MOOD FOR LOVE (10)

The dreamlike time ended like that.

I didn’t know how many more days we would have to stay in the elf village, but my brief deviation with Bnuel ended when I left the house.

Having run back to the lodging through the drizzling rain, we changed into clean clothes and were resting together under the eaves on the first floor. The hero was entranced by the view of the forest in the rain, and Mille was sticking close to my side, nodding her head.

Ashuria seemed to find it curious that Mille was sticking to my side, and Lena asked Mille while rubbing the table with her finger:

“Mille. What’s going on? Why are you sticking so close to the porter?”

“The porter smells like my mom!”

“Huh?”

“What?”

I cleared my throat and acted as if nothing was wrong, but when I turned my head, Lena and Ashuria’s gazes were strange. Especially Lena, who seemed to be thinking about something, touching her head as if she couldn’t believe it, and Ashuria appeared to have something she wanted to say but couldn’t quite express, her mouth slightly open in confusion.

“No… well…”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Mille was asking questions with an expression of complete innocence, and Ashuria, barely regaining her composure, asked me:

“A beast?”

“Huh? Beast? What do you mean?”

I desperately signaled to Ashuria with my eyes. Even though Mille was a friendly elf, I didn’t know how she would change if she found out I had spent the night with her mother. There are those who can be persuaded with talk of being a comfort specialist and those who cannot, and Mille was the latter.

I had to fabricate a lie so that Mille wouldn’t notice. How could I smoothly transition from the word “beast”? After pondering briefly, I smiled and said:

“…We were playing Twenty Questions.”

When I demanded Ashuria’s cooperation, she made an incredulous expression and then sighed deeply. Then she nodded and picked up the conversation.

“Yes. Sometimes when we’re bored, we play Twenty Questions among ourselves. Just now, the porter suddenly gestured to play Twenty Questions, so I was just a bit surprised. Isn’t that right, Lena?”

“Yeah. That’s right. Is it my turn now? Since you said beast… Does it walk on four legs?”

Lena continued the Twenty Questions game glibly, nodding her head. Seeing me shake my head, Mille said in a whining tone:

“What! You’re playing just the three of you without me! I want to play too!”

I nodded and called the hero, who was absorbed in the scenery.

“Hero? Would you like to play Twenty Questions?”

The hero didn’t answer my question, perhaps absorbed in the scenery. For the hero, who was absentmindedly listening to the sound of rain, I snapped my fingers and asked again.

“Hero? Hero?”

“Ah, yes? Sir. Why, why are you calling me?”

The hero had such good concentration that once he became fixated on something strange, he often couldn’t regain his senses. I asked the hero:

“Hero. Would you like to play Twenty Questions?”

“What? Tw-Twenty Questions? What’s that?”

Lena blinked and looked at the hero beside her. Ashuria also tilted her head and looked at the hero, and Mille asked:

“Hero. You don’t know Twenty Questions?”

“Huh? Well, that is…”

Everyone’s gaze was directed at the hero. I too was staring at the hero more intently, as I desperately needed to change the subject. The hero couldn’t withstand the burdensome gazes, and Ashuria touched her chin and said:

“I thought country people would know it? It was my prejudice…”

“Ah! I know it! Of-of course I know Twenty Questions!”

The hero nodded and said. Lena snorted with an indifferent face and asked the hero:

“What is it then?”

“A, a nice… place. That… I don’t know where it is. Right. I think I heard that the scenery is… really beautiful…”

“Uh-huh. Sure. Keep talking. It seems like you might know something… I’d like you to explain in more detail.”

“And… um… there are many trees…? Also…”

The hero shrank his shoulders as he spoke, and after finishing each sentence, he looked at Lena’s reaction. Lena was barely suppressing the corners of her mouth from rising, responding to the hero’s statements.

“Yeah. Right. And?”

“And, the road is well-paved, and there’s a village nearby because it’s a tourist spot.”

It seemed the hero had gained some confidence from Lena’s behavior, gradually raising his voice that had been shrinking. His confident expression and proudly raised head were worth seeing.

“Right, I know Twenty Questions is roughly such a place! Right?”

“Huh? Twenty Questions is a game?”

Mille said, tilting her head.

“……”

“Hero?”

Ashuria poked the hero’s body. The hero, who had confidently stated that Twenty Questions was a place name, froze with his chin still raised, and his face turned bright red. The hero, whose ears were also as red as radishes, bowed his head deeply and leaned his face against the railing.

“Ahahahaha!”

Lena’s laughter echoed, and Ashuria’s lips also twitched.

“Hmph… He-Hero… Don’t, don’t mind it too much… Pfft…”

“That… I-I didn’t not know… there, there were no people in the co-countryside…”

The hero was making some excuse in a small voice, but no one believed him. Lena patted the hero’s back and said in a friendly tone:

“I got it. I said I got it, okay? Hero. Don’t be upset. Ahahahaha!”

Mille laughed watching the hero’s behavior, then said to me:

“So, does it walk on four legs?”

I shook my head and said:

“No. It doesn’t.”

Mille asked again:

“Then does it walk on two legs?”

“Yes. It’s basically an animal that walks on two legs.”

I hadn’t thought of an answer. Since it was a problem made up on the spot, I planned to accept whatever Mille guessed as the correct answer. After thinking for a while, she pointed at me and said:

“A monkey!”

I was momentarily stricken and couldn’t answer, and at the word “monkey,” Ashuria and Lena stared at me. Lena, who had been comforting the hero, opened her eyes drowsily and said to Ashuria:

“It’s a monkey, right?”

“It’s a monkey.”

“Of course. It’s definitely a monkey.”

Having no words to respond with, I just rolled my eyes and then nodded, acknowledging it.

“…It’s a monkey.”

“Wow, I got it right!”

Mille spread her arms in joy, and over her shoulders, Ashuria and Lena were shaking their heads.

---

Several days passed like that. The mundane daily life repeated, but I never visited Bnuel’s house again. Nor did Bnuel come to our lodging. Our routine at the lodging was to train our bodies with simple morning exercises so we wouldn’t get rusty, then eat breakfast together, and spend the rest of the time as free time.

During the remaining time, Ashuria read the Bible, Lena gambled with elves or played pranks alone, and I played chess with the hero or read books.

Although the hero claimed to be from the countryside, he was very good at chess, so most games ended in my defeat. My win rate was about 30%, and whenever the hero won, he would say with a pleased face:

“You’re really good too, sir. You must have played chess in the Empire?”

“My direct superior was a chess enthusiast. He made me play so relentlessly that I thought I could beat most people, but it seems I’m no match for you, Hero.”

“Ah, I often played with my father. Chess was his hobby.”

“Didn’t you say it was horseback riding last time?”

“…He liked both horseback riding and chess.”

It seemed the hero’s father was a very refined woodcutter. By my estimation, he probably never put down his book even when cutting wood, and at home, animals would be playing violins and harps. I was imagining a woodcutter reciting famous passages while cutting wood, then raised my head.

The hero put down the chess piece and stood up from his seat.

The urgent sound of hoofbeats was conveying familiar memories. The hero’s face hardened as he said to me:

“It seems our rest is over.”

“Indeed. It was enjoyable.”

A messenger who had passed through the village gate turned his head toward the lodging. He was sweating profusely, holding up a parchment. The hero signaled to me and rose from his seat.

[According to the agreement between the Kingdom and the Demon King’s army,

Kerberos of the Lucifer family is to be handed over to the Demon King’s army.

The hero’s party is to attend this hostage exchange to prepare for any contingencies.]

Kerberos.

The name I had forgotten rose to the surface, and the unpleasant yet welcome news announcing the resumption of the war appeared before us. How would the woman to whom I had whispered false love look at me when we met again?

Reunions with people who had passed by had never been pleasant.

I looked at Bnuel’s house once more and stroked the letter with my hand. The letter, which had dried completely, crumpled to the shape of my touch, then regained its original form.

“It’s really over. I had grown attached to this place.”

“Though it was tiring, it wasn’t a bad village.”

I agreed with the hero’s words. The scenery of the elf village was dry, but we would leave with a slightly better understanding of elves than when we arrived.

The window of Bnuel’s house opened slightly, and I thought I saw a blurry silhouette.

A very faint silhouette, perhaps just my imagination.

Such a silhouette.