"—Halt. This is the territory of us elves and no one is to enter without
permission. Are you here being aware of that?"
We'd been chasing after the blackdollified Bow Saint Canaan to the
great forest far southeast of Estona, but we were now surrounded by
elves just outside of the elven village.
We were originally planning to confront Canaan before he reached
the village, but he apparently had noticed us as he had hidden
himself among the trees, so we were unable to find him.
Shiva-san couldn't see his exact location with her 'eyes', neither
could we thoughtlessly destroy the forest to flush him out, so we'd
decided to come over to inform the elves of the incoming danger.
But as a matter of course, they were wary of strangers, hence why
we'd gotten surrounded from all sides like this.
Speaking of which, this had happened before too, hadn't it?
Back then, Iris and her sisters had attacked us with no questions
asked, and I remembered being extremely surprised hearing that
they were all giving off the presence of saintess.
"But of course. I'm 'Shield' Saintess Shiva. This is 'Bow' Saintess
Zana, and this is our darling and also the Hero of Salvation, Exa."
"Saintesses and Hero of Salvation…?"
Anyways, the one frowning while holding a bow aimed at us was a
fair-skinned beauty with sharp-pointed ears and light hair.
The other elves looked more or less the same; seemed like the elves
were all blessed with good looks regardless of gender.
"Yeah, that's right. Does the name 'Canaan' ring a bell?"
"Hey, Zana!?"
"They'll know sooner or later anyway, right? Rather than beating
around the bush, I think we'd best prioritize informing them of the
situation."
"…You're right. I understand."
I was thinking of at least preserving Canaan's honor as a saint, but it
was true that ensuring the safety of the elves was currently more
important.
When I nodded in understanding to Zana's words, the woman asked
with a surprised face, "How do you know his name?"
"We came here to explain that and give you a warning. So can you
drop your weapons already? We are by no means an enemy."
Zana appealed in earnest, but the woman shook her head, "No, we
can't. Even if you knew the name of that abomination, it doesn't
change the fact that you have trespassed into our territory. We will
have to bring you into custody."
"My, that'd be a problem. We can't afford to waste time.
"For goodness' sake," Shiva-san sighed.
Now that it had come this, looked like there was no other choice but
to directly explain the situation, so I yelled towards the woman,
"Please! Listen to us! A huge crisis is approaching your village even
as we speak!"
"…A huge crisis?"
"That's right! We came to protect you from the 'Bow' Saint Canaan
whom have been taken control of by Goddess Phinis! Right now,
we're the only ones who can purify Canaan as we have the power of
the Five! So please, please evacuate before Canaan comes here!"
"""""—!?"""""
At that moment, I could see all the elves, including the woman, got
shaken.
Then, the woman made an inscrutable expression and lowered her
bow while saying, "I never thought I'd hear the name of Phinis-sama
came out of a human's mouth… Not to mention this great power that
I can feel from you… It appears that you've spoken nothing but the
truth."
"Then—"
"However, that's all the more reason we can't let you pass. We're
grateful that you went out of your way to warn us, but we elves will
take care one of our own's misconducts. So, will you please turn
back and—"
Just then.
"—Guoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
――BANG!
""""""""Wha!?""""""""
Out of nowhere, Canaan—his whole body covered in a black aura—
leaped out from behind a tree and released a powerful shot of an
arrow at the woman.
It tore through the sky while flying straight towards the woman, and
was about to pierce her delicate body without mercy but,
――Clang!
"Huh…?"
"…Not on my watch!"
Just before that happened, my 'shield' appeared before the woman,
completely blocking the arrow.