Chapter 116: I Can Do It
"Troll Kingdom?"
Ren looked up at the King. He knew of giants in Elbaf, thanks to crossover knowledge from another famous story, but he had truly never heard of Trolls in this world.
"Yes, the Troll Kingdom," the King of Elbaf said, his voice losing its cheerful, booming quality and becoming a low, dangerous rumble. "They are a brutish, misshapen race, driven by nothing but gluttony and spite. Like our Elbaf Kingdom, Trolls also possess bodies as large as, or even larger than, ours."
He stood from his throne, the movement like a small earthquake, and walked toward the vast opening of the hall that overlooked his kingdom.
"The Trolls don't produce anything. They do not build, they do not forge, they do not farm. They only consume. For generations, they have raided our lands, stealing our food, our livestock, and our steel. We have been sworn enemies for generations, constantly fighting over this sacred land."
"Overall, we've always had wins and losses," the King continued, clenching his massive fist. "We are stronger warriors, but they are more numerous and breed like insects. There were mutual casualties, a balance of blood. Until... until a few months ago, when a human Mage appeared in the Troll Kingdom."
At the mention of this Mage, Ren saw Queen Lina, who had been listening silently, flinch and wrap her arms around herself.
"This Mage... he is a wretched man, wrapped in dark robes, wielding a magic we do not understand. He seems to control the Trolls, directing their malice. He used this evil magic to abduct many of our children."
"Dozens of them," Queen Lina whispered, her voice thick with anguish. "Our babies... just... gone from their beds."
The King's voice cracked with barely suppressed rage. "They held the children hostage, coercing us to provide them with supplies. Food, steel, gold... resources we need to survive the winter. Considering the children's safety, I agreed."
"As a result," he spat, "they became increasingly excessive. The demanded supplies have already increased tenfold. Our storehouses are emptying. If this continues, my people will starve, and I don't know what will happen to our kingdom."
"Furthermore, I am very worried about those children," the King said, his voice dropping. "They are being held by Trolls in an unknown location. And with our giant physiques, it's almost impossible to rescue them without being discovered. A single giant warrior approaching their capital would be seen from miles away."
He paused, and the next words came out as a pained grimace. "Moreover, those... those fellows... that Mage... he put explosive collars around the children's necks. He... demonstrated one, to prove his threat. We saw it."
Ren's eyes widened. This wasn't just a quest; it was a hostage crisis orchestrated by a sadist.
"We cannot risk a direct assault. Our armies are useless," the King of Elbaf finished, looking utterly defeated. "That's why I thought of you human Mages. Your small stature, normally a liability in our world, is a blessing for stealth. You possess powerful magic. Perhaps... perhaps you can help us rescue the children."
The massive King of Elbaf, a being who could level a mountain, looked down at the tiny human on his floor. "I wonder... can you do it?"
Ren nodded, his expression firm. "If it's just rescuing people, there's no problem. I can do it."
This task would be incredibly difficult for others, perhaps even for himself just a short time ago. But after obtaining a new character card recently, he was uniquely capable of such work.
'Infiltration, stealth, and mass extraction...' Ren thought. 'This is a perfect mission for Ulquiorra Cifer. His Pesquisa can scan the entire kingdom and pinpoint the children's spiritual pressure. His Sonído is silent and faster than sight. And if I need to move them all at once, Garganta can open a path directly back here. He is the perfect tool for this.'
"Really?!"
The Giant King and Queen both looked at Ren, stunned by his immediate and confident acceptance.
"You... you will?" Queen Lina took a step forward, tears of hope welling in her eyes. "Young Mage, do you understand what you are agreeing to? We... we sought out other powerful Mages. Some from other guilds. They came, they saw the Troll army, they learned of the collars... and they all declined. They said it was a suicide mission, that the children were already lost."
The Giant King nodded grimly. "I also knew how high the difficulty was. I had already given the order for all remaining women and children living in villages around the capital to be brought here for protection."
He looked away, shame and duty warring on his face. "If the other party pushed their luck further, no matter how unwilling I was... I would have had no choice but to fight to the death. I am a King. I could not disregard the safety of all my citizens for the sake of a few dozen."
It was the grim calculation of a ruler: sacrifice the few to save the many.
"You won't have to make that choice," Ren said, his voice steady. "Yes, if the children are still unharmed, I should be able to rescue them all."
"That's great! That's truly great!" The King's joyful roar shook the dust from the high ceiling. Queen Lina was openly weeping with relief.
"Ren-sama!" the King boomed, using a respectful suffix. "Just tell us what you need. As long as those children can be rescued, any condition is fine!"
"Hmm... give me a map of the Troll Kingdom and all the intelligence you have on them. I need to carefully study a rescue plan. As for the rest, prepare your troops for a rendezvous. When I bring the children out, they will need protection."
"Don't worry! We will prepare thoroughly!" The Giant King gritted his teeth, his relief now turning back to cold fury. "The Troll Kingdom has done such despicable things... I was already furious. After the children are rescued, I will personally lead the army, and I will make the Troll Kingdom pay a heavy price for its actions."
Soon, Ren was arranged to rest in a room. "Rest" was a relative term.
Ren looked at the room, which was larger than a sports stadium. The "chair" by the "desk" was a 30-meter-tall stool next to a slab of stone that could have served as a foundation for a guild hall. He then looked at the "double bed," which was a platform of cushions, each one the size of a carriage, collectively larger than an Olympic swimming pool. He fell into thought.
Immediately after, the map and intelligence were delivered by two guards.
The "map" was an oilcloth sheet so large that when unfolded, it covered the entire floor of the cavernous room. The "intelligence report" was a stack of vellum scrolls, each one taller than him and thick as a tree trunk.
Looking at the thick intelligence report, Ren's mouth twitched. 'Right. Completely unreadable.'
He hadn't read this many books in his entire life, and he certainly wasn't going to start by reading scrolls that required a ladder to get to the second line of text.
After the map was unfolded, Ren walked across it, studying the geography.
The Elbaf Kingdom and the Troll Kingdom were roughly the same size. The two countries were separated by a huge, deep chasm, with a single massive river at the bottom. One side was occupied by Elbaf, and the other, darker and more barren side, by the Trolls.
After reviewing the map, Ren already had a rough rescue plan in mind.
Now the problem was where the children were, but this wasn't a huge problem either. Giant children are not small, and their life signs would be strong. The Trolls would certainly guard them strictly. The most likely place was the Troll Royal Palace, the largest structure marked on the map.
'I can confirm this by investigating the Troll Royal Palace tomorrow night,' he planned. 'For now, I'll get a good night's sleep and deal with things tomorrow.'
Ren leaped onto the huge bed, landing on a cushion that felt like a firm cloud. He looked up at the ceiling, lost in the shadows far above. He truly felt like a small mouse that had wandered into a human's room.
Even the Giants' drinking cups, left on a "nightstand" the size of a house, were big enough for him to take a bath in.
Hours later, deep in the night, just as Ren had finally fallen into a light sleep...
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
A rapid, thunderous knocking sound rang out, shaking the entire room.
"Ren! Ren! Wake up quickly! Something's happened!" The King's voice, strained with panic, echoed from outside.
"What's wrong?" Ren was on his feet in an instant, his senses sharp.
Bang----!
The door was thrown open, not out of aggression, but sheer haste. The Giant King stood there, his face pale.
"This is bad! Ren, more children have been abducted!"
Ren frowned. "What's going on? Weren't all the children brought to the Royal City? How could they still be abducted?"
"I'm not sure!" the King panted, his voice laced with terror. "But eyewitnesses—guards on the wall—saw that the children all seemed to leave on their own. They just... walked out of their homes, right past the patrols, as if in a trance. We've already sent people to chase after them, but they're heading for the chasm!"
'Leave on their own?' Ren's mind raced. 'Mind control. That Mage... he can control them from a distance. This is bad. He's not just holding them hostage; he's gathering them. He's making his move.'
"I understand," Ren said, his voice dropping. "I had planned to rest well, but it seems I'll be busy again."
"Full Reception · Ulquiorra Cifer!!"
Ren's body began to change. His original black clothes dissolved and reformed into a white-fronted, black-backed high-collared long-sleeved coat. His lower body was a white hakama, cinched with a wide black obi. A Zanpakutō was tucked into the obi.
His skin became slightly pale, his eyes turned a cold, analytical green, and dark green tear marks formed below them. The left side of his head was covered by the white, horned fragment of a helmet. A hollow, empty spiritual pressure filled the giant room, making the air cold.
Ren, now as Ulquiorra, tapped his toes and instantly appeared on the massive windowsill, his movements utterly silent. His voice was different now—monotone, devoid of all human emotion.
"Imprison, Murciélago."
[Akarin's Note: Murciélago (Spanish: Bat) is the name of Ulquiorra Cifer's Resurrección (Resurrection) from the anime 'Bleach'.]
"Buzz-----!!"
The sky above Elbaf suddenly darkened. An oppressive, terrifying spiritual pressure erupted from Ren's body, so vast and cold it made the Giant King stumble back in absolute shock.
Black, rain-like particles of spiritual pressure began to fall from the sky, dusting the King's shoulders.
Soon, the black rain anomaly disappeared.
Ren's appearance also underwent a huge change again.
His clothes became a long, flowing white robe. His helmet fragment was now a complete, white helmet with two long, branching horns. His black hair grew longer, and the tear marks on his face deepened and widened.
Most conspicuously, a pair of immense black bat wings, stretching wide enough to rival a dragon's, unfurled from his back, casting a demonic silhouette against the moon.
This form was Ulquiorra's Resurrección.
At this moment, Ren exuded a terrifying, deathly aura.
Seeing Ren in this form, the Giant King was frozen in place, his heart pounding. 'This... this is not magic... This is something else. This pressure... it's like facing death itself. This little human... what is he?'
"Your Majesty, Giant King," Ulquiorra's cold voice cut through the night. "I will attempt to rescue all the children tonight. You all wait here for the rendezvous."
Ren said, pointing to a spot on the map far across the chasm.
"Tonight?! Okay, I understand!" The King yelled, snapping out of his shock. He would trust this terrifying, powerful being. He had to.
[Akarin Note:
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