Explaining something to your friend what you're going to do in a report is hard, but repeating it because he was on his phone and not listening is way harder.

***

We got a bit of a fiasco going on after Marie intruded our meeting. Since I really want to have a serious discussion with the Elves, I took Marie and let her sit beside me. I did that so since the Elves look like they don't want Marie to leave the room. Their doomed faces are so unbecoming.

I gave Marie Ellom so that she'll stay put. Ellom is under my desk the whole time.

“So, continuing our discussion. Why do you need money, and how can this save your missing brethren?”

“To let you understand, this brethren of ours is not someone we could abandon after getting kidnapped. She holds the [Decrama Crusella] that's considered to be one of the strongest among Elves. Not only that, she is the daughter of the High Elf Shiizan.”

“I see, she's a High Elf too. But what is this [Decrama Crusella] you're talking about? It's the first time I've heard of it.”

Before answering, she became silent and closed her eyes. After that, she opens it once again. This time, a magic circle was projected. Somehow, it's the same with Sora's but green.

“[Decrama Crusella] is what we elves call our eyes. The other races just call it Magic Eyes since it could see the fundamentals and structure of a magic, and even see ether and more. If we Elves fully activate it, we can manipulate the Ether. For example, my illusion last night. I manipulated the ether around you and made us appear in your vision without other people seeing the same thing. Though it sounds like a great feat, we're not the only ones capable of doing it.”

Ah, so that's why I can't read it with my magic and Cherry detect it. Mana gets converted into magic once it's used, that's why it can be read by magic. But if the Ether that's going to be manipulated, it would be impossible.

While looking at their eyes, for some reason, I got reminded of Sora. Somehow, when I look at them, I could see some features similar to Sora including the eyes.

“Unrelated question, how many kinds does your race has?”

“We have five. The [Fire Elf], [Wind Elf], [Water Elf], [Earthen Elf], and [Dark Elf]. Though we have five kinds, only four are living in the same forest.”

“Hmm… how so?”

“Because the [Dark Elves] are considered traitors of our race, they are considered as demons by the High Elves. They have lust for power and blood and we Elves are not supposed to possess.”

That's quite reasonable. The name itself already sounds bad, much more if I meet one.

“If they're not coexisting with you, where are they now?”

When I asked her, she just shakes her head and doesn’t answer. It seems she doesn’t really know.

“I have my suspicion. They might be living among the humans, or have perished.”

“Perished? Isn't that a bit too much?”

“Well, it's not impossible for that to happen to them. Once an Elf loses their source of magic power, they start to deteriorate and if not able to get mana, they would die.”

“I see. But are you elves able to mix blood with humans? I'm quite curious.”

I'm starting to build up my curiosity after hearing all that. However, I wonder why Sora’s face, especially his eyes keep on flashing in my eyes.

“Like all the other races, we can crossbreed with humans. But even if we could, the child will die if the partner is weak. Our race is like a furnace, we need continuous supply of mana just to stay alive.”

“But you guys are not in your home. How are you able to survive?”

“I'm sorry, but we do not answer such intriguing question.”

“My apologies, I have overstepped my bounds. But let me change the question instead. If I mix my blood with an elf, would the child survive?”

Unlike before, my question made them blush because it sounded a bit embarrassing, but since it’s not a harmful one, they can't not answer it. Shit, my sadist side is awakening again!

“Uhm…. T-that's not impossible actually. After all, you have the [Infinite] within you.”

Hmm? Why are the five of them acting embarrassed all of a sudden? Wait a minute, they're all women! I wasn’t able to realize it immediately since all of them have small chests.

“Oh! I'm really sorry for asking that question! I didn't mean to touch something so delicate.”

“T-That's alright. It's just… we didn't expect such question to come up. We weren’t able to prepare mentally, that's all.”

This is really awkward. I better steer this conversation to another direction.

“S-so, going back to the main topic, you guys… I mean girls, are trying to sell information regarding the Sacred Bow so that you can save this ‘brethren' of yours that has been kidnapped correct?”

“Yes.”

“And if I say no, I will not only that I will lose my only lead to the almost impossible to find bow, I might also be the impetus for a war that could annihilate the humans.”

“That is correct.”

In other words, I'm driven to a corner by blackmailing huh. How do I get around this shit without losing my only lead? This is very troublesome.

“So, this brethren of yours, do you have a lead on him?”

“Yes, according to our scout, she was brought to the royal capital.”

So it's a ‘she' huh… I hope she wouldn't get the suspension bridge effect when I meet her. Two's already a company, three's going to be a crowd.

But that aside, the royal capital huh… That's quite a timing. I'm heading there myself because of the Sacred Treasure, [Bottomless Scabbard] is there because the prince will also be there for the Inauguration of Peerage for the lower nobles.

If I accept this, I might get a chance to hit two birds with one stone. It's already a win-win-win for me.

“Then it's a deal.”

After what I said to them, they looked at each other with victorious and happy expressions.

“Since I've already accepted, can I ask one last question? Why are you guys going to loan?”

“Well, that is, we don't know what would happen while we’re out of the forest, and since our mission Is going to take us to far from our home. We'll need money to sustain ourselves.”

Ah, now I understand. They need money to buy things that are related to magic, shelter, and daily needs. Since they're all women, they might be having a hard time dealing with such expensive lifestyle.

Wait a second… I just got myself some pretty good idea!

“One last question, how do you take magic from things? I might be able to help you with it.”

Phillilia and the group looked at each other and discussed it in private. After a few minutes, they looked at me and asked something that contains magic or the sort. Since I have some broken fuel cores (I made them for the Sentinels) here in my office, I gave one to them.

“This might be slightly embarrassing for us to do, but we'll make an exemption for you.”

Phillilia unbuttoned her clothes and half opened her shirt which exposed her thin and cute bra (I didn't expect for that to exist here). After that, with the help of one of the elves, she took off her bra and exposed her bare chest. Since I'm a man, of course I'm looking at them.

“Papa!”

Oops, I got scolded by my own daughter.

With a reddening face, she takes the broken fuel core and put it on her chest. After that, for some reason, the core starts to shine brightly which I never expected it to be. After a moment, the core slowly becomes dimmer by the second with the bright light dying. When the light disappeared, so did the color of the core and then it become dust afterwards.

“Fascinating! I've never seen something like that before.”

“T-thank you.”

After showing me such bold demonstration, she quickly wears her underwear and clothes again. As a side note, she's not entirely flat, she has B ones. And those n—

*Thunk*

“Papa!”

All of a sudden, Marie threw something at me which hut my head. When I look at her, she's making a very angry expression. Is she some kind of mind reader?

“Okay, okay.”

I pat Marie's head while apologizing. And while I'm doing that, the elves are looking at me while looking enviously. Do they really want to pat her head too?

If we're going to the royal capital, I'm going to throw these people to the orphanage I swear!

“Okay, so that means you absorb the magic an object contains directly into your body, correct?”

“Yes, we can also share the mana from Elf to Elf.”

While saying so, she holds two other elves' hand and passes the mana. So did the other two.

“And also, thank you for that bountiful mana you gave us. That amount will last us five days at least if we're not using magic.”

“So you can tell huh. So how much can you take in back at your home?”

“Well, we do it once a year to prevent addiction. If we take more than what we regularly take, we might become [Dark Elves].”

Then all of a sudden, a weird idea came to me. Although I have a vague idea how this’ll end up, I'm just really curious.

“Since we're already talking about if, I need to ask. Can you take mana from living things?”

And without hesitation, she affirmed my question with a nod.

“But that doesn't mean that the creature would die. They would only lose their mana.”

“Then, as a friendly gesture, I will offer my own mana to you girls. You can take as much as you need from me since I have [Infinity] inside me.”

When I told her that, all five of them blushed and panicked. They are ‘wawawaing' altogether like a choir for some reason.

“Is it really that bad?”

“Wait!”

When she said wait, the five of them formed a circle and whispered to each other. And by chance, I overheard “He doesn't know so it doesn't count” from one of them. I don't really understand but it sounds like I made a huge mistake.

“I ch—”

“We’ll accept your offer!”

Just when I was about to take back what I said, Phellilia interrupted my words while slamming the table.

“I-is that so?”

Shit! I've lost the balls to tell them that I've changed my mind. I couldn't turn them down after seeing them steeling themselves over something.

After that, Phillilia came to me first and stood behind Marie.

“Look, if you really don—”

“You're a man right? You have to take responsibility for your words.”

“Y-yeah…”

Fuck, she cornered me!

Slowly, she approaches me with her eyes closing. While doing that, I also lift my hand and approach her chest. When she noticed my hand, he backs away all of a sudden.

“W-what were you trying to do?”

“Wasn't I supposed to put my hand on your chest and let you absorb my mana?”

“Pervert! I'm supposed to take mana from you orally!”

Even though she said that, she suddenly put her lips unto mine.

Instinctively, my tongue enters her mouth and coils around her tongue. I can taste watermelons.

I really thought that she's going to revolt. Unexpectedly, she responds to my tongue’s movements and I could feel that I'm getting drained. She even puts her arms around my neck and sucks my mana in an faster rate. This is worse than Matt draining me!

“A-Amazing… I never had seen Phillilia like that before.”

I didn't know who said that, but it seems they're surprised.

We continued doing this for five minutes straight. When I noticed that too much time has passed, I pushed away Phillilia by force. But actually, her friends also helped me in remover her from me.

When she finally let go of me, she makes a really satisfied expression and passes out. Her friends checked on her and she seems to be alright.

We waited for her to wake up, but it only took her a minute to regain consciousness.

“T-that was amazing! I've never tasted mana that thick and strong before.”

Hey! What's with that double meaning line!?

“How was it?”

One of her friends asked her while looking nervous and excited at the same time.

“It was addictive, but I can feel that I have gained enough mana to last me 9 months.”

Again, with the double meaning…

“Was it really that good?”

“Yes, though it's hard to swallow at first, once you get used to it, you'll find it addictive! If possible, I wanted to have more.”

I give up.

Wait, we did it while Marie—ah, she's playing with Ellom. Thank goodness she didn't see that one.

After that, her friend came to me and shakes my hand. I could feel her hands trembling. Is she nervous or excited?

“My name is Rulfe of the Feras clan, pleasure to be working with you from now on.”

“The pleasure’s all mine (literally).”

After her introduction, she sits on my lap and put her arms around my neck.

“I trust you to stop me from getting addicted, OK?”

“I don't know about that.”

Because of this event, I managed to learn their names. Aside from Phillilia and Rulfe, the other three are Nelia, Eqan, and Pufia. They all got random amounts of mana since they always fall in frenzy and have to be forcibly taken away from me. Luckily, the largest one was Eqan with 11 months’ worth of mana. The smallest one was Nelia which only has for 7 months. She was the shyest of them all so we only had it quick.

Leaving this (scandalous) event now, I now have a mission to do. The stake of an unknown war is in my hands, I have to end this quick.

***

Since I have a lot of things to do, I let the visitors stay in the mansion for lunch. But after what happened in the office, they're having some misunderstandings about it. When I explained it to them, they all looked like idiots while blushing. Are Elves like this or it's just them?

Currently, I'm outside the mansion with Teldarg and Geral. They brought the Sentinels with them for unknown reasons, but I'm guessing it's something really not important.

“So I've been thinking last night. They have hands. Why not let them wield swords?”

With his arms on his waist, Teldarg suggested such idea. It's not a bad idea, but it would ruin my design of the Sentinels.

“That’s a good idea, but I didn't design the Sentinel to do such feat. Moreover, the hands are already considered as weapons since I made them like claws. If you think that it would be at a disadvantage against ranged enemies, it can fire an electrical bolt from it's palm that passes the one-way barrier it has. And like we had discussed before, the durability of the Sentinel doesn't affect their mobility. No matter how you look at them, they're balanced in every aspect that exceeds an average golem. You should know that perfectly.”

“Err… Now that you reminded me, I feel like a numbskull for forgetting it. But still, without any handheld weapons, they don't have a dwarven charm.”

So it's that huh. From my perspective, the Sentinels already look gorgeous and majestic. I guess the dwarves really like weapons. The difference between the creator and employer's perspectives really are far.

“Well, I could make a new design. Altering the current Sentinels are impossible because the magic array and magic scripts we made are fixed and cannot be changed. I could do it, but that would mean destroying the Sentinel.”

“That sounds like more financing. No thanks, but I would take up that new design proposal.”

“With the new Sentinel as template, making them and the new ones you requested will be easy just by me. Though I say that, it'll take months to finish it. Still, I already made my part of the deal. I'm expecting to receive my recognition from the dwarven king for my Inauguration of peerage.”

“Not letting it slip, huh. Good memory.”

We giggled as we approach the Sentinels. After that, I touched the barrier that surrounds the Sentinel that's in front of me. Maybe I should change this as a reactive barrier in the new model?

“I've already changed my schedule for this week since I will be moving to the Royal Capital by the end of the week. I've also arranged some of my business deals and contracting there so I can't afford to miss a day.”

“You're pretty busy despite being young. Are you sure you're not your grandfather?”

“So you're still unto that huh…”

I checked each part of each sentinel to see if they're in place. And like what I designed it to look like, not a piece sticks out of place.

“> [Attack me]”

When I said that, Teldarg and Geral's eyes grew in shock. They thought I was trying to get myself killed by my own creation. However, what the Sentinel did was something they did not expect.

[Aggressive actions against Creator cannot be accepted.]

With a robot-like voice, the Sentinel denied my command. I did this as future precautions if something happens. It's a hard bound algorithm in the Sentinel Core so it cannot be overridden except by me.

“What just happened?”

Wearing a stupefied look, Teldarg asked me.

“I made a hard bound command in the Sentinel Core's Magic Algorithm. That's the reason why it will not attack me.”

“Amazing. But, why?”

“I made it out on a whim. Don't worry, I gave it a function to accept immunity commands like when you command it to recognize someone and not let them attack them. That goes without saying that they will not have friendly fires.”

“That's one expensive whim.”

While we're talking with each other, I notice someone coming towards us.

“Miss Phillilia?”

When I said that, Teldarg immediately turns his head in surprise. Does he know about her?

“How did you know her identity?”

“Ah, so you knew her? Actually, she came to me last night and made a deal with me. It's about the Sacred Bow so you have nothing to worry about your business with her.”

Even though we're talking about Phillilia, the person herself is actually wearing a hooded cloak to hide her identity. And is she not feeling the heat under that think cloak?

When Phillilia stood in front of us, surprisingly, Teldarg lightly bowed and Geral dropped on one knee. What the hell is happening?

“Miss Phillilia, what is your business for you to come to us?”

“Please, do not misunderstand. I am not here for you, I’m here for Sir Chardelier.”

“What seems to be the problem then?”

I don't really know how to act in these moments, so I inadvertently acted casually to Phillilia. It made Teldarg and Geral get taken aback.

“We representatives of the Eternal Forest have made a decision. We want to accompany you to the Royal Capital.”

Are they serious?

“I'm sorry, but what you're asking for is something beyond my power as a noble. By our law, we can't bring anyone inside a territory or a city that isn't part of our house. Maids, Knight, and Slaves are the only exemptions, but in limited number.”

When I said that, she starts searching in her pockets. A few seconds later, she shows me an emblem that's pretty familiar.

“I have a [Beyond Border Trader] emblem. That means I have trader rights. It's not a problem is it?”

“No, actually.”

That took me by surprise. I didn't expect her to have the same rights as me. However, something else is bothering me. Why are they trying to come WITH me?

“Are you only coming with me because of my daughter?”

“Whah?! How did you know that?!”

Seems that my suspicion was right! These elves are pedophiles!

“We are not! We just like her since we Elves rarely have children.”

She read my mind huh.

“We Elves have low birthrate than other races because of our long lifespan. Not only that, most of our race is female and males rarely show any sexual desires so we almost never see children of our own kind. Because of that, we female elves can't help but get thrilled when we see children. It's just our maternal yearning piling up so we can't help it. Please let us stay with your daughter until we satisfy our hearts!”

If she's lowering her head like that, I can't deny her.

“You can stay with us, but you must follow our house rules ok?”

After I said that, she lifts her head and grabs my hand. Even with that hood covering her face, I can tell that her eyes are sparkling with joy.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

After saying her thanks, she dashes back to the house while yelling out Marie's name. Where did the dignified image of the elf I saw gone off to?

“What just happened?”

And beside me, Teldarg asked me with a dumbfounded expression. It seems that he couldn't catch up to what we're talking about so he gave up trying to understand half way.

Well, that's that.

A few days from now, we will embark on a new adventure. If this was a story, we're Entering the Royal Capital Arc!

-End of Chapter-