Chapter 213
"I-I-I woke up and went outside, and I was in such a high place... I-I-I was startled..."
My rescue was just in time; after I pulled Asha to safety, she got down on all fours in the hut we'd borrowed as our sleeping quarters and gasped heavily.
Apparently, when we'd arrived here last night, she'd been dozing on my back, and it had been pitch-black, so she hadn't remembered where we were.
My kindness in letting her sleep a little longer had backfired.
"I'm glad you're safe. You too, girl, come eat breakfast with us—"
Nock-san, who had come up behind us, stared blankly.
Asha had been asleep, so she'd taken off her cloak and hood. In other words, she was wearing the culotte skirt and long boots she'd had on when she first came to this world.
But Nock-san was looking at her face.
Her race.
"H-Ha, ha, h-High Elf..."
Pointing at Asha with one finger, the tall Dark Elf trembled,
"Hiiiiigh Eeeeeelf!"
Using his entire muscle-bound body to shout, he made both Asha's and my hair stand on end, while the hut's roof and the branches and dead leaves we'd used for our bedding went flying.
My ears rang, but I was already moving.
I drew my sword, readied magic in my right hand, and planted myself in front of Asha to hide her.
I knew there might be something to this after all.
Dark Elves and Elves had to be closely related.
I didn't know this world's history, but it wouldn't have been strange if they'd had some contact—or some trouble—with one another in the past.
(Can I jump down while carrying Asha?)
I looked at the ropes strung around the trees like a safety net. The lowest one was about ten meters up; if I got down there and bled off my momentum, I should be able to reach the ground unharmed by combining 【Wind Magic】 and 【Fire Magic】—and that was when I'd finished calculating.
"Hah!!"
Nock-san, coming to his senses after his shock, bent his long body and suddenly prostrated himself.
"C-c-c-c..."
Is he a chicken?
"I-I never imagined a High Elf would visit a place like th-this, c-c-c..."
Definitely a chicken?
"Please forgive us for our p-p-past discourtesy."
Nock-san was prostrating himself on a branch. No matter how thick it was, and no matter how thoroughly the residents had trodden it down, the branch was only about forty centimeters wide at most.
Prostrating himself had thrown off his balance,
"From here, I shall fetch our chieftain—no, the chieftain's residence is more splendid, so..."
His body slowly tipped sideways,
"I humbly, humbly beg you to come there—Aaaah!?"
"Nock-san!?"
He fell just like that.
He went from a pose like a frog about to jump to one like a frog after being run over by a car as he fell.
Ah, he got caught on the lowest rope—the one I'd had my eye on.
The rope sagged, flipped his body upside down with a single swing, and Nock-san crashed to the ground.
A cloud of dust rose into the air.
A moment later, I heard a wet crunch.
"D-did he die...?"
When Asha and I cautiously poked our heads out of the hut,
"What in the world is going on!?"
The dining hall lady came running over.
"Hiiiiigh Eeeeeelf!?"
Then she pointed at Asha and shrieked, dropping into a deep prostration with tremendous speed,
"C-c-c-c..."
Still making chicken noises, she tilted sideways and fell.
She caught on the lowest rope, landed beside Nock-san, and sent up dust with a wet crunch.
"Hey, what's all the commotion first thing in the morning!?"
"Guest, what did you do?"
"What should we do about that bastard Nock—"
Three Dark Elves came over,
"Hiiiiigh Eeeeeelf!?"
Without losing momentum, the three of them prostrated themselves,
"C-c-c-c..."
"C-c-c-c-c..."
"C-c-c-cluck-cluck..."
Hey, third one, there's a chicken mixed in—no, that's not the point.
"Wait, wait! Please, wait! Get up! Don't fall!?"
At last, the shock of what had happened right in front of me began to wear off, and my head started working normally again.
But I was just a little too late.
They fell while still prostrating themselves.
After that, I put Asha's cloak and hood back on her and somehow made it through the five additional Dark Elves who came along.
"I'll explain what happened, so please guide us to the person you call the chieftain! And help Nock-san and the others!"
I pleaded.
The chieftain's residence was in the neighboring tree, so we made our way across using the two ropes we were given. We walked along one rope, while the other was for holding onto if we lost our balance.
Asha said, "I'm sorry, there's absolutely no way I can do this..." so I had her cling to my back again.
Well... if it had been Non-san, I might have considered the feeling on my back a fortunate perk, but Asha, you see, well, her figure is rather... modest.
At any rate, we arrived at the chieftain's residence—a slightly larger hut.
The walls were hung with cloth dyed using lots of bright primary colors, perhaps in place of wallpaper. There was a chair on a raised platform, but a middle-aged Dark Elf was kneeling formally on the floor in front of it. Though middle-aged, he was a truly fearsome muscleman. The muscles in both legs folded beneath him looked terribly cramped.
"This is our guest, Chieftain."
And for some reason, Nock-san was already there. So were the kitchen lady and the three Dark Elves who had fallen after him.
They were all covered in dust, but it looked like they hadn't suffered any injuries, which was a relief.
"Y-you're all right, Nock-san...?"
"I train."
He gave a little smirk, but there was a dead leaf sitting on top of his head.
"I am told that the person over there is a noble personage of such exalted status that even speaking of them aloud would be impertinent."
At the chieftain's words, I removed Asha's hood and showed him her face.
Their eyes widened, and the chieftain's residence fell utterly silent.
From outside the residence came several wet crunches. Hey, don't fall out of the trees while you're spying on us.