Disciple of Immortal

「Even though you’ve got no other redeeming features aside from your white magic, cheap fare, and the fact that you never talk back no matter what, you’ve basically lost all your merits if you can’t even come in on time, you know? Do you understand that now, Pomera?」

The blue haired dude was approaching Pomera till he was just an inch away from her.

Pomera just continued to open and shut her mouth and yet, didn’t say anything. Perhaps it was because she had no idea what to say in this situation.

「Oi, say something? What? You still don’t understand huh?」

I forced my way in from the side and stood in between them.

「Sorry, she’s late because she was taking care of me since I’d gotten lost. If you’re angry for that reason, please let me apologize to you. Or so I want to say but… it seems that’s not all.」

「K-Kanata-san?」

Pomera was looking at me with a surprised look on her face.

「Hah?」

The blue haired man was looking at me as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing..

And then, his gaze turned to Pomera.

「You went that far huh, Pomera? Were you, a mixed breed that’s so desperate to get along with us, acting like a human?」

「Mixed… breed?」

「What, she didn’t tell you about it? Well that’s natural.」

The blue haired man’s lips curled up as he grabbed Pomera’s beret.

「Ah, S-Stop! Roy-san!」

As Pomera tried her best to resist, the blue haired man– Roy pushed her away roughly while snatching the beret that was covering her head. I turned around quickly and held on to her, propping up her body to prevent her from falling on her rear.

「A-Are you okay?」

「… Eh, what was that? Did you actually teleport just now? Or did my eyes trick me?」

Roy was glaring at me, squinting his eyes, then massaging his eyelids as if he couldn’t believe what he saw just now.

「Oh… whatever. Now take a look, that ear. Pomera is a mix breed between human and forest troll.」

Pomera was trying to hide her ears as color drained from her face.

I could see pointed ears from the gap between her fingers.

「Elf… No, since the length aren’t that long, a half-elf huh.」

It was the first time I’d seen a half-elf with my own eyes, but Lunaire had told me about them before. The Elves were a long-eared race and excelled in magic. They usually stayed away from pollution and aged slowly as an exchange for the ability to use spirit powers. Due to this, the Elves mainly preferred to live deep in nature that were rich with spirits.

Those born in the forest or living on the surface were called Elves, while those born on the floating sky continent were called High-Elves.

A High Elf who had received the blessing of the sky continent’s spirit could live up to a thousand years, while an Elf who lived deep within a forest on the surface could live up to five hundred. If they were living in the city, even a High Elf could only live for about two hundred years.

I guess they were being called forest trolls since they lived in the forest.

There were many Elf extremists, elves who hated the continuously developing cities that caused the decline of nature, who often went out of the forest to attack cities. After many cases, the situation worsened and turned into a race war between the human and elves.

「S-Sorry, P-Pomera had no intentions… of tricking Kanata-san… I-I just want to befriend Kanata-san…」

Tears were already forming in Pomera’s eyes.

… Before, I felt that she had a strangely low amount of self-esteem, but after seeing this, I finally understood the reason behind it. The Half-Elf Pomera didn’t have a place that she really belonged to, whether it was the Elf village, or a human city.

「See? Now you understand right? Lowly filth that has forest troll blood flowing through them should be grateful that they can even work for us humans. Being able to join our party should show you how magnanimous my heart is, right? 」

Roy suddenly pushed out his face closer to mine.

The more I listen to his words, the angrier I become. I rubbed my face with both hands while telling myself to calm down.

「… If you understand, then f*ck off. Don’t overstep your boundaries if you don’t know the ways of the world.」

「… Understand. I’ll back down since it feels like I will just wasting my breath trying to speak with you already.」

I had no idea what the humans in this place thought about the Elves nor was I knowledgeable about the conflict between them. But, I knew one fact for sure from the previous conversation. Roy wasn’t the kind of person you could have a decent talk with.

「How about forming a party with me, Pomera-san? Seeing that being alone is inconvenience for my side since I can’t receive commissions and I’m still lacking some common sense.」

I offered a hand towards her for a handshake.

「E… Eh? A-Are you sure? Pomera is a Half-Elf…. Moreover, Kanata-san’s position will be…」

Roy was glaring at me with an irritated look on his face.

「O-Oi, don’t joke around. It’ll be a great loss for us if we lost a cheap labor slave like her.」

「The one to decide that should be Pomera-san, not you right?」

Pomera seemed troubled for a moment but she finally accepted my handshake to show her resolution. Her hand was trembling non stop, maybe because she wasn’t used to doing this.

「P-Please treat me well, Kanata-san! P-Pomera is inexperienced but, Pomera will do her best!!」

Roy bumped into my shoulder as I was about to take Pomera to the receptionist and whispered to me in a low voice.

「You better stop trying to act like a good person towards her, Kanata.I know that you’re the same as me, thinking that she might be of some use for you since she might be able to use magic very well thanks to her forest troll’s blood, but she’s nothing more than useless, low-leveled baggage. You might think that she is good material for being a baggage carrier and stress relief since she won’t say anything about that, don’t think that things will turn as you expected. So you better retur—」

I shook him off lightly since he was really starting to get on my nerves.

Roy fell spectacularly on the floor.

「What a pitiful person…」

I muttered my complaints as I went to the receptionist with Pomera.

Pomera stopped in midway, glancing back from over her shoulder.

「I think it’s better if you don’t involve yourself with that person again, you know.」

「E-Eh, no… It just that, Roy-san’s appearance seems off…」

At the odd comment, I turned to take a look at Roy.

「O-OOOCH! SAVE ME!! HOLYYY! IT CAME OFF!!! MY SHOULDER CAME OFF!」 [TL : Kanata’s light push dislocate his shoulder]

There, I saw Roy was clinging on the other party member while crying with snot and drool messing up his face.

D-Did I use too much power just now?

I mean, I’d only used the same amount of strength I would if I was pushing something lightly on the ground. I really had just pushed him off LIGHTLY and yet, the level difference had proven to be much more troublesome than I had expected.