“You’re leaving this damn place! Liking it or not.”

  “Stop it! I feel we’ll need this information, so I can’t stop now…” I kept shouting while my personal princess tried, with success, to force me outside of the palace’s library. “And don’t carry me!”

  She had a good reason for such, but I couldn’t comply. Too much about this world I don’t know yet, and too much I need to keep my position now that all’s in motion. Just leaving this place for something unnecessary like sleep or food would be unwise. Both things could be solved with the liberal application of potions and magic, so no problem at all.

  And no, I’m not crazy... Not too much, at least.

  Some people think otherwise considering the things I went around asking for and collecting lately, but alas. Fireworks and explosives are useful, okay? And that’s without mentioning my growing stash of potions and weapons.

  “Young ladies…” The quiet old priestess in a wheelchair called after leaving the struggle to happen for a while. “Do remember where you are, please.”

  “Oh! S-sorry, Lady Kushana…” Elen panicked for the first time ever and apologized to the library’s overseer, who I now knew the name of. “And you, move on already. You’re getting me in trouble.”

  “No. I’m in the middle of something! I can feel an idea coming...”

  To put some context, my library research was going through books related to neighboring countries and history. My focus was on the two troublesome ones, the Divine Blanchelle Federation and the Lazzos Republic. I also looked at the Dune Tribes of the south and the minor ones spread around, but they didn’t matter much.

  Either way, the first one is a collection of religious city-states built in a ‘unique’ territory full of chasms, crevices and canions. Basically a mass of temple-cities in the most defensive terrain in existence. And the other is a sort of Roman republic rip-off with gunpowder and magitech. They’re very large, so nothing like a preferred special terrain, but it makes how organized and unified they’re something very impressive.

  Both were complicated in their own ways and both were very antagonistic to Prourene, but that much I knew already. I’ll fault all this on ‘heroes who become rulers’ and move on. What I wanted from the books was the best cultural way of making them give up anyway.

  Starting with the Federation. Like all religious governments, their weaknesses are in their own religion. In their case, people known as saints who have oracle-like powers and some other skills that go above common magic. Their champion is one of these even, but they’re all heralded as important figures and one dying is a bad omen. Figuring this one out isn’t hard from there, but it comes with the question of how would I kill one of them…

  The Republic, on the other side, has weakness in their strong suit. They’re incredibly organized and efficient, which means their system can fall apart if their structure is broken. Their parliament, for one, is almost a sacred cultural thing, and they’re ruled by something close to modern politicians, so popularity plays a big role. Not as easy to find a way, but I can see some tricks already.

  I still lacked information to figure a perfect plan against them both, though, even with the feeling that I was close to an answer. I need an opening somewhere or there’s nothing much for me to use my new nobility title.

  “Shut up and walk, okay? I’ll have you rest even if I have to knock you out.” Elen continued slowly dragging me away, but then sighed and turned to the door after I ignored her. “You know what… Get her, Eve.”

  Then, to my pure despair, the black-haired maid entered the royal library in utter silence and moved close, lifting me from my chair as if I weighed nothing. I couldn’t even complain since it would be too noisy and I was a little too shocked.

  How do I hate strength-types…

  “Now stay quiet and let us leave.” Elen nodded at the results and left the room with us after apologizing to the caretaker. “Sorry for the mess, Lady Kushana.”

  “That was mean, you know?” I complained while holding the only book I managed to snag as we left the room. “I’m almost there, I know that.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I won’t hear you. All you’ve done since we went ballistic on those nobles is run around pretending to be a badass or training. It’s so bad, Eve’s not even having problems following you anymore.”

  “I thank you for making my job easier, milady, but it’s unhealthy.” The maid carrying me around added without reacting much to my moving around in complaint. “Rest is important too, and Sir Neil also... Huh?”

  “Now that’s something… What to do now?”

  Both Elen and Eve stopped out of nowhere, so I raised my head over Eve’s shoulders to see what was happening. Guessing why they seemed surprised was very easy after that, though.

  In front of us was a very short green-haired girl, one I saw before, moving around in panic, which was fair considering her situation. What else could she do after seeing a bunch of people while trying to pull the body of a knight who seemed either fainted or dead. A knight who was carrying a huge leather bag by his side like a messenger too.

  The weird part was that, even while panicking, she wasn't saying anything, only moving her arms and hands. Or was she trying to… Nah, it can’t be… Unless… Nah… For real?! That’s unusual to see in fantasy.

  Ignoring the weird antics and possible language, this was the first time I managed to get a good look at the little elf, so I had to do the usual.

  In a moment, I got notes that this life elf lady was barely 1.5m tall, but was packing more than me. The definition of shortstack and a very eye-catching one to boot. Her hair was green and braided in a very intricate style while her eyes were golden-colored with some darker shadow to contrast. She was the first one of all combat-capable girls I found that wasn’t clearly fit, though, which was interesting.

  Other than that, her clothes were similar to Elen’s, but she wasn't wearing any armor. Only the huge cloak, a nice-looking vest over a decorated shirt, shorts, long boots, and gloves. All in a muted green complexion with details in gray like forest camo. Very fitting for the concealed bow and quiver in her back too..

  I’ll give her an eight out of ten since she’s a little too busty for her size, even if I can’t complain about that.

  “Don’t panic, milady. Can you, hmmm… Explain what is happening?” Eve tried to say, but before the shortstack could calm down, her eyes went towards me and she froze in confusion. “Ow, I guess it’s better if you go down now, Lady Illia…”

  “I’d say it fits with how messed up this situation is actually.” Elen said instead while I fixed myself on the floor. “But what do we do here? Not sure if we can understand the situation as is…”

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  “Why’s that? Is this girl mute or something?”

  "The answer is ‘maybe’ or, actually, something close to it at least. Sis would explain it better, but that’s whatever. What matters is that she wants to say something, but I can’t understand it… Also, she’s not an ‘elf’ or whatever you’re saying, I already told you that.”

  She did for sure, but ‘forest folk’ or ‘forester’ didn’t roll off the tongue that well. I also don’t feel like learning a new word just because and it wasn’t as if they didn’t understand me anyway, so I shrugged and focused back on the elf. She was pointing at the guard, then at her, and then making other mimic-like moves, but she was a little too hurried for me to get anything from it.

  That is, as long as it wasn’t what I think it was…

  “Hey, little elf, stop and look here, please.” I called her attention and dug into my mind for sign languages, trying some simple greetings right after. And as I thought, she got it. Didn’t seem to be perfect and I think our systems aren’t exactly the same, but it was surely ASL or based on it.

  “Now that’s fun… Do elves create sign language here?” I asked, watching as the little elf’s eyes brightened and she started to make new signs right after I finished. “Or was someone else who taught you about it?”

  What I could get right away was ‘Mom’ and ‘Hero’. Shouldn't be Hayato, so... Interesting. I guess it makes sense for a hero to bring odd things to this world considering how many of them passed by. Now everyone’s looking at me as if I’m weird, though…

  “Sign language, is it? I think I heard about it… Always thought it was a useless novelty, though.” Elen muttered after getting what I was doing. “Too few people know or have a reason to use it. Where did you learn it, Illia?”

  “I’ve been around, I guess.” I tried to deflect the question while going back to the elf. “But that’s beyond the point… What’s the deal with this, little elf?”

  I pointed to the knocked knight carrying a huge leather bag and then watched as the green-haired girl rushed to get me an answer. She was trying to be a little too specific for me, so it was too hard to understand, but I could make do. Something about ‘messenger’, ‘accident’, and ‘important’, I think... Oh! The guard tripped on her while running around? Now that’s funny… But focus on the matter.

  “Elen, open that bag and see what’s inside. It shouldn’t be a problem if you do it.” I told the local royal since I wasn’t willing to take risks. “And don’t worry about the elf, she’s clear.”

  I could see her nodding strongly by the side, so it seemed that I got it right. Either that or she was happy not being suspicious anymore.

  “Okay…” Elen answered even though she was still looking confused. “And here I thought this girl being a mess was only sis exaggerating…”

  “Here’s what was in the messenger’s bag, Your Highness.” Eve gave her master a small package but then went back to check on the messenger while the princess started to tear through the package. She then stopped in place and glared at the metallic orb full of runes in her hand.

  “Ugh, I don’t like these things… They give me headaches.” Elen turned to me and tried to give the thing away with some half-baked explanation. “Here, Illia, I’ll give you permission to hear the message… Activate the thing as if it was an artifact and you should do fine. Have fun.”

  “This… Fine.”

  Messing with royal messages didn’t feel good, but I had no reason to go against Elen. No one around would snitch on me too, probably, so it should be safe.

  Her explanation was very barebones, though. This thing wasn’t an artifact for me to just ‘know’ how to use it, but worrying wouldn't do me any good. I could use normal magical items by focusing on my saber now, anyway. Using the saber also made me notice that this item used a mix of wind and earth magic. Something to create sound, I think…

  My preference is calling both of these kinetic magic, by the way. The first of the gaseous realm and the second of the solid one, but this much was still a theory of mine.

  So, I focused some mana in the orb and called the spell, burning more mana than I needed in the process, but that’s that. The result was almost instantaneous, though, and the orb started to create a very small sound. A magical loudspeaker, although a very quiet one. Or calling it a loud headphone was more fitting? Better not dwell in it too much… The message was dire enough for my worries to be irrelevant too.

  Summarizing it, an incursion from the Republic guys ended with them doing the ultimate Sengoku-anime move and then forcing the army at the border to retreat. Or in more layman's terms, they built a castle overnight at a terribly well-defended position and are now fortifying it into a proper fortress. They pulled a Sunomata on us!

  How theirs worked was beyond me, but it should be along the same lines. More so, if they’re pulling such a daring move now, something bigger should be coming. And that was the perfect chance I needed.

  It was enough to make this little elf looking at me expectantly appear as a good luck charm. Should I steal her? I'm lacking in ranged attackers, and she looks nice, so... I guess I’ll take her for a test drive. Will work well with the new weapon I wanted to test out too.

  “Ms. Elf, what’s your name?” I asked while returning the message ball to the princess.

  She was surprised for a moment but started to sign some letters right after. A little fumbled out for my imprecise reading, but enough to pick her first name. Or at least to pick something that looked like her first name.

  “Nice to meet you, Lhoris.” I extended my hand for a handshake, and she stared at it for a moment before picking up what was the idea. “I hope we get along, but for now, I’ll need to conscript you, okay?”

  She only stared blankly at me, just like the other two girls close by. None of them heard the message orb, so it was the expected reaction. Since I could explain everything while we moved, though, I would leave it for later.

  “What about some explanations?” Elen stopped me before I could flee, and by her expression, leaving wasn't an option. “Or any at all.”

  “Someone built an overnight castle. The kind of thing everyone is surprised about and talks about for years, so, if I went there and solved the problem…” I tried to explain, but the whole idea seemed too cool, so I was a little too hurried to explain properly. “Do you catch it? It’s, like, the perfect chance to show off. If I go there and take the damn thing down, then… I was waiting for something of this kind!”

  “What a mess…” Elen complained as she stared at my fidgety self wanting to rush away, but then gave up. “Sigh… What do you need, you crazy girl?”

  “First, I need little Lhoris here. You’re an archer, right? One of the super good ones too or something of the kind.” I said, getting a weirded-out reaction from the princess and a blank stare from the girl I was still holding the hand. “And then fireworks! Lots of them. Take the whole box I ordered.”

  “So, you want to kidnap the forest girl and explosives, right? What’s more?”

  Lhoris was staring at us with a resolute expression, but I could see that she wasn’t very sure about this idea. She somehow seemed to be very happy with the situation, though. As if she wanted to be called… Something to think about later.

  “Carriage, potion box, and alchemic things. Poison and some alchemic fire should do… Oh! And a chair, a nice-looking chair.”

  “Why the hell a chair…?! You know what, I don’t care. Are you planning to clear the castle from inside and get the glory or something?”

  “Kinda. Not exactly, but I don’t really have a full plan yet. I’ll need to see the place to be sure, but we can manage to take it with what I have… Maybe.”

  “Oh? So that’s how it is? Well, it sounds fun enough, so I’m up for it.” The princess accepted my sudo-plan but then turned to her maid for a second option. “What do you think of it, Eve? Could we take over a castle?”

  “Would be hard without most of the maids or a horde of adventurers skilled in stealth. And it would be expensive either way…”

  “The answer is ‘probably not happening’ then? I see...” Elen smiled in a way that said she was interested but then turned to the elf I had apprehended. “And what about you, do you want to participate in this mess? Not sure if you know this, but this girl here isn’t any demi-god like your hero friend, so it can very well be a crazy impossible mission.”

  The elf started to switch her stare between me and the princess, but she started to nod without even taking a moment to think. Although, how easy she was to recruit was making me a little suspicious.

  “Okay then. Eve gets a carriage, you get your toys and I’ll rush to the throne room to warn everyone. Got it?” Elen ordered around, having both me and Eve agree right away. “Also, if I feel it’s getting too dangerous, we’ll be running away right away.”

  “Yes, ma’am!” I saluted the princess’ orders and, for some reason, Lhoris imitated me. Heh, she’s fun.

  “Then we meet in a while. Moving on, everyone!”