Ch.138138. Reason (1)

The early morning light at the Count’s mansion might appear as quiet as midnight to the casual observer. In reality, it’s a time just as busy as daytime for those with work to do.

Diligent servants begin their labor from early morning, each with different roles in different positions. Today was no exception, with sleepless individuals bustling about.

And like those sleepless ones, there was someone who woke up early and gathered her companions.

“Everyone, how is your bond with the spirits?”

Friel Arielt wore nightclothes that were relatively lighter and thinner than outdoor attire, with just one coat over them.

She asked this while tidying her hair with a brush.

Friel Arielt’s gaze remained fixed solely on her fine golden hair.

She didn’t look at her companions at all.

Nevertheless, the five elves gathered around Friel seemed accustomed to her attitude, or perhaps they considered it natural.

One of them naturally answered her question.

“Mine weakened for a while last night but has just stabilized. I imagine it’s not much different for the others.”

The gathered elves nodded slightly in agreement with her words.

“…The situation is getting worse. I think we should return to the Great Forest as soon as possible after we finish our business here.”

“Well…”

Pause—

Friel Arielt stopped brushing and forced a smile on her face.

“Haha…”

Her artificial laughter echoed softly.

There wasn’t even a speck of the widely known elven benevolence in Friel’s laughter.

Cold anger mixed with irritation.

This forced smile was the result of cooling that anger and forging it into an expression.

Thud.

Friel put down her brush and whispered.

“Where the hell do these cursed monsters keep crawling from? No matter how many we kill, they keep eating away at the World Tree’s roots and rotting them.”

Her fresh eyes gleamed with a sharp light as the dawn shone into the room.

“I really don’t like it.”

The years Friel had lived.

Her fundamental dignity, built up carefully over those years, began to overwhelm everyone present.

Elves are born with innate talents that set them apart from other races from birth.

But even among elves, she who was born and raised as a daughter of the Arielt family, one of the three great houses, was different from ordinary elves.

As the spirit energy dwelling in her body began to quietly but certainly stir with anger, the elves, who were more sensitive to spirits than anyone else, began to swallow nervously.

Below the High Elves, there exist three houses, and below them, the other elves support these great ones.

“Lady Friel, please calm your anger.”

Except for the elf who usually assisted Friel in the Arielt house, the other four could not easily withstand her aura.

“…Oh my, I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”

Friel briefly bowed her head in apology, then sighed.

Having withdrawn her aura, Friel looked out the window.

The sight of dawn breaking and the red sun rising.

Her homeland, the Great Forest, would also have the sun rising like this, erasing the madness scattered by the moon.

“You said it would be best to return quickly after finishing our work. Yes, then… as the Grand Elder said, it would be good to speak with the head of the family quickly.”

She stroked her neck for a moment.

Her emotionless, bright but dull teal eyes stared blankly ahead.

Her eyes held the image of the elf before her, but what Friel was thinking and feeling was not about her fellow kin.

Her eyes were recalling the recent past, reminding her once again of what happened then.

“I—”

Friel’s voice sank low and deep.

“Didn’t apologize to that unremarkable short-lived species for nothing.”

The human with moon-colored hair, Sione.

She first laid eyes on her at Princess Adelheid’s coming-of-age ceremony.

Her courage to protect the princess despite the sudden enemy attack was admirable, but she never once saw the tip of her sword perform a beautiful line.

Her posture and movements were visibly stiff—

Though she had recently broken through the Expert barrier with a bow… a woman who seemed to have only accomplished that much.

Despite being merely a short-lived species with many shortcomings compared to herself, there was a reason she had humbly bowed her head.

“I cannot afford to be at odds with the young lady. Nothing would be more foolish in this situation.”

Friel’s gaze shifted downward.

The brush she had set aside.

She began to brush her hair with it again.

“For the sake of our and the spirits’ survival, we must somehow bring the young lady and her knight to the Great Forest, as the Grand Elder wishes.”

* * *

Just because elves had temporarily started staying at the Count’s mansion didn’t mean that troublesome things immediately happened.

Well, I did my best to conceal my spirit energy to avoid creating points of contact with the elves.

And from the beginning, the quarters assigned to the elves were quite far from Sione’s and my rooms, so I wouldn’t likely see their pointed ears anyway.

Thanks to that, I was able to spend an ordinary day like any other.

I started my day by first asking Sione not to make strange temptations like yesterday, and then finding and collecting the novels that had put strange knowledge into her head.

While doing so, I briefly thought about what would happen in the future.

‘Adelheid said she would soon be swept up in the rapids of fate.’

Since it’s no ordinary matter for elves to come all the way to the westernmost part of the kingdom.

I strongly suspect that this visit of the elves to the Count’s house is the signal flare announcing the beginning of that torrent of fate.

No matter how fate flows, since Adelheid went so far as to express it as rapids.

The fate of this world is by no means bright.

Given that both the once-powerful Empire and the kingdom with its deep potential have all collapsed in the future.

It wouldn’t be bad to constantly remind myself that I might be rolling through life-threatening battles until I’m sick of them.

‘Should I ask Siabel to increase the intensity of our training?’

There are no suitable quests.

All I can do now is hone the skills I possess a little more.

It would be good to spend more time crossing swords with Siabel to improve my combat abilities, or to teach Sione more tricks and my own archery techniques.

As I was organizing my thoughts and playing with Sione, she stared at me intently.

“Ray, did you mean what you said yesterday?”

“What I said yesterday?”

When I asked back, Sione hesitantly looked up at me and paused for a moment.

“That… you like me much more than elves…”

“Ah, that.”

I meant it.

Compared to those dark-hearted elves, how much kinder and gentler is our Sione?

“I’m serious. You’re better than elves, Sione.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

At those words, Sione smiled broadly, then suddenly opened her eyes wide and began to stare at me.

She looked deeply into my eyes without blinking and tilted her head.

“Why?”

“…?”

“What about me is better than elves?”

…I wondered what she would ask, but if it’s this, I can answer easily.

“The trust relationship we’ve built so far, and Sione’s character too. Overall, Sione is much better in almost every way.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Even my face?”

I looked at her face.

While Sione could certainly be called a cute beauty with a puppy-like appearance.

But when it comes to faces or external appearances, elves definitely have something that transcends species.

“As for your face…”

Nevertheless, the face I preferred was Sione’s rather than Friel’s.

“Yes, your face is cuter than theirs too.”

I gave Sione the win, but.

“Your answer was slow…”

Sione narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

“…Do you really think so?”

“Have you ever seen me lie?”

“Hmm… hey!”

Sione poked my side.

“Answer faster next time.”

After saying that, Sione hugged me tightly, then ran quickly to the bookshelf.

She pulled out a book, grabbed three cookies from the table, and flew toward the bed without hesitation.

Such squirrel-like movements.

She got under the blanket, opened the book she brought, and started eating the cookies one by one slowly.

‘…How many times have I told her not to eat cookies on the bed?’

She really doesn’t listen to me about these things.

Well, it’s about time to change the bed sheets anyway, so I’ll let it slide just for today.

I turned around and said as I was leaving her room.

“Then I’ll be going to the training ground.”

“Training ground? Isn’t that earlier than usual? Sister probably hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Lady Siabel said she wanted to meet a little earlier today to talk about the sword techniques I’ll be learning from now on.”

“Is that so? Well then… have a good time, Ray. You know to come to the shooting range when you’re done, right?”

“Yes.”

With those words, I recalled what Siabel had said to me before she left yesterday.

—Next time, could you tell me about Sione and that elf?

Today, beyond Ainel and Sione, finally Siabel too would learn about the true nature of elves.