Chapter 197: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Loli Hag Elf Part 2

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The volcano in the center of the Liseben Peninsula had erupted a hundred years ago. I thought for a moment about whether Dalaiya’s words were true. If such a large eruption had occurred, its effects shouldn’t have been limited only to Liseben. I felt like there had been something about it in the kingdom’s history…

“So now that you mention it, about a hundred years ago, there was a period when a huge amount of volcanic ash fell over southern Galea, and there were several consecutive cold summers.”

“That was the event that triggered the Ten Year War.”

The Ten Year War referred to the major conflict in which the Kingdom of Galea and the Holy Empire clashed directly. As the name suggested, the war itself ended after about a decade, but the spark it created lingered long after the ceasefire, causing numerous large and small conflicts. Could it be that the event that triggered such a monumental moment in history came from the volcano in Liseben?

“The time period overlaps, so the cause was most likely our Rana Volcano. Well, leaving that aside, let us speak of our empire now.”

With a small cough, Dalaiya drained her herbal tea. I signaled my attendant with a glance and had another cup brought.

“Ohh, thoughtful. My thanks. …The effects of the eruption were tremendous. Our imperial capital at the foot of Rana Volcano was hit directly by a pyroclastic flow and was wiped out. Even that alone was a loss so great it made us want to bury our heads in our hands, but…”

“And the damage didn’t end there?”

“Aye. The biggest problem wasn’t the lava, it was the ash. All the farmlands in the empire became unusable because of the fallout. Thanks to that, a terrible famine occurred. Our capital was destroyed, and then on top of that came a food crisis… There was no one left who could possibly take control of the situation.”

Dalaiya let out a deep sigh, her adorable face tightening with bitterness. For long-lived Elves, a hundred years probably didn’t feel like such a distant past.

“As a result, the empire collapsed. A fierce civil war broke out. It was a horrifying and tragic struggle in which our own kin fought one another for food. …No, it would have been better if it were only Elves. The real problem was the hume. They had short lifespans and weak bodies. The number of hume living in our empire dropped to less than ten percent in a very short time.”

“O-only ten percent…”

Gilberto swallowed hard. If this story was true, it was incredible. If this had happened in a nation of short-lived races like Dragonewts or Beastkin, it wouldn’t have been strange if hume had vanished entirely from the region.

“The drastic loss of farmland caused chronic food shortages, and the civil war dragged on terribly long. When the war finally ended and the New Elfenia Empire was founded… Hmm… was it two or three years ago, Uru?”

“The founding of the New Elfenia Empire happened the year I was born. Do I look like I’m two or three years old to you?”

“…You do not.”

The crow-girl sighed and shot me a quick glance.

“Great Grandma-sama’s mind is sharp, but she’s lived too long, and her sense of time’s gone all blurry. Best listen to only half of what she says.”

Her speech was heavily accented. I could sort of grasp what she meant, but I wasn’t completely sure. Confused, I still nodded, and Dalaiya waved her hand with a wry smile.

“It’s an Elf accent. Hard to understand for you lot, I’m sure. Hume here, as well as Elves and Birdfolk, all speak like this. Best get used to it now.”

Was it like a dialect? Well, this world didn’t have anything like a convenient universal language. The fact that we could communicate at all—even roughly—was something to be grateful for.

If the crow-girl’s speech was the standard here, then Dalaiya had been deliberately using easier language for our sake. Hmm… Sending someone we could communicate with easily meant the other side at least had the will to negotiate, didn’t it? Though all our information about the New Elfenia Empire came from Dalaiya herself. It was possible she was feeding us lies. We would need to remain cautious.

“But leaving that aside, the problem is the current state of our country. The civil war ended somehow, but the political situation remained unstable. And since we had been fighting continuously for nearly a hundred years, the reconstruction of our farmland had barely progressed.”

“So the food shortage continues.”

“Aye. While we were absorbed in civil war for decades, most of our farmland returned to forest… Now we have reverted to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Compared to when I was born… Around five hundred years ago, we are living far more primitively now.”

“Great Grandma-sama was born before Elf potato was introduced, wasn’t she? You’re definitely over a thousand years old at least.”

Dalaiya’s face went pale.

“…Surely you jest?”

“Why would I need to lie?”

“So I’ve already reached four digits in age… Perhaps it’s about time I passed on…”

With an unbelievably sour expression, Dalaiya gulped down her negotiation tea.

…Wait, what? She was over a thousand years old? That was insanely attractive! No, no, this was not the time for that. A long lifespan meant she possessed an immense accumulation of experience. If we fought, she would undoubtedly be a formidable opponent.

“A-anyway, my age doesn’t matter. Let us return to the topic.”

“R-right…”

“The food shortage is dire, but there is another problem. The Hume population is not recovering—rather, it continues to decrease. At this rate, the New Elfenia Empire will perish in less than a century after its founding.”

If they lived for more than a thousand years, then the shortage of men shouldn’t be such a critical issue… Yet the Elves were actively kidnapping males. There had to be a reason.

Something’s off…

With the information we had, nothing was certain. We needed further investigation.

“That being said, you can’t just take people or goods from someone else’s land.”

I shot a glance toward Lenael and then glared at Dalaiya. If everything she said was true, the Elves deserved sympathy. But I was the lord of Liseben and had a duty to protect my people. No matter the reason, if they pointed weapons at us, the Elves were the enemy.

“Well, that is true. Whether Elf or Dragonewt, if pushed into a life-or-death situation, one’s instincts grow closer to that of a beast. Ethics are cast aside in an instant. …However…”

“However?”

“There are indeed those who lament our current state. Our Empress has expressed the desire to hold talks with you. What say you, Castellan of Liseben? Would you accept this proposal?”

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