Chapter 101:
The Elven Village
“YEAH, THOSE YOUNG…er, rather, young-looking—elf women who were living with the humans seem to have returned to their village. To make ‘a regularly scheduled report,’ or so they claimed…”
“Claimed? So then, was there actually some other reason?”
It was only natural that the guild master’s wording raised some suspicion, and of course, it was earnest Mavis who had to ask.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Apparently, the real reason they’re going back is for ‘matchmaking.’”
The members of the Crimson Vow were silent. And then…
“The Elven Bride?” Mile retorted.
“They’re all still single!” the guild master replied firmly. Clearly, all the time he had spent around the Crimson Vow had taught him not to blink an eye at Mile’s strange remarks.
Still, to think that such a family-unfriendly series had been part of Misato’s parents’ collection…
“Anyway, there aren’t many elves that live in human settlements. Even fewer are young, unmarried women. As I’m sure you all know, elves, who are long-lived, good-natured, and conscientious, are deeply esteemed by humans as one of our fellow humanoid races, along with dwarves. If anything were to happen to them while traveling through human lands, it would cause quite the kerfuffle. Do you see what I’m getting at?”
Nod nod nod.
“In that case, please accept this request,” said the guild master with a stern look that suggested they were in no position to refuse. It was not that he meant them any malice; he was most likely just desperate, considering how poorly things might go if they turned the job down.
“Um, so were you the one who recommended us for this request, sir?” Mile asked, her tone innocent.
It would have been one thing if they were A- or S-ranks, but no matter how much of a name they had made for themselves, the Crimson Vow were still a C-rank party. It was unlikely that anyone from another town would have heard of them, and even less likely that they should have a reputation among the elves. It was logical, then, to assume that it would have been the guild master who had made the recommendation. However…
“No. This came from the requesters themselves. Why should a mere guild master like myself interfere in a matter of this import? I’m no lord or king, and I would hate to think I was to blame for anything unfortunate that might happen…”
By which the guild master clearly meant that he wasn’t about to take responsibility for anything that might happen to the elves on his watch.
“Ah.”
The guild master was not at all a bad person, but that was the sort of fellow he was.
***
On the way home from the guildhall…
“Wow! To think that we’ve made a name for ourselves even among the elves…”
“It’s amazing! If we keep building our reputation like this, then when I finally establish my own mercantile firm—”
“Being known among the elves would certainly help me in becoming a knight! This is wonderful!”
Reina, Pauline, and Mavis were overjoyed to hear that some elves had requested their services. They were happy to accept the job…completely ignoring the dubious tilt of Mile’s head throughout this conversation.
Why would elves be asking for us? The only elves who know about us are those young—or rather, ‘young for elves’—ladies… Oh!
Suddenly, she had a hunch. Perhaps a bit too strong of one…
***
“We’ll be your employers!”
“It’s them!”
Indeed, the elves to show up at the meeting place on the first day of the Crimson Vow’s new job were none other than…
A certain familiar elven girl, who appeared to be around the same age as Reina—the same elf who had been present when the Vow had made first contact with the elder dragons.
“Dr. Clairia. And…”
“Aetelou and Sharalir. It’s been a while.”
Of course, these two other elven maidens, who appeared to be in their twenties, also looked familiar—they were the academic researchers the members of the Crimson Vow had escorted as they collected plants in the forest.
“I knew it…” Mile muttered.
After all, there were no other elves with whom the Crimson Vow were acquainted.
“I thought the two of you weren’t on the best of terms with Dr. Clairia, though,” Mile commented. “Why did you come all the way over here to collect her, instead of leaving directly from the country you were staying in?”
The elves offered no reply to this question. As Mile stared at them curiously, Pauline tugged gently on her sleeve, whispering in her ear.
“It’s probably so they can save on money. Hiring guards doesn’t come cheap…”
“Oh!”
Indeed, two half-gold a day per person, with four people, came out to eight gold a day. Ten days’ travel would make that eighty. In terms of modern Japanese money, that would be around 800,000 yen. Add in the cost of the cart and a driver they’d need to hire… For a group of academics, that was by no means chump change. It only made sense that they might be willing to swallow their pride in order to cut costs a bit.
With their sharp senses of hearing, the three elven ladies easily overheard Pauline’s whisper. However, Reina ignored their mortified grumbles and simply started walking.
“Let’s get going! We can talk while we walk.”
True, just standing and talking was lost time—not worth anyone’s money. It would perhaps be better for their purses to get a move on…
***
At the stables, the party boarded the carriage they had reserved: a two-horse cart and the driver to go along with it—hired, naturally, at the elves’ expense. They would ride until a short distance from the elven village and then walk the last leg of their journey.
It was not as though the location of the village needed to be kept a secret, but the elves were not too fond of other races trampling through their forests, and the woods were unlikely to feature any roads passable by cart. It went without saying that any hunting or gathering near the village would be prohibited.
“So basically: There’s no prohibition on us leaving the village and living among humans, but the elders don’t think it proper, so they will make a fuss. In addition, there are restrictions: We’re only allowed to leave if we agree to report back to the village after a certain amount of time in order to meet up with suitors. The problem is that there are way fewer people living in our villages than in human towns, so we already know all of the guys who live around us!”
Dr. Clairia’s manner had changed considerably since the last time that they had seen her. Now, as they rode in the carriage, she chattered like a schoolgirl, explaining the details of their homecoming. Previously, her position had been that of a researcher, a professional doing a job she had accepted. Now, she was merely a girl who had hired them to guard her, which allowed her to be much more relaxed. Still, the Crimson Vow, having some sense of the professor’s true age, felt a bit awkward at hearing her speak in such a youthful manner. It wasn’t at odds with her appearance, at least. But her appearance was already misleading enough…
“It really is a hassle. I have to report on the results of my research, and convince the elders that I’ve been living properly, and soothe my father’s fears…” Clairia said.
As she spoke, she was looking rather intently at Mile.
In fact, the other two elves’ eyes were sparkling with a certain something as well.
Aha! It all made sense now. Something told them that they knew exactly why they specifically had been hired for this job. Yes, it wasn’t just about the money. There was another reason that three women who did not necessarily get along would all be traveling together… When it came to this job, they had probably made it very clear to the guild that they would not take no for an answer.
“It is important to reassure your father!” Mile crowed. It was truly astounding to see how someone so intelligent could simultaneously be so oblivious…
***
“Let’s go!” shouted Mavis.
“All right!” replied the other three members of the Crimson Vow. The elves nodded.
In a town near the village, they had left the driver with a deposit and an agreement to wait until their return. To get paid to do nothing at all was a pretty sweet gig, honestly. Alas, it was all too likely he would end up blowing most of his wages at the local pubs and gambling halls…
From here on out, the girls were hoofing it. All of the elves were aware of Mile’s storage magic (read: inventory). And so, they had happily packed their luggage heavy with souvenirs to bring back home, unconcerned with the weight, volume, or fragility of those items. The elves, who lived in harmony with nature, typically had little means of income, earning coin only when they occasionally sold valuable herbs or furs to human settlements. As such, they always looked forward to the souvenirs brought back by those of their number who lived with humans. And as the last leg of the journey had to be made on foot, elves typically could not bring much back…
“Hee hee! They’re going to be so surprised,” Clairia chimed.
“Won’t they? They’re going to be happy to see so much human booze and ironware—the stuff that’s normally too heavy to bring back,” Sharalir replied, also in good spirits. In spite of their earlier grumbling, they all seemed pleased to be going back home.
Not wanting to pass up the chance to make use of Mile’s storage, they had purchased as much as they could. They weren’t going to let a single square inch of that capacity go to waste. Indeed, they had far, far more than one would ever logically purchase…
Of course, this made it crystal clear how totally absurd Mile’s storage was, but there was no one who seemed too concerned about that at this point.
***
Not long after they had entered the forest, what had started out as a narrow road dwindled into little more than a path made by animals. Further along still, they found themselves quite literally blazing their own trail.
As already noted, the village’s location was not secret; however, the elves had taken other steps to deter any unwanted guests. The path was intentionally tricky, twisting to give the illusion that one was walking in circles. The faint trail was full of pointless forks and even seemed to vanish entirely in some places.
That really does seem like they are concealing the village… the members of the Crimson Vow thought, but the elves insisted this was not the case. According to them, if the elders really wanted to hide the village, they would put up an illusory barrier or surround the area with flying spears or pit traps.
“Naturally, the spears would also be covered in poison, and there would be spears at the bottom of the pit traps as well.”
“That’s terrifying!!”
Were humans ever to try something like this, local travelers or hunters might wander in and get caught in these traps, which would be a huge problem. Apparently, the elves had no such concerns. This area, while technically part of a human kingdom, was, for all practical purposes, under the elves’ jurisdiction. Indeed, their territory was even recognized as self-governing. Therefore, the elves were free to dispatch invaders however they chose.
That said, as they were on friendly terms with the humans, there were a number of ways in which the elves might restrain themselves—however, these were merely a matter of self-discipline, not actual prohibitions mandated by a particular power.
“Except under unusual circumstances, we don’t typically bring non-elves into the village. Since you all are with us, you should be fine. We sent a letter ahead of time to get permission, too.”
They had left this letter with the guild, where an elf was dispatched every now and then to check for messages.
“Um?”
Mile paused, her face suggesting a sudden cause for concern.
“So, um, does that mean that you don’t usually bring an escort with you?”
Silence fell on the scene. The elves suddenly looked guilty, and the other members of the Crimson Vow appeared surprised at Mile’s revelation. Now that they stopped to think about it, the costs incurred by hiring a carriage and escort every time an elf traveled back to their village would be immense. Thus, the normal course of action would have to be to take a shared carriage as far as the nearest town and then travel the rest of the way on their own. The guard contingent for the initial carriage ride would be provided by the carriage company. Naturally, the passengers’ ticket costs helped to cover this, but it was far cheaper than hiring one’s own guard and transport… In other words, the current situation—in which the elves had hired the Crimson Vow to accompany them—must be entirely atypical.
“So then, why…?” Mile started suspiciously.
Sharalir had a ready reply. “We put out this job request because we wanted to invite you all to our village! You were a great help to us when we were doing our research in the forest!”
“That’s right!” Aetelou chimed. “It seemed that you were pretty interested in elves, so we thought we’d pay you back.”
“You saved me from those beastmen, too!” Clairia added. “I wanted to introduce you to my father.”
“Huh…” The other members of the Crimson Vow exchanged glances, even as Mile’s face lit up.
“R-really?! Thank you! I have always wanted to see an elven village!”
Called it! the group thought as one.
And thus, in accordance with the plan that now everyone except Mile was aware of, the party continued on toward the elven village.
“So, roughly how many people—er, elves live in your village?”
“Watch your language! Elves and dwarves are humanoids, too. We’re all ‘people’! You don’t have to count us separately. It’s not like, ‘one little elfling, two little elflings’ or something ridiculous like that!”
Dr. Clairia was outraged. The other two elves merely grimaced.
“S-sorry… Anyway, the population…?”
“That’s classified!” Clairia snapped.
“Huh?” Mile was dumbfounded.
Aetelou stepped in, explaining, “Keeping numbers private is an important factor in our security. Since we live in the middle of an area settled by humans, we can’t hide ourselves entirely, but hiding our true numbers gives us an advantage over attackers and invaders. Besides, while we do have an established village, many of our number live scattered throughout the forests as well.”
“Ah, I see…”
Really, it was unthinkable that anyone—be they bandit or lord—should want to lay their hands upon the elves. Many elves were incredibly skilled at magic, and all knew a great deal about the forest. They had slow metabolisms, which meant they could subsist on little food. Plus, they were prideful, protective of the trees, and fiercely loyal to their compatriots. If anyone were to make enemies of such folk, they would be annihilated the moment they crossed the tree line into the forest.
Furthermore, elves were esteemed by humans—admired by royalty, nobles, and many other influential figures for their intellect and beauty. There were even humans who maintained friendships with them—or even shared blood through mixed marriages.
Honestly, it was odd that such powerful, highly esteemed folk would be so cautious.
Well, Mile rationalized, if a human dies, they lose only a few decades. If an elf dies, it might be a loss of centuries. Of course they’d be careful! That’s far too much life to lose out on.
Despite this theory, however, elder elves, like humans, tended to be more prudent than youths. Yet their attitudes toward humans tended to be the same regardless of age. From the majority of elves’ perspectives, even a middle-aged human was only a youngster, a child even. Except for in exceptional circumstances, elves were always kind, courteous, and conscientious toward humans. Perhaps it was because they felt a bit like grandparents doting on babies…
“Wisdom really does come with age,” Mile muttered.
***
The group had walked the whole day through, and now it was evening.
“We’re here. This is our home settlement. There are several other communities nearby, which all together make up what people refer to as the elven village. Our settlement is the centermost of all of them, where village-wide conferences and festivals are held. Except for big events when everyone is gathered together, there usually aren’t that many people there, but most of the Council of Sages, who govern the village as a whole, live here. Plus, we have a general store. I suppose we would count as something closer to a town, if you think in terms of it being central to others around in the countryside. Though this is a little different from what humans would consider the countryside,” Aetelou finished.
Before the Crimson Vow stood a seemingly random arrangement of dozens of one-story wooden houses. Of course, these were not wooden houses in the way that normal humans would likely imagine them but far more naturalistic. Some were reminiscent of log cabins, made of logs with squared off pegs; some had an exterior made partly of standing trees, as though the living trunks had been utilized right where they stood; and some were even tree houses, perched up on large branches. It was a village that dwelled in harmony with nature, not fighting against it, the structures designed to ward against the wind and rain but not necessarily change any essential quality of the landscape.
“So this is an elven village…” Mavis murmured.
“It’s amazing,” Pauline sighed. “It blends right into the scenery.”
“It’s just like I imagined,” Reina chimed.
“Whoa…” Mile was awestruck.
As humans were rarely invited to this place, they knew little of how the elves lived. It was no surprise that the Crimson Vow would be so moved.
“Home again—to this podunk, backwater, nothing of a village.”
“How the hell could anyone ever spend their life in as boring a place as this?!”
“It’s so much more fun living in human towns! I need to make a big breakthrough, build a mansion, and invite my father to come live with me!”
The elves, meanwhile, didn’t hold back their feelings, somewhat spoiling the mood…
There were no guards at the entrance to the settlement—indeed, one could walk right in. Was that not, Mile inquired, a bit dangerous, considering that they lived in the middle of the forest? But Aetelou explained that, even though the humans might now see them, the elves had protections against monsters and wild animals. Whether this meant that there were lookouts, or that they had some sort of detection magic in place, she did not reveal. It made sense to keep such details confidential. The more outsiders knew about a security system, the less effective it became. Only an idiot would blab about such a thing.
As the group entered the village…
“Oh! If it isn’t our dear little Clairia! And Aetelou and Sharalir as well! I suppose it is about that time, huh?” said a passerby who looked to be in his twenties. He greeted the three with a smile. Apparently the ladies’ scheduled return was a matter of common knowledge.
In point of fact, this man only looked to be in his twenties in the eyes of the Crimson Vow; in reality, he was at least older than Dr. Clairia, so who knew about his true age…
“So, those are the kids?” he asked, suddenly very interested in Mile and company.
“What exactly is he referring to?” Reina asked suspiciously.
“Did you send some word about us beforehand?” Pauline asked.
“That’s a violation of hunters’ etiquette, you know,” said Mavis. All three cast dubious gazes—glares, really—at the elves.
It would seem that information about the Crimson Vow had been circulating before they had even accepted the job—and that was a clear breach of the hunters’ code, an act that would typically be considered ‘entrapment,’ resulting in a breach of contract on the client’s part and earning them the enmity of the guild.
The members of the Crimson Vow all looked to one another, aghast, and immediately retreated from the elves. Reina and Pauline thrust their right hands, holding their staves, out in front of them, and Mavis put her hand on the scabbard of her sword. Everyone except Mile had already been convinced that this escort job was just a pretense, but they had never assumed that their employers would stoop so low as to send information ahead about them—outside of the simple fact that they would be traveling with a guard contingent at all. At this point, it was fair to assume that the elves intended to mobilize the village to capture Mile and demand the details of her unique magic and abilities (read: family secrets). By no means did the Vow intend to launch a sudden assault against the elves, but they must be fully on guard, under the circumstances.
“Wah!” the elves cried, suddenly realizing their error.
“L-L-L-L-Listen, you’ve got it all wrong! We’re not scheming anything weird!”
“Th-th-th-th-that’s right! We elves are a proud people. We would never deceive you humans!”
“This is a m-m-misunderstanding!”
They desperately made excuses, as though having realized exactly why it was that the members of the Crimson Vow had retreated so quickly. So as not to put the girls further on guard, they shooed the man away and frantically attempted to explain.
According to their explanation, they had previously written to the village elders (apparently as part of their regularly scheduled communication) about the fact that there was a pureblooded human who had senses as keen as an elf’s, possessed immense magical power, and furthermore could use unusual spells. Additionally, at some point all three of them, when stumped for things to include in their regular reports, had written more about this same set of circumstances. After all of this, a reply from the elders had arrived—directing them to bring this person with them next time they returned to the settlement.
Really, they said, they were not scheming anything, the trio explained, heads bowed. They merely wished to have the Crimson Vow meet with the village elders.
“So that’s why all three of you are traveling together despite not getting along,” said Pauline, exasperated.
“I suspected as much…” Reina agreed. And as for Mile…
“So what you’re saying is that you all essentially pretended to hire us so that you could abduct us? And that you don’t even have any idea what it was that the elders were thinking when they told you to bring me here? And that it’s not even out of the question to imagine that we might be captured and forced to divulge our secrets?”
“No!” Aetelou protested. “We elves would never do such a thing!”
“But you did deceive us by hiring us as guards!”
“Uh…”
Mile was having none of this. Though she was generally a kind and magnanimous person, this applied only when she knew the other party harbored her no ill will. She had no cares for the civil liberties of bandits. Moreover, she would never put either her allies or innocent civilians into danger. This was a sense of justice that had been carried over from her days as Misato.
“It’s a violation of guild rules,” Reina agreed. “You’ve deceived hunters with a false job and led us to your allies. That’s a betrayal of both us as hunters and of the Hunters’ Guild, through which you placed the job in the first place. All of which amounts, basically, to a declaration of war. Regardless of how esteemed you elves might normally be, this won’t go over well. The Crown or someone might try to smooth things over peacefully, but the Hunters’ Guild won’t overlook this. At best, they’ll refuse to accept any further requests from you or your clan. At worst, every merchant that does business with this place and their acquaintances might start denying you as well.”
“Wha…?”
The elves were gobsmacked at Reina’s assertion. If such a thing were to happen, the elves would never be able to go shopping in a human town again. Reina told the truth: It would not be a shock if they were barred from all business, whether buying sundries from variety shops all the way up to larger transactions… No one would risk making an enemy of the Hunters’ Guild over a few paltry sales to some elves, after all. Losing their business would be but a trifle for those who upheld the rules.
Just because the elves lived almost fully self-sufficiently out in the forest did not mean that they did not sometimes purchase things from humans. Indeed, it was still preferable to use metal tools for farming and hunting, and there were other human innovations they had grown accustomed to, which they would be loath to give up. Plus, sometimes things broke, or they desired new things. And other times, they wished to obtain rare foodstuffs and spices.
In other words, having their ties with the merchants in town severed would be quite the problem for the elves.
All three were silent. They had never expected things to get to this point. So then, how was it that the three of them, who were all of an advanced-enough age that they could not possibly be unaware of the rules of hunters—how could they have been so naive about this?
The members of the Crimson Vow, frankly, were stunned. They had had a hunch that this job was a pretense to bring Mile to the village, but they had assumed this was nothing more than a scheme on the part of these three ladies, who hoped to butter Mile up and get her to tell them more about herself. That alone would not have been so terrible. Mile might have chosen to reward them with a bit of information that she deemed it safe to divulge, and they could have put the whole thing behind them. And if the other members of the Vow thought she was going too far, they could have spoken up and stopped her.
However, this was a scheme on the whole village’s part, the plans for which had been laid in advance. Bringing Mile here had not been solely the intention of this trio but a plan by the head of the village… Well, that was another matter entirely.
This was a trap.
The elves were backed into a corner and lost for words. The members of the Crimson Vow returned only their own stoic silence. Everyone was frozen in place just within the village gates, until…
“Anyway,” said Mile, “no point in standing around talking. Why don’t we go rest our feet somewhere?”
Being that she was the star of this production—or rather, the chief victim—and thus had the greatest cause for complaint, the others could only agree.
***
“WE’RE SORRY!!!”
They were in the home of the village elder, where, in front of three other elves, the three ladies prostrated themselves before the Crimson Vow and begged their forgiveness. Realizing that there really had been no malice intended, the members of the Crimson Vow had sheathed their weapons. However, the ladies now owed them a great debt, one which might prove a useful weapon should the three of them ever get carried away again.
Currently, the only ones present in the building were the Crimson Vow; Dr. Clairia, Aetelou, and Sharalir; and three other elves. One of these was the village leader, the head of this household. The other two were a wizened elf the chief referred to as “elder” and a man who looked to be around thirty, who seemed like he would be capable in battle. This man was likely the elder’s personal guard. Of course, the Crimson Vow reminded themselves, despite the fact that both the guard and the chief looked about thirty, their elven nature meant both had to be far older than they appeared.
Elves could see in each other the more subtle effects of aging, but to a human’s evaluation, elves appeared youthful for a very long time. Although both the guard and the chief appeared to the Crimson Vow to be around the same age, there might in fact be a large gap between them in terms of years. Additionally, the elder, who did appear old, must have actually been quite aged indeed. He had surpassed his lengthy years of youth and was now aging, albeit somewhat slower than a human would, which meant that he was approaching the end of his natural life span. After all, it would be odd for someone to be called an elder when they still looked young.
“Gosh, we really are sorry! All I said was for them to bring the girl we’d heard so much about to visit the village. I’d expected them to properly explain things to you and make an invitation. To think they’d do this…” said the elder, gently jabbing each of the three of them in the back of the head with the staff in his hand.
“Come on. They’re just kids. They don’t know what they’re doing,” said the chief in a conciliatory tone. But the elder was outraged.
“Don’t be foolish! The only ones allowed to make that call are the human children who they’ve wronged! You’re on the criminals’ side; you don’t get to speak for the victims! Don’t act like an idiot child yourself!”
The Crimson Vow had been skeptical of the chief’s argument, but hearing the elder reprimand him, they felt more at ease.
“Well, I mean, it would’ve been annoying if you refused our invitation,” Aetelou sighed. “And you refused us when we invited you to come teach us about your weird magic before…”
Perhaps the members of the Crimson Vow thought, this was something that could be overlooked. Even if they were many times older than the Vow, Dr. Clairia, Aetelou, and Sharalir were apparently still of an age to be treated as children among their fellows. If one were to compare a five-year-old child and a five-year-old wolf, which would you expect to behave more like a juvenile? The three elves were perhaps still only in the first tenth of their life span. In other words, their standing was roughly the same as that of a human of less than ten years old.
Besides, it’s water under the bridge at this point.
Realizing that they truly had no ill will toward her, Mile was inclined to forgive the three.
“On this auspicious day alone, you shall receive my pardon!”
Though they appeared a little taken aback at her grandiose manner of speech, the three elf girls (?) were in no place to question Mile’s words and bowed their heads to the ground in gratitude.
***
“So then, why was it that you wanted to speak with us…?”
Having accepted apologies from both the village chief and the elder along with offerings of herbal tea and some baked sweets, which consisted of a fairly tasty mixture of fruit combined with something like cornmeal, the Crimson Vow finally relaxed enough to strike up a conversation. Even Reina, realizing she was speaking with an elf of some years, managed to maintain a respectful tone.
Normally, she was purposefully brusque in her phrasing so that no one would look down upon her simply because she was a young lady. However, she was perfectly capable of proper speech. After all, she had helped her father out with his sales affairs before her time as a hunter.
For an elf to appear so aged in terms of human years, they would have to be extremely old—which made it almost as though they were speaking with an ancestor from tens of generations prior—someone nearly on the level of a god. There was no way one could possibly be rude to such a person.
“Yes, well, about that… Just a moment.”
Sniff, sniff.
“Huh?”
Mile was taken aback as the elder suddenly thrust his face in her direction, sniffing the air.
“Hm, yes, it is just as Clairia wrote. Young lady, tell me about your lineage.”
Mile was startled at the question.
“Do I stink?! Wait, do I really have elf stink?!?!”
“Now, just a minute!!!” the three elf maidens raged, incensed at Mile’s wording.
“You three simmer down!” Reina screamed, picking up the slack for the chief and elder, who were hesitant to intercede on what seemed a very delicate, feminine matter.
Meanwhile, Mavis simply muttered, “This conversation is going nowhere…”
“…So, anyway, given that we were the main branch of a noble line, as far as I’m aware there have not been anything but pure-blooded humans anywhere within the past dozen or so generations,” Mile explained, just as she had to Berdetice before. Dr. Clairia should have been present for that explanation as well, but it would seem that she had not written anything about it in her letters…
“So then, that familial scent of yours… Or—er, no. It’s not quite a scent. More like a presence, or an aura, or something like that. I still sense it,” said the elder. All of the other elves nodded in agreement.
“I mean…”
Mile had suspected for some time that the being that had turned her from Misato into Mile had probably mixed some data from elves and dwarves into the “average” she was composed of, though this was nothing more than baseless conjecture and not a suspicion she would be able to voice. There was little else Mile could say. However…
“But she kind of smells like a dwarf, too, doesn’t she?” said Sharalir.
“Hm, that’s true…”
“Oh, so you all think so, too?”
The others chimed in their agreement one by one. Until…
“Ah!” Mile collapsed on the table.
“This conversation really isn’t going anywhere…” Mavis’s words echoed hollowly.
***
“Ahem! Let’s start over again.”
It was only when Mile took over that the conversation was able to get rolling again. Since she was the subject of the discussion, this was probably the most expedient way to do it.
“First off, I have no elven blood in me. Not within the past dozen-odd generations, at least. The same goes for dwarven blood.”
The elves nodded earnestly. Even they had only sensed something vaguely reminiscent of elf from Mile. They assumed it was nothing more than what would usually be sensed from someone who happened to have been born of unusual lineage, who happened to have elf-like characteristics, or who carried some remaining traces of blood from generations in the distant past. It wasn’t as though she had an actual elven aura.
And so, one of the matters that the elder had been concerned about was settled. Apparently he was worried that there might be some half- or quarter-blood child running around in a human settlement, outside of the purview of the clan he was in charge of. It was natural that he would be concerned about this, as there were certain elven secrets that humans did not know, as well as certain arts that only an elven elder or other sage could bequeath upon the youth and which could not be used in front of humans.
If a human who appeared to be no more than twelve or thirteen was seen running around using incredible spells, other elves might begin to suspect the existence of a magic of eternal youth. This was a mythical spell that had never been proven to exist, either in the distant past or now. But even elves, who lived many, many times longer than humans, would not be uninterested in that sort of magic. In fact, despite their long lives, most of which were spent looking youthful, they might become extremely interested in such magics when they did finally begin to feel the effects of age. (Of course, one could eventually begin to grow bored of such a long life, but that was another matter entirely…)
They might dream, too, of the possibility of finding someone who carried not only this rejuvenating magic but also the blood of the high elves, a legendary race who were said to have existed long ago, back in the time of the gods.
Naturally, there were hardly any elves who would believe that such an individual might actually exist, but that did not mean that there were not those who might be interested enough to cause a fuss over such rumors.
“There’s one more thing, though…”
Indeed, there was one more incredibly enticing matter from the three elves’ reports that had yet to be discussed. Something new and exciting, of the sort that brought a spark to the tedium of the elves’ long lives. A new secret magical art, which they could not deny the possibility of having come out of some other elven clan. Indeed, this was the most crucial reason why the sages and the village elder had invited Mile here.
“That uncommon magic that I showed to Dr. Clairia, Miss Aetelou, and Miss Sharalir…” Mile paused, as the elder, the chief, and the three maidens held their breaths. “That is a family secret!”
“I knew it!!!” cried the three other members of the Crimson Vow, already well aware of how the rest of this exchange would go.
“Of course.”
***
“You have to tell us something!!” the village chief and elder entreated, but Mile was not about to give up her secrets that easily.
“It’s top secret! Are you saying that you elves would be willing to reveal your secrets to a human?” Mile replied.
“W-well, of course not,” the elder stammered.
The three maidens did not seem willing to even broach the topic. Perhaps they hoped that, even if Mile would never agree to tell them anything now, in front of the others, they might be able to speak with her one-on-one later and get her to spill.
Mile withdrew from the chief and the elder, who were growing increasingly insistent. Whether it was because they could not bear the thought of a lowly human possessing a magic that they did not, or simply because they believed that Mile’s secrets were too juicy a tidbit to pass up, the pair couldn’t bear the thought of letting her go without gleaning at least a little bit more information. Of course, Clairia, Aetelou, and Sharalir had all been the same, so perhaps one could not call this development anything but inevitable. Still, that did not mean that Mile had to surrender her secrets—whether they were truly “family secrets” or the far more formidable “(knowledge from) Earth secrets”…
Obviously, they had not hesitated to let her know that they were in a tenuous position with their fellow elven leaders. Not wanting to suddenly surround a young human girl with a whole assembly of sages, it had been decided that the first meeting would consist only of the chief and the elder, but the others would not be pleased to learn how little information had been gleaned in this venture.
But that’s none of my business…
Indeed, that was the elves’ problem, not something for Mile to be concerned about.
Her earlier disgruntlement aside, she was not particularly angry at Clairia, Aetelou, and Sharalir. Though they had all written in their reports that they had encountered an elf-like girl who wielded unknown magics and was incredibly powerful, they apparently had not written explicitly about her storage magic or any specific spells. And so, they had at least not violated the taboo of sharing the secrets of the hunters they had hired. It was a bit of a grey area, but they had just narrowly managed to skirt that transgression…
Had they done so, though, even Mile would not have forgiven them.
Now, it was just a matter of deciding what to do about the elder and the sages, but this did not require any particularly deep thought.
“Are you really going to insist that I tell you my secrets, without you telling me yours? That doesn’t seem like much of an exchange. I guess I’m just going to have to peace out then.”
Indeed, there was nothing to do at this point but to get up and go. Neither the elder nor the chief nor any of the chief’s family had anything to do with the job they had been hired for. The Crimson Vow would leave at once and camp out in the nearby forest until it was time to go back home. Other than a bit of deception, there had been no problems with the job itself, so they would still dutifully escort the elves on their way back.
Of course, even if the Crimson Vow discontinued the job and refused to take on the return trip, they could easily make a petition to the guild to have it marked as a fault on the part of their employers, which would mean that not only would the members of the Crimson Vow not get a strike on their records, but they would also still receive their full pay. However, the thought of making Clairia, Aetelou, and Sharalir travel back home unguarded was a bit unsettling. They decided to see the job through. Ages aside, the three elves still appeared to be young ladies, and all beautiful, so the chances of them being harassed by not just bandits, but many other potential assailants, was higher than usual. If anything were to happen to the trio as a result of the members of the Crimson Vow abandoning their duties, they would regret it deeply.
“Anything” including young men ending up beaten half to death, or beyond all help, by elves who they had mistaken for helpless young maidens…
Ignoring the continued pleas of the chief and the elder, the members of the Crimson Vow departed, the three elf girls following behind. Indeed, they still had places to go, so they could not part ways with the Crimson Vow just yet. First, they had to have Mile drop off all the souvenirs she was carrying for them.
***
“I’m home!” shouted Aetelou, flinging open the door of her own home without so much as a knock.
Beyond the door, in what appeared to be a living room, were three shocked faces: a couple who appeared to be in their thirties and a boy who was presumably her younger brother, seemingly in his mid-teens.
“Oh, Aetelou, you’re back! Are those the girls you mentioned?”
“Yeah…”
It seemed that she had written about the Crimson Vow in her letters to her family as well. However, the members of the Vow had no intention of approaching these strangers. Hoping to be finished with their business as swiftly as possible, Mile dumped Aetelou’s luggage from her inventory right out onto the floor.
“Um, these are all the things that you brought, right?” she confirmed.
“Ah, yes, thank you!”
“Wha…?”
Aetelou’s family’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks at the mountain of wooden crates, pots, cooking knives, preserved foods, and other commodities that had suddenly appeared before them.
“Th-these are…”
They understood, of course, that these were the souvenirs that Aetelou had brought back for them. But what shocked them was the absurd storage capacity that Mile must wield if she had carried all of these items with her. Furthermore, they knew Aetelou would not have been the only one for whom Mile was carrying items. Indeed, they could rightfully assume that she would be carrying just as much for both Sharalir and Clairia. That, however, had nothing to do with the Crimson Vow, so they casually waved to the elves and left Aetelou’s home behind.
The same scene played out at Sharalir’s home, before finally the group came to Dr. Clairia’s abode.
“I’m home!” Clairia exclaimed as she opened the door and burst inside, nuzzling her face into her father’s stomach.
Nuzzle.
Nuzzle.
Nuzzle nuzzle nuzzle…
Thud!
As it appeared that she would be engaged in this performance for quite some time, the members of the Crimson Vow dumped out Clairia’s souvenirs and took their leave. Clairia’s father bowed his head to them apologetically. It seemed as though this happened every time she came back…
***
“So, what do we do now?”
“What shall we do?”
“What’re we gonna do?”
“Hmm…”
The initial plan had been to stick around and study the elven village until it was time to leave—observing how they lived and hearing tales of the distant past from the elders. It wasn’t just Mile—even the other members of the party would have died for the chance to hear stories of events from centuries ago from those who had actually been there to witness them. However, given that the village’s upper brass seemed a little too keen on learning about Mile’s unusual magics, it was probably best not to go around getting too involved or asking any favors. It was not only the elder and the village chief that they needed to be wary of, after all. The other members of this council of sages they had heard about would also most certainly be interested in her.
“I wonder just how low an opinion they have of humans. Trying to make Mile, a stranger who they’ve just now met, give up her family secrets… And not even offering up anything valuable of their own! That’s kind of messed up, isn’t it?” Reina mused.
“It’s probably not because we’re human but because we’re so young. To them, we’re as good as infants. If a human were to see a toddler holding a precious stone, they’d be like, ‘Oh hey, what’s that, let me see it,’ and try to take it, right? That’s kind of what this feels like,” Mavis replied.
“Yeah…” sighed the other three.
At this rate, it was difficult to tell whether there was any actual malice behind the elves’ actions. Even in Mavis’s hypothetical, there existed the likelihood of the child’s gemstone being snatched away for good or of the child being captured and tormented until they revealed where they had picked it up…
“Maybe they really didn’t mean anything by it,” Mile shrugged.
“Yeah. I mean, it doesn’t seem like old elves are particularly greedy or covetous. Though the same can’t be said of those three girls,” Pauline mused.
They did not have a very high opinion of the three elven maidens. Not that they were really ones to talk…
Still, now that they had come all this way, the members of the Crimson Vow decided to at least take a brief tour of the village. They would probably be under high surveillance, given how rarely humans visited, but they could not imagine there would be any issue with them just walking around. Given that they were members of a friendly, allied race—and a group of such young girls—they probably would not be watched all that closely. Still, just in case, Reina popped back in at the chief’s house to get permission. Given their conversation earlier, the atmosphere was a bit tense, but she was clearly convinced that given how things had gone, the chief was in a rather weak bargaining position and she was justified in making a demand or two of them. If the elves had nothing to hide, this was likely not the sort of thing they would risk the displeasure of the Crimson Vow by denying, and indeed, they gave the go-ahead at once.
And so, before the chief could try to resume the prior conversation, the Crimson Vow were gone again.
Mile, Pauline, Reina, and Mavis strolled around the village. Yet, perhaps because the population was so small, there was hardly anyone else walking around, and no signs of children.
“I guess, thinking of the age distribution, there probably wouldn’t actually be that many elves under the age of fourteen…” Mile mused.
For a simple comparison, if one were to take one hundred humans, each of whom had an average life span of around fifty, just under thirty of them would be less than fourteen. Meanwhile, if you took one hundred elves, with an average life span of eight hundred, the number under the age of fourteen would be less than two. Of course, higher death rates of children probably would inflate those statistics somewhat, but it was still not at all outlandish for there to be more than ten times as many young people—fourteen and under, which was considered underage by human standards—among the shorter-lived race.
“Young elves…” Mile began, but before she could finish the thought, the three elven maidens reappeared.
“Oh, there they are! Why’d you all just vanish?! We need to start discussing some countermeasures for the meeting tomorrow!” Dr. Clairia began prattling, as though this was a plan that had been established long beforehand. Aetelou and Sharalir nodded along.
“What?” The members of the Crimson Vow were flummoxed. “What meeting?”
Wait—the elves had been saying something about a meeting during the carriage ride. And also…
“Oh, right, the guild master mentioned that…”
“The matchmaking?”
Why did that have anything to do with them? The members of the Crimson Vow could not understand why they should be involved at all.
“That’s really none of our business, right?” asked Mavis. However…
“You’re our friends! That means you have to help us!”
“We hired you as our bodyguards; it’s your duty to put your lives on the line to protect us!”
“Why do you think we paid all this money for guards we didn’t even need?”
“Wh…?”
Apparently, this had been their real ulterior motive all along. They had not been ordered by the elders so much as leapt upon any chance they could get to receive permission to bring the Crimson Vow along. Which was why they were in no position to interfere with the conversation at the chief’s home…
“All right, let’s find somewhere secluded!” said Clairia, gripping Mile by the hand and tugging her.
“Wh-wha? Whaaa?”
Mile was caught totally off guard. However…
“Whatever,” said Reina, who would typically be annoyed at such a development but now seemed strangely cooperative. “Guess we may as well hear ’em out.”
“That’s true. Seems like they’re kind of in a bind,” Pauline added. “And most importantly…”
“I bet this’ll be hilarious!” Mavis made three.
***
“I see. So they force individuals who run off to live in human settlements into these matchmaking events in order to bring them back home?”
Thanks to a thorough explanation from Dr. Clairia, the Crimson Vow had a grasp on the situation. Aetelou, Sharalir, and even Clairia, who looked to be in her mid-teens, were all now of prime marrying age…a period that, for an elf, would last about 600 years.
Elves, apparently, changed partners many times in their long lives. Having to spend such an interminable length of time with a single partner would eventually grow tiresome, after all. For the most part, it seemed, their separations were not bitter divorces but amicable, mutual partings, which allowed them to carry on as friends afterward. Even if there were tumultuous feelings involved, everyone had plenty of time to grow out of them.
Of course, there were also those who remained with a single partner until one or the other of them passed away, and even those who would refuse to remarry after that partner’s death, but unlike humans, the remaining partner typically had many more years to live, still in peak physical condition, so such examples were rare.
Given their life spans, elves probably differed fundamentally from humans in thinking about such matters, especially when it came to the future of their race. There was no need to rush into marriage, at least for the first two or three hundred years of their lives, anyway…
However, even for elves, who might remarry tens of times in their lives, their first marriage still seemed to be a very significant thing, one that their families, extended relatives, and countless others might step in to have a say about… Thus, long ago, the village elders and the single men who found themselves vexed by the fact that young, unmarried women were leaving for human settlements one after another, had conspired to establish the statute that once young ladies who lived apart from the village came to the age of marriage, they were to return to the village at regularly scheduled intervals, at which point, all the unwed youths of the village and others around would come together to socialize. One got the impression that there were, in fact, many young women who might wish to leave for human lands and many men who were quite conservative in their thinking.
It was in this way that the custom of bringing the unwed together with the unwed was established.
It did make sense, when one thought about it. Without such a rule, the younger men would never stand a chance against their seniors, who had both a wealth of experience and the resources to back it up. Those elders would still be attractive and virile for some centuries to come, so they truly were at no disadvantage. Additionally, the fact that so many elven fathers loved their daughters so deeply meant that young female elves were often drawn to older men, leaving the younger ones in truly dire straits.
“Anyway, every single time you get these bratty guys just hanging around being annoying. They’re a bunch of idiot babies who’ve never set foot outside of the village, who think that they can just do whatever they want all day while their wives take care of the home,” Aetelou spat.
“So you’re saying that even in elven society there’s a trend toward chauvinism, where people believe that women should remain in the home, caring for the house and the children?” Mile asked.
The three elves fell silent, pained looks upon their faces. Seeing this, the members of the Crimson Vow fell silent as well.
It was the same as in human society. Both Mavis, who had fled from home because her family so opposed her becoming a knight, and Pauline, who was working to establish her own business because the shop that her father had once owned would be inherited by her younger brother, were in the same position.
“Could you tell us a bit more about this?” Reina pressed, a growing fascination evident.
Mavis and Pauline’s eyes, too, sparkled with interest.
***
“I see…”
Once the three elves shared more details about their situation, it was entirely clear that they had nothing sinister in mind.
“However…”
“You guys are of marrying age for way too long!” cried the members of the Crimson Vow.
“You’re of marriageable age for more than three-quarters of your lives?”
“You all have no concept of being ‘past your prime’?”
“That’s like saying that a human would be equally desirable from ages ten to fifty!”
“Horrible! That’s so horrible…”
None of the human girls could help but chime in. Some of this was genuine shock, though the rest was jest, or at least sarcasm. Clearly realizing this, the elven maidens seemed a little bit peevish.
“Anyway, we’re going to be under all sorts of fire from the elders that want to carry on these old traditions and force us to stay in the village we were born in. They want us to marry early and make a union with some local guy looking for his first bride. So, we need to be able to claim to them that it’s normal even for human girls, who live much shorter lives, to spend a long time away from the villages of their birth, gathering experience—to show them that it’s perfectly normal for humans who have already lived nearly a quarter of their lives to not have been married yet, and not have a man in sight, or any parents or other interlopers saying anything about it. You all are our examples. So we need you to back us up. Please! Our lives and futures depend on this!”
The members of the Crimson Vow understood the truthfulness of this entreaty, and they could sympathize. But…
“Hang on a second,” Reina asked. “Are you making fun of us?” Was that a jab about them not having “a man in sight” in order to pay them back for their earlier ribbing? Still, she understood the elves’ sentiment. She, too, had not wanted to be forced into marriage, to have her will ignored, to have to live her life in service of a husband when she had lived not even a fraction of her life so far.
And so…
“Leave it to us!!!”
The Crimson Vow were fully on board.
***
“Thank you for coming, everyone,” intoned the elder the next day, before the assembly of young elves at the village’s meeting hall. As those present were not only the unwed from this village but also all those surrounding, it was time now for not the village chief but the elder to take charge. He was a person of most eminent experience in this matter, after all, having been married and remarried so many, many times.
Besides the elder, unmarried youths from all the local villages filled the room… Though, of course, they were still elves, which meant that “youths” was a rather misleading term. If they were human, some of them would be middle-aged or even elderly by now. Yet, they all looked to be in their early teens, around twenty at most. At first glance, it was just your average mixer.
All in all, it was actually a small group. There were not so many elves to begin with, and this gathering was limited to those who were of marrying age yet had never been married, of which there could not possibly be many. Most of their peers had already married at least once and were either presently involved in one of their many marriages or in the midst of taking some personal time until they sought their next partners. This was why it was necessary to gather not only candidates from this village but from the others around.
Naturally, this also reflected the edicts of those who had come before them, who had warned of the import of bringing new blood into the elven family lines. It would be the destruction of their race if they simply married time and again among those from within their own village—a fact that had been preserved from the distant past, when society had been advanced enough to facilitate a basic understanding of genetics.
Besides the elder and the participants, the only ones present in the hall were the special guests, the Crimson Vow, and some elven women of advanced age who were present to help supervise the proceedings. Their role would be to protect the participants from being distracted by anyone who was not part of the candidate pool, a.k.a. those young women who were particularly drawn to the older men who reminded them of their fathers. You see, there were few male elves whose tastes ran Oedipal but plenty of elven women with an Electra complex. This was not to mention the elven men who were far too enamored of their sisters…
Elves. What a dark, troubled race…
***
After the elder’s address, it was time to mingle. There were a number of events scheduled for after this free time, but already it seemed that most of the participants were already acquainted with one another. Not only were these get-togethers held at regular intervals, they naturally already knew everyone from their own village, as well as many of those from the surrounding settlements. No matter how young one might perceive an elf to be, after living in the same place for many decades, they would have had plenty of chances to meet the people who lived in their area. There were festivals, joint hunts, various meetings, exchanges in times of poor harvest, and playdates for the children in order to get them all acquainted for the sake of the future of the race…
It seemed that the aim of this opening session was to create an atmosphere where these young people, who were already fairly well acquainted and friendly, might have a few drinks together and chat things up a bit. After that, once the booze had gone around, they would have a number of events where the elders could be a bit pushier and persuade those who had never met one another to get acquainted.
This whole plan of action was rather advanced for a world like this…though perhaps it was only the worry of a declining birth rate that led them to such inventions.
“I guess age really does bring wisdom. They’ve had a while to think about this. That’s elves for you…”
“Suppose they really have made use of all those years…”
Thankfully, no one was around to hear Pauline and Mile’s half-hearted jabs.
“Long time no see, Clair Bear! I don’t think we’ve met since the last one of these, eh?”
“Whoa! Who’s this hottie?!”
A boy who looked to be in his late teens (though he was probably actually decades old) walked up to the elf trio, who stood beside the Crimson Vow. Mile had spoken without meaning to. In truth, every single one of the elves in attendance was beautiful. In fact, even the older gentlemen that they had met before now had been handsome. However, to the girls’ eyes, they were middle-aged or elderly, so despite their attractiveness, the impact had not been as great. Apparently, the members of the Crimson Vow preferred their older men “refined” instead of “beautiful.”
Or, rather, none of them had yet dated men of their age, so their ideal man was still something more along the lines of their fathers—though Mile’s ideal was, naturally, not her father of this lifetime but Misato’s father from her previous life.
The young-for-an-elf man who had just appeared was slender and somehow seemed like the overbearing type. Thus, while the members of the Crimson Vow could appreciate him on an aesthetic level, he held no real appeal for any of them in terms of the sort of man they would like to court.
“Guh. Liebelc…”
Judging by the look of disdain upon her face, Clairia felt the same way. And given how deeply she adored her father, it was no surprise that she carried an indisputable daddy complex. It wasn’t that she was totally uninterested in men her age, but she certainly wasn’t about to be swayed by such a fellow as this one.
“Whaddya say? Think it’s about time you gave up on all that living with the humans nonsense and come back home to the village?” said Liebelc with a grin, striking a pose and flashing his pearly whites.
Clairia did not share this feeling.
“No! This village sucks!”
She had no mercy for her enemies.
“Wh…?”
Liebelc appeared flummoxed, apparently having had full confidence in the strength of his attack.
“That guy’s been bothering Clairia for years. She can’t stand him…” Sharalir whispered.
“Ah…”
Clairia’s reaction was quite understandable. There were many beautiful people among their race, so Liebelc’s beauty was scarcely much of a weapon. Indeed, there were many other men who were as tall and slender as Liebelc, only some of the elders showing any signs of bulk from years of training. Clairia, who preferred men with a physique more similar to her father’s, would never be swayed by such a glittery wisp of a man…
“You sure you aren’t ready to come back yet, Ria?”
“Aren’t you tired of those humans yet, Clairia?”
The men came flocking around.
“Wow, you’re so popular, Professor!” Mile crowed, impressed with the seeming popularity of Dr. Clairia, who was so young in appearance and modest of build.
“Idiot. She’s only popular like that because she’s an elf,” Reina chided, ruthlessly raining on Mile’s parade. She seemed to have a better grasp on the situation.
Clairia wasn’t on the busty side, but as most elves were flat, this was scarcely ever a point against them. Her age also gave her an advantage, for, as elves aged more quickly in their younger years, there were only a few decades during which they would appear to be in their younger adolescence (though they were of course, in reality, several times older than they looked). After that, the period in which they would appear, to human eyes, to be in their late teens to late thirties would last an incredibly long time. Thus, there were few opportunities to meet someone of Clairia’s age and appearance who was also of the appropriate age to wed.
First marriages typically lasted fifty years or more, so by the time they remarried, most elves would already appear to at least be in their late teens. There were also plenty whose first marriages came late, who would already be of that age. Such as Aetelou and Sharalir…
If one wished to marry someone of Clairia’s youth, excepting rare circumstances where a partner died early, their chances were limited to finding a girl who had only just come of age. And so, Dr. Clairia was particularly popular.
“So they’re lolicons?!” Mile exclaimed, hearing Aetelou’s explanation. She was stunned to have to assign yet another complex to the elves’ hidden problematic depths. Mile, with her modern sensibilities, had already assigned to Reina a father complex, to Mavis’s brothers a sister complex, and to Pauline a brother complex—all of which they felt was perfectly normal. But surely, she thought, they would all be on the same page in terms of finding a Lolita complex loathsome! What she had not yet realized was that the three of them all assumed her to be a lolicon. As far as she was concerned, she was only rather fond of children…
Clairia took Mile by the arm and shoved her in front of the men.
“Allow me to introduce you to someone. These are a group of hunters who helped us out when we were with the humans. They are all pure-blooded humans, but they’re truly amazing!”
Ah, it looks like this is our cue, thought the four members of the Crimson Vow. It was time for them to take the stage.
The three elves, while respecting the limits about what was and was not acceptable to say about a hunter, then began detailing the many exploits of the Crimson Vow and the fascinating things they were doing in the human world.
“They’ve already lived about a quarter of their life spans, but they’ve never once been married to a human of the same age. In fact, none of them have got a man in sight! But the people around them don’t seem to mind this at all!”
Hey!!! the members of the Crimson Vow silently screamed. They had known that the conversation was going to trend this way, but it still stung to hear it spoken in so many words in front of all these men.
“Huh. So they can still be unmarried even looking like that because they’re humans…”
“They’re basically toddlers, only in their teens in years, but they’re of marrying age, with no one around to criticize them…”
“They can go their whole lives giving everything only to one man, leaving this world with memories of only him in their hearts, never having to pledge themselves to another…”
“It’s pretty normal for us to give ourselves to any one woman for only a few decades of our lives…”
“And to get to see every stage of a woman’s beauty, from her youth all the way to her mature years—to have that all for yourself…”
“Plus, elves enjoy excellent status among the humans, so you could live a happy, happy life among them…”
“It’d probably be a good experience to leave the village at some point during our centuries of youth…”
Oh no!!!!
Both the village elder and the older women in attendance paled, but it was already too late. The throng of young men turned as one to the Crimson Vow, taking a step closer to the hunters. The young ladies looked on, their eyes wide. Both sides appeared to share a deep interest. Indeed, even the young ladies could see the appeal of spending some time out in the vibrant and exciting human world, where they would be the talk of the town simply by virtue of being elves, rather than out here in the remote nowhere of the countryside, where chauvinism ran rampant. Yes, for perhaps different reasons, they shared the men’s exuberance. It might not be so bad to try marrying a human man…
The prospects of this year’s assembly suddenly looked very grim.
***
“Why is this happeniiiiing?!”
After the mixer, the head elder and the other elders who had come from each village as chaperones held their heads in agony. To be clear, all the participants would have been fine traveling on their own, but these older elves had tagged along in the name of chaperoning, hoping to partake of some good food and drink at the event. In any case, these chaperones were all well aware that they now had a situation on their hands, namely, that the bulk of the participants were suddenly making comments like, “Perhaps there’s no need to rush into a first marriage,” and, “It might be nice to get out of the village and see what life’s like in a human settlement while we’re still young,” and, “Might not be bad to try being married to a human at least once…”
It was in order to set up pairs of newlywed elves that the young ladies were summoned back from their homes off in human lands. These elven youth were to marry one another and strive to bear children to maintain the elven population.
The plan had backfired. Immensely.
All of the young women who had remained in the village now had a burning interest in human cities. Furthermore, the young men’s heads had also been turned, developing an interest in humans themselves—particularly as potential marriage partners…
It was a grave blow.
If they were to start mixing blood with humans while their own numbers were already on the decline, and all of the young people moved away to human towns, pure-blooded elves would begin to vanish…
In just a few generations, elves would be facing the death of their race. Both their bloodlines and their culture—the legacy and history of their great ancestors, which the elves had protected for centuries…
“Why?! Where did we go wrong?!”
“It’s because you’re relying on these cheap, petty tricks.”
“Wha…?”
The elders looked around in surprise to see the Crimson Vow standing next to them.
Mile continued, “Dr. Clairia and the others never wanted to persuade anyone to explore human towns, and they fully intended to return to elven lands once they were satisfied with their experiences. They were just spending some time in human lands in order to experience something new while they were young. And yet, you tried to force them to return home early, imposed all these tiresome conditions on them, and enforced your rude teachings about what young women were expected to do. You forced them to make explanations and petitions, excuses and appeals to the status quo, and this is the result.
“Not only did your efforts not persuade those who had left the village to come back home, it also proved just how attractive life on the outside truly is. Now, both the ladies who had previously stayed at home and the young men who have never before had any interest in human towns have begun to legitimately consider leaving their little villages.
“Surely, you must understand that it’s no surprise that young people might feel this way? It’s a natural thing. This is the end result of living in such a remote, insular society.”
“Shut your mouth! What does a suckling child like you know?!” the elder roared.
“Wh…?” The eyes of the members of the Crimson Vow opened wide in shock. They had not thought the elder to be the sort of person who would ever blow up like that, even if he believed a youngster was spewing rubbish. They assumed he would be thoughtful and even-tempered, that foolish words from some little human girls would slide right off his back. In fact, they had deliberately been a bit aggressive, hoping to draw out a bit of a reaction. Now, they were flummoxed.
“It is because our villages are so small that we must protect this insular society! If these progressive exchanges with human towns continue, all of our young people will leave. For all those who return home after some years, there will also be those who never return. Or those who return with their human spouses, half-breed children, and all of their human-influenced ideals… All pure-blooded elves, and the culture and traditions we have carried on for so long, will vanish—gone in the blink of an eye. The things that we lose, we will never be able to get back…”
“But isn’t it okay to lose those things? The best parts will surely survive—the only things that will fall out of fashion are those aspects of the culture that are outdated or conventional—the kinds of tradition that exist for no real reason. Mixing your blood doesn’t mean the destruction of your race. Why don’t you think about it as bringing in new blood to foster a new race? Rather than dragging out the existence of this restricted, closed-off race, you can mingle with humans and progress side by side… Well, there’s a lot of ways to think about this, but for you elders to keep forcing your own opinions on the younger generations, restricting them for the rest of their lives in order to make them do exactly as you wish…”
“We can’t possibly do what you’re suggesting! How could we ever endorse it?! Even if we could agree to such an idea, it would never be permitted! The will—the ideals of that great race who created we elves, and the dwarves, and beastfolk, and faeries, and elder dragons, and the demons…”
“Huh?”
The elder suddenly fell silent, looking as though he had said too much. The chaperones from the other villages were all as slack jawed as the Crimson Vow. The topic this elder had been about to speak on was perhaps something that even among elves, only the elder, or at least the elder and those at the level of “sages” were aware of…
“The great race? Hmmm. I do remember hearing key terms like ‘The Seven Sages,’ and ‘The One-Seventh Plan,’ and the ‘Super Soldier Plan’…” Mile muttered.
“Y-you little minx! Just how much do you know?!” The elder paled.
Mile, however, was focused on her thoughts and completely ignored him.
“Why didn’t you include humans in your list of God’s creations just now? Never mind the beastfolk and demons, but why were faeries and elder dragons in there? I don’t think that you merely forgot humans from such an exhaustive list. This seems like something that you’ve said plenty of times before. Also—why are demons at the very end? Normally they would be before fairies, with elder dragons last… Which reminds me, it’s the gods you’re referring to as this ‘great race,’ isn’t it? But gods are ‘supreme’ beings, which is higher than merely ‘great,’ such as someone who has ‘performed a great accomplishment’…”
“Silence! I will not permit you to speak another word!” the elder shouted, swinging down the staff he was holding. The chaperones frantically held him back. Though he might have been an elder, the sight of him physically attacking a human guest, a young girl who was as good as an infant, was not something they could simply overlook. Such a thing would cause quite the kerfuffle among the humans, after all.
***
“I’m sorry. I understand. Do release me.”
Apparently it was only a momentary fit of rage. Once restrained, the elder soon returned to his senses, the other chaperones releasing him once they felt it was safe to do so. However, they stayed in position to restrain him again, just in case…
“Now, where did you hear all that?”
Though he had calmed down, he certainly was not prepared to drop the matter. This time, Mile, who usually waved things off with her classic “family secret” excuse decided to answer sincerely and succinctly.
“I heard it from the No. 3 Auxiliary Backup System of the Economical Autonomous Basic Defense Control System.”
“The who now?”
Of course, there was no one besides Mile herself who would understand this reply.
“An entity left behind from the previous civilization,” she explained.
“Wha…?”
There was clearly no point in explaining that it was a computer, an artificial intelligence. Really, she could only explain it as someone with whom she could come to a mutual understanding, such as a human, or one of the briefly aforementioned elves, dwarves, beastfolk, fairies, elder dragons, or demons. However, Mile despised lying about such important matters. Instead, she merely simplified things enough that her interlocutor could understand, without obscuring the truth.
“That would be…”
“For the same reason that you refused to tell us more about your traditions, I cannot tell you anymore.”
“Wh… Y-yes, of course, I understand.”
Those who were burdened with the protection of secrets themselves understood the importance and the weight of doing so. Thus, except in real emergencies, where he could no longer afford to keep up appearances, the elven elder would never try to force a confidence out of someone else. Instead, the elder turned to the chaperones.
“What you just heard you must never speak a word of. This is an S-rank level secret, by the elders’ code of authorization.”
Thus, the matter was concluded…though it is worth mentioning, perhaps, the way the men paled at this edict.
Afterward, Mile asked Dr. Clairia to explain just how big of a deal an “S-rank secret” was for elves. After getting over her shock that Mile would even be aware of such a thing, she helpfully explained. According to Dr. Clairia, an ‘S-rank secret’ was the sort of thing that, should you divulge it, you could expect to be executed and your family driven from the village. Giving away secret elven magics to other races was one such offense.
Of course, given how small their population was as a race, casting out a whole line would mean the decimation of a settlement, so they could not really exact punishments of that level. Still, revealing such a secret was a grave enough sin that it could not possibly be allowed.
***
By the time all was said and done, the mixer had more or less fallen apart. As an event, it had not been a total failure. In the end, everyone had enjoyed themselves, there had been plenty of conversation, and all of the young people had mingled with one another. By some metrics, one might even classify it as a success. But, of course, it had been completely off the mark in terms of what the organizers had intended.
The whole point of this get-together had been for the young men to persuade the young women, particularly those who had been living away from the village, to return back home, get married right away, and settle down. Instead, however, the opposite had been accomplished.
It was a complete reversal. An utter backfire. They had gone for the wool and come home shorn.
Thus, the conversation turned to tales of life in human towns, told by the three elven maidens and the members of the Crimson Vow. They spoke of their careers and their treatment as scholars, various hunting exploits, the accomplishments of high-ranking elven hunters who, though they had never met them, they had heard rumors of—and more…
What happened next was perhaps inevitable.
Among the elves, there were certain men who tried to make overtures toward Mile and Reina. The three elven maidens ran interference, and then, seeing how downtrodden Mavis and Pauline were that no one was talking to them, some more philanthropic souls engaged that pair in conversation as well—only to be stunned that they were rejected.
Even if they had no actual interest in pursuing anyone, a maiden’s heart was a complicated thing…
***
“You all were a huge help,” said Clairia, gratitude written all over her face. It was possible that she had finally realized how underhanded it was to ask a hunting party to do something like this—well outside the task defined by their contracts.
The expression didn’t suit Clairia in the slightest. She was the sort from whom you’d expect a more impish look, perhaps accompanied by a victorious cackle.
“Honestly, you have our apologies.”
“You really saved us. Thank you.”
Sharalir and Aetelou, who were older than Clairia, appeared a bit more convincing in their thanks. The maturity of one’s appearance really did make a—actually, no, it was doubtful that the pair of them had ever looked anything like Clairia, even when they were younger. Likewise, it was unlikely that, even by the time Clairia reached the age of the other two, she would ever be a woman suited to anything but devilish looks.
By the time you’re an adult, your appearance can’t help but reflect your nature. Beauty aside, your face is shaped by all of the looks you’ve made in your life until then. But even so…
“You’re all so beautiful.”
“When you’re at home, you’re treated like children, everyone doting on you…”
“Your parents stay young for ages, looking after you…”
“And if you get bored, you can just head out to a human town where you live an easy life with everyone fawning over you…”
“Elves are completely unfair!!!” cried the members of the Crimson Vow.
“You’re being unfair to us!!!” the three elves raged back, veins bulging.
Their anger was understandable. Every one of the three had struck out from the elven village, where they had been unable to bear both the provincial sensibilities and their poor standing as women. They had toiled in a human world that they did not understand while bad people came at them from every corner, hoping to deceive and take advantage of them. Finally, after plenty of hard work, they had come into the positions that they had now. Of course, they did have some privileges that young human girls did not. However, the danger of being targeted for their differences was at least equal to the benefits of standing out.
Though they had only discussed the fun parts of living among humans at the mixer, the three of them planned to explain the rest of it to the other elves later on. If they did not, they might be responsible for many tragedies…such as a group of humans being annihilated by an enraged elf’s highest-level magic or an entire town being wiped off the map.
Anyway, they couldn’t help but be angry at the Crimson Vow for criticizing them without understanding the hardships they had faced. Which the three of them made abundantly clear…
“We’re sorry,” the members of the Crimson Vow sighed. They had truly meant nothing by it. They were just a little bit jealous. And now, hearing that the others had faced difficulties that they could never understand, they couldn’t help but apologize.
The grass is always greener on the other side, or so the saying went. The same applied here.
“Still, is everything going to be okay? Your elder looked like he was not doing so well…” Reina asked in a tone of concern, but Clairia’s reply was quite cold.
“It’s fine. This was their own harebrained scheme,” she scoffed. “They made their bed, and now they can lie in it. They’ve made our lives hell with those stupid rules of theirs so many times… This should at least stop them from making us come back for these regular get-togethers and requiring that we write letters home every month. In fact, if they don’t loosen up, I’m going to start writing in my letters about all of the fun activities in human towns, and all the delicious foods, and how you can act like a child and do whatever you want… Ahem! I will be writing up lots of exciting, highly exaggerated things, and then I’ll get a copyist to make ten copies and send them out to the young people in all the villages around! Actually, maybe I could stuff all of the envelopes into one big envelope and send them to Liebelc or something. Then, I can have him distribute all of the individual letters… The postage will be the same if I send them together, and Liebelc could never refuse a request from me. And, naturally, one of the letters inside could be the official report for the elder. If I just keep doing that, then more and more people will start wanting to leave the village… Heh heh heh heh heh…”
“She’s a monster!!!”
With that wicked laugh, Clairia had finally graduated from imp to full-fledged devil…
“You really shouldn’t harass your elders so much, or you’re going to bring on the destruction of your race even faster,” Mavis chided.
The three elves all tutted in response.
“I’m going to live my life my own way! Why should we sacrifice and waste our lives just for the sake of the elderly? It’s a new era! This isn’t the past where both humans and elves lived their lives scavenging in the forests! The world outside these woods is vibrant and sophisticated and glamorous and chic!” Clairia cried.
With this, of course, the members of the Crimson Vow could not argue. After all, Mavis, had fled her home to escape her family’s strict expectations. And Mile had run from her home, her lands, and her people. Pauline had left her father’s shop to her mother and brother so that she could do as she liked, and Reina had sold the cart she inherited from her father to live as a hunter instead…
It was one thing for those who only knew their woodland home, but the three elven women, who now knew life on the outside, no longer had the slightest bit of intention of heeding their elders’ edicts. Had they ended up this way because of the elder’s restrictions? Or had those restrictions been put in place precisely out of fear of a reality like this? At this point, it didn’t really matter either way.
“Still, I figured the elder and these sages had a bit more finesse than that. Why would they fall back on something so harebrained?” Mile wondered casually. “All of these sages who have lived for so many years…”
“Actually, I think it’s not all that surprising,” Mavis replied. As the daughter of a count, she had received a certain measure of education about other creatures, perhaps as preparation for meeting an elf at a party one day and making a good impression.
“Huh?”
“Suppose there were ten or so friends, around five or six years old. They lived a peaceful, carefree life in a little village, never wanting for anything, never meeting anyone else. They never aged and never suffered, never spoke to anyone but their friends, never got any new information from the outside world, and continued to live that way for a century…” Mavis began. Mile got the feeling she could already see the conclusion of this tale. “After one hundred years, do you think those people, who still looked like little children, would reach the intellectual level of a hundred-year-old sage who had lived a complete and varied life?” Mavis asked.
Mile shook her head emphatically.
“They’d never progress. They’d just keep living their lives the same way every day… It’s true that they’d probably be happy, but…”
“…they’d be useless.”
“Worthless.”
Reina and Pauline’s responses were a bit harsher than Mile’s.
“If they were human, they would spend their short lives with the fear of impending aging and death always looming over them. That might motivate them to live life to the fullest, hoping for just a little bit of happiness, a little bit of comfort. They might think, innovate, and work hard toward a better life for their children, progressing little by little to build a future which their children would inherit. It’s the same for everyone to varying degrees, regardless of whether you live in the city or the country. But elves, who shut themselves away in the forest, live easy lives as a result of their powerful magic, have life spans ten times that of a human’s, and spend the majority of those lives in peak physical condition…”
“They’re basically eternal children. They’re stuck…”
Here it was. The conclusion that Mile had expected.
“Exactly. So, no matter how long they live, age doesn’t necessarily make elves great thinkers or philosophers, nor does it make them more sophisticated in personality. Elves are stubborn just because they’re proud, and people treat them with reverence just because their powerful magic makes them so dangerous. No one wants to anger them or stand up to them no matter what they say, and so the nobles made a priority of flattering them and handling them with care. The same thing just gets taught to their children…which is why I know all this.”
The three elves were silent.
“I think you broke them…”
“I don’t think they had any idea how other races see them…”
“Goodness gracious!”
“Well, that’s all well and good…”
“What’s good about that?!” Mavis retorted, but Mile ignored her and continued.
“That stuff that the elder accidentally said…er, never mind!”
She quickly changed the topic. After all, the three elves were still present. Obviously, Mile could not let them in on this. There were things in this world that were simply better not to know.
“That ‘S-rank secret’ you were asking about earlier,” Clairia started. “I did think it strange that you were even aware that such a thing existed, without being aware of what it was… What exactly did you all hear?”
If the elves played their cards right, Clairia hoped, they might get their hands on a weakness of their elders. But, of course, Mile had no intention of spilling the beans.
It was possible to insist that the Crimson Vow, who were not elves, would not be subject to the usual elven punishments. Plus, what Mile knew was not information that had been obtained from the elves themselves but from those “creations.” However…
“That’s a forbidden item!”
“Huh?”
“That’s a secret!”
“No, uh…”
“Bingo! You’ve got it!”
“What the heck are you talking about?!”
Mile continued to muddy the waters with her strange replies, leaving Clairia sinking deeper and deeper down into an inscrutable bog of absurdity…
***
“Well, it’s obvious they aren’t going to tell us anything, so I guess there’s no point in thinking about it. Even the elder dragons and fairies were happy to talk, though… I guess they have different philosophies—or maybe it’s an even more important secret than those were. Actually, I suppose I can’t assume that even the elder dragons were entirely forthcoming. They probably just told us as much as they had to. I don’t think they lied, but it would be standard practice in situations like these to ‘omit’ things or purposely use words that could be easily misconstrued…” Clairia and the others had left, and now, Mile was muttering to herself as the four members of the Crimson Vow took a short rest.
They were all mentally exhausted. Now that they had safely—though “safely” might be an overstatement, as far as the elf leadership was concerned—achieved what had turned out to be the true aim of this guard service, there was nothing for the party to do but kill time until they made their return. They should have been able to take it easy at this point; however, they found themselves surrounded by unexpected pitfalls. After the impression they had made at the mixer, there was no avoiding the sudden influx of elven men who, now that they had begun considering human girls for their first or subsequent wives, were keen to make overtures to these incredibly appealing ladies who were already so close at hand—ones who were young, cute, and moreover earned their own money and could protect themselves.
“Whaddya say, Mimi? Wanna be hunters with me?” said a(n apparent) young lad, his teeth glinting.
“Do you use some kind of magic to make your teeth do that? …Wait, hang on, am I Mimi?! And what do you mean, be hunters? I’m already a hunter! An experienced one! Also, hold on a minute! Sparkly teeth, using an overfamiliar nickname… You’re that stalker who kept hanging around Dr. Clairia!”
After their previous encounter, Clairia had groused at length about how much she had suffered over the years at the hands of this man… Naturally, Mile had already forgotten his name.
“I thought you said that Dr. Clairia was the only one for you,” Mile scoffed.
Pauline chimed in, “I’m guessing that once he heard at the meeting just how much you can hold in your storage, he started thinking about the money he could make…or rather, how much money you could make him.”
Liebelc was clearly shaken by the assertion.
“That’s always it,” Mile’s shoulders slumped with disappointment.
The thinking of all the unmarried young male elves, raised in the same environment with the same values, was going to be the same…particularly when it came to making women obey their will so that they could live in luxury.
“No human woman wants a man like that! Humans can’t get remarried again and again like elves can! A woman’s years as a maiden are a precious, fleeting thing!”
At Reina’s words, Liebelc finally made his exit.
“What a wimp… Are elf women really meek and obedient enough to put up with that nonsense?”
Suddenly picturing Clairia and the others, the other three all shook their heads vehemently. Though on second thought, it made sense that the, er, livelier of the elven women would have been the ones to go out to human towns, with the meeker ones remaining at home. Furthermore, though the bright, lively, and worldly girls who had gone out to human towns were popular among the menfolk, there would be a disconnect: The men still espoused their chauvinistic rhetoric, expecting these girls to obey their whims, but after living on their own and knowing what it was to have the pick of possible partners, the girls would have no interest in such losers.
And the number of elven women who chose human men for their first, or second, or subsequent marriages began to increase…
“It’s over…the elven village’s fate is sealed…”
“Gyaaaaaaaah!!!”
“Hm? Oh, it’s the elder. And, some other folks?”
The members of the Crimson Vow turned around to see a group of elves, faces painted with despair. The elder, the chief, and the sages had all come to discuss these very troubles with the Crimson Vow—and now stood, frozen in horror.
***
“You have to do something!”
“But why?”
The elder could prod all he wanted, but there was nothing to be done for it. What they were up against was a structural failure, and not one that could be shored up with cheap tricks. There was really nothing that the Crimson Vow could do. If it were a problem that was easily solved, someone would have done so already. No matter how insular of a society they were raised in, the elves had lived many more years than any human. Plus, it was not as though they had not had any interactions with humans. There were plenty of people within the village who had even lived within human towns. So, how in the world were a group of teenage girls supposed to solve this problem that no one else could come up with a solution to?
“Please—can’t you do anything?”
“Hmm, I mean you can say that all you like, but…”
Even though the members of the Crimson Vow bore no responsibility for this situation, it was still a tad depressing. And they had at least been giving the situation some serious thought. But what, exactly, would they be able to come up with? Just as Mavis was shaking her head to admit defeat—
“Eureka!” Mile shouted, thrusting her right hand in the air.
“She’s got it!!!” the other three members of the Crimson Vow, thoroughly trained in—er, familiar with—the phrases in Mile’s nightly fables, replied reflexively. Hearing them, Mile gave a cheeky grin.
All this “education” of mine is really paying off…
Mile then laid out her proposal for how to save the elven village.
“The Ninja Village…er, ‘Elven Village Plan!’”
“What???”
The Ninja Village. The other members of the Crimson Vow had heard of such a concept from Mile plenty of times before, so they at least had some idea what she was getting at. However, there was not a soul who could have possibly guessed the full extent of what she was currently thinking. If only the Wonder Trio had been there… If they, who understood Mile (read: Adele) better than anyone, had been present, they likely would have said this:
“How the hell are we supposed to guess what you’re talking about?!”
“Okay, well…” the elder began doubtfully. “This is already an elven village, so I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at here…”
The elder, who had no concept of a “ninja village,” could not even comprehend that particular set of words, so he had simply ignored them. Clearly, Mile had to explain.
“We make the village into a tourist attraction! If you do that, you’ll get humans to come here as visitors. You treat them as your guests, and then offer food and booze and lodging and souvenirs at a premium, which will let you get your hands on human currency. With that money, you can buy all sorts of things from human towns. And then…”
“And then?” asked the elder and chief in unison.
“The young elves will get their fill of humans by interacting with the visitors, and with all of the things they’ll be able to buy from human towns, they can get a taste of the human lifestyle, even here in the village. The sightseers will be coming from far away and staying for only a few days. So, even if they treat themselves to a little taste of romance along the way, it’s unlikely to turn into anything serious. Long-distance relationships are pretty tough in a world without phones or the internet…”
There were a number of incomprehensible terms thrown in that last sentence, but they did not keep anyone from getting the gist of what Mile was trying to say.
“B-but, if we have sightseers running around all over the place, that will throw both our peaceful lifestyle and the preservation of our traditions into disarray…”
“That’s why we go with the ‘Elven Village’!” said Mile, cutting off the elder’s worries. “Right now, you maintain this whole collection of villages as a colony, one that’s incredibly difficult for outsiders to reach. You’ll keep doing that but build an ‘Elven Village,’ one just for sightseers, somewhere a little ways from here! You make a village that meets the human expectations of how elves live, building up the scenery to match. You can create the idealized elven settlement that humans imagine. Then, you can treat the space strictly as a workplace, portraying a version of elves for other races to see…
“In short, this isn’t going to be a real elven village. It’s an imaginary one, a tourist attraction, a theme park—an ‘Elven Village’ for show!”
“Ohhhhh!!!”
There was a chorus of cries from the assembled crowd—paired with impressed nods from the elder, chief, and some of the so-called sages, who seemed to have finally grasped what Mile was saying. There were also murmurings from a number of people who probably still had no idea what Mile meant but were pretending that they did in order to save face—but that was probably inevitable.
“You’ll want to employ the elves with the slightest frames and the longest ears to work the attraction. They should style their hair to really show off their ears and carry small bows on their backs. For the dining, the menu should be primarily vegetarian, and you can explain that the meat dishes are specially provided only for the sake of the tourists. You can serve those at an exorbitant price. If you pretend that you’re taking great pains to alter your philosophy of not eating meat simply for the comfort of the guests, no one will complain about the cost, no matter how ridiculously expensive the dishes are.”
“I see!”
“A human girl’s cunning is a terrifying thing…”
Naturally, having eaten with Clairia, Aetelou, and Sharalir plenty of times in the field, the members of the Crimson Vow were well aware that elves normally did eat meat—lots of it. However, there were few humans who had ever dined with an elf, and even if they had seen elves eating meat before, they would probably just think that those elves had forced themselves to do so in order to fit in with the human lifestyle while they were living in human towns.
“Okay, so I get the point of building a separate village for the tourists so that our real homes don’t get overrun, but why can’t we show them how we normally live?” one of the elves asked tentatively. It was a question that had been on everyone’s minds. “Why do we have to create this idealized version of elven life?”
Hearing this, Mile gave a wicked grin.
“I’m glad you asked! That’s because humans are the sort of race who only want to see the things that they want to see!”
“Er, I mean, that seems pretty standard…” the elf objected, but Mile tutted, waggling her right pointer finger.
“You misunderstand. What do you suppose would happen if humans, who come calling because they want to see the ‘strange and mysterious lifestyle of the elves’ get here and see a bunch of macho old dudes chomping down on meat and hunting with swords and spears? They’d be scandalized! When humans say that they want to see what something is like, what that really means is that they’re hoping to see something that matches their own expectations. They don’t want to see a bunch of beefy elves chowing down on barbecue and living the same way people live in rural human settlements—they want something fascinating and new, that they can talk about with everyone back home and come back to visit whenever they need a change of pace.
“That’s why you have to show them an ‘Elven Village’ to meet their expectations! If you do that, they’ll happily talk up the village to other potential visitors, and you’ll even get repeat guests. And, if you have some pretty elven young girls and women (regardless of how many centuries old they actually are) hanging around to flirt…you can even hold regular displays of ‘elven traditions’! Like festivals, or some kind of competitions, or an offering to the spirits of the forest… Stuff like that,” Mile finished. She probably assumed that they had ceremonial archery competitions or something. After all, they were elves.
The elves appeared nonplussed by Mile’s torrent of suggestions, but Pauline nodded heartily.
“You also might want to divide the village into a ‘Little Elves Town’ where people can bring their families along and a ‘Mature Elves Town’ for the adult men…”
“You just took those names from that story of yours about the half-elf, half-wolfman who transforms into an immortal wereelf on the night of the full moon, didn’t you? The Elfguy Series?”
“What the hell is that?!?!?!”
A mixed-race birth between an elf and a beastperson would be impossible. Of course, that was why this was just a fanciful fairy tale… The elves could not help but cry out.
With the idea of a “Ninja Village” as the basis for her plan, Mile outlined in detail what the elves’ new tourist attraction should be like. Knowing absolutely nothing about the matter themselves, the elven leadership closely followed Mile’s every word.
This is none of our business! thought the other members of the Crimson Vow, quietly averting their eyes from Mile’s enthusiastic gesturing. The future of the elven village had nothing to do with them and should not be their responsibility.
***
“Wait, so only humans can marry and have children with elves?”
After a lot of meandering conversation, Mile asked the elder to tell her as much about elven traditions and legends as he would be permitted to. As thanks for her help, the elder readily agreed, and now, having supped on fine wine and snacks that Mile had provided, he was more than happy to answer her questions.
“Correct. It’s not just elves, either. Dwarves, beastfolk, demons, and so on can all have children with humans, but none of these races can bear offspring with each other—only their own people and humans. If mixed-blood children who are part human and part elf then reproduce with those of elven blood, with enough generations, the human blood will virtually vanish, leaving them nearly a full-blooded elf again. Thus, even those who have a strong desire to marry a human have never faced any severe opposition. What’s strange, though, is that we have no idea why any of this is. Even within the beastfolk, those with traits of the same animal families, such as a dogperson and a wolfperson, are able to reproduce, but they cannot do so with those outside of their type.”
Hearing this, Mile muttered, “I see… So there’s no chance of a dogperson and an eelperson making a ‘dog-eel person’ together…”
“There’s no such thing as an eelperson! An eel isn’t even a beast!” Reina interjected.
“A cross between an eelperson and an umeboshi-person would really make your tummy hurt…”
“I’m telling you there’s no such thing as an eelperson!”
“I think she said something more objectionable than ‘eelperson’ just now…” Mavis muttered, shaking her head.
“So then, what about the other two races—elder dragons and fairies? Can they have children with…?”
“Absolutely not! That’s impossible just on a physical level!” Mavis shouted, an apparently heinous scene playing out in her mind’s eye.
“Still, it feels like there’s something intentional behind this…”
Humans, elves, dwarves, beastfolk…and demons. Five races that all resembled each other physically. There were slightly finer distinctions between the different sorts of beastfolk, but on a holistic level, Mile considered them more or less the same race.
“Each of these races are closely related enough for humans to interbreed with them but not close enough with each other to interbreed with any other race. Each race’s genes are strong, or at least strong enough that despite the interbreeding, they can still continue their bloodline. Is that so the traits of those races never fade away? There’s something unnatural about it…”
“Speculate all you want, but such things are beyond our reasoning. That is how it has been ruled…”
Normally, this was where one might say, “So the gods have ruled it,” but the elder curiously omitted those particular words here. Yet while Mile noticed this, it seemed there was nothing she could say.
***
After listening to a number of other tales and legends from the elder, the members of the Crimson Vow finally prepared to leave the elves behind.
“Hmm. So I mean, even without us having to ask the elves about it, everyone already knows that only humans can have mixed offspring with other races,” said Mavis.
It made sense. There was no way that this would not be known. Elves were not the only ones with whom humans had mixed marriages and offspring. This had been the way of history for hundreds, even thousands of years, and at this point, it was common knowledge who could and could not bear children. However, most of the group seemed to be out of the loop…
“I didn’t know that,” said Reina.
“It’s the first I’m hearing of it as well…” Pauline agreed.
“That’s because it’s not something that one typically discusses with children. Unless your child starts getting close to someone of a different race, it’s not especially relevant. If one of the pair is human, they can have children, but even if not, that doesn’t mean that they might give up on a marriage. Assuming they don’t live in a country with any prejudices, or have relatives who are opposed… Of course, there’s plenty of ways around this, too, like adoption, or having children during their next marriage if they’re one of the longer-lived races.”
Despite being the daughter of a noble, Mavis seemed to have a rather progressive view on the matter.
At any rate, the Crimson Vow had now done everything they had been brought to the village to do. All that was left was to spend the days until their return home fending off the advances of the local men.
“Gimme a break…”
“This is ridiculous…”
“Guh!”
Seeing Reina and Mile being bombarded with overtures, Pauline and Mavis looked ready to cough up blood. Obviously, they would have turned down any flirtations that came their way, but it was still no fun to be deemed a non-entity. That said, things tended to be the opposite way when they were in human territories, so they really should have grinned and bore it, letting the other two have a moment in the sun for once.
How immature Pauline and Mavis were…
***
“Finally, time to set sail for home!”
“This trip took so long…”
In reality, their stay had been not more than a few days, but there was little to see in the village, and they completed their sightseeing within the first day. As a result, there was nothing to do but while away the long, empty days until their return. As they readied themselves for the journey, the members of the Crimson Vow breathed a sigh of relief.
Mile had wheedled all sorts of stories out of the elders, eating plenty of sweets and being doted upon, but Mavis, Reina, and Pauline were not inclined to such behavior and had to make do without even this meager entertainment. Finally, all that was over, and it was time to escort the three elven maidens back home.
“Thank you all for everything…”
“I wonder if they’ll be all right, though. The elders seemed pretty fired up about that plan you proposed.”
“Ah ha ha…” the members of the Crimson Vow laughed dryly, feeling a twinge of guilt.
But that’s none of our business!!!
If this plan ends up a huge failure, though, Mile thought to herself, it’s going to be a nightmare for the elves…a real “Nightmare on Elf Street”…
One might assume that Mile was concerned about the elven village, but as usual, her mind was truly elsewhere.
They’re going to need some means of transportation if they want to start buying lots of goods from human towns…
Indeed, though this time, Clairia, Aetelou, and Sharalir had enjoyed the luxury of Mile’s storage, normally, anyone who wanted to bring something back from a human town would have to carry it home themselves. Given how innately talented they were with magic, there were some elves who could carry far more in their own storage than most humans could, but still there were very few of them who could use the skill. Even if their rates of capable users were far greater than that of humans, who might only see numbers of eligible mages per country in the tens, the reality of the elves’ small population size meant it was possible there might not even be one such person in this village. Plus, even if there were one, there was no guarantee they would be able to store an amount even close to what Mile could carry.
If only they had some other means of carrying a large amount of cargo… Like a miniature semi-truck or something…
Then a single word popped into Mile’s head.
“Isuzu Elfa!”
For a second, the other members of the party were startled by Mile’s violent outburst, but they were quite accustomed to her odd behavior and quickly returned to their own thoughts. Meanwhile, the elves, who were not yet acclimated to Mile’s quirks, were somewhat shaken… Had they heard the word “elf” in there as well?
Because the route to the elven village was purposely obfuscated, something more akin to a deer trail than a road, no wagons would be able to make it through easily. A small truck would have an even trickier passage. Furthermore, if such a traversable road were made, then anyone would be able to locate the village.
And anyway, there was no way Mile would be getting her hands on a Japanese truck in the first place.
What they would need to do here was clean up the path from the nearest human town to the mock elven town, just enough that a small, one-horse wagon could make the journey to bring in sightseers and goods. From there, they could more covertly carry those goods back to the real elven village.
“Hmm, I wonder if they’ll need to come up with some sort of wheelbarrow or something to move the goods between the two elf settlements…”
Her mind whirring busily, Mile calculated that with such an apparatus they could even travel along deer paths, as long as they were at least one tire’s width wide. Theoretically, anyway…
***
And so, after a safe trip home, the Crimson Vow’s latest escort mission was now complete. As they would be receiving their payment from the guild, there was nothing that they would need to collect from the three elves when it came time to part ways in the capital.
Normally, it would not be at all unusual for them to receive some separate bonus pay, or an additional monetary reward, but this time the elves merely gave their thanks and scurried away, dodging pointed glances from Pauline. Apparently, between the hiring fees and all the money they had blown on souvenirs for their families, their finances were in rather dire circumstances.
Pauline appeared wounded by this, but there was nothing to be done about it. After all, they had completed this task in part to help out some acquaintances who were in a bind. Naturally, they had received an A mark along with their signed job evaluation, and that was as much as they could really hope for.
“Well, that’s another job well done—a direct request from some elves, with an A grade! That should do plenty to raise our party’s reputation. Now, for our triumphant return to the guildhall!”
“All right!!!”
This was an example of what made Mavis such a brilliant party leader—she was able to raise even Pauline’s dampened spirits at being denied cash.
“I wonder if Miss Aetelou and Miss Sharalir are heading back to Mafan after this, though. Should we really have split up here…?” Mile wondered.
“Well, obviously they can just catch a passenger carriage or tag along on some merchant wagon. No one is going to deny two beautiful elf women who have both healing and offensive magic and can summon endless water a ride, especially if they’re paying,” Reina explained.
“Ah, of course…”
“Plus, even if they were to go on foot, they can handle any monsters that would dare to show themselves on the main road. Any bandits that came for them would turn tail after taking a magical explosion or two to the face,” Mavis added.
“Then they never needed any bodyguards in the first place… That would practically make them the bodyguards,” Mile muttered. However, it was a bit late to worry about that.
What the Crimson Vow did not realize then was that, several months later, a representative from the dwarven village would show up to ask for advice on the construction of a “Dwarf Town.” Apparently, the “Elven Village” would end up being a far greater hit than even Mile imagined, and the dwarves who learned about it, spurred by their passionate rivalry with the elves, thought they might try their hand at something similar.
Of course, the Crimson Vow had only one response to this request:
“That’s none of our business!!!!”
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