Logging (4)
Changing into the clothes I borrowed from the elves, I blended in with the elves, and the elves quickly prepared to depart for the forest.
After the preparations were finished, the princess stepped forward as a representative and informed the princess that the elves would leave for the forest.
“I respect your will, but why are you leaving at night like this? At least leave when it’s bright.”
“Thank you for your consideration, but since I’ve decided to break through the forest, I’m sorry for every minute and every second, so I’m going to start as it is.”
“That’s right too. I hope you achieve what you want.”
“thank you.”
After the greeting in a rather moderate atmosphere, the elf party, including me, went out of the garrison.
Now, the moment we leave this place, everyone will have to risk their lives to break through the forest.
The princess, who had followed as if to greet her one last time, looked around and spoke to the princess once more.
“Can I go without seeing Saint Ronan? Shall we send a message to Saint right now?”
omg.
I looked at the princess in bewilderment at the princess’s unexpected remark, but the princess answered in a plain tone as if she had anticipated this situation.
“I think it will be difficult for both of us to see the saint again. I think it’s better if we just go on like this. If Ariel takes care of us, we’ll have a chance to see each other again.”
After hearing the princess’s words, the princess was conflicted for a moment, then nodded.
Perhaps morally, she thought it was right to call me, but she seemed to agree with the princess’s words because she was worried that if I were here, she would follow the elves again.
It was a sharp decision. Except for the fact that I was already here.
That’s how the elf party was greeted by the expedition and gradually moved out of the safe zone.
“Are you really okay, Saint Ronan?”
The princess spoke to me, probably judging that the distance was so far that she could not hear her voice.
Are you okay? To be honest, I’m not okay.
Especially this time, it’s all the more because I have the realization that I’m having a lot of trouble.
Until then, he had a comfortable excuse to save humans anyway.
But this time? I, who is known as the saint of humans to save the elves, tricks the humans and gets mixed up among the elves and heads to another place?
Wouldn’t it be an act that could be dismissed as apostasy, which could lead to real conflicts between countries if it was fussy?
If they succeeded, they could somehow cover it up, but if they failed, the real problem could have grown.
I looked back for a moment.
“Well, first of all, I feel sorry for Azalea-sama.”
If the princess found out, she might faint.
Since it was nighttime, the camp of the expeditionary force lit up here and there was still clearly visible.
If I go back now, nothing big will happen.
But if I was going to come back now, I wouldn’t have done this in the first place.
I turned my gaze again and looked ahead.
The purified area was almost over, and the forest, filled with monster trees that had not yet been removed, was slowly beginning to come into view.
“But those thoughts come after saving the queen.”
If you succeed, it’s okay. If you succeed, you win and pay back?
At my words, all the elves nodded heavily.
We started to take our steps towards the dark forest in earnest.
…
bang!
At that time, in the expedition, the princess was striking down a simple table with a face like a ghost.
The poor table, which had to deal with the chief knight’s uncontrolled power, was split in half and collapsed.
The knight who reported the sight posted an apology while pretending to be calm but unable to hide his trembling voice.
“sorry!”
“Sorry? Do you think this is a story that deserves an apology?”
“no!”
“Didn’t Sir Thorpe notice?”
“I have nothing to tell you, princess. I don’t know if you borrowed the power of magic or tools, but the saint seems to have excellent stealth skills that can fool my eyes.”
Not long after the elves left, the princess, who received the report that the saint had disappeared from the barracks, replied while holding her throbbing head.
“I thought the saint would be disturbed, so I was complacent because I decided I didn’t want to cause confusion. At least today, I should have stayed by the saint’s side.”
Even as the princess, she was dumbfounded by the saint’s helpless actions, but in a corner of her heart she felt that something had come.
Somehow, I was giving up too calmly.
“What would you like, Princess?”
“Unless the trick that tricked Lord Thorpe can trick all the trees, if you break through this forest on your own, you can’t go unnoticed. They must be proceeding together. We form a pursuit party.”
“All right.”
“I will lead the pursuit party. I hope Lord Thorpe will accompany you as well.”
“Princess. There is no need for the princess to take such a risk and participate in the chase. It’s not necessary, but you shouldn’t. I’ll come back myself, so please take care of Okche.”
“I argued exactly the same logic for Saint Ronan. It didn’t work, so don’t expect it to work for me.”
Hexen read from the princess’ eyes that she would never compromise, and then recalled the princess he remembered before arriving here.
Until she was in the imperial palace, the princess was famous only for making reasonable decisions acceptable to the majority, compromising between her will and reality, but I thought she had changed a lot before I knew it.
And there was no doubt that the saint called Ronan had a great influence on that change.
The change of the princess could have been a flaw for the emperor who would rule the empire in the future, but in Hexen’s personal opinion, it was not a bad change.
Hexen’s theory was that a human being at the peak of humanity needs a superhuman appearance that transcends humanity, but in the end, if he doesn’t have such a human-like appearance, he can be feared and isolated from other humans.
This kind of human anguish and judgment that she occasionally shows will make the princess’s support more solid in the long run.
And Hexen felt that the person who could prove his point was the saint.
Before meeting the saint, the person with the most innate talent for attracting people with the human aspect Hexen experienced was the 3rd prince, but the saint he met in person had something beyond the 3rd prince.
It was funny because even he, who hadn’t met for a few days, understood the princess’s impatient heart for the saint and wanted to support her actions.
However, Hexen was well aware that judgments based only on emotions would lead to regret either way, so instead of just accepting the princess’ words, he expressed doubts.
“So… are you saying you want to chase down and bring back the saint? Or do you mean to agree with the apprentice saint?”
Hearing Hexen’s words, the princess hesitated for a moment and then looked at Hexen as if she had heard something unexpected.
“that…”
“It’s a very difficult story. Saving someone else’s life. It’s a really good excuse. But if you have to risk your own life to save someone else’s life, even the lives of my men, is it absolutely right? “
The princess looked at Hexen as if she had regained her cool.
“Nevertheless, there is an indescribable majesty in the act of risking one’s life for others. Even those who call the act foolish acknowledge their greatness in a slightly twisted way. Be truly prepared to sacrifice, even once. It is only natural that when you come into contact with a person, you are influenced by him.”
“What should I do?”
When the princess said that, as if at a loss, Hexen smiled broadly and continued.
“Decisions are always made by those above. People like us can only give advice. There is only one thing I can say. When the princess feels that she wants to support the will of the saint, only she It means he didn’t feel any emotions. It’s a masterpiece worthy of God’s fortune.”
Hexen’s words made the princess suddenly recall the time when she first met the saint.
At that time, he approached with the intention of killing the saint.
What changed his mind was nothing else, only the saint’s attitude.
And the attitude of such a saint was an attitude that could easily be used and hurt by others, but at the same time it was an attitude that attracted people like himself and made them want to help.
“Gather the soldiers. We need to get volunteers.”
“Are you a supporter of the pursuit unit or a follow-up unit to support the saint?”
“It’s a follow-up unit.”
“Do as you please.”
According to the will of the princess, most of the members of the expedition gathered.
Standing in front of them, the princess quietly looked around at the people and opened her mouth.
“I think everyone knows about the incident reported to the elves during the day.”
Most of the expedition had already left the elves, but they looked at each other as if they didn’t understand why they gathered people and brought up such a story at night like this.
“We decided that it would be difficult to rush with the elves so as not to risk our side’s losses.”
Everyone nodded as if for granted, or applauded as if they had made the right decision.
“But at that time, there was someone who insisted that we go to the aid of the elven queen until the end.”
People started whispering and talking to each other as if who the hell was that.
The princess stayed still without saying anything even as she watched the tumult in the hall.
The sound, which had gradually increased, began to diminish at some point.
It was because everyone in the expedition team could of course come to mind.
Who in this expedition would claim to help others, ignoring realistic limits, barriers between races, and even their own lives?
“Yes, Saint Ronan.”
By the time everyone’s words had died down, the princess affirmed people’s guesses as if to confirm death.
And when the princess spoke the next word, the hall became louder than before.
“And now, Saint Ronan secretly joined the elves and set out on his way to help the elves, so that no one would be sacrificed because of his will.”
“What? So you’re saying that the saint isn’t here right now?”
“Did you leave in the middle of the night into that monster’s jaws?”
“Even with only dozens of elves escorted?”
Everyone raised their voices in disbelief, but they inadvertently admitted that even those shouting like that were worthy enough if they were saints.
“That’s the reality we’re facing right now. In the middle of the night, the leader of our expedition left us to save the different races and left the formation without permission.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the princess at the sudden negative remarks of the princess.
It was true, but most of them looked like they wanted to say that.
Some priests were so excited as if they would have said something right away if the person in front of them hadn’t been the princess or if the situation hadn’t been serious.
“I thought a lot about whether this would not happen in the future if I caught up with the saint and brought him back. The answer was negative.”
The princess’ assertion that if she were a saint, she would go to the forest alone to save the elves again and again, everyone accepted without question.
It was an image of a saint shared by all.
“Then, will the saint ever stop acting like that?”
yep…
This time, everyone knew the answer, but the answer wasn’t very pleasant, so we only looked at each other.
“Yes, everyone knows. After the queen dies, and the devil worshipers die because of the queen’s sacrifice, then the saint will also stop. There is no more person to save in the world.”
An awkward silence fell in the hall.
“Is that the best? The method we should take is to bring back the saint who jumped to the limb to save others, hold him back, and then wait for the elf to end the situation with death. Is that really the best? this is correct.”
Those who couldn’t understand what the princess wanted to say looked at her with confused eyes.
“So from now on, I’ll tell you a story that’s not my best judgment. I’m going to support the saint from now on.”
Having said this, the princess drew her sword and pointed to the other side of the darkness as if she had been waiting for this moment.
The words that the princess had said so far were so far apart that people stared blankly at the sword she drew.
“If the saint continues to do reckless things to save the queen, then saving the queen will stop the reckless things. That’s my conclusion.”
Just as the situation is solved even if the queen dies, a huge leap of logic that if the queen is saved, the situation will be solved.
“As I said before, this is not the best judgment. Even now, I cannot fully understand the saint who made this judgment. To share the will of such an elusive saint, I will accept the resources of fools who will jump into the thorny path. They will join me from now on. I set out to support the saint. Into the darkness. Just as the saint did.”
Not for the Queen of the Elves, not simply for the life of a saint, but to recruit people who will risk their lives for the ideal of a saint who dreams of a story in which everyone can be happy, a story that can only be found in fairy tales that are out of reach.
Who the hell would agree to such a statement? Who the hell would risk his life for such a crude ideal?
Most people thought so, but the image of a saint suddenly came to mind.
Even though he was in a higher position than anyone else in the expedition, he made eye contact with even the lowest-ranking soldiers, gave a memorial speech by reciting the names of each of the dead soldiers, and the former leader of the fallen Orion religion would attack himself. The image of a saint who couldn’t bear to attack first until the end of the day, and treated others while cutting his own life, then waved his hand, saying that it was never like that.
By the time the soldiers recalled the image of the saint, all the priests had already raised their hands.
At some point, one of the knights silently raised his hand.
As if that was a trigger, other knights raised their hands in succession, and wizards who were not friendly with priests also began to raise their hands.
The atmosphere gradually became contagious, and the soldiers began to raise their hands one by one, and eventually almost all the characters raised their hands at the end.
Even the princess, who had suggested a solution, seemed a little embarrassed as if she hadn’t expected it this far.
The princess, who was momentarily taken aback, quickly calmed down and answered.
“I will not forget your resolve.”
Even though most of the members of the expedition raised their hands, they couldn’t really mobilize everyone.
It was inevitable that the sacrifices required for forced breakthrough would increase exponentially as the size increased.
In addition, there were not a few characters who lacked personal ability to forcibly break through the forest, and they were excluded.
Most of the non-included personnel decided to advance slowly, clearing the forest as they are now, and to rescue those who were left behind or isolated.
The people necessary to control the excluded characters were also excluded, and naturally, in the end, only the elites who were selected and made to break through the forest were left.
When the people were culled, the command system of the expedition was temporarily reorganized, all orders were given, and preparations were made for departure, the sun was already looming.
“I’ll have to hurry up a bit to catch up with the saint’s party.”
“I will do my best to open the way.”
At the very front of the unit, the princess and Hexen exchanged such conversations while watching the rising sun.
The princess nodded and shouted as she looked at the crowd following her.
“I say it again, don’t overdo it. The main base of the expedition is still following us. Retreating and returning to the main base at the moment it is judged impossible is absolutely not an unauthorized departure or violation of military law. Do you understand?”
“All right!”
Knights and wizards, priests and soldiers.
The expedition itself was somewhat of a mess, but after gathering a small number of people, they were all very different people.
The princess, who recalled the reason why she was able to gather such a number of people in one heart, soon gathered her mind and said,
“depart.”
Following the elves, a group of humans once again ran into the forest.
