First of all, I thought it necessary to discuss this with Reina, so I brought Katima back home with me. Reina, who had already finished making lunch, looked at Katima and then to me.
“Arata, I won’t get angry, so answer me honestly. What did you do this time?”
“Just hold on, okay?” I said. “I don’t think it’s right for you to start off by being suspicious of me.”
“But, I mean...”
Sure, problems generally followed me wherever I went. But this wasn’t a problem... At least, it shouldn’t be! Even supposing that after this, some sort of incident occurred at the Alfr village, it still wouldn’t be my fault... At least, it shouldn’t be!
“That looks tasty!” Luna said.
“Grrrr!”
“Garrrr!”
“Oh, that’s right, I was done making lunch,” Reina said. “Anyway, I made pizza today, which means one more person shouldn’t be an issue. So, Katima...”
She fell silent, probably remembering the gusto with which Katima had eaten the last time she was here.
“Can I eat too?” Katima asked.
Reina paused. “Sure. And, you all can eat first. I’ll bake another pizza,” she said, yielding the pizza with some resignation. She must have already predicted that there wouldn’t be anything left for her. Luna and Katima shouted with joy.
“I’ll help out,” I said.
“Okay. Thanks.”
I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything important, but I still thought that there was a meaning to us baking it together.
Because of all the trades we had made with the Divine Beastfolk, the Emperor Boar meat looked like it was going to run out before long. But we still had the meat from the Shantak Luna had hunted, and the prey that Tailtiu and I had killed together. We wouldn’t have any issues with food for a while yet.
“By the way, what did Katima come here for anyway?” Reina asked.
“It sounds like she’s inviting us to the Alfr village. They’re going to hold a welcome party, apparently.”
“Oh, really? I’m curious how Elves—I mean, Alfar live. On the continent, they stayed in the forest, and you’d hardly ever see them.”
I had heard from Elga that Alfar and Elves had originally belonged to the same race, but had split on account of the different Great Spirits they worshipped. Apparently, there were no paranormal beings like Great Spirits on the continent in the first place, and among the Elves there were no Alfar. Perhaps in that sense, they were both the same from Reina’s perspective.
“Well anyway, I don’t mind,” Reina said. “But we also have to worry about building the road to the Divine Beastfolk village...”
“Ah, that’s right.”
According to Katima, it was half a day’s walk from here to the mountains where the Alfr village was. If we went there today, we wouldn’t reach it until the dead of night.
“If that’s the case, should we get Katima to draw us a map or something, then head there later?” I said.
“But if they’re planning on holding a party for us, they’ll need to get things ready for us.”
“Oh...”
That means we’ll have to postpone building the road... But I don’t like that either. It’ll feel like we’re leaving things unfinished.
“There’s no need to worry about that.”
“Katima?” I said. With bits of cheese still on her lips, Katima was watching us as we made pizza and— No she’s definitely just here for the freshly baked pizza. I mean, her gaze is totally fixed on it.
“I was sure you guys would have stuff you need to do first, so the plan is for me to get in touch with the village once you’re ready. You can take as long as you need,” Katima said.
“Oh, really?” I said. “Still, I don’t want to keep you waiting forever...”
“Alfar are very patient. You could probably not come for fifty years and they’d still be fine with it.”
“I see...”
In that case, I don’t need to worry.
Since coming to this island, I had encountered many attitudes that differed from a typical human’s, and it seemed to me that the trick to living here was to not get too hung up over them. Reina had already adapted herself to them, or rather, she hardly cared at all. She was so unconcerned that right now, she was probably thinking about whether there would be enough pizza for her to eat.
“If so, what will you do while you’re waiting?” I asked.
“Hm? It’s not like there’s anything for me to do at home, so I was just going to live in your house. What about it?” Katima asked as if it were only natural. That almost made me feel like I was the weird one here.
Also, Katima, I’m pretty sure it’s not like you have nothing to do. Don’t they say that if you don’t work, you don’t eat?
Personally, I didn’t have a problem with it, so I looked to Reina; she didn’t seem to have any complaints either.
“I’m an expert, after all,” Katima said. “I’ll help out with anything.”
“Yeah, sure thing,” I replied.
We welcomed our new, temporary lodger. But as we did, we both thought, Experts don’t get swept away in the river twice.