Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"N-no! Firiell would never trap her friends!' The little girl waved her hands frantically in front of her face.

General Emilio, probably reminded by her voice that we had a hostage, immediately grabbed the little girl with his trembling left hand, and held a dagger to her neck using his right hand.

"We will be the one asking questions here, elves," general Emilio said, "that is, if you don't want her head dropped on the ground."

"What?" Firiell's eyes widened, but then immediately drooped back, as if she was half-expecting this to happen, but still hoped that we could be friends. Seeing the shine in her eyes disappear made me curse this situation even more.

"Are you taking hostages now, intruder?" The elf archer asked.

"I thought elves are smart?" General Emilio replied with a stoic face, even though I could see his breathing becoming heavier from the poison affecting his body.

"Pfft. Hahahahah!" The elf archer started laughing, which caught us by surprise, "you seriously think that girl is valuable as a hostage? Pfft. And here I thought humans are smarter."

"I'm not going to ask twice." General Emilio angled his dagger closer, piercing Firiell's pale skin as one drop of blood trickled down her neck.

"Ha!" The elf archer scoffed, "let me enlighten your feeble mind, human."

Was he going to do his villainy speech? Perfect.

I immediately aimed my rifle towards another elf, and pulled the trigger.

'Bang! Bang!'

"Tch!" I clicked my tongue. That elf archer had blocked my bullets once again, even though I clearly aimed at another elf. Man, that dude was seriously annoying.

"Not very patient, are you? Try that again, and I'll make sure none of you escape alive. Including that little defective monster." The elf archer snickered.

In response, I slowly lowered my gun to make an impression that I was being obedient. I had no intention to follow his demands, though. In a situation like this, there was no guarantee that we'd be let off alive even if we listen to them, anyway.

"Good," he grinned, "now learn your manners and listen when a prince is speaking."

A prince? So that was why he was able to hide his presence so well and put us in a tight spot. But what was an elf prince doing here? Shouldn't he be busy doing paperwork or something?

"You're probably wondering why I, the second elf prince, bothered to come all the way here, right?" He chuckled.

"Get to the point, you jabbermouth." I frowned at him.

"Feisty," he smirked, "well, that's because I was looking for something. To be precise, that little defect you have over there."

"I'm..." Firiell's expression was horrid when she saw the elf prince pointing a finger at her.

"I came here just to kill that thing and get back my sister's crest from her heart." The elf prince said, his eyes seething with anger.

If I remember correctly, Elena told me that the elves' royal family was born with a unique crest which gave them magic-like power, kind of like us humans. If he said it was his sister's, then...

"The elf princess? What does she have to do with Firiell?" I questioned.

"Ha! That thing doesn't deserve a name, stop calling her that. It makes me sick," his face scrunched up, "that filthy thing has the blood of a human flowing inside her veins."

"Very smug of you to call us dirty when you don't even wipe with toilet paper. I bet you wipe with leaves." I flipped him off and turned to look at Firiell. So that was why she had a different eye color, and was able to use magic? Wait, or was that her crest?

"Leaves are better for the environment. And who are you to say leaves are dirty?" He scoffed.

The hell? I just made a wild guess, but they really do wipe with leaves? No bidet? Hello?

"At least I don't discriminate races. Half-blood or whatever, doesn't matter to me." I frowned.

"Ha! Look at you talking, when you guys were the one who brought this hate." He laughed loudly.

Huh? We brought this hate?

I glanced over at Jeanne and general Emilio, who looked just as confused as me. Did we miss something? What was this smug prince talking about?

"Humans, you and I both know that elves are very strong compared to other brainless monsters, right?" He started spouting nonsense, "then why do you think we targeted the orc kingdom and not the minotaurs'?"

"Because it's easier? Duh? Why make your life difficult?" I sighed, "don't try to act smart by asking the obvious here man, it makes you sounds like an entitled brat. Oh wait, you are one."

"Ha! So you still don't know what the mission's real purpose is? How shameful," he chuckled, "anyway, we would've targeted the minotaurs if we're able to."

I raised an eyebrow. A real purpose?

"Do you know why we weren't able to?" He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, "that's right. It's because you damn humans pillaged our village 10 years ago!"

"Huh? Is that true?" I questioned Jeanne and general Emilio, who still had a bewildered look on their faces.

"No. I've been in the Vanguard for longer than that, and we've never stepped foot in the elves' territory, ever." Jeanne shook her head.

"That's right. Don't make up stories." General Emilio added.

"Don't pretend like you don't know, filthy humans!" The elf prince shouted, and I suddenly felt ominous mana rose around us, as if it was about to swallow us up, "even though you infiltrated us with such dirty trick, and produced that filth...!"

"What did we even do!?" I exclaimed in confusion.

"You... You slaughtered my father, the previous elf king, and drove my sister to suicide, yet you forget about us that easily!?" His voice trembled with anger as he stomped his foot to the ground, cracking the grassy plain around him.

"Yo, listen--"

"Let me remind you, then." He took out a dagger from under his coat, and vanished the moment I blinked my eye.

'THUD!'

"Agh--!"

I turned to my side, right after I heard Jeanne's cry. The elf prince had pinned her to the ground by holding her wrists behind, and putting his knee on her back to prevent her from moving an inch.

"Jeanne!"

"This was what you humans did to me," he started explaining, "you held me like this, and forced me to watch as you brutally behead my father!"

I was about to take a step forward and punt the hell out of his brain, but the moment he placed his dagger on Jeanne's neck, I stopped moving.

"You went inside our peaceful village under the guise of friendly trade, and we believed you! We welcomed you!" He shouted, "instead, you paid us back by seducing my innocent sister, getting her pregnant with that filth, and used my sister to infiltrate our castle and kill my father!"

"What--"

"My sister truly believed that poor excuse of a man! She really believed that they were in love, and yet, you did this to us," he scoffed, "and for what? Was it hate? Or did you just want to weaken our species? Well, are you satisfied now? We can't even win against those brainless minotaurs without suffering from major casualties!"

"General Emilio? What is happening here?" I frowned. Their stories didn't match, but it didn't look like this prince was lying, either.

"We've never came close to the elves' residence until now, much less raiding them." He replied, short and clear.

I looked at the elf prince, who was visibly blinded by rage.

"I don't care if those were your ancestor's doing or yours. And I don't care if my brother didn't harbor any hatred towards you," his voice rose, "today, I will reclaim my sister's crest and have my revenge! And then I shall replace my useless brother as a king and wage war against you humans!"

The more he talked, the more confused I got. Who was lying and who was telling the truth? Was any of them lying? Or were they both lying?

"And you guys, you will have the exclusive front-row seat and watch this massacre happen right in front of your eyes," he chuckled, "I can't wait for you to taste the feeling of helplessness, despair, and hatred that I felt when you forced me to watch my kin's massacre!"

Alright, stay calm.

Organize your thoughts and arrange the information you have up until now, Chae. Step back a bit from the excessive emotions pouring everywhere.

I took a deep breath, and reminded myself to cool my head and think rationally. C'mon, think! What was the common denominator here? What was missing...?