CH 4

"The 6-star team, White Lake, will vouch for your identity and pay your entrance fee."

Ailena, the elf woman, told the guard this and went through some formalities.

As I stared at her retreating figure, her human companions lined up next to me and told what 'six-star' meant.

There were different ranks of adventurers, from 1-star beginners to the highest ranked 7-star elites, and they were a 6-star team, the second highest rank.

There were only a few 7-star adventurers in the whole country, and they are said to be the highest ranking ones here in Vistkort.

And so they said with pride.

To he honest, it seemed amazing, so I gave a round of applause.

But I didn't know how many adventurers in this town were, so I had no idea how great it actually is.

Ailena's female companion smiled wryly, but the other one seemed a bit satisfied, so it's all good.

In my case, I was more curious about the origin of the name 'White Lake' than the 6-star part, but it didn't seem appropriate to ask about it now.

Eventually, after the procedures ended, the guard from earlier beckoned me over.

"Ah, you. Good for you. You can enter the town as you wish, but be careful. If you get into trouble, she will be held responsible because she was your guarantor."

He gave me a list of precautions about the city.

Most of them were quite obvious such as don't steal and don't brandish your weapons in public unless it's for self-defense.

The only thing to note was that if a person without citizenship stayed in town for longer than a week, they must pay a residency tax in the town office.

By the way, it was forbidden to pull out weapons in the streets, but it was permitted to do so in special locations like a weapon shop or the adventurer's guild, and in private places such as one's room at an inn.

Well, if you can't pull out your weapon in your room, you can't do maintenance on it, so what was a given.

"Then, I want you to record your name here...Acer, huh. I'm Rodner from the garrison. If you have any problems, come and find me. And with that, welcome to the town of Vistkort, Acer."

As I wrote my name on the register held out to me, Rodner smiled and tapped me on the shoulder.

Before you know it, it's become completely dark.

He must have waited for me and left the gate open so he wouldn't shut me out.

As me, Ailena, and her companions entered, the gates were closed behind us.

...I finally made it inside a human settlement, but unfortunately, it's already dark so there weren't that many people around.

"Acer-sama, do you have any plans after this? If you don't have any, I recommend you register as an adventurer to obtain identification."

As I was looking around, Ailena suggested me that.

Hm, got it.

Come to think of it, I needed to decide what to after this.

But other than registering as an adventurer, there's one other thing I wanted to do now.

"No, I don't think I'll be good as an adventurer...rather, I want to go to a blacksmith. Where's the best smithy here?"

Right, first I needed to learn about processing techinques and craft the fangs and claws into knives and artifacts.

The place to do so is a smithy, and if I wanted to learn from a blacksmith, I wanted them to be as skilled as possible.

But to my words she replied...

"Um...the best blacksmith in town is a dwarf, so they probably wouldn't sell to us elves."

Ailena responded with a bitter expression.

I see.

Certainly, dwarves and elves detest each other, and a dwarven blacksmith would definitely not sell to me or Ailena, who are elves.

But none of that matters.

Because I don't have any to begin with, I can't buy anything from the dwarf.

Dwarves, huh...

"That's fine. I want to see that dwarf, too, so that's timely. But if Ailena doesn't like dwarves, you can just tell me where they are."

It was a good thing to be hopeful.

Well, it's unlikely that the dwarf would teach me anything, but it was a good oppotunity to see for myself how dwarves really are.

"Um, Acer-sama, do you not hate dwarves?"

Ailena looked at me as if she saw something unbelievable.

I was prepared to be met with that look from elves ever since I decided to stop acting like a High Elf.

That's why I can smile and nod under that gaze.

"I mean, isn't it weird to dislike someone just because you never met them?"

At those words, Ailena turned her gaze away from me.

In elven mythology, dwarves were said to have stolen fragments of fire from all of nature and locked them in a furnace.

However, such a thing can't be true.

Because that would mean that dwarves had a complete mastery over nature.

If dwarves had the power to do so, it would be strange if elves, who they don't get along with, still aren't extinct.

At best it is a metaphor of some kind, and if an elf took it seriously, they are a fool.

But it wasn't so easy to remove that instinctual hatred, no matter how many times you might say don't feel such a thing anymore.

Nor was I willing to force Ailena to change her views.

It's fine if I can live the way I want.

"Ah, but it's already evening, so it would be a nuisance if I went now. I'd like to go to an inn first, but I don't have any money. That's right, Ailena, would you be willing to buy this from me?"

I took out an Apua fruit from my bag and placed it in Ailena's hand.

I didn't try to sell it at the gate because I thought humans might not be able to identify what this fruit was.

But since she's an elf, she should know what it was.

Apua berries have an enduring vitality which prevents it from decaying, and even half a month later now, it's still as fresh as ever.

"Eh, could this be..."

Ailena's complexion changed as she confirmed the fruit in her hands.

From her expression, it didn't seem like the assumption of elves living deep in the forest about the Apua fruit's value in the outside world was false.

I patted my chest in relief.

Now that I look back at it, it was only because of Ailena that I was able to enter the town, and it was also only because of her that I found out that the blacksmith I wanted was a dwarf.

It would be ungrateful of me to have take such good care of me and not thank her in any way.

"Also, I would like to express my gratitude from earlier. Thanks, you've been a great help."

So I took out another Apua fruit and placed it on her hands.

Maybe Apua fruits are a favorite of the elves.

I'm already sick of eating them, but they taste so good that I might crave for them again I don't eat one for a long time.

Ailena's friends looked at our exchanges curiously, but then they hardened in surprise, and they took a while to recover.

Then Ailena made me promise not to show this fruit to others so easily, and that tomorrow she will teach me more baout money and the human life, and that blacksmithing should be put off for now.

She came to with such a straight face, throwing all her respect for High Elves, and warning me that she was scared to the point where she was trembling, so I think should learn a lot from her tomorrow.