Revised on December 30, H27.
Revised again on March 29, H28.
Revised once more on April 18, H28.
Fixed typos on March 12, 2019 (based on typo reports).
① She wore a deep green tunic and navy blue leggings, typical travel attire for an Elf, and her feet were clad in sandals woven from vinegrass. → …the leggings were…
After a pleasant breakfast and settling the bill, as we were about to leave the Forest Apple Inn, a party of three adventurers entered just as we were exiting.
Among them was a strikingly beautiful Elf girl.
She wore a deep green tunic and navy blue leggings, typical travel attire for an Elf, with sandals woven from vinegrass on her feet.
Her long, straight blond hair reached her waist, but she had it tied up in a ponytail, likely to keep it out of the way during adventures.
Her ears, characteristic of Elves, were pointed and stood upright like bamboo leaves.
When I caught sight of this beautiful Elf, it seemed my face betrayed a grimace, as if I’d bitten into something bitter.
“What’s wrong?” Swan Hilda peeked at my face.
“You don’t look well,” Elise chimed in with concern.
“Mr. Hal, do you have a dislike for Elves?” Ly then asked me directly about Elves, putting me on the spot.
“No, I just remembered something from the past,” I brushed it off.
◇ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◇
In truth, what I had recalled were memories from my past life as Lester the Cleric.
When Lester was discovered by Hero Albert Sandia and later joined the Hero’s Party, an Elf girl had also joined their ranks.
Her name was Edelgard Tinde Tintar, a beautiful sixteen-year-old with glossy, long, straight blond hair.
Skilled in water-element spirit magic, the tips of her hair were tinged blue, giving it a beautiful gradient from blond to emerald to azure.
Edelgard was also the fourth princess of the Tintaal Kingdom, the most powerful Elven Kingdom.
She was an excellent ‘Spirit Mage,’ but she met her end during their journey…
On that fateful day, the Hero’s Party was traversing a forest road on foot, and Edelgard walked beside Lester the Cleric as part of the rear guard.
Then, without warning, a chakram flew from behind and cleanly sliced through her slender neck as if it were cheese.
Her severed hair, with its beautiful gradient, shimmered in the sunlight, creating a surreal scene. Edelgard’s decapitated head wore an expression of bewildered surprise…
In that instant, blood gushed like a fountain from the severed wound, and after taking two more steps out of sheer momentum, she collapsed onto the ground.
Within moments, a pool of blood formed… Edelgard was dead.
Incidentally, the ‘Resurrection Magic’ we wielded couldn’t bring her back since vital organs had been lost.
Afterward, we killed the female Demonkin who had leaped out from behind the trees, but it was a bitter victory.
Come to think of it, Edelgard is still alive at this point, but she likely has only a few months left…
◇ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◇
After that, we visited clothing stores, weapon shops, armor shops, and general stores to gather the necessary items for Ly.
Small items we purchased were stored in Elise’s Item Box, while larger items like furniture were arranged to be delivered to our base mansion later.
“It’s truly a ‘Princess Harem,’ isn’t it? Let’s keep this momentum and raise our guild rank too.”
Finally, we stopped by the Adventure Guild to register Ly as an adventurer. After having just registered Swan Hilda, the addition of another beautiful girl prompted the female clerk at the counter to make a slightly envious and sarcastic remark.
In reality, our adventurer rank remained at the lowest ‘G-rank,’ and with our current focus on herb gathering, there was little chance of advancing anytime soon.
Moreover, considering my well-to-do appearance and the slender girls comprising the ‘Princess Harem,’ no one expected us to wield significant combat power. Instead, they saw it as a game of ‘playing adventurer’ with my entourage of young ladies.
Consequently, no one realized that beneath the surface, the ‘Princess Harem’ was actually ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing.’
Unbeknownst to others, we had quietly built a formidable force. As a first step, we decided to take on simple ‘extermination requests.’
“Hey, Elise, can I ask you something?”
“What is it, Mr. Hal?”
“Our strength has been growing steadily. Instead of just focusing on herb gathering, could we take on extermination requests?”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been hoping for.”
“I’m all for it too!!”
“Sure.”
My proposal was met with approval from Elise, Swan Hilda, and Mai.
“What about you, Ly?”
“For me, it will be my debut battle, but I have no issues with handling ‘G-rank extermination’ tasks.”
“Then it’s settled. Though looking at the requests, it’s just rabbits and slimes…”
When we checked the G-rank adventurer bulletin board, there were only a few extermination requests posted.
“How about this slime extermination?”
“I’ll follow Mr. Hal’s lead.”
Elise, the deputy leader of the ‘Princess Harem,’ agreed with my chosen extermination request.
The ‘extermination request’ was a simple task involving the elimination of slimes appearing in the outskirts, typical for G-rank assignments.
However, to avoid drawing attention with any flashy movements nearby, we had no choice but to select the most distant request available…
