“Is she the greeting elf?” asked Frau, her hand still clasped in his. Upon hearing the question, the elf bent a little at the waist and lowered her head.
“I belong to the Adventurers School. My name is Croire. I have been assigned to be your guide here.”
“Our guide?”
Renya raised an eyebrow. He didn’t remember asking for a guide. Behind him, Rona appeared out of the gate with Shion following soon after.
“Correct. It would be a problem if humans were allowed to roam around unattended.”
“You’re telling me we have to follow you everywhere?”
“Should you wish to avoid unnecessary trouble, I recommend doing so,” said the elf named Croire, never once attempting to make eye contact. There was a tone of finality in her voice.
Though her mannerisms appeared polite, there was an arrogance to her words that rubbed Renya the wrong way, causing his brows to furrow. The look on Frau’s face suggested some displeasure as well. Shion, having completely failed to grasp the situation, regarded the proceedings blankly.
Rona simply declared war.
“Roam around unattended? Hah. As if this shabby little hut had anywhere for us to roam. And don’t worry about the rest of your city. We won’t gawk — we’ve seen plenty of forests already.”
“…Oh dear. What is that creature? It appears to be blobs of fat on legs. It can even speak our language. How curious. Is it a pet or something?”
It felt like the room’s temperature suddenly dropped below freezing. Renya quickly excused himself from the intersection of their gazes.
“Language? No sane person would call this a language. Whoever came up with it clearly doesn’t know what practicality means.”
“I commend you then, for displaying such proficiency with it. You’re a smart creature, aren’t you? Are you a new species of some sort?”
“Hey, um… Renya?” whispered Shion.
He felt a second hand on him. With Frau clinging onto his sleeve, Shion pulled at his shoulder.
“What? Can’t you see how tense things are? Don’t say anything stupid.”
“Um, well… I can sort of tell too, but what exactly are the two of them saying?”
“Huh? What do you even mean by that? They just said—”
He stopped when he noticed that the fairy clinging onto his sleeve looked perplexed as well. The fact that both of them were confused presented a certain possibility.
“Wait… are those two speaking Elvish?”
“I don’t know if it’s Elvish, but I have no idea what Rona’s saying. Do you, Renya?”
He did. And he also realized that he hadn’t the slightest idea why. After some thought, he concluded that it was probably due to the skills the girl had given him, one of which was “Foreign World Language.” This was, he decided, quite possibly a blessing and a curse all in one. Evidently, he understood the languages of both humans and elves, but he made no mental distinction between them. Moreover, this skill would likely function the same way when he spoke as well. In other words, it was quite possible that every single race in this world could understand what he said. Therefore, a feat such as speaking in a different language to avoid being overheard was physically impossible for him. He rubbed his temples, feeling frustrated by how impractical the skill was.
Meanwhile, the conversation between Rona and Croire grew ever more heated.
“I was informed of a visit by humans, not a creature made of fat blobs.”
“It’s okay. I don’t expect you to be able to tell the difference. After all, you elves are so flat you can barely tell your own genders apart.”
“Oh dear. It seems like the creature has rather poor vision. Or perhaps too small a brain, considering it’s too stupid to know the difference between males and females.”
“Says the race that takes 200 years to reach adulthood. I wouldn’t talk about brain sizes if I were you.”
“Okay, so I’m glad you two get along so well, but…” said Renya as he waded into the verbal battle. Left alone, these two might keep hurling insults at each other until sundown. His next words, however, got stuck in his throat when two pairs of murderous eyes glared at him.
“Ahem. I believe you referred to yourself as Renya? I recognize that you are human, but I’m dismayed to hear your awful suggestion that I get along with this despicable creature of fat. I had heard from Azu that for a human, you’re on the decent side. I ask that you don’t disappoint me.”
“I’m sorry, Renya, but is there something wrong with you? Are you suggesting that I’m friends with this scrawny twig of an elf?”
They went back to glaring at each other.
“Okay, Rona, come here for a minute,” Renya said, grabbing Rona’s shoulder and pulling her away from the staring contest. He turned away from the elf and, ignoring the pointed gaze he felt on his back, asked Rona in a low voice. “So? What’s the deal? How come you’re picking fights right out the door?”
“…Well, as you can see, elves are naturally a slender race,” mumbled Rona. There was a hint of embarrassment to her hushed voice. “Therefore, humans who are… fuller in proportions are seen by them as being too fat. Or at least having too much meat on their bones.”
“So?”
“This isn’t my first time in the elf kingdom. I’ve been here on a short trip for work before…”
According to her, she had been accompanying some Triden dignitary in her role as a knight at the time. Female knights were a rare sight for elves, and when they arrived here, she was forced to endure a long shower of gazes. With the gazes, of course, also came plenty of comments, the most polite of which referred to her as fleshy. The rest were various obscenities appended to the word “fat.” As she was part of a diplomat’s retinue, no one mocked her to her face, but the hushed murmurs — kept just loud enough for her to hear — and private smirks left her with more than a little hate for the elves.
“I guess that’s also why you can speak their language?”
“I’d rather not, but being the egoists they are, the elves refuse to use the common language.”
She then mentioned that the majority of elves honestly believe their language to be the most beautiful and brilliant one in the world.
“Personally,” she continued after making a disgusted face, “I don’t like it. It has multiple words that mean the same thing, and there are far too many modifiers and they’re all too long. I think it’s an extremely impractical language.”
“Okay, sure. Some of that was a bit irrelevant, but I get where you’re coming from.”
Renya patted Rona on the shoulder and instructed her to stand by with Shion. Then, he turned to Croire. At a glance, with her delicate figure and short stature, she would have passed for a middle school student. Her age and experience, however, seemed to exude from her in an aura that no middle school student could ever hope to match.
“My companion caused some trouble. I apologize for that,” Renya said as he lowered his head.
First, the apology. When first impressions were still being made, it was not appropriate to let any antagonism show, regardless of what one thought on the inside.
“I apologize as well. It appears that I let my emotions get the better of me.”
When Renya looked back up, he was surprised to find Croire lowering her head as well. All the talk about elves being arrogant egoists had made him expect a snide remark or two in return.
“You looked surprised. Though, I suppose I can’t fault you.”
“Oh, uh, sorry. It’s just that I’d heard you’re a proud people, so I was caught off guard a little… Is there a reason for it?” he asked curiously.
The elf regarded him intently. After a while, she beckoned him with her hand and led him away from the others. Once they were standing in the corner of the room, she spoke again.
“What I’m about to tell you is a secret. Do you understand?”
“…Sure. I won’t say a word to anyone else.”
Seeing that he nodded, Croire leaned toward him and whispered into his ear.
“The truth is, the elf kingdom has seen a certain trend in recent years. Some elves have been trying to change the ideals of beauty. You could call it a reformation movement of sorts…”
“Hm?”
“They’re proposing that women more endowed in flesh, such as your companion there, embody a form of beauty in their own right. They’ve even suggested that the sexual potency of such women may eclipse those of normal elves, making them superior…”
“Hmmm?”
Renya frowned. The conversation seemed to be heading in a strange direction.
“So, what you’re saying is…”
“…If I’m to be honest, I’d say that this might be what one would call ‘jealousy.’”
Renya looked at Croire. He would have thought the elf was sulking, had it not been for the faint color in her cheeks. His mouth opened, but no words came. He closed it and blinked a few times. All he could do was stare at her.
It was said that elves usually built their cities in forests, and the town Renya’s group found themselves in after stepping out of the transfer gate was no exception. Elves were also referred to as forestfolk, and true to that name, they shared a common desire to live in the woods, preferring the company of trees to rocks or sand. As a result, elven architecture often employed living trees as pillars in their construction. Some structures were such a peculiar sight that Renya simply had no idea how they were even built.
As it turned out, the place where Renya’s group had stepped out of the transfer gate was actually a room in the Adventurers School of the elven city of Gran Kain. Their guide, Croire, happened to be a student of the school.
“Why did they send a student?” he asked as the elf led them out of the room.
First of all, he didn’t think they needed a guide, and even if one was to be arranged, a school would surely assign a teacher. Which school would send one of its students on a job like this? As they walked toward the outside of the school, Croire turned her head back toward them and gave a simple answer.
“Because she’s exceptional, probably?” She went through the motion of proudly puffing out her chest. It was only the motion. One could not, after all, puff out what was not there.
“They must have made a mistake, then, putting such top-level talent on a job like this, don’t you think?”
“The task is to prevent trouble before it occurs. Mediocrity will not suffice.”