Chapter 212
They had purplish skin and, like elves, long ears.
Their hair was straight and silver, and their eyes were amber.
Yes, they were exactly the race I'd imagined—the Dark Elves.
But...
"I wondered what kind of tough guys would come after seeing that giant worm rampage, but... what are you, a little runt!?"
"Yeah, yeah. What's with those muscles? Don't you eat?"
There were things I hadn't expected, too.
Their refined features, with a hint of darkness about them, were just as I'd imagined, but from the chin down...
A neck as thick as a rugby player's.
Bulging upper arms that made protectors unnecessary.
Their tank-top-like clothing seemed to say they had no need for clothes, covering only their chests and showing off their six-pack abs.
Their lower bodies were incredible too; their thighs bulged like a keirin racer's, looking capable of delivering a fearsome kick.
The problem was that every one of them was like that.
(Dark Elves were muscle-bound...!?)
Suppressing the pounding of my heart, I stepped in front of Asha to shield her.
Since they might cause trouble if they realized she was a woman and targeted her, I'd told her to pull her hood low over her face.
"Is this... a Dark Elf settlement?"
"Settlement? What are you talking about? You underground people have been wandering around here lately too, haven't you...? Hmm?"
Perhaps he thought there wasn't enough light, so the tall man who appeared to be their leader—about two meters tall, a two-meter-tall muscleman—took a torch and lit it with 【Fire Magic】.
Innate talent.
"You're too yellow-skinned to be an underground person, but you have no scales for a dragonfolk. What are you?"
"I'm Human. A perfectly ordinary one—though one that should have gone extinct in this world."
"...What are you talking about?"
"We have business here. We'd prefer it if you didn't interfere."
"..."
The Dark Elves exchanged glances. Then they gathered in one place, formed a circle, and pressed their foreheads together.
"—What is that guy talking about?"
"—No idea. He might be a bit of a handful."
"—Should we leave him alone?"
"—If we leave him alone, he'll probably die out here."
"—But he made it past the giant worms, didn't he?"
"—That might've just been luck, though."
"—So what do we do? This conversation's taking too long. Ninta and Ketch have started doing sit-ups and squats."
"—What an impatient bastard."
"—Don't say that while you're doing high knees."
"—Ah, I want to work out."
"—I know the feeling."
"—I know the feeling."
"—I know the feeling."
With a snap, the circle broke apart, and the two-meter-tall one came over to us again.
"After our discussion, we decided that, since it's late, you should come to our place for now."
"Why!?"
I couldn't help blurting out a retort.
"That was a discussion about working out for most of the latter half!"
"What, you heard us...?"
"Is this the part where you get embarrassed? Is this where you avert your gaze and rub under your nose?"
"As long as you're not hostile, I don't care. Follow me."
With that, the Dark Elves headed farther along the cobblestones. A few followed while doing jumping squats, but no one said a word.
"..."
"...Um, Reiji-san."
"Sorry, I wouldn't know either."
"Right."
It was true that we couldn't do anything in the dark, so we decided to follow the Dark Elves.
We managed to nap for about two hours before dawn. We'd used magic and pushed our bodies hard, so it was good to have time to recover our strength.
The sky was faintly brightening. When I sat up from the bed made of branches and dead leaves, Asha was groaning restlessly in the bed beside me.
Asha had used only the finest beds until now, but she'd experienced sleeping rough since coming to this world.
Her body still hadn't grown accustomed to it, though, so I decided to let her sleep a little longer.
When I went outside, I found myself thirty meters above the ground, in the treetops.
Birds were chirping all over the place—chee-chee-chichichi—loud enough to be irritating.
Rather than anything as fancy as a tree house, simple huts assembled from lumber hung in clusters from the giant trees.
I didn't know what kind of trees they were. The bark was smooth, but when I touched it, I felt tiny bumps and hollows. The branches were just the right size for walking on.
How old were these trees...? Giant trees more than ten meters in diameter stood densely all around. The Dark Elves lived among several of them.
The huts were spaced far enough apart, and there was a designated outhouse where you simply dropped it straight to the ground. A dynamic pit toilet. By gathering it all in one place, they seemed to be making compost.
There were no safety lines; ropes had been strung between the trees like spiderwebs. The idea seemed to be that even if you slipped, you could reach out and grab something before falling to the ground.
Even though it was early morning, Dark Elves were hanging upside down like bats from several branches and doing sit-ups. What workout fanatics, I thought, but climbing up and down from the treetops every day would build muscle too. They used either rope ladders or ropes with knots, and even if enemies chased them, they could pull up the ropes so no one could climb after them.
(So this was how the Dark Elves had protected their settlement... Their approach was the exact opposite of the underground people's.)
Even when I tried to look around from one of the tall trees, I couldn't see very far because there were many other trees at the same height.
The ruins where we'd encountered the Dark Elves last night were about a thirty-minute run from here.
"You're awake? Up early. You can wash your face over there."
The two-meter-tall Dark Elf came down from above with two soft thumps. Watching made me nervous, but this was probably everyday life for them.
There were several huts for collecting rainwater, and we drew water there to wash our faces.
"Now, let's eat."
"Is that all right?"
"Well, you're a guest, after all—for now."
"..."
For now, huh? That was certainly true.
Apparently, they gathered to eat in one place, so I headed to the hut that served as a dining hall.
Maybe because it was so early, no one was inside. But a fire seemed to be burning in the kitchen, sending up clouds of smoke.
"You're up early, Nock! ...Oh, wait, are you one of the underground people? Your face is awfully yellow for one of those."
"He's a guest. Give him food."
The long, narrow hut had about ten seats, with the kitchen at the very back.
The one tending the fire was a female Dark Elf, and, as expected, she was muscular too.
The food that came out was steamed potatoes, bean soup, and a huge chunk of meat. The meat was by far the biggest portion. It was about half the size of a Kojien—or maybe about the size of two bricks stacked together.
"..."
"What is it? I haven't put any poison in it—hey! You didn't put any poison in it, did you?"
"Don't say such rude things!"
A ladle flew at the two-meter-tall Dark Elf—Nock-san—and struck him in the head. It made a satisfying clonk.
"Apparently not."
"Uh... You eat this much for breakfast?"
"Sorry. Dinner's even more extravagant."
That's not what I meant. Wait, you eat even more at night?
Just like Nock-san, I poured the soup over my potato and ate it.
!
At once, a scorching spiciness spread throughout my mouth.
This was unexpected!
Come to think of it, I hadn't eaten much spicy food like this since being reincarnated.
(Ah, this reminds me of Mimino-san's cooking...)
Even while we were traveling with the "Silver Scales," Mimino-san had experimented with all sorts of seasonings in our camp meals.
The spices had given them a delicious kick.
I wonder how Mimino-san is doing...
"Hmm. Was it so spicy it brought you to tears?"
"Huh!?"
When I hurriedly touched my face, I found tears glistening at the corners of my eyes.
"Ah, n-no. It's delicious!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
It was just then, as I began wolfing it down with a spoon—
I heard a scream.
I immediately realized that the scream had come from Asha.
When I ran out of the dining hall, I saw Asha outside the hut where we'd slept, hanging from a branch with both hands. She must have slipped.