Chapter 401: The Dead Can’t Talk
The situation in the kingdom changed by the hour. The war against the Demon King’s Army had seemed to be gradually trending toward victory for the human alliance, but the dire news that arrived from the Barony of Virgo a month ago threw the war into a deadlock.
The Barony of Virgo had been occupied by the Demon King’s Army.
Spica Castle was blockaded, and those who escaped brought the devastating news to the Leo Marquisate.
The elves, who had professed absolute neutrality, sided with the Demon King’s Army.
They didn’t merely take the Demon King’s Army’s side; they rode in alongside its monster forces and seized the barony outright. Together with orcs, harpy flocks, and the newly designated crow-like creatures called "Andras," the elves blockaded the Barony of Virgo and declared the territory their own.
Why would the elves do this?
The dwarves were stunned.
If the elves were going to take anyone’s side, everyone had expected it would be the humans’. No one had imagined they’d join the Demon King’s Army. Dwarves and elves, despite their different temperaments, were races bound by a shared destiny.
The human alliance was stunned too.
The Barony of Virgo sat squarely in the perfect rear position for the full-scale war against the Demon King’s Army. With a massive liability suddenly appearing behind their lines, the kingdom had to eliminate the Demon King’s Army in the barony immediately, if only to save face with the other allied nations.
Even the Demon King’s Army was stunned.
[Rok], master of the 63rd-ranked Andras Dungeon, had mobilized every monster force at his disposal to seize the barony. Taking the barony itself wasn’t all that surprising, but the fact that he had brought the elves into the fold sent every dungeon lord into celebration.
Why on earth did the elves side with the Demon King’s Army?
Why on earth did the Barony of Virgo fall and have its entire territory seized?
And how on earth had Levis Ann, the Holy Knight Commander of the Goddess Church dispatched to the Barony of Virgo, been defeated?
With everything shrouded in mystery, a single adventurer who had miraculously escaped Spica Castle arrived at the Leo Marquisate. Having barely broken through the ghoul siege to reach the marquisate, he collapsed in tears before the marquis’s knight order and the Church’s Holy Knights who came to receive him, pouring out everything that had happened.
"Levis Ann... that depraved woman...!"
The news the adventurer brought was shocking. The Church’s Holy Knights fiercely protested, insisting it couldn’t be true, but the elven pursuit team that had followed the adventurer on his heels seemed to confirm his words.
"Beings of the forest, I beg you, let go of your anger. What could have driven you to such fury?"
An old man with a curly, wiry beard stepped before the elves without so much as a shield. The elf with the longest ears among them, a high elf, lowered her bow and stood before the old man.
"Your name?"
"Gotdaihal Leo. A humble human representing the marquisate."
"High elf, Lune."
The one who identified herself as a high elf, Lune, declared to the humans in a solemn voice:
"Levis Ann, Holy Knight Commander of the Goddess Church, used the pretense of fighting the Demon King’s Army to lead a massive force of human adventurers in an attack on the Elven Forest. Levis Ann abducted four elves and violated them on the spot...! They were turned into dark elves!!"
"That can’t...! W-Wait. They became dark elves just from... being with a human...?"
"Because of this, our Elf Queen has judged that coexistence with humanity is no longer possible. Rather than become sex slaves to humans, she would sooner ally with the Demon King’s Army and protect our chastity!"
"Lady High Elf, please hear me..."
The high elf shot down the human alliance’s flag hanging on the marquisate’s ramparts. The flagpole snapped from her wind arrow, and the alliance’s banner fell limply to the ground.
"The Queen is furious. Nothing will stand in the way of our wrath."
The elves left the marquisate like the wind. With so many witnesses, there was no way to control the information. Orcs who had followed the elves loaded them onto wooden palanquins and departed for the barony.
"Oh, Goddess."
Humanity prayed to the Goddess, but the fact that the elves had sided with the Demon King’s Army remained unchanged. And the reason, that Levis Ann had raped elves and turned them into dark elves, threw humanity into utter chaos.
And so.
Amid the continuing turmoil, roughly a month passed.
***
[Center of the Leo Marquisate, Lion Castle Regulus.]
"Hrrrk!"
The old man coughed up dark red blood. His white beard was stained crimson.
"Lord Marquis!!"
The butler who had served at his side for decades rushed over, beside himself with worry. A restorative spell eased the pain, but over the past month, the marquis’s condition had only worsened by the day.
"I’m fine. It’s just a cough."
"But my lord, the blood is dark!!"
"It’s old age, just old age. ...Is the siege line still the same?"
"Yes, unchanged. The enemy doesn’t even dare contemplate setting foot in the mighty marquisate."
For an entire month, surprisingly, the enemy hadn’t attacked. Regardless of their fury toward humanity, the elves seemed to understand the Leo Marquisate’s formidable military strength, as they chose not to engage the humans directly.
As if their revenge on the Barony of Virgo had fulfilled their purpose.
"What happened to those we sent to the Elven Forest?"
"None of them returned alive. The scouts sent to Spica Castle were captured as well and haven’t come back. The elves and the Demon King’s Army are guarding the barony with an iron grip."
The Demon King’s Army may not have attacked, but they allowed absolutely no reconnaissance. The elves who emerged from the forest roamed freely throughout the barony as if it were their own land, loosing wind arrows at any human who set even a foot across the border.
"...What about the correspondence we sent to the Goddess Church?"
"They’re vehemently denying everything. They insist the Demon King’s Army must have used some scheme to drive a wedge between the elves and humanity. They say the scandal between Holy Knight Commander Levis Ann and the Saintess is also completely baseless. And that would make sense, since...."
"The Hero of the Holy Sword. ...[Taurus], wasn’t it."
[Taurus], the muscular male elf hero who had been personally baptized at the Goddess Church’s Holy See and revealed to the world, was traveling from land to land in accordance with the Goddess’s oracle. At his side, the Saintess accompanied him always, as though serving as his guide.
"Is the relationship between Taurus and the Saintess true?"
"According to the rumors, they’re a pair the Goddess herself brought together. Though it seems the Saintess’s love is one-sided...."
"...Right. A Saintess like that would have no reason to be in a same-sex relationship with a witch."
Marquis Gotdaihal let out a deep sigh.
[Witch: Levis.]
Because the Goddess Church’s knight commander had committed a taboo defined by the Church, and the resulting fallout drove the elves to the Demon King’s Army’s side, humanity was plunged into chaos. With a front line against the Demon King’s Army now right at his doorstep, Gotdaihal’s body and spirit were wearing thinner by the day.
"Bring me my clothes. And prepare some warm water so I can wipe the blood from my beard."
"My lord, with all due respect, shouldn’t you leave this to your children...."
"They can’t handle this. We’re dealing with a wily old fox who’s lived for thousands of years. ...If I don’t step in personally, no one will."
Gotdaihal steadied himself. Though nearing seventy, as a living witness to history who had led the marquisate for decades, the responsibility to overcome this crisis, with the kingdom and all humanity in turmoil, was what drove his aging body forward.
"Get ready."
Gotdaihal gazed through the window at a small group approaching directly toward the marquisate’s main gate. They numbered only about ten, but bearing the flag of envoys, they rode unicorns proudly as they set foot at Regulus Castle.
Heh.
The elf at the head of the group smiled at him. They were hundreds of meters apart, yet Gotdaihal recognized the elf immediately.
"The 2nd Elder."
Gotdaihal steeled himself at the sight of the elf, unchanged even after all these decades.
***
[Shortly after, Regulus Castle reception room.]
"A pleasure, Marquis Leo. I am Nifela, 2nd Elder, representative of the Legion of Wrath’s Cream Elves, here on behalf of Her Majesty the Elf Queen."
Nifela, radiating a rich, mature beauty, placed her hand over her chest and bowed her head. She was wrapped tightly in black cloth everywhere except her neck and collarbone, yet the deeply plunging V-shaped cut down her front left no doubt about Nifela’s confidence.
"Ahem."
Marquis Leo cleared his throat and shot warning glances around the room. His sons, disguised as knights standing behind him, were already falling under the spell of the elf’s beauty. Even the married ones.
"It’s been a long time, Elder. Gotdaihal Leo. I never imagined we’d meet again like this after our encounter fifty years ago."
"...Hm? ...Ah, I remember now. You were that young man who got lost near the forest during the Month of Rest. I recall guiding you out of the forest together with the forest guardians."
"Yes. That runaway youth went on to inherit the marquis house. ...I am deeply ashamed to be meeting you again under these circumstances. I apologize on behalf of all humanity."
Marquis Leo was the first to rise from his seat and bow. Despite his aged body, the deeply respectful apology left his family members with complicated expressions.
"Please straighten up."
Nifela’s voice was gentle yet firm.
"This isn’t something you need to apologize for. If anyone bears the blame, it’s that depraved woman. Yes, the original sinner who raped four elves. Levis."
"...."
Marquis Leo sat back down and regarded Nifela with sharp eyes. His common sense and reason still wouldn’t let him accept it.
"I’ve come today to prove it."
Nifela gestured to those standing behind her. Cloaked in black robes, they clutched their hoods with trembling hands. Marquis Leo despaired at the shame, the humiliation, and the faintest trace of courage he sensed in their trembling.
In seventy years of life, as the head of the marquis house, how many people had he met? How many things had he witnessed? And how many victims had he seen while cleaning up after the troublemakers in his own family?
These were elves, but they were no different from humans who had suffered the same kind of harm.
Rustle.
The elves, no, the dark elves, revealed their darkened skin. Though somewhat copper-toned, their complexion was strikingly different from Nifela’s pale skin.
"Sola, your testimony."
"...I am Sola, daughter of the 1st Elder of the Elven Forest."
One of the dark elves stepped forward and gave a slight bow. Wearing a leather mask, she glared at the marquis’s people, at humanity, with sharp eyes.
"It was about a month ago. I was patrolling the forest with my companions, concerned that the war between the barony’s forces and the Demon King’s Army might cause damage to the woods. But then...."
***
Thud!
Sola tripped on a branch and tumbled to the ground. Her bow was broken, and she could no longer run.
"Hehehe, where do you think you’re going?"
A chain forged from divine power was coiled around Sola’s ankle. Red welts were forming on her pale skin, but Sola couldn’t escape.
Thunk thunk thunk!
Silver spears rained down from the sky. The divine spears that pierced through Sola’s palms didn’t wound her, but they pinned both her hands to the ground. Unless she cut off her own wrists, Sola could not escape.
"Hehehehe."
Levis, the woman who had thrown the spears, licked her lips as she approached Sola.
"N-No, stay awaaay!!"
"You’re being loud. Quiet down."
Levis sharpened her nails and flipped up Sola’s skirt, ripping off her panties. With her intimate parts exposed in an instant, Sola wanted to die from the shame.
"Kyaaa... mmph?!"
The panties were shoved into Sola’s mouth. Levis crammed the freshly stripped panties deep into Sola’s mouth, then tore off a nearby vine and gagged her with it.
"What a hassle chasing you down. A little further and I would’ve hit the forest’s barrier, you know? Hehehe."
Levis removed her pants. Having stripped down to bare skin, her sex was already slick with arousal.
"I’ve had my way with fallen dark elves a few times, but never a regular elf... hehehe."
Shlick. Levis forced one of Sola’s legs up. Trapping Sola’s other leg between her thighs, she began grinding herself against Sola’s thigh.
"Hahhh. God, this is what I live for."
Levis wedged Sola’s leg between her breasts. Sola fought back with all her strength, thrashing her leg wildly, but pinned down as she was, the only thing her struggling could do was stimulate Levis further.
"Playing hard to get? It’s okay. You’ll feel good in no time."
Levis gave a wicked smile and pressed her sex against Sola’s. Like a forced kiss, Levis’s folds began prying open Sola’s soft pink slit.
"Mmm, elf pussy is delicious.... Hehe. When you turn into a dark elf, we’ll just pin it on the Demon King’s Army. ...Hehe, yeah."
Levis licked the back of Sola’s knee with a playful grin.
"After I’ve had my taste... I’m gonna have the adventurers gang-rape you, turn you into a dark elf, and kill you. ...Just like the orcs did."
She sneered.
"After all, the dead can’t talk, can they? ...Right?"
"Mmmmmphhh!!!"
Squish, squish.
In the quiet forest, the sticky, wet sounds of slugs rubbing against each other began to echo through the trees.