Love Letter From The Future-Chapter 363: Bread and Dagger (61)

The village on the snowy plains echoed with nothing but the crackle of the fire.

The old knight was silently staring at me, his bloodied face and fierce sneer leaving a deep impression.

Looking back, he had always been like this.

He was combative, detested elves, and did not hesitate for a moment before resorting to violence.

Therefore, his current demeanor came as no surprise.

Sir Alex was always consistent.

Even the sight of Elder Poff, who was immediately hurled aside in a bloodied state, confirmed it. In the past, during our skirmish with an elf scouting party, Sir Alex had once turned an elf into a mangled mess.

The situation mirrored that moment.

The only difference was me.

I had felt nothing when we subdued the scouting party, but witnessing Elder Poff’s plight stirred a surge of anger within me. It was a transformation that even I found bewildering.

It was out of the question to expect Sir Alex to understand my feelings and yet, I decided to try and reason with him..

“Sir Alex, what are you doing right now… The elves of this village never attacked humans. Since when did humans start initiating attacks on elves?”

“Hah, I heard you’ve lost your memory…. but that doesn’t quite appear to be the case.”

However,Sir Alex’s voice remained utterly composed despite my protests.

His hand slowly reached for the sword strapped to his back. Then, a heavy thud echoed as it struck the ground.

For a moment, it felt as if the ground itself trembled.

Stifled screams escaped from among the elves. With a single gesture from him, they cowered, trembling uncontrollably.

Such was the display of a knight who had honed his abilities to perfection.

Despite it being nothing more than a casual move, the weak could not help but shrink in fear.

‘Hiiik’, the sound of their whimpering felt especially revolting to my ears. I worked hard to suppress the rising nausea.

Resting his sword upright on the ground, Sir Alex spoke leisurely.

“You’re correct, young master. Humans never strike first against elves. We merely engage in ‘preventive measures.’”

“Preventive measures?”

It was a statement that sounded like a flimsy excuse to anyone, so absurd that even I couldn’t help but slightly furrow my brow..

Yet, as if his words were perfectly reasonable, Sir Alex wore an expression of utter confidence He then went on to explain.

“After all, aren’t all elves potential enemies? That’s why we nip them in the bud. Or should we wait until they’ve slaughtered our neighbors before drawing our swords?”

“Isn’t that just a rash assumption…!”

Gritting my teeth, I retorted.

“You say they might attack humans? By what means….These elves can’t even leave their coniferous forests and are starving to death as it is!”

“It’s not impossible.”

“By that logic, you’d have to kill every elf out there.”

“Indeed, that’s correct.”

Each of those words reeked of blood, yet Sir Alex only clicked his tongue, looking at me with pity.

His gaze was that of an adult humoring a naive, inexperienced child.

I was on the verge of lashing out in anger.

But then Sir Alex unearthed a part of my past I had buried away.

“Young Master, do you still not understand? Elves are nothing but devils draped in a beautiful facade. Have you already forgotten the consequences of that cheap pity of yours?”

My breath caught in my throat.

Memories of the day I fell into the elven village flooded back.

I once saved a group of elves—Venetta and her scouting party.

Sir Alex wanted to kill them even back then. My intervention saved their lives, but Venetta had a tracking device on her all along.

That misstep led to a battle.

A surprise attack under the cover of night. Not only the elves but also several members of the Yurdina forces were either injured or killed.

The cost of those lives rested on my shoulders.

As I was rendered silent, Sir Alex let out a quiet sigh.

Then he continued, his voice solemn,

“Young Master, never forget… you are human.”

It was an irrefutable truth.

Amidst the desperate gazes of the elves, the old knight sat as cold and unyielding as the frost of dawn. He unleashed one biting remark after another.

“You are not an elf… Your family, your friends, your loved ones! Can you abandon them all?”

I gnawed at my lips in agitation.

Still, I was unable to think of a single reply.

I wanted to save the elves.

But could I do so at the cost of forsaking those dearest to me?

My family, my comrades, everyone I love or ever loved.

Taking the elves’ side meant just that.

It would mean betraying humanity and enduring the shame of being labeled a traitor to my own kind.

It was a cruel price to pay for saving elves I had known for barely a few weeks.

Though I failed to mask the frustration in my eyes, in the end, no rebuttal came from my lips.

Only then did Sir Alex let out a satisfied smile.

His gauntleted hand signaled the soldiers, who resumed their coordinated movements without hesitation.

Hooo, letting out a weary sigh, I gazed up at the sky.

Bloody hell.

“KY-KYAAAAACK! Please stop, don’t… help me!”

Who could she be pleading to?

Even with my eyes closed, the screams vividly echoed in my ears. The heat against my skin, the clatter of armors, and the mocking laughter—everything was all too real.

One of the soldiers broke into a fit of laughter.

“What? Help you? Puh, hahahahahaha! The nerve! An elf, of all things… How ridiculous!”

Then a solid wham resounded as the soldier’s kicking assault carried on.

Even from the moan that escaped, I could tell. It was Isha.

The village’s young huntress, who constantly grumbled but couldn’t conceal her gentle heart.

That woman, who had been that way, now couldn’t even resist and was forced to suffer the abuse.

As her bow had long been broken, and her arms and legs were bound.

The soldier’s ragged voice resounded through the chaos.

“Do you even know who he is? Someone like you, an elf stuck in this remote village, couldn’t possibly compare! Ever heard of ‘Ian Percus’…?”

“Stop.”

It was my subdued attempt to stop him.

Accompanied by a sigh, the lone word failed to reach the soldier’s ears.

Instead, he grabbed Isha’s hair, forcing her head up. Her eyes, filled with despair, dripped tears like raindrops.

“Ever heard of him? The one who crushes both demonic humans and demonic beasts alike with just a hatchet! Hah, he is humanity’s new rising star! And from what I heard his ennoblement is already confirmed…”

“Stop!”

My shout made the soldier flinch and his body started trembling slightly.

Eventually, my gaze landed—on the soldier and Isha, who lay collapsed on the ground, coughing weakly.

Through gritted teeth, I forced out a single sentence.

“…Let’s stop this.”

No further orders were necessary.

The soldier straightened immediately, bowing deeply as if apologizing. He then resumed the task of moving Isha.

I was on the verge of insisting he treat her more gently, but I held back.

It would just have been cheap hypocrisy.

Ultimately, this was the pathetic outcome I arrived at.

There was no escaping it—I was human. How could I live after betraying my own kind?

From the start, a friendship between humans and elves was impossible.

Likewise, I was not the only one who came to this realisation.

At one point, the once-hopeful gazes from the elves toward me had subdued.

Only emotions of disappointment, despair, understanding and pity alternated in their eyes as they looked at me.

There was even a strange emotion lurking in their eyes. They seemed startled, likely from witnessing the Yurdina soldiers showing respect toward me.

In this way, a high and insurmountable wall was placed between me and the elves.

I absent-mindedly fiddled with my hatchet, as I pondered how to resolve the matter by simply taking the elves as prisoners.

That is, until my eyes met someone else’s.

It was a gray-haired elf. Her piercing blue eyes blankly staring at me.

It was Aviang.

Suddenly, a memory resurfaced in my mind.

The boy Ned, who had died to protect his younger sister, left me his final words,

That he was relieved that a great knight never tells lies.

I had once promised to protect them, yet…

Tap—a small shock struck the dam of my thoughts.

It was like a stone tossed into a still pond, creating faint ripples that began to set off a chain reaction in my mind—a simple and straightforward process of association.

Gray hair. Blue eyes.

Seria.

Yurdina.

Senior Delphine

And why me?

An unbidden question spilled from my lips.

“…Senior Delphine.”

Sir Alex, who had been adjusting his gauntlet, turned his gaze toward me.

In that unwavering gaze, there was a powerful sense of certainty. There was no trace whatsoever of shame in that poised attitude.

Because of that, I couldn’t bring myself to ask him before.

“Does Senior Delphine know about this?”

With a sudden jolt, Sir Alex froze.

Once again, a desolate wind swept between us. The biting northern gale seemed determined to burrow into our very bones. Yet, the seasoned swordsman didn’t so much as flinch.

“Young Master.”

With a grave expression, Sir Alex let out his words simply, as if releasing a stifled breath.

“I will tell you later.”

With those words, Sir Alex turned his back.

Once more, he faced the elves, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. His voice rang out as loudly as the fear evident in the elves’ eyes.

“The executions will now begin! Their crime is daring to encroach on human territory and slaughtering our families and neighbors!”

“W-We didn’t do such a thing!”

The elves screamed and pleaded, but no one was willing to listen.

The soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons, glaring at the elves. As soon as those swords and spears would thrust, the snowy field would bloom with flowers of blood.

Sir Alex seemed eager to witness it.

Even his voice carried a tinge of madness as he shouted,

“Kill them all! Turn them into fodder for the beasts!”

“Yes, sir!”

Along with that thunderous reply, at the very moment one soldier was about to thrust his spear…

My hand tightened its hold on the hatchet.

And then with a sharp thwack, the world seemed to split apart.

With only its recoil force, the flying snow was crushed to a fine powder. The silver trajectory, fired without even a shockwave, hammered straight into the spear’s shaft.

Crunch. The wooden spear shaft exploded into splinters.

The soldier stumbled back with a gasp at the unexpected interference. He wasn’t the only one who froze in place.

Everyone’s movements came to an abrupt halt.

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It felt as though the northern wind had stripped all their momentum. The only thing still in motion there was my hatchet spinning tautly in midair.

When I raised my hand, it snapped back into my grasp with a dull thud.

I no longer wanted to hesitate.

“All of you, keep your hands off the elves… Don’t even think about touching a single hair on them.”

At my growl-like warning, Sir Alex let out an incredulous chuckle.

Pfft, the chuckle that burst out of him, spoke volumes about how he felt.

Shaking his head again, he spoke.

“You’re still far too soft, Young Master. How many times have I told you? You can’t act this way…. It’s unfortunate, but I must refuse your request.”

He signaled with his hands for the soldiers to continue.

Hesitantly, the soldiers began inching back toward the elves.

That was when my body moved.

With a resounding thud, I kicked off the ground and hurtled forward at high speed. Before I realised it, my hand was already moving for the sword hilt hanging at my waist.

Drawing it with lightning speed, I delivered an unforeseen strike, nearly impossible to counter..

Had my opponent been an amateur, the battle would have been over in an instant.

But my opponent was a seasoned veteran who had fought countless battles.

Clang! Sir Alex’s greatsword tore through the air, meeting my blade head-on. His downward swing bore heavily on my sword, locking it in place.

Without pause, I twisted and slashed again in one seamless motion.

Even so, some disruptions were inevitable, weren’t they?

My foot squarely struck Sir Alex in the abdomen.

His armor spared him from a fatal blow, but the impact was enough to make him stumble backwards. All the while, the hatchet remained firmly in my other hand.

Once more, a silver arc traced through the air.

“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

The sound of cracks echoed as spear shafts were shattered one by one. Moreover, a few soldiers even let go of their swords, as their blades were struck hard.

It didn’t take long to neutralize them all.

Sir Alex roared.

“What are you doing, Young Master?!”

“Sir Alex…”

Catching the returning hatchet with a dull thud, I spoke.

“I’m not making a request or a suggestion.”

Both of my hands firmly gripped the sword’s hilt. The chilling sharpness of the blade seemed to pierce straight through to my bones. It had been a long time since I’d felt this kind of tension—

The feeling that only returned when facing a formidable opponent.

“Don’t harm the elves anymore. I warned you.”

Sir Alex’s face immediately twisted into a scowl, and the soldiers visibly panicked, exchanging flustered glances.

Even the elves could only stare at me with bewildered eyes.

But it couldn’t be helped.

After all, a great knight never lies.

As if to confirm it, Aviang let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes.

Snow was falling over the village.

***

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