With everyone’s encouragement, Jack finally confessed to Suya.
After the confession surprisingly succeeded, we decided to have dinner together. Despite the limited ingredients, a cake had been properly baked. Pauline truly is amazing; I don’t know where she learned it, but no one can match her domestic skills. Suya happily stuffed her face with the dishes laid out on the table.
“Mmm, it’s delicious. Thank you all for going to so much trouble.”
“Heh, it’s nothing. Just a small token of our appreciation,” Karubene said, scratching under his nose.
“To come all the way to my home to talk with us…”
“No, no, more importantly, when are you two going to start living together? Maybe tomorrow? If so, we’ll have to leave in a hurry,” she chirped.
Had she been up to something? Well, it seemed to have worked out this time.
“Well, if it’s okay with you…”
“…Do as you please,” Jack replied gruffly.
Jack is as taciturn and blunt as ever. Such a girl as Suya is exactly what this poor talker needs.
“Okay, then I’ll come starting tomorrow. Let’s work in the fields together.”
“No women in the fields!”
This probably isn’t discrimination against women. It’s likely meant to keep her from getting dirty or having to do strenuous labor. Suya casually replied, “You said it’s okay,” and Jack was left speechless, with no retort.
“By the way, are you all travelers?”
“Yes, we were planning to head for Shindo now. It seems there’s an Elf town a little way from here, so we’ll aim for that next.”
As soon as I said that, their faces turned pale.
“Hmm, it would be better if you didn’t go right now. Apparently, ghosts have been appearing, and it’s been blockaded.”
G-ghosts? In an Elf town? This was an unexpected turn of events.
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to take a detour.”
“Wait, what about these ghosts?”
“Hmm, I don’t know myself. It’s just a rumor. But my friend said that the whole town is currently closed, and they’re having trouble because they can’t conduct business.”
Is this ghost related to the Dark Elves? But Elves are Light Elves, aren’t they? Could Dark Elves even cause trouble there? We’ll just have to go and see.
The next morning, we thanked Jack and set out on our journey again.
“I hope the two of you will get along well.”
“It’ll be fine, they’re a perfect match,” Philiana said with a gentle, happy smile. I hope I can find someone like that someday. Thinking that, we headed for the next town. Fortunately, if we followed the road, it seemed we could get there in a day’s travel. As we neared the town, houses began to appear here and there. We were cautious, but so far, there had been no attacks from Dark Elves. We occasionally passed people and carriages, but only exchanged greetings, with nothing dangerous occurring.
“Hmm, is that the next town? Just as they said, there are guards in front of it,” Sharin remarked. Sharin’s eyesight is truly remarkable. I can only see it faintly. As we walked towards the entrance, I finally understood what those two had meant. The Elf town, being close to Shindo, was quite large. The buildings were tall, and while not a metropolis, it was reasonably prosperous. However, the entrance to this beautiful town was sealed with a formidable barricade, manned by Centaur and Elf guards.
I nervously approached one of them.
“Um, we’re travelers and would like to enter the town.”
“Hello. Do you have any identification?”
The biggest pinch I’d faced was upon us.
