CH 95

Chapter 95 – Someone Who Can’t Be Understood

—Several days later.

I had returned to Japan from the island and was earning a good amount of money working as a door-to-door salesman and a dungeon-clearing contractor.

And today, I was on my way to a certain place.

It was the wharf where I had made a deal with the Apostles of Peace before.

When I entered Warehouse No. 4, I used a [Copy Doll] and had it transform into Enjou Yuri, and then I directed him to head straight for Warehouse No. 3. I used the monitor to keep an eye on his status.

Why did we come here, you might ask? It was because Otaka, the leader of the Apostles of Peace, requested to make another transaction.

Enjou waited for a while at Warehouse No. 3, when I suddenly heard the sound of cars driving from somewhere, stopping in front of Warehouse No. 3.

The people who got out of the cars appeared before Enjou.

“Hey, everyone from the Apostles of Peace. Long time no see.” (Enjou)

“It indeed has been a while, Enjou. Thanks for agreeing to make another deal with us.” (Otaka)

“Of course, of course. You’re a valued client of mine. Besides, I’m still much obliged to you for your help with that matter several days ago.” (Enjou)

That matter being spoken of was about the external help we received from them in the dungeon attack at Ohsaka High School.

“No, thanks to the information you gave us, we were able to crush an organization committing evil in this city. We were also able to rescue the kidnapped women… Although it was too late for some of them.” (Otaka)

The leader of the Inochi-shirazu, Kuzuhara Saito, had a partner named Chake. Chake had a girlfriend who was being held captive by Ryudou, our enemy. As was the case, Ryudou had abducted many other women and kept them captive to satisfy his own desires.

I had secretly requested Otaka to rescue them in order to give Ryudou what he truly deserved.

There were women who hadn’t yet had any hands laid on them and were rescued safely, but some of them had already been raped. The worst of them already had their minds broken, and some even committed suicide.

“Even still, there were people whom it wasn’t too late for you to rescue. You can only let it go.” (Enjou)

“….It isn’t that simple.” (Otaka)

Well, that might be the case for someone like him, who had a strong sense of justice.

“More importantly, is it another discretionary weapon selection request again?” (Enjou)

“Yeah. Also…” (Otaka)

Otaka brought a certain person before Enjou.

…Who’s this?

The person was dressed in some kind of gray robe and was hiding their face in a hood. At first glance, they looked really suspicious, but…

“…It has something to do with this person.” (Otaka)

“…Is this a new member?” (Enjou)

“No, that’s not it…” (Otaka)

What? Otaka seemed like he was beating around the bush.

“Let me introduce you first. This is…” (Otaka)

Just as Otaka was about to speak, the robed figure quickly raised a hand, prompting Otaka to stop mid-sentence. The person probably intended to introduce themselves.

The person suddenly took off his hood, revealing a flood of blonde hair that looked like a river of gold. If it was just that, it wouldn’t be that strange. Nowadays, blonde hair wasn’t that uncommon in Japan.

However, I was astonished to see a certain part of this person. After all, it’s impossible for such a shape to exist on someone from Earth. It was simple to put into words.

—Long, horizontally pointed ears.

However, there was no one on Earth who had such ears, unless they had been altered by cosmetic surgery or something like that. However, this person had gorgeous, flowing hair, and a beauty that bordered on divine. Her deep, azure eyes seemed to draw me in, feeling out of place with her ears.

There was only one existence that had such a combination of parts.

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That was—

“—An elf?” I unconsciously muttered to myself as I watched the monitor.

No, no, no, wait! There’s no way elves exist! Is this a cosplay? Maybe those are fake ears or something…!

In spite of the confusion flurrying inside of me, she opened their mouth to speak with a somewhat worried expression on her face.

However…

“#$GY&FXB]?#$…”

….I have no idea what this person is saying?

It felt like she was desperately trying to appeal to me for something, but I couldn’t grasp the meaning of their words. It wasn’t English or French…

Perhaps realizing that Enjou didn’t understand her, the elf-like person’s shoulders slumped dejectedly.

“It’s exactly as you see. I’m… somewhat having trouble communicating with her, so I brought her here to see if you might be able to understand her.” (Otaka)

“…Where did you meet her?” (Enjou)

“At a forest where we were doing field training. We kind of… picked her up there?” (Otaka)

“Picked her up?” (Enjou)

“Well, she was just wandering around. I tried to talk to her, but it was exactly like what just happened. I fed her and then asked some of the others, but none of them could translate what she was saying.” (Otaka)

“So then you brought her to me?” (Enjou)

“Yeah. You’re a merchant who travels all over the world, right? I thought that maybe if it was you, you’d be able to communicate with her.” (Otaka)

I see…. But she was wandering around in the forest alone? All by herself? And she isn’t even able to communicate with us.

…It was too unnatural. Why was she alone in the forest by herself in a country where she doesn’t even speak the language? While wearing a cosplay, at that.

“…Umm, Otaka-san. Don’t you think her appearance is somewhat strange?” (Enjou)

“Huh? Ah… those ears, right? My comrades were surprised too. They were like, ‘An elf! An elf has appeared!’ What’s an elf, by the way?” (Otaka)

Apparently, Otaka didn’t seem to be very knowledgeable on this aspect.

“Are those ears real?” (Enjou)

“Since she’s a woman, I had our female comrades confirm it for me, but…” (Otaka)

“…They were the real thing, huh?” (Enjou)

“….I couldn’t believe it.” (Otaka)

I could tell from Otaka’s expression. Well, anyone would want to confirm if they were real first, and Otaka seemed to have checked properly.

“Elves are a kind of being out of fantasy. Of course, they don’t exist on Earth.” (Enjou)

“….They also said they appear in manga and games, but are they seriously… Oh, by the way, her name was apparently Youfe… I think.” (Otaka)

What in the world is the meaning of all of this? If those ears are real, is she really an elf? If she really is an elf, what is she doing on Earth?

No, I guess I already had a theory about that.

The Earth was now a place where otherworldly dungeons were popping up one after another. There was also the appearance of monsters that shouldn’t exist on Earth.

In other words, it was possible for not only dungeons and monsters but also those who originally lived in other worlds to appear here. It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about it. Maybe, there might be people and other species in other worlds.

If Earth and this parallel otherworld dimension merging together was the reason for the current situation, I figured that beings that lived in this other world would eventually come over to this side.

However, after more than a month passed, I still hadn’t found any such instances, so I thought that either there were no such beings in other worlds or that the idea of the two worlds merging was wrong.

“….But now that things have come to this, it seems I need to revise my thinking.” (Bouchi)

It might be too early to conclude that she was a genuine elf, but let’s just assume that she is.

I activated my <Shop> skill and entered the word ‘translation’ into the search box. Several products suitable for the occasion were displayed.

I purchased an accessory called a [Translation Earring] and immediately put the blue earring on my ear. Then, I could hear the mumbling of the elf through the monitor.

“Ah… What should I do? They still can’t understand me. I have to find that child as soon as possible…!” (Youfe)

The translation seemed to work without any problems. What was more interesting to me was the contents of her words.

…That child?

Apparently, this elf is searching for someone…?