“Pure-blooded elves stop aging once their bodies mature to a certain point,” he explained. “We live three times longer than humans, too, so while I may look young, I’ve still lived 80 years.”
I see, I thought. That’s about the same as the elves and dark elves you see in stories, huh? Those say that elves’re long-lived, stay youthful for a long time, and that they’re all beautiful. Though, my chamberlain, the half-elf Marx, was an old dude, wasn’t he? Do half-elves age differently, I wonder?
Setting that aside, I whispered to Aisha, “He seems welcoming. I thought dark elves were supposed to be xenophobic?”
“My father is the head of the cultural liberalization faction, so he’s understanding of cultural exchange with the outside. Father was also the only one who approved of me going to make an appeal to you.”
“I see. The reason you don’t worry about the rules is because of his influence, huh?” I said. I shook hands with Wodan. “I am the (acting) king, Souma Kazuya. I am here by the request of Aisha to provide relief.”
“It’s good of you to come,” he said. “Also, you’re the king, so please, you don’t need to be so formal with me.”
“…Righty-o. Is this better?”
“Yes. Still, I never expected the king himself to come here.”
“I happened to be doing an inspection at the time,” I explained. “I’ve brought the fifty members of the Forbidden Army who were at hand as an advance party. A few days from now, a second group with relief supplies should arrive.”
“I’m grateful. The truth is, I’d love to have the whole village come to welcome you, but given the circumstances, I hope you’ll understand.”
“I know,” I said. “It really is an awful situation.”
The dark elf village was in the center of a thick circle of warding trees. There were villages like this dotted around the forest, and the dark elves lived in them. If you were to look at the God-Protected Forest as a country, this village would be the capital, and there was an order of magnitude more dark elves living here than anywhere else.
The eastern third or so of that village had been carved away by the landslide. It looked like a slightly elevated slope on the eastern side had collapsed. Perhaps due to the long spell of rain, there was a large amount of water flowing over the exposed surface. The ground might have loosened a fair bit. Our one salvation was that it was sunny now. If it had been raining, we would have had to worry about another collapse while we worked.
“What are the damages like?” I asked.
“We’ve recorded nearly one hundred casualties already. There are still more than forty missing, as well.”
That’s a lot, I thought. It’s going to be a battle against time to see how many we can rescue.
“Let’s begin the relief operation immediately,” I said. “However, there’s a risk of secondary disasters, so it would be a good idea to have the women evacuate. Also, have some people keep an eye on the mountain, please. If the mountain moves in the slightest, or there are any weird noises, have them report it. If it were to collapse again while we’re carrying out relief operations, that would be a serious issue.”
“I will do that at once,” he agreed. “Is there anything else you would like to ask of me?”
“Please compile a list of the missing. We’ll erase them from it as we manage to ascertain their safety.”
“Understood.”
Once I worked things out with Wodan, I gave orders to Aisha and the Forbidden Army.
“Aisha.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Have the women evacuate to a place that doesn’t look like it will collapse. Consult with Wodan to decide where is best. You will escort them and ensure they’re delivered there safely.”
“Yes, sir! Understood!”
“Good,” I said. “Starting now, the Forbidden Army will begin operations to search for those whose safety is unconfirmed. You guys have a lot of skill at digging, I’m sure. Listen closely, and if you hear voices calling for help in the dirt, carefully rescue them!”
“““Yes, sir!”””
“However, be absolutely sure that you don’t do anything you can’t handle. If it looks like there may be another collapse, retreat even if you’re in the middle of saving someone. The rescuers cannot be allowed to take even a single loss. Understood?”
“““Yes, sir!”””
Nodding at the Forbidden Army soldiers’ response, I shouted an order. “We will now commence relief operations!”
The relief effort was an all-out battle.
Everyone came together, doing everything they could. They called the names of the missing, listened closely, and if there was even the slightest response, they would carefully move the dirt and sand aside.
It didn’t matter who was a soldier and who was a man from the village, they worked together moving the earth and cutting apart fallen trees, then pulling out the people trapped underneath. Kaede was using her magic to move huge rocks, too, while the women from the village were feeding the displaced and tending to the wounded.
As for me, I had teamed up with Hal, and we were carrying out search operations.
“Hal, under that thick tree! Someone’s still breathing!” I called.
“Huh?! I don’t hear any voice,” he said.
“Well, they’re there! Just dig!”
Hal had a doubtful look on his face, but when he dug where I told him to, he found a little girl’s hand. “Seriously…? Just you wait, we’ll have you safe soon!”
Hal moved the earth aside, pulling the dark elf girl out.
She already had brown skin, so it was hard to tell, but her complexion was looking bad. After being trapped in the moist earth for all this time, that was to be expected.
It was a good thing that the summer heat was still lingering. Were it a little later in autumn, she might have died from the cold while she’d been buried.
When I came back with a blanket, Hal was holding the girl and patting her on the back. “You did well. You’re going to be okay now.”
“…Wah… Wahhhhhhhhhh!”
“It’s okay! You’re okay now!” Hal desperately tried to calm the wailing girl.
If you ask me, men are useless at times like this. Hal and I were both at a loss for what to do, just repeating “It’s okay,” over and over.
I wrapped the girl in a blanket, waiting for her to calm down before calling over a nearby Forbidden Army soldier. “Take this girl to a safe place.”
“Yes, sir! As you command!” the soldier said.
Once we had seen the girl off, Hal said to me, “I’m amazed you knew she was there. I couldn’t hear her voice at all.”
“Even while we’re talking, I’m searching,” I said.
“Do you know some sort of searching spell?” he asked.
“Not quite… This is what I’m using.” When I stretched my palm out to Hal, a little thing burrowed out of the ground and jumped up onto it.
Hal looked at it, blinking. “Is that… a mouse?”
“A wooden one, yeah.”
It was a mouse carved out of wood, about 10 cm long. I had been manipulating it with my Living Poltergeists ability to search for survivors under the rubble. My ability was able to operate at long distances if I used dolls, but it seemed they only needed to be shaped like a living creature, not necessarily a humanoid one. Even as I was showing this one off to Hal, there were another four wooden mice moving around almost like real mice and looking for those in need of rescue.
“It’s a wonder that you were carrying around something like that,” he said.
“I found them in a shop while I was on my date with Liscia,” I said. “I thought I might use them for something, so I put them in the rolling bag with my other self-defense items.”