WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Alone Against the Tower ◈
Chapter 88: Sharing a Bed
──────
Eleanor was better at respecting boundaries than I expected.
She tried to make unwanted advances at every opportunity and pressed herself against me while asking to share a bed, but when I refused, she eventually gave up.
So now that we'd promised to only hold hands and sleep, she wouldn't try anything strange.
Probably.
Or would she?
Honestly, I wasn't completely sure, but if Eleanor tried any bullshit, I could stop her by force.
Her offer to share a bed was meant to solve her insomnia, so there was no need to worry unnecessarily.
Besides, this wasn't the time to worry about that yet. You sleep at night, and it was still the middle of the day.
After that, Eleanor gave me a rough explanation of the war involving the three major factions.
First, the human Kingdom Army, which had developed at a terrifying rate over the past hundred years, declared war on the Elves under the banner of reclaiming its territory.
Apparently, the Great Forest where the Elves had settled was included in the human kingdom's territory.
The kingdom had not exercised effective control over it until now, and it seemed they intended to drive out the Elves and seize the forest while they had the chance.
The problem was that reaching the High Elves' Great Forest required passing through Dark Elf territory.
And the Kingdom Army referred to the High Elves and Dark Elves together as nonhuman forces occupying its land.
In other words, they intended to attack the Dark Elves and High Elves without distinction.
Geographically, the Dark Elves would naturally be attacked first. Looking at the situation, the Elves should have united and stopped the Kingdom Army.
But instead of forming an alliance, those insane fucking High Elf bastards suddenly declared war on the Dark Elves.
The Dark Elves alone ended up fighting a war on two fronts without even understanding why, despite never declaring war themselves.
“Of course, we gave them a pretext. We had started the war before that, even if we didn't formally declare it.”
That figured. If they had only been attacked one-sidedly, Eleanor wouldn't have been so worn down.
“Still, there were many strange things about the forest folk's declaration of war.”
Well, it had been a war that lasted a hundred years. There were probably many tangled issues. At this point, the original justification hardly mattered.
Honestly, even if Elves could keep a war going for a hundred years, the fact that a human kingdom had done so was far from normal.
It didn't even seem like the Dark Elf faction was simply being ganged up on from two sides. All three sides appeared to be fighting one another.
“You... are thinking of going to fight, aren't you?”
Eleanor immediately saw through my thoughts and spoke with a worried expression.
I nodded.
The Kingdom Army on the ninth floor had grown stronger than those on the seventh and eighth floors thanks to a century of development.
Naturally, there had to be fighting forces as strong as Eleanor or Mercedes among them. Otherwise, the balance wouldn't work.
My growth was already sufficient, so it wasn't as if I especially wanted to face opponents like that. Still, there was no reason to avoid a fight.
“It's funny for me to say this to someone who's surely grown stronger than they were a hundred years ago, but don't die.”
Even Eleanor, who had once liked the scent of blood that clung to me, said things like that after a hundred years had passed.
When I thought about it, that was funny too.
* * *
The war might have lasted a hundred years, but the battles did not continue for a hundred years without pause.
There were other Dark Elf territories besides this fortress, and I heard that scattered local battles took place in each of them.
Of course, the enemy's ultimate goal was to capture this fortress, so it was certain that they would eventually come here.
The Reconnaissance Team's role was to spot them one step ahead and intercept them. I decided to take on that role as well.
Once we left the village and reached an area where the fog did not interfere, enemies immediately came into view.
Judging by their flags, they were definitely the Kingdom Army. But the makeup of their forces was strange.
“What are those, zombies?”
Whether they were Undead or monsters, they were not human. In fact, there were more monsters than people.
I could see several Mages among the enemy forces. It looked like they controlled or commanded the monsters through some special method.
Well, if they wanted to keep a war going for a hundred years, they would have needed a way to conserve manpower.
If they captured monsters, put them under their command, and sent them to the battlefield, they could save both soldiers and weapons.
“How many Mages are there? Let's see...”
I lightly spread out my mana and attempted to sense the enemy's exact numbers.
Kiiing!
But my senses were blocked along with a strange sound. At the same time, one of the monsters let out a bizarre shriek.
Gyaaaah!
Had they prepared some way to block detection? So much for a surprise attack.
“■■■■, ■■■!”
When a Kingdom Army Mage shouted something like an unknown spell, the monsters' demeanor changed.
They must have noticed me and entered combat stance. Fine. Let's see what they had.
I readied my sword and shield and stepped forward. The monster unit charged as soon as it spotted me.
Thud!
I lightly kicked the monster at the front and sent it flying into the distance.
The monster struck several trees as it flew before collapsing, but the others charged without a care.
A human had appeared and sent a monster flying, yet they showed no signs of stopping.
Either the Mages had not noticed what was happening, or they had noticed and could not stop the monsters. Something like that.
Since they were an army, I had been slightly expecting some strategic movement, but apparently not.
Slash!
I cut off the neck of another charging monster in one stroke, then shoved through their formation with my shield.
It was one against many anyway. Rather than countering their attacks, it was better to break into their ranks and wipe them out like this.
My level had not gone up at all lately. It had been a while since I hunted this much.
* * *
My level did not go up this time either. My level really was too high for this floor.
There had been well over a hundred monsters in that unit, yet this was the result. I should not expect to level up for a while.
Leveling up was difficult, but I was gradually raising my stats through personal training too, so it was not a major problem.
After wiping out the monsters, I returned to the fortress and prepared to share a bed with Eleanor. Saying it like that sounded strange.
Anyway, I got ready to sleep. I had been covered in monster blood, so I took a bath first.
Even in wartime, the Dark Elves' bathhouse was still excellent. If anything, it felt better than before.
The bathhouse had grown overall, and perhaps because they had steeped herbs in the water, I could feel my fatigue easing.
Ah, the Dark Elves' mixed-bathing culture was still alive and well too.
The Dark Elves who liked humans kept approaching me without caring that they were naked, which was awkward in many ways.
After finishing my bath, I finally got into bed with Eleanor in the bedroom inside the castle.
“...”
I had agreed, but was this really okay?
I wouldn't have felt so uneasy if Eleanor hadn't been wearing that negligee.
“Come on, you must be tired too. Lie down already. My bed is very comfortable.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Don't be so scared. I told you, we're really only going to hold hands and sleep.”
Eleanor suddenly pulled me toward her by the hand. In the end, I lay beside her and stared at the ceiling.
I didn't know whether she truly meant it when she said we would only hold hands, but the moment she lay down, Eleanor took my hand and interlaced our fingers.
“If there's an attack in the middle of the night, we'll have to get up immediately. There won't be time for anything between a man and a woman.”
That was true. In wartime, a ruler would hardly have time to leisurely do something like that. Probably.
Whoosh.
At Eleanor's gesture, every light in the room went out. I obediently lay still and closed my eyes.
I had closed my eyes, but I had no intention of simply sleeping like this.
I intended to meditate and circulate my mana.
Eleanor, who really did nothing but hold my hand and lie beside me, breathed softly before speaking in a quiet voice.
“My dear.”
“What?”
“Are you really human?”
“Yes.”
“Don't humans only live for a hundred years?”
“Usually, they do.”
“I see.”
Eleanor moved her lips as though she were hesitating. If she didn't ask first, I didn't intend to say anything either.
While fighting during the day, I had thought a great deal about whether I should tell Eleanor about myself.
I thought about it again and again, but I still had no answer.
Putting aside the fact that she was a Non-Player Character, I wondered whether it was truly something I should tell her.
When I left the eighth floor, I had already poured out what was on my mind to Eleanor after she lost her sense of self.
It had been no different from talking to a wall, so it was a different situation from now, but it had not made me feel any better.
Then again, would anything really change if I told Eleanor now that she had a sense of self?
More than anything, the problem was how Eleanor, who had strongly inherited the traits of the Night Elves, would take my words.
Eleanor loved freedom. She hated being bound by anything and wanted to be able to leave for anywhere at any time.
Could I really tell someone like that she was a Non-Player Character bound to the Tower's system?
Huff, huff.
Eleanor's steady breathing sounded beside my ear. The warmth of her hand in mine and the shoulder touching mine was comforting.
Meditation, which I had never been very good at concentrating on, was completely ruined. Slowly, I fell into sleep.
And for the first time in years, I had a long dream.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
