After that, we departed the capital as planned. It would take several days to reach the center of the revolt by carriage, so we were going to stay at inns in several cities along the way. Tonight’s stop in the canyon town of Tenend was one of them.
“Whoa...”
From the window, Amyu and the others caught sight of it and let out cries of wonder. Tenend was a city built atop a sheer cliff. It stood on a high plateau, overlooking the surrounding land. Though we couldn’t see it from where we were, the terrain behind the city was said to be a treacherous forest, nearly impossible to enter. The slopes looked gentler and easier to climb to the east and west, but a deep canyon stretched on either side, framing the city.
“I can’t believe they built a city in a place like that,” Amyu said in amazement.
“It’s said to have started as a settlement built by people fleeing barbarian tribes. More and more people gathered here as the years passed, and now it’s one of the empire’s major cities,” I replied.
“How are we even supposed to get there?”
“Those bridges spanning the canyon,” I said. Amyu and the others leaned forward to look out the window. “They say a powerful mage built them about three hundred years ago. The city was only able to grow so large because of the two bridges.”
“I guess that makes sense. Nobody would be able to gather there without them.”
“It’s convenient that there’s one on each side. It doesn’t look easy to climb all the way up there.”
“I’m a little nervous,” Mabel said, unusually timid. “I’ve never crossed a bridge that old before.”
“That’s a good point, now that you mention it.” Was it even possible to properly repair damaged sections of a bridge created through magic?
Just then—
“Foolish humans.” A voice echoed through the carriage. It belonged to an elf sitting in front of us. “You speak of a mere three centuries past as though it were ancient times. Structures of that age are common to us elves,” the boy declared with a composed smile, not making any effort to read the mood inside the carriage.
He had long ears, radiant golden hair, and, typical of an elf, beautiful features that could easily cause one to mistake him for a woman. Yet all I felt toward him was irritation. When we first met, he had introduced himself as the sixth seat of the holy knights, Yorgie Norn Zott Solarios Tiziet Ren.
That struck me as an unusually long name for an elf, but apparently it was standard for elves and dark elves—they just didn’t normally use their full names. They were only spoken at birth, marriage, and funeral rites, he had explained haughtily and unprompted. That had been a clue as to what we were in for, and sure enough, he was among the worst companions I’d ever had the displeasure of traveling with.
As the mood inside the carriage plummeted, I couldn’t help but sigh. “I know Fiona said there was only a foul-tempered holy knight available, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. Is it too late to trade our escort?”
“Not only foolish, but also crass. Did you think that by saying she spoke ill of me, you could attack me without drawing my ire onto yourself? Truly, humans are nothing if not conniving. I won’t fall for such tricks.”
“No, it’s just true.”
“If anything, the princess would’ve said I have a difficult personality.”
“Oh, so you have some self-awareness after all. Did Fiona not give you a warning before you accompanied us?”
“She instructed me to refrain from discourteous behavior. I understood that to mean I was to make an honest effort, which I am doing even now,” the elf holy knight stated confidently.
As I was stunned into silence, Amyu was the next to speak up in irritation.
“This guy’s really annoying. I’ve never seen such a cocky kid in all my life.”
“Foolish human. I am no child. Elves live far longer than humans. Surely you at least know that.”
“Yeah, I do know. And I know that elves age like humans until they’re around fifteen. And since you’re still a pip-squeak, that means you must be a kid.”
Without responding, Ren opened the window and looked outside, muttering something about the wind feeling pleasant.
Not even Amyu had anything to say to that.