Chapter 41 - [Special Chapter] The Vow of the Muu Tribe (An Elf's Journey)
This is the start of the special chapter series. It will be three parts. It took me about twice as long as usual to produce, so I truly hope you enjoy reading it.
The city of Migul is governed by four regent houses. House Airally of the humans. House Wanland of the dog-kin. House Skynorth of the dwarves. And House Starunion of the elves. Every year, two consuls are selected from among the representatives of the four regent houses by a vote of the Senate. Recently, however, one of the positions is always filled by a human. This is a consideration for the Imperial Capital, the center of human society. The threat of the Demon Lord's kingdom pressing from the east is too great for a single city to defend against, making the generous protection of the Empire a necessity. Migul has no king, no dictator. It is governed by the members of the Senate, composed of high-paying taxpayers, and the two consuls. The elven girl, Marmie Muume Mo Starunion, was eleven years old and the eldest daughter of House Starunion. Marmie, Muume, and Mo were all her names. Her father, mother, and grandfather had all tried to give her a name, but after five days of arguing, it was decided that all of them would become her name. Her father called her Marmie, her mother called her Muume, and her grandparents called her Mo. As a result, she had trouble learning her own name as a child, leading to concerns that she was a slow learner. Thanks to that, however, she was excused from many things, such as proper aristocratic etiquette and speech.
She was on her way back to Migul from the Great Forest of the West. The trip to the Great Forest had been to present herself to the elven elders. The entire elven race numbered less than 300. They were walking a slow but steady path to extinction. Amidst this decline, eleven years ago, the first elven baby in two hundred years was born: Marmie. She had traveled down the river by boat to this port city of Flucht. From here, she would transfer to another boat and continue downriver to the east, to the city of Heilong. From there, she would travel overland to Migul. Until the connecting ship departed, she would be staying in this city. She had the characteristic long ears, white skin, and long silver hair of an elf, along with a small chest and small bottom that held the promise of future growth. She was currently tucked into her bed, wearing a nightgown.
"...I can't sleep."
She spoke to her maid, Patricia. Patricia was a Flower-Kin. At seventeen, she possessed a more developed chest and bottom than Marmie. The Flower-Kin grew flowers from stems that sprouted amidst their hair. The blooming of these flowers changed with their emotions, the season, or the time of day. Her flower was a tulip. She looked lovely in early spring when she bloomed with several tulips, and their fragrance was pleasant. According to human legend, the Flower-Kin were born when humans interbred with flowers. Marmie thought this was ridiculous. There was no way anyone would do perverted things with plants.
"It can't be helped. This is a commoner's inn, after all."
Patricia sounded fed up as well. They were originally scheduled to stay in a nobleman's mansion. But then, it was supposedly attacked by monsters and the building was destroyed. Could such an incident really happen at such a convenient time? It was hard not to think it was some kind of harassment against other races. Marmie decided she would go confirm it for herself tomorrow. This inn was considered one of the more luxurious ones in the city. They had tried to rent out the entire top floor, but one of the two rooms on the floor was already taken. When entering her room, Marmie had caught a glimpse of her neighbor—a rather unimpressive-looking middle-aged man. However, he was accompanied by a slave girl from the dog-eared race. A beautiful girl with drooping ears. She looked delicate, as if for show, but she wore a light-blue haori, arm covers, and a necklace. It was not widely known, but warriors of the dog-eared race would don light-blue items when they found a master they would devote their lives to serving. She had seen the ceremony where House Wanland bestowed a light-blue ring upon a newly accepted knight. At first glance, the girl appeared meek, but her attire made a bold statement. From the adjacent room, the sound of a woman's moans was incessant. This was the reason neither of them could get to sleep.
"We must endure. We must endure... Still, I wonder if it really feels that good?"
Patricia murmured. A single tulip bloomed on her head.
"...Patricia?"
"Ah! My apologies, Lady Mo. Let us just sleep. We won't hear it while we're asleep."
The woman's moans stopped.
"Oh, it seems they've finished. Now we can sleep."
Patricia's sigh of relief was short-lived. A moment later, the moans of a different woman began.
"..."
Marmie and Patricia stared at each other in silence, then let out a shared sigh. This story takes place a little bit in the future from the present. It is from when Mash and his party visited the port city of Flucht during a caravan escort quest.
The sky was beginning to pale. Dawn was near. Marmie was in the courtyard. She drew water from the well and washed her face. She hadn't slept well last night, and her head was foggy, but the cold water was refreshingly clear.
"Phwahh."
As she was drying her face with a towel, the dog-eared girl she had seen yesterday appeared.
"Good morning."
The dog-eared girl gave a small bow. This was the voice from the first moans she had heard last night.
"...Good morning."
Marmie returned the greeting and yielded the water basin to her. She looked up at the sky. The stars were fading into the clarifying blue.
"The stars look small, but they say they're actually the same size as the sun, or even bigger. They only look small because they're so incredibly far away."
The dog-eared girl said while wiping her face. Her fur had a beautiful sheen. Her skin and clothes were clean, too. It was proof that her master took good care of her.
"...Is that so?"
"Light has a speed, too, and the distance light travels in one year is called a light-year. The light from those tiny stars was emitted tens of thousands of years ago. It might be the light of a star that no longer exists."
Marmie knew this one. It was one of the classic lines that transferents used to woo the opposite sex. Her mother had told her she'd heard it every time a new transferent appeared, while gazing at the night sky at some banquet.
"...Then if you went a thousand light-years away and looked at this world, you could see what happened a thousand years ago."
"Is that how it works?"
The dog-eared girl had been the one to explain it, yet she responded with a question. Marmie became intrigued by the girl's puzzled expression. In truth, she had been fascinated from the start by this girl who looked to be her age. There was something else, too. She could see a stagnation of mana within the girl. Something called a curse.
"...I'm Patricia, and as you can see, I'm an elf—" Thwack! "...Ouch."
She got a fist to the back of her head. Turning around, she saw Patricia standing there. The truth was, Marmie didn't like her own name. She thought Patricia sounded much more aristocratic. Whenever she played pretend, she had always used the name Patricia.
"Lady Mo, you mustn't lie."
"...Yes, I'm sorry. I'm Marmie Muume Mo Starunion. Marmie, Muume, and Mo are all my first names, so you can use whichever one you like to call me."
She showed the girl her character sheet. The dog-eared girl peered at it.
"You're a mage... I see. My name is Fam."
Fam showed her character sheet as well. Marmie had thought they were the same age, but Fam was three years older. Her profession was Mibu-Rō. And surprisingly, she was a freewoman. Which meant she had been moaning of her own free will last night. Furthermore, Marmie could feel an unnatural flow of mana on the character sheet, as if it had been tampered with. Was this also an effect of the curse?
"...I told you my real name. You should tell me yours, too."
Marmie asked Fam.
"Famim Okita."
Okita was the name of a legendary hero who, over a thousand years ago, had saved the dog-eared race from the God of the End with a single sword. However, Okita had met a rather unheroic end, succumbing to illness. In honor of his legacy, a great many members of the dog-eared race took the name Okita.
"...I see. I'll call you Fam, then."
"I'll call you Mo."
"...Why did you choose Mo?"
Fam had only called her that because she heard Patricia use the name.
"...Well then, from now on, we are the proud Muu Tribe."
"The Muu Tribe?"
Fam had no idea what Marmie was talking about.
"...Because our names have 'Mu' in them, we are the Muu Tribe."
"I understand," Fam nodded.
"...Alright then, we will perform the Muu Tribe greeting, so raise both your hands."
Marmie raised her arms in a 'banzai' pose. Fam, still confused, followed suit.
"Muu," Marmie said.
"Eh? Ah, yes. Muu."
Fam was embarrassed, but she followed Marmie's lead and returned the greeting.
After finishing breakfast, Marmie was walking through the city with Patricia and two guards. They were on their way to see the mansion that was supposedly destroyed by monsters. It was a building constructed as a villa on the outskirts of the city.
"By the way, I heard a rumor that Lady Racshell appeared in a city near the Imperial Capital. Do you think it's true?"
"...Who knows?"
Marmie replied to Patricia. Rumors of Racshell were the talk of Flucht.
"They say she appeared to save a group of three adventurers. One of the adventurers was from the dog-eared race, you know."
Marmie knew what Patricia was implying, but she didn't believe the rumor was true. They passed by the side of an arena. Though called an arena, it was little more than an open square with stone benches arranged around the perimeter.
"Lady Mo, it's the dog-eared girl from this morning."
"...Patricia, she is of the Muu Tribe."
In the arena, several groups were training with swords and magic. Patricia pointed her finger at one of them. There, Fam was sparring with a muscular female swordswoman.
"Isn't she embarrassed? So many men are watching..."
The female swordswoman was wearing bikini armor. It was hard to believe that the cloth that barely covered her chest and bottom could function as armor. It seemed her muscles would have to take the brunt of any enemy attack. But according to the female warriors who favored bikini armor, it was the armor, not their muscles, that deflected blows. Fam was challenging this swordswoman head-on. With her quick movements and slashes from her two-handed sword, it looked as though the female swordswoman was effortlessly deflecting them with her bastard sword.
Fam seemed to have talent, but she didn't look like she could win against the swordswoman.
"...Who's stronger, her or Wake?"
Marmie asked one of her guard knights, Wake. He was a middle-aged human man.
"Lady Mo, we fight as a group, think as a group, and function as a group. No matter how clever or strong that female warrior may be, in the end, you are the one who will be left standing."
"...I want to know what would happen if you and the female swordswoman fought, Wake."
"With my first strike, I would relieve her of the cloth covering her chest, and with my second, the cloth covering her lower body."
"...Patricia."
Patricia bonked Wake on the head. Patricia took care of her personal needs. Wake was her guard. They were the two people Marmie trusted most. However, they both had a tendency to go wild in a perverted direction at times. Patricia was at that age, so it couldn't be helped. When Marmie pointed out that Wake was old enough to know better, he would get angry and insist he was at that age, too. About five years ago, Marmie had asked him to teach her how to do 'it.' He had gotten genuinely angry with her then, and Patricia had given her a fist-bonk as well. So their outbursts weren't serious. Even if Patricia's tulip bloomed, it wasn't serious. Probably. Marmie also believed that between Wake and the female warrior, Wake would win. She couldn't imagine Wake losing to anyone in swordsmanship.
"That female swordswoman's strength would likely be the same in a real battle. But as for the Muu Tribe member... she seems like she would be different in a real fight. How should I put it..."
Marmie waited for Wake to continue, but he trailed off and fell silent. After watching Fam and the swordswoman spar for a while longer, they headed towards the mansion in question.
Thank you for reading. To everyone who has liked, bookmarked, and rated this story, I am truly grateful. It's a great encouragement. I'll do my best. The typo corrections have been very helpful. Thank you so much.