5. Bread and Dagger (50)
Beneta told me.
Remember the bread and the dagger.
Elves pay back bread for bread and dagger for dagger. There were no exceptions to that principle. Even if it was a human being who hated it, it was the same.
The living witness also existed.
The leader of the cult, Leoric.
It was unknown why he, who was once a warlord of Yurdina’s army, was with the elves. In addition, the opportunity to fall into socialism.
However, the clear fact was that he had been recognized as a member of the elven society from before.
Despite being human, for the sole reason of saving an elf girl.
I also wanted to repeat the narrative.
Of course, there were minor differences.
It was for the authenticity of the story. If you copy too many parts, there is a strong possibility of causing suspicion.
So I tailored a few paragraphs to me and Avian.
First of all, Avian was a human spy. This could be proven by showing off the ‘blessing’ inherent in the body.
From then on, gaining trust was simple.
There is no way a spy who has received a ‘blessing’ will go so far as to lie and defend a human man.
Such a sense of complacency suppressed their doubts. In addition, there is a vivid story of hardships unfolding when Avian almost gets caught.
The two people who came to interview us had a solemn expression on their faces.
Of course, I was the perpetrator of most of those hardships.
I wasn’t particularly smart, and I wasn’t good at acting.
That’s why I deliberately added a setting called ‘memory loss’.
Through this, I was able to give the perception that I was a harmless weakling, and it wasn’t strange even if I didn’t know anything.
There was no reason to obtain information about human society through interrogation.
At the end of the long process, the two elves finally surrendered.
It was to believe in the story of the two of us.
Then there was only one remaining problem.
The two of them went to the corner and whispered.
It was a secret in its own way and I kept my voice low, but I couldn’t fool my keen hearing.
“Hey, hey, then what? Of course, you were planning to expel that man or send him to headquarters.”
“What, what should I do! Of course I have to kill you!”
“To the person who crossed the continent to save a little elf?”
As a rule, it was the man who defended me, and the woman who took a hard line.
The woman kept her mouth shut as if she was at a loss for what to say to the man.
The man shook his head with a frustrated expression.
“No matter how human you are, you can’t treat a benefactor carelessly… There’s no way an elf who even received a ‘blessing’ could be a traitor.”
The elf woman kept her mouth shut as if she was at a loss for words. She was silent for a long time, then made one last timid attempt at defiance.
“Still, old Pope must hate it… … .”
“The village gave us full power.”
It was, of course, futile resistance.
The man put on a bitter expression and tapped the woman’s shoulder.
The woman could not make eye contact with the man.
“So we have to decide, Isha. know? Bread is bread… … .”
“A dagger is a dagger… Okay.”
Avian looked slightly uneasy as if he couldn’t hear the conversation between the two.
And when the man came with a dagger, his face was noticeably pale.
If I die, she will die too.
That dagger would feel like a weapon to end my life.
I deliberately kept my mouth shut without saying anything.
“Now, wait a minute! No, this person is too much for me… … !”
Right after that, the rope snapped and snapped.
Only then did I clench and open my fists in a relaxed mood. The elf man immediately released Avian from his restraints.
Realizing that it was a futile plea, Avian’s face flushed red.
Seeing that, the elf man burst into laughter.
“My lady, do you care for that man a lot? Are you in love?”
“Oh no!”
Avian desperately denied it, but there was no way he would listen.
On the contrary, the man just stabbed the woman’s forearm and made noises like ‘Look, what would have happened if I killed her’.
It was fortunate.
First of all, he didn’t seem to have any intention of hurting me, and he stayed in the village for a while with the excuse of ‘memory loss’ and left after learning the road.
According to Avian, there are many elven villages.
There is a place like the headquarters where Leoric stays, called the ‘headquarters’, but most of the villages are separated from each other. Just like the army camp of Yurdina.
It was to prevent the extinction of the race all at once.
If they die, there will be no race called ‘elves’ left on this continent.
Elf slaves, who were secretly traded in the Southern Kingdom, would be the only descendants. If so, elves will forever remain a ‘slave race’.
It was a reasonable reason.
Unlike the woman who gave me a chilly expression, the elf man showed a pretty bold side. Just by looking at his wry smile, he seemed like a good man.
“My name is Ruggett, and the one with that grumpy face is Isha… Oh, come to think of it, I haven’t heard your name.”
“I-I can’t even remember his name… … .”
I didn’t know what rumors would spread if I heard the name ‘Ian’.
It was fortunate that I didn’t know about my identity. It was a fact that had already been confirmed through the elves who did not recognize me during the last battle.
Had he known me in the first place, he would not have made such a foolish attempt to hold me down with such a loose knot.
So I decided to claim that I had even forgotten my name.
By the way, it was a setting that even Avian didn’t know my name. It was because I was worried that if I was branded as a traitor to humanity, it would harm my family.
Isn’t there a hole in the lie that hastily concocted?
While I was feeling so proud, Ruggett thought for a while.
“Yes, name… How do you name it? Hey Isha. Do you have any thoughts?”
“You can just call me ‘human’, okay?”
It was a voice dripping with displeasure.
She still wasn’t even looking at me. It was a face that was reluctant to even contact me.
It was worth it.
I was human and she was an elf. In particular, humans caught female elves and did evil.
To put it bluntly, Isha was normal, and Ruggett was abnormal.
It seemed that Ruggett was not aware of that fact.
With an ambiguous smile, he moderated the topic.
“Yes, that will work! Because there is only one human in our village… hahahaha, it must be burdensome to represent the tribe alone.”
“no. Rather nice, human… It sounds like something funny.”
Avian looked tired.
He seemed surprised by my nonchalantness in joking with Ruggett. Yes, I was also nervous on the inside, but I didn’t feel bad thinking that this place was an enemy camp.
The tight string of tension awakens the spirit.
Conversing so carefully, I entered a small barn outside the warehouse before I knew it.
“Well, I have gathered your belongings here. Actually, we were going to keep it like this, but should we give it back?”
A sword, a hatchet, and even a space expansion pocket that protected my arms.
In particular, the space expansion pocket was a luxury item at first glance. Isn’t it even drawn with the symbol of the imperial family?
However, perhaps because they lived so far from civilization, they didn’t even seem to recognize it.
It was fortunate for me.
As I was about to grab the hatchet first, Isha suddenly raised her voice.
“Ah, I’m kind of anxious… … !”
At that one word, my gestures stopped. Me, Ruggett, and even Avian looked at Isha with puzzled eyes.
she said in a trembling tone.
“I-I’ve heard of… A madman has appeared with a hatchet and smashes everything from demons to mythical monsters! What if that person is that person? Aren’t we all going to die?”
“Isha… … .”
Ruggett let out a deep sigh.
He began to comfort Isha in a serious tone.
“That is nonsensical nonsense. The story of someone making a fuss at the headquarters must have been misrepresented. How can such a person exist according to common sense?”
“Yeah, but… … .”
Isha soon lost her temper and lowered her head. He seemed to think that Ruggett’s words were right in his heart.
Even though I, the main character of the ‘nonsense’, was breaking out in a cold sweat behind my back.
Rumors have spread even here. Hey, there’s no way Avian is the only elf spy.
Thinking that I should be more careful, I carefully packed my belongings.
It was the same with Avian.
What I was most curious about was the condition in my pocket.
In the meantime, I was worried that it might have been stolen, but surprisingly, the inside was fine. Have you ever touched your belongings?
It was when I was peering into the inside of the pouch so carefully.
Isha shouted at me in a high-pitched voice.
“Hey, you human! Save it for now, but be careful. If you do anything suspicious, I’ll put an arrow between your eyes right away… … !”
With a sigh, I emptied my pocket and took out a piece of food I had stored.
It was bread.
Thanks to the preservation magic, the bread was still soft and moist. There was no hot steam coming up, but it was still like this after weeks.
It was an impressive performance.
As I was chewing over my words of gratitude to the princess again, I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.
It was quiet all around.
No sound was heard. Apparently, Isha must have said something to me.
When I glanced at Isha, there was a woman there, staring at the bread in my hand as if possessed.
It was to the point where I could hear the sound of swallowing and swallowing.
Isha asked me cautiously.
“That, that… Is it bread by any chance?”
“Yes, it is bread.”
I don’t know if you see
I couldn’t help but tilt my head at this point.
“Have you ever looked inside your pocket?”
“No, we wanted to… Strangely, when we tried to open it, it didn’t open.”
It was Ruggett’s explanation.
I hope it has such a function. Again, I calculated how much this bag would be worth.
It was a unit that I couldn’t even handle with my bowl.
But Ruggett and Isha didn’t seem to care about my pockets. I was only looking at the bread on my hand, that one.
Come to think of it, the food situation of the elves was not good.
Everyone could tell by looking at those earnest eyes. The fact that Isha wants to eat bread.
So I offered her some bread. It was pure good will.
“Would you like some?”
“Yes… hot! Oh no! I don’t accept anything given by humans! And that, there is only one, but to ask for it… … .”
Isha was about to nod, but she shook her head in surprise. Seeing that he was strangely shameless, he was a very unknown person.
He said he didn’t like me because I’m human, but he said it’s a bit difficult to receive bread because there’s only one.
She was a complicated woman.
So I decided to make Isha understand more intuitively.
Took, I emptied my pocket and another piece of bread fell out.
Ruggett and Isha’s eyes widened. Because, judging from the size of the bag, there didn’t seem to be room for two loaves of bread.
The elves who were separated from civilization seemed to be unaware of the space expansion pockets.
“Papa, another piece of bread… … ?”
Hearing those bewildered mutterings, I handed Isha the two loaves of bread I had in my hands.
Isha was hesitant at first.
However, it was hard to bear the smell of the bread, so I closed my eyes and accepted the bread. And, not being tempted, he quickly passed a loaf of bread to Ruggett.
They were two people who looked really good.
even though you don’t have to
I emptied my pockets a few more times in front of the two of them.
Bread falling one by one each time.
“Papa, one bread, two, three… Mu, as many as eight!”
“How many are there, huh? Ho, can you share some more?!”
And while watching the scene, Ruggett and Isha showed a very dramatic reaction.
That enthusiasm was comparable to that of a monk who had an audience with a god who had descended to earth.
I had no choice but to swallow a laugh.
Do you have a lot of bread?
Of course it was. Not only bread, but also biscuits, meat, and various provisions were built into the pockets.
Because the quality of food changes when you are homeless.
There was a lot of food left after investing a lot of the bounty received last time.
It was a development like I had never seen before.
Am I from another world?
How can you get such an enthusiastic response with only bread and a space expansion bag?
But even this seemed to be far from reaching its climax.
“At this level, the villagers might be able to eat bread one by one… … !”
“amazing… … .”
At Ruggett’s guess, Isha collapsed on the spot as if thrilled. Light dewdrops shone from the corners of her eyes as she closed her mouth.
Are all elves like this?
I looked at Avian in bewilderment. Then Avian scratched his cheek with a slightly flushed face.
“That, the food situation of the elves is really bad… Especially for elves, ‘bread’ is an important food.”
At that time, I was wondering if it was too much.
Avian sneaked up to me and cleared his throat. And, looking at my pockets, I said a word.
“Yeah, but how much does it fit in that pocket?”
Avian also seemed to have the same kind of novelty of space expansion pockets.
I felt it at this point.
The fact that elves are living a tougher life than imagined.
It was a moment when my values, which had been living only as an imperial aristocrat for the rest of my life, were shaken.
*
At that time, Seria arrived in Yurdina City with her swollen breasts.