NOVEL WEB Chapter 102 - The Don’s Report
The Don’s Report
How should I answer? How can I… get through to them?
I couldn’t find the words.
“I’m sorry… You must be confused, being told something like that so suddenly. And everyone’s watching. But I want you to know this.”
Dad looked at me with a serious expression.
“Everyone here, their attitude towards you won’t change, no matter who you are. Because we’ve always interacted with you, you know?”
He said this and then smiled faintly.
“I believe in you.”
—I believe in you, Megu—
His words overlapped with something he’d said to me, a long time ago.
What if I’m a bad person? What if it’s wrong to believe in me so readily? Well, that’s just how Dad is. He always chose people based on gut feelings, and he was almost always right.
I was about to speak, when Dr. Ludo interrupted apologetically.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but… Don, it seems like Juma and the others are back.”
“What timing. Well, it’s best if we all hear this, and I want to hear their report too.”
I felt like I’d missed a perfect opportunity to tell them. Dr. Ludo must have interrupted because I was silent. And I was relieved. I just wasn’t ready yet. As I let out a sigh, Dad, who’d apparently noticed, knelt down and placed his hand on my head.
“The mood’s changed, hasn’t it? I wanted to hear what you had to say, but…”
“I’m sorry,” my dad said, lowering his eyebrows, and I shook my head in a hurry.
“It’s okii, But… can I tell you later…?”
“Of course. It’s a promise.”
And so, I smiled with him, “Fufu.”
Yeah, I can stay like this, for a little longer.
“We’re back.”
“Ooh, everyone’s here. It’s been a while, Demon King-sama!”
“Mmph! Mmmm! Mmmm!”
A while later, Kei-san, Nika-san, and Juma-kun, whose mouth was covered by a large white snake, his entire body bound by countless smaller ones, arrived. Wh-Why!? As I stared in shock, my eyes met Kei-san’s. Their gentle smile seemed a bit… terrifying.
“Maryla-chan went straight to the infirmary. She’s fine, right, Ludo?”
“Yeah, I’ll hear about it later.”
Judging from his tone, Maryla-san was okay too. It looked like no one was injured, so I was relieved. Juma-kun? Yeah, I’m glad he’s okay too!!
“Ooh, it’s been a while since we’ve had a reunion like this. Release him, Kei. But Juma… don’t say anything until I ask you to, alright? It’ll disrupt the flow. We have to do things in order.”
Juma-kun nodded vigorously, “Bun, bun,” when Dad said this.
“Got it, Don. There you go, Juma. I apologize for the rough treatment, but we couldn’t restrain you otherwise, and we needed you to calm down, or you wouldn’t have listened to us.”
“Well, figuring out how to quickly and quietly capture a rampaging oni. It was quite an enjoyable task. Much easier than searching for medicinal herbs!”
“We knew where he was before we even sensed his presence, we could hear the sounds of battle.”
Ah, a rampaging Juma-kun. Th-That sounds scary… Did he even transform into his true form? And those two managed to subdue him. Amazing.
“Good work, both of you. …Were you noticed?”
“Hmm, probably. I’m sure they had a perimeter set up. There’s no way they wouldn’t have noticed.”
“It didn’t feel like we were being watched, but they must have known. Even if Juma had been behaving, that’s their territory. They’d have known.”
The two of them seemed like they were answering Saura-san’s question honestly. I’m sure “they” referred to the High Elves. The northern mountains are like the High Elves’ backyard, huh?
“Well, it can’t be helped. And it doesn’t matter. We’re planning to invade eventually anyway.”
Dad’s words made everyone hold their breath. It was the only way to find Yenna-san, but… but that means…
“You’re going to wage war?”
It was Kron-san, the self-proclaimed right hand of the Demon King, who asked this, her gaze sharp. Her tone and gaze were clearly against war.
“I want to try talking to them, but… the problem is that they don’t consider other races worth talking to, they just see us as insects.”
Insects… so that’s how the High Elves viewed the other races? It seemed like this situation was even more serious than I thought.
“Well then, let’s start from the beginning, considering all of that. First, I’ll give you a report on what I’ve been up to for the past twenty years.”
“Take a seat,” he said to the three of them and then sat down himself, beginning his story.
“After receiving the request from Ash, I tried to locate Yenna… and headed straight for the High Elf Village. Because it was the most likely place. But even with all my might, I couldn’t even touch the entrance. It’s impossible, unless you’re a High Elf. You can’t even find the entrance.”
Judging from everyone’s stories and from the Demon King, Dad seemed like an incredibly capable person who could do anything. But even he couldn’t even find the entrance… It must be protected by incredibly powerful magic. Though, to me, he’s just my dad, so it’s hard to think of him as someone amazing. I mean, he was a capable salaryman, I’m sure, but an all-powerful superhuman? I can’t help but wonder, “Really?”
His story continued. He’d thought it was impossible, but he’d tried to find a lead, approaching it from various angles. But in the end, all he’d learned was that it was impossible without a High Elf. Apparently, the mechanism sensed lineage. Even if you tried to brute-force your way in by destroying their magic with your own, the mechanism would just convert it into energy and strengthen the barrier. I wonder if anyone’s actually tried that?
Apparently the High Elves’ techniques for manipulating magical power are quite advanced. They apparently use magic that is one level above nature magic, but the details haven’t been revealed. Well, that’s to be expected, I couldn’t imagine High Elves willingly revealing their secrets.
He’d spent a considerable amount of time on this investigation, being careful not to provoke the High Elves, making sure that they didn’t even realize he was investigating them.
“And lately, I’d given up on trying to infiltrate the village. I was traveling the world, hoping for a miracle. Well, that took some time too. As expected, my conclusion was that Yenna wasn’t anywhere to be found. I even had the guys from the underworld search high and low. Yenna’s a striking person, in many ways, so I’m sure they wouldn’t have missed her.”
He even had the underworld help out!? Dad, you’re doing incredible things!
“And then, I got a call from Saura. They’d found an unidentified Elf child. And inside a dungeon? I thought it was impossible, but I did have a theory. And then, I heard that the child was a High Elf. I thought it might be true, that ridiculous theory, so I returned to the guild to confirm. And surprisingly, it was a bingo. I was shocked.”
Yeah, I was also pretty shocked. Though I was asleep when we first met! I think it was actually a good thing that I was asleep. I probably would have said something stupid, if we’d met back then, overwhelmed by confusion. Good job, me.
“Well, that’s about it. The rest is what Schlie just reported. Right, Juma, it’s your turn. You’ve been patient.”
“I can be patient! And I have no idea what’s going on! But whatever, I’ll give my report before I forget!”
Juma-kun didn’t seem bothered at all, despite his treatment. He grinned and then began speaking. His mental fortitude was so strong, it made me feel guilty! I listened to his report with newfound respect. You’re so strong…!