Chapter 34. A Blazing Smile
Several days earlier.
Having commanded Dark Elves in his previous life, Shane knew very well how their Mana affected its victims.
Because of that, the attacks of the Dark Elves that Harpe deliberately allowed through were not particularly threatening to Shane.
After disposing of Harpe, one of the Imperial Guard Knights, Shane spent the remaining time treating his wounds and sorting through Harpe’s memories.
He erased most of the useless memories from Harpe’s life, retaining only those connected to the Imperial Family and extracting information from them.
“There is not much here.”
Aside from information Shane already knew, all he managed to uncover concerned the interests tying the Imperial Family to the Mezaia Great Forest.
Even that was something he had already inferred to a certain extent.
According to Harpe’s memories, the current Crown Prince, Jepher di Wyatt Samuel, was after the Dragon Heart.
Their objective was to cooperate with the Organization, obtain either a portion of the Dragon Heart or something equivalent to it, and ensure that this expedition ended in failure.
None of that was particularly new information.
Shane simply filed it away in one corner of his mind before turning toward the Dark Elves that arrived at the appointed time.
When they saw Shane standing before them alive and well, contrary to what had been imprinted in their orders, they immediately assumed combat stances.
But their resistance ended almost pathetically quickly.
Darkness imbued with Shane’s Origin had already filled the entire space and began constricting the Dark Elves.
“It would be a waste to leave you as nothing more than killing machines.”
There were already precious few Elves in existence.
Yet even with their small numbers, these creatures had become exceptionally skilled at assassinating countless important figures among humanity in Shane’s previous life.
If he kept them alive, they would undoubtedly prove useful.
Shane injected a portion of his Origin into the Elves.
‘Then again, it was invented by that lunatic.’
The Dark Elves, who had already lost their reason and displayed virtually no changes in expression, suddenly let their arms and legs hang limply.
Then they began vomiting something murky from their mouths.
It was the contaminated Mana and residue that had permeated their bodies.
[Are you coming to your senses?]
[Wh-Where…… are we……?]
The Dark Elf, now released from Shane’s Origin, struggled to steady his wavering vision and lifted his head.
The figure standing above them wore a plain white mask.
—
Shane had spent only ten years within the Organization.
Considering the amount of knowledge he possessed, that period was absurdly short.
But Shane could never call those ten years brief.
“You should make good use of the time you have in there.”
Trapped within himself after being suppressed by the self consumed by Corruption, Shane recalled a girl with black hair and vermilion eyes that seemed to contain molten lava.
She had recognized Shane’s true self.
Whenever they occasionally encountered one another, she would tell him to make good use of his time.
Shane had never discovered who she truly was.
Not while he was trapped within himself.
Not even now.
But one thing was certain.
Just as she had told him, Shane had never wasted the time he spent imprisoned within himself.
The self consumed by Corruption had clung to him relentlessly until the very end, tormenting the Shane trapped within until it finally exhausted itself and met complete death inside his Inner World.
The concept of time did not function normally within an Inner World.
It was a bizarre place where closing one’s eyes for a moment and opening them again could feel as though ten years had passed, while a single second could stretch into something resembling a decade.
To everyone else, Shane had spent only ten years that way.
For Shane himself, however, the time he endured there existed on a scale that could not even be compared to a mere decade.
Throughout it all, he constantly studied the knowledge he observed from the outside.
He dissected it.
Analyzed it.
Eventually made it his own.
And ultimately reached the stage of developing it even further.
In the end, just as that girl had said—
Shane had not wasted that time.
—
After briefly recalling the past, Shane looked at the Dark Elves who had regained their reason and once again remembered the girl.
‘It turned out exactly as you said.’
It was not as though he had acquired all that knowledge solely because he followed her advice.
Still, the result proved that her words had been correct.
Even now, Shane had no idea who the girl truly was.
Yet for some reason, he felt convinced that she was deeply connected to his regression.
It was a judgment based on emotion rather than his usual rational reasoning, so he did not dwell on it for long.
‘It is not something I can figure out simply by thinking about it now.’
In any case—
Just as the girl had told him back then, Shane had used the time before his regression well.
He knew all the information that his Corrupted self had received from the outside world.
Because of that, restoring reason to the Dark Elves before him was hardly difficult.
He had already simulated the possibility of encountering Dark Elves before ever entering the Cradle.
[Why…… did we become like this?]
[……Explain it to us. Who are you?]
The Dark Elves had not yet completely recovered from the effects of their contamination and remained visibly confused.
Shane quietly spoke.
Just as he had once done to another Elf.
[The one who will restore your freedom.]
Then Shane slowly began explaining the situation—
Naturally, in the manner most advantageous to himself.
—
The process of restoring the Dark Elves’ reason had not been particularly complicated.
Elves were fundamentally born with bodies capable of accepting Mana into themselves.
Of course, that did not mean an Elf could simply absorb any kind of Mana.
Normally, adapting to foreign Mana required considerable time and effort.
But the situation changed when the Mana involved was powerful enough to disregard such limitations.
Shane merely possessed the ability to analyze that Mana pattern and reproduce it.
Naturally, Shane could not currently generate the original Mana himself.
However, twisting the Mana already implanted within the Dark Elves and altering it into a Mana pattern he already knew was not particularly difficult.
[Then, if we wish to survive, we must persuade our people.]
[Correct.]
There was, however, one problem.
The unique Mana contained within the Dark Elves had an immediate limit.
That was precisely why the Dark Elves were still incomplete creations.
They could not replenish enough of the Mana required to sustain themselves.
Because of that, they lost their reason.
And even after fighting for only a short time, their Mana would rapidly run dry, forcing them toward death.
For now, Shane was preventing that by leaving the distinctive Mana remaining within the Dark Elves as a foundation while redirecting the consumption toward the Mana he had imitated.
But that could not continue indefinitely.
That was why he urged the Dark Elves to persuade their own people.
Naturally, they were still Elves.
Now that they had regained their reason, they would never betray their own kind.
But neither could they simply make Shane their enemy.
They already faced an enemy far too great for that.
Even at this very moment, their enemies were capturing Elves and transforming them into Dark Elves.
For a race whose numbers were already small, having their strength stolen from them in this manner posed an enormous threat.
Of course, they could not simply trust Shane unconditionally.
Shane understood their position perfectly well.
That was why he proposed only a single condition.
[I will consume the Red Spiritbane Herb. Then I will go and meet the leader of your people.]
The Red Spiritbane Herb.
A poisonous herb said to bring spirits themselves to death.
When consumed by a human, it prevented them from using Mana, with the severity depending on the amount consumed.
[In addition, I will swear an Oath of the Source.]
[……!]
An oath known only to the ancient races.
Its grand name was matched by the severity of the penalty imposed upon anyone who broke it.
Compared with the Red Spiritbane Herb, which merely sealed one’s Mana, the consequences were on an entirely different level.
[Understood. We will follow your will.]
[Good. Then first, we should locate the rest of your contaminated companions.]
[Yes.]
Afterward, Shane continued accepting Dark Elves up to the limit permitted by his Mana.
Their number eventually reached fourteen.
And now—
Delilah stared warily at Shane as he appeared before her accompanied by those fourteen Dark Elves.
“You…… Were you behind all of this?”
Naturally, she arrived at a perfectly understandable misunderstanding.
From Delilah’s perspective, Shane looked exactly like the mastermind behind everything.
After all, he stood surrounded by the very Dark Elves that had tormented the expedition until now.
Shane shook his head.
“Similar, but different. I did not give them coercion and threats. I gave them choice and freedom.”
“What kind of cryptic nonsense is that……?”
“Do they look the same as the ones you have been fighting until now?”
“Uh…….”
Only then did Delilah properly examine the Dark Elves standing behind Shane.
Surprisingly, unlike every Dark Elf they had encountered before, their eyes were no longer clouded.
Even now, they were looking at Delilah and Orca with open curiosity.
[To think there is another Demi-Human who escaped that person’s curse. And one of the people of the earth at that. It has been a long time.]
[One of our brethren is here as well. Why are those two traveling together?]
[Could there truly be a way to escape the curse, just as that person said?]
[……Our people will make that choice.]
Seeing the varied expressions of the Dark Elves and Orca’s calm face, Delilah decided to abandon her unconditional hostility for the moment.
“So they really are different from the Dark Elves we fought, right?”
“Yes.”
She could not simply trust his words without question.
But at the very least, she decided they needed to talk.
Only now did she realize that Orca had probably brought her here for a reason.
“Then why are you──”
Before Delilah could finish—
“Well, I certainly hope that’s true.”
“……?!”
“I really hope you have nothing to do with those Dark Elves. I’d be very happy if that were the case.”
A woman with hair tinged a fiery red stepped out from the opposite side.
Raviata.
And just like the flames rising from both her hands—
She wore a blazing smile.
