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–––Diaria’s viewpoint

I climbed down from my horse, walking alongside those two as we slowly traveled north. I would kill any monster on sight when they appeared, and the two slowly began to appreciate my strength. That also allowed them to feel more relaxed, and open up a bit more.

“Hmm… So they even went that far already.”
“Yes, it’s a horrible situation. My city isn’t that bad yet, but I heard the people who live in cities they took by force are living a nightmare.”

As we walked, Verna began telling me stories about Stied’s men. How they were using Bordaule as their playground, doing as they pleased, and sullying their hands with any atrocity imaginable. Stealing and general violence were obvious enough, but they topped it off with kidnapping and r̲a̲pe̲, arson and murder. They really committed any crime possible. They were only smart when it came to forcing others to submit under them.

First they would assault someone who publicly opposed them, setting an example for others, forcing the common folk to obey their rule. They basically built pressure on everyone by doing very public acts of violence, telling them they would be next if they resisted. Slowly they would escalate their demands, severely punishing the resistance on the way. They only knew how to mistreat people.

(I really should’ve killed those guys in Surfour then. I don’t have enough free time to go back and find them now though. I’ll just feel less pity next time.)

“Excuse me, Diaria?”
“Hm?”

We were traveling companions so I told her to speak more casually, but she still stuck to polite words. That much was to be expected, as she had led a rather sheltered life so far. Even if I told her to speak more normally, her normal was being polite, so there was no way around it.

For some reason she sounded more timid than earlier though, looking at me with hesitation. She was pretty short, and elves like me were usually taller than humans as well, so I stood a full head above her. Simon was roughly just as tall as me.

“Your eyes look scarier all of a sudden. Did I perhaps say something uncalled for?”
“Ah no, I was just thinking of Stied’s methods. Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with you.”
“…I see.”

She sighed in relief hearing that, but that lasted only a short moment, as she looked nervously at me again.

“Diaria. You say you’ll drive Stied’s men out of the Cristopher territory, but what exactly do you have in mind?”
“…Well, hurting them a little will make them run away, but that’ll only make them return with more people, or they’ll invade another city. So I feel like I should take a less merciful approach.”
“…”

I could hear Simon gulping loudly. Verna looked stressed hearing me talk about massacring them without mercy. But she understood there was no other option. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but could not find the right words.

“Once I’ve gotten rid of them, I’ll just wait and see what happens. I’ll make sure to keep you safe though. And don’t worry if things get nasty, I’ll keep a path clear for you to escape in the worst case scenario.”
“..! O-Okay, thank you very much, Diaria.”

I would not promise to protect the city, its inhabitants, and Verna and her father. No matter how hard I tried, there was a limit to how many places I could cover at the same time. Even if I could use large scale spells like Lapis, I would not be able to protect all the citizens if assassins get in. I could not protect everyone, so I decided to limit the people I would focus on keeping alive from the start.

(I really want to say I’ll protect everyone there, but sadly I’m not that strong.)

Verna looked downcast, but I could only apologize to her in my mind.

§　§　§

A few days after I met them, we arrived at Sylvania, the city where Verna lived. Verna put on the hood we obtained during the trip, and she looked around as we walked through the streets. Simon had taken his armor off, wearing a similar hood alongside her.

“There’s no people on the streets…”
“Not just that, Milady. The stores are all closed as well.”
“I guess all the cities Stied take over end the same way.”

It almost looked like a ghost town, not a single person in sight. Everyone had shut themselves in their house, keeping quiet to save their lives and that of their families. Even if the enemy could break into any house whenever they pleased, that was all the people could do.

“Diaria, now that we’ve arrived here, what’s your next plan? I sure hope you don’t intend on confronting them directly…will you?”
“No way. I’ll do it more violently, finishing them off before they can see me coming.”

As a spirit magic user, I could not use large scale magic spells like Lapis or Ciel. Most spirits offered supportive effects, like restraining the enemy on an one-on-one encounter, or to help my allies. But I had Sol, the Great Spirit of the Earth. With his help, I could easily destroy an entire army.

First we headed downtown where Simon lived. I would have them both hide there, for their own safety as I said. Though if I was being honest, it was simply because they would get in my way. Simon looked eager to join the fight, but I told him to protect Verna with his life, which should keep him still. Once I was alone, I waited for the sun to set, and then climbed up the bell tower from which I could observe the castle.

The church’s bell tower, which had seen no visitors lately, was the highest spot in the city. It was the perfect place for a sniper.

“Well, at least they seem to have lookouts, so I guess they aren’t complete idiots.”

Even if they were a group of uncouth barbarians, they seemed to have some basic common sense. Then again, even goblins would have lookouts next to their nests. I was a few hundred meters away from the castle, which would make it impossible for anyone to shoot at the lookouts from here, except for me.

Elves had always lived off hunting in the forests, so our vision was naturally excellent. On top of that my training had sharpened my senses even more. I was confident even at this distance. The quiver on my back was stuffed with as many arrows as could fit in, and I had more reserve quivers lying at my feet. I intended on shooting as many enemies as I could from this distance, confusing them.

“Huff…”

After a deep breath, I slowly fixed one arrow to the string. I was aiming at a soldier who was jeering with an idiotic face in the distance. I held my breath, cleared my mind, and let go of the arrow. The string quickly imparted all its energy into the arrow, which accelerated and flew in a straight line towards my target. There was a dry sound in the distance as the arrow dug into the soldier’s temple.

He died instantly and blood spurted from his head, his limp body falling to the side. It took the man sitting in front some time to realize what had happened, but he eventually understood. He quickly stood up trying to run to safety, but a second arrow pierced his skull and he fell next to the first soldier.

“This is kinda quiet to announce a battle, but I want to get as many as I can before they start acting. Let’s see who’s next.”

I was prepared for what I had to do, but I still felt slightly afraid. I wiped the sweat beading on my forehead annoyed, and reached for the next arrow.