Foreigner Volume 6, Chapter 79

Volume 6 Chapter 79, Shock ~ 19

　Leaving the World Tree Village with Liz in the lead, the four (plus two in the shadows) wandered into the Deep Green Forest. The village was also filled with trees, but the trees were different from those in the forest, and the ground was in a different state to begin with. The ground in the forest was bare and natural, whereas in the village it was covered with compacted soil. The only thing they could rely on was a barely running animal trail.

　The leaves of the trees that grew thickly blocked the sunlight were clearly different from those in the village, where sunlight was pouring down from everywhere. On the way, Minerva almost fell down when her foot got caught on a mossy rock, but Rico saved her in time. Although Minerva had become accustomed to the terrain, she was originally a Flying Dragon who hardly walked at all. It looks like she is having a hard time.

　After about three minutes (12 minutes) of walking, Liz stopped walking. The landscape ahead was nothing more than a deep forest, but it was probably the effect of the 【Lost Forest】. It is invisible to the human eye, but Liz, who has elven blood in her veins, seems to be able to see it.

　Checking the condition of the string connecting all of them, Lizz nodded her head.

「Then, let's go.」

　Liz took a few steps forward. Just as on the way there, Satoru's vision became distorted and he felt as if he could not even remember where his feet were. It was a strange sensation, as if he was wading through a thick sludge that he could not feel anything. It was similar to the vision he had when he was in his former world and was intoxicated by a lot of alcohol at a year-end party. At that time, a strong feeling of queasiness coexisted, but as expected, it is not that bad.

　After a short walk, Satoru notices something strange. He saw something like a string of light at the edge of his vision, which he could not see on the way there.

(Leia, are you seeing this?)

『What are you talking about? In my eyes, all I see is a stagnant world, you know?』

　In response to Leia's reply, Satoru thinks a little. The leading Liz is definitely walking along that thread of light. So is this thread of light the path in the 【Lost Forest】 that only the elves are supposed to be able to see?

(I'm seeing something like a thread of light in the stagnant world in my vision)

『...... It is not in my and Solor's sight. Isn't that what the five-edged leaf that was given to my Lord is showing you?』

　I see what you mean. The five-edged leaves are shoved carelessly into the pockets of his vest. It was given to him as a token of the Elves' gratitude. No wonder it has such an effect.

「Mother, I'm sure she will be delighted.」

　He could hear Liz walking in the lead in the sludge-like space. He can't see her and, as on the way there, he hear her voice doubled, but it is audible enough. Satoru noticed that Liz's voice was a little subdued.

「......Since Reine-san is an elf, it must be hard for Liz.」

　Bauers promised to end discrimination against half-elves. However, it will not disappear overnight, and Satoru guesses that Liz is probably anxious about that.

「Yesterday, at the festival, the Elder himself declared, 『As long as you stay in this village, you are considered as one of us.』. I think there will be fewer elves who discriminate in plain sight...... but I am sure there will be some who despise them inwardly. I don't think it can be helped, though.」

　Liz's voice has a sensational sound.

　Even if there is no more visible discrimination, as there has been in the past, there will still be inner contempt, as Liz's says.

　Liz's is smart. She can spot such a sign immediately. Since the Elder Bauers gambled on his name and promised to do so, he will probably prepare a punishment. If that happens, direct discrimination will decrease, but there is no way to deal with the contempt in one's heart.

「I will be 15 next year. In human terms, I am an adult. I'm wondering if it's okay for me to go out into the outside world. ...... But, I don't know what my mother would say.」

　There is a hint of loneliness in Liz' voice that sounds double. In the 【Lost Forest】, you can't see the other person's face, so perhaps the expression is in line with the voice.

　If Liz return Reine to the village and leave herself, she will not have to go through any hardship in the village. However, even though Liz is an adult, she doesn't have any particular job, and she knows that it's dangerous to go to a town by herself. So, she knows that Reine probably won't allow her to go out alone in a town.

「That's why I'm a little envious of Onii-san, Rico-san, and Minerva-san. Traveling freely in the outside world.」

　Liz has a longing for the outside world. This is evident from the fact that when Satoru and others first stayed at Reine's house, she was happy to listen to his stories about the outside world.

「One thing or another, the outside world is dangerous.」

　Rico muttered. She has a history of being thrown out of town with her brother in the middle of a harsh winter when she was very young. Although she was saved because she happened to be picked up by Threnodhy of the Master Galhasan Thieves' Guild at that time, she still had two fingers of her right hand cut off once by stealing, which she had no choice but to do in order to survive. Now he can imagine that the state officials who captured the young Rico at that time must have felt sorry for her, and so they must have casually handed her over to Threnodhy, but without such a helping hand, Rico and Kai would probably no longer be in this world.

　What if Liz had gone out alone to a human's town? Such a thing is easy to imagine. Many half-elves are beautiful to look at, as are elves. Many people in human society have respect for elves as a matter of common sense, but when it comes to half-elves, they are far removed from such respect. Liz is also pretty, and if she were to wander around by herself, she would immediately be preyed upon by slavers.

「As for me, I'd like Liz to be filial to your mother.」

　Liz resembles his own sister, Alice, and Reine resembles his deceased biological mother. It is a dream come true that Alice will be filial to her mother, who died without being able to hold Alice in her arms. In some ways, he feel somewhat sorry for his selfish projection, but Satoru would be most happy to see that happen.

「....... That's right. I had a hard time with my mom after my dad passed away.」

　There was a tentative and satisfactory response, but her voice was a bit stilted. Satoru could catch a glimpse of her complicated feelings, and Liz' voice rang out from where he was wondering how he should address her.

「We will soon be out of the 【Lost Forest】」

　Suddenly the light of day burned Satoru's retinas. Squinting, Satoru waits for his eyes to adjust to the amount of light before taking a breath. The sludge-like space that had been in his field of vision just a few moments ago was gone. It is just a deep, deep forest.

　It seems that we made it back - Satoru finally relaxed his shoulders after confirming that the two people behind him were following him. After that, he would take Liz to Reine's house and be done with the rest. If she needed help moving, he thought it would be okay to help her after that.

　Satoru, for whatever reason, also finds it difficult to separate from Reine and Liz, two people he met through a strange chance encounter. If they were to separate here, they would probably never see each other again in the future, and Satoru found himself feeling lonely in the corner of his mind.

　But that was inevitable. You knew that, didn't you? That's what Satoru tells himself.

　He takes off the string he had tied and begins to walk through the deep forest.

　Liz did not open her mouth while walking. Perhaps Liz knows this. She knew that she would be leaving Satoru soon. She must have a lot of things to think about.

　From time to time, Minerva whistles pyui. He wondered what it was, but she said it was a signal to avoid the beast. As one would expect from a flying dragon, who is close to the top of the beast race. They know how to take such things into consideration.

　This forest is so different from the nature Satoru knows. The closest thing to a tropical rainforest that Satoru knows of is probably the rainforests of Southeast Asia, but of course he has never seen one in person, only on TV. There is just the depth of the green of a dense forest here.

　He once read in a book that the nature that people love is nothing more than the nature that has been touched by human hands. The forest where he is now is bare nature. Mosquitoes are buzzing around, and occasionally he see leech-like creatures. The reason why they don't come near the them, even if they are insects, is because Liz is holding a branch of the Noritos tree, which was also stuck in front of her house and is under a spell to repel insects. It seems to be a natural spell for an elf. The effect of the 【Lost Forest】 is certainly strong, but just entering this forest without those insect repelling speels, and Noritos branches would be like suicide.

　They continued walking for about half an hour. Finally, they passed through the deep forest and came out into a little open space. The sky was a little cloudy, and the sunlight was softer than usual. He looked up and saw three cedars. It seemed they had made it back to where they had come in.

「Minerva, can I ask you to become your flying dragon's form?」

「'Kaay」

　They had to ride on Minerva's back to get from Reine's house to this point. Normally, he would refrain from a three-person ride, but it's not a very long ride, and the combination of Liz and Rico has proven to be manageable on the way there. Minerva complied with Satoru's request and immediately began to undress with the help of Rico. Liz's widened her eyes.

「Uwahh ...... Minerva-san's naked, beautiful ......」

「Is that so? Uh-huh. Thanks.」

　Liz had seen Minerva's naked body on the way there, but that time she was doubly surprised to see Minerva's change from a Flying Dragon to human form, and to see her in a female body. In this way, once again, she can see that Minerva's nudity is of an extraordinary level. Liz looked at Minerva's breasts and then her own and gave a small sigh. Rico also sighed - I understand that feeling.

　Minerva, who has 【Dispel】 of 【Mimicry】, quickly regains her original form. Minerva, who has returned to her original form, trembles and howls. By the way, the howl was just a way of saying "I'm back".

　Pretending to take it out of the bag, Satoru received hami from the shadow and present it to Minerva as usual. Come to think of it, I was going to buy a proper hami, but I completely forgot about it and left it as it was when Leia first made it temporarily. But since I'm not controlling and manipulating the Hami properly, it's probably fine as it is.

　Riko is placed first, followed by Liz, and finally Satoru straddles the top.

『Minerva will be careful, but both Danna-sama and Rico should also be careful.』

「I know.」

　Gururu, after a howl Minerva flapped her wings and flew into the air. Satoru nodded with the reins in his hands, as if to say, "Of course". Liz, sitting at the front of the group, was also looking happy.

　Little did they know that an unbelievable tragedy awaited them ahead...

　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

　I just don't feel comfortable with the idea of fucking a dead bodies―the man thought absentmindedly as he gazed at the cloud-shrouded sky, as his employer had ordered.

　Yesterday, they raided a ramshackle house on the outskirts of this village and succeeded in subduing it, although one of their fellow warriors had one arm chopped off as a result. The only miscalculation, however, was that the female elf, who was probably the owner of the house, ended up destroying her own soul. The nobleman who hired him thought that he would use the woman and her daughter as a shield to deal with the male warrior who was apparently being watched by the Academy of the Wise, but if the other party was a dead man, the value of the hostage would be less than half.

　But they still seem to have decided that they can do well enough if they play their cards right, but will it work out that way?―As a man, I have to be skeptical. At the moment, my employer, a young man, thinks and acts in a way that is uncharacteristic of an noble, and although he is a little vain, he pays well. He is not so bad at all, but he seems to think that his judgment is absolute and that it is natural for him to do as he pleases, which is a problem, to tell the truth.

　I wonder if a man of the Academy of the Wise, a man who has the attention of the High Mentor himself, would fall for the wiles of a man like Raymond.

　Uoohhhhhh, A roar from inside the house echoed from the warrior who had lost the arm of a fellow comrade. It is indeed unfortunate that he too had his arm chopped off, but it was a result of his thin elf appearance and his carelessness in the many-on-one situation. He had it coming, so to speak. I would have felt sorry for him, but I would not have helped him pay for the 【Regenerative Healing】 costs. I don't know if he got desperate or not, but it's frankly disgusting to see him committing necrophilia with a dead elf woman, even if he is one of my comrades.

　It's best to do it with a living woman anyway. And the most exciting situation would be to force a girl who doesn't want to be taken into custody―he mused.

　The man is also distorted in some way.

　The warrior in sheet metal armor had raped an elf, who was old enough to be called a little girl, before he came here. The man was with him, so he saw it happen, and while it was fine to take a woman who didn't want to be taken in, she was too young for his liking. Elves grow up slowly, so even if they call them young girls, their age is probably the same as men's. The man in sheet metal armor seemed to be quite fond of the girl he had forcibly raped and had locked her up in a barn with some preserved food and a goat. He had been insisting for some time that as soon as this was over, he was going to pick her up, buy her a "Slave Collar" with a large sum of money, and enjoy her for the rest of his life, and it was hard for them to hear that.

　He also said that the young elf's body would last 20 years.

　Come to think of it, I wonder if that young elf is still alive. Well, it's none of my business.

　Even though his character was distorted, this man's eyes and ears were sure. He heard a loud ruffling of wings, clearly different from that of a bird, and quickly hid in the shadows of the house. He checked his direction and carefully turned his gaze―there they were.

「Aniki! It's that big flying dragon!」

　Gon-gon, the man reported to Raymond, banging on the wall of the house. At a quick glance, the house looks like a rundown building, but what is it that makes it so sturdy?―It can't be 【Hardening】 by any means.

　At the man's report, Raymond stood up with a shudder.

　Finally.

　If he could get rid of the man that Graham Coogan, the High Mentor of the Academy of the Wise, one of the most prominent figures in the world, had his eye on as a dangerous man, his reputation would rise and he would be able to get rid of his rather haughty fiancée, Sheryl.

　It was an important first move to make the future a bright and colorful future. He can't make a mistake―Well, I don't think there is any mistake in the plan I have made.

「You're finally here. ...... Oi, we're going to use that corpse! Let's go get ready!」

　Kicking the butt of a dumb warrior who had lost one arm and was still drunk with post-event excitement, Raymond raised his voice. He pulls out his beloved sword, his pride and joy.

「Listen up. Let's go over the steps. First, we seize the daughter. You make it look like this corpse is alive and ready to put a sword through it.」

　Raymond gapes and gives orders to his own men. He has simulated in his mind many times what he is going to do, but he does not realize that everything is simulated only for his own convenience.

　First, he boldly states that he will seize the daughter, but―What if the daughter is not the first one to enter the house? The elf man thinks so, but he doesn't say so because he knows it will be troublesome later if he spoils his employer's mood, who is in a good mood.

「If she have her companions, I'll ask them to go a little farther with the flying dragon. Because that much flying dragon is too much to spare. Oi, I'll leave you to watch over there.」

「Yes, sir.」

　Raymond's licked his tongue when he heard back from the outside. Finally, the curtain would rise on the stage that would be the catalyst for his own breakthrough.

「All right, get into position.」

　Soaking up the exuberance before the measure, Raymond skipped the instructions.

　And the curtain rises on a tragic stage.

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