Amelia had to say as much in advance to keep the mayor and the soldiers from an obligation to jump down Zel’s throat for being disrespectful. That kind of thing was mostly a huge pain for both them and Amelia, but it was just the kind of thing royalty had to deal with.
“I’ll start, then,” Zelgadis began as he took the floor.
He’d given us the quick and dirty version on the way to Atessa, but there were details we hadn’t heard yet. I was curious to hear the rest of the story.
“They call themselves the Forest Hounds. They’re a band of elves led by a man named Tessius Crosaius. They have quite a few sympathizers and supporters, but only about five or six active members. Their goal is apparently to drive the humans out of this city and retake Celcelas Forest, which belonged to the elves long ago.”
“Elves? Retaking Celcelas Forest?” As a few of them whispered, their eyes naturally turned to Alaina the elf.
Under the pressure of their gazes, she calmly stood up, then crouched down and hid under the table. At that reaction, everyone—including Zel and Amelia but excluding me and Gourry, who knew her well enough—fell into stunned silence.
“Ah,” MacLyle began awkwardly. “She has severe social anxiety, so could you please not stare at her?”
A moment later, with much implied eye-rolling, everyone turned back to Zel.
“Wait a minute. You said they were a band of elves, but...” Randa of the local posse piped up. “How can that be? How’d you get in, then? You’re not... an elf, are you?”
“No.” Zel shrugged slightly. “How I ended up in this form is a long story, but I’m still technically human. I met the Forest Hounds’ leader, Tessius, a long time ago.”
I figured he meant back when he was working for the Red Priest, but I hadn’t asked for details.
“I heard rumors that his Forest Hounds were up to something, so I reached out. I assumed he’d turn me down, but they let me join with surprisingly little resistance... though it appears they just wanted me to do their dirty work and then cut me loose when the time came. In fact, they asked me to kill a few people in the city, but of course, I always found excuses to refuse.”
“They wanted you to kill people?” The mayor turned pale.
“I was hoping to steer them toward moderating themselves... I guess they got impatient. They kidnapped Amelia without even consulting me,” Zel explained. “I don’t know if they meant to hold her for ransom or to start a war between Saillune and Zephilia, but either way, I couldn’t let it happen. So I saved her, and here we are.”
“W-War?” The mayor’s face turned paler still. “B-But... why? Why now? I mean, I’ve always known elves lived in the forest long ago... But I’d heard they placed the forest in human hands and left. I’ve even been told the town custom of planting a new tree for every one we cut down was part of the accord we had with them. Even if they were unhappy with the arrangement, nothing’s happened for decades or more... Why are they coming after us now?”
“About that...” I said deliberately. I waited to make sure everyone was looking at me before continuing. “Keep your eyes right where they are. I think the fastest explanation will come from someone incapable of talking if attention is focused on her. So whatever you do, keep looking at me.” Another expression of irritation flashed across the crowd’s faces, but once I got my point across, I said, “Alaina, could you explain? Nobody’s looking now.”
“They’re really not looking?”
“Really.”
“If they look, I’ll run away, you hear me?”
Sheesh, social anxiety is one thing and this is another...
This time, the irritation on everyone’s faces didn’t abate.
“You’re fine. Now tell us what you know about Tessius’s Forest Hounds.”
“Where should I start? Elves used to live in Celcelas Forest. When humans moved in, we coexisted at first, but things changed when they started cutting down trees and smithing. The forest is precious to us elves, but the humans couldn’t give up their livelihood. There was a period of fighting, but the elves decided to leave the forest to the humans if they agreed to plant a new tree for each one they cut down. That was roughly a hundred and fifty years ago.”
“A hundred and fifty...” someone whispered vaguely.
“Yet not everybody agreed. There was a group that opposed the accord and wanted to see the forest returned to elven hands—that’s the Forest Hounds. But their numbers were so few, and they knew that if they tried to do anything, they’d be up against humans and elves alike. Until very recently, they were a holdout in name alone. Except I heard they had a change of leadership recently, and they’ve grown more extreme ever since. If that’s true... and if they manage to do harm to humans... they could inflame a war not just between themselves and this city, but between humans and elves at large. That’s why I was dispatched here—to try to get things under control before they came to a head, and before the Forest Hounds were exposed as elves.”
Aha... Alaina wanted to stop Tessius’s band herself before their identities came out. That’s why she’d initially objected to me and Gourry helping out the local security forces. Of course, even if she’d managed to make contact before we had, given her shyness, I doubt she would’ve convinced anyone.
“So they’re after our land?” the mayor asked. “Even if they take the city, they couldn’t run it, let alone the entire forest, with so few members.”
“I don’t think they’re after the land, exactly,” Alaina said. “It’s not that they want to exploit its resources. How to explain this... The forest is special to elves. Many of us simply can’t stomach the idea of humans disturbing it. Even if you agreed to replant what you cut down in the forest, elves still don’t like the fact that it’s being cut down in the first place. And some humans don’t replant anyway, so some elves feel as though the accord hasn’t been upheld.”