Irreplaceable
“Because the other three parties didn’t face enemies in their a.s.signed path, and I was lucky to be the leader of our party.”
“Wrong.” The knight replied, “Even if they did meet the enemy, that was something only our party could have done. And in our party, of the nine, including myself could have been replaced. Only you were unique.”
“Umm… that’s only night vision, racial trait and good luck.”
“Do you think any other elf, with nine pick-up mercenaries, can defeat a legion of fifty?”
“Unprovable,” the elf shook his head, “as there are no other elf on this continent.”
“Are you determined to be difficult,” the knight sighed, “that night I was using magic to increase vision. –You attracted the enemy’s attention, forced them to break their formation, gave us a chance to move and an opportunity to attack, which of these can be done by someone else?”
The elf didn’t reply.
“In the current ‘Unicorn Legion’, I am the knight, my duty is to protect my teammates. Sh.e.l.ly undoubtedly will become a good mage. Julian still has not decided on a path, but I trust his intelligence and drive, to find a place for himself in the team very quickly. – And you, Ellen?”
This time, the knight didn’t wait for the elf to reply, but continued onwards.
“No one understands battle tactics more than you, probably not in the future either. Do you plan to think of yourself as a regular archer, or the leader of a legion? As the center of the ‘Unicorn Legion’, your duty is not to protect the members or attack the enemy, but to bring victory. – And you actually thought, that for the brain to be protected by the limbs, is a type of insult?”
“I…”
“You’ve said to me once, that you will ‘work hard for us’, but before the real fight has even started, you plan to retreat? To see yourself as the team’s burden, then feel sorry for yourself?”
“If that’s the case, Ellen,” the knight’s voice was kind but sad, “If that’s the case, then I’ve misjudged you. My captain, the master I have sworn myself to, only has this much bravery?”
“….Cain.” The elf’s eyes widened.
“Anna said, that you can regain your physical strength, that I believe, because the day I met you, you were a homeless refugee that couldn’t even draw a bow fully,” the knight smiled, “but what you really need isn’t strength or the recovery of your magic defense, but this.”
He pointed to the elf’s heart.
“Ellen, I don’t know what you were like in the past, but if your heart still remains three hundred years in the past, and refuses to move forward then–”
The knight stopped talking. Because the elf suddenly reached out, hugging him tightly.
“Sorry, Cain, I’m sorry,” the elf said lowly, “disappointing you, that will not happen a second time. You’re right, it shouldn’t be like this. – For me… to have such weak thoughts, it’s like I’ve been cursed or something.”
“There’s no problem with being weak once in a while,” the knight laughed lightly, “Even if you complain to me, I’ll still respond. But please don’t say things like ‘I can only hide behind a shield’ anymore. – How should I feel as the one holding the shield.”
“Sorry.” The elf also laughed, loosening his hold, the looked the knight in the eyes, “Thank you.”
“No need to be so polite,” the knight shook his head, “is this a common speech pattern three hundred years ago? ‘Sorry, thank you’(1)?”
“Hmm… that’s probably just me.” The elf replied embarra.s.sedly, “it seems I’ve been told that in the past too, but I’ve never changed it.”
“Diplomatic, it feels very distant.”
“I’ll pay more attention, sor… ahem.”
“It’s not that bad, no need to force yourself to change,” the knight replied smiling, “anyways, being polite isn’t such a bad thing – you don’t know how great it is for someone to greet you every day, when I was still in that iron bucket.”
“So, ‘good morning’ is fine?” the elf asked carefully.
“ ‘Good morning’ is fine,” the knight lifted his hand, brushing away a few strands of hair from the elf’s face, “ ‘Good night’ as well. … Goodnight, Ellen.”
The room was warmed by magic, the elf’s hair had already dried. The knight stood up, and blew out the candle.
“….Goodnight, Cain.” In the darkness, the elf replied.
“Mew.” Said Mewlice, generously relenting half of the pillow.
At around the same time, the dwarf was currently crouched inside the shower room of his own room, investigating the mechanisms of the shower.
“Ingenious idea,” the dwarf said, “but there’s still room for improvement.”
“The biggest problem, is the effectiveness. Cycling the water through the pipes, and at the same time using fire magic to heat, that idea is fine, but the structure and materials for the pipes aren’t efficient, heat will be lost if the area is too large, if that can be modified, it will reduce the magical energy needed by at least half.”
The siren listened to the dwarf mutter to himself, confirming that it’s completely outside of his understanding, he silently returned to his desk to practice writing. Occasionally p.r.i.c.king an ear up, to listen to movement outside.
Unfortunately, the high tower was a very st.u.r.dy building, the thickness of each wall is enough to block out all sounds from the outside. Thus allowing the mages to research in their own rooms, whether it was an explosion or the loud call of a summoned monster, it will not disturb anyone’s sleep.
But after writing ‘Raymond Raphael’ and ‘Sh.e.l.ly’ a hundred times, the siren started to become bored. Finally he climbed onto the bed, and entered dreamland very quickly. (2)
The dwarf secretly was muttering the fireball spell over and over again.(i)
However, the stone indicator in the shower, was still unresponsive.
Born with the advantage of high strength and physical defense, relatively strong magical defense, the dwarven race is suitable for any physical close quarter battles, with no inborn ability to wield magic. There had never been a dwarven mage in history. It is said, that the dwarven ancestors had offended the G.o.d of Magic, and the G.o.d cast an unbreakable curse on them.
“That’s not true,” the dwarf said quietly to himself, “an elf can be a berserker, orcs can become priests through training. Even if there is an inherent advantage and disadvantage, there is never a race that’s restricted by their trait, completely unable to take on a certain job. I just need to find the correct method, that’s all.”
“—If there is no precedence in history, then create the precedence. Like how Mr. Todd became the first dwarf to remain in the world above, I, Adventurer Julian, will become the first dwarven mage.”
He repeated this several times, as if that can make himself calm down.(3)