Chapter 44

Chapter 44. "What the Dead Feel Toward the Dying." 4

"Uh, hello there."

"You came back early?"

At my question, Jeff grinned so broadly his mouth nearly split to his ears.

"Ah. We found the thing we were looking for."

Found the thing they were looking for? What an amusing way to put it. Found the thing they were looking for. Beside him, even Kal, who rarely smiled so brightly, spoke up.

"Where is the young lady?"

Mmm... what was I supposed to do about this? Narsh still had not returned. As I hesitated, searching for some suitable excuse, Rene, standing proudly as an elf who did not lie, revealed that side of herself to the world without the slightest hesitation and answered his question.

"Miss Narsh went out for a little walk."

"Ah. A walk. I see."

He sat down with a silly grin, then a moment later sprang to his feet with a deathly pale face and shouted,

"What?! She went for a walk in a forest crawling with monsters?!"

Standing behind him, Jeff turned his head and glanced at Rene and me in turn, then smiled faintly and sat down again at ease. Rene smiled sweetly and said,

"Oh, do not worry. She went with a reliable protector, so nothing will happen to her."

"Even so, outside is teeming with monsters. Even if the young lady wanted to go, you should have stopped her."

Perhaps because Rene was an elf, Kal did not raise his voice in anger, but spoke with a face that looked almost ready to cry.

Rene kept smiling brightly and merely nodded at his words. Just then, Jeff, who had been sitting at the table counting something off on his fingers, smacked his palm and said,

"Oho! Altogether that comes to seven hundred thousand woni."

At those words, Kal made a fearsome face, as though he were about to devour something, lifted his head, turned toward him, and said quietly,

"...What does?"

"What do you mean, what? The total advance payment you gave me for the job. Since we found the item, now all that is left is to let Miss Narsh know... Guhk! Khk!?"

"You bastard! The young lady is missing, and you are sitting there calculating money?! Could you not at least be a little worried, even if this is a matter of business?!"

Kal grabbed Jeff by the throat and shook him violently, venting on him all the frustration he had been unable to direct at the noble elf before him.

A little while later, Jeff finally managed to wrench free from Kal's life-threatening grip, took a moment to catch his breath, and then said,

"Huk! Huff!! You damned old man! Are you trying to kill me?! And they said she went with a protector, did they not?! What is there to worry about?!"

"Silence! What would you know?! That girl is...!!"

Suddenly, Jeff and the rest of us began to doubt our ears. But apparently we had not heard wrong, because Kal himself froze in surprise and shut his mouth. Rubbing his neck a little, Jeff put on a strange grin and slowly spoke.

"...What did you just say?"

"I-I said, be quiet."

He covered it over clumsily like that and turned his head away, while Jeff only continued grinning and said nothing more. Kal gave a small cough, then looked at Rene.

Rene was an elf.

Elves were a race that did not believe in lies, rash actions, or things with poor odds of success. It would not be an exaggeration to call them the greatest masterpiece created by the Three Sisters of Time.

There was a reason people said not to ask why an elf walked the path she did. And Kal knew that as well, which was why he did not grow angry with Rene.

Not only would it have been pointless, it would have been nothing more than blaming his own ignorance. He looked at Rene, let out a sigh, then turned his head and looked at me.

"You could have tried to stop her."

At his words, I gave a bitter smile.

"I do not have the ability to stop her from doing what she wants. I am sorry."

"...I understand. Miss Rene? Which direction did Miss Narsh go? I should go look for her. Mir, Kali? Follow me."

At his words, the Iron Golems standing stiffly by the doorway shifted their bodies slightly. I watched them for a moment, then turned my head and looked silently at Kal, who stood there waiting with a weary face for Rene's answer.

'That girl is...'

Hmm. It sounded as though there was some story there. I glanced at Rene's face beside me. She had, of course, already been looking at me, and after catching the meaning in my gaze, she smiled bitterly and shook her head.

'I do not read people's hearts whenever I please.'

'Ah. Sorry.'

I gave Rene a wry smile, and she smiled back before turning her head and looking at Kal's back. I too turned my head and looked at him from behind.

There was definitely something there.

But it had nothing to do with us.

...Though it did leave me a little curious.

Kal looked down at Jeff, who was sitting there clearing his throat, and said,

"You are coming too. If you do not, there will be no payment, advance or otherwise. I hired you in the young lady's name. You understand what I mean, do you not?"

"...You damned old fossil."

Jeff bared his teeth and got to his feet. Watching him, Rene, who had been quietly standing there, finally raised her head at Kal's question.

"If an elf like Miss Rene allowed it, then it must not be dangerous. Even so, we cannot just sit here and wait for the young lady to come back. We are human, so we cannot imitate the self-restraint of someone like you."

That was true enough. When elves thought, we humans ran around with our feet. That was the difference between us. Hearing him, Rene smiled as if she understood and said,

"Very well. They departed toward the north-northwest. However... they are returning from the south."

The two humans other than me tilted their heads at her words. But when they heard Jimant's voice coming from the roof, they immediately understood what Rene meant and turned their heads toward the door.

"Heeey! Human miss! Are you finally coming back?!"

"Yes! Mr. Jimant!"

Seeing Kal dash outside from beside him, Jeff let out a small laugh and followed behind him at an easy pace. Rene and I each moved to the window and doorway and watched what was happening outside.

The moment he ran out, Kal began looking around in every direction for Narsh, and then he spotted her in the distance, coming toward us with her jacket bundled up against her chest and filled with what looked like berries.

He strode toward her with an expression that mixed relief and anger in equal measure. Then he said,

"Young lady, where exactly did you go...?"

"Kaaal~ I am tired. Please carry this for me."

At her words, every trace of anger vanished from Kal's face. He hurried to her at once and took the makeshift basket of jacket cloth from her arms. Then he stared at it in surprise and said,

"How could you carry something this heavy yourself, young lady!? And where is the person who went with you?!"

At that, Narsh smiled brightly and pointed behind her. Something rustled in the forest, and then Exel emerged, his long silver hair neatly braided, carrying on one shoulder a huge fruit that looked to be five times the size of his head.

What kind of fruit was that?

At that moment, Kal stared blankly between Exel and Narsh standing beside him, and Exel let out a sigh before speaking.

"Humans are creatures of fantasy. When a young man and a young woman take a walk together in the forest, almost everyone imagines the same thing. But middle-aged human, only humans take an interest in humans. Of course, there are exceptions such as the owners of this inn."

He said it with a faint smile, and Rene and I smiled as well. Then we turned and looked at Kal. At Exel's words, Kal was staring at him with a completely dazed expression.

From what I had seen, the human named Kal sometimes exchanged ridiculous conversations with Jeff and was always bickering with him, but that was only because he was doing it on purpose to amuse Narsh. At heart, he was a cool-headed man with a clear sense of judgment.

After listening to Exel, Kal closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a breath before saying,

"You are not human?"

"I am not."

Kal nodded at Exel's answer, glanced briefly at Narsh standing beside him, then looked back up at him as he spoke. (Exel was still descending from a slightly elevated slope.)

"As you said, humans are creatures of fantasy. Then please tell me plainly. Did you... lay a hand on Miss Narsh?"

At those words, Jeff turned his head in clumsy disbelief toward Narsh with an utterly blank face, while Narsh, her own face turning bright red, looked at Kal and immediately lowered her head again.

Kal did not spare Narsh even a glance. He kept his eyes fixed only on Exel, who was walking toward him with that enormous fruit on his shoulder. I stepped over beside Rene and watched them.

At last, Exel drew close, lowered what he had been carrying onto the ground, lifted his head, and looked straight at Kal.

"I heard it from her. She is a young lady who enjoys talking. I heard quite a lot of things, but what stayed with me most was what she said about herself."

At his answer, Kal's face was as cold as his voice when he said,

"And?"

Seeing him like that, Exel smiled faintly and replied,

"I have said this several times today, but I suppose this is the only way your kind can relax. As a proud werewolf, I stake my pride and dignity on this: the thing in your head did not happen. What she wanted from me was merely someone to talk to."

At those words, Kal let out a small sigh. Exel stared blankly at him for a moment, then suddenly burst into snickering laughter. Looking around at all of them in turn, he said,

"Heh heh heh... You humans are amusing. You imagine things all on your own, write the dialogue, decide the actions, and make up entire stories in your tiny little heads that no one ever even said. Then you misunderstand, fight, betray, kill, and get killed. You are a truly interesting race. Puhahaha!"

Kal watched him laughing for a moment, then turned and slowly bowed his head toward Narsh, who stood there blushing furiously and muttering something under her breath.

"Young lady, I deeply apologize for my misunderstanding...."

SMACK!!

A chilling sound rang out.

Jeff, who had been standing some distance away watching the show, gaped at Narsh. Exel stopped laughing and looked on with a bitter smile at Narsh, whose right arm was still stretched out to the side, and at Kal, whose cheek had begun slowly flushing red where she had struck him.

Narsh lowered her hand, then smiled through tears and said,

"That was your punishment."

"...I see. Hm, your arm strength has grown quite impressive, young lady. In any case, how was your walk? It did not seem like there would be much worth seeing around here."

At that, Narsh lifted a hand to wipe her eyes, then upon hearing his words, smiled brightly and lowered it before spinning lightly in place.

"How can you say there is nothing to see? There was so much! Next time let us ask Exel and all go together. This place was completely different from the rumors. There were no monsters at all, and mm... I will tell you everything I saw a little later. Come on, let us go inside."

"...They really made up quickly."

That was Jimant speaking from the roof, where he had been watching the entire exchange in silence, and all of us nodded in agreement.

The young lady who, after hearing something that harsh, settled it with a single slap... and the man who, as if he had already forgotten the whole incident, was now nodding along to her excited chatter....

It was strange.

Something about this felt very strange in my head.

Perhaps because they were so absorbed in their conversation, they did not hear Jimant's remark. Still talking back and forth, they entered the inn, and Rene, smiling faintly, accepted the jacket full of berries from Kal.

"Oh my. There are quite a lot. Did Miss Narsh pick all of these herself?"

"No. Exel picked all of them for me. I only received them."

Exel? Had they already decided to drop formal speech with each other? At Narsh's words, Rene smiled brightly and said,

"It sounds as though it was quite an enjoyable walk. Wait just a moment. I will separate the berries into proper containers and bring them back."

At Rene's words, Narsh smiled radiantly and followed her, saying,

"May I come too? I will help."

"Of course. Come with me."

Rene said it with a smile in her eyes, and Narsh followed behind her with a bright, beaming face.

This felt exactly like an older sister and younger sister, did it not? What exactly had Exel said to her? Kal, who was standing beside me, must have been thinking the same thing, because he watched the two sisters(?) go into the kitchen, then turned his head and looked at Exel, who was now approaching with Jeff while carrying the fruit they had left outside.

"Mr. Han?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know that man?"

"Yes. He is a friend."

At my answer, Kal turned to me with a face that suggested he had just seen something very interesting and said,

"A friend? No, before that... is he truly a werewolf?"

He lowered his voice halfway through the question, and I smiled faintly and nodded. Kal made an odd face, as though he wanted to say something more, but closed his mouth the moment Exel came in.

Seeing his expression, Exel let out a small laugh and turned his head away. Watching his hair swing as he turned, I asked,

"Did Miss Narsh braid it for you?"

He lifted a hand to his braided hair and said,

"Ah, yes. I told her there was no need, but she insisted. That aside, where did that little brat go?"

"Upstairs."

At that, he nodded, then spotted Jeff coming in behind him, still muttering complaints about the strange way those two had reconciled, and handed him the fruit he was carrying.

"I will go bring her down. Hey, human. Hold this for me."

"My name is Jeff."

"Is that so? Mine is Exel."

With that, he started toward the stairs. I turned after him and asked,

"Do you know which room it is?"

At that, he tapped his nose lightly with a finger, turned his head back, and went up the stairs. I watched his retreating figure, then looked at Jeff as he set the fruit down on the table and asked,

"What is that? I have seen plenty of things in this place, but I have never seen fruit like that."

At my question, Jeff smiled and tapped the fruit. It was round, with long black stripes across a green surface, and it looked fairly hard.

"There is a huge plant-type monster in this forest called Big Flower. This is its fruit. It looks ordinary enough, but the flesh inside is extremely soft and quite delicious. And besides...."

At that, Kal tilted his head.

"And besides?"

Jeff grinned.

"It is very good for virility."

At those words, Kal looked at it with interest, and Jeff, excited now, continued,

"Outside this place, people will pay whatever you ask for it. It is hard to obtain, after all, since it comes from a monster. That aside, bringing back something like this... that man really is skilled."

Jeff said that while looking toward Exel, who was disappearing into the second-floor corridor. Beside him, Kal merely looked at the fruit as though it were just a somewhat oversized piece of produce.

But I looked at it rather differently.

...I could not help it.

A little while later, Exel, Luna, and Jimant came down from the second floor. The moment he descended, Jimant looked at the fruit on the floor and broke into a broad grin.

"Oho~ What is this?! That is Karma's fruit, is it not?"

"Karma?"

That question came from Narsh, who was just then coming out with Rene, carrying a large basket filled with the berries they had gathered. Exel, turning toward them so that his braided hair swayed, answered her curiosity.

"It is the night god from dwarven mythology. You need not know any more than that."

At his words, Narsh tilted her head, puzzled, but soon made an unconcerned expression and came over to us. Jeff carried the fruit over and placed it on the table nearest the kitchen, and Exel took the dagger Narsh handed him and split the fruit cleanly in two.

Unlike its outer appearance, the inside was red.

As I stood there looking at it, Exel, grinning, cut off a piece and held it out to me.

"I brought it back because it made me think of Miss Tarsis and you. Try it."

Except for Narsh and Luna, who had no idea what was going on, everyone else's gaze gathered on us.

At that, Rene proved she was an elf with her faint smile, and I proved I was human by accepting the piece of fruit from Exel with a reddened face.