Chapter 245

245th Episode

The Elves of Albrheim 245 ? The Fairies of Albrheim #5

“Hassan, I’m going to go see Nemea! I haven’t done my assignments, and I’m in big trouble!”

“What kind of training requires homework?”

“We were supposed to walk Keng Keng for practice in using the spider venom, but I didn’t do it. I’m gonna get scolded.”

Luna was shaking her shoulders with an “Uuuuuh.” She had been quite worried because of the mention of Nemea’s name, but it was extremely peculiar and suspiciously so that her class seemed to be proceeding quite normally.

After parting ways with Luna,

Later that afternoon,

I recounted my story to Kalidur, whom I found again in the garden of the Shrine of Venus.

I told him what happened at the tavern, how I fought with the elf guys, and what I learned from them, quite in detail.

“I dodged that brute’s knee thrust and slammed him with my shoulder, then punched him down, you know?”

“I see.”

Just then, Kalidur’s response seemed rather indifferent. He probably was distracted by something else and wasn’t focused on my story.

“What are you doing right now?”

“I’m watering the flowers.”

Kalidur was watering the flowers and trees in the garden of the Shrine of Venus. He shook a small watering can back and forth, spreading thin streams of water on the ground.

“The name of this flower is SeliKoli,” he said. “When you water them under the blazing sun, they emit a soft powder, as I heard from Sister Hershi.”

Indeed, just as he had said, the flower buds, resembling little silver bells, were releasing strange floral dust into the air.

“Shwoooosh.”

The fragrance was quite strong, like Febreze had been sprayed, but that wasn’t important to me at the moment.

“What? They really did that to you?”

“I see.”

It was like reading scriptures to a deaf ear.

“Hey, are you an idiot?”

“I see.”

“d*mn it.”

I realized that none of what I had been saying so far seemed to have entered his mind, as Kalidur looked completely absorbed in watering the flowers.

“Kalidur, you need to water over there as well!”

“Understood.”

I more or less understood the reason. It was probably because of Hershi, the woman over there who was watering the flowers and trees just as much as Kalidur.

“It’s been a terrible year because of the lack of rain. I feel guilty about burdening Mr. Kalidur with my work.”

“That is not true. Pursuing symbiosis with nature and living beings is the path of our faith. It was a very meaningful and good time.”

“Then wait in the shade of that tree for a while! I will bring you a cold, chilled towel!”

After saying that, Hershi hurriedly disappeared into the Shrine of Venus. Kalidur was silently watching her retreating figure.

Though his eyes remained as cold as ever and there was no change in his expression.

I couldn’t tell what might be going on in his heart, but looking at his cool demeanor brought a certain eerie feeling, like he was a psychopath stalking a woman.

“Hey, Kalidur, were you really paying attention to everything I said?”

“Brother, I heard everything. About your victory over Dermod-”

“Hah, looks like you weren’t completely ignoring me.”

“Dermod is a rising star among us ascetic monks. To bring him down and make him admit defeat is quite an impressive feat.”

“Well, the memory of our fight was helpful.”

Kalidur and Dermod behave exactly the same, so I simply responded based on what I experienced already during the battle with Kalidur.

For that reason, I decided to rank Kalidur’s abilities one level higher.

Perhaps this guy could defeat even Hilpride.

Certainly, Hilpride would say, “In battles of the elite, there are many variables,” advising against predicting the outcome until the final result.

Then, how would it go if this guy fought the Skeleton Knight, known as the Weapon Master?

He’s a skeleton, so he’s far from human, but with limbs, he retains a human-like form. I was quite curious about this when Kalidur spoke up suddenly.

“Was the final battle said to be tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Things have come to this, have they? Actually, I already knew that communication would be impossible with them. They are the ones who follow the words of Mother as if they were the truth…”

“Mother? The World Tree?”

“That’s right. The colossal tree located at the heart of the world.”

At the heart of the world.

Upon reflection, the elves often seemed to consider themselves the center of the world and the people of Gaia Continent as barbarians from remote lands.

To such individuals, I might have been just a far-off savage among savages, perhaps one that didn’t even appear human.

Understanding why Elfriede had been so intent on thrashing me, I asked,

“So, are you guys ultimately aiming to capture Elfriede tonight?”

“I can’t do it. I have an engagement with Sister Hershi this evening.”

“Oh, an engagement? So, you’re having dinner together?”

“I’ve agreed to help with cleaning up the back of the shrine.”

Seriously, I thought they were going out on a date. But, thinking about it, is dating really that big of a deal?

Back when I first met Luna, even without dining at a fancy restaurant, just being together was enough to be pleasant.

I saw a bit of myself from a few months ago in Kalidur. Indeed, this guy might have nothing more important right now than the matters with a lady named Hershi.

“Anyway, they say they’re going to finish this ordeal tonight.”

“Sister Hershi’s official consecration as a priestess is in two days. So, at the very least, it would be good to delay things until tomorrow. Brother, would you consider accepting another mission?”

“Mind you, my fee is expensive.”

“Brother’s body is strong indeed. However, one area is somewhat lacking. Despite the effort you’ve put into upper body strength and hand skills, your stepping movements have not yet reached their potential.”

“Stepping movements?”

“Stepping is the most fundamental yet crucial aspect. If you can help us this time, I’ll personally teach you the advanced stepping techniques I’ve learned.”

At hearing the word ‘stepping’,

I recalled how Kalidur had approached me soundlessly, right up to my nose, without me noticing even once.

Among those able to silently approach behind me, who had rather sensitive senses, were only he and Hippolyte.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“Just keeping Elfriede hidden today would be sufficient. Even simply going to her and telling her to leave this city would be enough.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to do that yourself at that level?”

“No, I can’t. We are—Mother’s dogs.”

With that, Kalidur ended the conversation.

I wanted to ask several more things but felt his usually cold expression had become even stiffer than usual, so I decided to keep quiet.

*

The escape of the silver rose from the Abyss.

It was said that they were recovering after receiving treatment at the wealthy patrons’ infirmary, although they had sustained psychological trauma for some reason, but it seemed that it wouldn’t significantly impact their physical abilities or adventuring lifestyle.

“Hey, I heard you came with me to rescue me from the Abyss?”

When I visited the Forget-Me-Not infirmary garden and found Delphina and her teammates in the four-bed room, they looked at me.

They were in the infirmary’s signature cool-flowing gown, making it feel less like treatment and more like rest.

“Delphina, didn’t you get seriously injured somewhere?”

“What’s this? Are you worrying about me now? You seem more kind-hearted than I thought.”

“Based on your nonsense, I take it you’re fine?”

“Well, yeah. Nonetheless, it might be good to rest for a week. In fact, we’re not in a position to go around chatting outside either. d*mn, inspectors from the Royal Castle are coming, plus inspectors from the Shrine Knights… That’s why big cities s*ck.”

Saying ‘I want to go back to Kolkata’ while sulking, Delphina sat down on her bed and stretched out casually.

Ssst…

By doing so, her gown’s top slightly opened, showing me a glimpse of her upper chest and white armpit.

Perhaps it was clean from the very beginning or well maintained, but it looked very neat.

But as I stiffened my face and pretended not to notice, a comment came from one side of the bed where the muscle builder, Liri, who was fiddling with something like dumbbells.

“Delphina, that man saw your chest and armpit.”

What the…? Is there some kind of CCTV here? How did they know?

I sensed trouble. What if Delphina went to the guards yelling, “That sc*m looked at my armpit like a dog licking!” I might have been interrogated.

However, Delphina simply fixed her disarranged collar and said lightly,

“Huh? It’s fine. I intentionally showed him. We put you through a lot of trouble, so that’s service. It’s not like it’ll wear out.”

Delphina’s generosity went beyond expectations. Indeed, to be the party leader of a silver-tier adventurer team must require a breadth of character like this.

“…”

Right at that moment, a woman who had been quietly watching me in the same manner as the fighter Liri spoke up. It was the spellcaster, Edwin.

“I would allow you to touch my chest.”

Wait, what?

I was honestly a bit dumbfounded. Being offered to touch someone’s chest… that wasn’t the purpose of coming here. Thank goodness Luna wasn’t present. Of course, this time, the request was rejected.

“I’m-”

“Phooch-”

“Ho ho.”

It wasn’t long before the laughter from the women made me realize I had been teased.

This was a room for women adventurers, like the den of lionesses. And here I was, not a male lion but a mere gazelle.

Gazelles are incredibly weak.

“Ah, it was fun for a change.”

After laughing for quite a while, Delphina, rubbing her cheekbones with her thumb, asked,

“So, you’re not here to see us. You came to see Elfriede, right?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s a guy who comes to see Elfriede too, she’s lucky. Why aren’t there any for us?”

“It’s not for a romantic reason like that.”

“Huh?”

I scanned the room.

These were silver-tier adventurers and currently Elfriede’s comrades. Honestly, the first time I met them, I didn’t believe the extremely picky Elfriede had anything but one-time team members for a fixed crew.

For Elfriede, colleagues were always those who could serve her needs or individuals who could benefit mutually by using her power for other purposes.

However, these people seemed a little different.

They were good enough to be considered qualified associates for Elfriede.

Of course, it’s funny that someone like me is judging that, but in summary, they were people I could trust to some degree.

“Elves from Albrheim are supposed to attack Elfriede tonight.”

Kalidur’s request was to delay the capture of Elfriede until Hershi’s ordination as a priestess. If necessary, he also considered potentially engaging in combat with the elven tracking squad.

Even though it was true I had suppressed the giant elf Dermod, it would be impossible to face both the female elf Mimir, who stood nearby, and the silent Dalto together.

Especially that Dalto, with the glint in his eyes, should be approached with caution according to Kalidur. If Kalidur said so, Dalto must certainly be a warrior of considerable level.

So, it would be wise for me to gather a few colleagues as well.

It seemed Hippolyte had said she was too busy dealing with post-recovery matters after the escape from the Abyss to have a break.

Among the strongest ones that I know, these were pretty much the top picks.

“And the elves of Albrheim… Hmm…”

Delphina, who had just been making a playful face, suddenly seemed deep in thought as if all of it was a lie.

“We did know that Elfriede was being chased by her pursuers. But surely, things have gotten too noisy lately. If we fight them, we might end up in really deep trouble with the lord of the viscounty.”

“You guys are Elfriede’s teammates, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you protect her?”

“That’s true. But, we are adventurers in Kolkata first, then teammates. Oh, there are so many things to consider; it gives me a headache. Elfriede is our senior…”

While Delphina seemed to be thinking deeply, fighter Liri and spellcaster Edwin remained silent without saying anything.

This is where my plan to team up with them might falter.

“You guys, if you’re Elfriede’s comrades, you should be more enthusiastic. Is it okay letting Elfriede get executed like this?”

“It’s not that…”

“Elfriede probably believes that you’d be with her until the very end. You shouldn’t say things like that.”

“Hmm, you have a point, but calm down.”

“Am I getting angry?”

I realized that I was breathing heavily, having unconsciously become angry. It was true that my emotions were often hard to manage when Elfriede was involved.

As I steadied my breath and calmed myself, Delphina, who was checking the edge of her sword extracted from the scabbard beside her bed, asked:

“Hey, Samaritan. If our attitude changes depending on your answer, what’ll you do?”

“My answer?”

“You. You said protecting Elfriede is your current mission, right? But, is that all there is?”

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