After a brief standoff, Kael finally gives in, and the rest of us follow suit. If that's what it takes to get out of this situation, then so be it. We'll meet with this queen and then go from there, I guess.
I just want to get to the Demon King already.
All this extra stuff in the middle is pretty annoying.
I mean, I'm not complaining that there are other challenges to face before the Demon King. That's fine. I just don't see the point in meeting with the Queen of a country that I don't even care about.
I hate required side-quests that interrupt a main quest. If you want to have your story include detours, they should fit in an organic way, not in annoying obvious side quests.
Even if she's a challenge, I probably can't just attack the elf queen, either.
Probably.
This feels more like an antagonistic quest giver than an actual enemy situation.
The worst kind of side quest, in my opinion.
At least it looks like the elves are going to let us keep the horses. I thought they would probably insist we leave them behind or return them to a town, but I guess they're worried that will take too long.
Or maybe it'd be too much work to have someone escort us back through the woods to drop them off.
Either way, they lead us through the woods, the path underfoot changing to a cobbled one.
The forest opens up into a clearing where a large stone structure rests. It's an interesting mix of carved rock and natural tree trunks and branches. The effect makes it seem like it's a living thing rather than just a building.
Overall, it's just the kind of thing I'd expect from an elf house. But it looks more impressive in person.
The inside of the house has a very open plan, with light streaming through windows and the gaps between the branches that make up the ceiling. There's no real furniture or decoration, but I can see some elves here and there, and they all wear clothing that's obviously well-made and elaborate, but in a very natural looking way.
It's sort of like they're wearing leaves and flowers as clothes - at least some of them definitely are - but they've been made in such a manner and wrapped around their bodies in a fashionable way. It's not like they just glued leaves and twigs around and left it at that.
The elves lead us down the hall to a room with a large throne made from roots and branches, with a woman seated on the chair.
She's got long, dark green hair and eyes, and wears an elegant dress of dark green and gold. Her face is pretty, but cold.
The moment we enter the room, she looks at us with a sharp gaze. "You have entered our forest uninvited. Explain yourselves."
I sigh. "We didn't know it was yours. We just wandered in by accident. We were trying to leave, but you kept extending the forest and making it bigger. Why?"
She stares at us for a long moment, before her gaze moves to Kael and then finally settles on Arin. "...Kael. Why do you bring outsiders here? And why is Arin with you?"
"I thought we were done talking." He says, voice tight, and he crosses his arms over his chest.
Her eyes narrow slightly and she purses her lips. "I suppose we are."
...I really hope his quip about having an old elf girlfriend doesn't mean his ex is the elf queen.
That's a whole story branch I don't want anything to do with.
Especially since I'm sure the outcome of that would be...
Very bad, to put it lightly.
She turns to me. "What business do you have in these woods?"
She ignored me a moment ago. Now she wants an answer?
"...We're just trying to get past it. Don't care about what's in it." I shrug. "And it's not like we knew we'd be trespassing, since your borders seem to be expanding and moving constantly. I'm sure that's on purpose, but it doesn't make for good communication of your territory."
Her eyes flash and the temperature of the air seems to drop several degrees. "It is not for humans to dictate to us how we must defend ourselves."
"Maybe, but it's hard to stay out of your way if I don't know what's in your path." I roll my shoulders. "And we're trying to get through to the Demon King's lands. So if you can just let us pass-"
"You intend to face down the Demon King?"
"More or less. I'm told it should be a good fight."
The elves all stare at me.
It's a very long, drawn out silence. Even System Helper doesn't say anything, although I'm sure that's a short lived reprieve.
"Then you are mad. The Demon King is a monster beyond compare. The only hope to deal with his might is to hide from his sight."
...Yeah.
That's the whole reason I'm looking for him. That kind of talk.
That kind of hype.
"I'm not going to hide." I say. "I'm going to kill him. It's a waste of time to run around and do side quests when the boss is already unlocked."
The queen shakes her head slowly. "You are a fool. You will not leave this forest."
"What?!" That's Elara. She's been quiet all this time. "But you can't do that! We didn't do anything wrong!"
The queen's eyes narrow. "You have trespassed on our sacred land without permission, and your leader has declared his intention to face the Demon King, which shall only provoke him and cause grief to our people."
...Well, that's annoying.
But I guess it's also just a quest to break out of an NPC village.
Easy enough to deal with. I can always bust down the door and-
"Master, your companions will probably die if you do that. They're really not as strong as you."
Well.
Shit.
"Ryo, please. Let me handle this." Arin steps forward, his expression grave. He bows deeply to the queen. "Queen Liyana, I beseech you to let us go free. We mean no harm to anyone here, and we have no wish to remain in this place."
Liyana scoffs. "To aggravate the Demon King is to bring his wrath upon the people. You mean to harm us with your sheer foolishness."
"We won't do that. We'll just kill him."
Liyana does not appear to appreciate my frank comment. Her lips twist into a scowl and she leans back in her chair, waving a hand dismissively. "Enough. I tire of your foolishness."
Alright. So. Whatever that charm ability is, it doesn't let me sway annoying NPCs out of required quests. Of course it doesn't.
This is just one of those railroad quests where choices are illusion.
I'm not a fan, but I'm not going to get myself trapped forever because of this.
"Fine." I sigh. "If we prove I'm a match for the demon king, can we leave?"
Well, the whole point is that he's supposed to be outmatching me so I can get an actual challenge. But I can't think of any better suggestion that doesn't result in killing the whole elf village.
I can probably defeat them all easily. Probably even without harming any of the others. But it'd be a pain, and I'm not going to kick off the quest by doing something like that. There's no point in killing an NPC village.
I hate quests that force hamfisted villain choices. And besides. If I can figure out how to prove my worth...it's still a dumb side quest, but maybe it'll give me a little challenge.