Record of Lodoss War

Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

The city of Alan was about ten days’ travel to the south of the village of Zaxon. As the name implied, Alan was the capital of Alania and home to the royal palace known as Stone Web, home of the king, Cadmus VII, and his family.

Capital of a four-hundred-year-old kingdom, the city of Alan was known as the most cultured city in all of Lodoss. Every building in the city was made of stone, as were the smooth, clean roads.

The dwarf-built city had needed no repairs in hundreds of years and still looked the same as the day it was built.

Parn’s party had planned to cross Norbis to the west and head for Valis, but rumors of a sandstorm in the western desert had convinced them to change their plans and visit Alan instead.

When they arrived, Alan was all a-bustle with festivities. Two days earlier, Cadmus VII’s first son had been born, and everyone was celebrating. The normally quiet streets were full of carts, and the air was filled with a hitherto unimaginable ruckus. The air was sweltering under the early summer sun. Parn and his companions amused themselves watching the festivities while walking through the streets.

“We came at a good time,” Ghim grunted between mouthfuls of the drumstick he’d bought at a food stand.

“Definitely,” Parn agreed with him.

“What good fortune that the prince was born. The royal family must be relieved.” Eto was also looking at the festive city with a pleased expression.

“It’s great that the city is so lively, but my legs are tired from our journey. Do you think we might seek lodgings and enjoy the festival afterward?”

Slayn always walked slowly at the back of their group. In spite of appearances, he was enjoying the celebration, but after walking all day without rest, his breathing was a bit ragged. It was difficult for him to keep up with the youthful Parn and Eto, as well as Ghim, who never seemed to tire.

“That’s what you get for doing nothing but reading all day. You’ve got to train your body as well as your mind!”

Slayn made a noncommittal sound and picked up his pace a bit to keep up with Ghim.

“Be that as it may, I’m starving. No joke, if we don’t find an inn soon and get a solid meal under our belts, I might keel over, not from fatigue, but from hunger.” So saying, Ghim bit off another chunk of bird meat.

Isn’t that his third drumstick? Eto was amazed by Ghim’s bottomless stomach. Though he was half Parn’s height, the dwarf could eat three times as much. The rumor that dwarves had nothing in their ma.s.sive abdomens but stomachs must be true, thought Eto, and not for the first time.

“Now, to the festival!” Having found an inn and eatenl, Parn could wait no longer before urging Eto to join him. Eto laughed and stood up, and Ghim followed suit.

“What about you, Slayn?” wondered Ghim, looking at Slayn, who had not moved an inch.

“Don’t worry about me, just go enjoy the festival. I have someplace else to go. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“I don’t have enough free time to waste it worrying about a mage. You’re going to the famous academy, aren’t you?”

Slayn gave a quick nod.

“In that case, we’re off. But if you don’t have some fun once in a while, you’ll die of boredom someday.”

“Take care,” replied Slayn, standing as well.

Slayn had studied at the Academy of Sages in Alan since the age of twelve. Slayn’s mother, who was of n.o.ble birth, had specially requested Slayn’s admission from such a young age when she realized how much he enjoyed reading.

Ever since that day, Slayn had lived on his own in Alan. It was two years to the day since the incident that had claimed the life of his friend, after which Slayn had left the city in fear of reprisals from the thieves’ Guild. But the eternal capital, Alan, was exactly the same as the day he left.

Slayn looked on the city with nostalgia as he climbed the hill to the Academy of Sages.

The Academy was on a small hill on the edge of the city which overlooked the port. It was a majestic building completely composed of black marble. Since it was the size of a small castle, it was, along with the white tower of the palace of Stone Web, one of the two landmarks visible throughout the city.

Even from a distance, Slayn could tell that the black building in front of him had somehow changed. The walls were slightly dirty, as though it had been a while since they were last cleaned. But in his time, magically summoned servants would have been cleaning every nook and cranny of the building until it was spotless.

When at last he arrived at the gate, it too had changed. Normally, it was guarded by dragon fang warriors, but they were nowhere to be found.

Slayn’s heart raced. What did this mean? What could possibly have happened at the Academy?

“Samalgan!” Slayn’s voice shook under the weight of his worries. In response, the bar on the gate opened on its own. The gate swung open with a creaking noise. Behind it, there lay the Academy’s courtyard. It had visibly fallen into disrepair.

Slayn could not hide his shock. The Academy of Sages was famous throughout Lodoss for its great beauty. Overflowing with magic, it had even been referred to as the renaissance of the ancient kingdom of Kastul.

The academy had, over the course of two hundred years, trained many a great mage and rediscovered any number of lost magics, as well as creating a great many new spells.

But what a mess! There were weeds up to Slayn’s neck, completely hiding the paths through the grounds. He wouldn’t be able to get to the building without cutting them. Smelling the odor of animal droppings, Slayn grimaced.

“Why did this happen?” Slayn’s quiet voice shook even more.

At that moment, Parn’s group was walking quickly down the main street of the city. Ten days into the festival, troupes of street performers and poets telling love stories in sweet voices had come from across the land, and it felt like the festivities had reached their climax.

To put it simply, a country b.u.mpkin like Parn was overwhelmed by the beauty of the city and the sight of so many gaudily clothed women walking its streets.

Ghim was, as always, taking advantage of the unusual culinary delights of the city, and Eto was watching the festival with a grin, continually remarking on the wonder of such and such a thing to Parn.

Eto was certainly enjoying the festival, but in a somewhat different fashion from Parn. Witnessing the joyous energy of the festival was the ultimate delight to a priest of Phalis such as Eto. Just seeing strangers greet each other as friends, belt out songs, and drink together was enough for him. It made him feel that creating a peaceful and righteous society was no mere dream.

“Looks like a fight,” said Ghim suddenly.

“A fight?” Parn replied in a loud voice, turning his head to see what Ghim was looking at.

There was a brawl involved several people in an alley. There were four unsavory-looking men and a short person with dark green clothes and long blond hair.

“That’s a woman!” cried Parn, taking off in the direction of the alley.

The woman in dark green appeared to fighting against the four men. Eto too took off running, shouting in alarm.

“That, a woman?” Ghim alone seemed unenthusiastic as he followed at a distance. “Some woman! That’s an elf girl or my name isn’t Ghim!”

“Ha! With those moves, there’s no way you’ll lay a finger on me!”

Deedlit easily evaded the reckless, clumsy attacks of the four men. As she dodged, she tripped one of the men, smashed him in the chest with her free hand, then kicked him in the back.

Deedlit laughed internally at the foolishness of these slow-moving humans starting a fight with an elf. Their anger spurred them on, but each attack just meant they’d spend more time abed with their injuries.

“Fools!”

Deedlit jumped up, avoiding the attack of a man who had charged her with his head down, and planted one elbow in his back.

Just then, two more humans joined the fray. Thinking them her enemies, Deedlit knew a moment of fear, before the power of her fighting spirit surged through her. She turned towards the bigger of the two, slipping towards him and aiming a low kick at his leg.

The man jumped, dodging her kick, and looked into Deedlit’s surprised face.

“No, I’m on your side!” Parn had wondered for an instant why she would attack him, but spread his arms wide to show that he was friendly and yelled out to the woman.

Deedlit carefully inspected the man, watching for any suspicious movements. His guileless eyes met her gaze. He doesn’t seem like a bad person. So thinking, Deedlit winked at the man in guise of a signal. As a result, she left an opening behind her for an instant.

One of the four men stood and tried to pin her arms from behind. Deedlit tried to sidestep it, but was unable to dodge her charging adversary, who rammed into her.

“What’s the meaning of four men fighting one woman?” Parn grabbed the hair of the one pinning Deedlit’s arms, lifting the man’s face, and punched him. The man went flying, landed on the pavement and stopped moving. Seeing that, the other three turned and ran.

Parn kept his guard up until all three had disappeared around the corner in the alley. Once they had vanished, he turned to look at the woman.

She was letting out little coughs. She’d had the breath knocked out of her when the man had rammed into her. The long hair hanging across her face moved with her coughs.

Eto tried to tap the girl on the back. But the girl reacted quickly, jumping up and away from him.

Eto shared a look of disappointment with Parn. Parn grinned broadly and made a show of brushing off Eto’s wounded pride.

Leaning back against the wall of the dimly-lit alley, Deedlit carefully observed the two men. One of them was a cheerful-looking young man. But he had easily dodged her swift kick. She hadn’t been going easy on him, either. To look at him, he seemed quite the skillful warrior. The other one had a kind face. He was wearing loose white clothing and had something hanging around his neck. It looked like a talisman of Phalis. Maybe he was a priest of Phalis, but he could also be merely a devout layman. She’d instinctively jumped away when he tried to touch her back, but it didn’t seem that he had any ulterior motives.

“It seems I owe you my thanks,” said Deedlit in a calm voice, pushing her hair back and away from her face.

“No need to thank us,” replied Parn, a bit fl.u.s.tered. He’d just gotten a good look at her face for the first time. She was so short, at first he had taken her for a child. Her green eyes had a slight slant to them. Her eyebrows were thin and followed the same angle as her eyes. Her nose was small but well-formed, and below it her small red-lipped mouth hung slightly open due to her ragged breathing, revealing her white teeth. And then there were her ears.

“She’s an elf,” murmured Eto and Parn in unison.

Her long, pointed ears twitched. No wonder she was small. Elves were of somewhat smaller stature than humans, to the point that mistaking an elven woman for a child was understandable. It was the first time in Parn’s life that he had seen a member of this sylvan people. He was overwhelmed by her beauty, even greater than he had imagined.

“No, you don’t need to thank us. We only did what was right.”

“What’s right, huh? No, you got us in a pickle.” Ghim had stayed out of the fight from the beginning.

“A dwarf!” Deedlit took a quick look at the rude little man who had inserted himself into the conservation. She immediately regretted it when the newcomer turned out to be a dwarf, a member of that ugly mountain people.

Her instant dislike of him was audible.

“That’s right, elf girl,” replied Ghim, unconcerned. “If you guys had just minded your own business, I’m sure this elf wouldn’t have let them touch her. Elves are like that. Clever and agile. Born thieves, the lot of them.”

Hearing Ghim’s words, Deedlit’s expression changed completely.

“How rude!” Deedlit bent over, her back arching like a cat about to pounce on its prey.

“And as you can see, they’re a proud people.” Ghim continued. “I bet you anything the elf started the fight herself.”

“How dare you!” Deedlit seemed as if she might fly at the dwarf’s throat. But before she could do so, Parn grabbed her left arm in his right hand, stopping her.

“You’ve gone too far, Ghim!” Parn was truly angry. Turning towards Ghim with a stern expression, he took one step in his direction.

“Hmm, I see how it is. I had no intention of angering you as well. Sorry.” With these words, Ghim suddenly turned his back to Parn. “I’ll leave the rest to you and head back to the inn, seeing as how I don’t get on well with elf girls.”

Ghim slowly walked back towards the main street.

Parn felt a moment of disappointment, watching Ghim walk away, then realized with a start that he was still holding the elf’s arm and let her go.

“You finally noticed.” Deedlit rubbed the place Parn had grabbed her with her right hand. The skin there had reddened. Did this oafish youth have no concept of restraint? Deedlit opened her mouth to yell at him, but somehow her yell changed into laughter.

“I am called Deedlit. Instead of thanking you, how about you youngsters let me treat you to a meal tonight?”

Looking at the elf’s impish expression, Parn became aware that he was blushing.

“Uh, um, okay.”

“Then it’s decided. Since today happens to be a day of celebration, we have our choice of eateries. I don’t want it said that elves have no sense of grat.i.tude.”

As she spoke, Deedlit took Parn’s arm and started walking.

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