Chapter 100: It’s not a city, silly

“H-how…”

Selius has reached peak bewilderment.

Which was no surprise, given what he just witnessed: the allies who supported him in the battlefield had all fallen down in the village chief’s estate.

“Ghh…S-Selius…sama…”

“Forgive us…”

From their groans, Selius noted that all his guards were still alive.

That was alarming in a different way though. It was like their enemies purposely didn’t kill them. For the enemies to be able to do that without having casualties themselves, there must be quite a gap between the two sides’ strength.

“H-how!? How were you guys defeated!?”

Selius couldn’t process it.

His guards were the best of the best among the Bazurata house, yet they lost to the amateur soldiers of a recently-built city in this wasteland…

Worse yet, it has been only a few minutes since the fighting began.

“Barrett! What happened!? How can you guys be defeated so easily!?”

Selius, who was focused on his one-on-one battle with his sister, didn’t know exactly what led to his guards’ swift defeat.

And so, he tried to ask Barret, the middle-aged soldier who served as the head of this unit.

“I-I can’t believe it myself, sir…ugh…but it looks like they all have Gifts…”

“What!? Don’t be absurd! It should be impossible just to get blessed out here, and you’re saying this many people have Gifts!?”

Selius’s common sense outright denied what Barret proposed.

However, he knew full well that Barret wasn’t the type to make things up, especially not at these moments.

Selius has only gotten more confused.

As though disregarding his troubles, his sister calmly asked something.

“So? Are you ready to continue now? It’s been a while since the two of us had a match, so I’d like to see it through. But if you’re not up for it, I’ll understand…”

“…!”

Another thing that Selius couldn’t understand was why he couldn’t defeat his sister.

After participating in his first war, he felt he has gotten so much stronger. So strong that his sister couldn’t compete anymore.

Reality didn’t align with his expectations.

“How have you become this strong!?”

“I wasn’t just sitting on my ass this whole time, you know. I’ve gone to monster-infested areas as well as to the dungeon here, all on top of daily training, of course.”

“There’s a dungeon near this city!?”

“Are you talking about this place? It’s not a city, silly, it’s a village.”

“Bullshit, there’s no way this is a village!!!”

Selius forgot himself for a moment.

Regardless, he didn’t see any meaning to keep on fighting his sister, so with his head hanged, he threw his weapons to the ground.

“Alright, great work, everyone. We’ll be providing medical treatment, so please stay where you are!”

When Luke saw that the fight has ended, he announced so.

They were treating not just their villagers but also Selius’s group who they were fighting just a few moments ago.

“Are you injured anywhere?”

“N-no, this is noth––”

Selen has grazed Selius’s right arm with her swords, but they were nothing serious.

As such, Selius intended decline the treatment, but when he looked at the one who offered it…

“Woah!?”

Before him was a beautiful girl with unbelievably refined features.

“There’s no need to hold back. Many of my kin can use white magic, so healing a wound like that should take no more than a moment.”

When Selius looked a bit more closely, he noticed that the girl’s ears were pointed.

Yes, the girl was an elf.

“A-ah-ahh…”

“What’s the matter? Have you perhaps not met an elf before? We aren’t so different from you humans though. Especially so in this village where everyone is treated similarly. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Philia. I owe a great deal to your sister.”

Totally unlike the manufactured elegance of the nobles, Philia’s movements seemed naturally sublime to Selius.

Before he knew it, his heart was beating madly, and his face has grown bright red.

And, as though he reverted to being a baby, nothing else came out of his mouth but “A-ah-ahh…”

“Mhm? You’re so red. Are you feeling alright?”

“~~~~~~!?”

Having noticed the change in Selius’s complexion, Philia brought her face closer to Selius’s.

Like that, Philia delivered the killing blow to Selius.

“…kyuu”

“H-hey, pull yourself together!”

That day, Selius fell in love with an older elf girl.

“Forgive me, father, I will not be able to come home for a while. ––Selius.”

So said the brief letter that Sedes received from his son.

“Seliusssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!”