I Love You
"Wow, long-time no see, Queen Sisi."
Queen Sisi had been stripped naked and forced to kneel. Lucia sarcastically saluted Queen Sisi with a smug grin. Queen Sisi raised her chin with a lifeless look. Her pretty face was scarred. Her heterochromia eyes were void of her former high spirits. Her body was now smothered with dirty mud and leaves. The elves didn't let her keep her shoes. Her bloody feet and the mud were glued together.
Lucia knew the elves wouldn't sexually harass Queen Sisi. Elves thought poorly of those who sexually harassed women. While elves would kill any male, they wouldn't sexually harass women as their sexual urges weren't strong. Furthermore, the elves, who considered themselves to be the most esteemed race, wouldn't mate with a "mere" human. The very thought of it was sickening to them.
"Queen Sisi, I assume this overgrown brain of yours has cooled down a little after drifting in the water for a night-long tour, right? You now realise that attacking us elves was a mistake, don't you? We may have a small population and possess little territory, but no race has ever ruled us. The demon race failed to, and you have failed to."
Lucia didn't wait for Queen Sisi to reply. Instead, she looked away: "Give her a lesson. Don't let her die, and don't let her kill herself. She's our product. We need to exchange her for humanity's money."
"Yes, Ma'am!"
After the victory, Lucia, who fought bravely, reached new heights in fame. She was the first one to charge at humanity's camp after the explosions. She didn't charge over with a gun or bows and arrows but solely a long sword. From humanity's perspective, she was just a small weak girl, but nobody could stop small and weak girl. She was the first one to charge into the human Queen's tent. Needless to say, Queen Sisi's tent was already demolished by that stage. At the time, Queen Sisi's whereabouts were a mystery. The bathtub and two ladies in waiting were corpses as a result of the explosions.
What followed next was a slaughter. The elves opened fire on humanity from every direction, leaving humanity in a miserable fog of their own blood. The elves, who charged in, cut down the human soldiers where they stood. All survivors were slashed or shot to death. Some final survivals made a last ditch effort to escape the despair by swimming across the river; unfortunately for them, the elves expected that much. The elves were already waiting for them at the shore. They crushed the humans' brains with iron hammers as if they were playing a game of whack-a-mole. It wasn't a war; it was a slaughter.
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Current time at the outer perimeter of the elven lands.
I sighed. The forest was different to its former self. Humanity had destroyed the elves' peaceful forest. The outer perimeter was big field after big field of scorched land and layers of charcoal. Humanity ruthlessly vandalised the forest, turning it into an area that anyone could come and leave from any angle. Nonetheless, the elves had also expressed their anger.
The elves fixed humanity's limbs onto wooden stakes along the path humanity ironically cut open. It was as if I was at a museum of human corpses. The elves also tried their best to artistically attach the blown up corpses together. Having saying that, they didn't care if the limbs actually belonged to the individual or not. They dug out the eyes of the corpses; not one person was spared. If there was only half of a head remaining, they dug out the remaining single eye. The corpses had yet to bleed dry. Their blood still continued to spill from their wounds.
The path of corpses was the path that humanity treaded and their road to destruction. The path extended deep into the elven lands. The corpses kept me company the entire way. I didn't know how many humans the elves killed; I didn't think that a number was appropriate for describing the scene. What should've been used to describe the death toll was how far the line of corpses stretched. The path was unsettling for the sick stench of blood overpowered any other scent. A gentle breeze kept the grass and corpses swaying. What should have been a normal road was a frightening scene to behold. I prayed two elves could come and greet me… It would be a bonus if it was Lucia…
I walked for a long time to finally catch sight two elves standing in the distance, looking as though they were waiting for something. They, too, noticed me but didn't draw their weapons to attack me. Instead, they folded their arms and shouted, "Are you here to pay your Queen's ransom? Did you bring the full thirty-thousand gold coins? We don't accept cheques; we only want cash."
"No, I'm not here for the Queen." I raised my hands to indicate that I wasn't harmed.
They immediately lost their patience upon hearing that I didn't come for Queen Sisi. They waved me off: "In that case, leave. You don't appear to be a threat, so we won't kill you. We killed too many not long ago, so we're quite disgusted."
"I'm here for Lucilia. I'm friends with your Lucilia. I have something important to see Lucilia about; I hope you help me find her. If you refuse, I think she will be very angry when she finds out."
The two elves exchanged glances and deliberated it. They were worried about my relationship with Lucilia. They didn't know how we were related. If we truly were friends, Lucilia would be furious if she didn't see me."
"Wait for a bit, then." In the end, they decided to go and grab Lucia. After all, I was unarmed. Obviously, my cane wasn't a weapon.
I touched my pocket gently. Inside my pocket was the last thing Francis left with me. I initially planned to give it to Veirya, but I felt it wasn't going to ever serve its purpose with Veirya anymore.
The elves turned and left, leaving me to stand there and wait. I really wanted one of them to stay behind with me… Standing amidst corpses made me feel there were countless haunted gazes on me. When the wind blew, I thought that they wanted to vent their vengeance on me…
"Travor!!"
As I fretted, I heard Lucia's laughter from their side. Lucia zipped over to me as fast as the wind just as always. She jumped from tree to tree and landed in front of me. I could see that Lucia was gleaming with joy. She leapt over and hugged me then excitedly thanked me: "Thanks to your help, look at how much we've gained!! It was all thanks to you, Travor."
"You know, there are human corpses all around us. I feel awkward with you claiming that it was all thanks to me," I expressed with a helpless smile.
She hopped a step back, still smiling: "That's fine. I always considered you a member of our elven race. Don't you think you fit better with us? Did you need something from me? We can give you lots of things this time. Once we gather up all of humanity's armour, swords and whatnot, we will melt them and sell them to the dwarves, which, in turn, will make us a lot of money. There's also Queen Sisi's ransom, as well."
I shook my head: "I'm not here for money."
Befogged, Lucia inquired,"What are you here for, then?"
With my gaze on Lucia, I lightly reached out and grabbed hold of her left hand. She froze. I took out the ring, the dwarf's ring. The rings were supposed to be for Veirya and I.I gently slipped the ring onto Lucia's left ring finger. I looked at her surprised eyes and sincerely said, "Lucia, I like you. Please marry me."