This Hero is Sleeping!

Elric fell asleep.

Completely struck by the absurdity of the situation, poor Erika, who was still a newcomer to the larger group, was unable to do anything.

She had spent a lot of time with Elric ever since they had been traveling together, but this was the first time she had been with him in a difficult situation. When they were supposed to be looking for clues in the village chief's house, they ended up claiming themselves his god and crashing into his room.

Erika tried her best to sneak around while she still could, she took a look into the chief's room.

"As expected, only cartoon villains would keep incriminating evidence out in the open, huh?" Erika wiped her tears and looked away. Her expectations of a fantasy world had been constantly crushed throughout her time in this place.

It was how it was.

Right then, the cloth draped over the front door as a curtain was pushed to the side.

Erika jumped back to the bed and pulled Elric upright.

Without a word, the chief entered the room and swept his gaze around.

"I see, you've made yourself at home."

Erika shifted her gaze back with a wry smile and saw the still drowsy Elric rubbing his eyes.

The elf chief scoffed and pulled a chair, taking a seat in front of them.

"You say that you are—"

"Where is the girl?" Asked Elric.

Erika flinched at the sudden coldness in Elric's voice. He was drowsy just a moment back, but had taken the head once more.

Had he already grasped everything there was to grasp about this situation? Erika couldn't believe it, but it was true that he was the one with the most wits in the group.

Elric had been pulling them out of situations that needed thinking. But then again… he was also the same person who had told her to throw chocolates at a vampire bat.

Erika couldn't tell if she had been dealt the worst possible hand or the best one.

All she ciould tell, though, was that in such a showdown where one needed their mind, there was no one better than Elric.

Little did she know, the boy was just winging it all.

"She was supposed to be a sacrifice, was she not?" Asked Elric, his imagination running wild.

The Elf Chief flinched.

"Not a sacrifice… an offering to the lord—"

"Don't twist my words, I say what I say."

It was important to note that lying and larping had a great deal of differences, and Elric had been scouted to be an actor multiple.

In female roles, but an actor nonetheless.

"That is right… we'll find her right away… We still have two years before the time, there will be no delays—"

"Was she not meant to be in isolation?"

They had kept her alone for a good 98 years, it was easy to assume that they were doing the same again. It also seemed cooler to Elric that way.

"Yes… but…"

"It is ruined, Mr. Chief."

The time to act was over.

Elric never had been asleep. By taking a good look at all the elves, he had made a commotion to profile them and drop his mana in all the places around him that held water.

Next was to get more people around. People who were innocent.

He had been acting asleep while trying his best to get other elves to follow the water that he had created.

And now, all that remained, was the last step.

"I-It's ruined…?"

The man mumbled, his words failing to reach them.

Elric had zero mercy for the man in front of him. The tormentor of Tiana was nothing but an enemy.

For that, he was planning to poke into whatever wound he could find. Thankfully, everyone who lived long had been hurt by a lot of shit, the longer one lived the greater their regrets.

And elves lived for a damn long time.

"How long have you been the village chief for?" Asked Elric, his words growing colder and colder with each passing moment.

"Many centuries! I have been the one leading this village, I have been the one who has received Lord Silvanus' blessing!"

"Why is this village still afloat? You sure must know. You must know what happened to other elf villages?"

Elric was just blabbering things at this point, truths so thinly veiled by lies that one couldn't ever make them out. Vague lies that were no different from the truth.

But that thin veil of lies held more power than one could believe.

The chief would now wrap himself over and over, cover his entire body in the thin veil until the layers of lies become thick enough to choke him.

"This is not possible…" the chief muttered. "Every elf here knows of the lord's offering, every one of us do our best. People are already preparing for the ceremony in two years, we will definitely catch her and drop her in front of the Soul Stone's Statue—"

"It is useless. She is not in your hands anymore."

Elric licked his lips and glared at the man.

"She's not pure any longer."

A chill ran down Erika's spine as understanding dawned on her.

Elric was wrapping this man around his fingers.

"Please… for centuries… if this happens then all the elves will dwindle like rotten trees and die!"

Erika noticed presences coming closer, some of them were extremely tense.

But in the state of panic, the Elf Chief seemed to have failed to do the same. Even if he had noticed them, he didn't seem to be able to figure out that something was wrong.

Elric's immediate hammering strategy had worked splendidly.

"There is a way," said Elric.

The Chief looked at Elric with widened eyes.

"You already seem to know about this place… although I don't trust… I'll listen—"

"There is only one way. Today, the day that I am here…" Elric smiled.

Elric truly had zero mercy for the man in front of him. The tormentor of Tiana, had become his enemy through and through.

"The only way is to offer the most loyal servant to make up for this mistake instead.

"Most… loyal…?"

"Offer the village elders to the gods."