Chapter 106 – Insurance (2)

May 13th, 2023

Although it was a bedroom lit only by a single moonbeam, Gartz quickly scanned the appearance of the Dark Elf who appeared without any warning.

As demons had the ability to see in the darkness from birth, such darkness was not a problem for him.

Unlike the young Rain, she had a mature figure, accentuated by her clothes, and her white hair and golden eyes contrasting with her dark skin caught his attention.

Finally, her ears, which seemed to be cut halfway, had earrings hanging from them.

According to rumors, dark elves had a custom of wearing more earrings when they reached a certain age.
While Rain had nothing in her ears, the woman in front of him had exactly three earrings.

At least it meant that the probability of her being a trained warrior was high, unlike Rain.
She wasn’t an easy opponent, having approached unnoticed with both magic and senses.

“…It’s better to let go of that hand.”

As the tense standoff continued for a while, the woman stepped closer with her dagger and spoke coolly in a husky but low tone, indirectly revealing her maturity as an adult.
Her glittering golden eyes were filled with deep malice.
If Isaac’s eyes shone brightly, then Siris’ eyes glowed threateningly like a beast.

However, Gartz remained unwavering, even as the dagger came closer to his neck.
Instead, he smirked and spoke in a tone of disbelief.

“You dark elves all have some strange hobbies.
One steals things and the other just watches quietly.”

“… …”

“This voice… Siris? Siris Noona?”

Rain, who was still being choked by Gartz, wriggled and asked urgently.
It seemed that the new dark elf who had appeared was named Siris.
Judging by Rain’s recognition, she must have known her.
Gartz predicted their relationship but it wasn’t important right now.

What was important was how to deal with Rain and prepare for any contingencies.
First and foremost, he planned to avoid combat as much as possible now that Sirius had appeared.

‘The relic cannot be damaged at all.’

Once he was certain that the manuscript was one of Xenon’s Biographies, he knew that even the slightest damage would be unacceptable.
It was a national treasure for the demons, designated for protection over generations.

To achieve that, he needed to understand Siris’ motives and decide how to handle Rain.
Therefore, Gartz tightened his grip on Rain’s neck even further.

“Ouch…!”

“If you don’t let go of that hand right now, there won’t be a good outcome.”

It is estimated that Siris, a dark elf, is closely related to Rain.
As soon as Gartz pressured her more, Siris’s will started to slowly diminish.
Despite her terrifyingly powerful aura, Gartz remained calm and composed.
Even if it appears that he is at a disadvantage, he still firmly holds the upper hand.

Above all, if Rain’s slender neck were to be crushed, it would snap easily without any resistance.
Cecily has already heard the details of the situation, so he can trust her with the aftermath.

Although there will be a great war between dark elves and demons, he is a Reaper who protects Helium.
He is willing to sacrifice his life for the cause.

“You don’t know who’s holding the knife right now.
If you remove the sword that’s against my neck, I’ll let you go.”

“… …”

“And don’t you understand the situation? This is entirely the fault of this bastard, and I had to subdue her to prevent it.
Can’t you see it as self-defense?”

As Gartz pointed out one fact after another, Siris narrowed her eyes.
She couldn’t deny the undeniable truth.
This was an incident where Rain had intruded into someone else’s mansion without permission.
Although he bent the logic a bit, even Siris couldn’t deny the facts.

“Above all, do you know what this kid was trying to steal? You wouldn’t claim you don’t know, now would you.”

“…”

“I’ll take your silence as a yes.
As you know, this is a gift from God to us demons.
Stealing it is a sin punishable by death.”

“Ugh, I didn’t intend to steal it! I just wanted to confirm…! Ack!”

Rain appealed with her sense of injustice, but Gartz responded by pressing his hand around her neck.
With a cold gaze, he opened his mouth and spoke in a chilling tone. 

“You should at least make your nonsense somewhat plausible.
Even if that were the case, your actions are inexcusable.
What you did is no different from declaring war on our Helium.
And on top of that, you previously stole the first draft, so you don’t even have a good excuse.”

“I-I did it to please the queen…”

“You knew one thing and pretended not to know the other.
I can clearly see how Dark Elves are educated.”

Despite the barrage of facts, Siris did not even attempt to refute them.
Or rather, she couldn’t. 

Rain had stolen the first draft purely out of good intentions, and since then, she had been working to return it.
Up until then, Siris had watched in silence, even though Rain’s methods were wrong, the fact that she was willing to take responsibility was commendable. 

And if Rain had tried to steal the draft, Siris would have immediately stopped her.
The last time had ended with a light punishment, but if she had made another mistake this time, she would have faced severe consequences.

Fortunately, it seems that she had no intention of stealing the draft, but due to the situation going awry, they ended up in this predicament.
It was suspicious enough that this room alone had a highly advanced security magic system installed, but it was too late to do anything about it.

In that case, there was only one thing that Siris could do.
She looked at Rain that was stuck in the floor with a complicated expression before slowly pulling back her dagger.

“…What do you want?”

“I guess we can finally communicate.”

The power dynamic had completely shifted now.
Gartz, hiding his mouth behind the mask, slightly raised the corners of his lips.

Then he slowly released the pressure on Rain’s neck and turned to Siris.

“As much as I’d like to take the life of this trembling little brat…”

“That’s absolutely not happening.”

“Fine.
That’s how it’s going to be.”

Gartz shrugged as if he had expected this much.
The one who was getting more and more anxious was Siris.

Rain was the link to the Elven Queen, Arwen.
Arwen is trying to accept the Dark Elves who have been rejected so far, and the first step was to become Rain’s patron.

However, given the current situation, that step was already faltering.
And it was all Rain’s fault, not Arwen’s.

Although their homeland had abandoned them, the Dark Elves still had feelings for their homeland.
If they could not return to Alvenheim during Arwen’s reign, they might have to wait until the next generation.

[How do we handle this, Your Highness?]

[Hmm…]

While Siris was feeling anxious inside, Gartz conveyed the current situation to Cecily telepathically.
He was giving her updates as he talked with Siris.

Even Cecily, who was focused on the performance, became serious as the situation became more complicated.
The highlight of the show was coming up soon, but the treatment of the Dark Elves was even more important.

[Even if it’s a child, wrong is wrong.
If you don’t want to take responsibility for the kid, then hand them over to an adult, right?]

[But these people are Dark Elves.
They could sharpen their knives in their hearts.]

(Tl note: Sharpen a knife in your heart – to plan to get a revenge)

[Our reaction will depend on who the knife is pointed at.
If it’s pointed at the Benefactor, everything will spread anyway, whether we hide or not..
Then… you know what will happen, right?]

Cecily didn’t say anything else, but Gartz caught on to what she was trying to say.

Xenon’s Biography isn’t even finished yet, but it’s causing a huge sensation around the world.
Just taking a break has caused continent wide protests, but if the culprit is exposed here?

Not only would Alvenheim face a terrifying diplomatic pressure, but there’s also a high chance of a war breaking out the moment today’s incident is revealed.
Of course, if Isaac asks for the war to stop, it will stop immediately, but it still means the situation is serious.

Gartz realized Cecily’s intentions and looked at Siris.
She still had a cold expression, but a hint of unease was planted in her golden eyes.

“What we want is simple.
If you don’t want to sacrifice this girl’s life, then give us an equivalent price.
Surely you won’t act shamelessly after making such a mistake?”

“… …”

“Deliver this message to the queen.
When all the performances are over and we return to Helium, tell her to come to Helium with this little one.
I won’t accept the queen’s apology.
Apologies should be made to our benefactor, not us.
If you take responsibility, that’ll be the end of it.”

Even if Arwen kneels down and apologizes to Cecily, it won’t mean much.
Their main concern is protecting the manuscript, and the one who suffered the most was Isaac.

Therefore, this is a kind of threatening deal.
If Arwen and the Dark Elves punish Rain, everything will be fine.
But if not, they will tell Isaac everything.

If that happens… the result is predictable.
They’ll go to the brink of war and Alvenheim will suffer diplomatically and, furthermore, relationship  will be damaged between the Elves and the Dark Elves.
As a dark elf, she wanted to prevent that.
But then another problem arises.

‘If I do this, Rain will…’

Just as there are laws in Alvenheim, there are also “rules” in the Dark Elf society.
If it’s a minor issue, they may be forced to fast or get punished for a few days, but this is a serious issue that could affect the fate of their entire race.

And not only Rain, but Arwen will also suffer greatly.
Arwen, who usually had a soft spot for Rain due to her mission to harmonize with the Dark Elves, was now in the worst possible situation.

Within the Dark Elf society, she’ll have to spend at least a few hundred years in prison, and for Arwen, she’ll have to expel Rain to cleanse herself from responsibility.

[Accept the proposal.]

“?!”

When Siris was biting her lips hard under the mask, struggling with her thoughts, Arwen, who had been silently observing the situation with magic, sent her a telepathic message.

Siris was momentarily surprised by Arwen’s sudden voice, but then she was surprised again when Arwen had given her permission, seeming exhausted.

[Your Majesty? Since when…]

[I detected it with magic when you and Rain didn’t return for a long time… I never imagined that there would be the author in this territory.
It’s my mistake.]

It was a shock for Arwen.
First, she was shocked by the fact that the author of Xenon’s Biography was Isaac, and then she couldn’t help but be shaken by the fact that Rain had infiltrated to confirm the author.

She intervened to calm the situation down, but she knew that there would be a terrible storm coming soon.
It was better to quickly sort out the situation and leave.

[B-But…]

[No.
This is our mistake, Rain’s and mine.
We will prepare to return to Alvenheim immediately, so bring Rain back as soon as possible.]

[…I understand.]

It seemed that Arwen had made her decision.
Siris put away her dagger completely and looked at Gartz.

“…I accept your proposal.”

“A wise decision.”

Click-

When Siris stated Arwen’s decision, Gartz released his grip on Rain’s neck.
Of course, he didn’t forget to press his thumb on the back of her neck as he let go.
It was the coordinates for Helium for future contact.
Therefore, Arwen had to mobilize Rain as well to get to Helium.

“Oh, noona…”

As Rain was freed, she ran to Siris, clinging to her arm and sobbing.
Siris looked at her with a stern expression, her eyes shining with pity.

Does she know the pain she will have to endure in the future? Even if she was a child, she had unleashed a weapon of mass destruction, and there were rules to atone for that sin waiting for Rain.

Siris gently stroked Rain’s dark hair and then turned to Gartz, speaking in her characteristic low and husky voice.

“We will keep the promise.
When is the time?”

“Princess said exactly one week from now.
Punish the brat by then and let us know.”

“Understood.”

“Now get out of here.
You’d better not set foot here again.
I’ll cut your life short.”

Siris, with Rain in tow, slowly backed away from Gartz’s intimidating presence.
They melted into the darkness that not even the moonlight shone upon and disappeared completely.

A perfect stealth technique that couldn’t be detected even by detection magic, unlike Rain’s.
Gartz couldn’t help but be amazed at the terrifying ability of the dark elves.

[Sigh… It’s finally over.]

[Good job.
Clean up and come back now.]

Gartz reported to Cecily one last time.
After hearing Cecily’s encouragement, he thought deeply about something and suddenly became curious, asking her.

[Um… it’s a trivial matter, but what happened to the performance now?]

[Huh? It’s already over, why?]

[… …]

[You should have seen it.
It was too bad.
At the end, the choir sang together and it gave me chills all over my body.
I want to see it again.]

He should have killed those half-eared bastards.
Gartz swallowed his anger, grinding his teeth.

But he restrained his anger through his honed self-control.
Then he bent down to tidy up the manuscript lying on the floor.

‘Fortunately, it’s not wrinkled.
But just in case, I should use restoration magic…’

Gartz stopped tidying up the manuscript and hesitated.
If this is really where Xenon’s Biography is written, there might be unpublished manuscripts.

Although Isaac had decided to take a break, there is a high possibility that he wrote another book like a side story.

‘… No, I can’t.
I have to endure it.’

If it were an ordinary person, they would not have been able to bear it and would have searched for the manuscript by now, but Gartz was a member of the Reapers, a demon with exceptional patience that was second to none.
He shook his head, suppressing his strong desire to find the manuscript.

For now, the priority was to carefully store the rough draft that was about to be a mess into his desk drawer.
After all, the new book would be released in a few years anyway, so he just had to wait patiently until then.

‘But it’s not really good to just keep it locked up with just a lock… I should suggest it to the princess.’

There was no guarantee that such a situation would not happen again.
Above all, people who were beginning to grasp Isaac’s identity were appearing one by one.

As Gartz, who had faced the situation head-on, he couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy.
He returned the rough draft to its original position, firmly sealed it with a lock, and stood up from his seat.

Thud!

“Ouch!”

Perhaps because he got up in a hurry, Gartz let out a small sound as his head hit the corner of the desk.

Even though he was a demon with excellent physical abilities, he couldn’t avoid being hit by the corner of the desk.

Luckily, he had already cast a soundproofing spell, so the knights outside didn’t hear him.
But he had to grit his teeth against the stinging pain for a while.

“Ugh… how annoying…”

It was an unlucky day for Gartz.