Chapter 17

Chapter 17. "The Difference Between a Child Who Does Not Cry and a Child Who Does."(1)

"My name is...."

A voice so faint it seemed as though it might snap, slightly sharp, and yet carrying the unmistakable trace of a child.

Just as the little dark elf looking up at Exel opened her small mouth to reveal her name, the guard who had been standing quietly and glaring at us cleared his throat and cut into their conversation.

"Ahem! Pardon the interruption while you are speaking."

At that, the child closed her mouth and turned her gaze toward the guard, while Exel turned to him with a slight frown and said,

"What is it?"

"You will need to... pay the price."

As he said, "the price," the guard briefly looked down at the dark elf, who only came up to about his waist, then lifted his head again and bared his teeth as he continued.

Judging by the way he was behaving, there was definitely something going on here.

And to reveal his emotions so openly too. He looked ready to strike if given the chance. Why exactly were these men baring their teeth at us like this? Could it be...?

That was what I was thinking as I watched them from the side.

Exel quietly stared at the guard and the uniformed man with the cold eyes, then placed a hand on the little dark elf's small shoulder.

The child flinched at once, furrowed her brow deeply, and whipped her head away to glare at Exel with those sharp black eyes.

The movement was almost lizard-like, animal-like in its speed and instinctiveness. Exel then smiled as though slightly apologetic and removed his hand from her shoulder.

Lifting both hands to show them, he said to the child,

"I am not going to eat you, so do not be so startled."

Exel could make an expression like that too? That was unexpected. He was usually either expressionless or wore that occasional faint smile.

In any case, after reassuring her like that, he gently nudged the child's back and sent her toward me as he said,

"The dark elves I know hate it when strangers put their hands on them. So be careful. She might even bite."

Bite?

I gave him a dumbfounded smile, then looked down at the dark elf standing before me and looking up at me crookedly.

So she bites anyone who lays a hand on her body? Really now, how could her words and actions match so perfectly? A dark elf who returns what she receives....

I was thinking that as I looked down at the child when, for some reason, the expression on the little dark elf's face began to change slightly.

She parted her lips a little, then looked at me as though I were some amusing toy. Raising her bound hands in their antimagic shackles, she pointed at me and said,

"You.... Are you really human?"

It was the first proper thing she had said. It was only a question, but beside us Exel was standing with his arms folded, watching us as if he were enjoying a spectacle.

Irisa, seated beside me, was looking at the child and me with much the same interest. The guard and the employee standing in front of Exel had widened their eyes in surprise.

Despite all the strange reactions around her, the child paid no attention to any of them. She cared only about the object of her curiosity.

Then she spoke again.

"Strange. Humans do not feel like this. Or did you sleep with an elf or something? Your body is giving off the scent of an elf. Strongly, too. A single night would not make the scent cling to you this much. Ordinary elves kill themselves once they lose their chastity. Was it a dark elf like me?"

Good grief....

No matter that she was a dark elf,

were those really the words of a little girl who looked only thirteen or fourteen?

All around us, people's attention turned toward the child staring up at me.

Exel shrugged with a somewhat awkward look on his face, while the guard and the employee before him stared at the child and me with their mouths hanging open. Irisa, being an elf herself, merely smiled bitterly. Wait a moment. She must have sensed the scent of one of her own kind on me too, so why had she said nothing?

Setting that aside for the moment, I bent one knee and brought my eyes level with the child's. The child took a step back, and I smiled softly at that sight before saying,

"My name is Han Reed Kalmarion."

I stretched out a hand and pointed at the child's chest, then waited a little. After hesitating for a moment, she straightened herself proudly, true to her elven nature, and answered my question.

"My name is Luna Rosemary."

Rosemary? That sounded like the name of a flower.

"Can I call you Luna?"

"As you please, elf hunter."

Elf hunter...? Dear me, had I been marked already? I would have to clear up the misunderstanding before she said anything else.

Beside us, Exel was quietly snickering as he listened to our conversation. Just then, from far away, the man hosting the auction on the platform raised his voice and called out,

"Ahem, everyone. Although those people over there have purchased all the elves this time, next time, in the name of our auction house's pride, we will present all of you with only the finest merchandise...."

...Hm? What was that?

I glanced subtly toward the direction the voice had come from. The auction hall had almost taken on the air of dispersal by then, with people here and there slowly making their way up the stairs to leave.

A few others had gathered around us, sneaking glances at Irisa and Luna while murmuring among themselves.

Some were even listening to the auctioneer while holding slips of paper he had handed out. And when I heard what he had just said, I felt something begin to boil up from deep inside my chest.

They intended to capture those living peaceful lives simply to satisfy human desires?

Though those people had done nothing wrong to humans?

Did they wish to follow in the footsteps of the Kingdom of Aaron, which had been destroyed two hundred years ago for that very reason?

I frowned slightly, pressed a hand to my brow, and shut my eyes firmly. Then I forced down the thing boiling inside me and endured it. After a moment, I felt somewhat calmer, let out a small sigh, and in that same posture continued speaking.

"Little one,"

At once, a voice like the sting of a bee rang at my ear.

"It is Luna. Not little one."

"...Very well, Luna. You said a moment ago that you could smell the scent of an elf on me, did you not?"

I lowered my hand and opened my eyes again as I spoke. Luna, perhaps slightly wary, took another step back and nodded. Keeping that peculiar expressionless face of hers, she looked at me with her black eyes while I said,

"My wife is an elf. So of course her scent would cling to my body. Since the subject has come up, she once said this to me. She told me that she would become my wife, so long as I never made her sad again. Therefore...."

I placed a hand on my knee, rose from my seat, slowly swept my gaze across the auction hall, and finished my sentence.

"If she were ever to see her own kind being traded by humans like this, she would surely be saddened. I promised that I would never make her sad. A promise exists to be kept."

Those words were directed at the two men standing before Exel.

After hearing me, the two men looked once each at my face, then at Irisa and Luna sitting beside me.

Then they lifted their eyes and stared at Exel and me in silence before turning to look at one another. With something close to a smile on their faces, they began speaking.

"I think I am in favor. What about you?"

"The part about his wife being an elf sounds a little hard to believe, but I have heard that elves do not lie. I will believe the child. Though really, her name is Luna? Why did she not say so when we asked?"

"You did not state your own names first, and yet you asked for someone else's."

"What?"

The two men turned their heads and looked down at Luna, whose head barely reached their waists.

But Luna merely glanced at them and kept her mouth shut, saying nothing more. Hm. Was she sparing words? Or simply unwilling to speak? In any case, the two men who had been standing there in a daze looked at each other again, smiled bitterly, and turned back toward us. The one wearing the light leather armor spoke first.

"I am the elder brother, Sharp."

Then the uniformed man with the cold eyes lowered the harshness in his gaze a little and, pointing at the guard standing beside him with one finger, said,

"My younger brother, Ball Pen. By the way, would you mind if I asked what exactly you intend to do now? If your thoughts align with ours, we may be able to help."

Just as I thought, they were on our side. Then all those looks made sense. After hearing their introductions, Exel perched himself on the table, slung the gun blade over his shoulder, swung one leg idly, and said in a casual tone,

"First, we smash this place apart. Second, there are people being held here.... It was Irisa, was it not? Other than you, are there any other elves or other races like yours here?"

Exel broke off midway through speaking and turned to ask the question. Irisa shook her head. Then the uniformed man called Ball Pen, standing before us, answered in a crisp, businesslike tone.

"There are no other nonhuman races left in the Alcantria Auction House. Miss Irisa was captured by one of this place's capture squads last time, but Luna was transferred here from somewhere else. An auction is held once every month, rotating among five cities, and whatever is captured by another auction house's capture squad is sent, for a price, to whichever location is hosting the next auction."

Exel turned his head, narrowed his eyes at Ball Pen, and asked,

"Good. Then how many of these people in total have been brought here, auctioned off, and sold? And can you identify the residences of the wretches who bought them?"

"Across the five auction houses, the total number of these people auctioned off and disposed of is twenty. Of those, around five escaped during transport. The remaining fifteen are being held, for the most part, in various noble estates in the capital of Merses. And as for the locations of those estates...."

He looked as though he were about to continue, but Exel raised a hand and stopped him. When Ball Pen obediently fell silent, Exel turned instead to Ball Pen's elder brother, Sharp, and asked,

"Very well. Then one last question. Why are you trying to help us?"

"If I say it is because we owe this lady a debt, would that suffice?"

Sharp replied, raising a hand to point at Irisa. Irisa looked at them and gave a sweet little smile. Watching that smile, Sharp gave her a slight nod, then stepped in close to us and rapidly whispered in a low voice,

"I will tell you the rest later. But tell me, are you good at running?"

"Why ask that?"

"There are thirty guards here, and twenty men in the capture squads. Fifty opponents in total are waiting for us. If we face them head-on, we will surely be caught. So the best course is to cut down as many as we can and flee as fast as possible. Why are you smiling?"

Exel listened quietly to what he had to say, then smiled faintly, and I understood what he was thinking.

Looking at his smiling profile, I said,

"You intend to confront them head-on?"

"Ah. I have been doing nothing but reading books lately, and I have started to feel as though my body is stiffening up. It has been a while, so I think it is time I stretched myself a little. So then, shall you go first? Or will you stay and play with me for a while?"

"No. They may not be regular troops, but they are still fifty armed men...."

"I know. Still, there are eyes on us, so do not kill them."

"Understood."

Having ignored Sharp's warning and answered Exel instead, I turned to Luna and Irisa standing before me, smiled softly, and said,

"Now then. Let us wait a little before we go. And Luna? Sit down for now. Even an elf's legs will start to ache if she stands too long."

At that, Luna, who had been quietly listening to the conversation between Exel and me, shook her head and walked over to Irisa. Irisa smiled faintly and pointed at her own lap with one finger.

Luna went to her, turned her back, and leaned herself against Irisa's lap. (Rather than sitting, it looked more like she was simply leaning back while standing.) Then she let out a small sigh, and Irisa smiled warmly as she lightly patted her on the shoulder.

"Do you not trust these people?"

"Do you trust the humans who captured you and dragged you here?"

At Luna's words, Irisa smiled gently and nodded.

"Yes. Ordinary elves may not know how to return what they receive the way dark elves do, but we do know how to see the truth. I can see it. Their true selves."

"But how are four people supposed to bring down fifty armed men?!"

That was Sharp, speaking to us with an incredulous look on his face.

Upon hearing him, Irisa gave him a soft smile and said,

"I am an elf who can see the truth. For example, that silver-haired...."

"It is Exel."

I supplied Exel's name for her, and Irisa gave me a little smile in return. Then she looked at Exel, who was watching her in silence, and said,

"Exel?"

"Yes?"

"You are not human."

The two men immediately turned their heads to stare at Exel after hearing those words from Irisa the elf. Exel only shrugged and said,

"So I have been found out. Then can you tell what my true form is as well?"

Irisa smiled softly.

"You are a werewolf, are you not?"

Now both men had widened their eyes so much that disbelief was written plainly across their faces.

Meanwhile, Luna, still sitting on Irisa's lap, merely looked at Exel with a bored expression. If they could not see it with their own eyes, they would not believe it? That was rather human of them.

Exel slowly began looking around. The area had grown somewhat emptier by then. Most of the people had already left, and even the ones who had been sitting at nearby tables had gotten up and started walking toward the stairs leading out. After quietly surveying the surroundings once, Exel spoke to Ball Pen, who was standing there silently.

"If one wished to do business in the market, how would one gather a crowd quickly?"

"If you shout loudly or draw attention with some unusual sight, people naturally gather."

Ball Pen answered Exel's question as though nothing were amiss. At that, Sharp, standing beside them, said with a bewildered expression,

"What are you talking abou... Aah?! What are you doing?! In a moment, the guards and curious onlookers will start gathering here!"

Whether Sharp continued babbling or not, Exel slowly undid the buttons of his shirt one by one, then turned his arms behind him, removed the shirt, folded it carelessly, and placed it on the table.

Then he bent forward slightly, caught hold of the waistband of his trousers, and began undoing his belt. Everyone present except Irisa and me stared at him with wide eyes and dumbfounded expressions.

A short while later, he stood there completely naked before us.

Sharp looked so choked up that he could scarcely get any words out, while Ball Pen beside him stared with his eyes wide open.

Irisa showed no expression at all, but Luna, seated in front of her, had opened her eyes so wide that their usual sharpness seemed almost round as she stared at him. Around us too, passersby stopped in their tracks and looked at his naked body with mouths hanging open.

His body was simply that of an ordinary man. Just because his original body was large, no one had ever declared that the body he wore while under Polymorph had to be large as well. I looked at him for a moment, then said,

"Are you changing back?"

"Yes. If I simply return like this, my clothes will tear. This is the only set I have."

"But there are ladies here too. This is a bit much. Look at them. Everyone is staring at you strangely."

"Is that so?"

With that, he glanced around once, then brought a hand to the necklace hanging around his neck, shut his eyes, and began muttering something under his breath.

A magic item? I was wondering about that necklace, and at the same time found it odd that Irisa's eyes had widened at the sight of it, when the necklace suddenly began to shine. Slowly, yet with startling speed, Exel's naked body was swallowed by the light.

FWAAAAAASH!

After swallowing Exel, the mass of light became large enough to contain a single person, then kept growing until it reached a size of around three mecks.

The people watching could say nothing, and since it was my first time seeing him return to his original form as well, I too merely stood there quietly and watched the sphere of light.

Rather than bright, it would be more accurate to call that three-meck globe of light pure and clear. Within it, a shadow in the shape of a person could be seen, standing with its waist slightly bent.

After a moment, the sphere slowly began to shrink, then suddenly vanished halfway through.

And then a familiar figure emerged.

A silver werewolf standing two mecks and fifty seta tall slowly turned his head toward us and, in a voice slightly deeper than when he was in human form, said,

"...Shall we begin?"