What Changes, What Remains (15)

Leaving the elves' settlement and passing through the forest, I was heading west—not to the Kingdom of Rudoria, but, having changed my plans, to this country's capital, Zieden.

Apparently, the current situation was more time-sensitive than I'd thought.

Naturally, Zieden had demanded troops from the elves because it wanted military strength.

And the reason it wanted that strength badly enough to resort to force was presumably that it had a use for it.

In other words, Zieden was already planning its next move.

I didn't know whether that would be a major battle with the Republic of Villestrika, an invasion of the Small Nations, or the opening of hostilities with the Kingdom of Rudoria, but it must have decided on some sort of action.

Perhaps its anger at being unable to obtain military strength from the elves would lead it to burn down one or two forests as an example first, but... either way, it was an unpleasant prospect for me.

Traveling through the eastern part of the continent had taught me that what I wanted to do, what I came to think I ought to do, and what I actually had to do were all different things.

If I truly wanted to do something, then I should do it.

I should act within my own limits, as an individual living creature, according to what my heart desired.

In that regard, I thought it was fine for me to be selfish.

But if I kept acting because I thought I ought to do something simply because I could, even when I didn't want to, I would eventually lose my way, become a living calamity, and fail even to realize it.

Precisely because High Elves were so powerful and capable of doing so many things, I had to be careful not to misunderstand that point.

In hindsight, my fellow elves who spent their days taking it easy deep in the forest had been right all along.

After all, situations in which a High Elf actually had to take the lead and accomplish something hardly ever arose in this world.

But I couldn't live that way, and I certainly couldn't start now.

Likewise, I didn't want to stand by and watch a tragedy befall people I cared about, or their descendants, in a place that meant so much to me.

I walked across the wilderness instead of taking the roads, crossed rivers by walking on their surfaces instead of using bridges, and headed straight for Zieden's capital.

Humans were probably the most prosperous race in the world at present, but even their domain was limited.

Torches, candles, and lamps fueled by burning oil were unreliable, and the night still had not been conquered by humanity.

Even if they claimed an area as their territory, they couldn't keep watch over places away from the roads, and even on those roads, they were sometimes attacked by packs of beasts.

As a High Elf, if I put my mind to it, I could slip past human eyes as often as I pleased.

Even if that meant getting right up beside the country's most populous city—the capital.

After walking for several weeks, I finally reached Zieden's capital after nightfall. It was a huge city built on open plains.

It was a capital that prioritized convenience, with roads suited to travel and facilities for commerce and politics.

The walls of the capital, illuminated by moonlight, still looked quite new.

Before Zaints and Jideel merged to become Zieden, each had naturally possessed its own capital, its own royal city.

For example, the former capital of Zaints was Sweeji, which I had visited once before.

However, they had built a new capital elsewhere as part of the merger, and the former capitals and royal cities were now called secondary capitals.

And the city before me was, naturally, that new capital.

Well, if I truly intended to do something about this country, I would need to seize the two secondary capitals that still retained political functions as well, but I had no intention of going that far yet.

Still, although cities on plains were highly convenient, they apparently tended to lack defensive strength when attacked.

Zieden's capital was no exception. Though it was surrounded by high walls, it gave me the impression that it would be far easier to take than a mountain city.

That was not a good thing.

A normal country's capital would be one thing, but it was far too careless for Zieden—a country that spread tension, calling it turmoil, among its neighbors—to have such a defenseless capital.

The people living there would be forced to worry needlessly.

And so, I would now kindly improve that capital's defenses.

The gates to the capital were already closed, and guards carrying torches were walking along the top of the walls.

I approached to just within the limit where the guards would fail to spot me, calmed myself, and placed a hand on the ground.

The favor I was about to ask of the earth spirit was simple, but immense in scale and surprisingly delicate.

But after speaking with the ancient true dragon, the Golden Dragon, in the Huanggu Empire, I had unquestionably drawn closer to the spirits as well.

So I probably could. Yes, I should be able to manage it.

Spirit of the Earth.

I formed an image in my mind and called out to the spirit.

What I shall bring forth from the earth is a mountain.

Not a mountainous region with ranges of rugged peaks, but a very, very solid mountain of rock, a hundred to two hundred meters high—high enough to make it somewhat difficult for people to cross.

I would make them rise from the earth all around this area, extending as far as just short of the city gates.

Naturally, if mountains of this size sprang up, the earth would shake and produce a great noise.

However, I asked the earth spirit to suppress both the sound and the shaking, reducing them to the barest minimum, almost nothing.

In the past, I probably could have created a mountain, but suppressing the shaking and sound at the same time would have been difficult... but yes, I was managing it well.

Of course, if a mountain suddenly sprang up, there was no way the guards could fail to notice, no matter how much I reduced the shaking and sound.

It would immediately become a huge commotion, and people would come rushing over.

Even so, there would be a tiny bit more time than if the noise and shaking themselves had caused the commotion.

This still wasn't over.

I slid down from the rocky mountain, then ran toward the next gate.

Zieden's capital was enclosed by walls forming a square, with four gates serving as entrances and exits—one each to the east, west, north, and south.

The gate I'd just blocked was the east gate, and the next one I was heading for was the south gate.

If I blocked the south gate as well, someone would probably realize, even amid the emergency, that my objective was to seal the gates.

So no matter how quickly I moved, while remaining concealed, I could do no more than block the west gate.

But that would be enough.

To begin with, I had no intention of completely surrounding Zieden's capital.

If I made them understand that blocking three gates meant I could completely encircle the capital whenever I wished, there would be no need to pressure them any further.

It would be just the right threat.

Too much is as bad as too little.

If I sealed all the gates, it might cause a major panic in the capital, or lead Zieden to steel itself in some strange way.

That was not what I wanted.

When people are completely cut off from retreat, they sometimes become desperate fighters with nothing to lose.

According to books on tactics, it was apparently crucial to deliberately leave an escape route so the enemy would not steel itself for a fight to the death.

I wasn't entirely sure whether I'd read that in my previous life or this one, but for now, I would follow that advice.

I blocked a total of three gates of Zieden's capital with rocky mountains, then turned around and began walking back along the way I'd come, toward the forest and the elves' settlement.

I would probably need to remain inside this country and watch its movements for a little while longer.