Chapter 14.1: Thunder Sonia's Troubles
Here we go boys and girls, chapter 14!
It had been seven days since Bash first arrived at Siwanasi Forest.
In the upper branches of the Great Siwanasi Tree, in a room located on the topmost floor of the tree, was an Elf.
She had long, blonde, waist-length hair.
She wore a dark green robe and a wide-brimmed, pointed hat.
She was sitting by the window, looking outside with melancholy in her eyes.
From her vantage point, she could see the sprawling cityscape below.
The magical lights spread all over the town were not so bright as to light up even the depths of the forests yet were just bright enough for people to carry out their activities.
For her, this soft, mild brightness was a true symbol of peace.
During the war, she and the rest of the Elven people lived in a world of extremes. It was always either too bright, the forest lit up by flames and magical spells, or pitch black, as to better hide in the shadows.
However, she was not basking in the pleasure of hard-earned peace.
Nor was she enjoying the sight of her faint reflection in the window, though she was quite lovely.
What truly preoccupied her were the potential events that would transpire the day after tomorrow.
But apparently, she was not looking out the window and basking in peace.
On the other hand, she was not looking at her reflection in the window and taking pleasure in it.
What he was looking at was the direction of the day after tomorrow.
“Huuu…”
Her name was Thunder Sonia.
Called “Lady Sonia” by those who knew her, she was one of the great heroes who dealt the killing blow against the Daemon King, the Elven Archmage Thunder Sonia.
The greatest individual military power available to the Elf Country and Hero of the Elves.
This woman was lacking in nothing. She had it all: rank, honor, status, noble titles, territory… yet she seemed to be troubled.
“I was rejected… once again…”
Yes, she was single.
“Come on, grandma, you got too excited. You were expecting way too much out of that meeting, hitting on a Human nobleman who came all the way here just to establish friendly relations…”
The man who said these words was another Elf, standing in the doorway leading into the room.
His name was Aconite.
Named after a poisonous flower, he was a Colonel within the Elven Army, as well as Sonia’s grandnephew – her niece’s son.
His official assignment as a Colonel was to be an escort – he was charged with protecting the person said to be the Elf Country’s most potent combatant.
Even though he was a military man and a bodyguard on paper, in practice, his job was more akin to being a manservant or a squire.
“What am I supposed to do then?! No Elf would even entertain the idea of getting with me! And don’t call me grandma!”
Thunder Sonia.
She would turn 1200 years old this year.
The eldest of the Elves.
And Elf’s lifespan averaged around 500 years.
Yet Sonia had lived more than twice as long – there was a reason behind her longevity.
It happened 900 years ago.
The Elven Nation had been beaten into a corner and had no way out.
Their villages were burned, and their territories were conquered.
Lives were taken from their soldiers, and smiles were stolen from their children.
Sonia, the daughter of the chieftain at the time, realized that the Elves would face their inevitable extinction if things kept going this way.
She was a prodigy.
Every citizen of Elf Country had great expectations for her, a blessed child loved by the Spirit of Thunder.
And she lived up to these expectations. On the battlefield, she was nigh invincible.
Her overwhelming lightning magic could turn even the toughest of foes into burnt-black charcoal and make even the largest of armies think twice before attacking.
She alone was the backbone of the Elven front.
However, at that point, she was already 300 years old.
It was said that an Elf’s prime years were between the ages of 100 and 200, after which their physical strength and magical prowess began to decline.
At 400 years old, they were considered frail and elderly.
Sonia’s heyday was far behind her now.
She was well aware of her weakening power.
If she were to fall, Elf Country would be unable to maintain its defensive line, and what awaited them was nothing but destruction.
Foreseeing this inevitable end, Sonia decided to perform a great ritual.
Using secret techniques and spells handed down through millennia of Elven history, she cursed herself with eternal youth and longevity.
As a result, she turned back the hands of time, permanently rejuvenating her body back to its 100-year-old form.
Having regained the magical power she had in her prime, Sonia took on the mantle of leader of the Elven Army. Under her command, the Elves spent the next 200 years rebuilding their forces and pushing back the enemy.
Then, near the end of the war, she returned to the front lines and eventually joined hands with the other Heroes of the Alliance in order to defeat the Daemon King.
She was truly an exemplary Hero.
Yet, for all her super-elven prowess, she was still a woman with needs.
Witnessing the marriage-boom happening in the aftermath of the war, she thought:
[Now that we have peace, it’s time for me to find a husband!]
Unfortunately, at 1200 years of age, she was positively ancient.
Not only that, but Sonia was also an acclaimed Hero and an imminent personage in Elven society.
No Elven man would dare even consider dating her.
She was both too great and too old.
Furthermore, she had missed the Elven marriage boom.
There were no men left in the Elf Country that could measure up to her.
But that wasn’t all.
In fact, there was another, much more insidious reason behind why she couldn’t find a marriage partner.
“Shit, this is all his fault…”
“You mean The Nightmare of Siwanasi Forest?”
“Yeah! If it weren’t for that damned Orc…”
The Nightmare of Siwanasi Forest.
An unprecedented disaster that no Elf would ever be able to forget.
After the fall of Daemon King Gediguz, the Elven army coordinated with the Humans in order to launch a two-pronged attack on the Orcs.
However, a single, lone warrior stood in their way.
Bash, the Orc Hero.
Following in the footsteps of the Elf Hero, he also fought on the front lines, defeating both Elves and Humans with his overwhelming power.
Siwanasi Forest could not be taken without defeating this man.
His strength was so formidable that 90% of those who faced him would die, and the 10% who survived would be left with mental trauma for the rest of their lives.
There seemed to be no hope of overcoming him.
Then, the Elven Archmage Thunder Sonia finally took action.
She challenged him to a duel as if to say: “Only a Hero can fight a Hero.”
Their battle lasted for three days and three nights.
Sonia’s lightning magic burned down the forest as incessant thunderbolts tore through the sky.
Bash’s blade cleaved through the trees as his shouts shook the earth.
A duel as wild and chaotic as a natural disaster.
One of the Elven Generals stayed in the vicinity to bear witness to this duel of the titans.
Someone needed to report back, and as a leader of the Elven Army, he bore this responsibility.
And what he saw would haunt him for the rest of his days.
At the conclusion of the battle.
When the lightning ceased.
When the thunder went silent.
When the dust settled…
…It was Bash who stood victorious, Sonia having collapsed in a heap at his feet.
What happened when an Elven woman was vulnerable, and an Orc was nearby?
Any and all Elves that had ever fought an Orc knew the answer – she would be taken away, turned into a sex slave, and made to bear children for the rest of her days.
Their precious Lady Sonia was going to get captured.
The Elf Hero.
The Elven personification of strength and victory would become a slave, locked away to be defiled over and over again by swathes of horrid Orcs.
There was no way the Elves could let that happen.
If the troops saw Sonia enslaved and pregnant with an Orc child, their morale would plummet.
The whole army itself might collapse under the weight of widespread depression.
With this in mind, the Elven General jumped out, ready to sacrifice his life if only to give Sonia a few precious extra seconds to regain her senses and escape.
However, to his surprise, the Orc turned around and simply walked away.
He didn’t even spare a glance at Sonia’s unconscious figure.
And it wasn’t just that single General who saw this.
Many of the soldiers, who had figured it was safe to approach now that the heat had died down, were watching as well.
The General had no idea what was going on, but he wasn’t about to dwell on it. He thanked his good graces as he retrieved Sonia’s unconscious body, brought her to safety, and reported what he had seen to the top brass.
The top leaders of the Elven Army were distraught – they had to keep knowledge of the Elf Hero’s defeat under wraps at all costs.
Unfortunately for them, there were just too many witnesses.
Soon enough, the news that the Orc Hero Bash vanquished Elf Hero Thunder Sonia spread throughout the entirety of the Elven troops.
“The Nightmare of Siwanasi Forest! Archmage Tunder Sonia defeated!”
Having heard this, the soldiers were in utter despair.
They could simply not believe that their Lady Sonia, a bastion of strength and the hope of their people, had been beaten.
All of them knew what happened when a woman was vanquished by an Orc…
She was most likely on her way to becoming an Orc breeding slave right as they spoke!
Even if they ended up winning this war in the end, this was…
This was a nightmare!
Then, out of the blue, another piece of information reached their ears.
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