Chapter 215
Asha and I then held talks with the chieftain and Nock-san, who stood over two meters tall.
They would follow Asha. This was a decision passed down through the generations. The collapse of their race must have been a very grave event for them.
There were 215 Dark Elves—far fewer than the Dragonkin and undergrounders.
Their reproductive rate must have been low. In return, they lived long lives; the chieftain was apparently 760 years old. He looked only about forty, though.
"Hm? What's wrong, Reiji-san?"
"Ah, no..."
I couldn't help staring intently at Asha. She was fourteen, the same age as me, but was that really just her "apparent age"...?
Asking a woman her age was taboo in this world as well.
"By the way, does the chieftain know anything about the 'Pact'?"
"Ah, of course I do. If you wish to know, I shall tell you."
The Pact passed down among the Dark Elves was as follows.
'The Pact of the Pact-bearer'
The one who forms a Pact must stand at the top of their race.
The one at the top preserves the Pact.
To annul the Pact, one must declare its dissolution to the Mediator.
"I see..."
So it concerned the Pact-bearer and annulling the Pact.
If I recalled correctly, the information passed down among the Dragonkin concerned the structure of the Pact... Even with 【Omniscience】, my memories were hazy, so the power—or rather, the binding—associated with the Pact was incredible.
The Pact consisted of the "Gift," the "Pact-bearer," and the "Mediator," or something like that.
If what the Dark Elves knew was the "Pact of the Pact-bearer," did that mean there were also a "Pact of the Gift" and a "Pact of the Mediator"?
No, I already knew the Pact of the Gift. It was passed down among the High Elves.
"Asha. The Pact passed down among the High Elf royal family was the 'Pact of the Gift,' right?"
"Yes."
Asha recited it.
'The Pact of the Gift'
One must not take too many Gifts.
Gifts make up the world.
Then there had to be a "Pact of the Mediator" somewhere too.
That made four in all. Since there were eight articles total, that was half.
As for annulling the Pact, we had discussed that when we fought the Mediator in the Holy Kingdom of Kurvaan, hadn't we?
The high-ranking priest El-san had said,
——Er, if the Pact connecting that world and this world were annulled, many creatures of darkness would, uh, invade this world.
He had said that—but by "those creatures of darkness," he meant monsters from the "hidden world," right?
In other words... did that mean the two worlds would merge?
"Reiji-san, what's wrong?"
"No... I was just thinking that even if we took all of you Dark Elves to that world, it would probably be better not to connect this world to that one..."
The monsters of the "hidden world" were far more powerful than those of the "surface world." If monsters like those came here, the races of the "surface world" would decline just as those of the "hidden world" had.
"Of course, we shall follow you! Isn't that right, Nock?"
"Yes! I intend to follow you to the ends of the earth!"
Everything they said was so ominous... And then he even started doing push-ups.
"Speaking of which... When it comes to the Pact..."
The chieftain stopped dead in the middle of a push-up and looked up at me. He seemed to think that even this position was "just right for putting a load on his muscles," which I found irritating.
"Here, Nock. What was it... that Gift Punta found?"
"Ah, yes, there was that... Let's see..."
Nock-san, too, tried to recall it while in the middle of a push-up. Wouldn't it have been easier to stand up?
"It was a Gift with some kind of Pact in its name, wasn't it?"
Could there really be a Gift with "Pact" in its name?
Gifts were supposed to concern actions and talents, though...
That question was blown away by what he said next.
"——It's a 12-star Gift, after all; no one could use it, so we didn't bring it back."
A Dark Elf named Punta had a physique that was utterly abnormal for his race.
His completely slack body was like a water balloon; it was obvious that it would feel soft and springy if squeezed.
His cheeks drooped on either side like lumps of mochi, gleaming as though brushed with honey.
Beneath his swollen eyelids were narrow, timid eyes, and Nock-san's sudden arrival had frightened him terribly.
"Punta. I have something to discuss with you."
"Eek! P-please forgive me! I can't do five thousand push-ups or ten thousand sit-ups anymore!"
He dashed into the back of the cramped hut, then crouched down while clutching his naturally curly short hair with both hands.
"It isn't impossible. Strength training is a matter of whether you do it or not. Once you've given up, your muscles turn their backs on you. As long as you keep your eyes on them, your muscles—"
"Um, Nock-san, that's enough..."
If I left him alone, his muscle talk would probably continue forever, so I stopped him as soon as possible.
"O-oh, that's right... Punta. These guests have something to discuss with you."
"Discuss...?"
"I told you from the beginning that I had something to discuss."
I had come alone because bringing Asha along and having them prostrate themselves before her would have been troublesome.
Punta-san turned an innocent, childlike face toward me and tilted his head like a child.
"I hear you found a 12-star Gift."
"Ah... That? I hardly ever get taken to the hunting grounds, but that day they happened to take me along."
The hunting grounds were places where the Dark Elves discovered Gifts.
This area was near the Holy Capital Kurvanyu, in what was known as the "surface world."
Apparently, Gifts were found in clusters of ten or twenty, and searching for them and bringing them back was their job. They also hunted monsters when they had time, bringing back any meat they could eat.
No one knew why ten or twenty of them were placed together, and apparently they had only started finding such things within the last few decades.
As a result, the undergrounders also began finding Gifts, and the two sides often came into conflict when they encountered one another. But setting that aside—
"There was only one lying there, so I picked it up. But nobody could use a 12-star Gift, so everyone decided it was 'unwanted.'"
"Unwanted...?"
"That day, there was a lot of prey. Ah, I mean the meat. We decided to take that instead if we had room—but for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I hid it somewhere I could find it again."
"If you hid it, does that mean it's still there if we go now?"
"No, it isn't."
"Huh?"
"I moved it somewhere else..."
Punta-san pressed his fingertips together and pulled them apart, glancing nervously at Nock-san.
"Nock-san, I think Punta-san is trying to tell us something, but you seem to be worrying him."
"Worried? Why?"
"Er, well... you won't get angry?"
"How would I know whether I'd be angry or not unless you tell me?!"
"Eek!"
Punta-san once again clutched his head and began to tremble, so I signaled to Nock-san with my hand to go outside.
He looked sullen, but apparently understood that this would get us nowhere, and went outside.
(Didn't he realize that not everyone liked working out, and that not everyone had a jock mentality...?)
I remembered Kimidorigorn-san from Dragonkin City.
Kimidorigorn-san had never been able to get used to the idea that Dragonkin ought to devote themselves to Dragonkin City and to society. That was why he had refused to go hunting and researched at his villa as though he were fleeing.
(Even he had been happy to use his strength once he realized that what he was good at could benefit everyone.)
I remembered the strength I'd seen in Kimidorigorn-san that morning when we departed Dragonkin City.
I was sure Punta-san had something like that in him too—but...
"Punta-san, it's all right. Nock-san has gone outside."
"R-really...?"
As he cautiously raised his face, I asked him,
"Where did you move that Gift? And can you tell me its exact name?"
"Y-yes..."
Punta-san looked outside, confirmed that Nock-san was doing jumping squats on a distant branch, and grimaced in distress.
"That Gift was shining in all sorts of colors—red, green, and so on."
Various colors... Since it was a type I'd never seen before, it almost certainly had a Unique Trait.
"What's its name?"
Punta-san said:
"【World Alliance★★★★★★★★★★★★】"