Apprenticeship (3)

'... I was complacent.'

Elise sighed.

The human named Kim Minwoo was right. Everyone's life was precious. She had offered a paltry price for theirs, so it was hardly surprising that he had given her a tongue-lashing. Besides, what he had demanded in exchange for his help was reasonable.

The Mother Tree's fruit? Yes, it was a treasure to the elves. But everything was relative. Letting their people fall and the Mother Tree perish, or giving him the fruit to protect it—which mattered more went without saying.

The same went for the potions. Under his protection, their consumption would drop dramatically. They would simply be giving that surplus to the resistance force.

Elise looked at Kim Minwoo. He was busily fitting something together in front of a skeleton.

"... What are you doing?"

"Enhancing my summon."

"Enhancing it?"

"Yes. See this bone here?"

"Isn't that a cockatrice leg bone?"

"That's right. If I hold it against his leg like this and replace the bone..."

[Activating Bone Exchange (B)!]

[Replacing Cedric's leg bone with a cockatrice leg bone!]

[The material's level is considerably higher than your level.]

[Success Rate: 12%]

[Would you like to proceed?]

He nodded.

[Great Success!]

[The bone transforms to suit Cedric's build and race!]

[Cedric's Strength, Agility, and Vitality increase by 10 each!]

[*Great Success Bonus Effect: Movement Speed +10%]

[Remaining Capacity (20/75)]

Cedric's leg bone grew thicker and sturdier.

"That's more or less how it works."

"How fascinating. Does it work every time you try?"

"Of course not. I think I've burned through nearly two hundred leg bones alone."

"... Are the odds that low?"

"No, not that low. It's just that a regular success is a little underwhelming. A great success comes with its own bonus effect."

He had discovered that during his first few tests on ordinary skeletons. There was a difference between a success and a great success. An ordinary success used up a lot of capacity and gave no bonus effect. A great success, on the other hand, used less capacity.

'A regular success took up twenty-five.'

A great success took twenty—five less capacity, yet the effects were much better.

"How does it feel, Cedric?"

"Master, it seems you've acquired an excellent skill."

Cedric gave him a thumbs-up as he tested his leg.

The improvement was certainly noticeable. Every stat except Magic had increased by a full ten points. On top of that, the great success bonus had added ten percent to his movement speed.

'This skill is seriously insane.'

Its effects were incredible, especially when he used bones from high-level monsters. Cockatrices were well above level 200. Naturally, their bones would be overwhelmingly sturdier than a skeleton's basic body. And he had used the legs, the monster's most distinctive feature. As long as he landed a great success, he would hit the jackpot.

'Of course, it does have its drawbacks...'

The higher the monster's level, the more sharply the success rate dropped. The odds of a great success felt like barely one percent. He had used up all the bones from the cockatrice flock they had hunted just to replace Cedric's leg bone.

To make proper use of it...

'It's going to cost a shitload of money.'

When monsters died, they left corpses and drops. Those drops came in many forms: valuable monster parts, items, mana stones, skill books, and more. Usually, awakeners only took the drops back with them. Corpses were heavy, and there was a limit to how much they could carry. At most, they might butcher the corpses for profitable parts. Aside from a few particularly valuable monsters, that was how things generally worked.

The problem was that bones generally weren't valuable merchandise. Apart from those of certain monsters, they weren't something people went out of their way to bring back. Even if he bought out the auction house's stock, he wouldn't get many.

The conclusion: he had to give awakeners a reason to bring back bones.

'I'll have to put a bounty on bones, won't I?'

It would probably cost him trillions of won...

'But I still have to do it.'

He wasn't sure about anything else, but one thing was certain. At the very least, he had to outfit Cedric's entire body with the best bones, scoring great successes for every last one.

'As for the rest...'

He wasn't sure even tens of trillions would be enough to do the same for all his thousand-plus skeletons. He would think about that later.

Kim Minwoo glanced to the side. Elise was still staring intently at him.

"Did you need something?"

"... Well. I wanted to apologize for my earlier rudeness. I really was thoughtless."

"I've already forgotten all about it," he said, shaking his head.

There was no need to be harsh with a person—an elf, rather—who was apologizing.

Elise sighed at his words, then spoke.

"... Do you see those elves over there?"

"Yes."

"I've quelled their complaints, but honestly, it's only a stopgap. Once we get to the village, the elders will be the first to raise objections."

"Are you saying you can't keep your promise?"

"No!"

She hurriedly shook her head.

"I'm the Mother Tree's forest keeper. I have enough authority to keep my promise. I just hoped you wouldn't take the other elves' reactions too much to heart."

"You seem a little different from the other elves, Lady Elise. A little more realistic."

"... I'm no different. I was just as complacent..."

"As long as you've reflected on it, that's enough. The fact that you can do that already makes you a fine elf."

Why else would people call them damn elves? Their personalities really were that shitty.

Elise's ears reddened slightly at his string of pats on the head. That should be enough carrot.

"Lady Elise."

"Yes?"

"I can tolerate most things, but there are three things I won't stand for."

"What are they?"

"First, belittling the orcs' sacrifices. Second, failing to teach our promising trainees diligently. Third, breaking your promises. If I see even one of those three things..."

"... If you do?"

"I'm rather handy with a sword. I've often found that simply swinging it is the quickest way to get things done."

"..."

Elven elders and whatnot. Didn't the very words bring stagnant rot to mind? His goal was to clear this gate. He had no time to let bastards like that hold him back.

He looked at her with a smile.

"I trust you understand."

"... I'll be careful."

"We'll leave for the elven village tomorrow. You should get some rest."

* * *

"Today, we march to save the elves!"

"Snort! Save the pointy-ears!"

"Snort! Drink potions, get stronger!"

He had already explained to the orcs why they needed to join forces with the elves. Drink potions and get stronger. Use that strength to split the Witch's skull. Things along those lines. Thanks to that, no one objected.

"Let's go!"

Over two thousand orcs set out. He had already heard about the troops attacking the elven village. With this many soldiers, they should be able to crush them.

'Though it'll be hard to stop word from getting out.'

The enemy force was fairly large. Unlike with Ellum, he doubted they could stop every last fugitive.

'Can't be helped.'

They couldn't stay in stealth mode forever. If even the force sent to subjugate the elves was wiped out, the Apostle would have to notice something—unless he was a complete moron.

The imposing orc army set off, arriving at its destination after six hours of marching. A vast forest covered the region. This was the Mother Tree's domain.

Elise and the other elves had gone ahead and entered the forest to relay the plan they had devised yesterday and coordinate their movements. There was probably another reason, too: passing along the warning he had personally delivered yesterday.

'Though I doubt they'll listen.'

If that little warning were enough to make elves mend their ways, they wouldn't have earned the nickname "damn elves" in the first place. Of course, not every elf was hopeless. But plenty of the hopeless ones were elves.

In the distance, he could see an army hacking away at the forest's trees.

'They've started shaving it down from the edges.'

The Mother Tree's domain was extremely difficult to conquer. Trees moved of their own accord to block intruders' paths, and plants swallowed enemies whole. Then there were the elves firing arrows from concealment. Any enemy commander with a brain wouldn't simply march inside. Usually, they either set fires or advanced while destroying the trees from the outer edge. This commander had chosen the latter.

'It isn't easy to set this place on fire.'

The Mother Tree usually countered by releasing moisture. A fire could only take hold once all of it had evaporated.

'And they need to collect corpses, too...'

Burned corpses were waste that couldn't be recycled. That must be why they were shaving away at the perimeter.

They had already agreed on the plan: the orcs would strike from behind while the elves attacked from the front.

"Orcs! Orcs!"

At the pounding of feet against the ground, the Apostle's army turned around. An uproar soon followed.

It was only natural that the sudden appearance of an orc horde would throw them into confusion. What more needed to be said?

"Kill them all! Charge!"

The orcs rushed forward.

* * *

The battle ended almost anticlimactically. Unable to mount a proper counterattack against the pincer assault, the enemy commander fled, and his troops scattered in every direction. They killed four hundred of the nearly five hundred enemies. It had cost them around four hundred orc lives, but considering the difference in average levels, that exchange ratio was a miracle.

'I gained a ton of levels, thanks to that.'

From 75 to 85. He had racked up experience by landing a healthy number of finishing blows. Considering how sharply experience requirements rose with each level, he had leveled up at nearly the speed of light.

'Well, I am killing high-level enemies, so that makes sense...'

The Apostle's troops started at level 250 or higher. Gaining levels this quickly wasn't all that strange.

Before long, elves emerged from between the trees—roughly four hundred in total. Elise was at the front, followed by elderly elves. They were probably the elders.

"Thank you for your help."

Elise bowed deeply. That was enough pleasantries. Life was give-and-take, after all.

"Of course we should help if we can. Now, it's about time I received my payment..."

"Yes. I've already passed on your instructions."

As Elise answered, a group of alchemists stepped forward. Their ears perked as they looked at the skeletons.

"... We're supposed to teach those skeletons, correct?"

"Yes. There are five hundred, so twenty per instructor should do. The dwarves were extremely pleased with these talented pupils. You'll find them worth teaching."

The other five hundred were still hammering away at the dwarven smithy, since they hadn't learned the crafting skill yet. One by one, the alchemists nodded reluctantly.

'Well, this is a pretty mild reaction.'

They weren't shouting, "Insolence! How dare mere evil undead try to learn alchemy?" That alone was something. Elise must have put in a lot of effort after going ahead to explain things.

As the skeletons learned alchemy, potion production would pick up speed, so that counted as fulfilling the first promise.

"Now, I believe it's time I received the Mother Tree's fruit..."

Just then, one of the elders, who had been wearing a sullen expression all this time, stepped forward.

"Human. Wait a moment."

"Do you have something to say?"

"I've put up with a great deal! The very idea of teaching alchemy to evil undead was outrageous, but I was willing to accept even that. The fruit is different! It is a great treasure to us elves. Only the chosen among our own people are permitted to eat it!"

"Yes. That's why I'm asking for it as payment. Why would I have demanded it if it weren't precious?"

"Don't you think you're asking for too much?"

This wasn't a matter of intelligence. It was simply conviction. Only conviction could explain how he could step forward so boldly despite seeing the orc horde behind Minwoo.

He looked at Elise. She sighed. Apparently, she hadn't managed to persuade every last stubborn elder.

"You object, but do you have any way to stop me?"

"The fruit cannot be taken out without the unanimous consent of the elders."

"I see. I respect your convictions."

Stubbornness on this level deserved applause. He nodded.

SLICE!

The elven elder's head fell. Still, he had said everything he wanted to before he died. That made it a good death, surely.

Minwoo flicked the blood off his blade and looked at the elders.

"Any other objections?"

"..."

"If not, I'll be taking it."

With the opposing vote gone, the decision was indeed unanimous. It was time to claim the fruit.