Standing just out the temple were two elves, each beautiful in her own way with one glaring at him in an adorable manner and the other with a much more thoughtful gaze.
Luca's eyes lingered on the first one, who he immediately assumed had to be Luna.
She stood with a calm, composed air that screamed 'responsible older sister.'
Her golden hair gleamed in the soft sunlight, neatly tied into two thick braids that fell gracefully over her chest. Her blue eyes shimmered with curiosity, bright and intelligent, the kind that looked like they could read people's thoughts in an instant. Her soft pink lips were pressed together in a frown.
And then, well—there was the rest of her.
Her figure was nothing short of stunning.
Her waist was slender, delicate enough to look like it could be circled with one arm, but her body curved out in all the right places. Her bosom pressed subtly against the fabric of her fitted green dress, and her hips and butt were so plush that Luca honestly thought—if the fruits he had just eaten were rated on softness, this woman might've put them to shame.
The green dress she wore itself, simple yet elegant, hugged her form just enough to make her look divine, befitting someone of noble blood or high priestly standing.
She was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful women Luca had ever seen.
And then he looked at the second one—and blinked for a moment in disbelief.
Because she looked exactly the same.
The same golden hair, though tied differently—pulled up into energetic twin tails that bounced as she moved.
The same dazzling blue eyes, sharp ears, full pink lips—everything about her mirrored Luna perfectly.
They were so alike that if one wasn't paying attention, they could have mistaken them for reflections.
The only real difference was the energy that radiated from them.
While Luna looked serene and composed, this one looked like she was perpetually vibrating with excitement, like a firecracker waiting to explode. Her movements were quick, her expression lively, and her cheeks carried a natural flush that made her seem endlessly mischievous.
She was also slightly shorter than her sister, with a rounder, softer waist that gave her a more huggable appearance.
"Twins." Luca murmured under his breath, blinking in amused awe. "They're actually twins."
The thought made him grin.
"Damn...one of them already looked like she was sculpted by the gods...but there's another one?"
Unable to help himself, he blurted out cheerfully,
"I swear, I'm really grateful I came to this village. Not only do I get to devour the most delicious food I've ever tasted, but now even my eyes get to feast on something incredible."
Both sisters froze at his words.
Luna blinked, her cheeks turning faintly pink in shock, while Lulu—the more energetic one—went straight to glaring daggers at him.
"Hey!" She shouted, clutching her bow and immediately pulling an arrow from her quiver. "Bastard! Don't look at me like that!"
"Like what?" Luca tilted his head, half-amused, half-confused.
"Like that!" She barked, waving her bow in his direction. "I know I'm extremely beautiful! Probably the most beautiful woman in the world!" She said proudly, puffing up her chest before adding with a flourish. "Of course, below my mother, obviously. But still! There's no need to stare so much!"
She pointed her arrow at him threateningly.
"So quit it! I don't want your dirty eyes on me!"
Luna sighed deeply beside her, rubbing her forehead as though she'd been through this routine a hundred times.
"Honestly, Lulu...must you always say everything that comes to mind? He just complimented you, and you're acting like he's a wanted criminal."
"He is a criminal!" Lulu shot back instantly. "A food criminal! He's out here defiling the Goddess's offerings like they're snacks at a picnic!"
Luna simply rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Luca, studying him carefully—her gaze calm, sharp, and analytical.
"Forgive my sister." She said softly. "She tends to...overreact."
"Now then..." She looked at him with a peculiar gaze. "Who exactly are you, stranger? I've never seen you before. I'd also prefer if you tell your name since I have to report this matter back to village."
'Finally.' Luca thought with a relieved smile. 'Someone reasonable.'
He stood up slightly, brushing the juice off his dress, and opened his mouth to introduce himself—
But then, before he could even utter a word, Lulu's eyes suddenly narrowed. She was squinting hard at him now, scanning his face like a hawk zeroing in on prey.
"Wait a second…" She muttered, lowering her bow slightly.
Then, in an instant, her entire expression changed.
The smug confidence drained right out of her face, replaced by sudden alarm.
Her eyes went wide, her lips parted, and she stumbled back a step like she'd seen something horrifying.
"Wha—hey, what's wrong with you now?" Luna asked, frowning. "Why do you look like that?"
Lulu's mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out at first. She looked like she was trying to speak while her brain was buffering.
Finally, she jabbed a trembling finger toward Luca and stammered,
"L-Luna...L-Look at him!"
"Look at who?" Luna blinked, glancing from Lulu to Luca. "What are you—"
"No! Look at him!" Lulu repeated, nearly hopping in panic. "Look at his ears!"
"His...ears?" Luna asked, confused. "Why would I look at his—"
She turned her gaze properly toward him—and stiffened on the spot.
Her breath caught. Her gaze lingered where Lulu had pointed.
Where there should have been long, pointed elf ears like their own—there were none.
Instead, Luca had short, rounded human ears.
Her eyes widened in horror as the realization settled in. And when she met his gaze again, the unease only deepened.
His eyes weren't the radiant blue or green hues typical of their kind.
They were dark. Deep, ink-black, like pools of shadow that reflected no light.
Luna stepped back instinctively, a hand pressed against her chest.
"Y-You...You're not an elf." She whispered, her voice trembling. "You're—"
"A human." Lulu finished for her, her tone rising in panic. "A human! A human's actually breached our land!"
Luna's lips parted, her voice shaking as she echoed her sister's words.
"A human...here...in the village…"
But before Luca could even explain, Lulu let out a horrified squeak and pointed at him again, her face a mixture of shock and terror.
"Not just any human, Luna!" She yelled dramatically, her voice breaking. "It's him! It's the sex demon!"
"...The what?" Luna blinked in disbelief.
"The sex demon!" Lulu repeated, her voice trembling but loud enough to make the forest echo. "The impregnator! The succubus in the disguise of a human! The one the dreams warned us about! He's come to steal our wombs, Luna! He's come to ruin our lives!"
Luca was absolutely baffled by that statement.
For a moment, he just stood there, blinking in disbelief, the corners of his mouth twitching in confusion.
Sure, he could understand being scared and cautious.
If some random human suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a place that was supposed to be sealed off from humanity, anyone would be alarmed.
That much made perfect sense.
...But this?
Calling him a sex demon? An impregnator? Saying he'd come to take their wombs away?
His brain practically fried trying to process the absurdity.
For a brief second, he genuinely wondered if Lulu had lost her mind, or maybe eaten one too many of those glowing fruits herself.
He then turned his eyes toward Luna, expecting her, as usual, to rein in her loudmouth sister and to give her a sharp "Lulu, stop exaggerating!" like she had done before.
But to his utter shock...she didn't.
Instead, Luna's eyes widened too. Her hand flew to her mouth, and a soft gasp escaped her lips.
"D-Dark eyes…" She whispered shakily. "Dark hair...wearing slightly foreign clothes...and that air of darkness around him…"
Her voice trembled as she stared at Luca like she was piecing together a terrible revelation
"It can't be...but everything matches. The dream...the dream everyone saw...it's really come true…"
She took a step back, her face pale, her entire body trembling.
"He really has come for us." She breathed in disbelief, while Luca himself was baffled
"W-What are you talking about?!" Luca said aloud, unable to hold back anymore.
Both sisters were trembling, their earlier irritation replaced by pure terror.
Before, they'd only seemed startled by a human's sudden appearance. But now, they looked like they were staring at an omen, something out of a nightmare that had crawled into reality.
He frowned, holding up his hands.
"Okay, hold on a second." He said quickly, taking a step forward. "What exactly is going on here? Why are you calling me—"
But before he could finish, Luna's composure snapped. She raised her bow with trembling hands, sliding an arrow into place and pulling it back, the string quivering as much as she was.
"S-Stay back!" She shouted, her voice cracking slightly. "Stay back, you demon! Don't come any closer, I beg you!"
"Demon?! Who's a demon?!" Luca exclaimed, blinking rapidly.
But Luna didn't care what he has to say and shook her head with panic in her eyes.
"We don't want any trouble with you! We want only peace! Please...we'll go on our way! We'll even apologize for intruding! Just don't come closer!"
Lulu, who had been frozen for a second, suddenly sprang into motion, gripping her bow as well. Her hands were shaking so much she could barely hold it steady, but she still pointed it directly at him.
"Y-Yeah! Stay back!" She cried. "I'I don't want a child in my belly yet!"
"EXCUSE ME?!" Luca nearly fell over.
"I mean it!" Lulu went on, her voice rising in panic. "Sure, in the future I'd love a bunch of children—maybe five or six! But not right now! I'm too young! I don't want to ruin my perfect body with a big, round belly yet! So, maybe come back in a couple of decades when I'm ready."
"LULU!" Luna turned her head in disbelief, almost dropping her bow. "You're supposed to push him away, not schedule a future appointment!"
"Oh. Right." Lulu cleared her throat awkwardly, puffing up her chest again. "Then, um, yeah! Don't come back! Ever!"
She pointed her arrow dramatically.
"If you do, the repercussions will be severe! Both our arrows will go straight through your head!"
Both sisters simultaneously pulled their bowstrings taut, their arms trembling but their faces determined—or at least trying to be.
Luca, still too dumbfounded to even process what was happening, raised both hands and said,
"Okay, okay, everyone just breathe! I swear this really is a misunderstanding! I have absolutely no idea what you two are talking about!"
He took a cautious step forward—and that was all it took for panic to explode again.
"HE'S COMING CLOSER!" Lulu shrieked.
"Fire!" Luna yelled instinctively.
Both sisters released their bowstrings at the same time.
Swoosh!
Whoosh!
Two arrows shot forward and Mika was about to dodge them or swat them away—
—except they didn't even make it halfway.
They slowed mid-air, wobbling weakly before losing all their force entirely and falling to the ground like tired sticks.
There was an awkward silence until—
"…Huh." Luca muttered. "That was...anticlimactic."
Luna and Lulu were also surprised, not expecting such a outcome.
"Ahhh, that was—" Luna began.
"That was...a warning shot!" Lulu suddenly declared, cheeks turning bright red. "Y-Yeah! That's right! Don't misunderstand! It was supposed to land like that! You know—like a warning!"
"A warning shot that didn't even reach me?" Luca tilted his head, unimpressed. "That's not a warning, that's a failure."
"Shut up!" Lulu barked. "We totally meant to do that! We could hit you if we wanted! Totally! Watch this!"
She drew another arrow, puffed her chest confidently, and shot again—
Whoosh!
—only for it to fly a grand total of five feet before nosediving straight into the dirt with a sad thunk.
Lulu gulped.
"That...That one was faulty." She muttered. "Yeah. Must've been the arrow. Cheap wood. I told them to replace the batch."
"You made those arrows yourself, Lulu." Luna glanced at her sister dryly.
"Then the forest spirits are sabotaging me!" Lulu shouted defensively, grabbing another arrow. "This one'll show you!"
She drew again, released—
—and this one didn't even make it that far before flopping limply onto the ground in front of her feet.
"WHY?!" Lulu cried out in agony, stamping her foot like a child. "Why do my arrows have to embarrass me like this now, of all times?! I swear they work perfectly during target practice!"
"Lulu, maybe stop shooting randomly." Luna groaned before saying with a look of determination, "You know what, I'll do it myself!"
She drew her bow back and leg go.
Swoosh!
This was actually look like it had some decent pace, which made both of them quite excited.
But to their disbelief, just as it approached Luca it veered hard to the left and embedded itself in a tree ten meters away.
"That...Thatwas a warm-up!" Luna said quickly, cheeks reddening. "J-Just getting the feel for the bow!"
"Uh-huh. 'Warm-up,' she says." Lulu crossed her arms, unimpressed.
"Silence, Lulu!"
Determined to save what little dignity they had left, the sisters exchanged a look, then nodded grimly.
"Together!" Luna commanded.
"Right!" Lulu agreed.
They both raised their bows, drew back the strings dramatically, and shouted in unison. "TAKE THAT!" before releasing.
The two arrows shot forward—
—and then immediately shot everywhere else.
One zipped into the bushes, the other ricocheted off a rock and landed somewhere behind them.
Luca just stood there in silence, watching arrow after arrow miss him by miles.
He blinked once. Twice. Then slowly raised an eyebrow.
"…You two are supposed to be elves, right? The legendary archers of the forest?"
"W-We are!" Luna's face turned bright red.
"Totally are!" Lulu echoed quickly. "Our aunt says we're prodigies!"
"Uh-huh." Luca folded his arms, fighting the urge to laugh. "Sure. And I'm the hero sent to save you from the human race."
"Stop mocking us!" Lulu shouted, firing one last arrow in frustration—
—which immediately hit her sister's braid.
"LULU!" Luna shrieked.
"I-It was the wind!" Lulu cried. "The wind hates me today!"
Seeing this, Luca couldn't help it anymore. He laughed. Loudly.
"Oh gods, this is priceless." He said between chuckles, shaking his head. "Two legendary elf archers who can't hit a guy standing right in front of them...This world just keeps on getting better."