WeTried Translations x Flame Comics

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 165: The Species Discriminators (1)

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It happened once, long ago.

There was a time after the Hero Party appeared when the battlefield fell into a strange stalemate. Contrary to popular belief, the Hero Party had not immediately begun assassinating the Seven Dragon Generals.

Back then, the Hero Party was publicly known as something like a “High-Value Target Rapid Strike Squad.” At least, that was what the demonfolk called them.

They went around assassinating high-value targets in the demonfolk army, namely field commanders. It helped them develop teamwork, locate the Seven Dragon Generals, and reduce the threat posed by the demonfolk army.

Naturally, the ones who played the greatest roles in those days were Ivan and the Annihilation Unit, Enrika, and Beolgreen.

“Did you find anything out?”

“Other than the fact that I’m ten times older than you? Well, apparently not.”

Beolgreen smiled faintly and lowered his hand. The orc he had been holding crumpled to the ground, thin drool running from its mouth.

Ivan looked up at the sky. He worked backward from the moon’s position beyond the thick clouds to estimate the time. This was before he had grown accustomed to calculating time down to the second.

In any case, he still had some time before they had to move for the next operation. Ivan sat amid the half-ruined camp and quietly took out a Nutrient Bar to chew on.

“Is it good?”

“Does taste matter?”

“Of course it does. Don’t forget the little pleasures, Scout. In the darkness, what one should fear most is not the enemy, but forgetting.”

Forgetting pleasant things, important things, precious things.

Ivan’s brow twitched at the elf’s words. Mages had a habit of twisting even simple words into something complicated, and older mages suffered from it even more severely.

Once a mage became an old elf mage, ordinary conversation became difficult in the first place.

“Give me one too.”

“You won’t spit it out?”

“Would I really do that to a piece of wood you treasure?”

Beolgreen took a Nutrient Bar from Ivan’s hand and waved his hand over it. Purple mana sparkled and scattered.

His fingers moved as if each possessed a will of its own. Strange geometric patterns soon covered the Nutrient Bar, then vanished in a soft puff.

“Here. Try it again.”

“…What did you do?”

“I did you a favor.”

Without a word, Ivan bit into the Nutrient Bar. He paused for a moment.

It was warm. Though they were in enemy territory, where they could not light a fire, it had been heated to just the right temperature. The lard inside had half melted, making it soft to chew, while the grains crumbled pleasantly in his mouth.

Ivan silently chewed the Nutrient Bar. Beolgreen watched with satisfaction before speaking casually.

“Don’t hate elves too much.”

“…”

Ivan looked away, and Beolgreen smiled as he turned his gaze toward the sky.

“We aren’t a particularly warm people, I admit. Still, don’t hate us too much.”

“I don’t hate them.”

“Is that so? That’s good.”

Ivan could not tell what the old elf before him was thinking. Beolgreen always wore that faint smile.

Those ancient people, forever retaining the appearance of youth, felt all the more unsettling because of it. They were far too difficult to read, yet could see through the thoughts of others as easily as if they were looking at the palms of their hands.

Ivan shook his head and looked away. A series of dull booms sounded from beyond the sky.

It was the cannon fire of an air warship. Red flashes flickered beyond the dark clouds.

“An individual cannot represent an entire species.”

“…What?”

“That is practically why we are at war with the demonfolk. The Demon King’s personal will represents dozens of species.”

Boom, boom. The cannon fire from the air warship was drawing closer.

The front line was advancing. The demonfolk who had lost their command headquarters were scattering.

With the crimson bombardment staining the night sky behind him, Beolgreen chuckled softly.

“So even if one elf is arrogant and another is wicked, do not hate the whole species. At the very least, shouldn’t we strive to be better than that?”

“…I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Well, that’s something to say after the war ends.”

Beolgreen shrugged. He wore an expression full of certainty. Watching him, Ivan suddenly asked,

“When do you think the war will end?”

“This war will end ten years from now.”

Looking back, the Demon King died at the Hero’s hands ten years and several months later.

“As for what comes after, well.”

Beolgreen continued preparing for war after that. Even after the Demon King died. Even amid the peace that had finally arrived, even among his own people who mocked his claims.

He was the hardest elf Ivan had ever encountered to understand. He was the elf most friendly toward humans, the most secretive man, and also... the strongest.

Humans did not like him, and elves mocked him as mad.

Yet he only smiled, quietly nodded, and continued onward for what he believed in.

Was it not almost a miracle that the man considered the strongest mage in elven history had been friendly to humanity?

Especially during the very era when the Demon King had arrived.

‘An individual cannot represent an entire species...’

That was wrong.

Whenever Ivan recalled Beolgreen’s words, he had no choice but to deny them.

Most elves were people it was impossible to grow fond of, but because of the few who were not, Ivan had been able to avoid hating their entire species.

Back then, Beolgreen had certainly represented elves.

Ep. 26. The Species Discriminators

“So I’m saying species discrimination should be banned by international law.”

“Oh.”

“Judging people by their country or ethnicity is an outdated evil custom. Being from Krasilov doesn’t mean someone fights brown bears every day, stuffs themselves with potato vodka until they die, and chews disgusting animal feed, does it?”

“At least I know what you think of Krasilov.”

Ivan nodded at Elphihara’s words. Sadly, they were difficult to deny.

“No, that’s not the point! Look, elves are only superior in the length of their ears, their lifespans, and their knowledge, culture, morals, and social norms. That doesn’t necessarily mean humans are uncivilized, right?”

“…That does make sense.”

“So I think we shouldn’t discriminate against others based on species. Everyone should come together as members of the Allied Kingdoms, with one heart and mind. And... um. Form a family. Yeah.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

Elphihara mumbled for a long time before turning her head away.

Clouds drifted low beneath the blue sky. The hull swayed gently whenever the wind struck it.

“The Hero Party should set an example for everyone, shouldn’t it...?”

“Mm.”

“So I was thinking, what if we became a moral example by being the first to abolish the evil custom of species discrimination? By becoming something like an integrated family.”

“You’d be better off discussing that with Beolgreen.”

“Why is my dad coming into this?!”

Then why were you discussing it with me?

Ivan had already given up on understanding these children, so he turned away to think more sensible and wholesome thoughts.

The inland landscape stretched far below them. Beyond snow-covered forests lay green grasslands. Small villages sending up smoke were scattered like toys.

The woodlands of northern Tilles spread out beneath him at a glance. Ivan was calculating the warship’s speed from the long line of railroad tracks passing below.

The air warship was currently floating above Tilles.

“Don’t worry. No one below will ever see us.”

Elphihara puffed out her chest with a smug little laugh.

“A perfectly invisible ship! I layered thick optical camouflage spells beneath the bow! The upkeep does get very, very expensive, though...”

“Are there more ships like this?”

“Hmm. I suppose the high-ranking members of the Privy Council each have one, at least?”

The warship Ivan stood upon belonged to House Grikenkos.

Every elven noble house possessed a fleet of its own, but only a limited number of houses could own air warships.

Only a very small number went a step further and possessed air warships capable of optical camouflage. That was fortunate.

If there were even five warships like this, most countries would collapse before they had a chance to resist. The people of this premodern world still barely understood the concept of air superiority, but elves did not.

They possessed the most powerful fleet and ruled both the sea lanes and the skies.

Ivan watched the passing clouds and thought.

‘Is Beolgreen definitely in Kallion?’

The last time they had met, Beolgreen had clearly been pursuing Alexander.

But if Alexander was hiding in Kallion... could Beolgreen truly have failed to find him? Was that even possible?

Ivan could not know which elf had supported Alexander, but was that elf’s standing really important enough to hide Alexander from Beolgreen?

Probably not. Elizaveta may have severely underestimated Alexander’s standing, but even when Ivan considered it coolly, her words had not been far off.

Alexander was a failure. He had lost the throne, every attempted countercoup had been crushed in advance, and he had lost every trace of his support base within his homeland.

The same went for all the schemes he had pursued while hiding abroad. Even after mobilizing more than half of Tilles’s forces, he had failed to seize the monarchy.

Elves were not patient enough to shelter such a defeated man.

So if Alexander really was hiding in Kallion, there were only two possibilities.

‘Either Beolgreen is not in Kallion.’

Or Beolgreen had permitted Alexander to remain there.

If the latter was true, how should Ivan respond?

With a bitter expression, Ivan looked toward the far eastern horizon.

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Footnotes:

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