n

n

nCh. 88: Running after Investigating

n“Hidden village of fairies?”

nLoren repeated what Feuille had said.

nFeuille, looking up at Loren, nodded.

nIt sounded suspicious, but putting the name aside for now, Loren asked Feuille for an explanation.

n“You know that fairies live in this forest, right? But there’s a village of high-class fairies among them.”

n“Why would you run there?”

nLoren had heard that elves and fairies were in a close position to each other as races.

nAlthough their sizes were different, it was aid that they shared the same ancestors.

nLoren didn’t know what kind of paths they each took to become so different, but because both races acknowledged the fact that they were once one, they tended to build villages and live in similar places.

n

n

n“The chief of the fairies lives there. Since we elves and fairies were once the same race, it was decided that we run to his village in an emergency.”

n“I see.”

n“So how do we get there?”

nLapis asked, thinking that since it was a hidden village, getting there wouldn’t be simple.

nBut at her question, Feuille cocked his head with a troubled look on his face.

nLoren sighed, seeing that although he knew about it, he had never been there before.

n“I guess we’ll have to search the village again.”

n“I believe we’ve gone through it quite thoroughly though.”

nAlthough all they did was examine what happened, they had gone through most of the village.

nThe village wasn’t that large either, so Lapis found it hard to believe that they had missed something, but she considered the possibility of finding something new, since they were looking for something else.

nAt Lapis’ words, Loren asked Feuille one more time, trying to raise the chances of them finding something.

n“Feuille, can you think of anything that could help us?

n“Umm…”

nUnderstanding that all they had to work with was his memory, Feuille tried hard to recall something that could be of use to them, but it didn’t seem like he could do so on the spot.

nEven as they stood there, time went on.

nThinking that they wouldn’t find anything if they didn’t start moving, Loren called out to Lapis, who was watching Feuille.

n“How about we start looking through the village again, and Feuille can keep thinking while we do.”

n“You’re right. We might find something useful, so let’s start searching.”

nWhen she said the word useful, Loren, knowing about her habits, couldn’t help but feel worried, but he forced himself to ignore it and turned to Feuille, who was still thinking.

n“Alright, you stay here. We’ll go look through the place again. Shout if something happens, alright?”

n“O-okay.”

nAfter hearing him respond, Loren and Lapis started investigating the village again.

nBut it wasn’t a favorable thing for Loren, as it meant that he would have to go through the remains of the attack again, but he started searching here and there, grimacing as he did so.

nAfter all, the remains of the attack were still fresh.

nAlthough he was used to seeing dead bodies and blood, the process of flipping them over and putting his face close to them was quite depressing, so Loren tried not to think of it as much and silently continued what he was doing.

n“Elves aren’t really fashionable and don’t have much jewelry and such. They are a race that says, ‘We’re already look beautiful, so we don’t need to dress up’.”

n“That sounds really biased…Hey, you want to tell me why you’re talking about jewelry?”

nWhen Lapis said in a bored voice as she flipped over a shelf, Loren asked her in a threatening voice, but whether it be that she didn’t hear him, or acted like she didn’t hear him, she continued to blabber on.

n“They are a race that lives off the forest, so they don’t have many things like money and such…which makes it quite boring.”

n“Wait a second. What are you looking for?”

n“Information regarding the hidden village of fairies, right? Am I wrong?”

nLapis gave him a questioning look, and although he didn’t feel satisfied with her answer, she wasn’t wrong, so he continued what he was doing.

n“They traded with a human city, so there should be money used to pay them…I wonder where they’re at?”

n“Wait, wait, wait. You’ve been talking about things that are unrelated, you know that?”

nLoren put his hand on Lapis’ shoulder and turned her towards him, but Lapis, who had been forced to turn, glared at him with a huffy look.

n“I’m looking for what we need, you know? Hints about the hidden village, right? What’s worrying you so much, Loren?”

nShe said it so boldly, the thought that he might have been mishearing things crossed Loren’s mind, and he let go of her shoulder.

nAs he apologized to her as she fixed her clothes, and was about to return to investigating, Loren turned around and grabbed her shoulder again when he heard her next words.

n“Oh look, a stack of silver coins.”

n“Woah, woah, wait a second. Don’t tell me you’re trying to steal money and jewelry.”

nWhen Loren but in as Lapis pulled out a stack of silver coins wrapped in leather from out of the shelf, Lapis hugged it by her chest and said with a serious face.

n“Dead people don’t use money, and don’t dress up either, you know?”

n“You’re not wrong.”

n“Even if we leave it, it would rot away here, or it’ll fill up the wallet of whoever finds their way in here. Then wouldn’t it be better if it filled up our wallets instead?”

n“…I won’t stop you taking them. But if there are survivors give it back, alright?”

nIf the owner wasn’t here anymore, as Lapis mentioned, he was most likely dead, so Loren guessed that it would be fine to make what they found theirs.

nBut if the residents were hiding at the hidden village, the coins that Lapis was holding onto should be returned to them and wasn’t something Lapis could take.

n“Loren, my motivation to look for information is leaving me…”

nIf there were residents that survived and escaped to the hidden village that Feuille had mentioned, they had the right to inherit what was left.

nEven if what they found wasn’t rightfully their property.

nIt was normal to think that if the owner wasn’t alive, the rights to everything that was left in the village.

nLooking for the hidden village meant looking for possible survivors, and that meant giving back everything they had found, and realizing that, Lapis seemed to have lost motivation.

n“Lapis, be serious, okay? If we’re not careful, we might not be able to leave this place alive.”

n“Is that so?”

nLapis’ response sounded carefree.

nLoren wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved that she responded as usual or scold her that she wasn’t being cautious enough.

nThinking that since Lapis seemed to be powerful even among demon kind, she might not consider their current situation as dangerous, both being relieved or scolding her didn’t seem like the right thing to do, so without concluding, Loren was about to go back to his work, but Lapis tapped his back.

n“What is it?”

n“Loren, I forgot something important.”

nSlightly taken aback at her serious tone, Loren nodded, and Lapis continued.

n“This village was attacked at least once, right?”

n“Yeah, well. We can see that.”

n“Where do you think whatever that attacked the village went?”

nLoren started thinking.

nIf it were in the village, they wouldn’t have been able to enter.

nThey were able to enter and investigate because it wasn’t here, but when asked where it went.

n“Don’t tell me…”

nIf it went far away, it was fine.

nBut if it remembered that it found a large amount of prey here, Loren realized that it wouldn’t have gone too far.

n“I’m not sure how many times the village was attacked, but…it should remember that there was prey here, whatever attacked.”

n“That’s true…I guess.”

n“Won’t they come back?”

nA dark shadow covered Loren’s mind at Lapis’ words.

nIt was possible that because they weren’t acting normal, and were acting berserk, their movements and actions became simple.

nComing back to where prey was found was something animals did all the time, and it wasn’t surprising if whatever attacked the village would do so as well.

n“On top of that, we entered the village in broad daylight, right?”

n“Lapis let’s go get Feuille.”

nLoren was already moving before Lapis even finished talking.

nLapis followed behind, as if she knew that Loren would start moving.

nIf something had seen them enter the village, as Lapis had feared, and if that something was connected to what attacked the village.

nThe information that new prey had entered the area would already be in its ears, and if it was, Loren could only think of one thing it would do.

n“Crap! This place is still dangerous!”

n“I think we realized that a bit too late!”

nThey heard Feuille shout in the distance.

nLoren thought they should have left the place as soon as they confirmed that it was destroyed, but it was already too late.

n“Loren! The dead elves!”

n

n

nWhen he turned towards Lapis’ voice, there were small winged beings that started popping out of the bodies with ripping sounds.

nSeeing that they were all fairies, he cursed and continued running towards where they left Feuille, wondering how this was all happening.

n“Fairies aren’t born from eggs, so they couldn’t have laid any…Then why are fairies emerging from the elves’ bodies? Because they’re close races? But then what’s triggering it?”

nLapis was muttering something about the unbelievable sight was happening around them, but Loren couldn’t understand a thing she was saying.

nBut getting Feuille was top priority, so as he continued running, slipping through a few buildings, he saw Feuille running for his life towards him.

n“Loren! The fairies are back…”

n“I know! Grab on, we’re going to get out of here!”

nAs Loren slid to a stop, raising a dust cloud, grabbed Feuille’s hand, pulled on it, put him under his arm, and started running back towards Lapis.

n“Umm…Oh, they’re already here.”

nAlthough Lapis didn’t follow why Loren suddenly turned back towards her, she saw the swarm of fairies that were chasing Feuille, turned around with a sigh, and started chasing after Loren, with the fluttering of wings chasing behind them.

n