Chapter 10.3 (1/2)

「It seems she likes you」

Nut is saying so in a joking tone.

Certainly, I can feel something like goodwill from the elf girl.

The girl keeps walking ahead.

A while later, an unusual phenomenon happened in front of our eyes.

Though it’s still like a normal forest, I can feel that something is different.

「You noticed that barrier just now, it’s amazing right?」

「Barrier？」

「Yes, it’s a magic that will make those who enter the boundary to lose their way. That’s why, you must follow me」

The girl continues to walk ahead just like that.

And then, we arrived at the base of a big tree.

That was an extremely big tree. There are several houses on a branch of the tree.

I was unintentionally dazed as I looked at that. That was a tree house which I had only seen in the TV.

In fact, I have a bit for yearning for this kind of house, since it felt more like a secret base.

「This place is my house.」

So she says.

「Tess！！ ！ 」

A voice is calling from above. When I look at that direction, a woman comes out from one of the tree houses.

The woman looks like she’s just a few years older than the elf girl. That woman is getting down from the tree.

「Ah, mama！ ！ I’m back！ ！ 」

I’m surprised when the elf girl called that woman “Mama”. And, here I thought that she might be the elf girl’s elder sister.

「Tess！！ It’s not ‘I’m back’.  Where did you run away！！ Moreover…」

The mother of the girl is looking at us.

「Who is this gentleman？」

The mother of the girl is staring at us.

She was a beauty just like her daughter. I just couldn’t keep my calm when I see her.

「Mama！ ！ He’s an amazing person you see！ ！ I mean, he’s the one who defeated that Scylla！ ！ 」

The girl introduces me to her mother while clinging onto my arm.

I can feel the softness of the girl’s body sticking on my body.

「Scylla…Is it the Scylla of that fountain?」

The mother is scanning me from head to toe.

「He… Doesn’t seem to be that strong, isn’t he?」

And then says those words.

「Mama！ ！ You’re being rude to him！ ！ 」

The girl is rebutting her mother.

「Ah, you’re right, my apologies. It’s my pleasure to meet a human gentleman such as you. I’m Davia of Hardy forest and the mother of that Tess beside you」

Davia offers her greeting. It seems the name of the elf girl is Tess.

「Yes, My name is… Kuro. I’m in the middle of a journey」

I pause for a moment and then introduce myself with an alias. Though it would okay even if I use my real name, there’s a possibility that my name will somehow reach Shirone and co.’s ears. So, the usage of my name is extremely restricted.

「Mama, Kuro is in the middle of a journey, so can he come to our house?」

Tess is trying to allow me to enter into her house even without her mother’s permission.

「Uhm, Tess-san…」

When I’m about to say whether it’s really okay to go without the permission of her mother.

「It can’t be helped then. Welcome to our home then, Kuro-dono」

But, she easily let me into the house.

Honestly, is it really okay for her to let an unfamiliar man into her house? Or rather, is it a part of their culture？

According to Ruugas, the elven race was not that friendly to humans. There’s no way for Ruugas’ knowledge to be incorrect.

Tess’ house is located high in the giant tree. There’s no ladder or stairs to ascend to her house.

How are we going to climb it? When I’m thinking about the problem at hand, Tess gently floats upward and reaches her house. Somehow, this height isn’t a problem for the elven race who are excellent in spirit magic.

「Come over here, Kuro！！ You should be able to fly, right? 」

Tess is showing a nonchalant smile.

Certainly, this height isn’t that much of a problem to me.

Since I’m interested in this tree house and her mother has also given her permission, let’s enter the house.

I arrive at the tree house while controlling my excitement.

And then, “Oops” is what I think upon seeing the tree house.

This tree house isn’t built on top of a tree. The tree house is growing on the tree; the tree has swelled to form a house. It was an extremely mysterious house.

It seems to be growing properly. When I look inside, the light that was illuminating the house doesn’t seem to be made of fire, but it was using light spirit. Upon looking at this, I remembered that in the world of humans, they were using a torch or an oil lamp as the source of illumination. From this, I came to a conclusion that the livelihood of the elves might be more dependent on magic.

The furnishings that I see inside the house is also splendid. It’s completely different from the world of humans. It seems that they have reached the point of using magic in their daily lives.

Though the houses of the elven race seem primitive at glance, the interiors seem to be far more comfortable than the dwelling place of the humans in this world.

This world is more developed in a certain way than my own world due to the existence of magic.

Maybe my world will also develop just like this one if it’s a world where one can use magic.

「Please sit down over there, Kuro-dono. I’m going to make tea right away. Come and help me, Tess」

「O~K」

After returning to the tree house, Tess and Davia are walking toward the place that might be a kitchen.

From the sign, it seems that the two of them are the only ones who live in this house.

The two of them come back a while later. They brought tea and snacks on a wooden tray.

The two place the wooden tray on the table in front of me.

A fragrant aroma is drifting from the red colored tea. The food is one big and flat bread, soup that boiled together in cabbage-like vegetable and round, sliced carrot-like vegetable, and the last one is a cake with dried fruit in it.

「Go ahead, Kuro-dono」

I’m sipping the tea. It was the first time I tried this taste, but it’s delicious.

And then I try the vegetable soup. To be honest, it’s a bit too mild, but I am still satisfied with it since I never had a satisfactory meal recently.

「How is it?」

Davia’s asking me.

「Well, I have never had a satisfactory meal until now. Even so, this meal is delicious」

The elven style meal is more satisfying to me than the human world’s. The gatekeeper in charge of the security for entering the Phteah city from before drove me out of the city as if I’m a suspicious person. In fact, though I might look like a suspicious person in this world, I don’t want to be treated that way.

And yet, Tess and her mother were giving a warm welcome to me which almost made me cry.

「Is that so, then please enjoy your meal」

Davia’s encouraging me to eat my food.

To be honest, it’s been a while since I had a decent meal.

Tess was looking at me with a friendly smile on her face.

「It’s finally a bed after a while」

As the night lingers on, I’m guided to a bedroom.

「This is a bit too strange, right…………」

Nut is saying so with a puzzled tone.

「Though I don’t know much about the elven race, why are they going as far as this to welcome us？ This is just incomprehensible」

I also shared the same doubt as Nut.

They just met us today. Everyone is extremely cold-hearted toward me when we made short stops at a few cities of the human race. Why the elves, basically not of my race, are so kind toward me?

Moreover, it seems that there’s a rare case of an elf falling in love with the youth of human race, but they were fundamentally not so friendly toward humans.

「But, you see Nut, I can’t feel any hostile intent from her」

I couldn’t feel any unpleasant feelings from the girl called Tess, rather it was only good intentions directed toward me.

「Are they not using spirit magic？」

「………..Nope, I can’t feel that sign」