you are one of Captain Royce’s ‘tricks’!?”
Locke looked at Wynn with a cheer, but—
Wynn put his hands on Leticia’s shoulders, and gently separated himself from her hug.
“You can’t, Leti. You can’t come here. Return to the Capital.”
Leticia widened her eyes, and Locke became speechless.
The room was dimly lit, and Wynn was looking down, so she couldn’t see what expression he was making.
“Why…? Why can’t I go with you?”
But Wynn didn’t respond, and turned to Kelvin.
“Vice-Captain Kelvin. Was Captain Royce’s ‘trick’ to use myself to involve Leti— no, Brave Leticia van Mavis— in this affair?”
Kelvin did not answer. His silence was a deafening affirmation.
“You wanted to use Leti through myself— through me? Leti is strong. If Leticia fights with us, what about Petersia? Even if all of the Petersian Knight Order were to attack, Leti could singlehandedly defeat them. That’s why the Empire desires her power so much! But this isn’t Leti consenting to get involved after being asked. This is just dragging Leti in using me. HAVE YOU NO HONOUR!?”
Wynn clenched his fists, seething with anger, and bit on his lips hard enough to make them bleed.
Wynn had become aware of it. He knew that he was Leticia’s weak point.
As the Brave, and as a Duke’s daughter, she couldn’t just leave for the battlefield for his sake.
Society would— never allow it.
The Empire would want to use Leticia’s power. However, nobody should be able to use her power against her will.
If only Wynn, himself, weren’t involved.
Because Wynn was involved, Leticia prioritized him.
He might even have been locked up for that purpose.
Leticia couldn’t be free.
On the other hand, if anybody wanted to control her, the only existence that could truly keep her in check was Wynn.
Royce took advantage of that.
Wynn was used to summon Leticia.
“Leti, go back to the capital. You mustn’t participate in this.”
Glaring at Kelvin, Wynn walked past Leticia.
“I am very sorry, Vice-Captain. It is true that if Leti— no, Brave Mavis became involved, our victory would be certain. That’s why I can’t acknowledge this way of doing things.”
Kelvin sighed.
“Leti, come here for a bit.”
Wynn saluted Kelvin, took the stiffened Leticia’s right hand, and led her out of the cell.
Translator Notes
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This was the best chapter I’ve TLed in a while… So much character development! Some reactions below!
Impromptu TL reactions:
EDIT: Localization survey to respond to TL note #2
Oh, I forgot to mention that I put the more pertinent random Google surveys I’ve been asking on a page of it’s own. Right here! Feel free to answer these any time! Would more people answer them if they realized it was anonymous, or are people just too lazy to click the extra links? who knows…
World Turtle Translations 