Waking up with a purring black ball of fur on my chest is always a pleasant experience.
And it was even better that Ispra gets off my chest every time I wake up, so that I don't have to break my heart by pushing her away.
Seriously, I'm not sure my sanity would've lasted if I had to forcefully get Ispra off me every morning.
Just like always, Ispra slowly opened her eyes and blinked at me, before meowing and jumping off the bed.
I sat up and started stretching.
"Ack! Overdid it a bit."
I rubbed my now sore shoulder and stood up.
Now, it was time to do some actual, proper stretches.
After that was done, I put on my clothes and went for a run to the Adventurer Guild.
As always, I passed the rude girl as she walked out of the Adventurer Guild. We didn't even share a glance, it has become that routine for us.
After looking through the missions and not finding anything special, I ran back home.
Ryuni didn't seem to be awake today, so it was up to me to cook.
"Making some food~, making some food~."
I hummed while smiling to try to feel happy, and made sure I didn't mess up.
"Mm~, what's that smell?"
"That's chanakhi, Kilta."
"Something new again? Honestly, I wouldn't mind eating some more of that pizza."
"I wouldn't mind too, but it's not too good for your health. And it's better to eat healthy."
He nodded and sat down at the table, eagerly waiting for the food.
Even after I was done, Ryuni still didn't come down.
'Weird, she has a pretty good sleep schedule, so she should be awake right now.'
"I'll go fetch Ryuni."
I left Kilta to his devices and headed upstairs.
I opened the door to their room and saw Ryuni lying in the double bed.
"Wake up!"
She stirred but didn't wake up.
I frowned and my face gained a more serious tone.
I walked up to her and touched her forehead. Indeed, she had a fever.
"Tsk tsk, not even two months and you're already skipping work?"
I rubbed my chin in thought.
'Hmm... chanakhi isn't the best for sick people. A shame I didn't check up on her before cooking.'
If I knew she was sick, I would've made chicken soup or something.
I shook my head and went downstairs.
"Kilta, your sister's caught a fever. Don't make any popsicles and focus on looking after her until she recovers, kay?"
His eyes widened and he tried to stand up, but I pushed him back in his seat.
"You're important too, eat first."
He had only barely touched his food, and yet he wanted to take care of a sick person. What was he thinking?
He quickly gobbled up his meal, and then ran upstairs to check on Ryuni.
I calmly finished my meal and closed my eyes.
'Okay, I can now use Extreme Mana Capacity Increase constantly. Next part's all about finesse.'
I tried using Mixed Mana, it worked just fine. Then, I tried to make it less and less my mana.
At the start it was 80% my mana, then I pushed it to 75%, then to 68%... eventually, I got stuck at 20% my mana.
'That's good, it might even last me two attacks before they realize what hit em.'
Of course, I was in a calm situation right now. In battle, I might muster 30% at most.
Still, it was better than what I expected.
'Well, my goal is 1%, so it's gonna take a long time no matter what.'
If I get to 1%, then the difference between Mixed Mana and atmosphere mana will be so little, even other mages might not catch it.
That way, I could cast spells without giving my opponent any ability to react.
***
――――――
...Dwarves are a race that unfortunately went extinct. Between their settlement being too close to the Demon's territory and them being too invested in their craft to care about next generations, they just couldn't deal with the changes in the world. Some offspring are left, but they barely have any dwarven blood left in them.
Elves live the longest, so long that only two elves have been stated to die of old age, but their birthrate is the lowest. They have the strongest individuals apart from Saints, but they are too few. Important addition: Elves did not participate in the battle 100 years ago, so they are now shunned across the world...
――――――
I had been just about to throw that tid-bit of information out of my brain. Mostly because elves are secluded in their own kingdom on the edge of the continent, so there is little need for me to waste memory space for someone I will never meet.
But, for some unknown reason, there was an elf girl sitting in the middle of the Adventurer Guild. Almost everyone was glaring at this elf.
I spotted Souma, Mitsuki and Leila ― who too were glaring ― and quickly walked up to them.
"Do you know what's an elf doing here?"
"No idea, but she should go away. No elf is welcomed in any kingdom."
That was the first time I heard Mitsuki speaking with such hate, but it wasn't surprising.
The war between Humans and Demons is a big deal. To not participate in it is the worst thing anyone could do.
How many Humans lives could've been saved if they just participated? The ones who have the strongest individuals?
'Well, it's Human lives saved, Demon lives lost.'
Equivalent exchange as they say.
I shook my head and focused on the elf girl sitting and drinking some booze. She looked about my age.
She didn't mind the gazes around her, and she actually looked happy.
That said, she was a bit out of it. Her eyes were out of focus.
Her gaze lazily slid across the room, and it swept past me all the same.
She took another si―
She froze in place.
She slowly put her cup down and looked at me.
Her smile gave way to widened eyes. The eyes that seemed hazy now looked like those of a hunter.
'...God fucking dammit.'
My body suddenly felt very heavy, and my backpack only made that feeling worse.
***
"It is a prerequisite that the protagonist gets some elf action, but this is a bit ridiculous. Like, I don't even save her or anything, but she's already at her stalker phase?! What kind of love at first sight is this?!"
The elf that I saw earlier today at the Guild was following behind me. In fact, even while I was on mission with the trio, she was already following me back then.
Back then it was at least manageable, but now she was following me home! That's too much!
So, I started walking in her direction, and she didn't walk away at all, like she was fully ready for it.
After turning a corner, I was face to face with her.
"What's this? An elf following me home? What do you think you're doing?"
I decided to adopt an annoying attitude, mostly because I did NOT want to be associated with her.
And it was all because of popularity.
You see, my quarrel with the Spear Valkyrie and our party's win against the silver gorilla were spaced out events. Because of that, I was still in the background in the grand scheme of things.
But right now? I was still in the peak of popularity due to defeating that silver gorilla. If at the time I am already popular, someone finds out an elf is close to me, rumors will definitely start to spread.
And those rumors won't be good rumors, because elves are hated.
'I cannot let my plan fail now of all times.'
To stay in the background was a useful tool. Every popular person has haters, no matter how good hearted that person is. But a person who nobody has ever heard of? Well, one hater is the limit.
I had signed a deal with a merchant that allows me to get a lot of income, while still being obscured.
Eventually, all my dealings will flow out. Because of that, my current situation is very precious.
I cannot let a random stalker elf get in the way of my last moments of being in the background.
"What am I doing? I'm obviously following the man who made my heart skip a beat."
I frowned. The way she moved, the way she structured her sentences. She clearly had a teasing personality...
'But she isn't lying.'
It seemed like I truly did make her heart skip a beat.
'Problematic.'
"And what does that have to do with me? Scram as soon as you can, I don't want your kind around me."
I shoo-ed her away with my hand, before turning around and starting to walk away.
She grabbed my hand, and I was forced to stop.
"I can see it, you don't hate me. Why do you keep pretending like you do?"
"Because your kind is troublesome."
She blinked in surprise.
"So it is not me you hate, but elves?"
"I did not say I hate them, I just said they're troublesome. Don't twist my words."
She looked me in the eyes, before chuckling.
The sight of her chuckling would move the hearts of all men. Unfortunately for her, I was still a boy.
"I see, I see. Looks like I was right about you."
Her eyes briefly went towards my backpack.
"I don't care about your impression of me, just stop following me."
She quickly shook her head with a smile.
"No way. My mom said to grab onto someone when they make Butterflies appear In My Stomach. I'm not going back on that."
I scratched my head.
'What can I do?'
I Thought about it for a bit.
'Man, why do elves have to be hated in this world? If it weren't for that―'
My train of thought stopped.
I turned to her.
"Say, why me? I'm not the only one who doesn't hate elves."
A hundred years is a long time. While most Humans still do hate elves, that timespan did its work. Right now, not everyone had such extreme thoughts on elves.
Even back at the Adventurer Guild, a couple of people weren't looking at her with hate, and one was even looking at her with pity.
I wasn't special in that department, so... why me?
She chuckled.
"Who knows? I just saw you and my heart skipped a beat. Not everything in this world must have a reason, right?"
Truthfully, that chuckling profile of hers did make my male instinct flare, but I did not allow that to distract me.
'I feel like I'm on the verge of a realization.'
I tried to Think further, but she suddenly hugged me.
"Don't push me away? Pleeeease~?"
I was small. And especially in this situation, I could ignore it no longer.
Because her assets were pushing into my chin.
'―――'
I grabbed her ear and started pulling.
"Owowowow!"
She let go after not too much resistance.
I glared at her.
"If you don't want me to push you away, then say the next sentence: "I love you." "
She rubbed her ear while on the verge of crying, you could almost see the tears.
"You big meanie, why resort to violence? It hurts a lot, y'know?"
Right now, she looked just like a naive girl who needed some help.
I nodded as she practically ignored what I said.
"Whatever. Just make sure no rumors spread."
I walked away freely.
I still didn't know what was the deal with her, but I felt I could figure something out if I tried hard enough and spent some time with her.
***
"Uh... wow, you're even more straightforward than I expected."
She followed me home. Like, followed followed.
"Hehe. Surprising you is something I like to do."
"Why are you saying that as if its something you've done numerous times..."
I slowly shook my head and sighed. I felt like this girl was going to make me go insane.
'And I'm too kind to push her away. Yet another instance of kindness being bad. No, more accurately, I'm pretty sure that pushing her away wouldn't work. She looks like that kind of person.'
"Whatever, what's your name anyway?"
"Shouldn't you say your name first before asking for one?"
"I do that to people who haven't stalked me and who don't already know my name."
She chuckled.
"My name is Kakoheita, but you can call me Kako."
"Nice to meet you, Kakoheita."
She pursed her lips before looking across the room.
"Kind of a big house for one person."
"That's because it's not."
Her brows rose.
"You live with someone else?"
"Yes. I live with two kids who I... adopted, so to say? They also normally work for me, but one of them is kinda sick right now."
A wide smile appeared on her face and her eyes became a bit faded.
"Hmm... so kind."
After saying that, her face went back to normal. I found the quick change of her expression scary.
She started walking around the house, looking at everything.
"If you touch anything without permission, I will kick you out."
I was a pushover, yes. After all, only a pushover would let a girl into his house just because she wanted to. But I also had my boundaries.
"What do I have permission to touch?"
"I can't list everything, I'm not that smart. Just ask one by one."
That would be annoying, but it was a rule with no oversights.
She puffed her cheeks, trying to look cute and succeeding.
"But that's soooo annoying."
"I know, right? Nothing I can do about it though. It's a rule I made up, after all."
I shrugged, helpless.
She let out a short sneeze before nodding with a smirk.
"Can I touch the floor then?"
"Yes."
"What about this wall? And this wall? And the ceiling?"
"You can touch those walls and the ceiling."
"And these two walls?"
"Yes."
"Can I touch this cabinet?"
"No."
"Can I touch this weird metal box?"
"No."
"Can I... touch the candles?"
"No."
"Can I touch this weird metal box?"
"No."
"Can I touch those weird clothes?"
"No."
"Can I not touch this weird metal box?"
"You cannot touch the weird metal box."
She frowned. Her strategy of annoying me into repetition didn't work.
"Oh, while you're testing my patience, let me ask you one thing. Are you a tsundere, or are you a Tsundere?"
She twitched before putting her finger to her cheek in thought.
"While I'm not sure what a Tsundere is, I can tell you I'm definitely not a tsundere."
"And are you kind or are you Kind?"
"Why did you repeat kind twice?"
I nodded. I had found the limit.
'So that's how the Automatic Translation works. Words that are common get translated no matter what. But words that are more obscure require for me to want the other person to understand me.'
It seemed it worked backwards too. When Kakoheita said Tsundere, there was a weird accent attached to it, but when she said tsundere, it was perfect.
'So I can bad talk people straight to their face? That sounds fun.'
That could be used for stress relief in the near future. God knows I'll need it with this elf girl by my side.
I yawned and went to cook something up.
"Whatcha cooking?"
"Chicken soup. We got a sick person after all."
She looked into the pot.
"That doesn't look like enough for four people."
"Of course, it's for three."
She made the best puppy eyes she could muster.
"You're not gonna cook for me?"
"Letting you into my house is already too much. Don't expect anything more."
She whined.
"You're meeean."
"I hope so."
I smiled at her. If she was going to take advantage of my kindness, then I will pay her back with nastiness tenfold.
She slumped down exaggeratedly.
"What am I supposed to eat then? I'm hungry."
"Go buy some food or something. You're an adult, act like one."
"But I wanna be pampered!"
She hit my back repeatedly in a play-like manner.
"Who doesn't? Unfortunately, we can't afford to be pampered all our lives. The most we can do is pamper ourselves."
I extended a spoon full of soup to her. She opened her mouth with a happy expression.
I put the spoon in her mouth―
"AAHHH!"
The soup fell out of her mouth.
"Aww, I worked really hard on that."
"THAT WAS STILL BOILING!"
"Well, I did say that you should pamper yourself. I don't know why you trusted me right after I said that."
She had a dumbfounded expression on her face. Surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad.
'Maybe because it's so funny?'
"Now go, pamper yourself. You deserve it."
I shoo-ed her away.
She walked out of the house while sulking.
I sighed. Being around her really exhausted me.
I poured the soup into three bowls, picked up one of them and went to the second floor.
"Faun here, open up!"
The door to the siblings' room opened, and I could see a concerned Kilta right in front of me.
"You dumb-dumb, I told you you're important. You haven't eaten at all after breakfast, have you?"
He nodded. He looked guilty.
"Don't give me that look. You're just guilty you got found out. Seriously, both of you should learn some self-love. Now, go down and eat there."
"But―!"
"You think being around a sick person all day is good for you? What? Do you want me to take care of two sick kids?"
He hanged his head down and left the room.
I walked to the lying Ryuni.
"You awake?"
Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked at me.
"Don't even try to talk."
I put my hand up to her forehead. It felt more hot than in the morning.
'That's good. The immune system is picking up the pace.'
"You're gonna have to bear with it for a bit."
I raised her body until she was in a sitting position, and then I propped her up against the wall.
I tried to spoon feed her the soup, but―
"...Myself..."
I gave her the spoon, and she slowly started eating the soup. Unlike my worries, she didn't spill even a single drop.
Still, I grabbed a chair and watched her until she finished. Who knows what could happen, after all.
In the middle of the whole thing, she lowered the spoon without raising it back. I could see that she didn't become any weaker, so it must've been for another reason.
I patiently waited and after some time, a weak voice escaped her lips.
"W...why."
I didn't need more to understand what she meant.
"Obviously I'm doing all this because I want you to get back to work as soon as possible. You do understand that I'm currently losing out on money, right?"
Her head weakly shook.
"Li...ar"
I scratched my head, troubled.
I had picked her up exactly because she was so good at things like this, but now it was coming back to bite me.
"It's not as though I lied... but fine, I'll tell you the full truth. Alright, yeah, I pity you. Is that what you wanted to hear? I pity your past, and I pity you because you caught my eye. Due to that pity, I can't help but want to make sure you're fine."
A small smile spread across her face.
"Knew...it..."
One side of my mouth frowned. I did not have the sense of mind to guess my own emotions at the moment.
"Whatever, just get on with eating. It's not tasty when it's cold."
I watched as Ryuni finished her meal.
I layed her back down and looked around the room.
It was a bit different from my memories of when I bought the house.
'She's been adding things, huh.'
Makes sense, she had a harsh childhood, looking after her brother and all. She probably wants to feel like a kid just a little bit.
My heart ached from that thought, but that was nothing new.
I went down to eat my already cold soup.
***
"I don't have anywhere to sleep."
"Then sleep on the floor, or go to an inn."
She pursed her lips in displeasure.
***
My eyes slowly opened, my heart started beating fast, and I could feel a pleasant trembling on my stomach.
When my vision stopped being swimmy, a cute girl's face was in front of me.
"You're creepy."
I sat up ― while making sure to hit Kakoheita's forehead with mine ― and looked at her with a deadpan face.
"Get out of my room."
While rubbing her forehead, she walked out of my room.
I got up and stretched a bit.
After putting my clothes on, I ran to the Adventurer Guild.
'Well, seems like she can listen to some things at least.'
The elf girl was following me from pretty far away. It seems she was truly careful about not spreading rumors.
Once I went into the Guild, I noticed the rude girl by the mission wall.
I started looking through it right beside her.
My eyes widened once I saw what was on there.
There was a 'town-wide' mission. In other words, every single adventurer in the whole town was implored to take this mission.
―――――
A notorious group of slave traders known as "Filthy Foxes" have been sighted near this town. Anyone who participates will be rewarded, but please do be mindful of the risk.
For more information, please be in the guild at 14:00.
―――――
I was confused.
'Anyone can participate?'
The mission looked dangerous, extremely so. And yet, there wasn't a Level requirement?
"Hey, do you know why there isn't a Level requirement?"
The rude girl was a bit surprised at me addressing her, but quickly recovered.
"If I remember correctly, these traders really like kidnapping the Royal kids of this country. The children always get broken out, but they are really good at staying hidden, so the top is getting annoyed. The Guild is probably being pressured by Queen Meliosa, who loves her children to death."
"Thanks, you're really knowledgeable."
"You're the one who doesn't know shit."
Ignoring that painfully truthful comment, all of it started making sense.
The reason they were called the "Filthy Foxes" was also probably because of that. The Queen came up with the most unappealing name she could in revenge of her children getting kidnapped.
'But at the same time, how badly are her children guarded to the point that they are getting kidnapped?'
That was a useless thought, so I threw it away.
"Anyway, are you going to participate?"
"Of course. Slavery is something no one should go through."
I nodded. That made sense considering her personality.
"What about you, popsicle guy?"
"I'll have to discuss with my party. Also, that's a pretty funny way of getting revenge, rude girl."
She frowned.
"I'm not sure it can be called revenge if it's unsatisfying."
I shrugged.
"That's the case with all kinds of revenge. Sometimes it feels good for a second, but it's just emptiness after that."
"I hope you're not saying that from experience..."
"Who knows?"
I looked at her with one eye closed. Somehow, she frowned while already frowning.
"Welp, whatever. Bye."
I waved at her while running out of the Guild. I've already spent too much time talking to her.
***
"Um... who is she?"
"She's a stalke―"
"Hi, my name is Kakoheita, but you can just call me Kako."
Kilta looked Kakoheita up and down.
"...You're weird."
'Wow, it feels really good when that's not said about me, huh?'
Kakoheita sulked. Kids don't lie, so she is faking being devastated by that comment.
"No, but who is she really, Faun?"
"Like I said, she's a stalker."
"Why did you allow her in?"
"It's obviously because he loves me but can't admit it."
She tried to hug me, but I pushed her face away before she could do it.
I glared at her.
"It's obviously because I'm too kind for my own good."
'The last time I broke someone's heart, it didn't end too well for me...'
That wouldn't happen this time around, but I still couldn't help but feel hesitant. It was a memory so deeply ingrained in me, I couldn't get around it with logical thinking.
After some time, she stopped trying to hug me and I was able to continue cooking in peace.
Kilta got on his tiptoes, but still couldn't see into the pot. He smelled the air.
"Chicken soup again?"
"Yep, it's good for sick people. Also, it's pretty tasty."
"Do I―?"
"Yes, you get your own food again."
She went out of the house while slumped over.
Kilta looked at her disappearing figure, before looking into my eyes.
"Why are you so harsh with her? She doesn't look like she deserves it."
"Ah, poor Kilta, you fell for her trap. You see, she's what we call a manipulator. She acts cute to make you do what she wants you to do. Also, it's not as though she doesn't like how I act with her. In fact, she acts specifically so that I will act like I do, and she enjoyes my reactions. Sure, sometimes I break her expectations, but most of the time I am acting exactly along her predictions."
He made a thinking face. Basically, his whole face was furrowed.
"So... she wants and knows exactly how you will act?"
"Yes. Even I'm scared by how well she can predict my reactions. When I would surprise normal people dozens of times, I only surprise her once."
She acts like she has known me for a long time, and it doesn't feel off-putting at all.
'It is only when I do really crazy things that she gets surprised.'
Most of our interactions feel like a play, one we had rehearsed beforehand.
One of the things I pride myself for is my unpredictableness, so you bet I was scared of her.
***
When I walked into the Guild and saw the trio, I was welcomed by quite a funny scene.
Mitsuki was holding up Leila, who was angrily growling and scratching at a direction. When I followed her gaze, I saw a female-only party I haven't seen before. Said party was looking at Leila back.
I walked up to Souma.
"Why's Leila like that?"
"Ah, you see that adventurer party?"
I nodded.
"They're the ones who attacked the silver gorilla the day before yesterday."
Before I could process that information, I was already right in front of said party.
I identified the leader with ease and―
SLAP
I regained my cool and blinked in surprise.
'...Why the hell did I do that?!'
The slap was so powerful that the whole Guild became quiet!
And this party was definitely more powerful than me, so why the hell did I provoke them?!
The whole room was silent, and I just decided to go all in. I glared at the woman who now had a huge red mark on her face.
'They're in the wrong, so there's no reason for me to step back or feel bad.'
I convinced myself like that.
"...Hell yeah!"
Truthfully, I was really surprised by that voice that came from some random dude.
But I was even more surprised by what happened next.
"You go man!"
"What guts!"
"They deserve it!"
Suddenly, the silence was replaced with cheers.
I was stunned, but I didn't let it show on my face.
The leader glared back at me, before another woman stepped inbetween us, and three other women restricted the leader.
"We're really sorry for putting your party in such a dangerous situation, but let's not escalate this further, shall we?"
She had a smile on her face. I could tell it was forced.
"Did you talk with my party before this?"
"No, we just heard that black-haired girl yelling "It's you fuckers!" before the purple-haired girl grabbed her. After that, you happened."
"So you're smart enough to realize the situation just from that?"
"When we informed the receptionist about our failed hunt, she pretty much explained everything. That was probably the moment when that black-haired girl heard us."
"I see."
I now knew the whole situation.
"So I should ask for compensation then, right?"
Her smile broke for a split second.
"Well, you know, we already had a lot of our Trust taken away..."
"So I should ask for compensation, right?"
She had a troubled look on her face.
"That... wouldn't not be fair, yes."
I nodded.
"When can we discuss the compensation? Or should we just get it over and done with right now?"
"That's... I have to discuss with my party."
"That's good. I also have to discuss with mine."
We both went to our respective parties. While I was walking to mine, I saw that the whole trio was looking at me with unhinged jaws. It was to the point that Mitsuki had let go of Leila.
Only when I was right in front of them did the life start returning to their faces.
"That was... SO COOL!"
It looked like Leila had stars in her eyes.
"Man, that felt good! I honestly feel like even I slapped them myself, I wouldn't feel that good! That's how awesome your slap felt!"
Mitsuki had a more mild reaction. As in, she had a worried look on her face.
"I'm not sure doing that was the best decision..."
I shrugged.
"What's done is done. Gotta move forward."
Out of the trio, Souma's reaction surprised me the most.
Because he started laughing. Full on crying-laughing, in fact.
It seemed like Leila and Mitsuki were surprised by his reaction too.
"What you laughing about?"
"Oh, it's, hhhhh, it's just―"
He took a deep breath.
"Haaa, you really took all of my frustrations out, Faun. Thanks for doing what I couldn't bring myself to do."
He patted my shoulder and then smirked.
"Now, let's rob those guys as much as we can."
"I couldn't agree more."
***
"So, are you three against taking that town-wide quest?"
All of them looked at each other while holding bags full of coins. They nodded.
"""You decide."""
'As usual, huh?'
I Thought about it for a bit.
'Guess it's time to pivot. No more obscurity.'
"Welp, let's see it then."