Perhaps in this village, the hunters were the ones who handled external threats, but that was hardly all they did. Their primary role was to bring food back from excursions into the dangerous forest. If the mere act of felling enemies justified the hunter label, this village would be filled with warriors trampling around in full plate.
But Ainz wasn’t a hunter, and he wasn’t well versed in the village’s culture. Arguing the point would be seen as odd and possibly ruffle feathers.
Aura and Mare would be spending some time here, so Ainz had to be careful not to rock the boat. If his presence soured things, he didn’t know how he would ever make it up to them. Aura would almost certainly say she didn’t mind and mean it, but still.
Explaining properly and getting verbal confirmation was the ideal. He didn’t want it coming back to haunt him later. Plus, Aura and Mare were listening closely to everything he said here. If he made a stupid mistake, Nazarick’s top minds would read too deeply into it and say, Brilliant! but the children had a tendency to innocently ask, Why’d you do that? Can you explain it to us? which was a terrifying thought. The last thing he wanted to do was bust out the “figure it out yourself” card on them.
While he silently worried about these things, Plum seemed to have arrived at some private conclusion and nodded.
“Very impressive. As expected!”
Ainz was once again unsure what this man was impressed by but decided that all’s well that ends well. After all, things certainly seemed to be going his way. And on that note…
“I’ve never worked as a hunter, so I can’t say for sure. But if this village’s hunters think I can handle it, then that’s a relief.” He shifted all responsibility onto them. “Aura’s been helping with the hunts, I assume? But I’d be glad to take over for her. That would give the two of them some time to play.”
Plum looked genuinely stunned. Ainz didn’t think he’d said anything particularly outlandish. Even after reviewing what he’d said, he still couldn’t figure it out.
“These kids grew up in the city, so I brought them out here to let them see what village life is like. I thought they’d enjoy seeing how children play in a place like this. Give them a chance to try their hand at the sorts of things they can’t do in the city.”
“Aha. I suppose city and village life are pretty different.” The hunt master nodded.
It was a mystery what the man was picturing, but Ainz couldn’t possibly be expected to keep up with every leap of imagination. He might be stretching the truth a bit, but nothing he said had been a total fabrication. Whatever issues that cropped up later could be handled then.
“Can I ask a question, too?”
This speaker was a ranger on the bridge above. Handsome features—like basically all elves—but this one definitely seemed cool.
“Certainly, certainly.”
Ainz was less than thrilled and would’ve preferred not to entertain more queries, but he couldn’t exactly openly say that.
The man dithered a long moment, then said, “Is Fiora engaged?”
Ainz came incredibly close to making a weird noise but managed to stop himself. This was the last question he’d expected.
What’s this dude thinking? What possessed him to ask that? Ainz looked around and found everyone else looking equally aghast.
…Okay, I’m not the only one who thought he just blurted out something weird, then. But why would he care if Aura was engaged? Does he want to know if she’s got someone waiting for her back in the city? Heh. Guess that explains it.
Ainz was sure he’d figured out the purpose of that strange question. Nothing else made sense.
They must want to bring her blood into the village.
A glance at the village kids confirmed there were several boys.
Maybe one of them is his kid? It’s so hard to tell how old dark elves are by looking at them. But, man, marriage? That wasn’t part of the plan… If Aura finds someone she likes, I suppose I’m fine with it? I’m BubblingTeapot’s proxy, so I’ll have to give any suitors a thorough vetting. Uh-oh, too much thinking. Do I lie here? Tell the truth? Make up your mind, man.
This wasn’t really worth thinking about. There was no downside to revealing the truth, but if he did lie, that would likely force him into more deception down the line.
“…No, not at the moment.”
“Aha.”
The dark elf looked relieved.
If he’s playing matchmaker for his kid, that’s some serious hands-on parenting. Not ideal. She’s here to make friends. If this guy gets pushy with his own kid and scares off the others, that’ll be a real hassle. I need to know more.
“…Um…what’s your name?”
The man snapped back to attention.
“Blueberry Egnia.”
Ainz couldn’t help but notice a pattern. Like this Plum fellow, perhaps it was a hallmark of dark elf culture to name people after foods. If that was true, perhaps he should have come up with a fake name for Aura. He’d initially avoided that because he thought it would be weird to have a friend not even know your real name. Adding murk to the mire was another question: Were they naming these fruits according to cadences of this world’s language and that was reaching Ainz’s ears via auto-translation, or were they simply calling themselves these things, unaware of what any of it meant? In other words, might this be the sign of a player in the past? It was impossible to tell.
“I’ll remember that. Blueberry Egnia, yes?”
“That’s right. Thank you for remembering it.”
Why thank someone for that?
Ainz opened his mouth to ask, but a stir ran through the dark elves.
The cause was clear. Following their gaze, he spotted the approaching elders.
“About time,” he heard someone whisper.
Ainz sighed internally. Tensions had clearly not eased.
Have I been to any business that would let an outsider hear them complaining? Even if they grumbled, no one would openly bash a colleague, I don’t think. Should I really be leaving Aura in a place like this? Or is it safe to assume kids won’t be involved? Still…they hear what their parents say, and there’s no telling what the kids will take away from that or what it’ll make them do. I guess I’ve just gotta handle my own side of things and make sure it doesn’t cause trouble for Aura and Mare.
He could see where this might lead, but Ainz didn’t want to get mixed up in local disputes. His goal was to maintain a degree of independence and freedom.
He’d have to handle this well. In other words…
Just hope my simulations pay off!
As Ainz steeled himself, the elders drew near, ignoring the sharp looks they earned. One began to speak.
“You hail from the same flow as the sapling Fiora. Well met, voyager from afar.”
Sapling? Right, just as I expected.
Ainz suppressed a smirk.
Dark elf idioms. In this new world, the languages of all species were automatically translated into words Ainz could understand. If the word sapling remained as is, then it had no real meaning. If it meant anything specific—boy or girl, for example—then Ainz would hear that word instead. In other words, the dark elves simply had a custom of placing the word sapling before a child’s name.
They’d brought out these phrases to test how much an adult city dark elf knew.
Here in the village, the elders’ faction placed great stock in tradition, while the younger crowd was trying to break away from their way of life. Aura had reported on this, and Ainz himself had eavesdropped on conversations about it. The elders were here to figure out where Ainz—and by extension, the city dark elves—stood on matters of tradition.
I’d prefer to play both sides. But a careless word here will force me onto one side or the other. If I’m gonna join a faction, it’d be easier for Aura and Mare to make friends if the kids’ parents like me. That means the younger faction is probably a better choice. Still, we don’t have solid evidence to support that. We need to know more. I’ll just say something that sounds decent and act like that’s how we greet people. Smoke and mirrors.
He’d prepared some lines for just this eventuality.
“The earth may be the same, but we hail from separate forests. I am grateful those who live here were willing to accept us.”
Ainz hadn’t put much thought into these phrases. He was just going with the flow. But this seemed to make a positive impression.
“The sawtooth and evergreen oaks are equally hard, and each grow with equal might. I am pleased. The more trees grow, the more the forest changes.”
Ainz let the words flow freely, then nodded emphatically.
He had no clue what this all was supposed to mean. There wasn’t any attempt to make it cohesive or logical.