Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Oh, Ortem～!」
「We have～!」
「Retuuurned～!!」
The next day after Aranwen and his drinking party, everyone was finally able to return to Ortem, which they had left alone for two days. Along the way, they had cut down the weeds and felled the trees that blocked the path in order to make the road more of a proper road. By the time they got back, it was already past the afternoon, and the sun had descended a good amount.
「Archem, are you alright!?」
「We worried about ye!」
Ignoring the oktogarls that had screamed out as soon as they entered the village, the elves rushed straight to Archem. Expressions of relief adorned their faces.
「Sorry for getting here late. Dungeons, temple maintenance, there were just so many things to deal with and I couldn’t get back soon enough.」
「Dun mind dun mind. We glad ye made it back safely.」
The elderly elf woman hugged Archem tightly while crying. Although she was one of the ones responsible for setting the old men on Archem for her sexual education, she did seem to have more love in her than the others. If one were to view her odd sexual curriculum as a type of parental affection, then that made sense. Although really, if she were in fact an onlooker attempting to force her values into Archem’s life, everyone would likely want to lecture her for an hour on the proper way to convey her love.
「But Chem……」
「Yes?」
「Ye changed quite a lot in two days, eh?」
「Yup yup.」
After they had enough time to rejoice over Archem’s safe arrival, Govejon had spoken up after observing her. Foredan and the other people seemed to have the same opinion.
「Did I really change all that much?」
「Ye seem like a super pretty lass, eh.」
「Yup. Plus it seems like there’s an atmosphere oozin’ out from ye.」
「What a fine lass.」
「Although ‘er chest ‘as been fine from the start.」
The villagers continued to discuss Archem’s changes. The 200, 300 year old younger elves were taken instantly in by Archem’s confused tilting of the head, averting their eyes bashfully as soon as their eyes met.
「Welp, I suppose I can see the atmosphere part.」
「Chem-chan awakens～」
「Priestess, priestess～」
「Nu～rse?」
「Hey quit it with the memes……」
Mio cut into the oktogarls’ dangerous references, as if telling them to be more considerate. She could vaguely understand the jokes, which made it slightly uncomfortable.
「Awakening, ye say?」
「Seems like she got a new priestess power from Aranwen-sama. Says she still ain’t used to it, but I say she’s gettin’ there.」
「Oh really.」
They understood the gist of Archem’s transformation from what Hiroshi told them. However, it was not a sufficient explanation for as to why she looked prettier than before. Then again, despite being in a relatively small community, elves were well ahead in terms of life experience. Some of them, especially the older elves, essentially figured it out from watching Archem’s demeanour as she looked at Hiroshi’s face.
「Wow Archem, yer becomin’ such a woman!」
「Two reasons fer celebratin’.」
「Eh? Eh?」
「How much longer yer gonna be childish?」
「Eh? Umm?」
Some of the elves had quickly come to an agreement over something, blurting various things out. Seizing the opportunity, the oktogarls began to clamor.
「Chem-chan love love～」
「Lotsa rivals～」
「No longer a love triangle, it’s a love swamp～」
「Disposed of～」
「Seriously, stop saying such scary stuff……」
Tatsuya commented in a tired tone. This time, it actually did feel like the oktogarls were ready to kill someone.
「Oh?」
「Hiroshi, ye really popular?」
「Girls’re already scary ’nuff as is, wow.」
「She gonna be a maiden fer a while yet.」
Listening to the oktogarls and observing Haruna and Mio’s reactions, the elves concluded thus. Apparently women were not the only ones who were interested in love affairs.
「There’s something I’m wondering about.」
「Whazzat?」
「Let’s suppose that Archem and Hiroshi had a baby. Would it be a half-elf?」
「Y’know, I get the feelin’ that a real dangerous ‘n impossible conversation just began……」
Archem, who had been rather embarrassed up till now, suddenly began to look as though she had been pierced by something. Of course, no matter who the person was, Hiroshi would always use the word “impossible”. It wasn’t like Archem was being singled out or anything.
「Sure they’d be a half elf. Why ye ask?」
「I figure elves hated that sort of thing.」
「Kids’re kids. Half, pureblood, who cares.」
「Yup yup. Sure, the parents might not be happy ’bout the shorter lifespan, but it don’t got nothin’ to do with the kiddies.」
「Kids gotta be fawned over, complemented, chastised, no matter where in the world ye are. Real adults wouldn’t treat ’em like an eighth of an elf just cuz they’re half.」
Apparently, elves couldn’t care less about whether their kids were half-elf. As per usual, the elves were looking to be more and more different from their stereotypes.
「Well if you say that you don’t mind halfs, I guess it’s just up to the people in question.」
「Yup. Seems like there’re regulations outlawin’ halfies in other villages, but we don’t care ’bout the small things.」
As expected of a large-scale sized elf village in a southern forest region, this village was quite lenient in terms of race.
「But it seems like that’s a tall order, eh.」
「When that man accidentally got pinned to the ground by Archem, his face looked like it was ready to spill his stomach out, eh.」
「Gynophobia～」
「Just one round and he’s out～」
「C’mon, quit it with the chit-chat……」
Tatsuya sighed after objecting to the oktogarls. After the elves commented on Hiroshi, they had blindly followed suit with their own worthless remarks. Besides, “one round and out” made the problem sound a lot less worse than it actually was. But it would still bring about plenty of other concerns, and that was in itself troublesome.
「Anyhow, haven’t seen ye guys fer a wee bit. Where were ye skulkin’ around?」
「Dungeon～」
「Dimensional rift～」
「Sucked in～」
「No escape～」
「Wow, sounds tough.」
The oktogarls spoke one after another, almost as if they were all part of one body. Somehow able to understand the situation just from that, the elves praised Hiroshi for saving the oktogarls from their plight in the dungeon.
「Seems there’s been a lot goin’ on, so how ‘bout we just have a feast, eh!」
「Yup yup!」
The eldest elf of the group raised their voice, which was followed by the simultaneous agreement of everyone around. On this day, the elves in the village would finish the remainder of their work at the highest speed in recorded history, all in order to hasten preparations for the largest feast in the village’s history.
「Margherita, first batch is done～」
「Every fried item is finished.」
Haruna and Mio figured they may as well help, volunteering to prepare several typical banquet-esque foods. They had Hiroshi make several makeshift stone ovens just so they could have pizza, and they gathered up as much of their food stand equipment as they could in order to pile on food after food for frying. Hiroshi, who had been helping out until now, had left his spot to work on something else.
Although Haruna had initially thought that to be a bit off-putting, she was soon forced to focus yet again on her task, her brain totally geared into cooking mood.
「Pork belly stew’s looking about right.」
「Haru, is the fried tofu dashi fine as is?」
「Mm, yeah, just leave it be. Ah, Archem-san, feel free to just go ahead and distribute the steamed bird stuff.」
「Understood.」
Completing each meal with terrifying dexterity, they distributed food on a wide scale amongst the throng of elves that had gathered around the open fire. Still, there was a staggering number of people. The villagers were also distributing cuisine of the elven variety (not as exaggerated as one might expect), but there was a major gap between the amount of people and the size of their stomachs, and it was quite difficult to keep it up. They had given up on the idea of getting all the food to everyone, only striving to feed as many people as possible, but they were still ensuring top quality rather than mere mass production.
Other than the cubed stew, which was difficult to cook without breaking form, and the tofu recipe, which needed a fine balance between dashi and fried tofu, the elves had learned how to make the majority of fried/steamed meals as well as pizza, getting right to making tons and tons of servings. Especially when it came to pizza, they made rather large ones, and even splitting a pizza sixteen ways was still rather overwhelming. Not only were there more than enough ingredients; they could make over ten pizzas at once. Going about it the right way, they could get it around to everyone.
「Ye all can go ahead and relax now.」
「You sure?」
「I’m pretty sure we still have to make a bunch.」
「Yer cooking is enough to give a plate to just about everyone. Besides, we can’t just make the stars o’the show work forever.」
The elderly elf said, and the other elves nodded at Haruna and Mio as well. Agreeing that this was a sensible time to stop working, they decided to rendezvous with Tatsuya and the others.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Oh yeah, where is Hiroshi-san anyway？」
「Sensei? If you want him, he said he’d be cooking some takoyaki at the biggest fire.」
「Think it’s going to begin？」
「Takoyaki？」
Archem tilted her head at the unfamiliar word that Mio mentioned. Thinking it would be quicker to have her see it up close, they took her to Hiroshi.
There weren’t just people in front of the middle fire- so were the oktogarls.
「Got some takoyaki for ya, fresh from the Kansai region. Not too many of them here, so early bird gets the worm～」
After Hiroshi’s tiring speech, he once again set to preparing the food with unbelievably good technique. Seriously, why was he so polished in this regard? There was a resounding stir as more and more people gathered.
「Heya boy, what’s all in that thing, eh?」
「Deep-fried dough, onion, red ginger, and then the main ingredient, octopus (tako).」
「Octopus, eh？」
「And here’s what it looks like.」
As they waited for it to heat up, for the sake of explanation, Hiroshi took a raw one out of his bag to show them. The elves’ faces showed recognition as they looked at it.
「So it’s basically lanpas, eh?」
「Lanpas？」
「I seen that octopus in this forest, eh? Somethin’ like that ocotpus was clmbin’ up the tree.」
「It’s got sum different shaping with da legs and da head, but I’m mighty sure they’re da same species？」
Sure, it was a typical pattern, but apparently there were octopus/squid-like creatures who lived on land in this world. To add further, they were an important source of protein, so the elves were always eating them, but nothing more. However…
「Kya～！」
「They’re gonna eat us～！」
As one would expect, the oktogarls, who had pretty much the same shape and number of legs as octopuses, did not take kindly to this. They scattered into the distance, turning around and gazing at Hiroshi with pale faces.
「No no. I assure ya we ain’t gonna eatcha.」
Hiroshi chastised them as he skillfully flipped the takoyaki over with an awkward smile. Even if their legs looked similar to that of octopuses, oktogarls and octopuses were different in so many ways. Oktogarls didn’t even look appetizing.
「Really？」
「You won’t eat us? You won’t？」
「They won’t, they won’t.」
He held out the first portion to the oktogarls as they fearfully approached him. The steamy, wavering bonito flakes practically begged the oktogarls to eat them, who fearfully lifted the piping hot takoyaki to their mouths.
「Tayce T～、Tayce T～！」
「It’s～so～de～lish～！」
「Three stars any day～！」
It would seem that they did not have cat’s tongue and had no problem with chowing down on piping hot octopus. Smiling at their mannerisms, Hiroshi handed out freshly grilled takoyaki one after another to the elves. He also set out portions according to the size of the fairies and forest giants that had suddenly showed up.
「Alright, no more ingredients left in stock, so that’s all for this occasion.」
「No way, eh！」
「Crud! If only ye’d come sooner！」
「Sure ye can’t do somethin’？」
「What aboot the octopus ye brought out earlier？」
Just as he had proclaimed at the beginning, the early birds got the worms. As he was proceeding to close up shop, all of that booing had reached his ears. Although he did want to give them what they wanted, the octopus from earlier hadn’t been properly processed. They would not be eating anytime soon. Besides, he had also forgotten to replenish the red ginger, having rushed preparations too much. There wasn’t enough time to let the liquid sink into the meat.
「I already cut through the stock here, and it’s not like I can just cut the octopus into chunks ‘n serve it as is. Can’t use what I don’t got. Sorry, but I’m closin’ up shop today.」
Yes, Hiroshi was special, but there were some things that were impossible even for him. Furthermore, he wouldn’t even have time to eat if he attempted to restock right now.
「I wanna eat more～」
「We shall eat～」
「Gim～me、gim～me」
The stubborn oktogarls refused to back down, some of them shrewdly taking bits from other people’s plates and dividing it amongst themselves. When they had nothing but toothpicks left, they looked at their feet…
「……Gulp」
And they made strange mannerisms in a depressed state, taking out a chopping board…
「Bodies fresh for chopping～」
And they pretended to cook themselves, but Hiroshi had already said that he’d go around various areas of the village and make some takoyaki after he finished some tasks the next day, so the elves all behaved themselves after that.
「Well that was a roaring success.」
「Sure was, but now I gotta remember to restock on octopus once we get back to Wulls.」
「I don’t think we’ll have a hard time getting permission to set up transportation circles.」
「Yup. Gotta do that first before anythin’ else.」
As they went over what they had to do tomorrow and onward, Hiroshi stabbed bear meat through a big skewer and grilled it like kebab before everyone scraped it off for their food. On further glance, they also had secured their own portions of cubed meat stew and pizza.
「How long do you think it’ll take to set up a transportation circle？」
「Welp, I’d say about two hours.」
「That’s all you need?」
「Although there’s a hell of a lotta mana used in the process.」
He casually answered Archem’s query, biting into the newly added kebab. This particular meal was eaten on special occasions of celebration amongst the elves, and the pretext for eatimg it right now was to celebrate both Archem’s awakening as a priestess and the reconstruction of Aranwen’s temple. It didn’t have any kind of convoluted seasoning on it, but the sauce that was used was made from various fruits and mushroom soup stock, making it incredibly difficult to stop eating.
「Umm, would it be okay if I tagged along with everyone？」
「That’s pretty sudden, y’know……」
Hiroshi looked at the others with a slightly concerned expression after Archem suddenly asked that. No one exactly had any qualms with bringing her along. The real issue was…
「We’re a bit uneasy about walking around with you.」
「We already have a lot of females along with us…」
And that was about it.
「So it isn’t going to work, huh……」
「It isn’t like it’s impossible, but from what we’ve been through up till now, it’s not exactly something we can feel quite right about.」
「Besides, Archem, aren’t you a priestess? You sure it’s okay to just walk around anywhere?」
Archem had a puzzled expression on her face when Makoto asked that question. Was it that bad for a priestess to go walking around? This area actually had very few shamans with concurrent roles as divine protectors and heads of rituals. On top of that, Aranwen was particularly sloppy in that area, not viewing it as necessary to conduct rituals so long as he had offerings. He would still be able to fulfill his role as guardian. This was fairly normal for the gods in this area of the world.
Therefore, in most cases, the term “priestess” only really referred to those whom the gods stand by and watch over, and Archem was one of those examples. Actually, priestesses like Aearis who conducted many ceremonies as ritual leaders were relatively few in this world. Then again, in her case, there was also the fact that she had to strengthen her own authority as both a member of the royal family and as the priestess princess, so it wasn’t a clear cut rule that the priestess of Alfemina was particularly special.
「……I see. So being a priestess doesn’t necessarily have to be directly related to conducting rituals or protecting the realm of the gods.」
「It’s more like Aranwen-sama considers ceremonies and the like to be quite boresome, so I’ve never even done it.」
「Wow……」
Haruna groaned, somehow both understanding this and feeling exasperated at the same time. Based on his mannerisms and personality the other day, it did seem like he would fulfill his duty as a guardian without grumbling as long as you gave him alcohol, but it was still so appalling to hear such a blunt, unrefined, undignified fact.
「I think we shouldn’t just refuse her request to come along with us.」
「What do you really think, Mio？」
「His gynophobia might subside a bit if he adjusts to Archem’s erotic troubles, don’t you think?」
「So we have to deal with Sparta again……」
Puffing her chest out with an *ahem* at an appalled Makoto, Mio continued eating her meal (consisting mainly of dairy and fish) at a brisk pace. The cheese gratin dish seemed to be a success.
「The risk is high in many ways if we just suddenly decide to take her with us. I’m sure that Teres and Nora are also used to adventuring, so maybe after some farming instruction and a month of training in the workshop, the people who are used to adventuring can give the okay and then we meet up？」
「Yup. First we gotta make sure she adjusts to life in the city of Wulls.」
There was no way that the elves living in this closed-off neck of the woods would deal well with suddenly plunging into the cash-based society of the outside world. It would probably be a good idea to first live in a more familiar environment before then adjusting to the human currency used by the largest-scale city in the world. Besides, it wasn’t like Hiroshi’s group was accustomed to travel either, so it was honestly a bit dicey to tell if Archem could really keep up.
On another note, they didn’t dislike Archem. In fact, she was held in fairly high regard. In combat and in other things, she didn’t hold them down in any particular way. It was just that in addition to her ero troubles, she was a country bumpkin who knew far too little of the outside world. If just one of those problems were to go away, the prospects would look a bit better.
However, the biggest reason was probably that her mood fell much too easily. Refusing her just made them feel like villains.
「So what’s the verdict？」
「We’ll hire ya at the workshop, so how ‘bout ya git sum money before preparin’ for any trips?」
「Okay！」
Her face brightening at their decision, Archem nodded without hesitation. Finally able to reach the minimum consensus, everyone was relieved. Although things with Archem would not turn out as anticipated, there was of course no way for Hiroshi or his friends to figure that out.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Ye done talkin’？」
Once they had reached a reasonable decision, a reasonably handsome middle-aged elf cut into their conversation. He looked as if he had been drinking.
「Pretty much. What’s up?」
「Nah, I’m just here cause I heard that girl over there’s good at singin’, eh.」
「Ah, want me to sing something?」
「It’s alright with ye, eh？」
「Of course.」
Responding to the elf’s request, she stood in front of the biggest fire there, which was intended to be a substitute for a stage. Haruna already had an aura that mercilessly sucked in all who were around her, which was all it took to gather the attention of everyone at the venue.
「I got a request, so if it’s all right, I would like to sing several songs from my hometown.」
She told everyone beforehand, starting out with two songs of a solemn, but not quite somber nature. The songs were sung in a melody reminiscent of an Okinawan musical scale, with lyrics like “Smile or cry all you want, but one day flowers will bloom” or “Dear Spring, far away”. You could feel the beauty of the Japanese language in the songs she sang.
Haruna, who had been singing those two songs in acapella, succeeded beyond her wildest expectations at firmly grasping the hearts of the audience. Now, it would have been splendid had she continued on this route, but when it was time for the third song, she suddenly changed the direction of her music. Perhaps it would be best to give her the award of “The Girl Who Betrays Expectations”.
「Hey lady! Sing that one song I like！」
「Kaaay！」
Haruna decided to listen to a request, so for the third song, she began singing a popular song among the forest giants about a woodcutter. However, it turned out to also be well-recepted by the elves, fairies, and goblins, which convinced Haruna to enter into a series of dances while singing slightly modified lyrics.
For example, one song was about someone who hated the countryside and left for Tokyo to raise cattle. Haruna changed vocabulary words like television or cars into more suitable words for this world, much like how she changed Tokyo to Wulls. Her singing resounded through the area as she continued to sing of an apple farmer who called out to his lover to come back. There were also songs about cute grandchildren, passionate female stories about overcoming difficulties, and so on.
「Yer songs’re inferior to them fairy songs, but I gotta admit that them human songs be not too bad.」
「Well, I wouldn’t assume that all human songs are like that if I were you……」
「Nay, don’t misunderstand. Cause no matter what, fairy songs be the best. I ain’t sayin’ dat yer songs be SUPER good.」
「C’mon, you don’t have to act all tsundere about music too……」
Makoto made a grimace at these fairies, who always behaved like stereotypical tsunderes and spoke with heavy accents. These 60 centimeter tall adult fairies flew around with fairy wings (no better word to describe it really) and hummed the ballads, only to turn red and begin speaking in a thick tsundere accent whenever someone spotted them, hiding their embarrassment. Honestly, even though she knew full well by now what kind of race they were, she did not know how to react to that sight.
However, it went without saying that the biggest concern was the fact that an attractive, voluptuous western-looking girl was singing ballads loudly.
「Ah, looks like she shifted routes.」
「But even if she’s no longer singing ballads, it still feels like…y’know……」
Haruna had now begun singing a song from a skit about how fun it is to draw the ghost leg lottery (renowned for being one of the funniest comedy shows). Even though she appeared to be occasionally playing the straight man, it was evident that her role as the fool was more fitting, observed Tatsuya and Makoto. And in that fashion, the lively banquet continued to go on.
「You’re really okay with this？」
「Aye, we are in yer debt. Plus the security be nice and tight, so there won’t be any weird things happening.」
The next day. Receiving permission from the chief, Hiroshi and the others remodeled the shed that had been used to erect the transportation circle, beginning with making sure that it was off-limits to the majority of people. As the chief and Archem widened their eyes at how heavy the security was, Hiroshi got right to burning the transportation circle into the ground, transmitting mana into it and returning to the workshop in Wulls before everyone else.
『Test, test, mic test. Can ya hear me？』
『Test, test. Can you hear us? You’re coming through loud and clear.』
After an hour or so, a transmission had come to them from Hiroshi, who had returned to the workshop. This wasn’t the game world, after all. The distance between Wulls and the border of the elf village was too far for transmissions, which was why Hiroshi had to go to the trouble of making a specialized communication device. Incidentally, Haruna was usually the one to whom these sorts of items were entrusted. It was no understatement that Hiroshi had been with her the longest.
『Loud and clear over here too. I’m all ready to connect over here, but are ya cool with that?』
『Wait a moment, I need to confirm that.』
After Hiroshi had spoken, she began the final confirmation.
「Says he’s ready and just needs to connect. Can we do that now?」
「Wait a sec. I need to check just to make sure.」
Receiving the message from Haruna, Mio checked once more to make sure that everything was ready. Now, it wasn’t like the place would explode or anything if they messed up, but going back and forth between Wulls and Ortem via transportation stone was simply unbearable in every sense of the word. They really just wanted to get this out of the way.
「Kay. No defects in the circle. Mana status favorable.」
「Confirming one more time, is it okay to connect now?」
「Mhm. No problem.」
The chief, supported by Archem and standing upright (which still was quite the feat) kept a serious expression on their face and nodded. Now that the chief had given the ok, Haruna confirmed once more with Hiroshi.
『Says it’s okay to connect.』
『Roger. I’mma connect right away, so git away from there just an itty bit.』
『Kaaay.』
Telling everyone Hiroshi’s directions, she made sure they all stepped a sufficient amount of distance away from the transportation circle, watching as it changed.
After about 15 seconds from contacting Hiroshi, the circle began to shine, and after about 30 seconds, mana was emitted from the six mana crystals that had been set up as an assist system. The ring of light spread out, as if deciding on the range of the transportation, and once it had gotten to a certain point, this time it stretched to the ceiling. After a minute, the string of events had ended, prompting the rising of a symbol-like pattern in the air.
「Seems like the connection’s been established.」
「Wow, I thought it’d take longer.」
Haruna conveyed the feelings of everyone present. But it was perfectly reasonable to be dumbfounded at just how short a period of time it took to make this crucial item.
「This was only possible because of the sheer volume of your mana, Sensei.」
「Ya think？」
「Normally, even setting everything up takes more than an entire day even with three people.」
「Ah, that right……」
Hiroshi was not the type of man who typically used mana for anything other than making things, so you might not think it, but Hiroshi’s mana was greater than even Barold’s, who was able to destroy Wulls at the snap of a finger. The ability point for knowledge wasn’t as high as the attribute for mind, so his attack power was only in the lower percent of the upper class, but when you considered the fact that he couldn’t use anything other than crafting or lifestyle magic, his mana count was absurdly high.
Furthermore, the Knowledge stat in game terms closely resembled the Sense stat. In other words, rather than judging whether one is smart or not so smart or one’s ability to study or lack thereof, it was a stat that determined whether your senses were keen or dull, whether you could comprehend things with intuition or not. If this particular stat was high, then not only would one’s magical attack power rise; various hints would emerge here and there, much like Sense. So the difference between Knowledge and Sense was comparable to the difference between reason and instinct.
「So you can use it now, right?」
「I can.」
「Ah, but wait a moment. Hiroshi-kun says he’s coming back here for a test.」
And just as Haruna finished that sentence, the transportation circle glowed, revealing Hiroshi.
「Alright, looks like that there transportation test’s a big hit.」
「Still, you don’t have to suddenly go through the test yourself. Just throw a small object or something.」
「Nah, that’s a drag. We good like this.」
Immediately brushing aside Makoto’s warning, Hiroshi muttered something in a low voice as he approached the transmitter. Right after that, the transportation circle started glowing again, and this time Teres and Nora appeared.
「Wow, we can actually get from one side to the other……」
「I know I should not be surprised by how quickly the Boss Man works, but still, I feel like the mood has been ruined……」
Upon walking out of the circle, the two of them immediately began saying their rude thoughts as they looked around the perimeter. When the chief and Archem saw just how unappreciative Teres was of being able to finally return, they simply gaped and could not recover. As soon as her eyes met theirs, Teres gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. After an awkward silence, she coughed in order to break said silence and turned to face the chief who she had not seen for two years.
「Well, it has been some time since I last saw you.」
「I-Indeed. I am glad to see that yer alive and well.」
「You too, Archem. Have you gotten better at speaking Farlanish?」
「Well yes, at least to where I don’t sound painful to hear……」
「Mm. Yeah, I can’t hear any accent.」
Teres was the best doctor not only of Ortem, but of the entire elf race. And yet, for some reason, her return felt like something shoddy.
Also, digressing a bit…
「……I sense that Deary has returned to Wulls……」
Riding in a stagecoach bound for Darl, the former assassin’s wild intuition was at work as she murmured that comment. But that is just between us.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Oh, Ortem～!」
「We have～!」
「Retuuurned～!!」
The next day after Aranwen and his drinking party, everyone was finally able to return to Ortem, which they had left alone for two days. Along the way, they had cut down the weeds and felled the trees that blocked the path in order to make the road more of a proper road. By the time they got back, it was already past the afternoon, and the sun had descended a good amount.
「Archem, are you alright!?」
「We worried about ye!」
Ignoring the oktogarls that had screamed out as soon as they entered the village, the elves rushed straight to Archem. Expressions of relief adorned their faces.
「Sorry for getting here late. Dungeons, temple maintenance, there were just so many things to deal with and I couldn’t get back soon enough.」
「Dun mind dun mind. We glad ye made it back safely.」
The elderly elf woman hugged Archem tightly while crying. Although she was one of the ones responsible for setting the old men on Archem for her sexual education, she did seem to have more love in her than the others. If one were to view her odd sexual curriculum as a type of parental affection, then that made sense. Although really, if she were in fact an onlooker attempting to force her values into Archem’s life, everyone would likely want to lecture her for an hour on the proper way to convey her love.
「But Chem……」
「Yes?」
「Ye changed quite a lot in two days, eh?」
「Yup yup.」
After they had enough time to rejoice over Archem’s safe arrival, Govejon had spoken up after observing her. Foredan and the other people seemed to have the same opinion.
「Did I really change all that much?」
「Ye seem like a super pretty lass, eh.」
「Yup. Plus it seems like there’s an atmosphere oozin’ out from ye.」
「What a fine lass.」
「Although ‘er chest ‘as been fine from the start.」
The villagers continued to discuss Archem’s changes. The 200, 300 year old younger elves were taken instantly in by Archem’s confused tilting of the head, averting their eyes bashfully as soon as their eyes met.
「Welp, I suppose I can see the atmosphere part.」
「Chem-chan awakens～」
「Priestess, priestess～」
「Nu～rse?」
「Hey quit it with the memes……」
Mio cut into the oktogarls’ dangerous references, as if telling them to be more considerate. She could vaguely understand the jokes, which made it slightly uncomfortable.
「Awakening, ye say?」
「Seems like she got a new priestess power from Aranwen-sama. Says she still ain’t used to it, but I say she’s gettin’ there.」
「Oh really.」
They understood the gist of Archem’s transformation from what Hiroshi told them. However, it was not a sufficient explanation for as to why she looked prettier than before. Then again, despite being in a relatively small community, elves were well ahead in terms of life experience. Some of them, especially the older elves, essentially figured it out from watching Archem’s demeanour as she looked at Hiroshi’s face.
「Wow Archem, yer becomin’ such a woman!」
「Two reasons fer celebratin’.」
「Eh? Eh?」
「How much longer yer gonna be childish?」
「Eh? Umm?」
Some of the elves had quickly come to an agreement over something, blurting various things out. Seizing the opportunity, the oktogarls began to clamor.
「Chem-chan love love～」
「Lotsa rivals～」
「No longer a love triangle, it’s a love swamp～」
「Disposed of～」
「Seriously, stop saying such scary stuff……」
Tatsuya commented in a tired tone. This time, it actually did feel like the oktogarls were ready to kill someone.
「Oh?」
「Hiroshi, ye really popular?」
「Girls’re already scary ’nuff as is, wow.」
「She gonna be a maiden fer a while yet.」
Listening to the oktogarls and observing Haruna and Mio’s reactions, the elves concluded thus. Apparently women were not the only ones who were interested in love affairs.
「There’s something I’m wondering about.」
「Whazzat?」
「Let’s suppose that Archem and Hiroshi had a baby. Would it be a half-elf?」
「Y’know, I get the feelin’ that a real dangerous ‘n impossible conversation just began……」
Archem, who had been rather embarrassed up till now, suddenly began to look as though she had been pierced by something. Of course, no matter who the person was, Hiroshi would always use the word “impossible”. It wasn’t like Archem was being singled out or anything.
「Sure they’d be a half elf. Why ye ask?」
「I figure elves hated that sort of thing.」
「Kids’re kids. Half, pureblood, who cares.」
「Yup yup. Sure, the parents might not be happy ’bout the shorter lifespan, but it don’t got nothin’ to do with the kiddies.」
「Kids gotta be fawned over, complemented, chastised, no matter where in the world ye are. Real adults wouldn’t treat ’em like an eighth of an elf just cuz they’re half.」
Apparently, elves couldn’t care less about whether their kids were half-elf. As per usual, the elves were looking to be more and more different from their stereotypes.
「Well if you say that you don’t mind halfs, I guess it’s just up to the people in question.」
「Yup. Seems like there’re regulations outlawin’ halfies in other villages, but we don’t care ’bout the small things.」
As expected of a large-scale sized elf village in a southern forest region, this village was quite lenient in terms of race.
「But it seems like that’s a tall order, eh.」
「When that man accidentally got pinned to the ground by Archem, his face looked like it was ready to spill his stomach out, eh.」
「Gynophobia～」
「Just one round and he’s out～」
「C’mon, quit it with the chit-chat……」
Tatsuya sighed after objecting to the oktogarls. After the elves commented on Hiroshi, they had blindly followed suit with their own worthless remarks. Besides, “one round and out” made the problem sound a lot less worse than it actually was. But it would still bring about plenty of other concerns, and that was in itself troublesome.
「Anyhow, haven’t seen ye guys fer a wee bit. Where were ye skulkin’ around?」
「Dungeon～」
「Dimensional rift～」
「Sucked in～」
「No escape～」
「Wow, sounds tough.」
The oktogarls spoke one after another, almost as if they were all part of one body. Somehow able to understand the situation just from that, the elves praised Hiroshi for saving the oktogarls from their plight in the dungeon.
「Seems there’s been a lot goin’ on, so how ‘bout we just have a feast, eh!」
「Yup yup!」
The eldest elf of the group raised their voice, which was followed by the simultaneous agreement of everyone around. On this day, the elves in the village would finish the remainder of their work at the highest speed in recorded history, all in order to hasten preparations for the largest feast in the village’s history.
「Margherita, first batch is done～」
「Every fried item is finished.」
Haruna and Mio figured they may as well help, volunteering to prepare several typical banquet-esque foods. They had Hiroshi make several makeshift stone ovens just so they could have pizza, and they gathered up as much of their food stand equipment as they could in order to pile on food after food for frying. Hiroshi, who had been helping out until now, had left his spot to work on something else.
Although Haruna had initially thought that to be a bit off-putting, she was soon forced to focus yet again on her task, her brain totally geared into cooking mood.
「Pork belly stew’s looking about right.」
「Haru, is the fried tofu dashi fine as is?」
「Mm, yeah, just leave it be. Ah, Archem-san, feel free to just go ahead and distribute the steamed bird stuff.」
「Understood.」
Completing each meal with terrifying dexterity, they distributed food on a wide scale amongst the throng of elves that had gathered around the open fire. Still, there was a staggering number of people. The villagers were also distributing cuisine of the elven variety (not as exaggerated as one might expect), but there was a major gap between the amount of people and the size of their stomachs, and it was quite difficult to keep it up. They had given up on the idea of getting all the food to everyone, only striving to feed as many people as possible, but they were still ensuring top quality rather than mere mass production.
Other than the cubed stew, which was difficult to cook without breaking form, and the tofu recipe, which needed a fine balance between dashi and fried tofu, the elves had learned how to make the majority of fried/steamed meals as well as pizza, getting right to making tons and tons of servings. Especially when it came to pizza, they made rather large ones, and even splitting a pizza sixteen ways was still rather overwhelming. Not only were there more than enough ingredients; they could make over ten pizzas at once. Going about it the right way, they could get it around to everyone.
「Ye all can go ahead and relax now.」
「You sure?」
「I’m pretty sure we still have to make a bunch.」
「Yer cooking is enough to give a plate to just about everyone. Besides, we can’t just make the stars o’the show work forever.」
The elderly elf said, and the other elves nodded at Haruna and Mio as well. Agreeing that this was a sensible time to stop working, they decided to rendezvous with Tatsuya and the others.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Oh yeah, where is Hiroshi-san anyway？」
「Sensei? If you want him, he said he’d be cooking some takoyaki at the biggest fire.」
「Think it’s going to begin？」
「Takoyaki？」
Archem tilted her head at the unfamiliar word that Mio mentioned. Thinking it would be quicker to have her see it up close, they took her to Hiroshi.
There weren’t just people in front of the middle fire- so were the oktogarls.
「Got some takoyaki for ya, fresh from the Kansai region. Not too many of them here, so early bird gets the worm～」
After Hiroshi’s tiring speech, he once again set to preparing the food with unbelievably good technique. Seriously, why was he so polished in this regard? There was a resounding stir as more and more people gathered.
「Heya boy, what’s all in that thing, eh?」
「Deep-fried dough, onion, red ginger, and then the main ingredient, octopus (tako).」
「Octopus, eh？」
「And here’s what it looks like.」
As they waited for it to heat up, for the sake of explanation, Hiroshi took a raw one out of his bag to show them. The elves’ faces showed recognition as they looked at it.
「So it’s basically lanpas, eh?」
「Lanpas？」
「I seen that octopus in this forest, eh? Somethin’ like that ocotpus was clmbin’ up the tree.」
「It’s got sum different shaping with da legs and da head, but I’m mighty sure they’re da same species？」
Sure, it was a typical pattern, but apparently there were octopus/squid-like creatures who lived on land in this world. To add further, they were an important source of protein, so the elves were always eating them, but nothing more. However…
「Kya～！」
「They’re gonna eat us～！」
As one would expect, the oktogarls, who had pretty much the same shape and number of legs as octopuses, did not take kindly to this. They scattered into the distance, turning around and gazing at Hiroshi with pale faces.
「No no. I assure ya we ain’t gonna eatcha.」
Hiroshi chastised them as he skillfully flipped the takoyaki over with an awkward smile. Even if their legs looked similar to that of octopuses, oktogarls and octopuses were different in so many ways. Oktogarls didn’t even look appetizing.
「Really？」
「You won’t eat us? You won’t？」
「They won’t, they won’t.」
He held out the first portion to the oktogarls as they fearfully approached him. The steamy, wavering bonito flakes practically begged the oktogarls to eat them, who fearfully lifted the piping hot takoyaki to their mouths.
「Tayce T～、Tayce T～！」
「It’s～so～de～lish～！」
「Three stars any day～！」
It would seem that they did not have cat’s tongue and had no problem with chowing down on piping hot octopus. Smiling at their mannerisms, Hiroshi handed out freshly grilled takoyaki one after another to the elves. He also set out portions according to the size of the fairies and forest giants that had suddenly showed up.
「Alright, no more ingredients left in stock, so that’s all for this occasion.」
「No way, eh！」
「Crud! If only ye’d come sooner！」
「Sure ye can’t do somethin’？」
「What aboot the octopus ye brought out earlier？」
Just as he had proclaimed at the beginning, the early birds got the worms. As he was proceeding to close up shop, all of that booing had reached his ears. Although he did want to give them what they wanted, the octopus from earlier hadn’t been properly processed. They would not be eating anytime soon. Besides, he had also forgotten to replenish the red ginger, having rushed preparations too much. There wasn’t enough time to let the liquid sink into the meat.
「I already cut through the stock here, and it’s not like I can just cut the octopus into chunks ‘n serve it as is. Can’t use what I don’t got. Sorry, but I’m closin’ up shop today.」
Yes, Hiroshi was special, but there were some things that were impossible even for him. Furthermore, he wouldn’t even have time to eat if he attempted to restock right now.
「I wanna eat more～」
「We shall eat～」
「Gim～me、gim～me」
The stubborn oktogarls refused to back down, some of them shrewdly taking bits from other people’s plates and dividing it amongst themselves. When they had nothing but toothpicks left, they looked at their feet…
「……Gulp」
And they made strange mannerisms in a depressed state, taking out a chopping board…
「Bodies fresh for chopping～」
And they pretended to cook themselves, but Hiroshi had already said that he’d go around various areas of the village and make some takoyaki after he finished some tasks the next day, so the elves all behaved themselves after that.
「Well that was a roaring success.」
「Sure was, but now I gotta remember to restock on octopus once we get back to Wulls.」
「I don’t think we’ll have a hard time getting permission to set up transportation circles.」
「Yup. Gotta do that first before anythin’ else.」
As they went over what they had to do tomorrow and onward, Hiroshi stabbed bear meat through a big skewer and grilled it like kebab before everyone scraped it off for their food. On further glance, they also had secured their own portions of cubed meat stew and pizza.
「How long do you think it’ll take to set up a transportation circle？」
「Welp, I’d say about two hours.」
「That’s all you need?」
「Although there’s a hell of a lotta mana used in the process.」
He casually answered Archem’s query, biting into the newly added kebab. This particular meal was eaten on special occasions of celebration amongst the elves, and the pretext for eatimg it right now was to celebrate both Archem’s awakening as a priestess and the reconstruction of Aranwen’s temple. It didn’t have any kind of convoluted seasoning on it, but the sauce that was used was made from various fruits and mushroom soup stock, making it incredibly difficult to stop eating.
「Umm, would it be okay if I tagged along with everyone？」
「That’s pretty sudden, y’know……」
Hiroshi looked at the others with a slightly concerned expression after Archem suddenly asked that. No one exactly had any qualms with bringing her along. The real issue was…
「We’re a bit uneasy about walking around with you.」
「We already have a lot of females along with us…」
And that was about it.
「So it isn’t going to work, huh……」
「It isn’t like it’s impossible, but from what we’ve been through up till now, it’s not exactly something we can feel quite right about.」
「Besides, Archem, aren’t you a priestess? You sure it’s okay to just walk around anywhere?」
Archem had a puzzled expression on her face when Makoto asked that question. Was it that bad for a priestess to go walking around? This area actually had very few shamans with concurrent roles as divine protectors and heads of rituals. On top of that, Aranwen was particularly sloppy in that area, not viewing it as necessary to conduct rituals so long as he had offerings. He would still be able to fulfill his role as guardian. This was fairly normal for the gods in this area of the world.
Therefore, in most cases, the term “priestess” only really referred to those whom the gods stand by and watch over, and Archem was one of those examples. Actually, priestesses like Aearis who conducted many ceremonies as ritual leaders were relatively few in this world. Then again, in her case, there was also the fact that she had to strengthen her own authority as both a member of the royal family and as the priestess princess, so it wasn’t a clear cut rule that the priestess of Alfemina was particularly special.
「……I see. So being a priestess doesn’t necessarily have to be directly related to conducting rituals or protecting the realm of the gods.」
「It’s more like Aranwen-sama considers ceremonies and the like to be quite boresome, so I’ve never even done it.」
「Wow……」
Haruna groaned, somehow both understanding this and feeling exasperated at the same time. Based on his mannerisms and personality the other day, it did seem like he would fulfill his duty as a guardian without grumbling as long as you gave him alcohol, but it was still so appalling to hear such a blunt, unrefined, undignified fact.
「I think we shouldn’t just refuse her request to come along with us.」
「What do you really think, Mio？」
「His gynophobia might subside a bit if he adjusts to Archem’s erotic troubles, don’t you think?」
「So we have to deal with Sparta again……」
Puffing her chest out with an *ahem* at an appalled Makoto, Mio continued eating her meal (consisting mainly of dairy and fish) at a brisk pace. The cheese gratin dish seemed to be a success.
「The risk is high in many ways if we just suddenly decide to take her with us. I’m sure that Teres and Nora are also used to adventuring, so maybe after some farming instruction and a month of training in the workshop, the people who are used to adventuring can give the okay and then we meet up？」
「Yup. First we gotta make sure she adjusts to life in the city of Wulls.」
There was no way that the elves living in this closed-off neck of the woods would deal well with suddenly plunging into the cash-based society of the outside world. It would probably be a good idea to first live in a more familiar environment before then adjusting to the human currency used by the largest-scale city in the world. Besides, it wasn’t like Hiroshi’s group was accustomed to travel either, so it was honestly a bit dicey to tell if Archem could really keep up.
On another note, they didn’t dislike Archem. In fact, she was held in fairly high regard. In combat and in other things, she didn’t hold them down in any particular way. It was just that in addition to her ero troubles, she was a country bumpkin who knew far too little of the outside world. If just one of those problems were to go away, the prospects would look a bit better.
However, the biggest reason was probably that her mood fell much too easily. Refusing her just made them feel like villains.
「So what’s the verdict？」
「We’ll hire ya at the workshop, so how ‘bout ya git sum money before preparin’ for any trips?」
「Okay！」
Her face brightening at their decision, Archem nodded without hesitation. Finally able to reach the minimum consensus, everyone was relieved. Although things with Archem would not turn out as anticipated, there was of course no way for Hiroshi or his friends to figure that out.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Ye done talkin’？」
Once they had reached a reasonable decision, a reasonably handsome middle-aged elf cut into their conversation. He looked as if he had been drinking.
「Pretty much. What’s up?」
「Nah, I’m just here cause I heard that girl over there’s good at singin’, eh.」
「Ah, want me to sing something?」
「It’s alright with ye, eh？」
「Of course.」
Responding to the elf’s request, she stood in front of the biggest fire there, which was intended to be a substitute for a stage. Haruna already had an aura that mercilessly sucked in all who were around her, which was all it took to gather the attention of everyone at the venue.
「I got a request, so if it’s all right, I would like to sing several songs from my hometown.」
She told everyone beforehand, starting out with two songs of a solemn, but not quite somber nature. The songs were sung in a melody reminiscent of an Okinawan musical scale, with lyrics like “Smile or cry all you want, but one day flowers will bloom” or “Dear Spring, far away”. You could feel the beauty of the Japanese language in the songs she sang.
Haruna, who had been singing those two songs in acapella, succeeded beyond her wildest expectations at firmly grasping the hearts of the audience. Now, it would have been splendid had she continued on this route, but when it was time for the third song, she suddenly changed the direction of her music. Perhaps it would be best to give her the award of “The Girl Who Betrays Expectations”.
「Hey lady! Sing that one song I like！」
「Kaaay！」
Haruna decided to listen to a request, so for the third song, she began singing a popular song among the forest giants about a woodcutter. However, it turned out to also be well-recepted by the elves, fairies, and goblins, which convinced Haruna to enter into a series of dances while singing slightly modified lyrics.
For example, one song was about someone who hated the countryside and left for Tokyo to raise cattle. Haruna changed vocabulary words like television or cars into more suitable words for this world, much like how she changed Tokyo to Wulls. Her singing resounded through the area as she continued to sing of an apple farmer who called out to his lover to come back. There were also songs about cute grandchildren, passionate female stories about overcoming difficulties, and so on.
「Yer songs’re inferior to them fairy songs, but I gotta admit that them human songs be not too bad.」
「Well, I wouldn’t assume that all human songs are like that if I were you……」
「Nay, don’t misunderstand. Cause no matter what, fairy songs be the best. I ain’t sayin’ dat yer songs be SUPER good.」
「C’mon, you don’t have to act all tsundere about music too……」
Makoto made a grimace at these fairies, who always behaved like stereotypical tsunderes and spoke with heavy accents. These 60 centimeter tall adult fairies flew around with fairy wings (no better word to describe it really) and hummed the ballads, only to turn red and begin speaking in a thick tsundere accent whenever someone spotted them, hiding their embarrassment. Honestly, even though she knew full well by now what kind of race they were, she did not know how to react to that sight.
However, it went without saying that the biggest concern was the fact that an attractive, voluptuous western-looking girl was singing ballads loudly.
「Ah, looks like she shifted routes.」
「But even if she’s no longer singing ballads, it still feels like…y’know……」
Haruna had now begun singing a song from a skit about how fun it is to draw the ghost leg lottery (renowned for being one of the funniest comedy shows). Even though she appeared to be occasionally playing the straight man, it was evident that her role as the fool was more fitting, observed Tatsuya and Makoto. And in that fashion, the lively banquet continued to go on.
「You’re really okay with this？」
「Aye, we are in yer debt. Plus the security be nice and tight, so there won’t be any weird things happening.」
The next day. Receiving permission from the chief, Hiroshi and the others remodeled the shed that had been used to erect the transportation circle, beginning with making sure that it was off-limits to the majority of people. As the chief and Archem widened their eyes at how heavy the security was, Hiroshi got right to burning the transportation circle into the ground, transmitting mana into it and returning to the workshop in Wulls before everyone else.
『Test, test, mic test. Can ya hear me？』
『Test, test. Can you hear us? You’re coming through loud and clear.』
After an hour or so, a transmission had come to them from Hiroshi, who had returned to the workshop. This wasn’t the game world, after all. The distance between Wulls and the border of the elf village was too far for transmissions, which was why Hiroshi had to go to the trouble of making a specialized communication device. Incidentally, Haruna was usually the one to whom these sorts of items were entrusted. It was no understatement that Hiroshi had been with her the longest.
『Loud and clear over here too. I’m all ready to connect over here, but are ya cool with that?』
『Wait a moment, I need to confirm that.』
After Hiroshi had spoken, she began the final confirmation.
「Says he’s ready and just needs to connect. Can we do that now?」
「Wait a sec. I need to check just to make sure.」
Receiving the message from Haruna, Mio checked once more to make sure that everything was ready. Now, it wasn’t like the place would explode or anything if they messed up, but going back and forth between Wulls and Ortem via transportation stone was simply unbearable in every sense of the word. They really just wanted to get this out of the way.
「Kay. No defects in the circle. Mana status favorable.」
「Confirming one more time, is it okay to connect now?」
「Mhm. No problem.」
The chief, supported by Archem and standing upright (which still was quite the feat) kept a serious expression on their face and nodded. Now that the chief had given the ok, Haruna confirmed once more with Hiroshi.
『Says it’s okay to connect.』
『Roger. I’mma connect right away, so git away from there just an itty bit.』
『Kaaay.』
Telling everyone Hiroshi’s directions, she made sure they all stepped a sufficient amount of distance away from the transportation circle, watching as it changed.
After about 15 seconds from contacting Hiroshi, the circle began to shine, and after about 30 seconds, mana was emitted from the six mana crystals that had been set up as an assist system. The ring of light spread out, as if deciding on the range of the transportation, and once it had gotten to a certain point, this time it stretched to the ceiling. After a minute, the string of events had ended, prompting the rising of a symbol-like pattern in the air.
「Seems like the connection’s been established.」
「Wow, I thought it’d take longer.」
Haruna conveyed the feelings of everyone present. But it was perfectly reasonable to be dumbfounded at just how short a period of time it took to make this crucial item.
「This was only possible because of the sheer volume of your mana, Sensei.」
「Ya think？」
「Normally, even setting everything up takes more than an entire day even with three people.」
「Ah, that right……」
Hiroshi was not the type of man who typically used mana for anything other than making things, so you might not think it, but Hiroshi’s mana was greater than even Barold’s, who was able to destroy Wulls at the snap of a finger. The ability point for knowledge wasn’t as high as the attribute for mind, so his attack power was only in the lower percent of the upper class, but when you considered the fact that he couldn’t use anything other than crafting or lifestyle magic, his mana count was absurdly high.
Furthermore, the Knowledge stat in game terms closely resembled the Sense stat. In other words, rather than judging whether one is smart or not so smart or one’s ability to study or lack thereof, it was a stat that determined whether your senses were keen or dull, whether you could comprehend things with intuition or not. If this particular stat was high, then not only would one’s magical attack power rise; various hints would emerge here and there, much like Sense. So the difference between Knowledge and Sense was comparable to the difference between reason and instinct.
「So you can use it now, right?」
「I can.」
「Ah, but wait a moment. Hiroshi-kun says he’s coming back here for a test.」
And just as Haruna finished that sentence, the transportation circle glowed, revealing Hiroshi.
「Alright, looks like that there transportation test’s a big hit.」
「Still, you don’t have to suddenly go through the test yourself. Just throw a small object or something.」
「Nah, that’s a drag. We good like this.」
Immediately brushing aside Makoto’s warning, Hiroshi muttered something in a low voice as he approached the transmitter. Right after that, the transportation circle started glowing again, and this time Teres and Nora appeared.
「Wow, we can actually get from one side to the other……」
「I know I should not be surprised by how quickly the Boss Man works, but still, I feel like the mood has been ruined……」
Upon walking out of the circle, the two of them immediately began saying their rude thoughts as they looked around the perimeter. When the chief and Archem saw just how unappreciative Teres was of being able to finally return, they simply gaped and could not recover. As soon as her eyes met theirs, Teres gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. After an awkward silence, she coughed in order to break said silence and turned to face the chief who she had not seen for two years.
「Well, it has been some time since I last saw you.」
「I-Indeed. I am glad to see that yer alive and well.」
「You too, Archem. Have you gotten better at speaking Farlanish?」
「Well yes, at least to where I don’t sound painful to hear……」
「Mm. Yeah, I can’t hear any accent.」
Teres was the best doctor not only of Ortem, but of the entire elf race. And yet, for some reason, her return felt like something shoddy.
Also, digressing a bit…
「……I sense that Deary has returned to Wulls……」
Riding in a stagecoach bound for Darl, the former assassin’s wild intuition was at work as she murmured that comment. But that is just between us.
