At the Dungeon’s Behest, Howl, Elf*8
After that, I guided the remaining four elves to the World Tree one by one.
Apparently, pretty much all elves are bad with roller-coaster-type rides. They were screaming. In the end, everyone except the taciturn archer elf who went first was making noise. The staff elf who looked like she was about to cry and the loud archer elf were seriously screaming. Nice, nice. Keep roaring. Roar louder. Hah, hah, hah.
… Yeah. Sorry. Kind of. But since Mishisia-san looked like she was having fun, let’s call it good.
… Anyway, as for the reactions that really mattered, well, I’d say they were reasonably satisfying.
The loud archer elf and the staff elf who looked like she was about to cry were both absolutely shocked, going, “I can’t believe it!” and all that, but even so, they grudgingly, in a very roundabout way, admitted as far as, “If a World Tree this impressive is growing, then Mishisia-san’s skill must be genuine.” They themselves seemed a bit shaken, but Mishisia-san looked happy, so I’m counting it as a win.
The leader elf, on the other hand, seemed to take it a bit more heavily, almost falling into an identity crisis along the lines of, “What even is elf pride…?” But after talking with Mishisia-san for a bit, it seemed like he accepted various things.
… Mishisia-san, I didn’t pry too much, but it sounds like you talked about a lot.
About how you felt when you were driven out of the elf village. About when you decided to do your best here in this village. About how you cherish the World Tree, and at the same time cherish this land where the World Tree stands, and cherish the people who live here.
And apparently you also declared, “I’m not going back to the village anymore.” And, “I’m staying here and living happily!”
… The leader elf seemed like he had some thoughts about that. Well, telling him to immediately rethink everything would be unreasonable anyway. If he gradually changes something, I’d be happy with that.
After that, we locked each of the five elves into separate rooms and had all five of them write letters there. Since they were locked up separately, no consulting with each other.
Once they’d written their letters, inspection began.
… We’d told them in advance that we’d be inspecting them, so most of the elves wrote fairly sensible content.
The gist was something like, “While attempting to verify the lie about the World Tree, we found that humans were stronger than expected and were taken prisoner. The existence of the World Tree was confirmed with our own eyes. Requesting judgment.”
That should probably be fine even without revisions. Still, I think I’ll have them rewrite the same content on different paper and send that instead. It’d be a pain if the stationery itself had some kind of fantasy power infused into it.
“And then… this one, uh… this one’s a bit…”
“… So there are elves like Asuma-sama among them too, huh…”
“Huh? Lisas-san, wait a second. I feel like you just said something I can’t ignore!”
… And the only thing giving us a headache… is this letter.
“Oh, her? She’s an elf who studies monsters… so I think that’s why her report turned out like this.”
“No, I get that! I really do! But calling me ‘someone like this guy’ really sticks in my craw, Lisas-san!”
“It’s like… the way you charge straight at things, kind of…”
… The letter we were staring at while clutching our heads. It was written by the slime-loving big sister.
This big sister, unbelievably, apparently decided not to properly write about being taken prisoner or about the World Tree at all!
Instead, it said things like, “Panis Village has many wonderful slimes. They differ greatly in nature from slimes seen in other regions, being gentle and not attacking people. They have a pleasant texture, are not sticky, and are intelligent. When soaked in hot springs or kneaded, slimes become like this. This is extremely fascinating, and I wish to continue on-site research. By the way, I was taken prisoner.”
Hey, could you ask for rescue a little more properly? What is this? What are you, seriously?!
“… Do you think this has some kind of ulterior motive?”
“Yeah. I think she probably just wants to keep watching slimes.”
Seriously…? That big sister is way crazier than everyone else…?
“Why did the elves include someone like that in the investigation team…?”
“Because she’s talented… I mean, you saw how huge the range on her interference magic was, right? Only a handful of elves can do that!”
Oh, really…? I see. So they selected five excellent people, and one extremely weird person just happened to slip in.
“Talented people tend to be weird, don’t they!”
Yeah. I can kind of agree with that… Why is that, anyway? But it’s true, there are a lot of people like that… It’s like brilliance and eccentricity are two sides of the same coin…
“Well, having someone interested in slimes is helpful. It gives us a foothold for negotiations.”
“Huh? Like, ‘We’ll let you touch slimes, so don’t attack human countries’?”
“Well, that’s probably how it’ll end up eventually… but that’s later. There are steps before that.”
For now, the existence of that crazy slime-loving big sister was good news for us. Even someone that strange counts as good news…
“We’ll teach slime farming to the elves. And have them cut ties with the church folks! Then we’ll pull the elves over to our side and say, ‘Please hand over those former Grand Cathedral people to us! We’ll deal with them!’”
After all, they’re someone who’ll accept the bargaining chips we can offer!
Alright. With that, we were in the middle of a strategy meeting. The elves looked bored, so we figured we might as well show them Mewmya too. Mewmya was flying around the elves, going myu-myu.
Incidentally, the slime-loving crazy big sister’s reaction to Mewmya was just, “She’s cute,” and that was that.
But… it looked like the taciturn archer elf really liked how Mewmya felt to the touch. He just kept petting her. Mewmya seemed to like being petted too, coming over while going myu-myu. And since that was adorable, well, infinite loop.
… Um, are elves maybe all a little weird, somewhere?
Anyway, that’s that, and this is this. Right.
“Do you think slime farming is valuable information for elves too?”
“Yeah. I think so. Even I had never seen anything like this before…”
Yeah. I guess nobody in this world had thought to plant tomatoes on top of a slime’s head. Why hadn’t they? Well, I guess not. I’m weird too. I know, I know.
“And the elves already seem to be developing some negative feelings toward the former Grand Cathedral folks, right?”
“Well… a lot of elves dislike humans to begin with. At that point, it’s probably already pretty rough…”
Leaving aside whether that’s right or wrong, this time it works in our favor. Leaving that aside. Leaving it aside, okay!
“Then at the very least, let’s make sure it doesn’t turn into a joint front between the Grand Cathedral and the elves. That alone must never be allowed to happen!”
If the Grand Cathedral and the Second Prince faction ended up joining forces with the elves, it’d be an enormous pain. We’ve already confirmed that elves are fantasy-power powerhouses. If a bunch of those came at us, we’d be in serious trouble!
“And while we’re at it… if possible, I’d like to pull the elves over to our side. Is that too much?”
Yeah, ideally it’s not “Please don’t become our enemy!” but “Please become our ally!” But I know that’s a tall order.
“Hmm…”
… But Mishisia-san started thinking seriously about something.
“… It’s not a very good idea, but…”
“Please, please, bad ideas are very welcome.”
“If it’s just the elves who are here now, they might become our allies. That is… when you think about the possibility that they might be deemed ‘no longer needed’ by the elf village…”
Yep.
So, we sent a letter explaining the situation to Laperesiana-sama, consulted with her, and with a letter from Laperesiana-sama attached, sent the five captive elves’ letters to the elf village.
While waiting for a reply, the five elves would be kept in Panis Village’s care… and if that’s the case, we couldn’t afford to waste this opportunity.
So we decided to lay some groundwork.
Namely: “So that if these five elves are discarded by the elf village, we can immediately retrieve them! And so that if the elf village should, by some chance, try to establish friendly relations with us, we can immediately ask them to serve as intermediaries!”
… In short, it was Panis Village’s appeal time. We, Panis Village, and humans would leave a good impression, and skillfully pull them over to our side! For that, we must not begrudge a little effort or expense!
If that still doesn’t work, we can think about it again then! Well, if it comes to that, we’ll probably end up unleashing chemical weapons! I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that!
“Alright. From today on, you’ll be living here. Sorry, but I can’t let you leave. It’d be a problem if I gave you too much freedom and you ended up burning the village down.”
And so, first, inside the dungeon… or rather, well, more than 300 meters underground beneath Panis Village, I built a VIP prison for the elves.
“… This is a prison?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
Well, it’s a prison, but it’s a proper VIP prison! Properly and thoroughly good treatment!
First, even though it’s underground, I prepared a courtyard so it wouldn’t feel stuffy. …The courtyard has a decent height, and plants are growing there. The ceiling is properly lit using glowing mana extracted from Generic-kun. It’s just like being in nature.
And facing that courtyard are rooms with proper crystal-glass windows, designed carefully to let in light. These are the elves’ VIP cells.
Inside are fluffy beds made with Panis Village’s specialty hemp fabric. There are writing desks and chairs chosen for comfort. Elves apparently like wood, so I reconstructed them from wood for them.
Furthermore, on the opposite side across the courtyard is a hot spring. This, even if I say so myself, turned out great.
It’s a strange space that feels like an open-air bath and yet is an indoor bath, with hot water pouring vigorously down rocks from a high position like a waterfall—quite a sight. And in addition to that open-air-style bath, there’s also a proper indoor-style indoor bath. That one’s a medicinal bath, so you can enjoy the fragrance and the skin-smoothing effect.
Then I prepared a dining hall. Meals are provided three times a day, and on top of that, herbal tea and alcohol are available at any time.
“… Why provide such treatment?”
“Well, if you’d still looked down on Mishisia-san even after seeing the World Tree, I was ready to shove you into a ditch. But if we both have things we can respect about each other and you’re willing to interact properly, then of course I’ll give you proper treatment. That’s only natural, what are you even asking…”
The elves looked dumbfounded, but they didn’t seem to feel bad about it. Moreover, slimes were squishing their way around the courtyard, and when the slime-loving big sister quietly went out into the courtyard upon seeing them, the other elves also began cautiously exploring this enclosed space.
… Both the taciturn archer elf and the noisy one seemed to like alcohol, letting out small cheers. Mishisia-san immediately went over and started advertising, saying, “This is good! This is good! It’s alcohol you don’t have in the elf village!”
Incidentally, Mishisia-san’s recommendation was apple-infused whiskey. Apparently it’s also good with a little honey added. Well, I can understand that deliciousness myself…
So, the two archer elves who started sipping the alcohol Mishisia-san recommended at the small built-in counter quickly began to look like they were thinking, “Alcohol made by humans isn’t bad…”
Good.
Next, the staff elf who had looked like she was about to cry. She was confused by the situation and complaining, “Honestly, why do we have to be locked up…”
So I said, “Hey, big sis, since we’re at it, you should use this as bedding when you sleep. It’s a Panis Village specialty. Smells nice,” and gave her a bottle of aroma water.
… In this world, fragrant oils are luxury items. But in Panis Village, plant growth is insanely fast, and I quickly spread steam distillation, so we can obtain essential oils quite cheaply.
And the aroma water produced in the process of extracting essential oils, basically the almost-but-not-quite part, can be offered very cheaply, making it a strong candidate as a “Panis Village souvenir.” Especially women tend to buy this rather than alcohol.
… And with this aroma water, just a light spray makes it smell really nice, so, well, use it like that.
This elf big sister seemed to take a liking to it and was sleeping soundly on the fluffy bed. Good. Sleep well.
And then… the leader elf and the slime-loving big sister. They seemed to be enjoying the slimes in the courtyard.
Well, for the leader, the slime was more an object of “What is this thing…?” rather than “Cute, cute, cute!”
In particular, the leader elf was kneading slimes while talking with Lisas-san. Lisas-san is a relatively calm human (well, compared to me and Mishisia-san!), so he seemed easy to talk to.
Lisas-san, being a proper sort of person, chatted casually with the elves while subtly exchanging information and subtly drawing out their requests.
… Too competent!
As for the slime-loving big sister, she was relentlessly kneading slimes, poking them, observing them, sketching them, and apparently even started writing a paper.
And occasionally she’d catch me and want to hear about slimes, so I told her various things. As a result, she took a liking to me too. I ended up getting petted along with the slimes. How did this happen?!
… And so, the five elves lived their captive lives fairly peacefully. And they warmed up to us.
… They warmed up a lot.
I do wonder if it’s really okay to warm up to humans, but according to them, they were saying things like, “For humans, you have promise,” while looking a bit awkward, so maybe they had some thoughts of their own.
They were also gentle with Edele-san, who brought their meals three times a day, and they themselves seemed to think that, at the very least, it would be a shame to destroy this village.
So, well… for now, it seems unlikely that these five will immediately become hostile toward us. Elves are exclusive, but once you let something into their inner circle, they seem to be sweet toward it. Hm.
Well… more than that, while letting them live here, I ended up seeing various sides of their circumstances… and because of that, I now think that at least these five elves are people we can communicate with.
That is… it seems the elves have their own troubles too… Mainly because of this thing called a “dungeon.”
Ten days later.
“Well then. A letter has arrived from the elf village.”
Laperesiana-sama arrived in Panis Village riding a bike.
… Now then. What could it possibly say?
What do you think about this chapter?
