159: The End of the Adventure
The girl was sitting on a sofa in a room that looked like a parlor, having been led there by the dark elf maid.
If it weren’t for the circumstances, she would have wanted to look around and admire the lovely room. The sofa, in particular, was incredibly comfortable.
And yet, the master of this house was the Lord of Disease, the most evil mage in the nation.
A knock sounded, and the girl flinched.
“Come in.”
She instinctively looked down. She was too afraid to see what had arrived.
“It’s Rebecca. Master sent me.”
“Come in, Rebecca.”
But for some reason, the voice she heard was that of a cute young girl, trying to sound older.
“What is it?”
“A gift from the Lord of Disease.”
But she couldn’t bring herself to look up. The girl’s short life experience could only imagine the worst, of what that terrifying mage would do to a little girl like her.
The maid had been kind, but perhaps that, too, was a trap.
And what was this gift?
“Has Master explained the situation to you?”
“She said a lost child was slightly injured… but why is she so frightened?”
“Well… it seems she came here on a dare.”
“…I see.” To be understood so easily was mortifying.
This was the Lord of Disease’s mansion. A military facility, not a place for a dare. Even as a child, she could have been killed by the Black Hound Barghests.
“Well, rest assured.” The footsteps that approached were light. And the hand that rested on her shoulder was also light.
She cautiously looked up, and there, before her, was a young girl, not much older than herself, even taking into account the childishness of her black, frilly shirt and skirt.
Her long, pointed ears were like an elf’s, but her skin was as white as snow. She looked like the elves who were said to have been exterminated by humans. And the beautiful, intricately crafted silver tiara on her head—was she a princess?
The sense of unreality intensified.
And even more unrealistically, the elf girl was holding a tray… and on the tray was a mug of steaming hot milk and a plate of butter cookies.
“Eat.”
“…Is it poisoned?”
“No. …Liz?”
The dark elf maid, who had been looking at her with a quizzical expression, shook her head.
“No, I told her, I’m just going to treat her injuries.”
“I see. Then it’s the Lord of Disease’s reputation that’s to blame.”
“Yes, it is.”
The two of them nodded in agreement.
“It’s not poisoned. The warm milk will calm you down, and these cookies were made by this lady here. I guarantee they’re delicious.”
The maid’s red scarf twitched. The girl instinctively looked at the window, but it was closed, and there was no draft.
“Thank you…”
She cautiously reached for the mug and took a sip of the milk. It was delicious, and most importantly, it calmed her down.
She sighed, and the tension left her shoulders. She hadn’t realized how tense she had been.
She reached for a cookie, and it, too, was delicious.
“Let’s treat your injuries. It might hurt a little, but you can bear it, right?”
Her tone was that of an adult, gently speaking to a child. She nodded, and a hand was placed on her scraped knee. As she’d said, it hurt a little, but a warmth spread through the area, and the pain subsided.
The milk and cookies had also distracted her.
The girl, having finished her milk and cookies, muttered,
“…It was just… a dare.”
“I know. And I won’t scold you.” The pale-skinned elf girl smiled.
“But you’re very brave. To come here, all by yourselves.”
“Yes, indeed. You have a bright future ahead of you.”
She was embarrassed to be praised.
“But this place… is ‘dangerous.’ You must never come near here again.”
“…Yes.”
“Promise me.”
“Big sister…?”
The dark elf maid quickly looked away. The pale-skinned elf girl gave her a cold look. Then she sighed and smiled at the little girl.
“…I’m almost certainly older than you. You shouldn’t judge a person’s age by their appearance. Alright?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, big sister.”
The girl wondered if it was just her imagination, or if the maid was trying to suppress a laugh. It must have been her imagination. This was the Lord of Disease’s mansion, and she was her maid.
“As I was saying, you must never come near this mansion again. This is… a dangerous place for a cute little girl.”
“…Yes. Thank you, big sisters. I… won’t come back.”
The girl refused the two’s offer to escort her home. She was a little nervous, but she wanted to be alone, to walk by herself.
Now that she thought about it, why had they added the qualifier, ‘for a cute little girl’?
As she walked home, bathed in the afternoon sun, which warmed the winter air, she felt as if she had been in a dream.
Then, a voice called out to her.
“Are you alright?!”
“Did they do anything to you?!”
A dark elf and a beastman boy. Her companions from the dare.
They must have been worried. Their faces were filled with relief.
The first thing she wanted to say was…
“Thank you for worrying about me.”
“What are friends for?!”
“Yeah! Of course!”
The next thing she wanted to say was…
“You two left me behind.”
“Ugh.”
“W-well…”
The two boys looked away, and the girl looked away, too.
“…It’s fine. The maid was kind to me.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“But she said we can’t go near there again. It’s dangerous.”
“Ah, right…”
“Yeah…”
The two boys looked at each other and nodded. The girl started walking.
“Come on, let’s go home.”
“You’re… not angry?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just… we didn’t realize…”
She turned and looked back at the two boys who were following her.
“It’s fine.”
—And the girl who smiled at them seemed to have grown up in an instant, and the two boys, flustered, fell silent.
