Chapter 1.2 – Elite Elf Subjugation Request

Then the creatures wielded the swords strapped to their arms. These swords were so large that a normal person would need two hands to swing them, yet the creatures wielded them with one arm. With a single swing, they sent three bandits flying. It wasn’t the sharpness of the iron—weight and strength were overwhelmingly different. In close combat, the gap in offense and defense was immense—five times over, at least. With a five-to-one difference, there was no hope of victory. Especially since there were ten beasts against twenty bandits; the outcome was clear before the fight began.

“We need… magician-sama… Elf-sama here! We don’t stand a chance!”

“Right, now’s the time for Elf-sama…”

At the mention of the elf’s name, the hairy beasts hesitated. Though it was obvious, the name still carried weight.

Seeing them hesitate, the bandits laughed heartily.

“Heh heh heh… No matter what kind of monster you are…”

“Our boss is no joke, you know?”

The bandits boasted as if it were their own achievement; they were already certain of victory. “After all, our boss… used to belong to the Knight Order!”

Just as the bandits reveled in their triumph, quiet footsteps approached. It was strange—though the steps were soft, they were utterly commanding. Despite the carnage, everyone fell silent and turned to the source of those steps.

“…Hm, I detect a faint scent of preservative fluid.”

He appeared exactly like one would imagine an elf knight: tall, long-eared, golden-haired, and pale-skinned. His limbs were slender and long, and he wore extremely lightweight clothing. There was nobility in his movements, and arrogance in his expression.

“And those suspicious soldiers… I see, so it’s you.”

More striking than his presence was the wall of light shielding him. Each layer was as thin as paper, yet eleven overlapping layers formed an impenetrable barrier. At the sight of the magic barrier, the driver—Gaikaku—trembled.

“A magic user… huh.”
“…It seems you really are the elf who deserted the Knight Order. To layer a shelter-type magic barrier so many times…”

Both were specialists in the arcane. They didn’t just guess; they recognized each other concretely.

“I see… so you’re an assassin sent for me? I expected a former colleague, but it seems a deserter would not merit a noble knight’s presence. In that case… I’ll make sure this is so spectacular no one can ignore it.”

“…It would be wiser to return to your country quietly—why such reckless moves?”

The elf was clearly angry. He was just as incensed as Count Bolick had been. Though they differed in build, talent, and race, their emotions felt similar.

“…First, let me say: you’re right, calling the Knight Order here is reckless. They have many warriors equal to or greater than me; I alone cannot oppose them. So yes, reckless is the right word.”
“…”
“But… you have no right to call me reckless.”

He directed blatant hostility at Gaikaku through the barrier. He didn’t stomp his foot in rage, but his fury was a clear prelude to violence.

“You were likely sent by the local lord… but know that you are the reckless one.”
“…No, that’s not entirely true.”

The driver, Gaikaku, chuckled behind his hidden face. As he pointed his finger at the elf, a small red dot appeared on the light wall surrounding him.

“I have a chance, that’s why I came.”
“What…”

Immediately afterward… a powerful magic attack struck the light barrier, kicking up dust from the ground. The bandits under the elf had no idea what had happened. From an onlooker’s perspective, nothing could be understood; it seemed the elf was killed without a clue to what hit him.

“…Impressive, truly impressive. To penetrate ten of eleven layers of a shelter-type magic barrier with a single blow… If I had slacked off, that hit might have killed me.”

Yet the elf was alive. His anger was gone; he was surprised, but utterly unscathed. Most of the barriers around him were destroyed, but the innermost layer remained intact.

“A-Amazing! He’s completely fine!”
“As expected of a Knight Order knight! I don’t know what just happened, but we won!”

Seeing him unharmed, the bandits cheered. Conversely, the hairy beasts took a step back in fear. Gaikaku, hiding behind them, was also stunned by the barrier’s resilience.

“Impossible… That strike was equivalent to ten average mages pouring all their power into one spell!?”
“Yes, it was that powerful. Your calculations are extremely precise. My magic barrier contains the equivalent of one mage’s power per layer. You destroyed ten layers, so your estimate was correct. However… I am an elf.”

The elf showed Gaikaku a sense of overwhelming superiority. He judged his opponent not to be an ignorant insect…but someone knowledgeable enough to understand the power gap.

“Elves excel in magic; even the lowest among us have twice a human mage’s power, and an average elf has five times as much. Even so, such a creature would have fallen to that single blow, even if all their power went into defense.”

He spoke while gracefully chanting a spell. A precise, large magic circle formed before him; the moment it completed, a new magic barrier sprang up.

“But my magic power exceeds the equivalent of forty human mages… For someone like me, that strike was nothing more than a casual defense.”

“…Serving in the Knight Order wasn’t for show.”
“Even if you don’t match me, you’re still formidable. I’m genuinely surprised—I don’t know how you did that. But…”

The elf flaunted the barrier guarding him. “One attack like that is impressive… but you can’t keep firing them indefinitely. Your only card is those savage soldiers… do you really think that’s enough to defeat me?”

The elf once more began chanting, forming another magic circle. Light projectiles appeared on the outside of his barrier and flew toward Gaikaku. The suspicious soldiers tried to shield him, but their leather shields shattered from a single hit.

“Kyaaaa!”
“A-Are you okay?!”
“That shield… broke in one blow…?!”
“Defending with so many layers of magic barrier, yet this magical attack still…!”
“This is an Elf of the Knight Order… the difference in rank is insane!”

Hearing the soldiers’ voices, both the bandits and the elf were slightly surprised. It was because the voice was high-pitched and sounded feminine. No, more surprising was that anyone spoke at all. Nonetheless, the mission remained the same: to defeat and kill him.

“You girls all right?”
“Yes, Boss… the shield’s the only thing that broke.”
“That’s fine, then. As long as you’re safe, we don’t go into the red.”

Gaikaku checked on the “ladies” around him, then once again leveled his finger at the elf. Just like before, a red dot lit up on the barrier.

“…What’s that supposed to do? You can’t fire again.”
“Actually, I can.”

The elf looked uneasy, but Gaikaku just laughed. And the shot landed—exactly as powerful as the first, smashing through the tenth layer of the magic barrier.

“What the—?!”
The elf was still unscathed, but shock spread across his face. Seeing him flustered, the bandits began to waver as well.

“Impossible… this can’t be happening! Even if you’re a mage and don’t need an incantation to trigger it, you still shouldn’t have the mana to do this!”

Panicking, the elf chanted and formed a magic circle. He rebuilt the barrier for a third time and scanned the area.

“With an attack this strong, if someone nearby were casting it for him, I’d know immediately! I’m not alone—I’ve got subordinates looking, too—there’s no way we’d miss it!”

One shot could be written off as fluke. But a second? Terrifying. And now a third was coming. That fear was well-founded.

“You! What did you do?!”
“Who knows?”

Gaikaku mocked the desperate elf. A third blast struck. Again, it was stopped. The power never reached the innermost layer. Three hits that strong, all direct—yet not a scratch on him.

“Gotta hand it to you, elf. You can rebuild that much barrier faster than I can line up my follow-up shots. If not for that trick, you’d have gone down on hit two…”

Even so, Gaikaku’s composure never faltered. The shaggy soldiers guarding him were surprised, but none tried to flee. Which proved he could still shoot.

“E-Eeeeeek!”
“D-Damn it, this is hopeless!”
“W-Wait! Don’t run!”

Seeing the tide turn, the bandits tried to bolt. Pathetic and pitiful—but smart in its own way.

The elf recast his barrier for the fourth time, then tried to rally them—but his voice had lost all force.

“Well now, fourth barrier, fourth shot. Let’s see who’s got gas left afterward.”

Gaikaku was right. Even if the elf blocked a fourth blast, doing so would drain nearly every last drop of mana. In fact, by the time he erected that fourth barrier, he had nothing left to attack with.

“Fire!”
Gaikaku spoke a meaningless word. The moment it left his lips, a strike exploded against the barrier the elf had made with the last of his power. When the dust settled, only one layer remained—and inside it the elf lay collapsed on the ground.

“Man, you’re amazing. ‘More than forty mages’ worth of mana’ wasn’t just talk. Truth is, that was my last round, too… four I can manage, five I can’t.”

“G-Grrr…!”
His men had scattered, his mana was spent, one thin barrier was all that was left. The elf, drained dry, was powerless. Gaikaku, meanwhile, still had his shaggy female soldiers—even with his “unknown” weapon exhausted. The difference in force was obvious.

“What kind of trick… is this?!”
The elf shouted with the last of his strength.

“Tell me before I die! To unleash power like that again and again… how did you hide all the prep work?!”

“Hmm, maybe it’s stashed inside the wagon?”
“As if! That wagon’s packed full with those soldiers!”
“True enough… and honestly, I’ve no reason to tell you, but—”

Gaikaku pointed mischievously overhead. The elf followed the gesture, turning his gaze upward. Flat on his belly, he looked up through the dense forest canopy.

“?!”
There was nothing there—or rather, a huge hole gaped in the leafy “roof.” If that hole marked the shots’ trajectory…

“No way—?!”
“Way. Now die.”

The shaggy soldiers pounded on the barrier with the swords strapped to their arms. The final defense shattered easily, and the elf—unable to resist—was killed.

“…A miserable end.”
Even the hairy soldiers who’d struck him down pitied him. A worthy kill, yet a pitiable finish.

“That elf was a once-in-tens-of-thousands prodigy… and still died this easily.”
“Rarity’s just ‘wow value’—nothing more!”

Gaikaku himself had hardly lifted a finger. He wasn’t even winded; he simply appraised the result. “Like I said: give a man more than forty mages’ mana, throw that much back at him, and he drops. And it wasn’t ‘easy,’ either—you lot know that, right?”

Yes—far from easy. It only looked effortless. “All right, back to camp. That corpse’ll fetch a fortune—pack it up tight.” Just as the elf realized at the end, the operation had been a colossal undertaking.

※

Roughly a kilometer from the battlefield in a straight line, a cliff face bare of trees held several tents. Not little shelters for a handful of people—big tents where squads of ten could bunk. Several wagons—the ones that must have hauled them—were parked nearby. It was, unmistakably, a camp.

“Ah, Boss! You’re back!”
“Yep. Looks like no one hit this place.”
“We’re all good here!”

Gaikaku’s wagon rolled in. Greeting it were more of the shaggy female soldiers. About ten of them stood guard at the camp, ready for any raid.

“Ugh, I’m so thirsty…”
“Water—! Water with salt and sugar, please—!”
“I’m drenched in sweat—gonna keel over—!”

The shaggy guards from the fight dismounted the wagon. Everyone was wobbling, weak despite their size.

“Boss—can we take these off nowww?”
“Sure, go ahead.”

They tossed away their weapons and began peeling off “furs.” Yes—strangely enough, they opened the fur down the front like a coat and climbed out. Inside the fur suits were women nearly two meters tall. Faces youthful, bodies larger and more muscular than humans’, and short horns on their heads—clearly not human. But the real eye-catcher was the “clothing” they’d shed. Inside those pelts, thick muscle and bone were visible, pulsing as though alive.

“I say it every time, Boss, but these things are hot… can’t you fix that?”
“Working on improvements as we speak!”

Gaikaku answered, eyes shining—almost painfully bright. “Whatever—water first…”
“Yeah…”

Giving up on a quick fix, they focused on their immediate need. Wrapped in that thick “living armor,” they’d sweated buckets. Fluids and salts had to be replaced, fast.

“Oh, it’s Danna-sama!”
“Danna-samaaa!”

As the big women entered camp, a group like a gaggle of children trotted out to meet them. Each had skin tones unlike any human’s—clearly not human on closer look. They, too—about ten in all—served Gaikaku.

“Hey, you lot. Thanks for running the camp. You did great again!”
“Hehe! We worked hard!”
“Dinner’s already done!”
“We looked after the elf kids, too!”

They crowded around like pets around their owner, and Gaikaku petted and praised them accordingly. “Must’ve been rough. Without you, this plan was impossible.”
“It was rough for us, sure—but the elf kids had it worse.”
“They’re all asleep now, so check on ’em, okay?”
“They were so worried—every one of ’em collapsed.”
“Yeah, I know. They’re in the tent already, right?”

After doting on them, Gaikaku headed into camp. Inside one of the large tents, rows of folding cots were set up. Many elves already slept there, far from peacefully—exhausted beyond words.

“Good work, everyone. You did great.”
“Ah… Sensei…”

The sleepers were young elf girls. Too drained to sit up, they simply turned their heads toward Gaikaku. Even that took all they had. There were twenty of them.

“Thanks to you, we brought him down. That elf really was a monster—he took every hit all twenty of you threw at him.”
“What?!”
“All twenty of us—all our mana?!”
“No way… I thought at least the finale would drop him…”
“Never underestimate an elite. In the end the ‘Ogres’ had to finish him off.”

They’d given everything—and still failed to finish him. One of him was stronger than all twenty of them. Crushed by that fact, the exhausted girls looked devastated.

“Cheer up. You still wore him down. No question you’re today’s MVPs. You already took your recovery tonic, right? We’re pulling out the day after tomorrow—sleep and get your strength back.”

Harsh truth—but overshadowed by total victory. Cheerful as ever, Gaikaku left the tent. He walked toward the huge gun turret at the camp’s center. A tall wooden barrel like a chimney, fixed to a pedestal. The pedestal sat on a plank etched with thick, precise magic-circle lines.

“Hmmm… proven sound in theory, proven in practice… but once it’s known it won’t work. Yeah, this isn’t for fighting real soldiers.”

The phenomenon produced by that magic circle worked as follows: 1. Drain mana from the five elves standing on the circle. 2. Feed that mana into the turret. 3. Fire a guided mana strike from the barrel.

Put plainly, it sounded simple. So in both the recent fight and Count Bolick’s earlier “show,” the process had been: 1. Bolick or Gaikaku painted a red dot on the target as a guide. 2. A turret set absurdly far away launched a mana round. 3. The shot hit the mark.

An awfully big setup for what most called a “trick.” But anyone who saw the mechanism would have to admit it made sense. Even the elf they’d just killed had reasoned it out logically—“A hole above? Fired from a distance? Dozens of mages waiting out there?”

In short, neither the spectacle’s skeptical magicians nor the elf were thinking wildly off-base. A massive rig far away handled the blasting for Gaikaku and Bolick. Why had no one noticed? Because the mana round flew too fast to catch from above, and anyone staring only at the target saw it blow apart without warning. From far off—above, no less—if you knew to watch, you might spot it. But without that knowledge, you couldn’t block or interfere. The shot was coming from a full kilometer away.

“Forty human mages’ worth… twenty bottom-tier elves’ worth… no, even more mana than that. Right—twenty bottom-tier elves poured everything in, and he still withstood it.”

The man who built this turret: the illicit mage Gaikaku Hikume. He reveled in his success.

“But you were alone. When everyone combines their strength, not winning would be the real surprise.”