Chapter 30

Chapter 30. "The Dark Elf, the Dwarf, and a Single Rose." 10

"…Please, I beg you, do not say anything."

"A dark elf! Whoa! This cannot be!"

Luna’s plea was utterly ignored by Jeff, who was making a great fuss while staring at her, and Luna, frowning, raised a hand as if to stop him and then pressed it against her forehead instead.

"So you finally came out?"

"It was too noisy outside for me to sleep any longer. More importantly, do something about that human. His jaw is going to fall off."

At her words, I turned my head and saw that Jeff really was standing there with his mouth hanging wide open, pointing at Luna with one finger.

The moment he noticed me looking, he immediately shut his mouth, lowered his hand, strode over to me, stared straight at me, and said,

"There is something I am curious about. Answer me."

"What is it?"

He raised a hand and pointed at Luna.

"Your daughter?"

I could not help letting out a laugh.

Luna, my daughter? What was that supposed to mean? Did he think dark elves were born between humans and elves?

Luna, who was standing beside the table where Miss Narsh sat, was glaring at him with a deeply furrowed brow, while Miss Narsh, seated at the table, was watching all of us with a bright smile.

And when Jeff saw the way everyone was looking at him, along with my laughter, vertical lines formed on his forehead, and he asked again,

"Do not just laugh, tell me. Is it true?"

I was too busy holding back my laughter to answer him, so Luna bared her white teeth and spoke to him instead.

"In what way do I look as though I carry human blood? Though I cannot bring myself to approve of it, I still take pride in the fact that I am a dark elf. How dare you compare me to a weak and cowardly ordinary human like yourself?"

Luna’s cold tone, properly mixed with anger and hatred, had not changed in the slightest.

She had been held captive by humans all this time. The hatred she felt toward them could not possibly vanish overnight.

In any case, instead of getting angry at the words of a dark elf who had known nothing but rejection, Jeff showed a surprisingly interesting reaction. He stared at Luna, who was baring her teeth and hurling insults at him, then gave a crooked grin and said,

"Your face is pretty, but your mouth is rough, little one."

"Little one? You are a human who cannot even live a hundred years, and you dare call me little?"

"I may not live a hundred years, but I am still older than you right now. Little one."

At that, Luna clicked her tongue and turned her head away, and Jeff, smiling slyly, went on.

"I know. Elves and humans are the same when they are children. Both are the same at first, but once they become adults, they begin to change. Once an elf reaches adulthood, the time of the body stops there, and they age slowly until they die. Humans, on the other hand, keep aging at the same pace without anything like that, and before even a hundred years have passed, they turn into bent old geezers and die. The unfortunate thing here is that most people assume that even a young elf is far older than an ordinary human child. And you tried to use that to trick me. Well? Am I wrong?"

Luna did not answer, so Jeff shrugged, looking pleased with himself.

Is he really that delighted to have won against an elf with words?

After glancing back at him once, I spoke to Luna.

"Where is Rene?"

Luna swept her gaze over me once, then lifted a hand and pointed toward the kitchen.

Hmm. Is she preparing breakfast? I nodded to Luna, then said to Jeff, who was standing at the doorway in the rising morning sunlight,

"I will show you to your room. Please follow me."

"Hmm. All right."

He turned and started walking toward us, but halfway there, he glanced at the two golems standing motionless on Narsh’s back side, then halted where he was and spoke to Narsh, who sat before them.

"Miss Narsh? Please guarantee my safety."

Narsh smiled brightly and lifted a hand in a wave.

"Mir, Kali? Do not attack."

"Grrrrrrr...."

At Narsh’s words, the two golems responded with a sound like breathing, quite different from the reaction they had given when Kal had ordered them earlier. Narsh lowered her hand and said to Jeff,

"There. They will not attack."

At that, Jeff let out a small sigh, cast the two golems a pitiful look, then picked up his pack from the table where Narsh sat and said,

"Are you not going to bed? Are you not tired?"

"Ah, I am fine. I do not really have much to do."

"Well, do as you like. In any case, while we are looking for that thing here, you will not have anything to do."

She gave him a bitter smile, and he merely nodded before heading for the stairs to the second floor.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and show me the room."

"Ah, yes."

As I followed him up the staircase to the second floor, Luna’s voice came from behind me.

"Oh, right. Rene said breakfast is ready, so bring Irisa and that boy as well."

"Understood."

I raised a hand toward Luna, who sat at a table in the hall, then walked down the corridor on the second floor, with Jeff following behind me, a pack slung over one hand.

Rene and I had agreed to assign the rooms in order of proximity. Kal would be in the room beside the one where Irisa and the others were staying, so this room ought to be empty.

Thinking that, I opened the fourth door on the right from the stairs, and a neat, tidy vacant room revealed itself.

"This is the room. Rest well, then."

"Ah, thank you. Innkeeper, and around noon, please prepare a meal and four lunchboxes for us."

Four lunchboxes? Are they planning to go somewhere?

I nodded at his words.

"Four lunchboxes. Understood."

He gave a broad grin, stepped inside, and shut the door behind him. I immediately turned around and went to call Irisa and the others.

Hmm. For some reason, it feels as though I have a great many things to do today.

Before I knew it, I had reached the door of the room where Irisa and the others were staying. I cleared my throat lightly and knocked.

Knock knock knock~

I had been planning to simply speak through the door, but after hearing rustling from inside, I waited a moment.

Soon the door opened, and Frid came out and looked up at me. I raised a hand to him and smiled.

Hmm. Come to think of it, the clothes he is wearing suit him rather well.

"Hey. Good morning. Is your mother awake?"

"No. Mother is not up yet. She must have been very tired. She keeps sleeping."

He is completely different from when I first met him. Back then, he looked as though he might devour someone whole.

I bent my knees to look at him and continued,

"Is that so? Then when your mother wakes up, would you like to come down together for breakfast?"

He shook his head.

"No. I want to sleep beside Mother a little longer."

"Is that so? All right. Rest well."

After hearing him out, I smiled and stood back up, then turned to head downstairs alone. Just then, the door of the room next to his flew open, and Kal, still looking drowsy and now changed into comfortable everyday clothes, stepped outside. He looked around, spotted me, rubbed his eyes, and said,

"Huaaam~ Tch, hmm? Ah, Mr. Han? I have a question. Where is the water pitcher?"

"It is on the table. Did you not see it?"

I answered with a smile. Kal turned his head back toward his room and looked at the table.

"Ah, so it was there. My apologies. I did not even really look... Hm?"

He absentmindedly noticed Frid standing before me, and I braced myself for things to grow a little noisy. But contrary to my expectations, Kal suddenly waved a hand and chuckled.

"Oh, dear, I must still be half-asleep. Perhaps because I saw Miss Rene first, this little one’s ears somehow look large to me. Yaaawn~ I am going to sleep a little more, so I will see you at noon."

With that, he shut the door and went back inside. Frid and I stared blankly at each other for a moment, then simply gave each other a small smile and returned to where each of us ought to be.

When I came back down to the hall alone, Rene had just come out of the kitchen. As she wiped the water from her hands on her apron, she said,

"Ah, dear, where are Irisa and Frid?"

"They must have been very tired. They said they are not going to eat."

"Is that so? Then there is nothing for it. We will just have to eat by ourselves."

She turned her head and called out to Luna, who was exchanging words with Narsh in the hall.

"Luna? Breakfast is ready. And Miss Narsh? Would you care to join us? There is quite a lot of food left."

"Would it be all right for me to join you?"

Narsh turned with a smile as she asked, and Rene nodded with a cheerful smile of her own.

"Of course."

After hearing that, Narsh said something to the golems standing behind her, then walked over with Luna toward us.

And then it happened.

"Would you mind sharing some of that breakfast with us as well?"

Everyone turned to look toward the door of the inn.

The owner of the voice was a short, thickset man, and no matter how one looked at him, he seemed exactly like a dwarf.

The dwarf, who had stepped into the hall and was looking around, wore thick travel trousers and long boots, with a leather jacket over them and iron bracers on his arms for protection.

He was not wearing a helmet, and contrary to expectation, he looked very young. If he were a human, perhaps he would have been about the age of a young man.

Since he was a guest who had come to our home, I was just about to greet him first when—

"Uncle Jimant?!"

I turned my head to see Luna staring at the young dwarf in shock. The dwarf, too, recognized Luna and smiled broadly.

"So you were here. I searched the entire country looking for you, you little rascal."

Luna stood there with her lips slightly parted in astonishment, while the dwarf called Jimant looked at her with a wide grin.

He searched for her? All across the country? In any case, Luna and that dwarf clearly seemed to know each other, so I stepped slightly forward and greeted him.

"Ah, welcome. I am Han, the owner of this place. Do you know Luna?"

"Of course I do. Why would I not? I even changed that brat’s diapers now and then. Pahaha!"

Judging by the way he spoke, he truly had a very dwarf-like personality. And though it lasted only an instant, probably only Rene and I noticed Luna’s face flush red.

More importantly, if he had changed Luna’s diapers from time to time, then what was he? A neighbor from where she used to live?

In any case, someone who knew her had come looking for her in person. What ought I to do?

At that moment, Rene approached him and said,

"Please sit down first. It is hardly proper to stand while having such a conversation."

The dwarf called Jimant stared at Rene for a moment, then grinned.

"Ah. You must be Miss Rene, yes? Just as that person said, you truly are very beautiful."

"You know me?"

"Yes, I do. I came here because I knew. Ah, but before that, there is a friend I should introduce. He said he, too, has someone here he is looking for. Hey! You there, come in!"

He came here because he knew? How? How could he possibly know where we are and come all the way here?

While I was lost in those questions, Jimant shouted toward the open doorway. A moment later, an elf man with pure white hair cautiously peeked his head through the open door, then slowly stepped inside.

He looked around, then suddenly bowed once each to Rene and me. After that, he stood quietly, roughly wiped the blood from the sword in his hand with a towel, and then slid it back into its scabbard.

Watching him from the side, the man called Jimant introduced him in a dissatisfied voice.

"I got acquainted with him at that old hag’s place, but up until now he has not said a word besides his own name. Since our destination was the same, we ended up coming here together."

That old hag’s place? Huh?

At Jimant’s words, I looked at Rene with a slightly startled expression. Resting her chin on one hand, she merely nodded as if she understood, then looked at me and said,

"It seems that lady is still in fine health."

I nodded with a somewhat uneasy expression.

So it really was true. She was still alive. What formidable vitality.

Just then, Jimant nudged the chest of the young elf, who had been silently staring at the stairs to the second floor, and said,

"Well? Is that precious thing you said you were searching for here?"

The young elf, who had not spoken for a long while, slowly lifted the corners of his lips and answered,

"...Yes. It is."

He said it while staring at the stairs, and I quietly followed his gaze.

There, in my line of sight, standing barefoot on the second-floor railing landing and wearing the sleepwear Rene had lent her, was Irisa.

She had bared her teeth, narrowed her eyes sharply, and her shoulders were trembling.

Why is she like that? Since when does Irisa know how to make an expression like that?

At that moment, I said something truly foolish.

"Huh?"

And no sooner had the words left my mouth than Irisa came down from the second floor. One step at a time, carefully.

A moment later, after reaching the hall, she walked straight toward the white-haired elf without turning her eyes elsewhere even once, and all of us unconsciously moved aside to make way for her.

Soon she stopped directly in front of him, right at the doorway, glared at his face, and said,

"You are late."

"......"

The white-haired elf did not say a single word and merely looked at her. Perhaps that made her angrier, because Irisa suddenly drew back her fist and punched him square in the face.

SMASH!!

It made an incredible sound, but no cry of pain followed. Irisa’s fist brought a line of red blood to the lips of the male elf, whose beauty rivaled that of a female elf, yet he did not seem to care in the slightest and did not even flinch as he took the blow.

But it seemed Irisa had no intention of stopping there.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

BAM! WHAM! THUD! POW! CRACK!

A variety of sounds rang out, and at the end came the sound of teeth breaking.

Why is this happening?

The man being struck by Irisa staggered backward at the last blow to the jaw and nearly fell, but he planted a leg behind him and straightened himself again.

I cannot understand this.

Seeing that, Irisa’s face twisted with rising fury. She seized him by the collar with one hand and began pounding his face over and over with the other.

Can she really beat up someone who came looking for his family like that?

My face turned pale, and I started to rush forward to stop her, but something caught the collar of my shirt.

I nearly stumbled backward, barely regained my balance, and turned my head. There was Rene, clutching my shirt while watching the two of them. Then she lowered her gaze and said,

"You must not interfere. This is between those two. We cannot involve ourselves."

"What?"