On the road to the forest: Interactions with the populace
・Bartender
In a town along the well-maintained road from the Royal Capital to the Great Forest, Fon and Ferno were facing the bartender at the back entrance of a tavern near the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Sorry for making you come all this way.”
“It’s no problem, it happens often. So, it’s about the sightings of Other Races?”
“Yes. Have you seen any Other Races acting strangely in the past few months?”
“Hmm, wait a moment.”
While the bartender was putting his hand to his chin and recalling his memories, Fon leaned against the wall near the entrance of the alley, looking at a notepad in his hand, and Ferno waited with his arms crossed and his back against the wall, eyes closed.
After several seconds, less than a minute, the bartender answered Ferno’s question.
“You’re not asking if the opportunities to see Other Races have increased, are you? If so, then there’s that. A week ago, an Elf man came and bought a barrel of Fire Liquor.”
“…Fire Liquor?”
“That’s right. He seemed to be in a hurry, so I didn’t ask him much, but he did ask if it burned well.”
“Hmm…”
“When I asked what he was going to burn, he said wood, so it stuck with me. Well, when I said there was a chance it might not burn depending on the environment, he looked thoughtful and then said he understood, looking disappointed.”
“…I see.”
“Sorry, that’s not very helpful information.”
“No, it’s enough. I appreciate it.”
“Alright. Oh, if you want to hear about Elves, go to the Fortune Teller in the front. She apparently had an Elf woman staying at her house for a couple of days and was educating her.”
“I see… Thanks for everything.”
“It’s nothing. Well, I have preparations to do, so I’ll go back.”
“Yeah, good luck.”
Ferno watched the bartender open the door and return to the tavern, and after the door closed and the sound of his footsteps faded into the depths of the tavern, he turned to Fon.
“Next is the fortune teller, Leader?”
“No, we’re going back to the carriage.”
“…Is that okay?”
“We got the information we needed. An Elf, who is primarily a follower of Nature Worship, bought liquor to burn wood, and on top of that, he seemed hurried and then disappointed.
We could gather more if we wanted, but we won’t get any more detailed information. The Elf is in a hurry to destroy something, that’s all we need to know.”
“I see… Are we going to use that sub-plan?”
“I was hoping we wouldn’t have to, but it seems likely. For now, let’s go back to the carriage, wait for the others, and then head to the next village.”
“Understood.”
・A busybody’s story in a certain village
“Elves? Come to think of it, there was a strange one here recently.”
“Oh, I’d love to hear about it.”
A village where farmlands spread out and the sounds of Ushi and sheep echoed.
In a large warehouse on the edge of the village, Ferno and Fana, carrying baskets filled with crops, were working with a woman who had two processed Ushi on her shoulders.
They offered to help when she looked busy, and they ended up helping her carry the harvested crops and processed meat into the warehouse. When the woman said she wanted to thank them, Ferno asked if any Elves had come to the village recently.
As they worked, the woman began to talk about a strange Elf girl who had recently come to the village.
“I think you guys know that Elves are arrogant people. This village is reasonably close to their place, so we see them often.
So, the villagers don’t really have a good impression of Elves, because they’re always talking about how lower races are and how God is, it’s annoying.”
“Oh, and then?”
“Recently, an Elf girl came to this village, but you know, their age isn’t always what it seems, so I don’t know how old she was? But she looked like a girl, and she was exhausted and anxious, so I took her into my house and took care of her.”
“Hmm… Where should I put this?”
“There’s a frame there, right? Put it there.
So, I took her in for about half a day? That’s about how long it took for her to wake up, or rather, to come back to her senses. She went from a vacant look to normal. I thought she was going to start talking arrogantly again, but?”
“…”
“She asked if I knew a place where she could die quietly. A girl who seemed to have so much future ahead of her, and didn’t seem to have any illnesses? I couldn’t just let her do that, so I held her back and took care of her.”
“I see. So, where is that Elf now?”
“She said she was going to cut off the root and went somewhere.”
“Hmm, hmm… That was very helpful, I appreciate it.”
“It’s nothing, I’m the one who should be thanking you for your help. Take this as a thank you.”
“…What is this?”
“Worm medicine. Since long ago, it’s common for worms and bacteria to get into people’s bodies around here, so if you feel unwell, drink this and expel it as poison.”
“I see… Then I’ll make good use of it.”
I’m really glad you helped, thank you.
Ferno watched the woman disappear into the warehouse, then exchanged a brief glance with Fana, who had walked up next to him, and said that he was grateful to the warehouse before walking away.
In his hand, he held a cloth bag containing the pills that had been given to him, called worm medicine.
“What do you think of what we just heard?”
“It might be as you predicted. We were supposed to meet up with the Knights Order in the next town, right?”
“The one after the next. If the information seemed vague, we were planning to stop by a nearby village again after meeting up, but this is enough.”
“I see… So we’re staying in this village for the night?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I’ll go to your room before we go to sleep. Tell me how I should respond when we execute the sub-plan.”
“Understood. Then come to my room after everyone else is asleep.”
“Understood.”
・Housewives who love to chat
“So~, there are more and more people like that these days~”
“That’s right! Isn’t it!”
“That’s right, we see them often these days.”
“Mea-san even invited one into her house!”
“I heard that Touetsu-san’s daughter was taken care of by one!”
Just before the sun began to sink below the horizon.
In front of the village’s focal point, Lulu was mingling in a circle of four housewives, each holding vegetables and meat in their hands, with her usual gentle demeanor.
“Has this kind of thing happened before~?”
“As far as I know, I don’t know. Sometimes Elves who have been exiled from their settlements come to the village and stay, but even then, I’ve never seen such a gentle Elf before.”
“That’s right. And they’re not heading to the Royal Capital, but to the forest, right? I’ve never seen an Elf like that. If they’re exiled, they shouldn’t be heading to that forest, and they shouldn’t even be going outside in the first place.”
“I see~”
Lulu summarized the housewives’ gossip.
The gist of it was that there were more and more opportunities to see young, compassionate, humble, and pure Elves visiting the village. And that after interacting with people in the village to some extent, these Elves would suddenly become anxious and rush out of the village towards the forest.
The rest of the stories were about how cool this Elf was, how cute that Elf was, how they actively helped with the mundane farm work, and how they even actively handled the livestock manure.
Of course, Lulu intended to report everything she heard to Ferno, and she had memorized it all, but she was prioritizing the information she had heard.
As she listened to the stories, Lulu wondered if only young Elves were moving around.
She decided that she should ask about it, even if it was just a rumor, so Lulu asked the housewives in front of her about the question that had arisen in her mind.
“I haven’t seen any, have I?”
“Now that you mention it, I’ve been focusing on the young ones, but I haven’t seen any adults or elderly at all.”
“Indeed, I haven’t seen any of those arrogant and annoying ones.”
The answer she received was that they hadn’t seen any.
Judging from the stories, there were dozens of Elves who had visited, and the fact that there were no adults or elderly among them, only young Elves, was clearly abnormal.
Lulu kept that in mind and listened to the housewives’ stories, which had digressed into trivial matters. There were many trivial stories, and it was highly likely that they would not be helpful, but she didn’t know where a clue to some incredible information might come from.
Therefore, Lulu mingled in the conversation as one of the housewives, listening to the housewives’ chatter, interjecting with occasional nods.
“That sounds tough~”
Intelligence gathering in the town. The role that Ferno had asked Lulu to play, the reason why she was in charge of gathering information in places other than combat. Lulu was fully demonstrating that role.