Chapter 32

Chapter 32. "The Dark Elf, the Dwarf, and a Single Rose." 12

Irisa’s group had startled us a little, but in the end, we were still able to eat breakfast.

And here, Jimant astonished us with table manners like a man who had gone hungry for three days, and even drew a small sigh from Luna.

What a terrifying appetite. But Rene happily kept carrying food over to him. Leftover food was difficult to dispose of, after all.

Well, if he ate well, that was something to be grateful for instead. I could not properly enjoy my own meal because I was too busy watching the way his fork flew over the table like the wind, but somehow, we managed to finish breakfast anyway.

Admiring the dishes he had cleaned spotless, I carried them into the kitchen, and Rene came back out holding five teacups, handing one to each of us. Then Jimant, staring at the teacup placed before him, smiled in contentment and said,

"Ah. That was an excellent meal. It was truly delicious."

"I am glad you enjoyed it."

After saying that, Rene came over and sat beside me. Thinking there might still be hope, I turned my head to look at her face, but all I got in return was a frigid glance.

Ugh, honey, I was wrong.... I tried to make an apologetic expression under her gaze, but Rene merely turned her head away from me slowly.

Perhaps our behavior looked odd, because Luna made an amused expression (a face with her mouth slightly open, going "Heh~." It was an expression I rarely saw on Luna.) and said,

"Oh? Did something happen between you two?"

"No, it is just...."

"More importantly, Mr. Jimant. You came looking for Luna?"

"Ah. Yes."

As Rene deliberately changed the subject, Luna narrowed her eyes slightly and began staring at her.

Was it because she had been forcibly redirected just as she was about to hear the answer? But Rene only kept smiling brightly, without showing even the slightest hint of anything else, so Luna merely shrugged, turned her head to look at Jimant, and gave him a questioning glance.

"So, you really came all this way looking for me?"

"Yeah. Damn right. I searched all over Merses trying to find you. From orphanages to taverns, there was nowhere I did not look. Damn it, you are not a hobbit or anything. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through?"

As he said that, he reached over with his large hand and roughly tousled the black hair of Luna, who was sitting beside him. Luna frowned a little and fixed her hair again, but she did not get seriously angry.

"And who asked you to? Do not tell me it was Mother?"

At her words, Jimant scratched at his chin a little, then picked up the teacup in front of him and said,

"No."

At once, Luna’s brow twisted as far as it could.

"That bastard?!"

Jimant looked at Luna with a bitter expression, then drained the contents of his teacup in a single gulp before nodding.

She kept calling him that bastard, that bastard. Just who was she talking about? My guess was that it was Luna’s father.

Apparently I was not wrong, because Jimant suddenly became serious and, staring down at the teacup, said,

"As you know, I once owed that man a debt. So I accepted his request. I had already meant to look for you anyway. It worked out well."

"...How many days?"

It was Luna, glaring down at the table while he spoke, who asked the question. At that, Narsh, who had been listening to our conversation with a thoroughly cowed expression, reflexively opened her mouth.

"Ah, um, well. Today is October 28th...."

"No, that is not what I meant. Uncle Jimant. How many days after that bastard asked you to find me?"

At Luna’s words, Jimant counted on his fingers a few times before answering,

"Three days later."

"Really? He must have been quite anxious for those three days."

Luna said that with the corners of her lips curling upward, and as I watched her face, I could not help but say something. Resting my chin on my clasped hands, I said,

"No matter what, you seem to hate your father too much."

Along with the stares of everyone else, Luna’s head snapped toward me. This feels like talking to a snake. Showing her teeth, which looked even whiter against her dark face, Luna said,

"Shut up. What makes you think you can stick your nose into this?"

"Even if I do not know everything, I still have to say something. He is still the father who gave birth to you, is he not? Humans and elves may think differently, but I do not believe the bond between parent and child is any different. Or is that just my own delusion?"

"That is not a delusion."

It was Rene, who had been sending me cold glances from beside me all this time, but a cutting northern wind seemed woven into her words.

Ugh, why is she siding with me while still being angry at me? In any case, after hearing what I said, Luna grinned and stood up from her seat, then suddenly began taking off her outer clothes.

Luna was wearing nothing more than an ordinary shirt with buttons down the front, and right now she was undoing every single one of them.

What is she doing? By the time that thought crossed my mind, Luna had already pulled off her shirt and tossed it onto the table.

Fortunately, underneath she was still wearing something like a sleeveless undershirt. But she took even that off, held it in one hand, then raised her other hand to point at her chest and said,

"Can you see this?"

"I cannot see anything."

"...Rene? Why do you not move your hand?"

"No."

Damn, I had not expected her to cover my eyes so suddenly. After the two elf girls argued for a while, Rene finally removed her hand from my eyes only after Luna declared that she had no interest in human men, and I let out a small sigh of relief. Seeing how considerate she was being, perhaps some of Rene’s anger had....

"What happened earlier and what is happening now are separate matters. So you are only to look at what is happening now. And let me warn you, if even for a moment you entertain any improper thoughts...."

The words she whispered into my ear after that were not something I could possibly repeat aloud, so let us pass over them.

After saying that, she slowly removed her hand, and I thought I would finally get to see the half-naked body of a dusky little fourteen-year-old girl.

But that expectation(?) collapsed at once. My gaze was caught instead by the large tattoo engraved between Luna’s small breasts. Inside a circular design was the image of a bird. Somehow, it looked exactly like a bird trapped in a cage.

Hmm, I feel like I have seen something similar somewhere before....

I kept staring blankly at Luna’s chest, and then at once I saw her small body being covered by something like a cloak.

"Good grief, what is there to look at on a little girl like that that you have to cover her up?"

Hearing Jimant’s words, I realized that what was draped over Luna’s body was Rene’s apron. And after hearing him, Rene folded her arms and looked at me with a gaze even colder than before as she said,

"That is up to the person doing the looking. And I can understand other people taking an interest in my husband, but I absolutely cannot tolerate him thinking of another woman besides me. So Han must look at me, and only me."

If that is what you are saying, then why are your eyes so cold? Hm? I looked at Rene with all of that in my eyes, but she only stared back at me coldly without showing the slightest other expression. Ah, our bodies are this close, yet a midwinter wind is blowing between us.

"Even so, what were you thinking, throwing your apron at me like that?"

At Luna’s complaint, tugging at the apron that was covering her, Rene’s expression softened instantly, and she smiled sweetly as she said,

"I am sorry. I was afraid Han might start harboring improper thoughts about you, Luna. You can understand how I feel, can you not?"

Improper thoughts....

"...Fine, so stop smiling like that. You are angry underneath, and of all people, I do not want to see that kind of smile from you."

"Is that so? I am sorry."

Rene’s face went blank at once as she answered, and Luna gave a small snort of laughter before picking up the clothes on the table and turning her back to everyone (to me) as she said,

"Rene. You would know, would you not? What kind of spell this is."

"Yes. I do. It is a spell that forcibly allows natural mana to be generated and extinguished within the caster’s body. I do not know its name, but as far as I know, it disappeared because the side effects were too severe...."

"But then what is this thing carved into my chest? This, you see, was a birthday present my dear father engraved into me when I turned five, saying it was to protect my body. But that was a lie. In truth, it was for a simple experiment. To test whether a living being could produce mana from within its own body. So, Han? How do you think a sensitive fourteen-year-old girl felt about a father who treated his own child like a test animal?"

As Luna spoke, still facing away from us while fumbling back into her clothes, I made a bitter face. Then I picked up the teacup from the table and took a sip.

...She got me there.

Setting the teacup back down, I asked one more question.

"So why is your father looking for you now?"

Luna, who had just put her shirt on and was buttoning it up, pointed at her chest with her thumb and said,

"It must be because of this, obviously. He experimented over and over, but the thing implanted in my body finally activated properly. That is why he is looking for me. To copy it exactly as it is.... That bastard."

No matter what anyone said, it did not seem likely to change. It was the pure hatred of a young girl toward her own father.

But there was someone who tried to break a mountain of stone with nothing but a hammer and chisel, and that was Narsh, who had been sitting at the table listening with a gloomy face for quite some time now. Looking at Luna sorrowfully, she said,

"Um, may I say something?"

"Go ahead."

After buttoning up the rest of her shirt and straightening her clothes a little, Luna folded her arms. At her reply, Narsh placed a hand over her chest and spoke.

"No matter what kind of father he is, I still think openly hating the man who brought you into this world is too much.... Ah, um, I am sorry if that offended you."

Luna quietly stared at Narsh, who bowed her head in apology the moment she had said it. Then Luna walked over to her slowly and lifted Narsh’s chin with her hand, raising her face. Pulling it close to her own, she said,

"You said your name was Narsh, right? We only met today, and we have barely exchanged more than a few words. But for some reason, I like you. So I will teach you what kind of child I am."

Narsh, having her chin lifted by such a small child, looked utterly blank, but Luna paid it no mind and kept speaking. And the rest of us sat there quietly and listened to her words. There was nothing else to do, and no excuse we could use to stop her.

"There is something like this in the human world, is there not? When a man who has no partner, or even just for amusement, forces himself on a woman. What do you call it again? Rape? Violation? Whatever the word is, something like that exists, does it not? Is that not right? Hey, Han, do not lower your head. Answer me."

She looked straight at me as she spoke, and I had no choice but to turn my reddened face away from Luna and nod in acknowledgment.

Why do I have to feel like this? I have no interest in any woman besides Rene. And though we had heard the same thing, Jimant and Rene both looked perfectly calm, while Narsh and I were flushed red.

...Damn it.

"Anyway, I have heard that such things exist. But here is an interesting question. What about elves? Do such things happen to them too? Of course, among ordinary elves like Rene, something like that could never happen. Because they are a race with strong pride. If they lose their chastity to someone they do not want, they think of nothing else and kill themselves on the spot. Is that not right, Rene?"

"That is right. They commit suicide."

At that, I looked over at Rene’s face, but once again, all I got in return was a cold stare. If she were not angry, a smile would have flown back at me.

Then that means she really is not bothered by this at all. Well, I suppose she is not exactly an elf. Now Luna’s arrow turned toward Jimant.

"And what about dwarves?"

"Do not ask what you already know, you little crybaby."

Jimant snorted as he spoke, and Luna grinned at him. Hmm, I think this may be the first time I have seen Luna smile. Rene beside me was probably thinking the same thing as she watched Luna.

"Dwarves traditionally marry for political reasons, and both men and women tend to be devoted to one person only, so things like that rarely happen. Now then, everyone, here is the question. Why do you think I told such a filthy and disgusting story? For reference, dark elves occasionally give birth to one or two lunatics. And I will give only Narsh the chance to answer."

Narsh did not answer. She only looked sad.

Luna watched her quietly for a moment, then lowered the hand that had been holding Narsh’s chin and said,

"That is right. I am a child born that way. My mother has not spoken to anyone except me since the shock she suffered back then. Do you understand what that means? It means she cannot take revenge for what was done to her. We have always lived by returning what we receive. My mother received me from that bastard. So now I am going to return myself to him. In my mother’s place. If you have any objections, say them. I will at least listen."

"Come back."

"Do not be ridiculous."