Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 38
Chapter 8: The current state of the forest
Led by the head elder elf, Zagi, we walk through the village while being surrounded by elves.
……Their vigilance is directed inwards rather than outwards, and it seems that rather than to protect us from the surroundings they were trying to protect from the surroundings from us, and that make me anxious.
It’s the first time we are meeting, so it can’t be helped, let’s calm down. While I was chanting that in my mind, Fricka, who was next to me, whispered in my ear.
“… I don’t mind if it you are just pretending, but I think that will be good to you emphasize that you liked me while we are being exposed to the public eye.”
“……Why?”
“… If you prefer be courted by a male elf, you don’t have to do it.”
Ugh!?
I was taken aback and ran my eyes towards the people the around us.
The people(elves) who are curious about a rare being like a miko are watching me with a great interest, and on the contrary, people who are frowning looking at Uru who was by my side.
……And the eyes of a man burning with ambition. As soon as our eyes met, he flashed a refreshing smile to me, but I couldn’t help but look away from him.
“Because the miko-sama is a woman…”
“… In other words, since a woman(Fricka) is unsuitable, the men(themselves) have a chance——It that what you mean…?”
Fricka nodded as if to say “That’s right.” to me.
Ugh… are you serious… That kind of popularity(?) I didn’t needed…
While feeling like a rare beast being watched in a zoo, I proceeded quietly.
The head elder’s house was, as expected the largest house in the village. It must be a place that also serves to entertain guests like me.
The first floor was a size that easily exceeded a 4LDK, there is in addition, floors number two and three, and there was even something like a terrace over the branches.
The decoration is also gorgeous. Artworks such as stone carvings and vases were decorated, and do they can be mined in the forest? A small amount of jewels were generously decored inside the house.……Once the things have calmed down, let’s mine the area around here.
I walked on the fluffy carpet while being secretly nervous in my mind, and was guided to a room that looked like a reception room. The sofa is also leather-made… I can’t calm down here.
Zagi said “I’ll leave my seat for a little while.” and leaves the room, leaving me, Uru, Fricka, and a female elf who seems to be a maid in the room.
Uru and I sat on the sofa, while Fricka and the maid stood behind us and waited. …… I-I can’t calm down.
While I was waiting, I was offered a cup of tea, and I took a sip to give myself some time to rest my heart.
“…?”
It doesn’t taste bad. If anything, it’s delicious.
But I don’t know what it is… But it feels weird.
… But if I(Miko) were to be honest and say something like that, the maid who brewed it would probably be punished, so I silently swallowed the words.
I made eye contact with Uru, who was also served tea, but she only responded with a “?”, It was just a feeling of discomfort that only I could feel, or It was all just in my mind…
“Thank you for waiting.”
Before I could think any further, Zagi came back with some others people.
They are all old. And everyone has good faces as expected from an elf.
“First of all, let me introduce ourselves. I am the oldest and represent of the village, but with these five people we govern this Alness. If you have any problems, please contact us.”
So you could call them the decision-making body?
……When I thought about how one of them, or perhaps all of them, had instigated Fricka to me, make me feel some complicated feelings.
They greet me lightly in turn, but… Only one person seems to be a gentle old man, and the rest… I get a similar impression that, even if it’s not as bad as Zagi, well, yeah.
Looking at this state, it might be better not let my guard down even to the gentle-looking old man…
In addition, Uru is treated as if she is almost non-existent. I can feel an attitude as if they were saying “Just be satisfied that you have been allowed to sit down.” from them, so my impression of them got even worse.
It wasn’t like I didn’t wanted to rebuke them, but Uru gently pinched my clothes, so I silently swallowed this as well.
Racial issues aren’t something that can be fixed overnight, so it’s better to end this discussion quickly than to make things worse…
Fricka stands behind me like an ornament, looking down. And I couldn’t read anything from her expression.
“…Now then, there is no other reason why we was waiting miko-sama than this. I would like you to investigate the anomaly in this forest and, if possible, resolve it.”
“Yeah, it’s something that the Creator God also asked me to do, so I don’t mind.”
“Hoo… By the Creator God…”
“So she didn’t abandon us after all…”
…… It seems that the Creator God is also having a hard time … I guess she couldn’t get enough spare time to give help in this place….
When I’m being worshiped by the fact that help has come, even though I don’t think that well about the other party, make me have mixed feelings…
The situations that they they know about is like this.
The first time that they noticed it was last year. It starts with the preface that it might have started even earlier, and they just didn’t noticed it.
After a harsh winter, green sprouts have begun to sprout in spring, but their colors were duller than usual.
They thought lightly that there were years like this once in a while, that things will go back to normal as time goes by…… But this year things have gotten worse, the vegetation presenting strange colors and even withering.
At the same time, some people fell ill due to a mysterious poor physical condition, and although it was still a small number, some of them even died.
……I heard from Uru later that when this story was told, Fricka twitched slightly, but I didn’t notice it at time because I was facing forward.
They investigated the village and its surroundings, but nothing seemed to have changed in the soil or in the water, and when they tried to investigate far away, cases of missing persons started to occour, and they were forced to stop the investigation.
They found that by sprinkling holy water around, it can barely revitalize the plants, but it was like a drop of water on a hot stone, and It couldn’t be a resolution to the problem.
What they could discover was that most likely, the center of the incident was in the northeast——The same direction I saw the discoloration from that wide open space——That was their only clue.
Even the sacred tree, which is the symbol of the village, has started to dry up, and when the atmosphere in the village started to became dark, I arrived here.
Hmm… Their expectations towards me is high… It would be nice if It was just at the level were I could solve it…
After listening to the general story and having a light meal, with how late it was, I don’t think the we can go far today, so I decided to look around the village first.
I nominated Fricka to accompany me, so she continued with us, but two other young elf men came together with us. As expected, it would be difficult to move around if they followed me in a huge group, so I asked them to reduce the number… They were blood relatives of the head elder, so use them as your liking, there was some kind of implications in their introduction… Well, I guess they also doubles as a surveillance.
I don’t dislike chatting but……To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable with them because they show an exagerated (It includes my suspiciousness) sparkling handsome faces while talking to me. Even so, if I ask them a question, they will give me a proper answer to the extent that they know, so I can’t treat them bad.
While trying not to worry too much about it, I decided to first see the sacred tree.
If you look closely, you can see just how big it is. I wonder if the thickness of the trunk is about where 10 adults extending their arms can finally surround it. I couldn’t see the top no matter how high I looked up, and it made my neck hurt.
The overhanging roots are as thick as my waist. Moss is growing densely on it, and if you try to climb over it, even if you are not Fricka, you’ll slip and fall.
And withered bark that can be seen here and there. If the tree is old, it’s likely thats some part of it will look a bit rotted, but…
“It had certainly some bits of it was looking like that from the beginning, but their area has clearly increased since last year.”
That said, there is no doubt that it has been affected by something.
Hmmm… For the time being, should I try examining from the soil with my own hands?
*¹Translator note: Because others elders have appeared this chapter I changed the title of the main elder elf to head elder, so there is the head elder Zagi and the his (until now) nameless elders friends.
The head elder in this case is written as (??) that could be direct translated as elder, but also as : the eldest elder, the head elder, the chief elder… and ridiculous things like: the long old man. It all depends on the context.
Please take in consideration that some of the mentions of elder(s) have been like a title or an indication of age, not an individual, so I didn’t change them.
*²Translator note: to pre-preparation to my work and studies I will be changing the every other day releases to Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so 3 releases per week.