424: A Lily Bud
Even though it was night, the area was bright, with the moonlight reflecting off the snow that peeked through the gaps in the trees.
I was diligently loading the metal buckets, which were filled with a clear sap… maple water… onto a sled.
There were several similar sleds, and a skeleton horse had also been lent to us. There were also domestic animals, similar to reindeer, that were used for pulling, but for now, there was no beast attached to the sled in front of me.
“The first batch is going back! —Liz, I’m counting on you.”
“Yes.”
I called out to Liz, who was also a bucket carrier and a guard.
Liz was not the only guard. The Barghests were also scattered throughout the forest. They were surrounding the collection area in a large circle, literally keeping an eye on things.
The villagers, who had at first been frightened by the will-o’-the-wisp-like red glint of their eyes, which flickered between the trees, had quickly gotten used to it. People could get used to a rather unbelievable situation.
“Alright.”
I grabbed the pull bar that had been hastily added to the sled and, with a grunt, I took a step, and the sled creaked and slowly began to move.
“Be careful.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, the maple water.”
Liz, with a straight face.
“…Yes.”
It was true that there was nothing to be careful about with me. But Liz smiled.
“I’m joking. I think you’ll be fine, but please be careful.”
“Yes, yes. We can flirt later.”
Amy clapped her hands. What had happened to her saying that she couldn’t get used to it?
When I returned to the village, I was greeted by the supervising adults and the children who were not yet of age.
“Welcome back. How is it?”
“It seems to be going well. This is the first batch.”
“That’s good. —Everyone, one at a time, and slowly.”
While there was a lid with a simple locking mechanism, the buckets were quite heavy. Especially the small children, who were wobbling as they carried them to the boiling hut.
It was nerve-wracking, and I wanted to do it all myself… but this was a ‘job’ that had been given to these children. I shouldn’t take it from them. That said, I did help, by carrying a bucket in each hand.
One of the children who was walking beside me—a dark elf girl—looked up at me and opened her mouth.
“…You’re an important person, aren’t you?”
“Well, in a way.”
She was wearing a thick, hooded coat, a fluffy type with fur on the edge, that covered her elf ears. I couldn’t tell her hairstyle from the hood, but her silver hair, which was common for a dark elf, and her golden eyes, made me think that Liz and Bridget must have been like this when they were children.
In Japan, she would probably be in middle school. In terms of my own family, she was a little taller than Rebecca.
“It’s not a job for an important person.”
“No, I’m surprisingly plain in my daily life.”
In reality, my job was mostly paperwork. Of course, in wartime, I had been entrusted with the lives of my subordinates… and my orders had been to kill the enemy. The weight of that decision was the weight of the rank of an ‘important person.’
“And besides, every job is important.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
Whether I believed in the saying that there was no noble or base profession—was a gray area. At the very least, there were priorities, and there was a difference in the reward that should be paid. But on top of that, to do what you could, to do what you wanted to do… and for each of them to be different, and to fit together like a puzzle, and to create a beautiful picture, was what a healthy society was.
The Listrea Demon King’s army—was an organization that used the complementary nature of its racial characteristics to fight thoroughly. …But while it might have been the soldiers who had protected this country, it was the individuals, like the people of this village, who had supported it.
What should we protect? We knew that.
After I had put down the bucket, I was prompted with a light gesture, and as I bent down a little, she whispered in my ear.
“…Can I talk to you later?”
And I looked in the direction she was looking. A canine beastman girl. Her droopy ears were slightly visible, and her fur was a dark black, similar to a Barghest. I remembered seeing the two of them at the gathering.
“Alright.”
What should we protect? I knew. Like a girl’s smile.
After a good ten days, the collection was finished.
Since it had been a range of one to two weeks, it could be said that it had gone rather smoothly.
My life had been turned upside down, but it wasn’t a problem for me. Liz, too, had been sleeping with me from the morning to the afternoon, instead of at night, and she didn’t seem to be in poor health. If it were her, she could probably travel abroad on Earth without any jet lag.
As the collected sap was gathered in a giant pot, and the preparations for the activation of the magical furnace were underway, I was with the dark elf girl, by the side of the boiling hut.
Though we were being watched from a distance, since I had also put up a light interference, our voices probably couldn’t be heard. She began, with a slight hesitation.
“Um… I have something I want to talk to you about.”
“Is it about the beastman girl?”
“…You can tell?”
“Somehow.”
To want to consult with a supreme commander was not an ordinary thing. But at her age, she probably didn’t want to ask about how to lead an army or how to communicate with her subordinates.
“I don’t know Lizlit-san… but you two are married, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“…You get along well, don’t you?”
“We do.”
The time I had spent in the bed at the inn… though I wasn’t sure if I could call it ‘bedtime’… flashed through my mind. Since I had to sleep well for work, I had been reserved.
“Is it… different, with a girl, than with a boy?”
“I can’t tell you the difference. I’ve never been with a man.” And I had never been with a girl other than Liz.
“…What is… ‘love’?”
It was a difficult question. But—if you were to give an answer, then there was no question as simple as this.
“…To want to be with someone, I suppose.”
She didn’t seem to be convinced. My answer… probably sounded too cliché.
“Is it different from a friend?”
“That’s for you to decide.”
She raised her voice, her cheeks, which had been flushed from the cold, turning a deeper shade of red.
“Don’t be evasive—”
“I’m not.”
I took her hand and held it with both of mine.
“…There is no answer that will satisfy everyone. Only you can know your own feelings. And you won’t know what the other person is thinking unless you act, unless you put it into words. …That’s just how it is.”
If there was a single, absolute, correct answer to the feeling of love. Then we probably wouldn’t have had to suffer so much. …And we probably wouldn’t have been able to connect so deeply.
“How do you feel, when I hold your hand?”
I glanced at the beastman girl. The dark elf girl shook her head lightly.
“Nothing in particular…”
I had known it, but it still hurt a little. But without showing it, I continued.
“Then what if she did it?”
She looked down. Her cheeks were red… and I didn’t think it was just because of the cold.
“In that way, think about it, one by one. And on top of that, what do you want to do? …What do you want to be? Try to find your own feelings.”
“My own… feelings…”
I let go of her hand.
I waved lightly to Liz, who was watching me from a distance. She noticed and waved back.
“…You know, I wanted to be with her forever. …I didn’t want to give her to anyone.”
A somewhat destructive, possessive desire. A dark, decadent ‘way of loving’—that ‘option’ was probably in me. But I probably wouldn’t choose it. At least, it was not something I needed now.
“…The difference between a lover’s love and a friend’s love is probably that.”
I decided not to talk about things like a cuckold fetish, for the sake of her moral education. It was something that was far from me. If Liz were to awaken to it… then in a married couple’s meeting.
“…So, you know. At some point, I think you should tell her your feelings. …I can’t guarantee that it will turn out well, but.”
You couldn’t control a person’s feelings. Unless you used magic—but that was not the kind of ‘feeling’ I wanted. Though there might have been a moment when I had wanted even that. But it was not something we needed now.
“Thank you. …I’ll think about it, on my own.”
“Yes, do your best. And, you know.” I beckoned to her. I leaned in and whispered in her long dark elf ear. My gaze was on the beastman girl.
“…I think there’s a chance.”
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have looked so anxious when I had held her hand or had brought my mouth close to her ear. The long-range vision that was equivalent to, or even surpassed, the one that had been installed in my mask was now in me.
…Unless she was worried that something would happen to her friend, from the Lord of Disease.
“—I hope so.” She smiled.
As the dark elf girl ran to the beastman girl, Liz came over, as if to take her place.
“What were you talking about?”
“A secret. A personal consultation.”
“Master… you’re liked by children. I was surprised. Do you have any tricks?”
“To not treat them like children, I suppose.”
“I see…” Liz nodded. And she tilted her head.
“What about Rebecca?”
“That’s a little sister.”
