Chapter 11:
Parental Love
BACK AT FILIA’S HOME, we had lunch together with Elgis and Fira. After we finished cleaning up, Fira came back to the table and smiled at me.
“Thank you for helping me pick up the dishes, Yuri.”
Huh? All I’d done was carry my own share of tableware. I could’ve done way more, honestly. I was about to say “Pssh, ain’t nothin.” Then I hesitated. Whew, close call. I had to keep talking respectful-like.
“Oh no, thank you, you’re far too kind.”
“Yuri,” said Fira knowingly, “you don’t have to strain yourself, you know? You don’t need to be so humble either. It sounds like you’re a little unaccustomed to speaking this way.”
Wait, how did she know I wasn’t used to it? Did she have the same Telepathy ability as Filia?!
Filia gave me a look. “You don’t need to read minds to see that.”
Was I that obvious? I’d thought I was improving, but finding the right words could be so difficult.
“Besides,” Fira continued, “you’re Lia’s partner, right? In that case, you don’t need to be so reserved.”
“All right. In that case, I’ll gladly accept your offer—thanks.” Speaking formally isn’t supposed to make whoever you’re speaking to feel uncomfortable. If the two of them preferred I just be myself, then I supposed it was fine.
“Now that we’re all finished with lunch,” said Fira, “are you two going out again? Lia, Yuri?”
Filia shook her head. “No, I’d like to talk with you both for a short while.”
It was probably important to take some time and talk with her parents so she could really open up and speak frankly about her abilities. Also, it’s just important for a family to make time for conversation, you know?
I asked Filia “Is it okay for me to stick around?” with my eyes, and she nodded “Yes.” I’d assumed it’d be better if this remained just between them as a family, but apparently that was all me worrying too much.
“You’d like to…talk. May I ask, then—if that’s all right,” said Fira carefully, “what’s outside of the woods? We know so little about it.”
“Okay. Hmm…” Filia nodded. “I suppose I’ll start from the point when I met Yuri.” She turned to me suddenly and whispered in a low voice, “Leave it to me, Yuri: I’ll clear your name for you!”
“Hey, wait a minute, when did my name need clearin’ exactly?” That didn’t sound right at all!
But Filia didn’t listen to my appeal and got right into telling her tale.
She mainly spoke about her journey with me. I was under the impression that she’d been in a real spot, just wandering around aimlessly before we met, so maybe there wasn’t much to say about what had happened before. She talked about registering with the guild, the fight with the Grim Reaper, the magic battle tournament. She also gave an impassioned speech about the deliciousness of Slime Jelly. Whoa, that had really been a milestone for her, huh?
Still, she was probably trying not to worry her parents. I mean, she didn’t even bring up being kidnapped. Finally, the topic of the conversation gradually shifted toward more and more recent events.
“Oh, and listen to this: Yuri defeated a majin.”
“A majin?! Th-that’s incredible…” Her parents looked even more shocked when they heard that. So even elves who lived deep in the forest knew about the strength of majin, and I still hadn’t? Ugh.
“My goodness, Yuri, what is the secret of your strength?”
“Daily training to develop stronger muscles. For example…” I raised my fist up in the air—then smashed it into my own face as hard as I could. SMACK! A dull sound echoed throughout the room.
Filia sighed. “Well, that’s that. Yuri’s finally lost it.”
“Nope. This is a totally unique training exercise of my own design. I punch myself. See, that way I can both punch and be punched at the same time! Brilliant, huh?”
“You said, with a twinkle in your eye. Mother, Father, I know you’re speechless and, yes, I am afraid he is just like this.”
C’mon, it was a huge time-saver of a technique! But apparently, the excellence of this method wasn’t quite getting across to them.
“Maybe it’s the passage of time,” I mused. “Elves and humans just see time differently, huh? If you were humans, the minute you learned about this technique, you’d probably all start smacking yourselves and shedding tears of joy, huh?”
“Yuri, that sounds—quite frankly—horrifying.”
Good grief. Ah, Filia, saying such odd stuff all the time! I mean, who wouldn’t want to see a training session?
“Let’s get back to the story,” said Filia, grabbing her drink. But just as she was about to take a sip, the wooden cup slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground, spilling the water across her clothes and onto the floor.
“Gyahh!” Filia cried, trembling. “O-oh no, now I’ve done it…”
Fira shook her head. “Come now, dear, you were just being a little scatterbrained. I’ll clean up. Why don’t you go upstairs and change?”
“Th-thank you, Mother. I will,” replied Filia, heading upstairs.
Elgis and Fira forced a small chuckle.
“She’s the same as always, isn’t she?” said Elgis.
“It’s a bit of a relief, really,” said Fira.
“Did Filia used to be that scatterbrained?”
“Oh, yes. She’s always been proper, but she can be so absentminded sometimes.”
Filia’s parents really knew her well. Even though Filia had this incredible air of competence, along with a beautiful face and a gentle demeanor, in reality, she could be pretty clumsy. But, well, her parents’ expressions were tinged with seriousness now.
“Lia looked like she was having so much fun. Thank you, Yuri,” said Elgis.
“We really—well, I believe we really hurt that girl. So Yuri, thank you for saving her,” said Fira.
Both of them bowed deeply toward me. Wait, what was going on?
“I dunno what you’re talking about. I don’t remember doing anything like that for Filia.”
“You rescued her when she lost her path, and, well, we never thought we’d get the chance to talk to Lia again, after how deeply we hurt her. We’re truly grateful.”
They’d hurt Filia? When—oh, they were talking about when their behavior changed back then, right? It just seemed so weirdly impossible now, though. Both yesterday and today, I had only seen Elgis and Fira as sweet, good parents. Even I, a stranger, could see they loved their daughter. Had their faith in the Almighty Wind God really driven them to be so cruel?
“Why did you treat Filia coldly?” I asked. “Filia told me it was because you believed so strongly in the Almighty Wind God, but…was that really it?”
“My faith isn’t… I’m not deeply religious, but I didn’t have the courage to stand up to the village.” Elgis bit his lip and looked at the floor.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Belief in the Almighty Wind God has been fading in this village for some time. These days, the only person with a truly deep devotion is the village chief. It is said that for generations, the blood of the Wind God has flowed in the veins of his family. His authority is so great that if you dare defy him…you can no longer live in the village.”