Chapter 284

284th Episode

Short Leisure 284 – Short Leisure #6

Eventually, Elpride pressed her lips to Luna’s cheek.

Then, with a chomp, she started to s*ck on Luna’s cheek as if biting into it. Luna’s cheek stretched out like a clump of cheese.

Chomp.

The sight was akin to how wolves express affection. Wolves reportedly show affection by biting each other’s cheeks, faces, or necks.

Of course, Elpride wasn’t expressing any affection toward Luna. This was clearly her enjoying watching Luna squirm with discomfort over something she disliked.

“Hyeoooyaak!”

Indeed, Luna writhed around as if Elpride were truly eating her face.

After indulging in Luna’s cheek for what seemed like an eternity, Elpride evidently thought she’d had enough and abruptly released her hold on Luna’s cheek. In response, Luna leapt back immediately, narrowing her eyes and wrinkling her brow as if she’d been waiting for this moment.

“That’s it! I told you not to do it! This time, I won’t let you!”

Luna readjusted her stance in a low position and began rubbing her reddened cheek.

Still, Elpride casually wiped her lips as if completely unfazed by the situation.

“Your reaction is amusing.”

Amusing reaction?

It was the mindset of a bully tormenting weaker children.

Even so, I found myself agreeing with Elpride’s assessment. Luna’s raw and unfiltered reactions were indeed the type of victim Elpride seemed to enjoy tormenting.

Today, however, Luna appeared different from usual.

Goooh!

A sinister energy radiated from Luna as she crouched low to the ground.

Just as I thought something extraordinary was about to happen, Elpride grabbed Luna’s waist and began shaking her back and forth again.

“Huh, ugh, UAAAAH! Why, why doesn’t it work?!”

Whatever Luna had intended to do, she clearly couldn’t overcome Elpride. After all, it was only natural for Luna, with her wood attribute, to be powerless against Elpride, who possessed a fire attribute.

Anything Luna attempted would only serve as kindling to feed the flames of Elpride’s sadistic tendencies.

“Hey, that’s enough. She obviously doesn’t like it.”

Even as I tried to intervene, Elpride continued to poke and prod at Luna’s cheeks and arms, not letting go until I spoke up.

Finally, with a dull thud, Luna collapsed to the ground. Elpride dusted herself off and remarked:

“A weird but cute kid, huh? Where did you find someone like her?”

“Me too, every time I see her, I wonder the same thing.”

Apparently, Elpride had taken a liking to Luna in her own way.

Though I’m not entirely sure, I’ve heard that women, like myself, tend to favor those who are cute or beautiful.

Even experiments conducted with animals such as dogs or cats have shown that they prefer food held by more attractive women over plain ones.

Is being drawn to beauty an irresistible instinct, perhaps?

“Grrr…”

The moment came to mind when Luna herself had marveled at how pretty Elpride looked upon their first encounter.

Of course, all she can do now is growl while hiding behind my back.

“Hassan, can you try to drive her away?”

Apparently, Luna felt she couldn’t handle Elpride on her own and sought my help.

“You heard that. Go away.”

“Go away!”

At this, Elpride seemed to ponder for a bit before suddenly remembering something.

“Do you want one strand of my hair?”

Elpride then plucked a single strand of her long hair and held it in her hand, waving it around in front of Luna.

“Let’s make up. I’ll give you one strand as a gesture of goodwill.”

Seriously? Giving hair as a gesture of reconciliation? I doubted that would work.

“Y-yeah!”

Surprisingly, it seemed to work on Luna, who was now eyeing Elpride’s hair like a cat chasing a toy.

Luna gradually stepped out from behind me, inch by inch. However, she suddenly stopped and screamed.

“You’re tricking me to catch me again, aren’t you?”

Indeed, if Elpride were capable of such deceit, it would be within character. After all, she had already lured Luna with her hair, only to grab her by the waist and bite her cheek.

Still, Elpride lazily waved the strand of hair around, maintaining her aloof demeanor.

“I wouldn’t do that. I swear by the river Styx.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Swearing by the river Styx was considered the highest form of oath in this world. Satisfied, Luna accepted the strand of hair from Elpride’s hand.

“Then this means we’re all made up?”

“That’s unacceptable! Buy me dinner instead!”

—

—

—

The tavern where I stay, located near the North Gate – “The Searing Shark.”

The owner of this inn, Belzer, looked more like an adventurer, mercenary, or bandit than a tavern master.

Under his rolled-up sleeves, his rock-solid arms bristled with fur, making him look like a man who had barely evolved past Neanderthal times. His face bore scars, wrinkles, and inexplicable worry lines, painting a rather intimidating expression.

This tough-looking man’s face had now turned a deep shade of red, clearly flustered and awkward.

“Not sure how it tastes… This is…uh, veal ribs with uh…whatever it is. Anyway, the menu.”

Clank, clank, went the dishes as the innkeeper Belzer set them down in front of us.

The reason for his unease was clear: we had ordered a fifty silver-coin course meal, a first for this tavern since it opened.

“This dish I’m making for the first time, myself. I did try my best, but I’m not sure if it will suit your taste.”

That feeling of bewilderment at receiving an order struck me. Narrowing my brow slightly, I thought about how I’ve heard of Chinese chefs who become frazzled when receiving orders for dishes rarely requested, like sweet and sour pork or kung pao chicken.

“Anyway, enjoy your meal. Let us know if you need anything.”

With that awkward line, the innkeeper retreated with visible embarrassment.

As I gazed at the somewhat rustic cut of meat placed before us, I hesitantly picked up the kn*fe and fork but hesitated before taking a bite.

“Hey, Elpride. Is this your treat for real?”

“What?”

“Fifty silver coins? Are you seriously paying for this?”

The idea of spending fifty silver coins on one meal seemed absurd. Fifty silver coins equates to nearly a thousand bowls of five-copper soup. It’s hard to imagine this modest slice of meat and the little bit of flesh attached could possibly be worth a thousand bowls of soup. No wonder the innkeeper Belzer felt uneasy when he received our order.

Upon checking the bill, Elpride said,

“Since I said I’d buy you dinner, that means we’re making up, right?”

To which Luna, still seated at the table and examining the dishes, responded:

“I’ll decide after tasting it.”

As expected, Luna’s survival instincts are strong. Despite her confident proclamation, I noticed her eyes blinking more frequently as she stared at the expensive food.

It had been a long time since either me or Luna ate such costly meals. After all, we resorted to sneaking food from noble banquets just to survive.

“Hmm…”

Luna, seemingly unsure about this unfamiliar gourmet course, finally scooped up a piece of something that looked like a white marshmallow with her fork and popped it into her mouth. That must be what she decided to try first.

I asked,

“Luna, how is it? Is it edible?”

“It’s okay, but kind of tough. I don’t really taste anything.”

At that moment, Elpride interjected,

“That’s a hand wipe. It will swell if it gets wet.”

“I, I know that! I wet it with my mouth!”

Luna pulled out a long napkin from her mouth, making it look like a magical trick where a marshmallow in her mouth turned into a tissue.

Clunk.

I set the napkin in my hand down as well. I almost ate it by mistake.

Anyway, we were about to attempt eating this strange meal.

Clank, clank.

Attempting to slice the meat with knives and forks, we discovered it was rather tough, as if it wasn’t cooked thoroughly. Luna also appeared to be struggling with her cutting.

Is this supposed to be rare or something?

I asked Luna, who was wrestling with the meat on her plate.

“Shall I ask them to cook it a bit more?”

“That would be good. We have a fire mage here who can cook it further.”

Luna swiftly pushed her dish toward Elpride. Elpride, who had been skillfully slicing a fresh, bloody piece of meat, paused her meal.

“What’s this for?”

“Could you cook it a bit more?”

“Ahhh. That’s no problem.”

Elpride raised her finger as if drawing the attention of everyone. Pointing her index finger toward the meat, it seemed she was preparing to cast a spell. Though it wasn’t really like drawing with a stick but rather more like aiming.

However, not even a simple incantation came out of Elpride’s mouth. Her breathing quickened, and her extended finger trembled slightly.

She stared down the meat for quite a while as if in a heated stare-off.

Normally, Elpride could easily conjure flames without spells or incantations to cook meat, so her current state was certainly unusual.

“What’s wrong?”

Luna also found this strange and asked. Elpride exhaled a heavy sigh in response.

Pointing her finger toward the ceiling, she called out the innkeeper.

“Sir, can you please cook this a bit more?”

“Right, I’ll do that. Honestly, it was undercooked the first time around.”

At this moment, the innkeeper Belzer rushed over with urgency, concerned about our meal, and took our dishes to reheat them. Luna then asked curiously,

“Why didn’t you use magic?”

“There’s no need to use magic when the innkeeper is here.”

Though Elpride answered calmly, I felt there was something off with her explanation.

Thinking back, Elpride hadn’t used magic once during the time she worked at the garbage incineration facility. Instead, she manually stirred the ash piles with a poker, even though using magic could have reduced half a day’s work to a quarter-day.

I thought at the time that this was her way of expressing repentance—handling her work manually and laboriously without taking shortcuts.

Of course, there was some truth to that explanation.

But perhaps there was a more fundamental issue underlying the situation.

It’s a common story that people who’ve been injured while handling fire or caused major fires might carry trauma from those experiences.

Could this be the case for Elpride? Of course, that idea sounded absurd. Could someone as talented as Elpride truly fear flames?

While I was pondering this, Luna spoke up:

“I see, you’re scared of fire!”

That was exactly the thought I’d been entertaining but hadn’t voiced.

I knew Luna wasn’t one for subtlety, but her straightforwardness in confronting Elpride still caught me off guard. Now, I found myself intrigued about what was going to happen next.

In response, Elpride silently finished her portion of the meal without any answer.

As the clink, clink sound of the knives and forks against her plate grew louder, it began to sound like a substitute for any words she wouldn’t vocalize.

Once she had finished eating, Elpride quietly stood up.

“I’ll pay the bill in advance.”

With that, she disappeared upstairs, retreating into the privacy of her rented room. Neither Luna nor I said a word as we watched her leave. Then we exchanged a glance.

Luna said,

“Who would have thought that a mage would fear fire? What a strange person.”

“True.”

If Luna deemed Elpride strange, then she must indeed be very strange.

“Anyway, Hassan! After we finish eating, let’s go and dig out the club! We can’t have someone else take it!”

“That’s true, but I don’t know how we’ll dig it up. It’s stuck firmly in the ground. What exactly do you plan to do?”

“I’ve got a brilliant idea!”

And so, after finishing our meal and heading back to the well, I was quite surprised by the sight that greeted us.

“Swear, what is this?”

[Author’s Note] Thank you so much, Gimoru! Kadeom! Baetsalnaegeum! Siljangkwonbeob! AlphaCentauri! Cheonseongyeong! Potatoeserver!

Your support with Patreon coupons is truly appreciated…!!!

And also, thank you to those who sent me manuscript fee coupons…

With your generous donations, we have been able to establish a sister foundation to the Nymph Relief Organization called the Nymph Comrades Association…!!!

If you listen closely, you will hear the chants of the Nymph Comrades casting the “Acceleration Spell” as Friday approaches…!!!

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