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“…I see, I was wondering what had caused that sudden swarm to appear.”

Queen Florite heard everything that had happened and let out a deep sigh.

When the group had made it back to Floria, they sent Crim and Frey to the palace as representatives, to let the queen know what had happened.

“…I guess the silver lining is that they aren’t going to proactively attack us. I’m sure my people will be glad to hear that they aren’t in imminent danger after what they saw.”

The queen thanked them for letting her know about that, easing some of the stress Crim and Frey were carrying.

“So you were able to see that swarm from here as well? How did everyone else handle it?”
“Well…Sven is currently making rounds through the streets trying to calm everyone, but sadly most of them are still panicking. I don’t blame them either, they just realized the true extent of our enemy’s forces, and that they were just toying with us so far.”

Hearing the queen’s response to Frey’s question, Crim nodded with an understanding look.

It felt almost offensive, but it was not quite accurate that they were toying with the elves, they had never been seen as a real opponent in the first place. All the enemy wanted was to cut off the path leading to the Fairy Village, and not to fight the people of the village.

“I shall use the connections at my disposal to gather a larger army, but…”
“I’d really appreciate that, but considering the current state of the village…”
“Yes, that’s what I thought as well. It’ll just upset the traditional movement even more.”
“I’d really like to welcome all of you here…but they’ll feel pressured to take action as more of you arrive.”

Crim fully understood the dilemma they were in. Gathering all the players necessary to clear the raid would mean bringing a huge army that dwarfed the elven population. In other words…they would feel cornered by the players.

It would not be strange if the elves began to fear that once the situation was cleared up, the players would attempt to take over the village themselves.

Crim understood all of that, and knew that applying more pressure to the elves who wanted to retain their traditions would make the internal issues of the village worse.

In the end, they could not come up with any solution, so they decided that it was best to leave the biggest threat Ba‘al Zəbûl Aery undisturbed while they continued thinking of a solution.

◇◇◇

“Ah, they’re done. Heyy, did it go well?”
“Sister, welcome back.”

When Crim and Frey left the audience hall, they were greeted by Freya and Rouge who were waiting for them outside.

“Yes, it went well, sorry for keeping you waiting. Where is everyone else?”
“They went to restock on supplies and gather information. We agreed to meet in the tea house when everyone is done.”
“Let’s head there for now then.”

With their destination agreed on, the four walked through the village to go there.

There was still that comforting sound of water flowing in the background, as well as all the flowers in full bloom…but the elves they saw all had worried and gloomy faces, opposite to the scenery around them.

“I have to say…this whole situation is beginning to give me a headache.”
“Eventually, we’ll have to directly talk with the traditional movement… But we should wait for the queen to speak to them first.”
“Now that I think about it… We have two High Elves as well, so maybe they’ll be willing to at least hear us out if Freya and Frey come along…”

The twins were considered the superior species of elves, and after it was revealed that Crim was a spirit of the night, a Noble Red, she was also seen with more reverence in the village.

“What did she say her name was? El? She was pretty cute too…”
“Freya…listen here…”
“Not again, Freya…”
“Sister Freya…”

Crim and Frey almost missed a step hearing Freya’s carefree comment, not wanting to deal with it. And even Rouge stuck out her head from Crim’s breastpocket, baffled by what she had just heard.

But they all knew that Freya was saying that mainly as a way to cheer them up from all the depressing things they were discussing.

“I mean, she might be on the evil side, but she did not seem like such a bad girl, you know?”
“Well, yes, when compared to Belial or Bifrons.”

Those first ones had been irredeemably cruel and evil, so by comparison Beelzebub was quite sane… And as they thought about it more, they realized that she did not seem to outright hate or want to kill them.

If anything…it was like she was happy to have found someone to play with.

She had even mentioned how fulfilling her role was a pain, and did not seem too enthusiastic about the orders given to her. If she wanted to cause destruction, she could have easily overrun all of Weisswald by now.

“Do you…think we might be able to talk her out of this?”
“We’d need to learn a lot more about her situation if we want to attempt that. Just try to not get too hung up on an idealistic solution.”

Crim shook her head hearing Frey’s suggestion. She was willing to give it a chance, but would not cling onto that hope.

“Crim, you already tried this village’s tea with Setsuna, right? How was it?”
“Ah, I have to admit it was exquisite, as one would expect from elves who live so close to nature.”

Elves were largely vegetarian and had a long history of making delicious food with vegetables and plants, which also applied to their tea.

And more surprisingly…the elves were actually cultivating rice in their village too.

But it was not treated as a staple in every dish like in Japan, instead being used more sparingly in things like soups to thicken them up, and they also did not cultivate that much of it… Still it was enough for them to make things like dango, which was accompanied by a creamy syrup made of walnuts, milk, and nectar.

…And as Crim mentioned the things she had seen, Freya and Rouge’s eyes began to twinkle with anticipation.

“Ohh, I want to try that too now!”
“It sounds so good…!”

The two were almost drooling thinking of it, and so they continued chatting about non-important things as they headed to the tea house, wanting to wind down for a bit there.

…They already had a lot of important things to think over. This large-scale Legion Raid came with plenty of headaches for them. But they would only get burnt out if they kept worrying about the stressful things. This was a game, so they could not forget to have fun too.

They had done everything they could on their side, so now they could afford to sit back and relax, maybe enjoy some sweets, and wait for the rest of their friends to make their way to the tea house as well.

At least that was the plan…

“…Hey, what dost thou think thou art doing here?”
“Humyu?”

Crim narrowed her eyes as she glared at someone sitting on the tea house’s balcony.

It was the main source of all the conflict in this village. The one who commanded those numerous and large bugs plaguing the forest.

…No one had expected to see her there as well, stuffing her cheeks with dango.