Chapter 143.2: Volume 16: Chapter 4: A life in the Village (2)

There were three people in the room.

The Grand Elder, Raspberry Nabar.

The Male Elder, Peach Orbea.

The Female Elder, Strawberry Pischa.

There was only one topic of discussion. Naturally, it was about the traveler who had just appeared a short while ago, the uncle of Aura—the ranger who possessed outstanding abilities.

And they were all at their wit's end.

The reason for that was—

"The Sawtooth Oak...what kind of tree is it? The fact that he used that name back there, what in the world could it possibly mean?

At the meeting they immediately held upon their return, Peach asked that question while he grimaced. Raspberry, with a similarly sour expression on his face, answered.

"No idea, but do you really think we could just ask him that right then and there?...If it meant the sacred tree that his tribe uses for ancestor worship or in rituals, wouldn't he think that he had been insulted if we said we didn't know what kind of tree it was?"

Heaving a sigh, Strawberry grumbled.

"This is all because we put on the demeanor of 'obviously we know that' back there. The words 'we don't know' would never escape our lips, no matter what was said."

"It would be one thing if we were different races, but we're all Dark Elves. Considering the direction they came from, it's very likely that they're from one of the clans that split off in our parents' generation. If that is the case, then the differences in language shouldn't be that big. When you put all of those together, that was probably a formal greeting in the style of his tribe."

"I couldn't confirm it since you could only see the area around his eyes, but I caught sight of some features that looked as if he had some Elf blood in him. So, it might be possible that it was the etiquette for greetings that originated with the Elves?"

Beyond that, they also had another basis for his possible connection to the Elves. That was his name.

Dark Elf names went in the order of family name followed by given name, while Elves on the other hand, used the order of given name followed by family name. In light of that, how they were named was similar to the Elven style.

"Naturally, I wouldn't know about the Elven way of doing things nor their etiquette, now would I? Do you two know?"

There was no reply.

First off, it wasn't as if even they knew all of the Dark Elf traditions. That was because some of the oral traditions had been lost prior to them coming to this forest, so they were in a situation where they didn't even know what had been lost. That was why they were racking their brains over it.

"For the time being, are we all in agreement that our name was passed down in his tribe as the tribe of Ring-Cupped Oak? It's either that or something similar. For example, perhaps this Oak splits into two when it grows so we're being called that because we branched off his clan too?"

"If you consider the flow of that conversation, it seems like there is no other way we could interpret it. However, along with the Sawtooth Oak, I wonder what kind of tree a Ring-Cupped Oak is? I wonder if there was a hint that it could be another name for one of the trees we do know of? And on top of that, what significance does the choosing of that tree have?"

On the contrary, if they likened a tree that they knew to the Sawtooth or Ring-Cupped Oak trees, their visitors might question their sanity. Therefore, if they knew what trees they were, they could then grasp the nuances held within. However, even they, within the extent of their knowledge of trees and plants, could not stumble upon anything about the Sawtooth and—in particular—Ring-Cupped Oak trees.

Even when they went so far as to take into account that the common names of trees might differ by clan, no answer was forthcoming.

"Hmmmm. It would be great if we could hear it straight from the source, but..."

"If we could do that then we would...Wouldn't it be troublesome if he thought we didn't even know that much? It might leak out to the youngsters from him."

Even they at least knew that the youngster's group hated them. Nevertheless, they believed the youngsters would come to respect the wisdom they held when they were older. Traditions—ancient wisdom— seemed meaningless when one only took a glance at them. However, the truth was that there were some reasons as to why they persisted, and it wasn't something that was okay to just disregard. Even they should agree that knowledge was power.

However, no one here even knew how to give a formal greeting—what would happen if the youngsters were to judge them for having lost that tradition? It might produce a more serious and lethal confrontation than there was right now.

That was why they were racking their brains over it.

"I wonder if it really was just a mere greeting...even when I looked him in the eyes he didn't seem to be showing a hint of emotion. He was so expressionless that it felt a little unsettling."

"...So...what do we do? His knowledge concerning Dark Elf traditions is something I'd like to ask him about though..."

"...That's a little too dangerous. Even if we were to abide our shame and say to him that we wanted to talk with him privately, I don't know if he would really keep his mouth shut. If that's the case...you don't jump into a briar patch if you're not being chased, huh?

"You're right. It's best to keep a certain distance, and not approach him."

"That being the case...what do we do with his gifts? The souvenirs from a land where races other than Elves or Dark Elves live. There are probably rare items among them."

If the three elders took responsibility for distributing the souvenirs, there would be some suitable benefits to it.

Of course, there would probably be people who would make their discontent public depending on what was distributed and to whom. The drawback was the possibility of them bearing a grudge over it. However, in most cases, that sort of person would already have a reputation of saying that it was unfair no matter what they received. It was obvious that some of the youngsters would complain just because the elders were the ones who divvied everything up. However, if the elders distributed everything fairly, then everyone else aside from them would probably look coldly upon the ones who would say that it was unfair.

Therefore, even if the elders placed the duty of distribution upon themselves, they did not intend to take anything for themselves.

There should be more value in creating an image of them being selfless elders than there was in pocketing rare goods.

However—

"—As was just said a moment ago, don't jump into a briar patch. If we decide to distribute his gifts, the necessity of directly signaling our gratitude to him would emerge, whether we like it or not. If that were to happen, we would probably have to convey our gratitude in a form that followed the rules of proper etiquette after all."

"...That means in the event that the other party placed a lot of importance on etiquette, they might regard us as boorish or they might interpret it as us being dissatisfied with their gifts, correct?"

If he were to think that as the village elders they should know the proper etiquette, then how would he react if he was to see their ill-mannered attitude? When falling from a great height, the higher you were, the bigger the damage would be.

Moreover, when one received a magnificent gift from a visitor, one could not respond to it in the same way they would when they were to receive some trivial item. One would have to afford their benefactor every courtesy.

"Then let's leave it to the youngsters. It was fortunate that they got ahold of the gifts first. We'll probably hear all the details, so it's fine to just leave it to them as it is.

"That's right. That's a good idea."

While Raspberry and Strawberry were concluding things, Peach looked sullen.

"I don't mind that, but should we call out to the youngsters to be careful? That lot are the type to disregard the traditions, and so they might unwittingly insult his tribe."

"Hmmmm." The two other elders also looked sullen now.

"This isn't the time to be saying things like, 'are we at fault for not drilling it into them, even if we had to invoke our power as the Council of Elders, after all?' now is it? The uncle of Aura-dono, the one who easily repelled the 'Ursus Lord. I have no doubt that he is reasonably apt. I don't want to be glared at by a person like that."

"Be that as it may, do you really think those simpletons would honestly agree with anything we had to say? For now, we'll just warn them, and if they were to make some blunder, the only thing that could be done then would be for us to...take the blame, wouldn't it? Frankly, I don't want to have anything to do with that, but even so, we are the elders, aren't we..."

"We have to take responsibility...huh. I guess that can't be helped..."

"However...what should we do? What was the reason that the uncle came to see the members of his own race, did anyone hear?

"...What should we do if the reason he came here was to learn the customs that are passed down in this village? ...To put it bluntly, I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole."

"It would be awkward if we didn't have the welcome party, right? When Fiora-dono came, she said her uncle was also coming, so we haven't done it yet. Plus, to the rangers who did that much work in just a few days, not holding the welcome party would be the village's shame...and finally, our lack of participation in that party would go beyond impoliteness, and would be the same as a provocation.

"...Haaa. We'll participate in the party, but let's try to keep our distance from him as much as possible. The uncle-dono looks young, I'm sure the youngsters will keep him company.

"That's right. I'm grateful to those children who will be making moves to win him over to their own side."

After that, when they had finished several other items on their agenda, Raspberry turned towards Peach and threw the question at him that he had been wanting to ask for quite a while.

"By the way, what did that whole thing with 'like allowing ivy to grow...' mean?"

Strawberry also looked at him. She probably also had that question in mind. They couldn't ask him right there, naturally, but now there was no problem.

Peach, who had been questioned, stammered in reply.

"...Sorry. I was trying to match the tone of the conversation...so I just...said...something that sounded appropriate."

"Haaa," Raspberry breathed a heavy sigh.

"...The uncle's bafflement at having never heard that expression before was apparent in his voice."

"What should we do about this... How do you think we should answer if he asks about the meaning the next time we meet?"

"Even if you ask me that... If we were to be asked that question, we would have no other choice than to think of some suitable meaning for it right here, right now. We'll answer him with what we come up with. We can't say that we were just showing off appropriately... Moreover, it would be troublesome if the youngsters were to think that the traditions we regularly talk about were also something we say just to show off."

"Well, that might be the only thing we can do...Don't say things just to show off anymore, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I won't do it ever again."

"Well then... What meaning would the words, 'like allowing ivy to grow,' have? Let's all decide on that so that we are all able to give the same answer to whoever asks, okay?"

The elders, who had thought they were done, once again started exchanging their opinions on the new agenda item that had appeared.

♦ ♦ ♦

It was around the same time, while the elders were at their wits' end trying to produce a tentative answer, that there were people who were similarly at their own wits' end.

It was the youngsters who opposed the elders.

The reason they—if you were forced to call them something, it would be the Youth Faction—were rebelling against the elders was because their very own principles opposed those of the elders.

Since they lived in the forest (a dangerous place) they held the opinion that for the sake of the village, they should yield to those who possessed superior abilities. Even if you were long-lived, you should give up your seat to someone else if you were inferior in ability to the younger generation.

It was the elders' respect for convention and tradition versus the Youth Faction's belief in ability supremacism, so to speak.

Therefore, if the elders were outstanding in terms of pure capabilities—in this case, that meant things that could be seen with the eye, like magic or fighting strength—the Youth Faction would probably also yield to them. Unfortunately, the elders didn't have that level of ability. From their point of view, people who were finding one way or another to butt in were just irritating.

And yet, the reason this had not developed into a total conflict between them was because the four people in this village they deeply respected—the Master of the Hunt, Blueberry Egnia, the Chief Pharmacist, and the Rite Master—did not wish to oppose the elders.

However, something had shaken things up here.

It was the existence of Aura.

The magnificent and outstanding ranger. Even bearing in mind that she was a traveler, Aura's words carried serious weight among them. Her words were equal to, or above, those of the four people in the village who had gained their confidence up till now.

They couldn't help having Aura's opinion weigh on their minds.

Incidentally, those who had extreme views, even among the Youth Faction, were the Dark Elf zealots.

"So what do you think will happen?"

One of the youngsters asked everyone without moving his line of sight.

At the edge of his vision were the souvenirs that Aura's uncle had brought. Since no one had appeared who said that they would distribute them, they had been carried to the Elf Tree that was being used as the village's communal storehouse for now.

"Somebody'll probably distribute them, I suppose. The elders?"

If it were the usual pattern, that was how it would probably be. At times like this, the ones who would butt in would be the elders. Therefore, if things went the usual way, they would have commented that they would distribute it themselves first, but this time nobody said anything.

On the contrary—

"—I might not mind even if they did."

It was a set of circumstances where that opinion formed.

As expected, this was related to Aura, who they revered.

When Aura came, she hadn't shown them the etiquette passed down through her own tribe. Due to that, they got a sense that their ideology was being vindicated, that those sorts of things had been abandoned outside of the forest, or that capable people didn't worry about such things.

However, at the appearance of Aura's uncle—Ain Bell Fior— doubts about those ideas arose.

The greetings of the dark elf who was her uncle—who seemed to have a little Elf blood mixed in him—were incomprehensible to them. Since he wouldn't have said something meaningless in a situation like this, there was no doubt that it was what the elders would call a greeting that obeyed proper etiquette.

The one who came first, Aura, hadn't displayed that sort of attitude. Yet, the one who came later, the uncle, respected such manners.

Where did this difference come from?

Although they wouldn't say it out loud, everyone had already deduced the answer.

It was the difference between children and adults.

He, the uncle, had made the request for the children to please look after the two of them. In other words, it meant that he was treating Aura, who possessed that much strength, as a mere child.

It was inconceivable.

Certainly, when living in the forest (a harsh place) the first important thing children should learn wasn't politeness. There were plenty of other things that were more important than that—it was necessary to drill into them the things related to survival.

Therefore, it was no wonder that the children would be totally unacquainted with the rules of etiquette, even the elders had never shown any signs of trying to relentlessly drill it into the children.

Based on that, what became a problem for them was why Aura's uncle hadn't shown a courteous attitude until the elders came.

Was it because Aura's uncle viewed everyone gathered at that place as children just like her? Not just the ones in the Youth Faction, no one there had shown the proper courtesy to the uncle. What sort of attitude would an adult take toward children who didn't know about that sort of etiquette?

Certainly, the adult wouldn't extend a greeting that followed the rules of etiquette. They would look at them in the same way they do children and treat them as such.

That etiquette stuff they had dismissed as meaningless until now suddenly had meaning. It was code used to show respect to the other party, and he had only shown it to the elders.

That was the answer they arrived at.

"If we're thought of as children with the appearance of adults by the uncle and then we just go ahead and divide up the souvenirs of our own accord, we might be regarded as a village where the children are in control—or worse—a village of savages who don't even know what etiquette is."

"Even if we couldn't give a greeting that followed proper etiquette, he might not decide that we're children just because of that...but he might. In the event that happened, when he returns to the city, it would be spoken of all around that in a village of the Dark Elves who live in the forest, there's a group of childish people who like to throw their weight around, you know."

"...I resent that."

"Yeah, I feel the same way. This village being laughed at by the outside world is a little—no, pretty damn unpleasant."

"... The reason why he didn't greet us in a way that followed the rules of etiquette was probably to appraise our worth."

"Yeah, I think if we had responded with the proper etiquette, then Fior-dono's attitude would have been different."

There certainly was some feeling that they had been pigeonholed, but it might not have been done out of malice. Rather than that, what benefit would there be for the other party to be malicious and still make contact with them? Of course, it wasn't as if there was no possibility that he just had a rotten personality.

"...I can't really agree with it for one reason or another, but we have no choice but to leave it to the elders, who follow the rules of etiquette, after all."

Since he seemed to have greeted the elders in a way that conformed to proper etiquette, the elders must have also been courteous to him. In the present condition, the uncle could be considered to have paid respect to the elders but not to them. If the elders were to divide up the souvenirs, then the uncle wouldn't think of it as strange.

"Yeah, that's right. If we don't do anything then the elders will just divide everything up of their own accord. And then...the only other ones we can ask to do it are the Chief Pharmacist and the Rite Master, who weren't there...but what do you guys think?"

"Those two...especially the Chief Pharmacist, will absolutely hate it."

The Chief Pharmacist was the type who would find doing this kind of thing bothersome, and if they were turned down by the Rite Master, it would end up being left to the elders.

"...Alright. We've come to a conclusion. For the time being, we've finished the task we were asked to do. Let's get outta here."

"Yeah, let's do that. And then...should we learn the bare minimum of the rules of etiquette from the elders?"

The youngsters all looked reluctant to do so.

It was because until now they had concluded that etiquette was pointless. They didn't want to be treated like children ever again.

That was why lowering their heads to the elders at his point was unpleasant.

The youngsters, who had mixed feelings, breathed heavy sighs from the bottom of their hearts.

"Also...there was talk of holding the welcome party after Fior-dono and the younger brother had come...what do we do? Surely there must also be a way to hold a party that conforms to etiquette. Failing to be polite would be an embarrassment, wouldn't it?"

"We'll probably be alright with the party...but the village being judged as just a collection of children who don't know what manners are is troublesome. Let's leave the arrangements for the party to the elders."

"That's fine. If it's the elders...though it annoys me to admit this, they'll probably get that part done right."

♦ ♦ ♦

While the elders and youngsters were each at their wits' end about what would happen hereafter, there was yet another group who were also at their wits' end.

It was the six children.

They had gathered around in a circle and among them, the one who was most at his wit's end was the first child to receive candy from Ainz—in other words, the child who had been asked to play with Aura directly.

It was the truth that the children had a strong curiosity about the girl who came from that unknown, distant place called the city.

Even now they were interested in, wanted to make friends with, and wanted to play with her. In spite of that, there was a reason why they just looked at her from a distance and never approached her.

It was because they were living in different worlds.

Even if the girl who had abilities that surpassed those of the number one hunter in the village was close to them in terms of age, the difference in their standing was on the order of that between heaven and earth. They couldn't just approach and start a conversation with that kind of person.

Even if you saw a super famous person that you yourself respected, it was normal to hesitate to even talk to them.

However, from this moment on, they had to do that.

"What're we gonna do? ...What kinda games should we play with them? ...What even is playing if a contest of athletic ability isn't on the table?... So basically it would mean things other than tree climbing, which uses your body, or something...? There's no playing like that..."

You could say that the reason the Dark Elf children were optimistic about inviting Aura to play with them was because of the candy they had received just a bit ago, but you could also say it was because they wanted to try playing with her even more than that too. In a sense, you could say that Ain's proposition had been a godsend for them.

"How about 'What's in the Leaves?'"

What's in the Leaves was what the other races would call Hide and Seek.

"I don't know about the boy who came today, but that girl is a super amazing ranger, you know? She'd find us all instantly. We couldn't do the same for her."

"Who cares if we get found? That's not what playing's all about, is it?"

"You moron. Getting her to play with us is different from playing together with us."

The other children who heard that whistled in admiration.

"You're so cool Ku-chan!"

"That's our Ku-chan!"

"Whoa! Don't say something so obvious!"

Ku-chan—Orange Kunas.

While the child who had received the candy from Ain had a conceited smile on his face, he calmed everyone down and got them back under control.

"Well, putting aside the fact that I am pretty cool, did you guys think of something to play that's not a con, a contest of athletic ability?"

"Tree cli...is a contest, isn't it."

Among the children who were hmmming deep in thought, one of the older girls asked.

"Well, if that's how it is, can't we just have them teach us the games they play in the city?"

"Haa." After Kunas had let out an exaggerated sigh, he answered her point blank.

"You moron."

"What do you mean, 'moron?'"

"—What, you mad? If you remember what he said, calling you a moron'd be appropriate. He said to let them play something that can't be played in the city, something that can only be played in this village, didn't he? Don't tell me you forgot already?"

"...Did he say that?"

"Yes, he did. So something we can play that couldn't be...played in the city, would be what, exactly? I mean just what the heck kinda games do they even play in the city? Should we start off by asking them about that?"

"Something unique to the village...going into the forest, then?"

"Knock it off!" Upon hearing one person's suggestion, Kunas had a stern expression on his face. "It's not as if you guys don't know what happened to Ar-kun, right!?"

Everyone fell silent. Among them, the child who had made the proposal, had gone pale.

It was relatively safe inside the village, but the areas around it were different. If the children went into the forest to play by themselves, danger would descend upon them. Certainly, they might be okay if it were just once or twice. However, that luck wouldn't hold out forever. Children who never come back existed, and the adults didn't do anything about it.

They did not even do the simplest of things like keeping an eye on the gatherings of children, or tying a long string onto the children.