Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"Wow, that's… That's freaky, man. I don't know what to say." I nervously chuckled. At this point, it was already obvious that that geezer wasn't normal. But why would they just blatantly ignore this fact? Hmm, something must've been going on for a while. Perhaps one day I'd understand.

"Eh, I've seen weirder things." General Zhang shrugged it off.

"Yeah exactly, me too. Like you, for example." I snickered.

"Hey~ You're back to being your mean self again~" He pouted, and I walked away from him.

"Anyway, back to business. We're basically done here, right? Nothing else to do or discuss?" I asked, looking at each one of them.

After getting no negative response from them, I assumed we were all clear. Good.

"Alright. Let's head inside the castle. We need to rest and patch ourselves up, and fast," I clapped my hands together, "especially you, general Emilio. You're like, half-dead already."

"As are you. I have no idea how you're able to walk around and use your fingers. They're bent the wrong way." General Emilio replied.

"It's actually hecking painful, but can't do anything about it, right? Might as well pretend to shrug it off." I chuckled and turned around towards where the castle stood erect. Having a few broken bones wasn't something new to me. I never really got used to the pain, but I did get used to the shock. So although it was painful, I could still stay kiiinda calm.

"Is it safe to go inside the castle, though? I'm sure it's still filled with some elves…" Jeanne inquired.

"Valid point, but no worries. The previous king is dead. They're now loyal to Firiell… Hopefully. She's half-human and half-elf, so I'm not sure if their loyalty will also get cut off by 50%," I looked up, thinking about the various possibilities, "well, getting 50% of them on our side is also not a bad deal."

"Don't worry, if they're still willing to fight, I'm happy to take them on~" General Zhang hummed.

"That's even better. Come on, let's go." I nodded in approval.

"Sweet~ So we're going to have a niiiice and peaceful sleep tonight. Finally. You kept me awake last night, little cub~" General Zhang giggled and walked beside me.

"Hey, how is it my fault? You could've just slept, you know," I pouted, "and no, you're going to have to work hard tonight." I grabbed his robe and grinned.

"Tonight? In bed—"

"No. In any case, follow me and you'll understand." I cut him off sternly and picked up my pace, leaving him behind.

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'BAM!'

General Zhang kicked the front door open, sending the huge door flying, crashing into the ground.

"Excuse our intrusion~" He hummed in delight while we stepped foot into the battered castle casually.

"Very flashy," I sighed, "alright, now where are the rooms and the infirmary?" I looked around, trying to find some guides. Did they not have a map or something? Or a room nameplate?

As I looked to the right and left, I noticed that there were still a lot of elves here. But then, most of them didn't seem to be royal guards. Rather, I recognized some of the chefs and the wait staff that we had seen back when we first came here.

All of them looked at us as if we were ghosts, or even worse. Some trembled, some started sobbing, and some even just straight up screamed and ran away. I guess it was better than that one elf who started throwing up in the corner.

Hmm, so unwelcoming. Made sense.

"Hey, you. Come here." General Emilio suddenly called for one of them who was trembling behind a large, broken-down statue.

"Eep!" The poor elf squeaked and hid even deeper behind the statue, although her long ponytail was still visible to us.

Seeing her reaction, general Emilio only sighed and say, "fine. Let's do this the hard way—"

"Hohoho! Wait, wait! We come in peace! Hey, you. It's okay, we're just calling you over to help your Queen. See? She's right here!" I quickly butted in to stop general Emilio from thinning down the elves' number, and pointed at the unconscious Firiell on Jeanne's back for her to see.

"U-uh…" She hesitated, but couldn't help to not steal a peek towards Firiell.

Ah, great. It seemed like they did recognize Firiell as their Queen, at least.

"Come on, don't be shy. Come and help your Queen get settled into her new home." I awkwardly laughed to ease the tension, which just backfired and made me embarrassed.

"I…" The elf maid reluctantly stepped forward, but then stopped after just taking two steps and looked towards general Emilio and general Zhang in fear.

"Oh, don't mind them. They're just grumpy because they haven't eaten yet," I laughed and pinched general Zhang in the arm before whispering, "hey, say something."

"Something." He grinned and immediately got smacked by me.

"We won't hurt you as long as you comply." General Emilio responded flatly.

"His wording is pretty wack, don't worry, we're not threatening you," I quickly covered for him, "just… Help us take care of her, would you? I'm sure your Queen will appreciate your help, too."

"Um… M-May I?" She slowly came up to us while nervously taking a glance at Firiell every once in a while.

"Of course!" I beamed with happiness. Great. One step closer to gaining their trust. Mm-hhm, "can you lead us to her new room? You don't mind if we accompany her, right?"

"Yes… I can show you to the main bedroom." She meekly nodded her head.

Hmm, main bedroom? Did that mean Erenduill's room? … Eh, I wasn't sure if that was a good idea.

"Do you have any other room that might be suitable?" I scratched my head.

"I can show you around, and maybe you can choose whichever room you like the most." She explained clearly.

"Great. Jeanne, please follow her and pick a bedroom. I'll go with general Emilio to the infirmary or something," I tapped Jeanne's shoulder and grinned.

"I understand." She nodded, and I could see the determination in her eyes. She understood that going into a room didn't mean that she could rest easy. Instead, separating here meant that she was the only one left to guard Firiell.

"Oh right, what's your name?" I turned towards the elf maid, who flinched immediately. She was still tense, apparently.

"You may call me Lia, honored guest." She bowed gracefully while crossing her arm in front of her chest. Ah, that salute again. It had been a long time since I saw that salute.

"Alright Lia, don't call us honored guest, it's weird. Anyway, where's your infirmary? Or like a doctor's office?" I asked while walking towards general Emilio.

"We do have a small clinic. It's right over there, past the west hall to the right. There should be a sign saying 'clinic' hanged in front of the door," she pointed to her left, and my gaze followed, "hold on, please. I'll get my coworker to guide you—"

"No need, no need. Thank you very much for your assistance. Appreciate it," I tapped her shoulder and walked past her, "come on, general Emilio. Let's get your wounds treated or something. Hopefully, their court doctor is still alive."

"Alright." He reluctantly agreed and walked with me, although he seemed a bit unsure.

"It's okay, general Emilio. We don't always have to resort to violence towards monsters," I chuckled and pushed his back lightly, urging him to walk, "as they used to say, there are plenty of ways to, uh, assemble a sandwich or something. My point is, a fight does not always come in the form of violence."

"… I guess." He shrugged and picked up his pace, leading our walk.

"Hey, what about me?" General Zhang piped up.

I stopped and eyed him from top to bottom, "you seem fine. Go do your eel stuff. We'll need you for later, not now." I said with a flat tone.

"No fun~ I'm going to follow you~" He giggled and skipped over beside me.

"Sure, sure. Behave, okay?" I sighed, "Lia, come fetch us once you guys are done choosing a room, please."

"Understood, honored guest." She bowed again, using that salute.

Ugh, that sounded kinda cringy. Oh, well. I got something more urgent to think about.

"General Emilio, if Firiell doesn't wake up yet by tomorrow night, let's still go for it and hit the minotaurs' base. What do you say?" I inquired.

"Tomorrow morning is also okay. We can mobilize them as long as we keep that girl hostage." General Emilio agreed.

"Geez, porcupine, you're so cold~ Scary~" General Zhang playfully giggled.

"No, tomorrow morning we're going to the village's center," I said while putting my hair back up in a bun, "ugh, a warm shower would be really nice right now."

"Do you want me to—"

"No." I quickly cut general Zhang off with a pissed-off smile.

"I was going to offer you a bathhouse, but alright then, whatever floats your boat~" He smirked mockingly.

"A free entry to the bathhouse? Wait, I take that back. Give me!" I pouted.

"A free entry? Of course not, little cub~ I can get you the bathhouse." He laughed, as if I was saying something ridiculous.

"Wh—Don't overspend!" I smacked him in right on his muscular back. How nice, I also want to have muscles like that. Gotta work out more, I guess.

"What do you want to do at the market?" General Emilio shifted the topic back, thankfully.

I grinned upon hearing the question, "oh, a lot. We're going to enjoy ourselves."