Chapter 243: Welcome Dinner and Trouble from an Unexpected Source (1/2)

“How is it?”

“Well?”

“You guys look very cute.”

I unreservedly praised Mimi and the others, who were now sporting traditional elven clothing, and gave them a warm round of applause.

Mimi was wearing a blouse and a short skirt that reached just above her knees with a long cloth draped around her body…… Ah, I think I remember seeing such clothing somewhere. Oh, right. Doesn’t India have a similar-looking traditional dress?

The color of the cloth covering her body was quite vivid and seemed soft to the touch. I think it was also made from the silk produced by that alien silkworm as large as a medium-sized dog.

Tina and Whisker were wearing one-piece outfits that seemed to be made out of leather. They had a sort of Native American flavor to them. They were simple costumes that predominantly used brown and dark brown as base colors but avoided looking too plain through the liberal use of beads made out of smooth blue or white stones as highlights.

“……What?”

“Nothing. I just think you absolutely nailed it in that.”

Elma was wearing a dress that resembled a pure white qipao. It was the same type of dress as what Lilium was wearing. The dress really suited the slender Elma. Her smooth thighs that peeked right through the deep slits on her dress were absolutely dazzling.

“Yeah, that dress really suits you. Un. Absolutely wonderful.”

“Thank you. By the way, clothes of this color and style are only worn by those who are already married.”

“Seriously? They wear dresses with such deep slits even though they’re married already?”

“It seems most elven men here can be quite apathetic when it comes to stuff like that. I’m not that familiar regarding the matter though.”

“I see?”

So they wore dresses with such high slits to stimulate the animal instincts hiding deep within their male partners or something like that? Seriously? Man, the elves of this dimension really are weird huh.

“But geez. You really are big, Mimi.”

“Ahn! W-Wait, Tina-san!”

“Come to think of it, you two surprisingly aren’t lacking in that department at all.”

“We’re proper adult women after all.”

They normally wore thick work overalls so it wasn’t that obvious most of the time, but the mechanic sisters actually had some decent chest sizes. Actually, Tina sometimes walks around the break room right after taking a bath in light clothing, so I managed to get a good look at her chest a good couple of times already.

I looked on as the ladies frolicked with each other until an elven inn staff came to get us. It looks like the preparations for the welcome dinner were complete, and the representatives of the various elven clans have also arrived. We were arranged to appear at the venue last.

Eh? What about my clothes? I was wearing my usual get-up. I don’t really care about what clothes I wear, and we at least gotta have someone who looked like a proper mercenary in the group, right? And besides, this outfit will allow me to respond quicker just in case something happens.

By the way, Mei was wearing her usual maid uniform as well. Mei was a maidroid, so she basically didn’t change into anything other than maid uniforms. And besides, she’s hidden a lot of shady stuff underneath that maid uniform of hers. Yep. She had stuff like marbles and throwing darts made out of high-density metal alloys normally used in starship armor plating for example.

“Mercenary Captain Hiro and company have arrived.”

When we got to the banquet hall, the dinner host immediately announced our arrival. We instantly became the center of attention. They had generally favorable reactions, but a few of them opened their eyes wide in surprise…… What’s up with that? Was there something on my face?

In any case, those who had exaggerated reactions when they saw me were scattered all over the hall, so I couldn’t do anything about them for the time being. I followed the elven inn staff and was guided to the best seat, or in other words, the seat of honor, and made myself comfortable along with the rest of my crew. Mei stood behind me just like usual though.

And then, the host started introducing us to the rest of the guests.

I was introduced first. The host told them how I managed to capture the pirate ship that the system garrison regrettably failed to secure and rescued the captured elves within it, with the Grado clan leader’s daughter Tinia and the Minfa clan’s chief Nect among them. The host highly emphasized that I managed to avenge the elves who lost their lives during the attack and the damage done to the sacred tree by cutting down the pirates with my sword.

After that, the host moved on to introducing my crew members.

“This lady serves as Captain Hiro’s second-in-command and is also a descendant of the Willrose family, a sub-branch of the Rose clan.”

In Elma’s case, the fact that she was related to the Rose clan was also announced. According to Elma, it was somewhat dubious if someone like her who ran away from home without her family’s consent can still be considered part of the Rose clan, but she just couldn’t be bothered to correct them. In any case, it was indeed true that she was related to them by blood.

“Praise and gratitude to Mother Nature and the visitors from afar.”

“””Praise and gratitude to Mother Nature and the visitors from afar!”””

After our introductions, the dinner banquet finally began with an unfamiliar toast by an elven higher up. I think the guy was the Grado clan’s leader. As for the dishes that were served…… Yep, nothing was particularly weird. Just that fact that we weren’t served insect dishes was a huge plus for me.

“They’re delicious!”

“Fumu, elven grub really is somethin’ huh.”

“Right. But I would have liked it better if they used just a bit more spices though.”

“I think they’re delicious enough.”

Just like Whisker said, the dishes were a little thin when it comes to spices, but the flavor of the dashi was quite tight regardless. Were they a bit similar to Japanese food in this aspect? Hmm, not exactly, I guess. Also, they had quite a number of stewed dishes.

“So this is their staple dish huh. Hmm?”

Their staple dish was something resembling a mochi wrapped in a leaf similar-looking to those of a kashiwa’s. They outwardly resembled kashiwa mochi[1], but can you actually eat the leaves as well? I looked around and saw that they weren’t eating the leaves after all.

“Hou, this is pretty good.”

The dish resembling kashiwa mochi was actually a rice cake filled with marinated minced meat. The springy dough was wrapped around a filling of salty-sweet flavored minced meat. It was quite delicious.

The other dishes included a root vegetable and potato-look alike stew, a soup with plenty of meat and other ingredients, roasted meat with fruit-based sauce, fried meat and veggie skewers, and so on.

“Well ain’t this quite a refined liquor?”

“It’s delicious.”

Before I knew it, the mechanic sisters already ended up enjoying liquor stored inside an earthenware pot. It had the aroma of grapes, so it was probably grape wine. Even though she looked like a cute girl, Tina drank like a seasoned old man. Whisker resembled an elegant little lady even when drinking liquor. They were twins, but what’s with their difference in demeanor……? Maybe it was brought about by the difference in the environment they were raised in.

Yeah. Due to certain circumstances, Tina and Whisker weren’t raised in the same household. It seems there was even a time when Tina hung out with a gang when she was living in a colony with poor public safety measures. But she did mostly get her act together when she got reunited with Whisker though.

After that, she went and worked together with Whisker at Space Dwerg until they eventually got involved with us when we came to the Brad system. I haven’t really asked them about their past much. Maybe I’ll try and open the topic if we get the chance later.

Elma seems like she was actively trying not to stand out too much. I was already briefed by Mei regarding the relationships between the various clans here on Theta earlier. So maybe Elma was trying not to stand out in order to avoid getting linked to the power struggle between the clans here on Theta. Well, there’s no use complaining now, but I was really grateful for her consideration.