I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

26 – 26. Customs and practices

“Why are you here?”

Arsel was startled and asked Alfred.

Obviously, Alfred went in the opposite direction from the elves a moment ago.

However, it is surprising that he managed to outrun him and arrive here.

“And what it looks like…”

In addition, his appearance was different from usual.

Originally, Alfred had the same appearance as Arcel, at least, but now he is a child.

There was a certain degree of strangeness.

“It’s a bit long to explain. It’s been a long time since I’ve used an alter ego, so my body and mind have changed like this when I was younger.”

“The alter ego?”

“To be precise, it is close to division. To put it simply, it feels like this.”

As Alfred lifted his hand, something like a black liquid began to ooze out.

The liquid slowly took the form of a man the size of a finger, and then changed into Alfred’s.

“…”

“What are you so surprised about? Isn’t this nothing compared to reattaching the head even if it is cut off and reappearing even if the neck disappears?”

Arsel was confused about how to react to the strange sight.

Very little Alfred turns back into a black liquid and returns to the body of young Alfred.

Little Alfred showed an innocent look in his eyes, asking if he understood now.

Of course, there was no way that would make sense.

“Anyway, according to you, the elves should run here?”

“Yeah, right! The fire is already raging as if it were enveloping this place. If so, that is the only place left to escape.”

The place Alfred was pointing to was similar to the spring he and Arcel had jumped into before and went to the forest of nymphs.

In short, the elves had nowhere to run.

Even if you are lucky enough to get out of the forest, it won’t be strange if you get caught by humans outside.

In other words, the only way left now is to go to a place where there are no humans.

However, the problem was that it was not easy for those who had not experienced it.

To be honest, what’s the difference between just jumping into the water?”

“…But can I convince the elves? Perhaps the elves don’t know anything about me, but they didn’t trust humans well from the start. Above all, the cause of this incident is also human.”

“I can do it. A hero is not just ignorant and strong, but a warrior because he has a charm that attracts people.”

Alfred said he could do it, but Arcel still couldn’t trust himself in a corner of his heart.

“And why don’t you take a look at that? If that’s the case, maybe within 10 minutes, everyone will be grilled over charcoal by the elves.”

He then pointed to the elves.

Arcel turned his gaze to the elf.

“I don’t have time to be like this! We must run away quickly!”

“Fires are already engulfing the entire forest. There is nowhere else to run.”

The elves are still divided.

“In that case, you just have to fly in the sky! Why would you not want to do that!”

“The whole sky is full of hot black smoke! Not being able to breathe aside, dying from suffocation is faster!”

An elf who wants to give up and an elf who tries to escape through the flames.

“This is why black people are…!”

“What did you just say?! Idiots who couldn’t even defend their hometown and ran away-“

At some point, the elf and the dark elf diverged and quarreled.

But everyone in this room also knew that the outcome of those two choices would be the same.

Even if Arcel bought time to escape, even for a moment, her witch’s flame was beyond imagination.

Arsel bit her lip and clenched her fist at the thought that the time she had barely earned would be spent in such a way.

“Do you see what those dwarfs need right now?”

“I see…”

In the end, Arcel resolves to do something in her heart.

She agonized over the fact that the situation would only get worse if she continued to leave the elves alone, and looked at the flames that had regained momentum before she knew it.

And as if she had made up her mind, she proudly stepped out in front of the elves.

“What is this human? Since when have you been here-“

“I couldn’t waste any more time on this. Even now, the flames that have covered the forest continue to strangle us, and everyone already here knows that there is no way to escape the flames.”

Arcel spoke calmly, holding her holy sword in her hand.

Arcel, who stood in front of the elves, tried to convince them as she had done in the past.

“Who is this because of…! How dare a human being intervene at will—”

“Listen to the story. After all, that person’s situation is not much different from ours, so it’s the same.”

Of course, the dark elves protested, but one dark elf stopped them.

It was the Dark Elf who had suffered greatly from Alfred before.

“So, please, everyone, please go into that fountain. There is only one place to escape from the approaching fire.”

“Do you know what you are talking about? You’re not saying you don’t know what kind of place that spring is, right?”

One of the elves stepped forward in displeasure.

In fact, elves other than dark elves knew what that fountain was and how it worked.

There is no way they don’t know because their hometowns were similar in the first place.

“That spring goes to the land of insignificant nymphs. I’d rather die here than suffer such disgrace.”

Even so, the reason why the elves didn’t follow Alfred’s words was because that place was heading to the land of the nymphs.

‘Elves don’t like nymphs, anyway, most of them are at the level of children. I think nymphs are treated like slaves by other races like humans.’

Alfred looked at the elf and shook his head.

Most of the elves were the same.

Unlike elves like Stella who have at least some experience outside, those who lived here grew up only in their hometowns and escaped due to injustice.

Of course they couldn’t be flexible, and because they have an orthodox elven mind, they tell them that they would rather die than rely on nymphs.

Alfred wanted to see how Arcel would persuade those elves.

Chin!

“Huh?”

By the way, I didn’t expect that.

‘…I’m not mistaken, right?’

Plop!

“What is that human doing now?!”

To my surprise, Arcel grabbed the disgruntled elf by the collar and threw it into the fountain.

The startled elf floundered and tried to get out of the well, but his body sank in an instant.

It was because the water itself pulled the elf from below.

“If there is someone else who doesn’t want to go in, I’ll put it in myself. Do you have any?”

“Let’s do it now-“

“Stop! I came late, what are you doing now!”

As the elves tried to show their hostility to Arcel, the late Chief stopped them with a loud noise.

Originally, he was supposed to lead the elves, but because Alfred dropped him off at a place a little far from Sam, he came running late.

“But Elder! Isn’t that human telling us to go into the land of nymphs if we want to live! I’d rather die here than suffer that kind of disgrace-“

“…Don’t elves know how to value life? What kind of damn honor is that, and how superior they are that it’s difficult even to bow down for a moment?”

Arsel said in anger.

The ugliness of the elves has reached a point where they can no longer bear it.

I’ve seen elves very well, both up close and far, since the past.

Certainly, the elves were of great help with their race’s long-standing magic and the various experiences they gained from their long lifespan.

However, on the contrary, there were also quite a few cases where it became a problem.

There, too, the most terrible things were the war against the demon king’s army, especially the extreme choices made when there was no way to retreat or to be taken prisoner after losing a battle.

“If life is such a waste, why did you stay in your hometown from the beginning… You ran away to live, but why are you trying to die now? I’d rather die alone then, why does he bother to take other people’s lives with him?”

Arsel once broke through the siege by himself and ran all the way to the prison to save those caught by the Demon King’s Army.

But each time it was already too late.

When Arcel arrived, most of the elves committed suicide, and there were many cases where the entire prison disappeared.

This is because there were quite a few elves who had self-destruct magic circles carved into their bodies.

“I don’t mean to insult their sacrifice. But why, why did I have to kill the civilians here that the demons didn’t even kill?”

Of course, those elves would have wanted to take as many demons as possible, but on the contrary, there were many cases where innocent people were sacrificed because of it.

It wasn’t just soldiers, including elves, who were imprisoned right now, but also residents from nearby villages.

The demons did not discriminate between old people, children, and races and imprisoned them in the same prison.

They wanted to live, but eventually died in an explosion, and at some point, the Demon King’s Army deliberately did not deploy troops in the prison or began to keep only a minimum number of people.

In the end, it came to the point that more people died from getting caught up in it than demons dying from self-destruction.

Slaughter civilians while fighting for peace?

“That’s it, I’d rather die gloriously than beg for my life pitifully…!”

“Is this begging for your life? Even the nymphs over there don’t care at all?”

Arsel pointed to Sam, who had just thrown the elf.

There were several nymphs waving their hands and observing the situation.

It seems that those nymphs were responsible for dragging the elves into the water earlier.

“And do you really want all the elves here to die like that? Do you think dying painfully in that unquenchable witch’s fire is a glorious death!”

Then some elves turned their eyes to the fountain.

Most of them were young or young elves.

“…We, the Dark Elves, will follow that human’s words. I was willing to give up my life just for honor when there was a way to live. It’s absurd.”

The Dark Elves grasped the situation and jumped into the fountain with the monsters.

Unlike the elves, the dark elves seem to have been unaware of the existence of the Nymph Forest because they have lived outside.

“Me too…!”

“I don’t want to die in a place like this!”

“What are you guys doing-“

As the Dark Elves went into the fountain, the elves who were finally paying attention jumped into the fountain as well.

The older elves couldn’t hide their surprise as if they were very embarrassed by the actions of the younger elves.

“Are you guys not going in?”

Arsel said to the remaining elves as if they were shooting at them.

Even after reaching this situation, the remaining elves responded that others could not understand them.

“I will go in. You guys, too, throw away your trivial pride and follow me.”

“Zhang, Elder?!”

Then, the elder of the elves raised his hand and walked towards the fountain.

The remaining elves were now more than amazed.

“…I know that it is wrong for our children to give up their lives just to protect their pride, but parents of parents value honor more than life, so even I couldn’t express my opinion. So, you guys, stop being stubborn and stop coming.”

“But…!”

The elder smiled while leaving a word before entering the fountain.

“Besides, I will be burned alive for a while like that, but is that really okay?”

Plop!

With even the elder making such a choice, the remaining elves lost their direction on what to do.

For hundreds of years, they were taught that way by their parents and thought it was right, but now everyone suddenly denies that it was wrong.

Perhaps it’s not entirely incomprehensible that the elves are devastated.

“Come on, don’t waste any more time and go in quickly! By now you should have figured out what choices to make?”

“aaah?!”

Alfred kicked all those elves in the ass and threw them into the fountain.

The nymphs dragged them into the water as if they had waited.

“I’m saying this now… But shouldn’t I have forced them in from the beginning? Rather, I think it would have been faster.”

Arsel, who watched the scene, approached as if he was in a state of collapse.

I myself was in order to go towards Sam.

“No, that’s why we are nothing more than parent bears catching fish for their cubs. If that were the case, even if they survived right now, those dwarves will still be there when a similar situation hits them someday.”

“You mean that?”

Alfred shook his head as he took Arcel’s hand.

It seems that there is no need to go all the way to Arcel.

“Maybe that’s what the dwarves realized, too, that ending with that damn explosion is boring now. Do you know how much I suffered because of the dwarves in the past? What a headache it was to explode if I did anything.”

“Ah… I see what you mean. But why are you holding me? My body is getting hotter too. It’s hard to bear more than this.”

“No, you have to put those lights out.”

“What is that…”

Arcel’s reaction was that he couldn’t understand Alfred’s words.

“If left alone, this fire will probably engulf the entire continent. I over there told me earlier, but this magical guy knows how to start fire, but he doesn’t know how to control it.”

“What do you mean?!”

In addition, the words that followed made Arcel even more startled.

It is because they have been saying that all continents will suddenly be engulfed in a sea of fire.

“Over there I went to see the wizard who cast this spell, and kindly asked him to put out the light. If you leave it like this, the embers will ride the wind and spread to other places.”

Alfred smiled broadly and took Arcel in his arms and flew up into the sky.

“But they said they couldn’t? They say they don’t know how to turn off the fire after all, even though they forcefully tell them to turn it off.”

It pushes away the hot heat with the wind, and at the same time, it also clears the smoke that obscures the view.

“Ah, it’s hard to fly with a small body. I’ll just cast flight magic on you, so relax your body.”

“…God.”

And Arcel saw.

The fire that covered the forest didn’t just spread towards the elves, but gradually expanded its territory to the outside of the forest.

“You understand now, right? I recognized him from the time he stole magic on his own, but when I found out, he was really an idiot with no answer.”

Alfred shook his head and looked somewhere with pitiful eyes.

There was another fire raging there.

“However, we cannot put out all the flames this large. No matter how hard I try, I can only get a handful of fire… No, on this scale, even if my body is fine, I can’t guarantee it.”

Looking down at the ground, Arcel made a serious face.

I couldn’t even imagine how many people would die if these fires spread all over the world.

“That’s right, even though this is a defective item among the magic her mother created, the power is certain.”

Even so, Alfred seemed to have a way.

“But it is not that there is no way. I prepared in advance in case something similar happened.”

“What the hell are you preparing for?”

Alfred knew how to solve the catastrophe that would turn the world into a sea of fire.

“Of course, you have to help me. As you can see, I have a small body, and I left everything to you by telling you to take care of the main body… It’s a pity, but shouldn’t the two of us exert more strength?”

“…?”

Afterwards, Alfred headed for the spring the elves jumped into.

I didn’t know what he was trying to do here, but Alfred covered Arcel’s ears and shouted at Sam.

“Come on! Is everyone ready? Her name is a water fairy! I also lifted the curse of Hylas, so in return, put out that fire together!”

Suddenly, Sam began to shake violently.