Once the mercenary captain was shot dead with a single arrow, the mercenaries collapsed rapidly.
The organized raid turned into a messy flight. Arrows targeted the fleeing mercenaries.
After the situation was settled, at the evening campsite.
Termia aimed at a tree.
When she released the bowstring, the arrow flew and pierced through the tree. It punched through the rock behind it and stuck into the ground.
The girl only opened and closed her mouth.
"Why did that work......?"
Because I poured will into it.
After examining it, Termia abruptly shot the bow. The arrow stuck into the tree with a thunk.
"Why didn't this work......?"
Because I didn't have time to pour will into it. I'd like you to refrain from shooting by surprise.
"Teacher, why does it work sometimes and not work other times?"
"You ask a difficult question."
The watching Teacher elf pondered and crossed his arms.
"I don't know much about magic or theology, but it isn't strange for an item bestowed by a sacred existence to be outside human common sense. However, why does it work sometimes and not other times?"
Teacher tilted his head.
"Did you perhaps think of something else in your heart when shooting? I heard from priests that the answer to faith can be heard only when there is utmost sincerity, devotion, and heart."
"Ah!"
Termia realized something.
"Come to think of it, when I shot the mercenary earlier, I shot while trusting the bow Tree gave me. And when it worked this time, I shot while thinking of the moment Tree gave it to me."
Her gaze looked back at the arrow stuck in the tree.
"But that one was shot suddenly because I wanted to check its performance, so perhaps it was a greedy and disrespectful heart. The heart influenced it!"
That's not it. I simply needed enough time to prepare. Yes.
The Teacher elf looked interested.
"Then pray in your heart like a priest would and shoot."
"Wouldn't praying aloud be better?"
"This is your specialty, so try according to your thoughts. That would be better."
"Yes, yes."
Termia swept the grass neatly. Pebbles were cleared away, and a clean spot was completed.
She set down the bow, knelt before it, and thought deeply.
The wind wrapped around her golden hair.
The girl's eyes closed, and her mouth recited words.
"Blue great nature, supporter of the sky, stepping stone of the earth, as one part of you holds another part of you in hand, grant me a miracle."
A faint will was transmitted through the bow. It felt ticklish.
Waaah? Waaah?
She's much better at this than I expected.
When she's this good, why did she give me those unfortunate play lines? Is her taste wrong?
With a reverent expression, Termia picked up the bow in both hands. Still kneeling, she aimed at the rock and shot.
The arrow flew and pierced the rock.
The girl's expression brightened.
"I was right! An utmost heart was important!"
—Waaah? So that's how it is? Wonderful.
"Hyak!"
The girl jumped. Like someone caught doing something bad, she hurriedly looked around, then her gaze fixed on the bow.
"......I must have misheard, right?"
—You know that's not it.
"Then you heard that just now?!"
—Yes.
Her face flared red.
The girl covered her face with her hands, stamped her feet, and cried out tearfully.
"Please forget it! I only said whatever came to mind! If I had known you were listening, there's no way I'd have said something that rough-!"
—Why? You phrased it well. I saw you in a new light.
"Aah!"
Termia sank down and felt ashamed.
When it grew quiet, the Teacher elf quietly approached.
"Can you see through the bow?"
—Yes, roughly. Since it was made from my branch, I think my senses reach it even when it's far away. I was curious whether Termia was traveling without getting hurt, and suddenly I could just see.
"It is perception beyond common sense, yet for Tree, you can suddenly simply see."
The Teacher elf's mouth fell open.
—It's nothing much. I was originally like this. More importantly, Termia, have you calmed down?
"No...... This is only an example, but it feels like someone read a story about conquering the continent that I secretly wrote at home for fun. I don't write things like that, but that's the feeling."
Ah, that was interesting. I stopped reading because reading all of it felt too sorry, though.
Termia rubbed her cheeks and calmed down. Perhaps because a new interest had appeared beyond her dark history, her eyes grew curious.
"Then it's possible for me to go around and show you things?"
—Yes.
The girl's cheeks turned pink.
"Then when we arrive in the city, let's look around together! I had been worrying about what gifts to give Droplet and the stone. If I choose gifts together with you, Tree, they'll like them much more!"
—Waaah, a wonderful idea.
For the rest of the road, they did not encounter any more groups that might be mercenaries or bandits. Perhaps the fleeing mercenaries spread rumors.
The elves were able to arrive at the city before long. A city wall, not incredibly tall but difficult for a person to climb over, wrapped around the city.
They stood in line to be checked by the gate guards. It was the line where merchants and others who had brought carts stood.
Termia sat on a cart and swung her legs idly. Her hand pointed here and there.
"There are villages with walls and villages without walls, and the former are usually larger and more central. So when people say city, they mean the former. This isn't the lord's castle, but it's a city."
—Waaah, wonderful.
It feels like I've escaped the countryside.
The elite Teacher listened, then quietly added,
"Commoners usually call military strongholds cities. These days, there are large cities formed without walls as well, but this is the kingdom's frontier, so it is difficult for a city to grow large without a lord's support. It seems people mistakenly think a city must have walls. Is that right?"
"Oh, really? There are places without walls too?"
—A city that grew on its own without a lord's support must be incredibly active and large. Wouldn't walls actually obstruct a city that grows actively?
"Not all are like that, but that is an accurate understanding. You see the world while sitting in a forest."
Teacher smiled.
Teacher seems quite favorable toward me somehow. He keeps up appearances, but I feel a subtle favor.
Is it because eating raw food loosened the twisted feeling in his stomach, and his heart loosened too? Bodily changes do affect the heart.
"Huh?"
Termia discovered something to the side.
It was a slaver organizing luggage away from the line. There were slaves gagged and tied with ropes.
It felt unpleasant, but was it legal? It should be a fairly familiar sight to Termia, but something seemed to bother her.
"Why are there only elves like that?"
The slaves were all elves.
—How exactly do legal slaves come about?
"Large numbers of slaves arise from trade or war between nations, but in peacetime, they are usually voluntary sales or criminals. It is strange that they are all elves."
"Isn't that illegal?"
The enslaved elves looked at them desperately. Because they were gagged, they could not speak, but their expressions very much begged for help.
"It's too early to jump to conclusions. Since the territory's troops are gone, elves may have gathered in a group, acted as bandits, and been caught. Or they may be slavers who mainly trade in elves."
One elf slave approached as if asking for help, only to be kicked and returned to the original line.
"This is why humans."
Teacher elf frowned.
"Not all humans are like that, but there are so many of them that there's also a lot of trash."
"Should we report it to the guard? Is that a bit much?"
Teacher nodded.
"From the look of it, that slaver has already passed through several times. Reporting someone with that much precedent built up would be useless."
But separate from that, Teacher simply seemed to dislike that slaver.
"However, if we're certain it's illegal, I could mobilize someone I know here. If it's legal, there's no more shameful thing, though."
—Really? If you are certain, you can do it?
"Ah, I spoke too harshly while you were listening. That is correct. If it is definitely illegal, I can resolve it."
Is he planning to use the crown prince's connections?
There's no more powerful authority in this rebellious territory.
If he wields that powerful authority merely to catch a slaver, only for it to turn out legal, his face will be ruined.
—Then I'll check.
"What?"
I looked over the slave caravan.
They must naturally have a slave ledger, right?
It was carefully kept inside the carriage where the caravan leader rode.
Woohoo, let me have a look.
Each page was recognized.
When I reached the back pages, I saw a list of slaves written not long ago.
Let me see.
The elves here were caught while moving to migrate to an elf village.
Waaah? Isn't that our village?
Even after the people sent by the lord's castle stopped coming, elves who heard rumors of the lord's castle support had continued migrating in search of a good neighborhood.
The number of voluntary migrants had clearly decreased as time went on, so I had thought it was simply time for it to decrease, but it seems there was a clear reason.
To think a slaver heard the rumors and was kidnapping them in the middle of the route.
I doubt only that slaver abused the rumors.
They could not become our villagers, but they were effectively our villagers, and the slavers had suddenly inserted themselves and were holding a feast.
A sense of responsibility wells up.
—It's illegal kidnapping. And they are elves who were trying to migrate to our village, but were kidnapped on the way.
Teacher panicked.
"How do you know that?"
How do I know?
—I can just see.
"You can simply see."
Teacher's mouth fell open.
—Yes, I can simply see.
But that's not the important part.
—More importantly, those elves are effectively our villagers, and they were kidnapped.
Teacher's face hardened.
He whipped around to look at the slavers and muttered as if chewing them up.
"They're asking to die."
My thoughts exactly.
—Now let's report it.
"There is a cleaner method than reporting them and having them locked up in prison. A method that helps the world."
Hm? A cleaner method?
Since Teacher is from an elite background, does he have some elite method I don't know?
Teacher exchanged glances with the group.
A feeling only elves understood passed between them.
Teacher took his bow and walked toward the slaver. It was a walk that feigned coincidence, as if he were going to handle some business.
Then, upon discovering the elf slaves, he froze and looked shocked.
"Wait, aren't you that missing one?!"
The shouted words drew attention. The people bored while standing in line all looked back.
"You bastards! How dare you kidnap someone from our village! Do you truly wish to live after this!"
His finger pointed at the slaver.
"What?"
The rough-looking members of the slave caravan panicked. Before they could grasp what situation this was, they became aware of the gazes around them and hurriedly opened their mouths.
"We've never kidnapped anyone from a village-"
"What did you say?! You kidnapped them, so what do I expect you to do about it?! Is that something to say! You shameless slavers! This is why you are slavers!"
Words completely different from the slaver's rebuttal were shouted.
Because there was a difference in voice volume, the people who had not heard properly accepted it, thinking that since they were slavers, it was probably roughly true, and pointed fingers.
"Who is in charge! Do you think you can kidnap someone from another village and hide!"
The panicked slave caravan leader hurriedly ran out.
"What is this nonsense!"
Teacher's eyes quickly looked over the other party.
After confirming his position through his clothing and the reactions of the caravan members, Teacher muttered in a cold and calm voice completely different from before,
"So you're the caravan leader."
"What?"
Teacher unexpectedly aimed his bow. An arrow was abruptly shot, and the caravan leader was hit in the chest.
"Cough!"
One corpse was made.
The slave caravan members' expressions turned blank.
Before they could understand what extreme situation this was, the elves shot their bows all at once as if they had been waiting.
A rain of arrows poured down on the slavers. The slave caravan members sprayed blood and fell in heaps. On top of them, another shower of arrows poured down.
The shower of arrows from those whose livelihood was hunting passed by the elves called slaves by others and targeted only the humans.
After not much time passed, only human corpses remained where the slave caravan had been.
The last human, who had been hiding behind the elf slaves and trembling, was struck by Teacher's arrow and collapsed.
Silence spread.
Teacher lowered his bow and smiled refreshingly.
"Phew! That feels good. It is resolved. I will call someone I know to clean up the corpses."
Waaah? This is an abuse of authority.
Now that I think about it, there's no solution more elite than abusing authority.
Termia, who had been standing blankly because she had not prepared herself quickly enough, took on an enlightened expression.
"Connections are important for people! Tree did kind of teach me that too!"
Waaah? I never taught you that.
I'm deeply worried for the village's future......