Chapter 83 - Sensing After Camping (1/2)
Ch. 83: Sensing After Camping
The three started towards the Black Forest the next day.
When Loren returned the room key, the owner looked like he wanted to say something, but Loren gave him a glare with just enough pressure in it to keep his mouth shut.
Loren didn’t care much about what was said to him, but he didn’t want to hear something that would lower others’ impression of him either.
He guessed the owner was confused why he didn’t order extra water and towels, but he wished he would understand that even if a man and a woman stayed in the same room, they wouldn’t always need to order any.
“Let’s restock on supplies and start heading towards the forest.”
Said Lapis, who had no way to know what was going on in Loren’s head.
They couldn’t take the donkey they rented, so they left it at the guild branch and went to get more supplies.
“Ahh damn it…”
The expenses needed for the job was split between Loren and Lapis.
But still, the things that Loren couldn’t pay for with the money he had was all paid by Lapis, so it could only look like he was being taken care of by her.
There was no way others would know that he was going to pay her back, so even at the store, people around him looked at him coldly.
“I don’t think your debt got higher at all.”
They were only buying some more rations and medicine as well as a burner and oil, and although the amount needed increased due to Feuille being with them it wasn’t that much.
“I’ll put Feuille’s on your expense tab, okay?”
“Alright.”
If he told her, Lapis would’ve split it, but since he was the one who offered to take Feuille home, he didn’t feel like letting her pay for half of it, so he didn’t and just nodded.
Although Lapis showed a look of complaint for a second, her expression immediately returned to normal, and she started wrapping up the things they bought and paid for it.
“Umm…I’ll pay for everything you bought for me when we get to the village…”
Loren interrupted Feuille by putting his hand on his head and patting him with an awkward smile on his face.
But with Loren’s large hand and Feuille’s small head, to Loren he was patting on the head, but to Feuille it was being spund around in place, so as he stumbled around, he managed to catch hold of a shelf and not fall.
“Don’t worry about it. Just focus on getting to your village for now. We don’t know where it is, so you’ll have to take us there, alright?”
“O-okay.”
“It’s not like we haven’t thought this through, either. We’re planning on hunting monsters in the forest, so it’ll be great to have an elf who’s familiar with the forest helping us out.”
At Feuille’s worried look, Loren told him the way he could help that he had thought about the while night.
Loren didn’t mind him thinking that they were helping him out of kindness, but he also knew that not asking for something in return could cause him to doubt and be suspicious of them.
People tended to not trust in those kinds of things.
To put Feuille at ease, Loren decided to tell him that they were looking for something in return.
But if he was too greedy, he could give a bad impression to Feuille’s parents as well as those in the village.
And so, Loren decided on getting information about the Black Forest through an elf who was familiar with it.
This way he wasn’t being greedy and wouldn’t hurt the elves in the village either.
Even if they didn’t get much information, it was fine since they never planned on having an elf with them in the first place, so if they did get some useful information, that was a bonus.
“So, don’t think about it too hard and let us take care of you, alright?”
“Thank you.”
As Feuille thanked him and Loren took his hand from his head with a smile, Lapis, who had finished shopping, tugged his sleeve.
“What’s up?”
“Don’t you think that you could direct that kindness towards me sometimes?”
“I believe I’m pretty lenient about your actions, don’t you think?”
At Loren’s words, asking if he should be even kinder than he was, Lapis ran off, thinking that he might do the opposite.
As they finished buying everything they needed and ate lunch, they started walking towards the Black Forest.
The forest was half a day away.
It was very large and got its name from the fact that the deeper you go, the darker it became from the canopy blocking the sunlight, but there were several races, including elves, that lived there in small villages.
“There’s creatures from goblins and orcs to races like us elves as well as fairies.”
On the road, Feuille talked as best he could, trying to tell Loren and Lapis’ all he knew about the forest.
“What’s the difference between elves and fairies?”
“Fairies are small and have wings, while elves are big and don’t have wings. It’s said that we used to be the same as race.”
‘I must look like a fairy.’
In the corner of Loren’s eye, Shayna fluttered the wings on her back.
As Loren looked at the girl that only he could see, thinking if it were so, Lapis gave an added explanation.
It was said that fairies and elves used to be beings that only had astral bodies called spirits.
Among those that somehow got physical bodies, the ones who received human like bodies became elves, while the ones who retained their forms as spirits became fairies.
Both races liked natural environments such as forests, hated metals like iron and copper, were quite proud, and tended to look down on humans.
The elf archer he had met before didn’t have an air of pride about her and didn’t look down on others, but maybe she changed after spending so much time with humans.