by Kumo Kagyu
“Gooood morning, everybody!”
She flung open the door and leaped into the hallway, going nimbly from the atrium to the first floor.
Luckily, due to the early hour, there were not many people in the tavern yet. The only one watching her as she made her silent landing was a wide-eyed waitress on a morning shift.
Sword Master—her companion, who had already gotten up and eaten an early breakfast—gave a sigh of scant surprise. “…Look at you, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a night’s sleep. What are you, a kid?”
“Huh? Isn’t this normal?” Hero plopped down across from Sword Master with her head cocked, letting her legs dangle. She immediately grabbed some bread from the basket in the middle of the table, slathering it with butter and stuffing it into her mouth.
Mmm, delicious!
“Oh, I’ll have… Let’s see. I want the sausage and fried egg!”
“Y-yes, ma’am! Right away!”
“Oh, and bread! With plenty of butter!”
The waitress observed this audacious behavior in a daze, then scuttled off to the kitchen.
“Huh? Is our third still asleep?”
“Things did go late last night.”
Sword Master smacked Hero’s hand, which was outstretched for another piece of bread, and looked up at the bedrooms on the second floor. He appeared concerned about Sage, who was not yet awake.
“Well, there were an awful lot of them!”
“And our party is not able to use Dispel.”
That meant they could not return ghosts and undead to the earth. As a result, they had to cut off the head of the Necromancer’s army—literally. If the king had not taken the bulk of the enemy forces, it would have been very difficult.
“It would be so great if I could just clear all the way to the horizon with one sweep!”
“Stop that. If you could do that, it would be terrifically dangerous.”
“You think?”
As she mumbled, “Really…?” and swung her legs, Hero very much gave the impression of a little girl. Sword Master found it hard to believe she was the hero—in the best way. All he could do was swing a sword, but he wanted to help her if he could.
“Oh, hey, I had a weird dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yeah. The gods, right? They were like, Go to that one town.”
Sword Master took pause when she said this. He had no knowledge of such magic or divine secrets. His understanding extended to “kill this, stab that.”
“…That is an Oracle, a handout.”
The subdued voice came from above.
A girl wearing an overcoat and holding a staff came trotting down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. Sage—one of the great spell casters of this world.
“Morning!” Hero waved at her, and Sage replied with a nod. She pulled out a chair and sat down. Hero narrowed her eyes in happiness at the familiar sight of the three of them around a table.
“…What kind of town?”
“Hmm. Maybe they were having a festival? There was this…kind of fuzzy light.”
“Is that everything?”
“And there was this huge storm, like bwah! Maybe it was a giant?”
“…I have a guess.”
Sage murmured one or two words to create a spell and pulled a rounded sheepskin paper out of thin air. Sword Master had no idea what was going on, but she occasionally produced things this way. Spread on the table, it turned out to be a map of the frontier. Sage pointed to a certain spot with the end of her staff.
“…Here.”
“All riiiight!”
Hero made a fist just as the waitress arrived with her food, saying, “Sorry for the wait.”
“Want anything?” Sword Master asked, and Sage replied briefly, “An omelet.”
Hero laughed as she applied ketchup liberally to her fried egg.
“I guess we know where our next adventure will be!”
It was true: adventures took place everywhere in this world.
“Hrrm…?”
The sun was well into the sky when its rays came through the window and struck the eyes of High Elf Archer. She was naked, curled up in bed under a single blanket, and she buried her face in the pillow in a short-lived show of resistance. But the sunlight was fearsomely bright. It could not be defeated simply by covering her face.
Soon giving in, the elf yawned like a cat—fwaah—and gave a great stretch of her lean body.
“Faah…oooh… ’S it morning?”
The sun was a bit too high for morning. It was nearly noon.
High Elf Archer, rubbing her eyes and looking out the window, sat up cross-legged in bed.
“Ooo…”
She clawed at her sleep-addled hair as she mumbled meaningless syllables.
As she recalled, she had today off. At least, if no one came to wake her, it meant there was no adventure.
That Orcbolg—he had gone off alone, all goblins, goblins as usual.
She honestly wasn’t sure about the recent incident. She had trouble believing a battle with an evil wizard on top of a tower.
In any case, this sure is different from the forest.
If nothing else, the fact that she could sleep until noon made her glad she had left the woods.
She yawned again, then scratched at her healthily taut belly and belly button. High-elf behavior was known for its refinement, but there were limits.
High Elf Archer stretched out her legs toward the floor, which was so cluttered with items and possessions that there was barely anywhere to put her feet. The tips of her toes found her beloved great bow. She retied the loosened string, then plucked it gently to check it. She ought to change it sooner or later.
“Hmm, I’m sure it was around… Ah, there you are.”
She sprawled on her bed and stretched her arms out toward the floor.
She picked up a little spider about the size of a fingertip. It had been wandering around on top of her leggings on the ground.
High Elf Archer tapped a slim finger on the spider’s behind and gave a tug, and a silver thread ran into the air. She was literally spinning silk. And not sticky web silk, but the plain kind spiders used to walk on. She did this two or three times, until she had the lengths of thread she wanted, whereupon her ears quivered.
“That’s enough, I guess. Thanks!”
She let the spider go and set about twisting the thread. Spider’s silk was light but stronger than steel wire of the same thickness. The perfect material for a bowstring. After a while, the elf had wound the strings together. She ran them back and forth through her fingers, from one end to the other.
Convinced there were no problems, she flitted her ears in satisfaction.
“There we go.”
She wound the string into a loop and popped out of bed and onto the floor. Being careful not to step on borrowed books and toys she had bought but didn’t really understand, she worked her way around the room.
She swept up her hunter’s garb, slipping it on carelessly.
Today was her day off. She didn’t need her overcoat or anything. Although a short sword might be appropriate…
She was slim and elegant; she had skin so white it was almost translucent and not a lot of extra meat on her bones. Combined with her flat chest, she had the beauty of a carved statue.
In beauty, at least, forest elves were not content to come second to any other race. Perhaps the reason they hid themselves under clothing was that they saw their own fairness as simply normal.
“”
Whistling tunelessly, High Elf Archer braided her hair. She gently brushed aside the stray strands from her shoulders and cheeks, and when she spun back around, her messy room greeted her.
In some ways, the mayhem was understandable in the room of an adventurer. But it was hard to believe this was the room of a young woman, and an elf at that. Equipment had been tossed around, discarded clothing lay everywhere, and empty dishes were piled up carelessly. Adventure novels and books
of plays lay open, while playthings bought at temple festivals were scattered about. It would be easier to believe this was a child’s bedroom.
How did so many things even fit in such a relatively small space? It was a great riddle that even the elves, with all their knowledge, could not have fathomed.
“Hmm,” High Elf Archer crossed her arms gravely and surveyed the room, then batted her long ears and nodded as if in agreement with something. “I’d better do some laundry.”
§
She added shaved soap and her clothes to a tub full of water from the well, then put in her bare feet.
“Oooh… Underground water is cold, isn’t it?”
Her body and ears both shuddered, and she began treading on her clothing.
She knew for certain: she could never have imagined this back in her forest home. There, it had been a simple matter of putting your clothes in the river and asking the undines or other water spirits to wash them for you. Household chores were left to brownies. The human world was awfully inconvenient, she thought.
But all that aside, she did enjoy stomping around, basically playing in the water.
Behind the Guild was a watering hole that also served as a place to do the wash.
The warm light of the late morning sun poured down. In the distance, she could hear children running and housewives chatting. Lunch preparations must have been under way, because a tempting aroma drifted from the tavern kitchen.
High Elf Archer loved this time. Somehow it had a different smell from the usual town mornings and nights and days when she was going on an adventure. She didn’t know exactly what that smell was, and she might have been imagining it. She found a healthy curiosity well and good in both herself and others, but some things ought to go without being too thoroughly investigated.
“Bwaaah…”
She gave another wide yawn. No matter how much you slept, on days like this it was never enough. But then, elves had all the time in the world. Wasting a little of it wouldn’t hurt anything.
It is kind of a shame, though.
Interesting things, things that got her attention—if she took her eyes off them for just a moment, suddenly they would be gone.
High Elf Archer continued stamping on the laundry, giving another great yawn and stepping out of the bucket. Then she squeezed out her well-trod clothes and spread them out left and right with a whap.
“Lots of interesting things to think about, really.”
Like the delicate scent of soap. The breeze she could feel through her damp clothing. The sunlight.
Enjoying all these things, High Elf Archer hung her clothes from the line in the wash area. She remembered all too well when she had hung them carelessly and they had gotten wrinkled, so she made sure to make them as neat as possible. For some reason, it was troubling when they got caught by the wind and blown onto the ground, so she fastened them securely with clothespins.
“Done and done!”
She hung the last garment carefully, then gave a satisfied flick of her ears. She wiped her forehead, although it wasn’t sweaty, put her hands on her hips, and eyed the laundry. The clothing flapped in the wind like the banner of an army atop a conquered fortress.
“Doing the laundry? Aren’t you a hard worker.”
High Elf Archer turned toward the voice behind her with a proud sniff.
In general, elves could tell who was coming without looking. But even they could be surprised sometimes. There are exceptions to every rule.
“Oh, Guild Girl. What’s up?”
“I have the day off, so I’m just wandering.”
The receptionist was wearing personal clothes. It was a bit of a shock, because High Elf Archer was so used to seeing her in her uniform, but of course, even Guild Girl owned other outfits. Just like everyone.
She was wearing a light summer dress. It had no sleeves, showing the lovely line of her arms from her shoulders to her neatly trimmed nails. It sat easily on her and would probably let a cooling breeze through nicely. Her well-formed body was presumably a result of the effort she put in every day. It could comfortably be called ideal.
“It makes you look like a sylph, somehow.”
Guild Girl smiled, pleased at this. “I got it because it’s supposed to be the latest fashion in the Capital.”
So that was it. High Elf Archer nodded. It certainly seemed like a good outfit to just wander in. Human fashion, though, changed at such a frenzied pace that she found it difficult to keep up with…
I wonder how they come up with so many things in a single year.
One thing was certain: the human world never got boring.
“But why are you at the Guild?”
It was her day off. Guild Girl averted her eyes suddenly at High Elf Archer’s innocent question. Her gaze shifted from one place to another.
“…Just because. I thought maybe I’d make sure our adventurers had come home all right.”
“Huh!” High Elf Archer laughed, not reflecting particularly deeply on this answer. “Now that’s dedication!”
“Well, you know…” Guild Girl said evasively. “So how goes your washing?”
“Behold, the fruits of my labor.” High Elf Archer stuck out her little chest proudly. “What do you think?”
It wasn’t like she had used a special skill. It was just laundry. Not something to brag about, but Guild Girl smiled anyway.
“You’ve gotten pretty used to doing it, haven’t you?” she commented.
“I guess so. I can handle this much pretty easily,” replied High Elf Archer.
“Oh… No underwear?”
“?”
Guild Girl stood with her braids bobbing as she tilted her head quizzically.
High Elf Archer answered readily, “I don’t have any.”
“Oh, you mean this is your second wash already?”
“No,” she replied with an emphatic shake of her head. Why didn’t she understand? “I don’t have any.”
“…I thought we all picked some out together a while ago.”
“I kinda buried it…”
“…”
Guild Girl was pressing on her brow and staring at the ground just long enough for High Elf Archer to be slightly suspicious. And when Guild Girl looked up again…
“Let’s go buy some, then. Yes, let’s do that.”
There was that pasted-on smile.
“Huh? But… Honestly, they’re kind of a pain…”
“Let’s go.”
And for an adventurer to refuse an offer from a Guild employee was simply not possible.
§
“Errgh… Hey, do I really have to put this on?”
“Yes, you do!”
High Elf Archer peeked out of the changing room to find Guild Girl’s finger stuck in her face.
Guild Girl had taken the elf by the scruff of the neck and dragged her to the town’s general store.
This may have been an underdeveloped area of the frontier, but even here there was a tailor.
“Although, when it comes to the latest things from the Capital, you’ll have better luck at the general store.”
It might not hold a candle to the water town, but more items came through here.
So Guild Girl had said and stuck out her well-formed chest, but High Elf Archer didn’t understand. Fashion changed with such blinding speed, maybe only humans could keep up.
“And what’s more,” Guild Girl said with a shake of her finger, “appearance is important to adventurers.”
“It is?”
“If higher-ranked adventurers don’t look the part, it drags down the overall quality of all our adventurers.”
Adventurers were known for a particular appearance, all right: ruffians with weapons and armor. The state may have established the Guild to help manage adventurers, but public opinion was not so generous. There was no need for outrageous clothing, but a well-tended appearance was important.
It wasn’t that High Elf Archer didn’t understand that log
ic. She did understand it, and yet…
“Yeah?” she said with a displeased wave of her ears. “Try telling him that.”
“You think he’d listen?” Guild Girl shot back with a broad smile.
“…No,” High Elf Archer said, sulking back into the changing room. In her hand she held thin and sleeveless lingerie that came down to her midriff.
“But I’ve got high hopes for you, you know.”
“High hopes?”
“Elves naturally have such beautiful skin—you probably don’t even need to groom yourself.”
“I don’t know about that…”
Nonetheless, High Elf Archer gave a dismissive grunt and squeezed herself into the underwear. She just couldn’t get used to the sensation of it stuck to her flat chest.
“I promised to help our little friend pick out some underwear, too.” Just for a second, Guild Girl seemed to offer a peek behind her stiff smile. “We’re all girls, right? You may be adventurers, and equipment might be more important than fashion, but…” High Elf Archer’s ears picked up the last few words as she murmured, “But we’re all girls, right?”
There was nothing critical or scolding in her tone. Maybe she wasn’t in a position to do such a thing. High Elf Archer didn’t know. But even if she didn’t understand it, she could tell Guild Girl was caring for them in her own way.
She is a good person. I think.
“But still…”
Be that as it may. Underwear might help in absorbing sweat and such, but…
She had grabbed a single piece of thin clothing, an upside-down triangle. The color on top and bottom, of course, matched.
…I don’t think this thing could even do that much.
She held up the thing in her hand, stretching it and scrutinizing it as she said, “Why would you wear this?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“I mean, it’s not like anyone’s going to see it. Who would you show it to?”
She could sense Guild Girl stiffening on the far side of the changing room curtain.
“Hm?” High Elf Archer said, surprised, with a tilt of her head. Apparently she had asked something else she wasn’t supposed to.