Intermission 2

“The second last dance is usually with the good friend of your spouse, though sometimes they skip this step as there may be some bad blood. Or jealousy. When Aunt Laurentia married, her best friend kissed her new husband on the lips after the dance, this was awkward.”

I don't know if I should be annoyed that we're still at the ceremony almost an hour later or thankful that we're finally at the end of it.

“What did your aunt do?” Please Kyou-san, don't make it any longer!

“She politely asked her friend to go with her to the balcony. When they came back, her friend had a black eye, though two weeks afterward they had dinner like nothing happened.” ...scary.

You gain 2 WP. Having a flower in each hand is only the luxury of a popular man, though you have to be careful to also cherish them.

With this, we just passed the hour mark. I silently let go of Kyou-san's and Rine's hands while rubbing my ear, a desire I had for quite a while. I also take the opportunity to take a sip from my waterskin.

Following my example, Rine also drinks from hers: “Ah, that hits the spot! My throat is really parched.” No wonder, you've talked with few breaks for an hour.

“We should be close to the hamlet.” We saw it on a hilltop before and decided to visit it. We're on the way to Ohlbrücken, and while I have a rough idea where to go, I can make sure that the route is correct. We're not on the road, after all, as we had run into some trouble in Goldbrunn. “Just around that forest. Or through it... Ara-san?” I ask the person here, who has the least possibility to get lost in any kind of tree-related terrain. “Ara-san!”

“-what?” I'm about seventy percent sure, that she was lost in thoughts. It's clear as day that she zoned out during the marriage-talk, but the real question is: Did she just fell asleep while walking? “Is something wrong?”

“Would you mind to come back to reality and lead us through this forest to the hamlet?”

“What hamlet?”

“You know, the one we saw on the hilltop before. When I said, we should visit it and you nodded?”

“I wasn't paying attention.”

“What did you pay attention to?”

“...the universe?”

“Were you asleep?”

“Almost.”

...don't say anything. This is like picking up a fight I can't win. “Would you mind leading us through the forest?”

“Why don't you?”

'Because I'm mentally tired from paying attention to Rine's words all that time.' While I do feel that way, I don't say it. “Because you're better at this.” While my training with the alfar did indeed make me quite good in navigating through woods, Ara-san is an alfr, so it's like her home turf.

“Fine.”

The way her ears move makes me suspicious, so I make sure: “Would you also avoid brambles, burdock, nettles or similar plants?”

“What are nettles?”

“The ones I mean sting if you touch them.”

“...when you see some, please tell me. This sounds like a useful plant.”

“Please, just look for an easy way. I mean, a way which humans can easily traverse.” If I'm not clear here, she might 'misunderstand' it as 'an easy way to make us suffer.' Since Goldbrunn, Ara-san has started to play pranks on people. Traveling might have woken up her latent alfr-instincts. So we have to be careful that we are not on the receiving end.

“What about-”

“No.”

“And-”

“No.”

“Fe-”

“No.”

“We-”

“No!” Whatever Ara-san wants to say, the fact that she starts with questions may mean that she's actively trying to find a loophole right now so she can rub it under my nose later.

“Then it won't be entertaining.”

“That's not the point. I want to get fast and save to the hamlet.”

“I see. If you know exactly what you want, then it might be better if you navigate us through the forest.”

Is she sulking? I'm not sure here, but she may be offended. I look at her face, but as usual, it doesn't give me enough expression to work with. Her left ear points up, the right ear points back, as alfr, her ears are always moving, so while they're a good mean to read her mood, they're not that reliable.

The thought about her ears revives another memory in me which I still can't sort out. Ear-plugging. I try my best to treat her the same, but I know that I would pull her ear usually by now, but I just don't feel like it. This incident had an effect on me, after all.

Good thing that it doesn't stop Kyou-san, she pulls Ara-san's ear roughly. The alfr cries out: “Ouch! Why always my ears!? They're sensitive, you brutes!”

“Arako, would you please navigate us through the forest? I would like to be in the hamlet before I see the need to rip your ear off.” A blatant threat!

“Momo? Isn't smiling supposed to be used, when you're friendly to another person?” Whenever Kyou-san is pissed at Arako or me, she puts on her fake happy smile. Ara-san can't read human faces well that's why she can't see the murder in Kyou-san's eyes.

“Because we're friends. I wouldn't want to tear your ear off, so please be a friend of mine and save me the trouble.”

“I'm positive that this is not how friendships work.”

“Will you do me the favor?”

“My ear! Would you mind?”

“Of course.” She finally let Ara-san's ear go.

The alfr girl rubs it for a moment, then she turns to the forest, looks back at Kyou-san, and makes the sensible choice here: Escaping into it.

It takes almost a second for the rest of us to react, and it's Kyou-san who cries out: “After her!”

...why? It's your fault...

Oh god, Rine starts running. Ara-san notices it and jumps on a tree, using her enhanced jump-capabilities as an [Acrobat], but Rine swiftly swings herself up a tree and follow her, jumping from one sturdy branch to another.

“Ara-san has lost, huh?”

“Yes.”

Kyou-san and I already know how this will end. Being an alfr in the forest is a huge advantage, but as long as Ara-san won't use actual lethal force, there is little chance that she can escape the multi-talented and overpowered princess.

―○●○―

“Do you see, it wasn't that hard, right?”

“You're correct, Momo.” We're in the hamlet, the people are looking at us wide-eyed, as they're surely not used having visitors like us. The kind that's locking their alfr friend's arm firmly, forcing her to do their bidding, because that's exactly what Kyou-san and Rine are doing right now. “Would you please let me go now?” The interesting part is, how Ara-san seems to not mind it a bit, maybe because it's within the strange humor that alfr share.

I, on the other hand, am just glad, that I'm not a part of this. “Well, let's just start gathering intel.” Following my words, the girls let Ara-san go, who circles her shoulders quickly, as checking if everything is alright.

“Let's ask them if there's a pub.” Rine is direct, so she doesn't waste any time and asks the next best person. Of course, a hamlet like this one doesn't have any. Though there is a meeting place, where people drink and share stories. It's just a big hut, which would usually be used to dry logs. So this is a lumberjack community, huh?

...why are children following me? “Look, he has a hood! A ranger, a ranger!” “Ah, there's an elf! Be careful, we should tell mommy.” “Look at their skin. They're sick.” “This one looks like a princess.” “Are they the Crusaders?” Listening to their conversations, they seem to be caught in a conflict between curiosity and fear. Well, I guess Ara-san is the main reason for the latter.

However, another question is popping up: “Ara-san, why are you looking inside your [Inventory]?” The alfr in question has her hand in her backpack which has a small pocket dimension to store stuff, a gift to every hero.

“To play with the children.”

“Ah, I want to play, too!” Rine, I'm sure, that what you imagine about playing with children and what Ara-san thinks of this concept, are very different. Especially, since Ara-san could undoubtedly hear their remarks as well, so I have to consider that she may be pissed about being called an 'elf.'

“This is not the time.” I don't like brats, they're super annoying. However, I don't want them to let suffer through anything Ara-san can think of. “We're on-” My words stuck in my throat, as I see something I haven't seen at all in the fantasy world so far.

It's a woman, most likely the mother of the baby she's holding. She has it wrapped in a cloth, that is wrapped around her body, just like a baby-holder. This isn't unusual in itself, I've seen this already in Feuerberg, but the baby has only one arm, the other didn't seem to grow out. Well, birth-defects are a thing in a fantasy world as well, I guess. It's just that I haven't seen something like this before, the worst was someone with a wooden leg, most likely due to an accident.

The mother with the baby passes some housewives, that look at her with a look I know too well: Scorn. Hey, it's not the kid's fault for being handicapped or the mother's fault to birth it. The blamed mother seems all meek and has dark rings under her eyes, she looks like she has endured this behavior for quite a while.

I'm no apostle of justice or something like that. Usually, I hate the self-satisfaction people show whenever they claim to be just and right. I also am no friend of handicapped people, for me, they usually just don't exist, call it intentional ignorance, but there are a whole bunch of things I don't need in my life.

Yet now that I see this, I can't help but feel upset about how the people look at this woman and her child.

“Ah...” Rine smile turned wryly as her eyes turn to the mother.

“What's wrong?” Kyou-san who also observed this, asks the blonde about her reaction.

“Ah, nothing special.”

“Is it about the child?”

“Yeah, I feel sorry for it. It has to suffer because of its mother.”

What!? My stomach is about to turn. I mean, why is Rine saying something like that!? “It's not its mother fault. There are cases like that, it's nobody fault!” Kyou-san nods to my words.

“Huh?” Rine looks at us wide-eyed and utterly confused. “But she is?”

“What do you mean, she is!?”

“Erm... I mean, she could have married the man. As long as there was no adultery involved.”

“...hah!?”

“I mean, Kenta, you know. You do, right?”

“Know what?”

“A child from a married couple is always born healthy.”

WHAT!