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“Pryui, I’m glad you’re safe. You had me worried sick the whole night. First of all, we need to get back and inform the Elder about this. Those two beans behind you—a beastfolk and a Divine Beast?! Who are they?”
“Well, I understand your confusion. It’s going to be long to explain, but in short, they’re the ones who saved me. I’m bringing them to talk to the village elder as intermediaries. I won’t ask the impossible and tell you not to be alarmed, but can I ask you to let them pass?”

The young man named Ashimi—his name meaning Silver Star—looked quite astonished, and Pryui tried to mediate as earnestly as possible.

“Don’t be foolish! There’s no way I’m letting those suspicious people into the village! Remember, it’s those beans that captured you in the first place! You’re being used, Pryui! They are cunning, vile, and cruel!”

As if taking the young man’s speech as their cue, the other 10 elves drew their bows, aiming their arrows—with arrowheads made of polished stone—at us all at once.

(No room for negotiation then? I expected this, but it’s going to be a hassle all the same.)

We have Vier, the SS-rank Divine Beast, on our side. Besides, from what Pryui told me last night, the elves’ spirit magic tends to serve as support. They use their magic art to converse over long ranges, guide the trajectory of their arrows, and put their opponents to sleep and such (although, apparently their village elder had the authority to borrow the power of the Fairy King, one of the Four Major Fairies, and was capable of destroying a castle in a single attack). If I played my cards right, I should be able to take on 10 elves at once while covering for Eren and Lana.

However, since I still wanted to negotiate on peaceful terms, I shouldn’t resort to violence. In fact, being taken to their village as prisoners of war would still give us more room for negotiation than otherwise…

“I am not being used! And not all beans are the same. Besides, you can see how much the spirits love her. You’re pointing your blade at someone loved by spirits; know some shame!”
“You’re still young, that’s why you think beans are equal to us. Their species grow corrupt and malevolent as the years go by. Even if the spirits love her now, she’ll cast you aside and turn to darkness in just a few years. Stop daydreaming; their kind can’t be reasoned with!”
“You’re the one who’s being unreasonable, Ashimi! You blockheaded dunce! I don’t want to hear another word from you; I’ll just keep my promise. —Ignore him, Jill. Let’s go!”

Seeing that the talk was going nowhere, Pryui lost patience and walked ahead, ignoring the young man in front of her.

(Ah, don’t get away from us—!!)

“Attack, now!” The moment Pryui gained some distance, the young elf gave his cue.

“—O-, oh no, Jill, Eren, Lana!”

Amid Pryui’s panicked cry, numerous arrows came flying from the underbrush, trees, thickets, and basically all directions.

“Vier! Protect them!! 「Invisible Wall, Thwart Them All」”

Vier immediately spread her wings and pushed Eren and Lana down, protecting them. As for me, I activated the space magic art, Barrier, that I had prepared in advance.

This should protect us from most physical attacks, as long as we weren’t showered with siege weapons, that is. Now I need to work with Pryui to somehow convince this blockhead elf…

In that split second I activated Barrier, the arrows fired by the elves that were about to reach us suddenly dispersed in mid-air. Simultaneously, as if a massive bomb had exploded, the surrounding trees, soil, and rocks were blown away in a deafening roar.

“GUAAAAHHHH!!!!”¹

The elves who had been hiding were also scattered like leaves in the wind. In the eye of the typhoon stood me, with trails of destruction in a radius of about 5 mertes all around me, and a massive and imposing presence stood right in front of me.

“To think elves would use foul play! I, Bartholomew, have sworn not to meddle in the conflicts between manfolk, but I am not one to allow injustice towards women and children! Repent for your heinous deeds, villains! In the name of the Imperial Guard of the illustrious Crimson Empire, I shall vanquish every last one of you!!”

A Death Knight, clad in what seemed to be an almost jet-black, heavy suit of armor, wielding a colossal halberd that looked more like a block of solid iron, let out a furious roar. Blue-white will-o’-the-wisps flickered within his skull’s eye sockets, emanating anger.

“I… forgot you were here. You’ve been so uncharacteristically silent, you slipped my mind,” I said. Even for me, it was a heartless remark, but that was how I felt towards this self-proclaimed guardian spirit of mine.

“A Death Knight?! Pryui, you wanted to bring this impure thing into our village?”

Separated from the other elves, Ashimi was the only one saved from the massacre.

“I knew nothing of it. Though, at this point, nothing Jill does fazes me anymore.”

Pressed for an answer, Pryui dismissed her responsibility, seeming a bit resigned. Now wait a second, that’s just rude…

“You, yes you, bean sorcerer!² What are you scheming? Why do you want to go to our village?”

He’s completely losing his cool, I see. Otherwise, why would he scream at me in Elvish? Either way, my answer was simple.

“I only wanted a peaceful talk. Why?”
“You liar! What kind of idiot would bring this thing to a peaceful talk?”

This kind of idiot, thank you very much. Why do I have a feeling that the negotiation is not going to happen? Maybe it’s just my imagination.

Anyway, Bartholomew, the aforementioned “thing,” readied his halberd in annoyance.

“A man of arms squealing at a woman; how unsightly can you be? Ready your weapon at once. I, Bartholomew, am not as curt as to attack an unarmed opponent. Come at me! I am your opponent!”
“Excuse me, I’d like to resolve this through proper discussion if possible…”
“Kah kah kah! Once a warrior unsheathes his blade, a discussion is out the window. Even more so if his opponent is an animal who wishes to kill defenseless women and children!”

Ah, yeah, it’s useless. This weapon of mass destruction is already out of his cage. There’s no way I can hold him back now.

“You monster!”
“Stop it, Ashimi!”

Growing reckless by the second, Ashimi ignored Pryui’s warning and drew the rapier from his hip—a long, thin sword specialized for piercing. Its silvery glint told me it must be made of mythril—and charged at Bartholomew. True to his name, Ashimi was fast like a Silver Star, but…

“Your mind wanders! You’re far inferior to my discipline!”

Bartholomew evaluated Ashimi’s reckless charge as such and unleashed his own blow. But before that—

“「Invisible Wall, Thwart It All」”
“O Spirit King, Ruler of the Lands, lend me your hand.”

While the Barrier that I had erected around Ashimi shattered almost instantly, a clear and dignified voice of an elf was heard at that moment.

“Hmph,” Bartholomew grunted. The ground around Ashimi suddenly rose to form a wall, stopping Bartholomew’s halberd. “The Spirit King’s wall, this is nasty. But who, or what, was behind this?”

“That would be me, sir knight.”

The same gentle voice from earlier, this time in the human language, reached our ears, and everyone turned in that direction. There, coming from the Seraph Mountain Range, was a tall elf in a loose, white robe-like attire, walking leisurely.

A gentle expression adorned with dazzling beauty, almost white yet bordering on golden hair, and a surreal figure resembling an inhabitant of a dreamlike world. Although it might sound like an exaggeration, it became immediately clear that this elf existed on a different plane of beauty than Pryui and Ashimi—nay, perhaps even in a different dimension altogether.

“Elder,” Pryui exclaimed listlessly, overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the flurry of unfolding events.

“Hm. Might you be the head of the fairyfolk of this land? I am Bartholomew, the Imperial Guard of the Crimson Empire, whose magical light shines throughout all realms.” After forcefully extracting his halberd from the earthen wall, Bartholomew lowered its tip to the ground, suspicion lacing his tone.

“That would be correct. I am Uranus Kiohn; I lead those who reside in this land. I offer my deepest apologies for the delayed greeting.”

Their words were polite and courteous, but none of their attitudes hinted at any sign of servility. Bartholomew simply exclaimed, “Hou,” before correcting his posture and turning his gaze toward me.

“Before you apologize to me, it would be better to apologize to my host.”

Following Bartholomew’s gaze and turning in my direction, Uranus—whose name meant ‘Heavens’ Snow’—displayed a faint look of surprise upon seeing me. Then, almost immediately, they smiled—a smile potent enough to weaken most girls’ knees. Even I felt momentarily swayed by it.

“Hwoeeeh…” I turned toward that peculiar sound and discovered that Eren and Lana had both melted.

That didn’t perturb Uranus, however, as the elder elf spoke in a nostalgic tone.

“My goodness… how long has it been? Shrine Maiden Princess Cattleya.”
“——?!!”³

I gulped at those unexpected words.

1. Mab: Do you want to know what’s funny? The elves here scream in these brackets 『』

   These brackets 『』 are used when the characters are speaking elvish tongue.

   Meaning, the elves here scream in elvish. I’ll let you guys know if this scream has some kind of profound underlying meaning hidden behind it (spoiler: it doesn’t)

2. Mab: I…don’t think the author understand the English language.

   We should change the title of this novel to “Jill, the Bean Sorcerer.”

3. Mab: ….yup. She is gulping in Elvish.