Chapter 20: Kingdom of the Elves

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Awase asked. "This info did come from Bakugou."

"I know that can cause you to be skeptical, but I have seen the recording myself," Momo said. "And given what Melissa has told me, such firepower shouldn't be possible yet."

"Please remember that I haven't been towards the southern portion of the continent for some time now," Melissa chimed in. "So there could have been some major changes."

"Meaning that we have no idea what we're walking into," Awase groaned.

Momo had to admit, that part was true. Aside from the fact that this was a kingdom composed of elves that had been merging magic and science together, they didn't know anything else.

Despite that, they stayed the course. Sure, this expedition would delay them from returning back to the Collibus Hills for a few weeks, but she figured it would be worth it. If the rumors were true, then it was her squad's duty to investigate these potential allies.

BUMP!

As they kept driving through the dirt road, going up and down the grassy hills, the LAV suddenly jumped before returning back to the road, shocking everyone in the vehicle.

"What was that?!" Kirishima asked. "Some kind of speed bump?"

"No…" Awase said, as he kept driving. "Guys, take a look outside!"

Momo took a look outside to see… a brick road?

"Kirishima. Radio the other LAVs. We're stopping."


Kaibara took the sample of the road he picked off up to his face, inspecting it. "Mm-hm, just as I figured. Volcanic ash mixed with lime. In layman's terms, Roman concrete."

"So, while not hyper-advanced, an architectural feat, nonetheless," Momo figured.

"Actually, this shit right here is way more resistant to stuff like say, salt, than modern-day concrete, and the lime caked into it will also re-seal cracks if water ever seeps in. All, in all, it can be argued that this sort of mix of concrete is more effective than our modern mixes."

"How tough is that stuff, actually?" Kendo asked.

"An elephant could be running at full speed across one of these roads, and they wouldn't even crack," the brown-haired soldier said. "This shit's gonna last for thousands of years."

"Impressive," Uraraka commented.

"Yeah, not only that, but given how wide this road actually is, the center part is not only big enough to have two of your LAVs next to each other, but there's still enough space on both sides for a designated pedestrian walk! Whoever oversaw this is a genius!"

"Think it was the Empire that constructed it?" Monoma asked.

"This road in particular? No, we're way outside their territory, this is definitely one of the local elves," the geologist said. "But given that we only just got onto this road, that means that they stopped construction, for some reason. Maybe a lack of funds? I dunno."

"I see," Momo said. "Guess we'll have to ask them when we get there."

"Hey…" Melissa said. "What's that over there in the distance?"

Momo looked towards where their angelic guide was looking to see… multiple tall things in straight lines? Actually, they were parallel on one side of the road or the other.


Driving further up the road, the SREU stepped out of their vehicles once more to see that two different things were actually on either side of the road, one after the other.

These things were street lamps and holed trees.

"Oh, now I get it!" Kaibara said. "These lamps were supposed to be used further down as a border between the main part of this road and the sidewalk, while also lighting up both of them when it gets dark! And I guess the trees are here to let people know where the sidewalk ends?"

That's a pretty valid theory, Momo thought to herself.

Taking a closer look towards the lamps, Momo saw that they were tall, black, and metallic, oddly reminiscent of street lamps used in Victorian-era London, or during the American 1800s. However, there weren't any candles inside the glass, or even an electric lightbulb!

Instead, it was just… a big green ball of moss.

"Komori, you're the plant expert," Momo said. "What's your assessment?"

"They're probably some sort of strand of bioluminescent moss that lights up when it gets dark, shroom," the brown-haired girl said. "These elves must be really environmentally-focused fellas to not use oil and such for this. I like it. They might be my kind of people. Real fun guys."

"Did you just make a mushroom pun?" the raven-haired woman asked.

"You can't prove anything."

"Ugh, whatever," Momo groaned. "Anyways, what about the trees?"

The trees themselves were… exceptionally weird. Their trunks were hard to describe, like fences made of wood, or stilts growing up from the ground and then merging with one another. Or maybe even drilling holes into the trunks and training their cores, who knows?

All Momo knew was that these trees were weird as fuck.

"I honestly have no clue," Komori said. "These aren't like anything found on Earth. I honestly don't understand what evolutionary advantage would having a cage-like body possess."

"Maybe it's something that we can't perceive?" Rin suggested.

"Something we can't perceive…? Wait a minute, I got it!" Tsuburaba exclaimed, as he ruffled through his backpack and pulled out a small black device. "Let's see if I'm right…"

"What's that?" Sato asked.

"It's a hand-held frequency detector," Bakugou said. "It's a device capable of different groups of sound-based frequencies on the spectrum, since we can't hear all of them."

Everyone stared at the ash-blond in silent shock.

"What? Why the hell are you all acting surprised?!" he barked. "I'm a guy who works with fucking explosives! Knowing how they affect my hearing kinda comes with the territory!"

"Many apologies," Aoyama said. "It was merely surprising –"

"HOW THE FUCK IS HAVING A BRAIN SURPRISING?!"

"Will you guys shut it?!" Tsuburaba barked at the others, as he stuck his device into the hollow inside of the tree. "Alright, let's see here… Aha! I was right! I was actually right!"

"What is it?" Momo asked.

"These trees are emitting a sonic frequency of somewhere between 40 and 60 Kilohertz!" the meteorologist explained. "I think that they're doing it from underneath their trunks…"

"Oh, I get it," Kodai realized. "Humans can only perceive up to 20 Kilohertz..."

"But animals can hear higher frequencies," Rin continued. "Frequencies high enough that it's unpleasant enough for those animals. These trees must have evolved that ability to scare off potential predators, and then the elves used to to create artificial barriers."

"Fascinating," Momo said. "Komori, get a sample of the tree bark."

"You got it!" she cheered, grabbing a bag and scalpel.

"Hey! What are you doing over there?!"

Before Komori could get a sample of the tree, however, everyone's attention was shifted to the voice that called them out. Looking out towards the distance, they could see a woman wearing an odd dark outfit and cloak, her head sporting mint-green hair and… pointed ears.

"Holy shit, it's an elf," Kaibara whispered to Tsuburaba.

"I asked you a question!" she shouted again. "What are you doing to that tree?!"

Quickly switching to Latin before an incident could happen, Momo said, "I'm sorry! We don't mean any harm! We were just collecting a sample! We're an expeditionary group!"

The green-haired elf squinted her eyes at them. "Expeditionary group?"

"That's correct. We're peaceful explorers, people of science."

"Science, huh?" the elven woman said, as she took a closer look at the group, her eyes stopping for a second at Melissa, before she said, "You're not with the Empire, are you?"

"No, not at all!" Monoma chimed in. "We hate those guys just like everyone else!"

"Hmm… and where exactly is it you are planning on going?"

"We are searching for the Kingdom of Dryadalis, specifically the capital city," Momo said. "We are curious about your nation's recent endeavors on merging magic and technology."

"Alright," the green-haired woman said, before pointing towards the road. "Keep following the road, and you should make it to the capital city of Summus before the sun sets, if your bizarre carriages are anything to go by. When you reach the gates, tell them Beros sent you."

"Thank you so much!" Momo bowed, before telling her crew, "We're leaving!"

"What?!" Komori cried. "But what about the tree sample –?!"

"We can come back for it later, when the scary elf lady isn't around! Let's go!"

As the others rushed back into their vehicles, with the LAVs speeding off towards the city, they didn't look back to see the green-haired elven lady, Beros, scowling at them.


As the LAVs kept driving through the paved road, they began to see more and more things populating the grassy hills beside them. Starting with, of course, buildings.

"Whoa! Guys, check out these weird-ass buildings!" Sato pointed out the window.

As Itsuka kept driving, she took a peek out of her sideview to see what her colleagues were ogling at, and sure enough, it was the elven settlements just outside the big city.

Except they didn't look like anything she had ever seen before.

Though she would never admit it out loud, she had watched fantasy anime as a kid, and honestly, who didn't? They were all Japanese, so watching anime was just as natural for them as it was for American kids to watch Nickelodeon. It was just that fantasy-based anime, especially stuff like isekai, had a particularly bad reputation, so she kept it to herself.

Regardless, in such shows, elven homes were always deep within forests, their wooden hut-like structures either being nestled within the branches of trees, or carved within them.

But the homes out here were these curved structures, reminiscent of igloos or vases, and every other curved shape in between, with a basic white color, followed by brown stripe-esque patterns. She wasn't sure if these homes were made of some sort of wood or some kind of ceramic. Hell, if she squinted, she could see that even the window bars had leaf-like patterns!

Aside from the weird coloring and the fact that it didn't seem like they used any sort of brick to create their homes, the fact that they were just sitting on the grassy hills, with minimal use of dirt roads or rock walls as fences was somewhat odd, as well. It was all so… alien.

Then again, we are in a whole other world, Itsuka thought to herself.

"Kendo, it's Kirishima," her radio crackled to life. "Heads up, we've arrived."

"HOLY SHIITAKE!" Komori yelped. "Look at the gate alone! Someone take a picture!"

"I'm already way ahead of you!" Rin shouted, grabbing the camera.

Itsuka had to admit, she liked that the seating chart for the LAVs changed every now and then. She couldn't imagine having both Bakugou and Tsuburaba with her all the time. Plus, Komori and Rin were a nice change of pace. They sure did seem to like the architecture.

And boy, was the architecture for the front gate alone something to behold.

It didn't do the typical medieval castle thing from the old history books where the walls to the capital were ridiculously high up, but also they weren't high enough for mana-enhanced people to just jump across the wall. It was just the right size. But the shape and color…

The shape was a fancier version of the regular open-air pattern of sniping bricks, but with ledges, and a central pattern that showed where the big gates were, extending that part of the wall forward, and showing off the insignia of the Dryadalis Kingdom, all while all of the bricks on the wall were of a bright pale yellow, making Itsuka feel all warm inside.

Man, psychologists are right, yellow IS a happy color!


Momo was impressed with the front gate of this place alone.

Three meters tall, and also being wide enough to have two carriages, or two cars, to go in two opposite directions, as if it was just a road underneath a tunnel, while still being enough space for pedestrians on both sides of the road. Major props to the architect behind this.

"Hello there! Please step out of your vehicle to get through security!"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Momo saw a slightly older elven gentleman calling out to her. He had dark blue hair and eyes, with a uniform that made Momo think of a knight.

Stepping out of the LAV and with her comrades following behind her, Momo said, "Hello. I'm Lieutenant Momo Yaoyorozu, head of the Special Region Exploration Unit."

"I see…" the elf said. "Well, I'm Tensei Iida, just a humble knight in service of the crown, even if I'm just doing something as trivial as border security. Identification papers, please."

"Identification… papers?"

"Uhh, Lieutenant? What's he talking about?" Kirishima asked.

"Shut up," Bakugou whispered back.

"Do you not have identification papers?" the elven knight asked.

"I'm sorry, but no. We are explorers, we've never been to your nation before. We do have IDs from our native homeland, but I'm not sure if those will work here," Momo said.

Iida nodded grimly. "Then I'm sorry, but we can't let you through –"

"Wait! I, uhh… we were told to say… that Beros sent us."

Momo watched as the knight's face went from apologetic, to sudden shock, before he reeled it back into a mix of understanding and stone-cold neutrality. "Lady Beros sent you?"

"Uh, light green hair? Seemingly permanent scowl? Ring any bells?"

Tensei Iida remained silent for a few monuments, before he said, "Please excuse me, I have to go report something. My colleagues will let you through, but please stay near the gates."

"Umm, okay?" the raven-haired soldier said.

Iida nodded in understanding, before he suddenly left his post and ran off.

"What the hell was that about?" Bakugou asked.


It had been a few minutes since Iida's colleagues had directed Momo and her team towards the other end of the gate and into the city, but really, they were still at the checkpoint. Them moving was just to make sure they weren't blocking the flow of traffic through the small bridge.

"Why do you think he looked so spooked?" Awase asked.

"I don't think it was spooked," Monoma said. "More… alarmed."

"Well, the point still stands that, from their point of view, we're nothing more than outsiders with no legal documentation," Melissa said. "We're completely unknown to them."

Momo didn't like it, but she had to agree with that. It was the equivalent of a Japanese foreign affairs officer having to deal with a bunch of people who, say, came straight out of America during the 1900s, completely unaware of how modern bureaucracy worked.

She really couldn't blame that elf.

"They are right over there, ma'am!"

Momo, alongside the rest of the crew, snapped into attention, as they saw Iida coming back, alongside an entire squad of knights, being led by a woman, presumably a captain.

She was an elven woman with a mature body underneath her light armor, short purple-and-pink hair covering her ears, and a blank face that gave Beros' mug a run for her money.

"Alright, may I have your attention!" the elven woman called out. "I'm Kaina Tsutsumi, captain of the royal knights! You have been summoned by Her Majesty to the palace! Take all your valuables with you, but your weapons and vehicles shall be temporarily confiscated!"

"What?!" Bakugou shouted. "Are we really letting her do that?!"

"We don't have much of a choice," Momo said. "Their queen apparently has taken a fancy to us. We don't comply, and we could potentially cause an international incident. The Empire is already our enemy, we don't want to make a second one through these elves."

"Rrrrr… fine. But I'm not gonna like it."


As Momo and her crew were escorted through the city, she couldn't help but look at the architecture all around her. This wasn't what she was expecting when it came to elves. In fact, she honestly didn't think she would see such sort of buildings in a fantasy world.

Everything here looked like it had come from Victorian London, only that there was no trace of trash or pollution anywhere. Every now and then, she would see a carriage being pulled by a ground dragon, but there weren't so many that it caused traffic jams.

All around her, she saw elves walking around the streets, minding their own business, all of them… actually dressed how she expected elves to be dressed. But none of them carried any bows or arrows whatsoever! Just a walking cane here, or a parasol there, or a…

"Lieutenant, do you see what some of those knights are holding?!"

Momo sighed, as she looked over to her mechanic. "No, Awase, I didn't. What is it?"

"They've got bayonet rifles! Like, actual fucking rifle guns!"

Momo took a closer look at one of the knights, and sure enough, he was holding an old rifle with a knife attached to the muzzle. "Huh. I guess that confirms our suspicions on where Denki Jiro got his weapon. They are certainly advanced. Good eye, Corporal –"

"Hold the fucking phone, is that a newspaper?!" Awase exclaimed.

Before Momo could do anything, her mechanic dashed towards an elf that was sitting at a nearby outdoor cafe, and asked, "Excuse me, sir, may I have a look at that?!"

The elf, probably a bit shocked, gave his paper over to Awase, who examined it. "Look at this typography… they had to have used a printing machine… HOLY SHIT, PHOTOGRAPHS?!"

He ran back to the group, shoving the paper into Momo's face. "Awase –"

"Look at this!" he exclaimed. "They have mass-produced printing presses and photographs! Do you know what materials are needed to create photos, even black-and-white ones?!"

Momo sputtered, "Okay, yes, I admit, it's somewhat impressive, but that –"

"Wait, wait, shhh!" Awase said, holding his hand to his ear. "Do you hear that? Music."

Momo and the others kept quiet as they heard soft music playing. Looking up, they could see a bronze funnel coming from a nearby building, as if it was a public gramophone.

"HOLY SHIT, THEY HAVE RADIOS?!" Awase shouted. "Do you know how advanced that sort of shit is?! They would have to know about electrical charges undergoing acceleration, and –"

"Oi! Stop harassing the public with your shouting!" Captain Tsutsumi shouted at Awase. "If it weren't for my explicit orders, I would have cut you down the second you ran!"

"I'm sorry, please forgive my subordinate!" Momo immediately replied. "It's just that he was amazed by all the things your city has! It's been a while since we have seen such –"

"ENOUGH!" Tsutsumi barked. "If I wanted to listen to some talk on and on for hours on end, I would have stuck around the rookie knights looking for a quick promotion! Now get moving!"

"Yes! Of course!" Momo yelped, as she quickly grabbed Awase.

"Awase, please stop nerding out," Melissa said. "I'm pretty sure some of the knights thought you were making a break for it when you ran to get that paper. I really don't want you to get shot."


Entering the throne room felt like a big event. And well, it was.

The room itself was massive! From the dimensions of the room itself, to the huge red carpet that went from the door all the way to the throne, and it was all so fancy! The walls were decked out in a pale yellow, almost white material, all while golden partners adorned them, and Momo was pretty sure that the floor below them was marble, or something close to it!

But the main attraction was certainly who was sitting on that throne.

Besides the throne was a man that resembled Tensei Iida, albeit younger and wearing glasses. He was clearly a knight, given that he was covered in heavy armor and had a massive sword hilt on his side. He was probably the queen's bodyguard. And as for the queen…

She was an elven woman wearing a long dress of blue and white. The main part of her dress was white, with dark blue adorning her chest, the center of her abdomen and skirt, along with the sides. Within the dark blue, there were patterns of gold separating it from the sky blue patterns the dress shared, all while the queen wore jewelry around her neck.

But the queen herself, she was a case all on her own, even without the dress.

She had golden eyes that seemed to look right through Momo's soul, her hair was pink dreadlocks that were short enough to show off her elven ears. And her crown resembles a thin laurel wreath that Roman emperors used to wear, only, instead of plants, it was solid gold.

Momo was a rich girl, she never denied that. She was born into wealth, but… for the first time in her life, she felt as if there was someone who could even surpass her in terms of money.

Getting down on one knee and placing her hand to the floor, Tsutsumi hailed her queen. "Your Majesty, my comrades and I have brought you the outsiders as you have requested."

"Excellent work, Lady Kaina," the pink-haired queen said. "Knights, please leave us. Do not worry for my safety, as both Sir Tenya and Lady Kaina shall remain for my protection."

The rest of the knights silently bowed to their monarch, as Momo and her comrades watched them leave, closing the large doors behind them, leaving the SREU with the queen.

Everyone was silent for what was actually a moment, but felt more like an eternity as the elven queen examined them silently from her throne. But then, there was a giggle.

"Hehehe…"

Then, laughter. Loud laughter.

"HAHAHAHA!" The queen had broken out into a manic smile, as she jumped out of her throne, landing right in front of Momo and her squad. "This is amazing! An entire squad of non-Imperial humans just rolled up to my kingdom, and armed to the teeth with technology centuries ahead of the entire world average! Somebody pinch me, because I must be dreaming! WHOO-HOO!"

Momo couldn't help but let out a small "What the hell…?"

"Queen Hatsume, please!" her knight called out. "We don't know if these humans are –"

"Tenya, for the last time, when we're in private, call me Mei!" the pink-haired elf said. "And besides, it's not like these fine folk are actually going to do anything! Isn't that right?"

"Uhh… no," Momo said. "We're peaceful explorers, men and women of science –"

"SCIENCE, YOU SAY?! Well, why didn't you say so?! Wait, wait! Let me introduce myself!" the queen said, bowing. "Mei Hatsume! Queen of the Dryadalis Kingdom, inventor, and the genius behind the recent nation-wide industrial revolution and age of enlightenment!"

"Hold up, you're the one behind all of that advanced stuff?!" Awase exclaimed. "The printed press, the guns, the paved roads, the lamps, the goddamn radio, all that was you?!"

"That's right!" Hatsume said. "I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into every single one of my babies, and even more time and effort into introducing them to my citizens!"

"Well, in that case, I should probably reintroduce ourselves," Momo said. "I'm Lieutenant Momo Yaoyorozu of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, and this here is my squad, the Special Region Exploration Unit. Our mission is to find out all we can about your world on behalf of mine."

"Lieutenant, eh? So, a soldier," Hatsume said. "It makes sense, I suppose. You're all wearing identical uniforms, and from what I was told by Beros, had lots of weapons to turn over. But from a whole other world?! Wait, don't tell me! The Collibus Hills Gate, am I right?"

"I don't suppose that was an experiment of yours gone wrong?" Momo asked.

"Ha-ha! Good one!" Hatsume laughed. "But, no. I wasn't responsible for that, nor am I aware of who is. Still, I was quite fascinated with stories of such an experiment going horribly wrong, but with such unexpected results! And look! Beings from the other side! Here, in my castle!"

"Well, I'm glad you find us so fascinating – Wait, did you say Beros?" Momo asked.

"Indeed she did."

Everyone turned around to see the green-haired woman from before standing right behind them. "WHAT THE HELL?! How the fuck are you here with us?!"

Beros stared at Bakugou before saying, "I'm a member of Queen Hatsume's inner circle. I have access to her private teleportation circles. Meaning I don't have to stay stuck in customs."

"The queen's inner circle?" Aoyama repeated. "Then that means –"

"That Tensei came to us the second he was told that Lady Beros sent you to our gates," the knight, Tenya said. "My mistress has an obsession with finding new magic and technologies for her to experiment with, and she sometimes sends out her best knights to go investigating."

"Yeah, I would totally go myself, but I can't. Gotta run the kingdom and junk," Hatsume groaned. "But it's fine! Because you're all here now! So tell me… who's the smartest one here?"

Everyone in the squad was silent for a few seconds, until someone, that someone being Awase, suddenly spoke up, raising his hand. "Uhh, I'm my team's mechanic. I'm in charge of maintaining our vehicles, so I know how to do some other tech-based stuff, as well."

Hatsume was silent for a few seconds, before she suddenly shouted, "THAT'S BRILLIANT! OKAY, YOU'RE STAYING WITH ME! WE'RE GONNA MAKE SO MANY CUTE BABIES!"

Momo's jaw dropped as the elven queen manhandled her mechanic, Tenya came up to her and whispered, "When she says "babies," she means her inventions, not actual children."

"Oh, um, yeah, thanks for the heads-up."

"So, tell me! How do your vehicles operate?!" Hatsume asked Awase, like a kid hopped-up on sugar. "I've been trying to create a self-perpetuating mechanism for long-distance travel, so that my citizens won't be forever reliant on beasts of burden or teleportation magic!"

"Oh, um, see, vehicles in my world moved based on on internal combustion engines –"

"Wait, wait, hold up!" Monoma called out. "What about the rest of us?!"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, you guys are guests here in the castle for the next week or so! You can go exploring my kingdom tomorrow, or whatever. Beros, Kaina, show them to their rooms!"

"Of course, Your Majesty," Tsutsumi bowed. "Beros."

"Kaina," Beros replied, indicating the two really didn't like each other.

As Awase watched his squaddies get escorted out by the two lady knights, he could see Hatsume jumping up and down in excitement. "Now… you and I are gonna be great partners!"

"Uh, yeah. I look forward to making "babies" with you."

It was just for one week.

How bad could this possibly be?

Not one bit, he thought to himself with a smile.


Author's Note: Just one reply for this week? Alright…

Shin: I remember a story my middle school history teacher (or maybe it was the substitute, I'm not too sure) said that back in his day, one of the players called their character "Captain America," and every time one of the other characters had to call out his name, the immersion was ruined. I also have younger siblings, but my relationship with them might be a bit more strained. But as for the media we secretly enjoy, I think that you have better composure than I do, because I think now if someone insults the stuff I like in front of me, hands are gonna be flying, so… I salute you.

As a special announcement, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore