Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)
Book 8: Chapter 5

Kyle and Urza were called back to the room after roughly a day had passed.

“We may not be the biggest fans of the idea, but we are willing to reach out to Gilbohl to get the periodic meetings restarted,” Rifuaro said.

Kyle and Urza looked at each other, smiled, and were about to thank them.

“Is that true?! Thank you so mu—”

“However! We still cannot trust your stories. If what you said about the demons were not true, we see no need to go that far.”

“But he is speaking the truth! I’ve seen it with my own eyes!” Urza stepped forward, but Rifuaro wouldn’t hear any of it.

“Urza, you left this forest without first asking for permission. In reality, you aren’t even officially allowed to be here, so your words carry no weight.”

“…” Urza couldn’t find a rebuttal against her father’s words.

“Kyle, you may be seen as a hero outside these woods, but to us, you are just another human. We cannot blindly believe your words.”

This was true. Without Urza’s help, they most likely would not even have agreed to this meeting in the first place. Sᴇaʀᴄh the NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

And if my achievements from the outside don’t count for much here, then…

Kyle thought of something.

“If that’s the case…what do I have to do?” He understood that they wanted him to prove his value.

“Hmph, like a true child. But, you are right. We want you to accomplish a certain trial…or rather, a request of ours.”

This was the utmost limit of what the elves were willing to interfere with. They wanted Kyle to become a valued individual to their race, so that they could use it as an excuse that they had no other choice but to agree to the meeting with the dwarves. Kyle personally couldn’t have cared less for the quarrels between the two races, but he had no other choice than to agree.

“And while we’re at it…Urza, you are not permitted to offer any assistance. You will stay back and…”

“No, I will stay by his side and help Kyle, no matter what you say,” Urza interrupted her father’s words, showing her strong determination. “And if you won’t grant me this request, please banish me. I don’t mind if you treat me like a deserter!”

And in her strong determination, she actually said something rather outrageous. Normally, all elves would be born in the forest, and die in the forest. A deserter was someone who willingly left the forest. They would be treated like someone not from their race, and they would not be permitted back into the forest. It was akin to receiving the death penalty. And even so, Urza wouldn’t back down from this, no matter the circumstances. She would never leave Kyle alone after he had worked so hard to save humanfolk.

“W-Wait! Nobody said we have to go this far!”

However, this declaration almost gave Rifuaro a heart attack.

“Ah, I know! You will be tasked with watching over the human to ensure he doesn’t attempt anything shady during the trial! That works out!”

Not only that, this even created an excuse for Urza to tag along. Naturally, she was not exactly the best person tasked with surveillance, but he wanted to protect his daughter, and none of the elders around dared to intervene.

“You bastard…How dare you…”

Kyle was extremely happy about that, but he realized that Rifuaro’s gaze was incredibly angry at this point. Veins were close to popping out from his head, making Kyle fear for his life.

“Then…Let me tell you about your trial. We ask you to obtain a branch of the world tree!”

The moment the two heard that term, their eyes opened wide.

“There is but a single wand in this world created by a branch from the world tree. And we’ve been thinking we should create more of them for our ritual utensils.”

A wand created from a branch of the world tree possesses strong spirit energy. Right now, Urza’s mother carried the one staff, but the more you had of them, the better.

“But speaking of the World Tree…”

“Yes! The very tree where the dragons live!”

Seeing Kyle’s surprised expression filled Rifuaro with a sense of superiority, as he cheered up. He didn’t even realize that Kyle was looking down at this bag and continued.

“This task should be close to impossible for a human like you! And even if you could find one, it would probably be way out of your reach. And going to the World Tree yourself is entirely foolish!”

“F-Father, listen…”

“Oh, I know! This man is known as the [Dragon Slayer]! The dragons would never give you a branch!”

Urza tried to break the news to Rifuaro, but yet again, he wouldn’t listen.

“But if you cannot do even that, then I will not let an outsider like you tell us how we ought to live our lives!”

Kyle was overwhelmed by Rifuaro’s pressure, as he went silent…or so it looked to the man, at least.

“No, um…”

Yet again, Rifuaro interrupted Urza.

“The path ahead of you is stern and difficult. It might even take years, or it could be impossible. But I don’t care about whether you survive or not. Now, do you have the determination to take up this task?!” Rifuaro showed a smug smirk as he pointed at Kyle. Luckily, he didn’t even know what kind of face he was making himself. “And if you manage to convince the dragons to hand over the branch…we would be willing to consider your request!” Rifuaro showed a rather unsightly grin.

“…”

Urza had given up on trying to speak up, but also couldn’t look at her father directly, so she had to cover her eyes.

“You are the man chosen by Urza. I don’t want to admit it…But you must show that you’re not all about strength, or you won’t make it far!”

That was the first time Rifuaro stopped all pretenses and spoke like a jealous young man.

“Building a relationship of trust between the dragons will not be easy. However, they aren’t stubborn. You have to show your trust, and then you can do it,” Rifuaro said and headed toward the door. “Urza, let us see what caliber the man is that you’ve chosen.”

Once he left the room, the other elders followed. Nirua was the last one to leave, tilting her head as she said “Something’s off about him.” Urza and Kyle were unable to even move at first, when Kyle opened his mouth.

“Well…You know, sorry about this,” he said, feeling the urge to apologize.

He didn’t even know what exactly he was apologizing for, but he just had to get it out of his system.

“No, this is most definitely his fault. He’s…gotten drunk on power, it feels like,” Urza said, blaming her father.

Giving Kyle, his daughter’s man, a trial to show how worthy he was… would have been the singular moment to show his pride as a father. However…the trial wasn’t even a trial.

“I mean, I have several branches of the World Tree with me right now.”

Kyle grabbed the pouch at his hip and took out a large branch that originally shouldn’t even fit in there. It definitely had a divine air about it. This pouch was actually a so-called Apport Bag that allowed Kyle to have access to the treasury located in the Magic King’s labyrinth deep within the Sangurd Mountain Range. And this is the method he used to store all sorts of valuable items so he could immediately have access to it. In other words, he could complete the trial right this instant, but just this once, he had to read the mood and let some time pass.

“We could take our time and give it like…ten days until we let him know that we completed it?”

It wasn’t exactly him creating an alibi, but he also considered going back to the World Tree for a brief moment.

“I think that works. Thanks for being so nice to him.” Urza responded with a wry smile.

“A-Anyway, that should get us back on track and allow for the elves and dwarves to…Wait, just the elves and dwarves?” Kyle tried to see the positive in the situation when he realized something. “Just stopping there would be a waste. Why don’t we use this chance…and get the dragons involved, if we’re heading there anyway,” Kyle began mumbling something to himself, as Urza gave him a dubious look.

“What are you talking about?”

“I just thought of something. I heard about this from Shildonia. Supposedly, this was held back when Zaales was still prospering. Granted, it’s utterly ridiculous, but if I manage to pull it off…I could end 80% of my job right then and there!”

Kyle seemed awfully invested in this idea he just thought of on the spot.

“It’s difficult to prepare, but the payout would be immense,” he said, his voice full of confidence.

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