Town chapter 71:
There are several settlements in the huge forest that spans the northern portion of the Fujiwara territory. Those who live there are elves and beastmen who came to this land to escape from humans and hide. They were weak and were always vigilant about the presence of the enemy, keeping a vigilant watch at the entrance of the forest that day.
"What? There are two things that moved in the distance."
Two elves who are the lookout. One of them――a young man found something that moved far away. Is it a wild animal? Thinking such a thing, the young elf holds his hand over his forehead next to his elf comrade, who is a boy. Two moving things slowly approach the forest and after a while the eyes of the young elf caught the whole scene.
"Horse! Human!"
The young elf said in a furious voice. The real thing of the movement was a horse, plus two shadows on the back of the horse. The figures are still far away and he can only see vaguely, but the elves who went to trade with humans to the south didn"t take horses. It is appropriate to judge it to be humans.
"Go and tell the chief quickly!"
"Ye, Yes!"
When he sent the young boy to the village, the young elf hid in the shade of a bush and watched the appearance of the two horses coming from the front. The rider does not run the horse, so the pace is slow. It takes time to come closer. Before long, the young elf clearly recognized the figure of the person on the back of the horse.
"Uh? That ears......?"
Someone who has the same long ears as him. When the young elf understood that one of the riders was an elf, that aspect also became clear.
"----!!? Polif!"
One of the riders was the son of the chief, which was Polid who led a few elves to the village. If so, what about the others? The youth narrows his eyes. Two ears visible on the top of the head. The other rider is a beastmen.
"d.a.m.n, I"m surprised."
While complaining, there is a smile on his face. The complaints he made were only a joke and the feeling that it wasn"t a human was dominating the mind of the young elf.
The young elf stood up, as he wouldn"t have to hide anymore. When he leans over and look at the two people who come from the front, they both ride the horse without shaking. The youth wondered what the elves had done and who the beastman next to Polif is. However, for the moment the young elf feels safe and caught his breath .
However, if its a friend, this will cause problems for the young elf individually. Just a while before, the other guard was told to report an alarm that a human came which is incorrect now. From the elf village a message will be issued to other villages. The story gets bigger and bigger. The youth elf thought that this time he was done for and in antic.i.p.ation of the future where he will be scolded, he became embarra.s.sed. ――And that"s it.
"What are you doing, hide yourself quickly."
What he heard from behind was a harsh voice, but at a reduced volume. It belongs to the chief of the elves. When the young elf turns around, some of the elves that are there are armed just in case.
"No, its that......"
The young elf explained the circ.u.mstances. The chief raised his eyebrows for a moment, but immediately lowered his eyebrows and said,
"It"s best that nothing happens. Rather, it is because you were doing your duty seriously, and worthy of praise that you were able to discover it without understanding the face. Everyone"s mind tightened, too. It was a good training"
Having thought that he will be scolded, he was suddenly complimented by the chief and the young elf feels embarra.s.sed.
"Ooi!" "Ooi!"
The elves, armed with weapons, call out loud to the two riders who are heading for the forest. The closer the horses came, the clearer the riders were.
The beastman who lined up next to Polif, from the shape of the ears, is a wolfman. Under normal circ.u.mstances, he also lives in this forest with the elves. However, when the horse came to the immediate point, everyone said, "Such a fellow, was in the wolf tribe".
The figure is old enough to have wrinkles on his face, he has a body that looks strong at first glance. If you look closely, the clothes he wears are also good. Those who live here are usually thin. The clothes he wears are by no means superior. Then is it a human disguise? They thought so, but then they cant understand the existence of Polif next to that wolfman. Everyone is scratching their heads. In the meantime, Polif and the mysterious wolfman quickened the horse"s feet and came to the very front of the elves.
"Father, I just returned. The deal is successful. The others will arrive later."
"Um, there are a lot of things I want to hear, but first of all......"
Polif descends from the horse and reports about his return. But the elf chief wasn"t relieved, with his son"s safety secured the chef turned his eyes to the strange wolfman who descended from the horse at the same time as Polif.
"Excuse me, but who are you? I have never seen you at the wolf tribe."
Polif tried to answer that question from the side, but it was the wolfman himself who controlled it by hand. Even though the wolfman was surrounded by the elves, he showed no sign of being distracted.
"I am called Jiharu. I"m from a tribe different from the wolf tribe that lives in the forest and I"m the chief of the tribe who lives in the south. This time, I meet Polif on the way to return to my village. Everyone took a day off in my village, and we talked about many things. Because there are other tribes, I can"t help but be here and let Polif lead me here"
"Ooh" and everyone made a noise on this and their faces were painted in delightful colors. The existence of new friends. Having more friends means that the community of non-humans will become stronger again. In addition, the wolfman in front of their eyes seems to be living far away. The present condition of the people who live in the forest is a state that spends poor days without having enough livestock. Wealthy-like beastman who did not need help from here wished to meet those who lived in the forest.
"What a wonderful thing it is. Oops, the introduction has been delayed. I am the chief of the elves."
The elven chief also named his position and in addition, commanded the surrounding elves.
"Hey, go right away and tell the tribes that the previous decree was wrong. It"s a new companion, a chief of a wolf tribe which lives somewhere else. Also, say that only the chiefs need to come to our village"
Two elves ran away in a hurry. Then the elven chief talks to Jiharu again.
"Welcome, to our poor and unfortunate land. It"s embarra.s.sing, but I can invite you to my house, but I can"t treat you"
"I heard about it. I"ve prepared meat and alcohol here. It"s good. It"s better than the alcohol that humans drink."
Jiharu said with a grin on his face. Luggage hangs on both sides of the two horses Polif and Jiharu were riding.
"Ooo.......!!"
Everyone turned to the presence of a feast that they had never antic.i.p.ated. They were particularly interested in the alcohol.
Even though the hard water flowing through this land is not suitable for drinking, the elves and the beastmen do not take the initiative in making alcohol. Beastmen can drink hard water and elves can"t like humans, but they have the magic to create water.
Of course they all loved alcohol. However, they can"t afford to raise their clan to create things that they don"t need. For them, alcohol is at most about enjoying a small amount of low-quality alcohol, which is made by pickling raspberries and persimmon fruits that are randomly picked at each household. In other words, alcohol is a luxury item because it is of poor quality and small in quant.i.ty.
However, it is said that the alcohol Jiharu brought is so good that humans can"t drink it. The elves don"t intend to truly receive it. But there was hope that it would be a good drink. Each person imagined the richness of alcohol in their mouths and swallowed up the overflowing saliva from the inside without tasting it. It is not limited to the elves, even the chief is the same.
"U, Umm, is that so. That"s thankful. The chiefs from each tribe will come. Therefore, I will invite you to our home."
The elven chief invited Jiharu to the village while puffing and inflating the nose.
In the forest, just after the road, there is the village of elves. It seems that the trees were very thick originally. It is clear that this large open land lined with stumps and bad houses instead of trees is artificially created.
Let"s explain the formation of this village for a moment. In order to create a village, it can be said that the first settlers had it the most difficult. The elves had a bow and a sword for self-defense. Only a few foods. There is no house to live in, which means that they would either starve or freeze to death. The elves had to put in place an environment for living immediately. However, there was an elf who excelled in magic here. Luckily there was one who dealt with metal magic, who produced iron to make armor,and the elves cut down trees and began to build houses.
Around that time, in addition to the elves, other non-human races came to the forest one after another. This huge forest is just good for hiding and is self-evident that those who flee from humans. Their enemy is humanity. This is a common idea that everyone in the forest had in mind. The tribes cooperated by holding hands with each other. The wolf tribe was good at hunting and the power of the pig and cow tribes trivially cut down trees. The lizard tribe was good at catching fish, and because they were able to eat anything, they were able to work well with half the amount of food consumed by other tribes. Thus the houses were built one after the other, they were able to grow their fields, kept few animals and reached the present.
No parables.
As the group walks through the village, female elves from the built up houses showed their soft faces. The women are equally beautiful, from young girls who are not mature yet to old women with lines on their faces. Walking for a while, they reach a house at the back of the village. The chief"s house. But, it"s a poor house like no other the most worn down of the village.
"Now, you can go home."
The elven chief mercilessly told the elves who had been with them so far.
"Eh?"
Stunned. A voice like a lost soul could be heard from someone"s mouth. It"s well-understood that a large number of people can"t enter that poor house and later there will also be the other tribe chiefs here.
However, everyone thought that they could get at least a bit of alcohol and meat. They came out to fight with a weapon on purpose. With so many people out there, it is quite courageous to take arms to face humans. Therefore, it was everyone"s united thought that if there was liquor and meat in front of them, they could expect something ameliorating.
"I don"t know what you are thinking, but endure it here."
The elven chief also said in a painful voice that they could endure something. It is a shame to invite guests to your home but not be able to treat them and to rely on the other"s souvenirs. The elf chief himself, although he really wanted to share the souvenirs of Jiharu here, is not is not in the position to either. As the tribe chief, he can"t show any recklessness anymore.
Everyone saw and heard the expression of the elven chief and his words. Then there was no way other than to drop their eyes to the ground and return home reluctantly.
Not so much-strictly speaking, the tribal chiefs came in peace while the elves prepare the feast with the food and drinks brought in by Jiharu.
"Elf! Everybody has come!"
The loud voice that echoes in the belly like a drum heard from the table belongs to the chief of the ox tribe. The elvel chief, Polif and Jiharu went out when the dust was put on the special feast.
In the moment, among the chiefs who were outside, the pig tribe chief squeezes the handle of his spear held on the right against the ground. Intimidating. However, the ground was soil and only a sluggish low-pitched sound rang and the pig tribe chief, who was expecting a louder sound, had a slight reddened face.
It wasn"t just the pig tribe chief who had a weapon. All chiefs have their own weapons. On the way to the sudden news that humans had come, wearing equipment and running with their companions, the chiefs were told that there were no enemies from further transmission. The reason why they came here like the war suit is that they have a desire to show off their weapons and power at least against Jiharu. However, this is conversely a result of pity on oneself.
"I"m the chief of the wolf tribe which lives in the south of here, my name is Jiharu"
The words spoken by Jiharu are vivid and clear. He looked at the eyes of the chiefs from the left without obscurity, and although the height was not so high, the feeling evokes a giant tree. A majestic man, who was unarmed in front of those who have weapons. Each chieftain would face the smallness of their own minds and could not forbid the sense of defeat that could not be said to Jiharu.
"I heard that there is someone from the same race here."
Jiharu asked when they introduced each other. There is not only the chief of the wolf tribe who lives in this forest.
The chief of the ox tribe said, "Ah, that fellow is ......" and had a troubled face. The pig tribe chief also said something with a bitter smile.
"Because you were from the same race, that fellow wanted to look good."
The chiefs of the tribes came with their weapons, while the followers of the chiefs returned to their homes. But this is not an action that comes from the n.o.ble idea that you do not need a weapon to meet your guests. On the contrary, it is the truth of the matter that it was thought that weapons were insufficient.
Then, just that time, a rattle and poor car were drawn by hand. The driver is a person who wears a dress with a pattern and has a wooden ornament on the chest and limbs to the extent that it is not disturbing.
It would take only one character to explain the aspect. ――Wolf. A guy who is a little bit younger than Jiharu, with a wolf head. The name is Zazym and he is the chief of the wolf tribe which lives in this forest.
"Umm, you"re Jiharu. Welcome. I welcome you"
When Zazym looked at Jiharu"s face and greeted him, he laughed like a fool. Jiharu"s face is close to a human being. For a beastman, being more wild is a proud thing. It was burning the rival mind early to Jiharu who might fight for supremacy only if it became the same wolf tribe. But――.
"Umm, I ask for your kindness."
In the eyes of Jiharu, who looked straight ahead, Zazym was staring at him. It is a dignified figure which does not show the appearance to be timid. It doesn"t matter what the face is, it"s just evidence of self-confidence.
"Let"s drink inside."
Under a chilly autumn sky, Jiharu said in a very cool voice.