Master and Slaves

“That is to test you.”

One of the group of five who had been ahead of us came out of the thicket.

Apparently he was a man.

He had short green hair like Sophia’s and long ears.

He was a little taller than me, perhaps.

His features were a little stern, but you could call him handsome.

Then the remaining four who had been around him also came out of the thicket.

All four wore bitter smiles on those handsome faces.

“…Elder Brother.”

…Eh? Elder Brother?

“Sophia, is that human the one you spoke of.”

Elder Brother asked Sophia while glaring at me.

“…Yes.”

Sophia nodded while frowning a little.

“But I never thought Elder Brother would be the ’one who acknowledges’…”

Sophia muttered in a small voice.

“What do you mean?”

I also asked in a small voice so the other side wouldn’t hear.

“Elder Brother is… no, it’s nothing.”

Sophia started to say something, then with a start turned behind me and closed her mouth.

When I turned around, Elder Brother was standing drawing a bow.

“Um, that’s dangerous…”

“It’s fine. If I kill you Sophia will not be led astray, and I will not have to take this boring duty. Everything will be settled neatly, won’t it.”

Elder Brother wore a nihilistic smile and drew the bow even further with a giri giri.

…Please don’t say frightening things.

“Mauri, cut it out. What the elder ordered was to observe this human, wasn’t it?”

Observe…

“There’s no need to do something like that. This one is human. That’s enough.”

Elder Brother—Mauri ignored the male elf beside him and remained drawing the bow taut.

How could this be settled neatly?

Even if an arrow was shot I had the confidence to dodge it.

No, I even had the confidence to catch that arrow.

I also had a track record.

I took the greatsword Destroyer from my back in my hand.

“You!”

Seeing that, Mauri took aim with the arrow while glaring at me.

“Sophia, hold this.”

“Eh? Wait? Kya, kyaah!”

When I handed the greatsword I had taken to Sophia behind me, Sophia apparently found it too heavy and dropped it to the ground.

“Ah!”

“What! Mauri!”

“Eh? Hi-Hiroyuki!”

Perhaps startled by that ground tremor, Mauri released the arrow in his right hand.

Mauri raised his voice, the male elf beside him was surprised and spoke to Mauri, and Sophia seeing that spoke to me.

The arrow released from Mauri’s hand flew straight toward me.

I had my back to Mauri, but I dodged the arrow and further caught it with my left hand.

Somehow lately it seemed I also had eyes on my back.

“Hi-Hiroyuki…”

“Wh-what is that…”

“…”

Sophia, the male elf, and Mauri stared at me in a daze.

No, I myself was also surprised.

What I had thought I could do was if I was looking at the arrow…

“W-well, that’s it. How should I put it, I was testing you. Yes, that’s right. You have to be able to do at least this. Hahaha… haa.”

“Hey, saying that, don’t you feel empty? Mauri.”

“…Don’t listen. I’m going back first. Guide this one.”

Mauri, wearing a sullen face, spun around and went into the thicket.

“…Haa. Hey, human. You passed. From now I’ll guide you to the elder, so don’t be rude.”

Saying that the male elf went into the thicket as if chasing after Mauri.

“…Should we follow?”

“…Eh? Yes. That’s right. Probably…”

When I asked, Sophia, who had still been in a daze, came back to herself and answered looking unconfident.

…

“As I thought, you are my Master.”

Sophia was clinging to my arm.

Sophia said that just now she had been so surprised she couldn’t think anything, but once she calmed down she apparently gradually started getting excited.

She was staring at my face with a full smile.

“Ehehe, ehe.”

Occasionally her expression went slack.

“Hey now, don’t cling that tightly in front of Mauri. Next time a Flame Bird will put a hole in your belly.”

The male elf admonished me with a bitter smile.

No, even if you say that to me…

“Well, then you’d grab it by the scruff and eat it, right?”

Hey now.

You can’t eat a Flame Bird.

Apparently its staple food is lava or something.

The reason is because it’s melted.

Living things become charcoal the moment they touch its beak, they say.

Also, among elves fire magic is apparently strictly forbidden.

In other words it was a unique elf figure of speech meaning he was angry enough to want to turn me to charcoal with forbidden magic.

I had heard it from Sophia just now.

“Hey. We’re almost there so stay apart.”

The male elf said that in a small voice, this time toward Sophia.

Sophia reluctantly left my arm.

When we walked further through the forest, a giant tree suddenly appeared in front of us.

It was so huge you could mistake it for a city, and so mysterious it could not be expressed in words.

“Welcome to our elf village.”

Three elves appeared from a hollow in that giant tree.

The two on both ends had bent backs and leaned on canes.

The two elves wearing deep-green robes seemed quite aged.

By appearance alone eighty or ninety.

Even if you said they were over a hundred I would accept it.

Their gender was… unknown.

When they get this old it becomes hard to tell men and women apart.

And the elf in the middle who had spoken was perhaps in her late twenties.

This one, in a different sense from the old elves, I couldn’t tell the gender.

They had an androgynous feel.

Also, in contrast to the old elves on both ends they were youthful.

However there was some sense of incongruity.

Something that made even things like their hair being blond unlike the other elves, or their eye color also being gold, seem like trivial matters.

“Elder, I have brought them.”

The male elf bowed his head respectfully.

The one he was addressing was…

“Good work. How was this person?”

The young elf in the center.

Then this elf is the one who has been alive since the beginning of this world?

I don’t think a mere few thousand years would be enough…

“Yes. For now they do not seem weak. They may merely be savage, however.”

Different from until a moment ago, the male elf suddenly used polite speech.

Looking to the side even Sophia was bowing her head.

Should I bow too?

“It is fine. You should not bow your head to me. We are equals.”

No, wait.

Even if you say I’m your equal…

“I haven’t lived in this world for thousands of years. I’m not great either.”

“You probably have no real sense of it now. However we are unmistakably equals. A day will come later when you will certainly feel it. Whether that is good or bad I do not know.”

…???

I don’t understand at all.

“Now then, shall we get to the main topic soon?”

Prompted by the elder elf I tried to confirm one thing before getting to the main topic…

“Before that. Sophia is…”

“Lord Hiroyuki, you became her Dule’s Master, didn’t you. …Sophia. That is what you wished. You have no regrets.”

The elder elf, perhaps reading my thoughts ahead of time, spoke what I had tried to confirm and confirmed it with Sophia.

“Y-yes. Of course.”

Sophia answered while bewildered by the sudden turn.

“These past fifteen years, what you contemplated and carried out in Jurou was this, wasn’t it.”

“Yes, Elder.”

Sophia nodded respectfully.

…What’s Jurou?

“Then I have nothing to say. Lord Hiroyuki Asahi. Please take care of Sophia.”

“…Eh? Ah, yes. I’ll treasure her.”

Taken aback by the all-too-smooth development I was in a daze, came back to myself after hearing the elder elf’s words, and answered.

“U-um, as for the trial…”

The male elf who had been bowing his head asked the elder elf timidly.

“It is unnecessary. Also, it would be odd for me to prepare one.”

The elder elf said that and laughed kara kara looking truly amused.

…I don’t understand at all.

When you live long, do you come to understand things ordinary people don’t?

“Then once more, let us get to the main topic.”

When the elder elf stopped laughing they prompted me to talk again.

“Ah, yes. Then… Could you let us pass through to the other side of the forest?”

Thinking it would be better to speak honestly than to probe each other, I broached it that way with the elder elf.

“’Us’ is not only you, is it.”

“Yes.”

“I see. That is an agenda that must be discussed by convening a meeting.”

However the elder elf answered immediately without looking as if they had thought.

They had probably known beforehand.

Even so they had tried to have me speak it from my mouth, which made me a little angry.

Well, I didn’t intend to fight in a place like this.

“We don’t have time, so couldn’t you do something with your authority?”

If we stay long at that fortress we might be counterattacked.

On our side we want to shorten time by passing through the Forest of Wandering and raise the surprise-attack effect.

Even so if time is taken until we pass through the forest it will be meaningless.

“However we would be letting a large number of human soldiers through this forest, so we must hear everyone’s opinions in a meeting.”

…Certainly, normally you wouldn’t want to let armed soldiers into your territory.

I secretly sighed.

“Elder, could you not do something about that?”

Suddenly Sophia pleaded with the elder.

Apparently she had seen me sigh.

“Sophia! Watch your mouth!”

“You are not one who can speak to such a person!”

The two old elves on both sides of the elder elf suddenly raised angry voices.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Receiving the two’s rebuke Sophia reluctantly bowed her head.

“It is fine. Sophia spoke as her Master’s proxy, I suppose.”

The elder elf elegantly raised both hands and checked the elves on both sides.

The two old elves bowed their heads respectfully to the elder elf.

“Understood. However there are only two conditions.”