26 – Empire
“Lenny. I’ll start with the basics.”
“Yes….”
I had a mountain of questions for Lenny, but I decided to start with the interrogation from the elf’s perspective.
If I came out of the interrogation as a druid candidate and didn’t get any useful information, it would be awkward.
The high elves wanted to get two kinds of information from the interrogation.
The reason why Lenny survived the concentrated attack and the existence of a shortcut that allowed the humans to infiltrate this far.
I casually asked the first question.
“How did you survive in such a battle?”
At my question, Lenny started to shiver as if she remembered the battle just before.
There was no need to rush her, so I quietly waited for her to calm down.
She soon opened her mouth as if to explain the nightmare she had.
“I, I was blown away. The raft flipped over and I was thrown to the riverbank. I swam and hid in the forest, but after the battle ended, I was caught by an elf….”
“I see. So you didn’t participate in the battle? We also had some casualties because of this battle. You look like a mage by your outfit, but if you used magic against us, the situation would have been a headache.”
“No! I didn’t use any magic! I’ve never attacked the elves in my life. Really. Please believe me….”
“Really? Then that’s a relief. Don’t cry now that I know.”
I gave a bitter smile as I comforted Lenny, who was rubbing her hands.
I thought she would lower her guard when I showed her that we were the same humans, but she seemed to notice that I was a ‘human who sided with the elves’ and her guard went up instead.
It wasn’t a misunderstanding, so it was awkward to even make an excuse.
I ruffled my hair to shake off the awkwardness and asked the second question.
“Then, Lenny. If I let you go, can you safely return to the village? You can’t die after I saved you, right?”
It was a question I asked to find out the route she had infiltrated, but I spoke in a roundabout way considering her wariness.
If I asked directly, ‘Tell me the route you came in!’, I thought it would trigger a useless defense mechanism and make me tired.
Fortunately, Lenny gave me the honest reaction I expected.
“I, I can go back alive. If you just untie me here, I can return by myself. Please….”
“Really? If the way back is dangerous, I’m asking you to take you there. Don’t be afraid and tell me the truth.”
“There’s a safe way along the river. It’s a road with hiding places at every corner, and I memorized it on my way here, so I can go back by myself. Please… This was my first expedition. I didn’t do anything wrong. Please spare me….”
After hearing her answer, I thought I could successfully find out the route that the humans had infiltrated.
All I had to do was release Lenny and ask the high elves to tail her.
I continued to ask questions to get more information.
“I heard that the river is dangerous because of the monsters that swarm there.”
“I thought so too, but it wasn’t. At least until the next full moon, it’s relatively safe.”
“Really? Is that a widely known fact among adventurers?”
“…No. Even if they heard such a story, they would be too scared to check it out for themselves. There aren’t many people who are confident about this information.”
Lenny looked up at me with an expression that said ‘You’ll spare me now that I’ve told you everything, right?’
Of course, I was planning to let her go safely.
Since I had prepared the reason of ‘releasing Lenny to find out the infiltration route’, the high elves would surely let her go without a fuss.
But the moment I got close to the human village and figured out the entire infiltration route, the high elves who were following Lenny would kill her and return to the forest.
So now it was time to give her a reason to keep her alive until the end.
I sat comfortably and asked another question.
“Then I’ll ask you the next question. Depending on how much you answer, the plan will change, so it’s better to tell me everything you know without hiding anything.”
“Okay.”
Lenny nodded, wiping away the tear stains with her sleeve.
As she began to see hope for survival, she seemed to be burning with determination.
I smiled satisfactorily and threw heavy questions at her.
“Why do humans cut down the spirit trees? And why do they kidnap elves?”
“What? That, that’s….”
Lenny only hesitated as if he had difficulty answering my question.
When Pii spat out a hiss [Shaaak!] at him, Lenny, who was sweating coldly, flinched and opened his mouth.
“I, I was sold at a high price! Spirit necks and elves are traded at high prices in the Histanias Empire….”
[Hey you!]
“Kyaaak!”
Pii threw a branch he found somewhere and expressed his anger, but I was able to maintain my calmness as it was roughly the answer I expected.
The important thing was why spirit necks and elf slaves were being circulated at high prices.
I calmed down the raging Pii and continued the question.
“Where does the empire use spirit necks and elves?”
I swallowed my saliva and waited for Lenny’s answer.
I gave strength to the hand that held Pii to prevent any possible runaway.
After finishing all the preparations and waiting for a moment.
Lenny answered in a crawling voice.
“Farming….”
It was such an unexpected answer that I involuntarily made a blank expression.
Farming? They farm with spirit necks and elves? They were paying such a price for farming?
I let go of the squirming Pii and showed my disbelief without hiding it.
Pii bristled his hair and leaves and showed his hostility.
Then Lenny made a tearful expression and added an explanation.
“I, I’ve never farmed! Only the empire farms with spirit necks and slaves! The empire was born after they started farming.”
“What? The empire was founded because of farming?”
“Well… as you know, most of our continent lives on monsters as their staple food, right? But ever since the first emperor developed a farming method using spirit trees, there was a supply of safe food….”
“……”
“So, sorry….”
I frowned involuntarily at the unexpected history of the continent.
He must have thought I was angry with him, as Lenny, who had been answering smoothly, flinched and lowered his head.
I had a feeling that I should listen carefully to this part.
I handed him a water bottle that was on the next table and said.
“Drink this and calm down. Explain it to me like you would to a child. Simple and detailed.”
“Ah. Yes….”
Lenny took the water bottle and gulped down his throat, then sat up straight and opened his mouth.
What came out of his mouth was a short history of the Sudiya continent and the birth story of the Histanius Empire.
“The Histanius Empire was….”
To summarize Lenny’s words, it was like this.
This place, the Sudiya continent, was never short of food thanks to the monsters that flew in every year.
Although hunting them was somewhat difficult and dangerous, a few monsters could feed the whole village.
I knew this fact to some extent.
The elves gave me nothing but monster meat, how could I not know.
I liked meat anyway, so I was more or less happy with it.
But the emperor of the Histanius Empire, ‘Redru Postergrey’, had a different idea.
He wanted food that was safer and more productive, not food that was monstrously dangerous and uncertain.
He mobilized his power to find new crops.
And what he finally found was edible plants that could be cultivated. That is, the discovery of agriculture using spirit trees.
The agriculture that originally had to go through trial and error developed rapidly without experiencing failure thanks to the natural mana of the spirit trees.
When he cut down the spirit trees and stuck them in the ground, fertile land was created instantly, and when the exhausted spirit trees withered, he made the elf slaves replenish the natural mana.
There was no way to fail in agriculture that squeezed nature and gathered magic.
As a result, the empire’s agriculture was successful, and as the rumor of safe food spread, people from all over the continent flocked to create a powerful empire.
The agricultural empire ‘Histanias’ established by the current king ‘Redru Fostergray’.
The identity of the empire was a demonic land built with the blood and sweat of the spirit trees and the elves.
[You, you’re too horrible….]
I nodded at the words of Pii, who held my hand.
I also used to be a woodcutter and cut down a lot of trees, but if I had known the existence of the tree spirits, I would have dropped the chainsaw without hesitation.
To think of using the tree spirits mercilessly even knowing their existence.
I might have become strange by being immersed in nature, but the empire’s behavior felt like nothing but a terrible act.
“Histanias Empire….”
I realized for sure why the elves were hostile to humans.
And, I also realized for sure what I had to do from now on.
“Redru Fostergray….”
I felt like I had to meet the emperor.