Chapter 75: Volume 6 - CH 71

Led by Bauers, an elf elder, Satoru and others walked into the village.

In the center of the village sits a huge tree of incredible size and height, called the World Tree, and the surrounding area is covered with trees. There are no buildings like you would find in a human town. The elves are friends with the trees, and they live on or in them.

Elder Bauers explained this to Satoru and the others who were looking at them curiously. Unlike human society, the concept of stores does not exist. Some say they don't trust money, but basically they function in a spirit of mutual aid in their village.

They walked to the World Tree, avoiding the popular places. Bauers explained that it was not good for people to be seen in this village, and Satoru agreed with him. They build small societies, maintain their integrity, and live in exclusivity ― that's how the elves have lived. This is why they made the decision to expel Liz from their village, even though they knew it was heartless. It is understandable, but difficult to comprehend.

Satoru caught a glimpse of a rare sight leaking through the trees. There seemed to be more elves than usual hanging out around the base of the trees.

「There are more people - or elves - than I expected. That's a lot.」

Satoru had been told that there were 800 elves, but the number of elves he could see seemed quite large for the size of the village itself. Bauers nodded to Satoru, who honestly expressed his doubts.

「It seems that a disaster is about to occur outside the forest, so they are temporarily accepting people from neighboring villages.」

「......ohh」

Disaster――Satoru thought to himself. Bauers didn't make a clear, but he doesn't think it's enough on a national level to call for the evacuation of these neighboring villages. He had expected this, but perhaps the Academy of the Wise was behind it.

『My Lord』

(I know.)

Leia seemed to sense this and called he. He doesn't need to be told that.

They called it a disaster and gathered elves in a place only elves can enter ― this fact is heavy. If Satoru had not been able to find Reine and Liz, he would not have been able to enter this village so easily.

In other words, the Academy of the Wise was just getting in Satoru's way.

It seems that the warning Satoru gave to Sheryl was meaningless. Although they claimed to have no intention of hostility, they were working behind the scenes like this.

After the labyrinth is cleaned up, it will be better to denounce them. And then, as declared, until the Chalk Tower is destroyed....

「Let's just get this over with. Hey, take me to the entrance of the labyrinth.」

As soon as he reached the base of the world tree and saw a few old elves greeting the Elder, Satoru said so.

「No, I thought you might want to recover from your journey first.」

「I don't need that.」

Satoru ignored Bauers' attempt to say something else, and turned to his companions and guide who were following behind him.

「Rico, Minerva. You'll be staying behind this time. Please.」

Rico gulped and agreed, but Minerva puffed out her cheeks in an obvious manner.

「What~? Minerva can't follow you~?」

As long as Satoru was with them, there was little chance that Rico or Minerva would be in danger, no matter how dangerous the location. It's just that it's low, but it's not zero. In Satoru's shadow, there are two beings who are of different dimension in terms of strength, the 【Immortal King】 Leia and the 【Magic Doll】 Solor. While those two were fine, Rico and Minerva were not. Rico was convinced, but Minerva seemed to have a hard time accepting it. Rico pulled Minerva's hand.

「Minerva. Don't be too selfish.」

「But~ ......」

Minerva gazed at Satoru with an air of loneliness. Ever since Minerva had become his traveling companion, she had never left his side, except for the morning and evening hunts when she was in flying dragon form. When she was in human form, she was almost always by his side. This is the only time that they have to separated――It’s lonely for Minerva.

However, it would not be in Minerva's best interest to be too attached to Satoru. If Minerva gets pregnant as she wishes, what will happen next?

「I'll be back soon. Take care of Liz for me.」

「I will. Minerva, too, right?」

Minerva nodded reluctantly at Satoru and Rico's consolation.

「Uuhh~ ....... Okay~」

However, she could not shake the feeling that she was lonely. Satoru had no choice but to give Minerva a kiss on the cheek.

「Thanks for that.」

Of course, Satoru give Rico a kiss as well. It would be unfair to kiss only one of them and not the other.

As a matter of fact, Minerva fell out of phase with that simple act.

「Take care」

Bauers sighed deeply as he watched the exchange from the corner of his eye. He had no choice but to call his own granddaughter to show Rico, Minerva, and Liz around.

「Please come this way.」

After seeing the three off, Satoru looked at Bauers meaningfully. But Bauers didn't seem to be trying to say anything in particular. He only made eye contact with the old elves who greeted him, but did not say anything special.

Honestly, Satoru could not read what the old elf was thinking. From his interactions with the younger elves, he could tell that Bauers was not so much discriminated against as he was bitter about it. As the one who manages the entire village, he had no choice but to eliminate any outsiders who might disrupt the balance. It may have been the right thing to do as the leader of the entire village, but the choice to expel Liz and Reine must have been a hard decision for him to make, and Satoru can imagine that from the exchanges they've had so far.

However, Bauers himself is an elf. Satoru had been told by Sheryl that elves have a lot of pride, so he honestly didn't expect Bauers to be so condescending.

It was a surprise to Satoru that Bauers asked him to defeat the Demon that they could not defeat, He might be reasonable enough to be civil, but he would not go so far as to humble himself to a human being, even though Satoru imagined he would.

It was true that Satoru had cleared the 『Labyrinth of No Return』

It is a strict fact, but at the stage when Bauers first mentioned defeating the demon, that was just talk. It would have been normal to think it was a lie, as Dietta did, but Satoru did not. Although he had shown his disbelief, he had accepted it honestly.

He can understand if you can see the strength of your opponent, as the patrols of the Academy of the Wise did. However, Satoru had dealt with this Elder without a moment's hesitation, and there was no sign that Bauers had used any of the covert-type arts that Sheryl had used. He only used wind magic to save the young man who had been struck by Satoru and flown high into the sky.

In other words, Bauers believed in Satoru's strength based on his story alone, and stopped the outbursts of the young people many times. As the head of the village, he could not have made such a rash decision. It is possible to speculate that there was some other reason to know about Satoru's strength. The fact that he has accepted the temporary evacuation of the elves around the forest. He is indeed a cunning old man, and Satoru doesn't think he will let he catch his tail easily, but Satoru is not going to let his guard down in the slightest.

Bauers walks without hesitation through the large hollow of the World Tree. The World Tree is still quite large, since a person can walk through it like this. Despite the lack of light in the terrain, the tree was faintly bright, probably due to some kind of magic. They walked for a while and stopped in front of a hollow that was enshrined like a simple altar. The entrance to the cave itself was covered with a wooden lid, so it was impossible to see inside.

「Ingolshenes uses this pit to receives offerings. Perhaps we can get close to its roost.」

Hoo....Satoru amazed. It seems that this pit is not the official entrance to the labyrinth. It would be easier if he could take some shortcuts.

「If it'd just come at the demons directly, I'll take this shortcut.」 [TLN sorry bit hard to translate this line 直接迎え撃ってくれりゃ話ははえぇんだがな]

He take off the lid and took a quick peek inside. The pit is darker than ever, and the bottom seems to be quite deep. Heavy air was coming from deep inside. The size of the pit was about ten feet (three meters). Satoru would have no problem jumping down.

「About a hundred years ago, there was a group of people who jumped from this pit. On that occasion, the Demon directly intercepted them.」

Satoru immediately put his foot on the entrance of the pit and looked back at Bauers.

「What happened to that group?」

「They were wiped out, leaving me alone. This left arm of mine is also at that time. Ingolshenes was so enraged that we had to sacrifice a girl every year for 50 years to appease its wrath.」

「I see.」

Bauers had also fought directly against the Demon Ingolshenes, and had been beaten to a pulp. The missing left arm was ripped off during the battle, and Ingolshenes let the foolish elf live as an example. He had gathered the most skilled elves of all time to challenge this labyrinth, but the result was a disastrous defeat, and to add insult to injury, they had to sacrifice an elf girl every year, whose birthrate was low.

He think it's a bit rash to say, "Let's leave it to humans to kill the demon".

「Even now, we must offer a girl as an offering every ten years. If you could eliminate these demon, we would be relieved of those hardships, but ......」

「You're right to be concerned, though. It's unnecessary.」

Satoru won't reveal this to the Elder, but if what Solor reported about the size of Ingolshenes' soul is true, Satoru doesn't think for a minute that he will lose. Surely he can do something to exterminate an evil demon that would accept a girl as a sacrifice.

But it's not for the sake of the village or this Elder. It was only for the sake of Liz and Reine. Satoru gave the elder a Etern look.

「Don't treat my friends that I'm leaving behind unkindly, all right?」

「That is, of course.」

「Liz, too. If you treat them badly, I'll blow all of you away together.」

I'll blow all of you away together―Normally, this would be just someone talk big. It would be insane for just a few people to take on hundreds, or even thousands of elves now. But the strength in Satoru's eyes showed no signs of deception or exaggeration. This human man is serious to a fault ― that's what Elder realized, and he bowed his head politely.

「...... I understand. I'll be careful.」

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

After seeing off the insolent person who jumped into the pit, the attendant of the elder, who had been holding back until now, snapped at the elder.

「Elder!」

「It's dangerous to offend him.」

A grave voice sounded, completely different from the one he had used when he was asking for Satoru's good mood. The attendants were present when the messenger from the Academy of the Wise came, so they were aware of the contents of the letter sent directly by the High Mentor. It is true that there is a warning in the letter, but even if you follow it, Elder's attitude is too humble―The attendant wanted to say that, but the Elder shook his head from side to side bitterly.

「The High Mentor of the Academy of the Wise has a very good soul, even among humans. I've met him once myself and he was quite a character.」

Humans have a life expectancy of only a third that of elves, and their soul are lower than elves. However, from time to time, there are those who have soul that surpass even those of elves. Graham Coogan, the current High Mentor of the Academy of the Wise, is one such human.

Honestly, I was disappointed with the quality of the messenger this time, but I guess Graham Coogan was in a hurry. Originally, I had felt that he was a man of civility and mutual respect. Even after only one encounter, Graham Coogan had the capacity to make me feel that way. That encounter was before he became the High Mentor, but when I heard that he was going to be the High Mentor of the Academy of the Wise, I thought it was understandable.

「And now he was warning us. In fact, Dietta and the rest of the young people didn't even bother. Dietta was the one who has most powerful soul in this village.」

The youngest members of the sharpest group, led by Dietta, were beated by Satoru. All of them are not life-threatening, but it will take a long time for them to heal from such injuries. Elves are not good at Holy Art, and there are no magicians who can use 【Regenerative Healing】.

However, considering Satoru's skill, soul, and magical power, it would have been easier for Satoru to take their life, but he did not. They were badly injured, but Bauers wonderer if Satoru was paying a little attention to them.

「That half-elf and that man's magical slave are in my residence. Don't let them out too much.」

At the sound of Bauers' voice, the attendant looked a little reluctant. Although he told the attendand not to let them out too much, he couldn't control their behavior. Above all.

「That girl with the dark elf-like skin color seems to be very wary of us. ......

The elves have a natural enemy, the dark elves. They are the ones who originally joined the Demon in the war between human and demon. Their skin color is brown, unlike that of the pure white elves. When the elves saw Rico, who had the same skin color as dark elf, they were quite upset. Fortunately, the shape of her ears was different from that of the elves, so they were all relieved.

「It was bad start. It can't be helped, but.....Somehow, we can make him get in a good mood.」

This is the reason why Dietta suddenly released his bow. He was just pissed off at the insolence of the messenger from the Academy of the Wise, and then he saw that the half-elf the village had expelled was accompanied a human, and even a dark elf, so he quickly fired his bow. It was a minor offense, and he was rewarded for it.

「In the meantime, I will issue a notice in my name forbidding discrimination against humans and half-elves. As long as they are in this village, they are to be regarded as our brothers and sisters.」

If Satoru has successfully defeated Ingolshenes, the notice must be made permanent. Elves have a very high awareness of blood. The discrimination against half-elves will not disappear overnight, but Satoru will not be convinced unless they do so.

It is certainly that Bauers wanted to take a chance on Satoru's interdimensional abilities, and he knew from the letter from the High Mentor that the Academy of the Wise wanted to buy some time, although the reason was unclear. Bauers asked Satoru to take down Ingolshenes, but even if he succeeded, Bauers would be left with homework to do.

Which was more troublesome, Ingolshenes or the half-elf problem? Bauers' wise eyes could not see it.

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

After parting ways with Satoru. Rico, Minerva, and Liz were led to one of the hollows of the World Tree by a young woman elf who had been summoned by Bauers.

Rico has keen senses. Leia had described it as a art of 【Sensory Perception】 while she was detecting traps and such, but she think it's basically a kind of intuition. That sense told her that she was being watched all the time. Even when she was with Satoru, it was the same. Although the number of people she has passed since entering the village has not been large, she has noticed that they have been looking at her rather than at Satoru.

As soon as Satoru and others first arrived in this village, the young elves pointed arrows at them, two of the four arrows were on a course that they couldn't hit from the start, but the other one was aimed at Liz, and the other one at Rico. Satoru had taken care of it, so it hadn't affected her, but Rico had noticed it. Rico also knew that the way the elves was looking at her was a kind of fear.

Minerva's generous nature was not a problem, but the fact that Rico was being shot at without question made her angry, to be honest.

The woman elf who showed them around wasn't wearing any kind of weaponry or armor, but that didn't mean Rico must let her guard down. Rico and others entered the room where they were led with a somewhat tense feeling.

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「Please take a rest in this room.」

「Wow. It's a big room!」

Just as Minerva had said, it was indeed big. It's hard to believe that it's in a wooden cave, but the walls, floor, and ceiling are all natural wood with no signs of human intervention. The entrance was only covered with a cloth. There was only one window, about a foot in length and width, but the room was bright enough. Perhaps the wood emits a small amount of light.

The floor was covered with a luxurious-looking carpet with detailed patterns, but the atmosphere blended in with the natural surroundings. Although the room seemed comfortable, Rico first looked for signs of a device, as usual. ――Rico looked back at Minerva and nodded, deciding that there didn't seem to be any device to it.

The elf who showed Rico and others around was about the same age as Liz in terms of appearance. She was a little nervous, but she was smiling.

「If you need anything else, please tell me. My name is Arne. I used to be good friends with Liz when she was in the village.」

Rico glanced at Liz. Liz also noticed the look and nodded back - she didn't seem to be lying about that.

「I understand.」

「Well then, take your time.」

Rico sees that the female elf, who calls herself Arne, has left the room. She just left the room, but she didn't seem to be that far away. She was probably ordered by the Elder to keep an eye on them.

「...... I see.」

Considering their position, it was natural for them to be wary. Rico approached the window and glanced out. They seemed to be trying not to be noticed, but Rico's keen senses had noticed that there were several eyes on her.

「They're on alert?」

Muttering to herself, Rico put her backpack on the floor and sat down on the carpet. She knew that her skin color was close to that of the dark elves that the elves were wary of. That's why they were looking at Rico more than at Satoru. However, she hated to say it, but she was just a human. The intercourse with Satoru had strengthened her soul to a certain extent, but her soul was still below than an average elf.

Minerva sat down on the carpet and threw her legs out. If something went wrong, Rico would have to rely on Minerva, but there was so little tension in the situation that Rico laughed a little. Well, it would be too much to ask Minerva to be on her guards all the time.

Liz sat in the corner of the room, trying not to get on the carpet. Even though she was happy to see her good friend again, she felt uncomfortable in the village that had persecuted her. Especially when she's inside the World Tree.

And then Rico heard a noise coming from the ring that she was wearing.

『Rico, can you hear me?』

「Ah, Satoru? I can hear you.」

It seems that the art of 【Communication】 is working even in here. Rico was relieved. When one of them is inside a ward, the art of 【Communication】 won't work, but now that both of them are inside a large ward, there seems to be no problem.

『We're going in now. Don't worry, we're not going to take too long. If we're not careless, we'll be done soon.」

「I'm not too worried about the labyrinth, but ....... Honestly, The elves' response, you know.」

Considering Satoru's unorthodox abilities, even the legendary demon would not be a problem. Rico ability to detect traps and the like would be diminished because she wasn't there, but Satoru would probably crush it out. On top of that, in Satoru's shadow there are Leia and Soloru, two people who are also out of the ordinary. There was nothing to worry about.

But here, the only one who can be calculated as a fighting force is Minerva. Rico, of course, would be a force to be reckoned with, but she had no offensive capabilities. Liz is even more out of the question. There is a reasonable possibility that the elves will take a high-handed approach to Rico and the others without Satoru.

『If something happens, I'll be there right away. Don't hesitate to call out to me.』

「Got it」

Well, as expected, the elves are not that stupid. They know that if they make a move on Rico, Minerva, or Liz, Satoru will retaliate against them. It's hard to imagine that they would take such a risk to mess with Satoru.

Liz approached Rico.

「Just now......That's Onii-san's voice, right?」

Rico was a little unsure of what to do. She was not sure how much she should tell Liz about the ring. However, Satoru had already recognized her as something to be protected. She should follow the Lord's decision.

「That's right. Through this ring, I can talk to Satoru who is far away.」

「Wow, ...... That's an amazing tool」

Rico was relieved at Liz's reaction. There is a magic tool called a calling stone, but it is not common, and even if it were sold, it would be very expensive. If it were the size of a ring, the price would be a staggering amount. It seems that Liz did not have such an education, so she can simply use a very useful tool.

『Liz?』

「Y-yes」

The communication hadn't finished yet, and Satoru seemed to have heard Liz's voice. Liz reacts with a strange look on her face.

『If the elves harass you in any way, or make you put up with anything, tell Rico.』

――Apparently, Satoru has a soft spot for Liz.

In her mind, Rico blurted out something small. To be honest, she was not satisfied. After all, the fact that she looked like his sister must have made him so.

However, it is not acceptable for a magical slave to distrust the Lord. As long as the Lord has asked them to do so, both Rico and Minerva are willing to risk their lives to protect Liz, regardless of their dissatisfaction.

「All right........U-uhm」

『Hmm?』

「Please be careful. I'll be waiting for your return.」

Yeah, There was a slight pause in his response, and Rico sighed. Satoru probably had mixed feelings about this. In any case, he was told by a girl who looked like his sister in the original world that she was waiting for him to return. I wonder if he felt as if his sister in the original world had told him so.

In any case, Rico was supposed to stay with Liz until they get out of this forest. Satoru will take care of the demon, pick up Reine, and once we're out of here, we're done with Liz - Rico tells herself that. But on the other hand, she also have a feeling that it will not be enough.

『Of course. I promised you. I promise I'll come back safely.』

「Danna-sama will be fine. Because he's very strong.」

Minerva laughed. Minerva's trust in Satoru is absolute. This is the reason why Rico thinks that Rico can't beat Minerva. Rico is a bit of a worrier, but Minerva has none of that. If Satoru were to say that he was going to split the heavens and the earth, she would probably just say, "Oh, really?" If Rico could behave a little more honestly like Minerva, Satoru would love her more, she thought without hesitation.

『Minerva, be careful, too.』

「Minerva is fine. Minerva has a good nose, so Minerva can tell if she's been poisoned.」

Minerva's words were so simple, but they were so horrible that Liz gulped. It's hard to believe that a proud and honorable elf would do such a despicable thing, but Minerva is sensitive to such things. Minerva's nose is a little dulled by Rico's menstrual blood on the third day of her period, but Minerva should still be able to detect the poison. Rico gave a small bitter smile.

「I don't think they'll go that far, though. I'll try to be careful too.」

『I'm sure you will. Also, Rico. You should listen to what the Elder have to say.』

Rico was happy to be instructed to do so by name. It made her feel that she was being useful.

Minerva once lamented the fact that she was not useful in the labyrinth before, and it was the same with Rico. In the town, there are many elements that can be useful, such as information gathering, shopping, and connections to guilds, but once you leave the town, Rico has few advantages. Satoru gave Rico a lot of credit for clearing the 『Labyrinth of No Return』, but she wanted to be even more useful so that Satoru would not want to let her go.

「Information gathering?」

『Well, that's about it. I don't care what they're thinking at this point. Unless they're messing with me, you, Liz, and Reine-san.』

Satoru also seemed to predict that there was something going on in the village of the elves, including the Elder. However, Rico was confused for a moment when she was also told that she could ignore it.

「Huh?」

『I think it has something to do with the Academy of the Wise and the whereabouts of Yarth. This region seems miss. You know, there's some information that only elves have.」

「Oh, that's right.」

Speaking of which. If this region is miss, they will have to move in search of Yarth's whereabouts. Rico hadn't heard directly, but she had heard that the Academy of the Wise had no idea where Yarth was. If so, there was no advantage to staying in this region.

Rico noticed that Liz looked a little sad. It seemed that she, too, was finding it difficult to separated with Satoru. But she didn't think it would be good for Satoru to take her with him. Even Rico was so reluctant.

『Also. If you're going to gather information in the village, do it with boldly.』

「Boldly?」

『Yes. There are hardly any humans in the village anyway, so no matter what you do, you will stand out. Then you'd better be boldly.』

There is no such word as "Boldly" in thief Rico's dictionary. But as Satoru said, even if you sneak around gathering information, you'll stand out just by being human, so there's no point in sneaking around.

「Understood. Take care, Satoru.」

『Okay. I'll see you later.』

Rico breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the art of 【Communication】 cut off.

At the same time, Rico felt Satoru's trust in her, which made her happy and made her smile unconsciously. For Satoru, it's not only herself and Minerva, but Satoru also considers Liz as something he doesn't want to lose. Of course, it was dangerous to be in the labyrinth, but Satoru trusted Liz to Rico and Minerva - proof that Satoru trusted Rico and Minerva.

Satoru also entrusted Rico with gathering information in places that were out of his reach.

――I want to live up to Satoru's trust.

These words were swirling around in Rico's head.

Fortunately, there was only a piece of cloth separating the passage from the room they were in. If you look closely, you can see that it has a lid, but there is nothing to hide at this point. Rico listened to the sound of people talking from the passageway.

「You're back.」

Rico heard a voice saying "Elder," which meant that the person she was looking for had sent Satoru to the entrance of the labyrinth and had returned. Rico sat up. Minerva, who was stretching out her legs, looked at Rico.

「Rico, are you going somewhere?」

「Mm, I'm going to the Elder.」

「Then Minerva will go with you.」

Minerva straightened her legs and stood up.

「Eh?」

Rico was surprised at Minerva's unexpected comment. Rico was going to ask Minerva to stay here and protect Liz. Minerva smiled at Rico.

「Minerva should not leave either Rico or Danna-sama. That's what Minerva has been told before. And if something happens to Rico, it is Minerva's role to protect you.」

「......Thank you」

Minerva trusts Rico just as much as she trusts Satoru.

Rico realized this and found her tear glands unintentionally loosening. She hurried to hide her face, but she was sure that Minerva knew.

Minerva had taken care by Rico in many ways since she had become a human. Minerva knew that Rico had taken good care of her, instructing her in a way that was easy to understand and polite to Minerva, who did not know the common sense of humans. Rico was basically kind to her, but also scolded her at times, and Minerva really liked her.

When entering the town of Reyeld, on the way to Ares from there―Ever since Rico realized that she was properly concerned about Minerva and took care of her, despite everything, Minerva knew that Rico was also someone to be protected.

Ever since Rico had been kicked out of Galhassan and moved in with Satoru, Rico had been working very hard. She felt that her hard work had been duly rewarded, and she was happy - which is why she burst into tears.

The relationship between the two was not clear to Liz. But she could tell that they had nurtured a bond in their own way. She felt that she should not become a burden to them.

「Riko-san, I'll be fine. I've always been in this village. As Arne said earlier, we are good friends.」

Rico's eyes widened at Liz's offer. As Rico had thought in their previous conversations, Liz is quite intelligent. If Rico and Minerva were to leave this place, even for a little while, it would mean that Liz would be alone. Liz knew that Rico was thinking that it would be a bad idea to leave Liz alone when she was told not to. Originally, this was Liz's home village. She had many acquaintances here. And now that the radical Dietta has collapsed, there is no one who would want to go to the trouble of finding Liz and messing with her.

Rico also smiled at her, sensing her concern. Somewhere in Rico's heart, she felt ashamed of herself for thinking that Liz was an enemy who would steal Satoru's heart.

「All right, I'm sorry, Liz. Please take care this place.」

「Sure」

She smiled back at Rico.

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