Skull Crusher

"Sir! Sir!"

An elf came running over in a great hurry.

"Calm yourself, Mr. Mailun. Always maintain your poise and composure. We are the Royal Navy."

Sir Taize spoke gracefully as he played with the bird.

"Yes... My apologies, sir."

The elf stopped, collected himself, and took a deep breath before saying, "A scouting party found an extremely unusual object on the island... Even though the Holy Seal Archipelago suppresses extraordinary power, they still sensed extremely pure magic power from it."

The news stirred Sir Taize.

Though the story of the Holy Seal Archipelago had become legend and gradually faded into the long river of history, the elves' long lives and stable system of government had ensured that some information survived. Sir Taize was of noble birth, and when he had studied history in his youth, he had seen accounts of the matter in the great library.

Though they were not very detailed, they were complete enough.

It was said that, long ages ago, a group of evil, greedy traitors from various races had performed a wicked ritual on the Holy Seal Archipelago to obtain great power. They had torn open the veil of the world, opening a gateway to the void and chaos, and terrifying spirit-world creatures had poured out.

The continent was about to become a feast for chaos, and the end of the world was at hand.

At that moment, the gods' divine avatars descended upon the plane. With their supreme divine power, they destroyed the spirit-world creatures that had burst through the veil, closed the gateway that led to destruction, and subjected those greedy, pitiful traitors to eternal torment and punishment, erasing every trace of what had been there.

Thus, the apocalyptic crisis was averted.

That was the truth of what had happened, as recorded in the elves' history books... At least, that was what the public version said.

Sir Taize was wise enough to know better than to trust the integrity of historians. This was especially true of histories involving the gods, whose contents often differed to some degree from the truth. But he was merely a minor officer in the Royal Navy and had no interest in investigating the truth of history.

He was interested in wealth, however, and in power. He longed to earn the favor of the great nobles of the royal capital, to be promoted, to win the empress's appreciation, and to gain more honor and power.

Those things were difficult to obtain.

The Royal Navy and, indeed, the entire dynasty's armed forces had many junior and mid-ranking officers like him. They were all of good birth, all young, eager to distinguish themselves, and full of ambition. They served the dynasty faithfully and diligently, steadily accumulating merit—but that was too slow. Every elf was climbing the ranks, which meant there were countless rivals. To stand out, he had to find another way.

He had to learn to seize opportunities.

Opportunities came only to elves who were prepared.

For example, right now.

The ancient legends had vanished without a trace. Today, the Holy Seal Archipelago was full of birdsong and flowers, its vegetation lush and flourishing. Its former splendor was gone, everything the traitors had built here had been utterly obliterated in the gods' wrath, and all of it had become words set in stone in the history books, never to be changed.

But what if... something had been left behind?

This was a place the gods themselves had destroyed.

Anything connected to the gods was certain to be wondrous, awe-inspiring, and powerful.

Like the invisible barrier covering the entire island, which suppressed all extraordinary power. It was surely a trace of the gods' power, capable of reducing a mighty magister to a mortal elf too weak to truss a chicken.

Then, what if...

What if something still remained on the island... something the gods had not destroyed?

Sir Taize's heart trembled.

Anything that had survived the gods' wrath had to be an exceptionally powerful sacred artifact. Such a treasure would be priceless. An accomplished expert could study an artifact like that to comprehend and analyze the path of another peerless expert. What was more, these sacred artifacts had been bathed in divine power and could easily have been imbued with... divinity.

If he found such things on the island...

If he could present them to the state...

He could even hide them away and secretly present them to a great noble.

That was a shortcut: accumulate merit faster than his colleagues and win the favor of the highborn.

Reach the pinnacle of elven life.

In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through Sir Taize's mind. He wondered how, if he found something on the island, he could have it classified as a "personal achievement" rather than "merit earned by the ship."

It would be difficult... He was only a marine captain, and both the ship's captain and that magister of profound magical power outranked him in every respect.

But it was not impossible... He had to weigh the risks against the advantages and disadvantages.

Before that, though, he would take a look at what the scouting party had found to earn its merit.

Sir Taize composed himself and said calmly, "Take a few people and bring that thing back."

The liaison officer left to carry out his orders.

The marine captain's mood improved considerably. Even if the discovery was ultimately classified as a group achievement, his contribution as marine captain and commander of the search operation would be considerable. Besides, this was an unexpected gain.

"Little fellow, perhaps you brought me this surprise."

He gazed at the island ahead as though looking at a treasure trove of merit. Looking at the distant mountains, he idly played with the parrot on his shoulder. "Anything remarkable enough to impress the soldiers must be something good. I'll earn merit for it. Come to think of it, I should thank those... traitors from the various races."

The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.

It was an extremely dangerous feeling, as though something had fixed its gaze on him.

The next moment, the feeling vanished. It had passed in an instant, as though it had been an illusion. Sir Taize looked around, bewildered and wary, but found nothing.

The parrot on his shoulder flapped its wings, as though preparing to say something. In the end, the bird held back. It stared once more at the warship on the sea, its gaze a little frightening.

The elves returned very quickly, bringing what Sir Taize wanted.

Sir Taize saw his adjutant carrying a wicker box, which the scouting party had probably woven on the spot. The precious object was inside it.

"Sir, the scouting party sends its regards."

Taize took the box and replied casually, "The Royal Navy will remember their contribution."

Then he eagerly opened the box.

A brilliant light shone out.

The gentle magical radiance shone in Sir Taize's eyes. Bathed in its glow, the sentimental elf murmured, "This power... is starlight in the darkness..."

He reached out and took the weapon from the box.

Rather than a weapon, it was a fragment of one, and the broken edge made the elf's heart ache.

But then he gave a puzzled sound.

"This..."

The weapon in his hand was a very strange one.

It looked like part of a staff, but also like a warhammer. Yet whether it was a staff or a warhammer, its color... was rather cute.

The long handle was pink, and the top resembled a bird's head. Its front half was a sharp, blood-red cone, while the back half consisted of two pure white feathers. Brilliant round rubies were set at the base of the feathers, and it gave off a most extraordinary aura.

One thing was certain: whoever had used this weapon must have been a very cute little girl.

Holding the remaining part of the weapon, Sir Taize felt an exceedingly warm, lively power. It even changed his mood, making him want to hum and dance without thinking. He could not help picturing the young women dancing beneath the moon tree in the royal capital. They were carefree, singing to their hearts' content, the hems of their light skirts fluttering in the breeze.

And Sir Taize even wanted to join them.

"What an... interesting little girl." He sighed softly. "What a pity."

Sir Taize put the weapon back in the box and thought for a moment. In the end, he did not dare keep the discovery for himself. After all, there were many witnesses, and he could not silence them all.

Since he could not keep it for himself, he would make the most of the credit.

He said, "Mr. Mailun, take a boat back to the Wings of Wayne and give it to the master."

"Yes, sir."

A seabird circled in the sky.

Very soon, Pigeon descended from the sky and landed on Kang De's shoulder, cooing.

Kang De took out a notebook, and Pigeon pecked at one of the pictures. Kang De nodded, took out a pen, and crossed the picture off, then took out a map to check it.

Beside him, the princess asked, "Kang De, what is it?"

"Oh, nothing," Kang De said. "A group of elves found a little something I left behind. They seem to think it's important and have already sent someone to take it back to their ship."

"What is it?"

Kang De was looking at the map and answered casually, "A warhammer called Clow Reed's Skull Crusher."

PS1: First update... (flops down)