Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

Act 9: Forest of Fairy

◆Elven Princess, Luthien

The Ceryneia carriage that carried us was moving forward steadily under the blue sky.

The vehicle pulled by a Ceryneia deer with a golden horn was running along the road, it didn't take us the usual 10 days to arrive at our destination.

When I looked at the spectacle outside of the window that was devoid of trees, I could see the faraway scenery without having to use magic.

Different from the forest where we lived, this place was known as a prairie.

Looking at the spectacle devoid of trees reminded me of the fact that we were far from the forest.

「I can see it already Luthien-sama, that's definitely the hero's country, Eld.」

Tess, who was leaning forward from the window, told me that our destination was already within eyesight.

Tess was a dryad (tree elf) who had decided to serve me just recently.

She was a young elf who had yet to live for 100 years.

Before she served me, she lived in the forest near a human kingdom.

I brought her along with me since she was more knowledgeable about the human countries.

And my decision proved to be correct since she knew the details about humans, which helped us a lot during this journey.

「Ooh, let me see. I want to see it too~.」

The one who was leaning outside the window following Tess was Piara, a Napaia (wind elf).

They were just like kids.

Alas, it didn't change the fact that Piara was the oldest among us, and she had given birth twice.

Due to her free spirited and mischievous nature, she often went incognito to the human countries.

That's why just like Tess, I took her along with me on this journey.

「Piara-dono, Tess. You're in front of Her Highness.」

Seeing Tess and Piara merry, Aureola reminded them with a frown on her face.

Aureola was my escort, and she was an Aureiad.

We were raised together as sisters, she was something like a childhood friend to me. I also took her along with me in this journey.

And just like other Aureiad, she also excelled in the bow, she alone repelled the group of lowly, vulgar goblins who attacked us along the way.

「It's no big deal Aureola, there's no one else in this place. Let's raise our pace, shall we? I can't wait to see the place of the hero recognized by that Rena-sama.」

I told her so.

In the first place, the main reason I came to the humans’ abode was to see the said hero.

Some of the elven race were actually working in the Heavenly Palace of Elios.

I was one of those elves.

And then due to me being an Arseid on top of a high-elf, I was working beside that beautiful Rena-sama.

Rena-sama, I had always been yearning for that beautiful and dignified beauty.

Thus, I couldn't help but to get curious about the man who she fell for.

Rena-sama had raised numerous heroes until now and yet, she never fell in love with any of them.

That's why it couldn't be helped that the hero she fell for became the source of gossip in the Heavenly City.

That's why I came all the way from Arseidia, the capital of Eternal Youth, to this place, to meet him.

「Which reminds me, what about Nimyu-san? She went ahead to scout the situation, right?」

Tess asked Piara who sat beside her.

Nimyu was a Naiad (water elf), she went ahead with her fellow traveler to scout the place.

The plan was to regroup at Eld, but she and her fellow traveler had already left due to circumstances.

「That's right, Tess-chan. And speaking of Nimyu, she went ahead of us with her man, he might be drenched by now right? Hihihihi.」

Said Piara with lewd smile on her face.

I heaved a sigh when I heard that remark.

Nimyu had already told me with her bird familiar that she and her man had already left Eld.

Since she had found her man, she decided to follow him.

Since she only carried her mission, and didn't serve me officially, I had nothing to say about it.

Still, I couldn't help but get irritated knowing that she prioritized her man over me.

Not that I could say anything about that either, that was our elven race’s nature after all.

An elf became really helpless once they really fell in love with someone. That might be what happened to Nimyu.

「Piara-dono, that expression is too vulgar… Well, I also can't help but wonder what Nimyu is doing right now.」

Aureola heaved a sigh.

Just like me, Aureola hadn't found her man either.

She seems to be quite envious of Nimyu.

Though I'm not as envious as her, I also started to worry about this matter. What does it feel like to love someone?

Would I become a helpless woman too if I ever fell in love with someone?

I kept pondering about that.

The Ceryneia carriage that carried us was moving forward steadily under the blue sky.

Toward the country of the hero Reiji, Eld.

===

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

We were staying in the multi-purpose building that was built right next to Eld's royal palace.

It was a huge, two-story rectangle building that resembled gymnasiums in Japan.

Though it was supposed to be an amusement center, due to some reasons, it became a place for conferences.

The participants of the conference were I, Chiyuki, Reiji, Kyouka, Kaya, the nobles, and the citizens’ representatives.

As for the reason why we used a multi-purpose building as the conference room, it was simply because the old conference room was too small to accommodate all the nobles and citizen representatives, which kept growing along with the number of immigrants.

The nobles of Eld gathered before me.

Most of them were men in their thirties and all of them wore gorgeous attires.

They wore long robes of flax dyed with an expensive dye. Some people wore clothes without any motifs, some added beautiful paisley motifs drawn on them.

Moreover, they wore various accessories made from precious metals on top of their clothes.

Ornaments such as agate, lapis lazuli, carnelia, and jade dazzled everyone who saw it.

Though it was pretty normal for nobles, some pretentious nobles deliberately wore uselessly decorated clothes for a show off during the meeting.

Though the image of nobles in mangas and web novels was those from the privileged class who squeezed their people dry, that didn't apply to the nobles in this world, at least most of them.

Most of the nobles in this world were hereditary by the patriarch line or close relatives.

They had the obligation to look after the people under their care. The so-called Noblesse Oblige, in a real sense.

In exchange, those people under the nobles’ care had the obligation to pledge their allegiance to their noble.

In short, being noble wasn't just an existence that exploited people.

Also, clans were composed mostly of blood relatives but there was a rare case in which they also accepted non-blood relatives.

When non-blood relatives entered the clan, they would exchange cups of liquor with the noble, forming a boss and henchmen relationship. Naturally, the noble was the boss.

The first time I heard that, the first thing that came into my mind was "YAKUZA".

And then it was proven to be correct. A different clan was sometimes called family since they were actual relatives.

And the reason why we gathered those nobles who were equivalent to yakuza bosses was to hear their opinion.

Eld was a country managed by our despotism. We could manage it just fine even without listening to their opinion.

However, considering the efficiency of the management, getting the cooperation of the nobles would make things easier for us in the long run.

They're the bosses of the organizations called clans after all. They could fill the parts that we could miss.

And since we needed their cooperation, we gathered them together to hear their opinion.

The reason why we used a multi-purpose building and not the existing meeting room was because we also called the patriarchs of the small and young clans who barely fit as nobles. Thanks to that, I had a hard time remembering each and every single one of their names.

Though the meeting had no particular name to it, I guess we could call it a "Senate" or "House of Lords" sooner or later.

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