12 – The Three Leaders
Everyone was speechless at Seize’s strange behavior.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t like the atmosphere.
I started to seriously wonder if I should run away or stay in this place.
Then, the cherry blossom tattooed lady, who had been quietly surprised, opened her mouth with a chuckle.
“Oh my. Little Seize has grown up to be a lady.”
The cherry blossom sister who spoke to me and Shizu alternately.
Her expression was annoying as if she had seen a pleasant scene.
The snake scale tattooed old man who sat next to her also laughed heartily and chimed in.
“Kahahahaha! That’s right! If you’re a high elf, you should claim your mate by yourself!”
The two of them seemed to have misunderstood something and were driving the atmosphere in a weird direction.
I didn’t know why they had such a misunderstanding about how close Shizu and I were.
I gave a forced smile with a flustered expression.
Then, I heard a snap! from the boss’s mouth who was shaking his fist.
“No.”
The boss who gritted his teeth flatly said that.
I felt an inexplicable chill and hugged Pi, who was in my arms, like a doll.
The boss glared at me as if he wanted to kill me and spewed out a fierce aura without holding back.
“My daughter is off-limits.”
It was killing intent.
It was the first time I felt this sensation, but I knew it right away.
The crazy high elf in front of me was trying to kill me.
I put Pi down on the seat where I was sitting and ran away.
[Go, Gaul?!]
Pi, who was left behind instead of me, was momentarily confused and then nodded his head with a determined expression.
Then he spread his arms and started to block the boss.
As expected, the only one on my side is beep!
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I felt a chill of overwhelming emotion.
[Two, boss! Calm down! It must be a misunderstanding! Ghaul doesn’t like Shiz very much!]
“What? He doesn’t like my daughter? How dare he!!”
Oh no. It backfired.
The boss got up from his seat with a more intense aura.
Then he started walking towards me with big strides.
The closer he got, the more my heart shrank.
I swallowed my saliva and faced the boss’s aura head-on.
Then, Shiz, who had been watching quietly, stepped in between me and the boss.
“What do you mean by that?”
The aura that was pressuring the surroundings disappeared as if it was cut off.
I lifted my head and looked at Shiz, who blocked the boss for me.
On her back, there were six red camellia flowers.
“What do you mean I can’t do it?”
Shiz tackled the wrong hint and hit a random spot.
But that tackle was effective on the boss.
Ee-ee-jay (以耳制耳).
Is it true that high elves have to be suppressed by high elves?
I don’t know. You guys fight it out.
“Come on, daughter. That guy is a human before he is a druid. How can you get involved with a human?”
“I have already made up my mind about that. I can handle him for sure.”
“Huh! What are you saying in front of your father! You can’t let dirt get into my eyes!”
“You always told me to pursue strength. If I use that human, I can create a more powerful high elf.”
“That was what I said to you! Oh, I don’t want to see grandchildren yet!”
Sigh. They are arguing well.
I quietly crawled back and sat next to Pii.
Meanwhile, the blonde mother and daughter’s quarrel seemed to have no intention of stopping.
Is that what they call a family feud?
They really looked like father and daughter, but they didn’t listen to each other’s words at all.
“I will never accept that human!”
“Even if you don’t accept him, the goddess of nature has already accepted him.”
“Did you tell the goddess too! How far have you two gone!”
As I continued to listen to the mother and daughter’s quarrel, I could roughly guess that there was some misunderstanding between them.
Sizu seemed to want to make me her subordinate, and the boss misunderstood that Suzu was dating me.
It was a bit embarrassing because it was a misunderstanding related to me, but I didn’t feel bad about it.
It was hard to feel bad about such a misunderstanding because Suzu was so pretty.
[Is that it?]
“Oh my.”
I was not the only one who noticed it, as the other people around me started to make comments.
I awkwardly smiled and affirmed the misunderstanding, and the cherry blossom lady chuckled and teased me.
“The boss wanted to see his son-in-law. He was always curious about you, so he jumped to conclusions. Can you forgive him?”
“Ah. I’m fine. I’m not too offended.”
“Huhu. You’re an unusual human. Your name was Gaul Crudd, right?”
“Yes. That’s right. It’s the name that this beep here gave me.”
“It’s a cool name. I’m ‘Latra’. I’m the commander of the high elves’ garrison. Nice to meet you.”
The cherry blossom lady, Latra, smiled softly and offered me a handshake.
It felt like I met a kind and gentle elf for the first time since I came to this world.
I wiped my palm on my clothes and took her hand.
Then, something wrapped around my neck with a thick voice.
“By the way, I didn’t introduce myself either. I’m ‘Kartolf’. I’m the commander of the high elves’ scouting unit. Gaul and beep, was it? Nice to meet you.”
What wrapped around my neck was the snake scale guy, Kartolf’s arm.
His arm was full of scale tattoos, so I thought a huge anaconda was strangling me.
Latra and Kartolf, they both seemed to have nice personalities, maybe because of their positions.
I wondered why the boss and the hunting commander were like that, but it was good news that two of the high-ranking officers were friendly.
I lifted beep and made him shake hands with Kartolf and accepted his greeting.
“I’m also pleased to meet you.”
[Nice to meet you!]
I felt like I was having a human-like conversation for the first time in a long time.
As I smiled contentedly, a voice that ruined the mood came from the blonde lady.
“`
“No! What the hell are you talking about since earlier?”
“I’m saying what I want to say! What the hell are you saying!”
It seemed that the conversation that had been squeaking had finally gone wrong.
The four of us, including me, gave a bitter smile as we watched the mother and daughter.
Then, Shizu pointed at me and shouted at the boss.
“I mean to take that guy as my subordinate! Why can’t I do that!”
“What? Subordinate? Not lover?”
“……What did you just say? Lover?”
The twisted conversation quickly collapsed and went in the worst direction.
Shizu, who heard the boss’s words, thought for a moment, and then began to frown and emit a murderous aura.
“Lover? Me? With that human guy?”
“Uh… um… daughter?”
As expected, like father like daughter, the aura she emitted was quite similar to the boss’s aura that I felt a while ago.
However, this time the aura was directed at the boss, not me.
At this rate, the boss of the high elves might change today.
As I was worried about the boss’s safety, who I saw for the first time today, Latra, who was next to me, clapped her hands softly and smiled.
“Come on, don’t fight. Why are you interfering with Shizu when you can’t win? She’s a smart girl, so she’ll do well on her own.”
“I’m worried that my daughter will be bewitched by a strange man―”
“―That was a misunderstanding, right? Why do dads try to decide their daughters’ feelings? Please, let’s go politely. The druids are watching.”
“……”
“`
Latra, who had subdued the leader in one breath, opened his mouth to look at Siz.
Siz, who had been snarling a little while ago, had become a docile cat.
Latra seemed to have a lot of influence, unlike what he looked like.
“So, Siz. You said you wanted to have the druid under your command, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Well, I can guess the reason. You wanted to use him as a means to raise your honor, right?”
“……”
Siz nodded slightly at Latra’s words.
I didn’t know the exact method, but Siz seemed to have thought of using me to gain honor.
Then, Latra, who had quietly silenced the blonde woman, raised his hand and spoke to everyone.
“Then I’ll apply too. We needed talent in our garrison. We wouldn’t refuse if a druid came in.”
Latra suddenly declared that he would recruit me.
At that, Zillera Cartolf also raised his hand.
“We need a strong warrior in our search team!”
“The search team deals with human adventurers. Even if you’re a druid, you wouldn’t mind killing the same humans, would you?”
“Hey, druid. Don’t you hate killing humans?”
Cartolf asked me in the recruitment competition that started without notice.
Do I hate killing humans? Is that something to say?
I answered with a trembling expression.
“I wouldn’t like it very much?”
You don’t know because you’ve never killed anyone, old man.
“Ah, but there’s something I want to say.”
But as I listened to these people’s stories, there was one thing that bothered me.
Should I say there was something that needed to be corrected?
I recalled the last conversation I had with the goddess of nature.
– “Candidate.”
– “Yes?”
– “Let’s compromise on druid candidate.”
– “……Do you hate me being called a druid that much?”
– “I really hate it.”
Trias never acknowledged me as a druid.
He hated me so much for being a woodcutter that he barely agreed to call me a ‘druid candidate’.
I didn’t feel sorry for his stubbornness.
Rather, I felt relieved that the pressure was gone.
“I’m not a complete druid yet.”
The god said that lies should not be mixed in his words.
I corrected the vague information to avoid any possible divine punishment.
“I’m just a druid candidate right now.”
“Druid candidate? What does that mean?”
“It means I haven’t been officially appointed as a druid yet. He said he would promote me to a full druid when he sees me doing well.”
“Are you talking about the Goddess of Nature?”
“Yes. She descended herself and told me that.”
Everyone gasped and marveled at my confession.
They seemed more amazed by the fact that I experienced a descent rather than a trust, and they didn’t seem to care much that I was a druid candidate.
Then, Latra, who had been lost in thought for a moment, muttered to himself with a snort.
“Hmm. So that’s why Siz said ‘he would raise him’ earlier? He wants to grow him into a proper druid and then eat him.”
“Huh?”
What? What do you mean by raising and eating?
As I looked bewildered, Latra chuckled and spoke to Siz.
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“Now I get it. Well, if Siz takes responsibility, then our garrison team will give up cleanly.”
“I’m willing to take responsibility to a certain extent.”
“Heh. Will you eat him when he grows up?”
“……I’m planning to fight him.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll leave the druid candidate to Siz.”
Latra smiled kindly and withdrew from recruiting me.
Then, Kartolf, who had been immersed in his own thoughts, scratched his head and said regretfully.
“I’ll give up on recruiting him too. The search team doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for the druid to grow up. He has enough potential, but it’s a pity.”
“It’s because humans have been invading more often lately. You don’t have much leeway, do you?”
“Yeah. In that respect, it’s definitely better for Siz, the hunting team leader, to take him. It’s not hunting season yet, so he should have some spare time. Since that’s the case, I’ll entrust the druid candidate to you, Siz.”
“Yes. I’ll do my best.”
Even Cartolf gave up on recruiting me and backed off.
That naturally led to the atmosphere of Seize taking me under his wing.
But there was one person who had not voiced his opinion.
He was Seize’s father and the leader of the high elves, Rega Eleve Owl.
We unknowingly gave our attention to such a leader.
“Um. I have something to say.”
The leader let out a deep sigh with a serious face.
Then, Seize came closer to me and said to everyone.
“Then it’s decided. I will take care of this human from now on.”
It was a declaration of his will to ignore the leader’s opinion completely.
At that, Ratra awkwardly smiled and opened his mouth.
“Seize, are you not going to listen to the leader’s opinion?”
At Ratra’s words, Seize glared at his father.
His eyes were fierce as if he still had some resentment from before.
He snorted and stuck out his tongue, then said coldly.
“Well, do you have anything else to say?”
It was so cold that it made me shiver.
So this is what they mean by a scary daughter.
“……I, I trust that my daughter will do well.”
The leader turned his head slightly and respected Seize’s opinion.
I felt a pang in my chest as if I had witnessed something pitiful.
“Then I guess the meeting is over. Come on, human.”
Shiz spoke to me and walked out of the exit with big strides.
He looked cool and detached, as if he had no regrets after finishing his business.
Seeing him, I remembered one thing that bothered me.
Should I tell him or not?
As I was pondering, Pii, who had been quiet until now, tilted his head and opened his mouth.
[But Ghaul doesn’t have a choice, does he?]
Right? It’s not just me who felt that, right?
[You guys are really mean.]
Pii’s words made my heart bitter.
“Phew… what can I do.”
I was not in a position to worry about someone else’s dad.