I Was Connected to Earth’s Black Market From Another World With The Skill [Market]! (WN)

Chapter 232

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Chapter 232 – What Awaits Us in Nordanan

We left Sarz at noon and made good progress thanks to the Griffon’s running ability.

The distance to Nordanan was about a hundred kilometers. The road was covered with deep snow, and it was hard to tell which way was the road. It is said that a horse-drawn sled would take a whole day to get through the snow, check the road, and encourage the horses to keep going. However, hovercrafts can reach nearly full speed on flat farmland, swamps, and narrow rivers. The maximum practical speed is about 80 kilometers per hour, so a hundred kilometers is a distance that would take less than two hours. Besides, the ride is not so bad once you get used to the sound of the explosion. Ivan-san, who had been afraid of the unknown vehicle at first, and his wife and daughter, who had been looking out the window with glee, eventually fell asleep in the back seat.

It was early evening, and the sun was still high in the sky when I came within sight of what I assumed was the village of Nordanan.

“Is that Nordanan up there on two hills?”

“Maybe.”

I guess so since the next town would be just across the river. I hadn’t seen it from the southern side of the territory, so I couldn’t tell from the landscape.

Anyway, we were in a hurry at that time, so we didn’t enter the city, we just passed it.

“Takifu, stop right there.”

“Eh.”

When we reached a point where we could see the whole city, Myrril called out and stepped onto the gun turret on the seat. She holds her beloved UZI in her arms. I can’t see anything, but she seems to have spotted something unusual with her dwarfish vision.

“Is it the enemy?”

In a place like this? Where the hell did it come from?

But Myrril is soon back in her seat. Shaking her head, she looks at me with a disgusted expression.

“Go on. There is no problem… but they are not the enemy for now.”

After a while, I saw a simple wooden fence around the town, which is… not that tight, and a simple service gate that serves as the southern entrance to the town. The north side of the gate was decorated with a statue of a giant octopus, but the one facing the territory was a simple archway with an ordinary wooden door.

Well, that’s fine. A two-horse carriage was parked in front of the archway.

The carriage was not particularly elegant, but it was painted with the same sea monster octopus crest as the flag of the Southern Territories, so it was obvious who it belonged to.

“What is he doing, that man?”

“Is he free? I don’t think so.”

As our Griffon approached, the carriage doors opened, and two men stepped out. One was, of course, the fat little lord, McKin-dono. The other was a tall figure with a patch over his right eye.

I knew who it was because I could see his long ears.

“The elf. I didn’t expect him to ambush us here.”

“You are too naive. I expected this.”

As we dismounted from the Griffon, the two men slowly approached us. The tall elf seemed to have a limp in his right arm and leg, the same side that wears the eye patch. When I looked closer, I saw that the right side of his long ear was also missing, as if the tip had been torn off.

“I am sorry for the sudden visit. I asked Lord McKin to arrange a meeting, but I didn’t think you would come so quickly and easily. So I came to you myself.”

The elf approached me in a surprisingly pleasant tone. However, his voice is very dry and salty, as if he were in a fish market in my former world.

“Demon King, this is Loringen. He’s a distant relative of mine… or, to put it more simply, he’s a relative of the Marquis Erkel of the kingdom.”

“I am her great uncle. My name is Schur Loringen, Your Majesty the Demon King. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“I am Takifu, and this is my wife, Mir.”

“I had heard that the Blacksmith King had a daughter, but I had no idea that she would grow up to be such a talented young woman.”

“There is no need for such flattery. It does not suit the dwarves.”

The elf waved his hand slightly playfully in response to Myrril’s nonchalant reaction.

Although he knew Myrril’s father, it was hard to tell the age of the long-lived elf. He’s older than Ecla-san. I don’t know how old he is, but he looks like he’s in his forties. There is an aged calm in his left eye as he looks at us.

◇ ◇

After parting ways with them and taking Ivan-san and his family back to his parent’s house, Myrril and I went to the mayor’s mansion where McKin-dono was staying.

I thought it was just a country town, but surprisingly, there was an annex for guests, and it had the appearance of a reasonably high-quality lodging facility. A middle-aged man who looked like a real butler and a young woman who looked like a maid led us to the reception room where McKin-dono and the others were waiting for us. The butler and I chatted, and it seemed that Nordanan was prospering in its own way through the distribution of goods along the river.

“Once again, my name is Schur Loringen. I am the guildmaster of the merchant guild in Lafan.”

“I am Takefu Yoshiaki. I am a merchant in Casemaian, and now that I am on vacation, I am an adventurer.”

“So Yoshuaki is your family name?”

“Takefu is my family name, yes. It seems to be difficult for the people of the Republic to pronounce, so I call myself Takifu.”

“In Casemaian, they called him Yoshua.”

“You’re not from a noble family, are you, Demon King?”

“Yes. I was born in a country where classes were abolished, so everyone was a commoner.”

“Hmm.”

The elf Loringen-shi looks amused at his left eye, the one that is safe.

…But did it come that way.

I expected to see a mass-produced, good-looking man of some sort, but instead, I was greeted by a bold, rough-looking giant of a man. He was at least a head taller than myself and Lord McKin. He looks like a relative of the macho elves who wielded anti-tank rifles on the city walls somewhere.

No. Maybe not.

“Kemich, who you two are looking after in Casemaian, is my great-grandson.”

“Right? That’s what it looks like.”

When I looked closer, I saw that he was even more amazing than Kemich, who had a face full of scars. His face is in good shape, but the right side of his body, supplemented by a prosthetic arm and leg, is badly burned from neck to face. He wears an eye patch, probably because he has lost his sight. Maybe that hoarse voice, too.

“What, you know each other?”

“No, we have never met. We are acquaintances of acquaintances.”

“I owe Kemich a great deal. He is a very reliable man, and without him, Casemaian would have fallen.”

“That can’t be true. All he can do is be conspicuous at best.”

That’s terrible. In the face that speaks ill of his great-grandson, you can see the affection on his face, so it seems that he doesn’t really mean what he says.

“Here, His Majesty the Demon King shows off his military prowess. Giving the most conspicuous big guy a suitable weapon means that the best enemies will bite and hunt as much as they can. If you know Takifu, you must have heard about the exploits of Kemich and his men, right?”

“Yes, well. I thought it was a half-truth, but it seems to be true.”

“What is the outcome of the war, Loringen? I’ve heard rumors that 30,000 people were killed, but I’ve never heard of elves doing so well. Hmm?”

Lord McKin’s expression changed.

Hey, do you know about this? Who told you? The anti-aircraft force is a military secret, so you can’t just blurt it out.

“I heard it from the Demon King on the way back from the capital. He said he shot down 14 or so winged dragons.”

I was the one who blurted it out. I don’t remember talking about it at all. Even with Moff’s support, I had driven all night without sleeping, so I must have been on an all-night high. I regret it.

“Well then. I heard that he and six of his men stood tall on the city walls, not taking a step back from the oncoming crowd of countless dragons and that he was so heroic that one could almost admire his bravery.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, isn’t it? Maybe he just cowered and couldn’t move?”

“I don’t know because I didn’t see it. It is true that he killed fourteen winged dragons. The feast we had that night was truly delicious.”

“I see. They did it, didn’t they? We have a bad history with winged dragons. I’m sure they fought hard and cried out in terror in their hearts.”

“What do you mean, ‘bad history’? I heard about the defeat a quarter of a century ago when the winged dragons attacked Casmaian.

Oh, I remember they were scattered and destroyed by the numerical might of the kingdom’s army and the overhead support of the winged dragons. It must have been a traumatic experience. The elves did a good job. It must have been a traumatic experience. The elves did a good job.

“Well, that’s one thing. The elves stayed in the retreat and fought on the walls to the end. So did Kemich and the other surviving elves. And when I realized that there was no way we would make it back alive, I made up my mind.”

Something dark trembled in Loringen’s eyes as he spoke in a low voice.

“If the fire from the winged dragon had not rendered half my body useless, I would have stayed there, too. They dragged me out, saying I was just a big useless thing that couldn’t even draw a bow.”

“And Kemich and the others?”

“They were the younger generation, and they wanted to stay too, but they were refused. They said it was the duty of the young to protect the women and children and to survive. We did not want our blood to run out like that of the northern elves, so Louwenbein, who was the leader of the elven group at the time, and fourteen of his best men became pawns.”

“Louwenbein. King of the Eagle’s Eye.”

I’ve heard this name before from Myrril. The old Casemaian was ruled by the Council of the ‘Lion King’ of the Beastmen, the ‘Eagle-Eyed King’ of the Elves, and the ‘Blacksmith King’ of the Dwarves.

“Yes. He is my grandson and Kemich’s father. Kemich’s men who defended the walls in the Demon King’s army must have been the sons of those who survived the disaster… or, in other words, those who remained on the battlefield.”

Loringen spoke softly about what had happened.

While hiding in an abandoned house near the city walls, waiting for a chance to escape when the enemy attack would cease… which may or may not come, screams and the smell of burning flesh, shattering bones and splattering blood, and the sound of chewing as winged dragons devoured their entrails while still alive could be heard from the city walls.

The only thing stopping the young subhumans who kept trying to run to the rescue was their mission: they could not allow the women and children here to become collateral damage.

“Protect your friends.”

For that was the last and only wish entrusted to us by those who remained on the battlefield.

“…Do you know what that feels like?”

When Loringen finished speaking, he bowed deeply to both of us.

“The Demon King Yoshua, the Demon Queen Myrril. On behalf of my people, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“Ah, no… It is I.”

“You have defended the pride and blood ties of the Casemaians left by the dead. And the hearts of those who failed to die.”

“…Failed to die?”

“Yes. We are not survivors. We failed to die. We were not protected. We were left behind. We all know how rude and arrogant that sounds. But…”

Myrril patted the old elf’s arm as if to comfort him.

In a way, Myrril might have had similar feelings.

She belongs to a generation that never knew the war that destroyed Casemaian. She knows only through hearsay of her home, which was a paradise. A paradise that perished, leaving its pride and glory to future generations, with only its beautiful appearance etched in their memories. In reality, it is an occupied ruin that no one is allowed to approach. All that is left for the future generations that have fallen is the fetters that will one day bring it back.

Stuck in the past, the descendants of the Casemaians had no choice but to fight on.

“Do you know what they were looking for all those years ago when they had no choice but to tremble in the hole in the ground?”

Even I know that it was not a dream or a hope. I also know that what flickers in the old elf’s eyes is what he is looking for.

“A place to die. For a quarter of a century, they’ve only thought about death.”

“That kind of thing…”

“I know. I’ve been there. For twenty-five years, day in and day out, all I could think about was where and how I was going to die.”

Tears streamed from his only eye, and Loringen laughed.

“Until the day you saved us.”