Just in case you’re wondering, Ax had always been sleep-talking ever since we were children.

And just like now, the things he says in his sleep are often unintelligible…

“Waaaan, guruu woaruooon… kyuuun…zzz”(Uwa~n, I’ve been caught by a fish… sob sob…zzz)

“Woarua, gurukuaaann, garuouaaan… zzz” (Wait, I’m coming to help you, Kobold Punch… zzz)

Bonk

“Au~~”(Au~~)

For some reason, Buster reacted to Ax’s sleep talk and lightly kicked Ax in the side while calling the attack a punch and saying he would help him.

“…I can only understand fragments of what they’re saying, but it doesn’t make much sense.”

“Guou gurukuaooon, aakuruua.” [Don’t mind them, Aristia.]

While feeding the fire some dry pieces of wood, I faced Aristia who sat directly across. With the addition of the Elven Chamberlain Knight, there were now 2 Elves and 4 Kobolds in our party, so we decided to do the night watch in 3 shifts. It’s been about an hour since we took over from Ax and Dagger who were the first to go on night watch duty.

“Woruau, kuaruorua guuauruoaan.” [But then again, Elves are complicated creatures too, aren’t they?]

The minority of White Elves maintain the World Tree and the living environment as the ruling class while the rest, which is made up of Bronze and Black Elves who belong to the Working Class, benefits from it. It’s good as long as all the parties traditionally affirm the societal structure, but the Black Elves, which make up the majority, won’t be satisfied with their treatment as low-class citizens forever.

“Garuruwofu, guanguru varuafu?” [Why is your race divided into different clans anyway?]

Seems like a hotbed of trouble to me…

“This is to preserve the blood of the High Elves. If the White Elves mingled with the other clans, then that blood would fade and the power to manage the World Tree will be lost. That is why we forbade intermarriage with other clans and separated the residential areas to prevent mistakes…”

“That gave rise to lineage preservation and a clan-based social class structure,” she added.

“Gauaruou…” [So that’s how it was…]

Their troubles seem to go way back. The cause of the problem was there from the start, so it was bound to happen… When I was lost in thought, I felt a gaze on me.

“May I ask why you are offering to help us?”

While slightly tilting her head, Aristia observed me with her jade green eyes which faintly glowed in the dark.

“Va, gaarunvoruo woruoaau…” [It’s because I witnessed a similar situation a long time ago…]

Although I said that I’ve witnessed it before, it’s more like I was a part of it at some point.

“Owafuoou guruaoru.” [I also do not feel comfortable leaving you alone.]

“You’re actually a good-natured fellow, aren’t you? Then you have my thanks…”

She amusedly shook her head and bowed deeply, but I told her, “Well, we’ll only help as much as our abilities would allow.” However, once the civil unrest escalates to something bigger, then that would be hard to fight against. If it comes to that, then we will just go back to the Easteria forest instead.

(I guess it’s about time…)

Judging the time roughly by the position of the moon peeking from the trees in the west, I wake up Buster while Aristia shakes Lenaide awake.

“U, gurua, ouruafu…” (Chief, is it time to switch…?)

“…Good mowning, Lady Aristia.”

The two of them took over the night watch while sleepily rubbing their eyes when we went back to sleep…

After collecting the Golden Bee Honey from the platter and transferring it to my leather flask that morning, we set out for the Royal Capital of Elfast, which would take us a day and a half of travel.

……………

………

…

On the day that the Kobolds arrived at the Royal Capital before dusk, a larger protest rally than usual was being led by the Black Elves who were against the monarchical rule.

“LET US HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE OUR PROFESSIONS!”

“IT’S UNFAIR THAT ONLY THE BLACK ELF CLAN IS BEING TAXED A BIT HIGHER!!”

Those were some of the complaints they shouted while trying to get to the castle, and by extension, the World Tree, but… as usual, they were stopped by the guards before they even reached the residential districts of the White Elves.

A coalition of moderates led by Eliza, the daughter of Prime Minister Theodore, and Ziebel, a member of the Black Elf Clan, were able to keep those who joined the reform extremists in check, but they were unable to stop the protest rally itself.

Although they have been effective in suppressing the tide of violence and the growing power of the reformist extremists, those who had gathered under Gregor’s network were determined not to give up reform even if it meant taking up arms and were growing impatient.

“…Right now, the tide of reform is now returning to the moderates.”

“Gregor, if the monarchy and the moderate reformists come to an agreement, then we’ll never see the light of day.”

Apart from the current problem, several agreements have already been made between the conservative moderates and the reform moderates behind the scenes while the conservative extremists gave into the daily protests and tolerated the movement.

“On the contrary, we could be held accountable for all the vandalism and violent acts that have recently taken place…”

Gregor already knew about the consequences even without being told. After all, he was the one behind the attack on the Central Assembly and the assassination of Minister Marcus…

The pointy-eyed Black Elf slightly raised his hand and interrupted his associates’ chatter as he looked around at more than 300 of his followers who secretly gathered in the middle of the forest armed with bows and sabers.

Seeing that time was working against them, he had planned to attack and occupy the Royal Castle, and at present, was preparing his forces for a large-scale protest rally.

“Everyone, the White Elven Guards have been dispatched en masse to deal with the rallyists! Now is our chance to attack!!  Our goal is to gain control of the Royal Castle and take the World Tree’s priestesses!!”

Originally, since the area around the Elves’ cities were protected by wards that spread out from the World Tree, the number of deployed guards was few and most of them did not have actual combat experience.

Aside from outnumbering the members of the army, the Black Elves had the upper hand when it came to battle experience, as they have fought and hunted monsters outside the barrier regularly.

“If we are successful with the siege, then our Black Elf brethren will support us and the White Elves will have no choice but to follow! This is the moment of truth! Let’s go!!”

“OOOOOOOOUUUUHHHHH!!!”

Under Gregor’s command, the reform extremists commenced their attack on the Royal Castle from the opposite side of the protest rally…