"I love you, Rinos-sama, and I have no intention of leaving your side in the future."
Sadie looked me in the eye and said it clearly. She was so cute, even her ears were red. I decided to believe her words and decided not to mention this matter for the time being.
"Well, Sadie. I'll tell you what I'm going to do now: ......."
"I have an idea. I need your ear."
She moved her face closer to mine as she said this. Meek looked at her with a nasty expression.
Meek looked at me with a mean expression on his face.
"Um, ...... sorry."
Kakuin, who had been assigned to guard the room where Princess Janice would be staying, shivered a little when he was unexpectedly approached. He slowly turned his eyes in the direction of the voice, trying not to let the voice penetrate his senses.
There, he saw a young girl looking at him with only her face sticking out of the door. This woman, I believe, is the wife of the tribe that brought Princess Janice.
>
He sends a message to the woman, but she does not respond at all and just looks at him with a tilted head. He clucks his tongue in his mind and thinks.
...... What a troublesome species they are, indeed.
Normally, I would never want to have anything to do with such a race. But they are women. It was almost a tradition of the elven code that women should be respected. Women can bear children. No matter how hard I, as a man, try, I cannot bear children. The beings who can give birth to the next life must be respected, no matter what species they are.
"Yes?"
He utters the words that seem most appropriate in the language he knows. The woman responds with a slight smile and a few more words.
"I beg your pardon, but may I speak to Mr. Ortó?"
He nodded slowly at the words.
......After all, words are unpleasant.
With these thoughts in mind, Kakuin walks through the corridors of the castle. When he speaks, his breath naturally catches on the other person. Such a thing would be nothing but rude. Can't other races think of that? ....... He walks to the room where Ortó is waiting, with a feeling of displeasure that borders on anger.
<
He bowed reverently in response to Ortó's words.
An ...... elf should be like that.
Walking down the corridor again, he admired the behavior of his superior Ortó. As a captain, he knew that he did not want to have anything to do with a man of the human race. But he is guarding the place without showing any such thing. The truth is that he is doing it because Princess Janice is coming ......, but his behavior was truly admirable, taking on the guarding of the human tribe, which the elves are not happy about, without a single look of disapproval on his face. I am working under such a captain myself. I cannot reveal my dissatisfaction here.
But even as he thought about it, he couldn't help liking the man of the tribe. Kakuin is the man in charge of the Elven King's guards and is one of the most powerful fighters among the Elves. He had a certain confidence in himself when it came to fighting. But the way that man wielded his sword in the hall astonished even him. The men who went to capture them were much stronger fighters than he was. And he had beaten them with a great blow. Moreover, it was clear to his eyes that the man was not fighting with all his might. Who was this man? Elves should not be defeated by another race, and it was something he did not want to think about. With these conflicting thoughts in his mind, he returns to the room where Princess Janice is.
Knock, knock!
He knocks on the room and opens the door. A strange scene unfolds.
"Only we elves would kill our own people.
"That being said, ......"
Princess Janice is speaking without intonation. Beside her, the dwarf who had just spoken to her looks troubled. And a man of the human race is watching the scene with a tense look on his face.
Then, who killed Leila-san?
"Someone must have snuck in."
"What?"
"I can't think of anything else."
The Dwarf woman moved her body with a jerk and then slowly turned her head back. Then, when she noticed her own appearance, she looked surprised.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. I was engrossed in a conversation with Princess Janice.
"Well, ...... besides us, did someone else sneak into this village and kill Leila-san?"
"......"
"Oh, I really hope so. You thought so, didn't you?"
"!!!?"
"But the culprit is probably one of the elves. I don't want to admit that. ....... Do you think so?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but that's enough."
A voice came from behind the puzzled Kakuin. There stood Ortó, smiling softly.
"He is not yet accustomed to manipulating words.
"No, what Siddee said and what this one thought were almost the same thing.
Meek opens his mouth happily. Ortó watches him with a smile on his face, and then turns his attention back to Sidi.
"I understand you wanted to see me."
"I'm sorry to bother you. Princess Janice is at ......."
Sidi then glanced at Meek. She took a deep breath and slowly opened her mouth as if to confirm something.
"It wasn't the elves that did this to Leila, was it?"
"That is currently under investigation."
"I'm sorry, sir. How was Leila killed?"
Sidi is quick to interject. Ortó replies, a little puzzled.
"It's ......."
"Good. Even my own people were killed. I feel the same regret and sorrow. You don't mean that they were killed in a brutal way?
No, sir, nothing like that.
"Was he strangled and killed?"
"...... No. He was stabbed in the stomach and left for dead.
"Was blood ...... spilled?"
"...... left."
Meek looks surprised. Ortó bows his head apologetically.
"Blood is our greatest abhorrence. If it has been spilled, it can't be the work of ...... elves."
How can you be so sure?
Elves hate the sight of blood more than anything else. "Therefore..."
"It was not the work of elves."
Meek nodded his head in agreement with Sadie's words.
"I see. So what killed Leila? You said she was stabbed in the stomach. Was it a sharp blade like a sword or a knife?
We are looking for it ourselves, but have not been able to find anything.
"Either it fell down somewhere or someone took it. ......"
We are looking into it right now.
When Ortó says that much, he straightens his posture and assumes an erect and immovable posture.
"Therefore, we still do not know the whereabouts of the bandit. We will continue our search as best we can, so I would ask Princess Janice to remain in this room for the time being. We will do our best to guard you.
He then looked at Kakuin, who was standing by his side, and they left the room together.
"......"
Sadie watched intently, the index finger of her right hand resting under his chin. Sidi's reasoning was about to begin again: .......