Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 36
Chapter 06: To the elf village
Let’s end this convoluted bride talk. When I said that’s over, it’s over.
“Ah, Fricka. You have some business with a Miko(me)?”
You say you’ve been waiting for my visit, but… it’s not just about the bride talk, is it? If that’s all you have to talk about, I will have to pass it, ok?
…Because the more I listen to her story, the more darkness about the elves I feel like I’ll be digging up…
“… That’s right. Please be assured that this is a story that has nothing to do being a bride.”
“In that case it’s fine……”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I’d like to finish today’s work first, so could you wait a little longer?”
Speaking of which, she was in middle of praying.
When I urged her with “I’m the one who got in the way, so go ahead”, Fricka bowed her head and then returned to the statue of the Creator God.
And then, she changed the water that she took out from her item box into holy water and began to sprinkle it to make this place in a sanctuary.
“Huh? Are you going to sprinkle it even while the sun is still high?”
“This is related to what I will explain later… The flowers will wither if I don’t sprinkle now.”
Oh? In other words, you are sprinkling it not for the purpose of repel monsters, but for the purpose of purifying the land itself…?
“Hmm… It’s only a talk if there’s a river nearby, but would you like to me make an automatic holy water spraying device? Replenishments and inspections will be necessary, but you don’t have to sprinkle it by manually every day?”
“… There is a river, and I am very grateful for your offer, but I can’t make this decision on my own, so please give me another chance other time.”
Well, an altar is literally a sanctuary for the residents, so it might be a problem to remodel it without permission.
Even though I called it wide open space, it’s not that big, and Fricka finished sprinkling holy water in about five minutes and came back.
And looking at me… Wrong, while looking at Uru.
“By the way, it’s a bit late, but… The black-haired girl over there? your is Uru-san? Could it be that you are a…”
Her eyebrows slightly lowered, and her eyes showed wary… Or rather fear.
Ah, is this about ‘that’? Racial problems.
Elves are supposed to like purity??It should be, but after listening to what she said earlier, I have some doubts about it now… But well, as a race, if you put it well they are sensitive or if you put it badly strict about the so-called ‘impurity’.
Because of that, Elves are one of the races that hates monsters more than anyone else, and their friendship level decreases when you recruit lizards as companions.
I thought it would be fine because we were talking normally until now, but maybe that wasn’t the case… I sighed in my heart, but I didn’t let it in my face, and I continued the talk while praying that it would be as peaceful as possible.
“It’s okay. Uru is my precious friend.”
While stroking Uru’s head, I looked into Fricka’s eyes while being proudly as if I declared “I have nothing to be guilty of.”.
Was Uru surprised to be suddenly stroked on the head? she twitched her body a little, but instead of disliking it, while looking happily, she meekly let me pat her head.
Perhaps because her reaction was like a very attached cat was sufficient as a proof. I was relieved to see that Fricka’s tense expression softened a little.
“…Is that so? I understand. No, in the first place there was no problem at the point of being able to come to this altar. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”
“Mu? It’s nothing.”
Fricka bowed towards Uru, but Uru really didn’t seem to care about it.
……Since it’s about Uru-san, there’s a possibility that she didn’t even realize what the exchange just now was about…… Ahahaha.
Well, you can still be a little insensitive, but please continue be an honest child.
“Is it okay if I explain the situation while walking towards the village?”
“Okay, but is the village nearby?”
“It’s just over there.”
At the direction that was indicated by Fricka’s finger was??
“… Huge… Eh, could it be the world tree…?”
A large tree that was many times taller than the surrounding trees was standing out.
I didn’t notice until now because my head was covered with leaves this whole time…
“No, it still is sacred tree, but it’s not that big of a deal.”
……With that size and it is not that big of a deal …….
I feel like the world tree in the game was about that size, but if so, how big is the true one in this world (Asteria)?
Hmm? But that sacred tree…
“Isn’t something wrong with Its colors?”
“… You’re right about it.”
The leaves seem to have lost their luster, and here and there are sickly brown and purple leaves.
The color of the branches had faded to the extent that I can clearly see them from a distance, and I can see some broken parts everywhere.
And it’s not just the sacred tree, but as heading towards northeast, there are more and more trees that have a sickly color, or in the first place had their leaves fallen off, leaving only branches to sway in the wind.
……I wonder if this is what the Creator God wanted to warn us about…… If we go to the village, she will be able to tell me more about it?
However, the village… I know that I have to go, but still…
I leaned my head towards Fricka and asked her in a low voice.
“By the way… Does the other elves seem to care about it too…?”
“… Considerably, they might care about it.”
Ahh… After all.
Of course, when we say to care about, It is about Uru(Lizards).
Fricka’s response towards Uru was moderate, but there’s no guarantee that all elves were like that, and judging from her answer, a Fricka-like reaction would be a minority.
……It smells like trouble……
Fricka began to talk to me little by little along the way.
It seems that the name of the elf village we’re heading to is Alness.
The population is just under 400, but half of them are elderly. The fertility rate of children isn’t that high…Well, it’s a common thing in long-lived races. Even so, I feel that half of them being old people are a little too many.
By the way, it seems that on average they live to be 300 years old, about five times as long as humans(hyuman). The current longest-lived person is over 350 years old.
“How old is Fricka?”
“Thirty-five… In human terms, it’s just about 20. Since elves and human growth rate are not that different In childhood.
Even if you say it doesn’t change that much, It still about twice as much. That explain why even though she looks the same age as me, she is much more calmer.
……But calmness and reflexes don’t seem to be proportional.
“Ouchie!?”
She has been stumbling on tree roots and catching her foot on vines since a while ago.
“Umm… You walk around here every day, right…? At least you are going back and forth from the altar…?”
“Well, I usually walk slowly while watching my feet…”
“… So you often hit your head with on branches because of it?”
“… Why you know about that…?”
She was trembling because my prediction was right, but to you really don’t understand why…
Oh my, what is this gap-moe, I will start to think it’s a little cute…
We’ve only talked a little bit so I can’t make any judgments, but I get the feeling that she’s an honest person in a different pattern than Uru’s.
Was she raised that way, or is it the original quality of the person himself? I feel like it’s the latter due to the elf circumstances that have been leaked out so far.
Anyway, I don’t dislike people like this.……Even so I don’t fall in love so easily, okay?
Leaving my impressions about Fricka aside for now, the talk continues.
The details are to be said from the elders mouths, but if I summarize the current situation, it will be like this.
“The forest is beginning to wither.”
The season is early summer. It’s the time when the colors explodes and spreads, but… No matter how you look at it, the trees colors are bad.
Well, I wonder what’s going on…?
After walking through the forest for a while.
“We’ve arrived.”
“”Ohh……””
Before my eyes, I could see a fairly large village surrounded by a fence made of wood.