A large door appeared in front of me. Clearly, the atmosphere emanating from it is different.
"This is the area reserved for royalty. I am sorry, but we will take care of any weapons ...... that might harm you."
Ortó has a smiling face, but he is not smiling behind his eyes. It seems that we had better not try any tricks to get in here.
I am almost unarmed, and to be honest, I have brought nothing with me. I search through my pockets, but find nothing. I start to think that maybe I should have brought some souvenirs with me. I thought I should have brought something, but Meek was adamant that he didn't want it. Elves are not interested in food. I had thought that if I brought him some o-hagi (bean-starch dumplings) or cakes, he would like them, but it seemed to be a waste of time. Indeed, Meek himself hardly eats at all. He drinks hot soup and sometimes eats vegetables. He never pays attention to what he eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, not to mention the snacks the kids eat.
I look at Meek with these thoughts in my mind. She doesn't even try to change her expression of annoyance and keeps her eyes in the air.
"Just ...... wait a minute, okay?"
Sadie is pulling things out of her pockets. From a thin stick like a toothpick to a knife-like object, so many things came out that I wondered how many things were in this little body. It's like Doraemon.
Even Ortó seems not to have expected this much, and his expression becomes tense.
"Wind ...... sorry to keep you waiting..."
Sadie's voice brought him back to himself. Ortó looks at us a little closer with a smile on his face and continues to stare at us.
"No, thank you. Thank you.
With that he turned on his heel and knocked on the door. He seems to know about me and Sidney, even though I have no skills at all as an appraiser. What the hell is this all about? I thought to ask Sidhi, but then the door opened with a creaking sound. There was no one inside the door, but only a narrow passageway that one person could pass through. Moreover, the walls around the passage were black. It seemed to have been carved out of the mountain bedrock.
"Now, let me show you the way.
Ortó strode into the door, leaving me puzzled. I follow him. Then the door, which had made such a loud noise when it was opened, slammed shut without a sound. At that moment, a bad feeling runs through my body.
I remember this feeling. It's similar to the feeling I had when I lost the use of magic in the battle against the Kingdom of Tana. And this time, I feel it more strongly than then.
I try telegraphing to Sidie, who is walking behind me, but I get nothing back from her. I try to use my appraisal skill on Ortó, who is walking in front of me, but I still can't see anything. I try to fire magic at her, but she doesn't respond at all. It seems that magic really doesn't work here.
...... Maybe it's just humans?
The thought suddenly crosses my mind. I saw that Ortó probably has a very high level of appraisal skills. Elves can do magic, I can't. Sandille's words from the other day come to mind. The line that the elves will take measures against me is becoming more and more realistic. I regretted bringing something to protect myself, but considering that everything I brought would be confiscated when I entered this room, it seemed like a wasted move. But I have a lot of physical skills, including swordsmanship. I am confident that I won't be knocked down by a little bit, but it is a little inconvenient that I can't use magic at all. Probably, if the elves attack me with magic, I will not be able to completely lose them. Then it will be difficult to protect Sidhi and Meek. Assuming the worst case scenario, how should I move? .......
"Knowledge......"
Behind me, I heard a voice. That voice is Sidney. Apparently, she is talking as she walks behind me.
"Knowledge can be offensive or defensive. It can be medicine or poison. It's up to you how you use it.
She mutters to no one in particular. I wonder if she understood my anxiety. But as I listen to her words, I feel the anxiety welling up inside of me slowly calm down. I'm sure I'll be all right with Sadie.
While I was thinking this, I unexpectedly stepped out into a large room.
"I remember this place ....... I remember ......! This is a playground. Go that way and you can go outside!"
Meek shouts in a deranged voice. Her eyes sparkle as she looks around as if she is regaining all her memories from hundreds of years ago, wondering what is over there and what is ...... over here, as I recall.
"Princess Janice, first of all, say hello to your father."
Ortó is down on one knee reverently talking to her. Meek says it's good to see her and looks around with a nostalgic expression on his face.
"Hey Sidney, can you do magic?"
"Magic?"
I whisper to Siddee while Ortó concentrates on Meek. I quickly tell her that I can't use magic, and she confirms that she can use magic herself. I thought that Sidhee, a pure Dwarf and blessed by the Deer God, might be able to use magic, but my hopes were dashed and her magic did not work either.
"What in the world is going on here?"
"I don't know, but ....... This is just a hunch, but ......"
"What? What is it? Tell me."
"I think this is probably a warding."
"Ke ...... wards?
"Apparently, elves can use magic and ....... The fact that only I and Linos can't use magic, and only magic can't be used, must mean that the warding has that effect. That would be the most efficient way.
"I'm sure it's ......."
"However, if they are blocking Linos-sama's magic, they must have god-level warding skills, not to mention considerable ones. It's quite troublesome when you think about it. ....... Just ......"
Just what?
"I don't have a bad feeling about this, so I'm sure it will be fine."
Sadie smiles. Indeed, her words were very reassuring, as I did not have a bad feeling about it either.
"Well, thank you for waiting. I will take you to the king.
With that, Ortó turned on his heel again and began to walk. I follow behind him, looking at Sidi. She grabs the hem of my dress and we walk side by side.
"You guys are so close."
I hear Meek's voice behind us. This is totally chilling.
We walk for a while, passing a few doors, and then we see a door with a gorgeous setup. In front of it, two young, good-looking elves are waiting, giving us sharp glances. Not paying attention to them, Ortó stands in front of the door. Then the two elves put their hands on the door with the same motion and open it slowly.
......It is an audience chamber, I suppose. The room was shining as if it had been polished to a fine shine, with a magnificent gold chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There were many dressed-up elves waiting there, and a throne was set up at the far end of the room, on a higher level. It seemed that the throne was the seat of the Elf King.
"Please come forward.
Ortó entered the room, turned to us and motioned us to come in. I looked at Sidi and stepped toward the room. .......