'How many markers are these? A dozen? No, they're more than that...'
My goggles were picking a lot of signals all around our group, making it clear that we were surrounded.
'What should we do? Pretend we haven't detected them yet? Should we see what they'll do?'
There were a few thing to take into consideration when taking this sudden event into account, such as—
"We know you are there. Show yourselves!" Aria's voice suddenly interrupted my analytic line of thought, sending everything crashing down.
'Nooo! Why would you do that?' I nearly cried out, but held my thoughts deep inside me.
There was no point dwelling in regret now. I could only consider what to do now that Aria had revealed our knowledge of them.
'I mean... it's more reasonable that we would detect them, considering Aria's strength.'
"Hahahahahahahaha... hahahahaha... haaaa..."
Suddenly, echoes of laughter began echoing from all around us.
I could hear cackles of amusement from multiple directions, almost as of the foes that surrounded us were scoffing at out little group.
'What's their deal?' I reached for my satchel, ready to utilize a tool if necessary.
Fortunately, our invisible watchers didn't remain invisible after Aria's declaration.
One by one, they began to materialize. In front of us, behind, to our lefts and to our rights, they were present.
Fortunately, there was some distance between our group and theirs, but it was clear we were outnumbered.
'Fifteen of them. Damn...'
And most unexpectedly of all, our adversaries had two common feature that resonated with all of them.
Their silver-like white hair, and their pointy ears.
That's right...
They were all Elves!
'We're in trouble...' My thoughts trailed as I carefully stared at them.
The Elves all had orange markers—almost red. And the one who stood in front us, donning a broad confident grin, was red!
She seemed like the leader, and her demeanor alone showed how much she trusted in her own strength.
'Looks like she's similar to Aria in strength. That's not good.'
Aria was the strongest among all of us. In power, she was unrivaled—thus making her our trump card.
Having so many enemies who could at least stand some modicum of a chance against her, and an adversary who was practically as strong as she was, made thins a bit problematic.
I glanced at Aria and noticed her troubled expression. She was obviously shaken by the appearance of the Elves, most likely aware of their level of threat to her.
'Larry and Drake also appear worried. It seems they understand as well.'
"My name is Perena, daughter of the Elf Queen Kamilia!" The Elf in front of us declared, her grin widening as she stared at us with an obvious gleam of condescension.
"For your crimes against the Eastern Empire, and the threat you lose to the world, all four of you will be eliminated right here and now."
'I see. So that's what this is about.' I clenched my fist and glared at the Elves.
During my travels with Larry, Drake, and Aria, I got to know more about this world.
To be frank, the races were similar to mine. However, if there was something that made mine completely different from theirs... it was the level of corruption in this world.
'The Elves, the Beastfolk, and the Dwarves especially. They seem to be the ones running the world somehow.'
Aria and Drake found this out individually, and Larry had already suspected what was going on, before they eventually formed a team and decided to be outlaws.
'For the sake of the world? They probably just want to silence them so that they can continue running their activities without any disturbance.'
And for that reason, we had to be eliminated.
'Now that I know the truth, I'm part of that equation.'
"Sister, you have to see the truth already. You can't possibly think this is for the greater goo—"
"Silence! I no longer consider you any sister of mine. No... I never did!"
'Sister, huh? I'm not entirely surprised.' I calmly thought.
Aria had the hair color that made me already suspect she was at least part royalty. She was an Half Elf, which meant her mother or father was of a different race.
She didn't like talking about her family, so I already had a feeling things were complicated.
The moment Perena and her allies appeared—all donning the same hair color, I already pieced most of it together.
'So she's the daughter of Queen Kamilia, huh?'
Aria had sometimes spoken about the leaders of the group that controlled everything—The Triumvirate—and she often addressed the Elf Queen with a special type of scorn.
I had initially thought it was due to both of them belonging to the same race, but after considering the other elements, and now that the truth was right in front of me, it made more sense that her mother was the Queen she hated so much.
'We don't have time for this, though...' I thought to myself while narrowing my gaze.
I needed to find a way to handle all fifteen of our adversaries at once.
'And I have to hurry!'
"Sister..." I watched Aria's downcast expression, noticing the hesitation in her eyes.
'She's not in the right headspace. None of the others have much combat expertise as well.'
It seemed like most of the burden of this confrontation would be on me.
"You are a disgrace to our Elfen heritage." I heard one of the fifteen Elves declare.
"Not only are you a Half Elf, but you dare go against our queen?" Another spoke.
"Tainted one!"
"Disgusting hybrid."
Echoes of several derogatory words emerged from the surrounding Elves, and the Aria who was usually so stern and strong-willed suddenly crumbled under their words.
'So she's been living under this prejudice for so long...'
I could only imagine how difficult it would have been for her growing up, rejected by those she would have called family.
How much willpower she would have had to defy her mother's authority and go against the corruption of the Eastern Kingdom.
Aria was stronger than I initially thought.
"You were merely a Half Elf, yet everyone dared to call you the strongest of our Race. I'll prove to you right here and now how foolish that is!" Perena snickered.
"You do not deserve the title of Grand Magic Swordsman! You do not deserve the title of the strongest! I'll show you right here and now... how inferior you are."
Aria's body trembled as she was battered by her sister's words. I could only see pain on her face.
"And when you're dead, I'll finally be able to claim my rightful place as the strongest. As the Queen's greatest blade!"
"SHUT UUUUUPPPP!!!" A loud voice echoed from among our group.
It came from none other than the Great Sage... Larry Damien.
"Aria don't listen to any of the words these fools are saying!" His voice roared and his face depicted genuine rage.
'That's a lot of energy...' I mused, smiling at the sight of Larry defending a fellow comrade.
"Aria is the greatest! The Grand Magic Swordsman." He proudly declared, causing smiles to form on my face as well as Drake's.
Aria's face cleared up as she looked at all of us with joyful surprise, her gleaming eyes particularly focused on Larry.
"Never forget that!"
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[A/N]
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The title is "Only I Can See The End"
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺