<
Guard post at the main gate of Vatinova Castle.
The guards, composed of two-person teams in each region, were invariably on guard duty.
"It rained like it was pouring down, and now it's clear as if it never happened again."
"The weather in this bastard's forest is unpredictable. Anyway."
"Well, maybe once or twice. Now I'm used to it, so it's not surprising."
"That pale boy must have a hard time."
"Kuh-kuh. That's right. When will I experience the weather in the forest like this?"
"Huh? What is that?"
In the middle of the conversation, the guard suddenly surprised and narrowed his eyes.
At his words, the other guards also averted their gaze.
There, a group of black shadows were approaching.
"Is it a monster?"
"No. You look like a person? I'll go and inform the guard post next door just in case."
Just when a guard was about to move.
"No. No. That's fine. You don't have to go."
"what?"
"This is our expedition that started early this morning."
The guards who tried to move also fixed their eyes on those who came closer from a distance.
Thanks to the clear weather right after the rain, my vision was open and I could recognize him right away.
That the group approaching is the Fellowship.
"Oh. Really."
"Go down and tell them to open the gates."
"okay."
* * *
Koo Goo Goo Palace.
Just opening the huge iron gate made the ground vibrate.
I could feel how hard the door was made every time I opened it.
Shortly after the door opened, a procession of the expedition was entering.
Barzan, who was at the forefront of the expedition, asked the deputy commander who came out to meet him.
"Didn't everything happen?"
"Yes. No problem."
"okay."
Barzan entered first, followed by knights one after another.
What happened in just one day, they were looking very haggard.
Of course, I knew that it rained heavily, but it wasn't just the rain that made me look bad.
The figures rolling on the floor.
Even wounded soldiers could be seen at the back of the procession.
Strangely, however, the young master of the Dimeo family who led the expedition was in good shape compared to the other knights.
One of the gatekeepers who saw it clicked his tongue.
"Tsk tsk. It seems that a young boy who doesn't know anything really put the knights through a hard time."
The other gatekeeper next to him also nodded.
"That's how it is. Anyway, this is why it can't be done. It must have been all wrong trying to lead it arbitrarily."
Henderson happened to pass by the two gatekeepers.
He glared at the gatekeepers and growled lowly.
"Hey. Say something like a kid or selfish to our young boy one more time. He'll turn his jaw away."
After saying that, Henderson walked past.
The two gatekeepers were perplexed.
"He. Why are you like that? Even until we left at dawn, he said shit about whether it was the young boy or the lunch box."
"I know..."
However, what made them even more embarrassed was what happened next.
The knights of Vatinova coming in behind Henderson were also saying the same thing.
"Hey. Don't talk without knowing."
"Yes. Henderson is right. Do it in moderation."
Knights passing by behind those words.
The gatekeepers stared blankly into each other's eyes, but said nothing more.
* * *
"Turn it off..."
Aria woke up to the pain that engulfed her body.
I began to see the ceiling through my slowly opened eyes.
she remembered.
"I... how was it..."
slowly, slowly.
Aria who went back in memory.
Her eyes finally opened as she recalled the last moment.
"Yeah. I helped that Pelas or something and shot arrows at the orcs with the gray wolves..."
From the moment I didn't know where, the memory was cut off.
While fighting with the orcs, he probably passed out again.
Arya felt her head pounding as she forcibly recalled the memory.
She lifted her upper body and looked around.
'Where is this again?'
It was a place I didn't know.
It didn't look like a roughly built hut.
I could tell just by looking at it that it was a well-built building.
Besides, a bandage wrapped around his leg.
This, too, was a new white bandage, different from the one Pelas had tied at first.
Perhaps the battle was won.
If he had lost there, he would have become an orc bob.
At that moment, I heard the door open.
profit.
She freaked out and twisted her body.
The wound on his leg caused the pain again.
"Keugh!"
It was Havertz who opened the door and entered.
Havertz looked at her as she came to her senses and smiled broadly.
"Oh. Are you awake?"
She rolled her eyes for a moment before answering.
"Ah...yes..."
"It's fortunate. What if I don't wake up for a long time? Our young master was very worried."
"Bocchan, is this?"
"Ah. Do you remember? The one who pulled the dagger from the lady's thigh when we first met in the cave."
"Ah...I remember."
"He is our young master."
As she listened to Havertz's words, she suddenly began to recall the moments that had passed by.
"... Focus on recovery as much as possible..."
"...Take care so that the wound doesn't get worse..."
"...How long do you think it will take to recover your sanity?..."
My memory wasn't clear, but it was all one voice.
And she knew
It must have been thanks to our brief conversation in the cave.
All those voices were what the old man was talking about, a young boy named Pelas.
Havertz said, placing a full water bottle on the table.
"You must not have recovered yet. Rest a little more comfortably.
"Consideration, thank you."
With that in mind, Havertz said goodbye and left the room.
"Whoa..."
Aria sighed and lay down again.
Her head got complicated.
But the most urgent thing right now was the recovery of physical strength.
"Okay. Let's take a break. I'll think about it while resting."
* * *
that evening.
profit.
Startle.
Aeria was still startled by the sound of the door opening due to the unfamiliar environment.
This time, it was Pellas who entered Aeria's hospital room.
He smiled at her as she stopped in shock.
"Calm down. I won't eat you."
Airia, who was embarrassed for nothing, answered his words.
"What do you see and believe that?"
"If I were an orc, I would have eaten it. But, isn't it too handsome to be an orc?"
She frowned at Pelas' joke.
He was obviously handsome, but... he didn't want to answer that in the current situation.
"What are you talking about..."
Pelas pulled out a chair and sat down next to her.
Then he put the plate of bread he had brought in on her lap.
"Eat. The doctor said that eating well will speed up recovery."
"What about the Orcs?"
"I won. Thanks to you."
"Well, it's okay to say thank you..."
"Thanks to me."
"Eh?"
For a moment, Aria's expression became stunned.
Pelas shrugged and continued.
"Because I did a great job."
"Ah... is that so?"
"It was. But that's the way it is. I never thought it was a woman."
In fact, when the cloth covering his face was removed for the first time, Pelas was also surprised.
I thought it must be a man because his voice was neutral.
It was Pellas who took this opportunity to reexamine his prejudices.
"I need to get rid of the habit of judging people by their voice."
'Well, I guess I got the elf right.'
It was thanks to the explanatory text on the priest's glove that Pelas thought she was an elf.
Apparently it was dummy data.
In other words, in the story before the revision, it was also about meeting the living Aria.
But isn't the person with the shrine's gloves an elf?
Then, of course, there was no way the hidden quest would be broken.
Because the content of the Hidden Quest was to receive recognition from the 'Elf' and receive gloves.
When it went exactly as expected, Pelas was in a good mood.
"How are you feeling? Aria."
She is startled when her name is called.
"My name...how?"
It was simple.
Her name had passed by as I progressed through the quest after a while.
Pelas remembered that.
To be honest, I felt like I had tossed this part a little, but I was rather grateful that he bit me openly like this.
But to Pelas, who knew her name, Aria rather looked suspiciously.
"Who are you?"
"You know my name. You must have heard it while fighting the orcs."
"Yeah, you know Pelas Dimeo. But you know I'm not asking that? What's your identity? Couldn't it just be the Count's son?"
"It's complicated. Let me explain."
"Even if it's complicated, explain it. If you don't want to die."
"Okay. First of all, our family's intelligence is very good. To the extent that I can quickly find out your name."
It was a lie.
No matter how good Count DiMeo's intelligence was, it wasn't easy to dig up information about the elves.
However, it was a sufficient excuse to simply pass the doubt.
In fact, Aria didn't ask about it anymore.
Still, her doubts did not cease.
Seeing her fierce, distrustful eyes, Pelas quietly drew the dagger from his bosom.
Her alertness increased as she suddenly raised her weapon.
Pelas shook his head and continued.
"Calm down. Don't you remember what this is?"
Hearing his words, Elia slowly inspected the dagger.
She soon found out.
That it was the dagger that stabbed her thigh.
"That dagger then."
"It's accurate. I have an eye for it. But..."
Pelas stopped talking and stood up.
Then, he heated the tip of the dagger's handle on a candle hanging next to it.
The handle of a dagger that turned black and then glowed red.
Pelas showed the handle of the dagger to Aeria.
"You didn't know this, did you?"
"This...!"
Aria's eyes widened again.
A new pattern appeared there.
It was the mark of the Shadow Alliance.
It wasn't even a few minutes after waking up, and she was distracted because she was startled one after another.
"How not?"
"I was beaten by them too."
At those words, Aria's eyes shook slightly.
'yes!'
Pelas hid his face as much as possible and cheered inwardly.
Her quivering eyes were proof that she was soon being swayed by Pelas' words.
Of course, this was all a lie.
Why would Pelas get tangled up in the Shadow Union?
I don't know if it's Leonil who sent me far away.
Anyway, as long as I had the information, I needed to make the most of it.
Pelas continued, maintaining a poker face in front of the cam he had learned from his previous life.
"I hope you don't make noise anywhere. I showed my hand first because the enemy of the enemy is on the same side."
"...I can't trust you completely."
Also, it seemed impossible to fall in one go.
But Pelas was not taken aback.
I kind of expected this.
It was just a matter of pushing through more flashy evidence and making them come over.
Even if he couldn't do magic, he was confident in managing facial expressions like magic.
In addition, the memory of the series before the Winter War remained intact in him.
"I understand. I didn't trust you from the beginning either. Until I saw that ring."
Pelas pointed a finger at her.
Aria's gaze naturally went down to her fingers.
On her finger was a shiny silver ring.
However, Aria raised her eyes again and looked at Pelas and answered bluntly.
"What is this ring?"
"Token of the Black Moon."
A word from Pelas.
At those words, Aria let out a sigh.
"Huh... I'm tired of being surprised now. How do you know this?"
"I heard from a benefactor before. If there is someone wearing the same ring as you, you can trust it."
At the same time, Pelas raised his left hand and showed it.
On his left hand was a ring that looked exactly like Eria's.
Aria muttered with a completely bewildered expression.
"How could this be...I didn't want to be surprised anymore...how could you do that...!"
Pelas raised a small corner of his mouth that she didn't notice.
'How to have it. I copied it. It's my specialty.'
Pelas' scheme to enter the land of the elves was beginning.
< Episode 19. I copied it. >end