Chương 87: Death of the Monster

POV: Evelisse Ardentia"I have no idea about the attack!" the elf insisted, hands waving frantically in front of her. I noticed her gaze kept flicking toward the three unconscious elves slumped by the wall. Either she's worried for them or maybe it's something else entirely.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Milo's voice had an edge I wasn't used to hearing.

"Those are your own people. Are you telling me you don't recognize them?" The elf glanced at the three again, and something crossed her face, torn between recognition and disbelief.

"I do know them. But they shouldn't—""Then you know why they're here." Milo took a step closer.

"I need you to stop pretending you're clueless and tell me why they came to take everyone."

"But I don't know! I—I'm not even supposed to be here in the first place!"

"Are you stalling? Do you have more friends on the way?"

"No! I'm telling you the truth!"

"You told us before that your friends would come to save you," Milo pressed.

"So are you saying these aren't your friends?"

"They're... well..." A flame bloomed to life in Milo's palm. The elf's eyes flew wide with terror. And Milo had a look on his face I'd never seen from him before. Fierce, and desperate, and lost, like he had no idea what to do and had simply decided to make something happen through sheer force. It was so far from his usual self that it barely looked like him at all.

Losing Nyx had struck him harder than I'd realized, and somewhere deep down, I felt a small, ugly pang at that—at how much it was clearly affecting him—and I crushed it down the instant I noticed it. Someone he cared about had just been taken. This was no time to be feeling something so petty. I should have been helping him, not... whatever that was.

"I need you to tell me everything." Milo's voice had gone low and dangerous.

"I've tried to do this the peaceful way, but if you won't cooperate, then I've got no choice but to—""Milo." He looked over at me, and the moment our eyes met, I shook my head, slowly. I watched the tension bleed out of his face, the fury thinning from his eyes.

"Let's just…cool off for a moment," I said. Milo looked back at the cowering elf, and, now that I thought about it, this wasn't at all how I'd have expected her to behave. During the first interrogation, she'd sworn up and down she could endure any amount of pain. Yet here she was, shaking, genuinely terrified of a single threat from Milo. Maybe it was the contrast between Milo's ordinary self against this tense, frightening version of him. Or maybe this was the real her, and the bravado had only ever been a front.

"... Right. Sorry. I got too heated just now," Milo said.

"T-That's right!" The elf seized on it.

"I truly didn't know why they attacked! I heard the plates shattering, so I peeked out—and the second I saw a dart, I knew it was the other elves, so I bolted for the wardrobe!"

"Why would you hide?" Milo frowned.

"Couldn't you just tell them to stand down? That we're supposed to be heading to Silvanis together tomorrow?"

"W-well..." She wilted.

"They wouldn't have listened to me anyway."

"Do you know where they're taking them?" I asked.

"Silvanis, most likely. I've no idea why they'd take your friends, but... I think someone must have ordered them to." Someone giving orders. But who? Milo was supposed to be the only figure in the prophecy, so capturing the others made no sense at all. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"These three." I nodded at the unconscious elves.

"You said you know them. Who are they?" The elf's expression flickered, and she looked away.

"You need to tell us everything," I said, keeping my voice even.

"Because I get the distinct feeling you've been hiding an awful lot from us."

"I— I think it'd just be faster to ask them, honestly." At that, Milo glanced at me, and I understood exactly what the look meant. Waking them would take a good, hard physical shock, and the usual method was a slap. But unlike the hostage from before, there wasn't a single male elf among the three. Milo, clearly, was reluctant to strike them. So I stepped forward and did it myself to one of the elves, the one with a blonde ponytail. The room was silent, and I thought I might have put too much force behind it.

A pang of guilt settled over me shortly after the slap, but then the elf groaned, and as soon as she opened her eyes—"Wha— a disgusting human!" Her gaze darted around the room, and the instant she realized she wasn't bound, she was on her feet. Without Mel's sealing magic to hold her, I knew exactly what she'd try, so I swept her legs out from under her before she could, sending her chin cracking against the floorboards. Then I dropped onto her back, pinned both her arms, and held her there.

"Sorry, but we need information from you. Please, just tell us about—""We will not endanger our kingdom! Least of all for despicable creatures like you!" This was going to take a while, and we didn't have that much time to spare. Then the elf's eyes landed on Faylen, half-hidden beside Milo, and I saw Faylen flinch and try to shrink further behind him.

"Faylen?" The pinned elf's voice sharpened.

"So you've been here this whole time. Throwing in with the humans now, are you? I should have known a day like this would come." Faylen hesitated. Then, slowly, she edged forward, peeking out from behind Milo, who looked every bit as lost as I.

"I— I'm not siding with them! I'm doing espionage!" Faylen's voice cracked.

"And I think—I think I've found the prophesied one!"

"How could a worthless falseborn like you ever find the elves' chosen savior?" the pinned elf spat.

"You'll bring ruin down on all of us, exactly like your mother and her—""It was not her fault!" Faylen shouted. They clearly weren't on good terms.

"No?" The elf's lip curled.

"Then look at what's become of Silvanis, and tell me to my face it wasn't her treachery that set it in motion." Faylen fell silent. Her mouth worked, some retort forming and dissolving before it could reach her lips. As much as I wanted to understand whatever was between them, finding Nyx was the more urgent thing by far. So I cut in. I pulled up on the pinned elf's arms, and she hissed sharply through her teeth at the strain.

"I'm sorry, but we truly need to find our friend." I kept my voice level, even as I held her fast.

"I give you my word we won't bring any harm to your kingdom. Just…tell us why did you take her? And how do we get her back? I'm certain we can reach some kind of mutual—""Eat filth, human. You'll get nothing out of me." I let out a slow breath and glanced up at Milo. He met my eyes and gave a small shrug. Right. We might have to use the method that had worked the last time.

"HAHAHA! I'll tell! I'll t-tehehell! Just—stohohop!" The elf thrashed her head in every direction, her ponytail whipping at the empty air, while I danced my fingers along her exposed soles. I was reluctant to do this, but we were indeed short of time, and if this was the most effective way to make the elf talk, then we didn't have a choice. With Faylen and Milo helping, we'd managed to bind her arms behind her back and tie her legs together.

I was just about to stop when Faylen scooted up beside me and slid her fingers between the elf's toes, nails scratching into the gaps.

"Oh! Ohohoho— d-damn you, Faylen! Not the gaps! Pfft— ahahahaha! S-stahp, please, stahahahap!" I'd already lifted my hands away. Faylen paid the pleas no mind at all; if anything, she quickened her fingers, driving the poor elf into an absolute frenzy. She clearly intended to take revenge for all the insults earlier. A while later, the elf sagged, chest heaving, her face flushed and streaked with tears, strands of hair plastered to her damp forehead.

Faylen, having had her fill, had withdrawn to sit cross-legged on the floorboards, looking at the elf with a deeply satisfied smirk.

"Please. Tell us about it," I said.

"Yeah, Esta." Faylen's smirk sharpened.

"Tell us about it."

"... It's the Hero," Esta said at last, still catching her breath.

"What?" Milo said.

"The Hero. He came to Silvanis yesterday and saved a number of our people from Ladon's heads." Ywain... had gone to the elven kingdom?

"So you're doing his bidding," I said slowly, "because he rescued a few elves from Ladon?" Esta shook her head.

"No. We were grateful, of course, but that alone would never have been enough for the Elder to lend the elves to another's cause."

"Then what convinced them?" The elf looked up at us, and there was something almost triumphant in it.

"The Hero slew the monster. Ladon is dead, and the prophecy is no longer needed."