Volume 2 Chapter 10.6 Snippet 1.1

Elf Forest Arc Compilation・Snippet

Snippet　1

１．The Residents of Elf Village

「Yeah, no particular problem. This is near the forest giant settlement after all.」

「Yeah, they were always a tough sort.」

「An we ain’t gonna be so careless as to let ‘em attack, eh.」

The forest giant settlement was about thirty minutes away from Ortem by foot. Makoto and Tatsuya exclaimed in wonder as they looked at the road to the village. As one would expect from denizens averaging 3 meters in height, their village was impregnable.

「I still don’t get how gigantic bodies like that don’t disrupt the trails in the area.」

「Yeah, but if you say that, you have to also consider that Ortem with its vast size is also astonishing in how everything’s still nice and neat.」

「It’d be pretty bad for any race in the forest ta leave traces of their footsteps. They wouldn’ last.」

Foeldan, 302 cm in height, quipped as he continued walking, the trees barely quivering as he passed by. Tatsuya and Makoto grimaced at his answer as they continued, jostling the trees far more than Foeldan or Goivejon. This usually wasn’t a good thing, since it would risk them being detected and attacked by monsters, but right now the main objective was to get acquainted with non-elf races. It might actually be a bad thing in this case to be too quiet.

「Almost there, eh.」

「Yup yup.」

Goivejon and Foeldan said, peering into a thicket big enough to contain both of their bodies. And inside it was……

「……Looks to be a big scale village, but not so much in the number of houses.」

「It’s cause of our build. We never did have a whole lotta influence. The most we can fit in a row are three houses, ‘n that goes fer every village, eh.」

「But unlike da elves, we don’ ‘ave as many single-person households or households owned by couples.」

They could see bungalows big enough to be two story houses for a human. The mere sight of dozens of those houses lined up together was staggering to be sure, but just as Makoto had pointed out, there really weren’t very many.

There were at max around 500 forest giants living in Foeldan’s village. Their lifespans didn’t greatly deviate from that of humans, and their capacity for reproduction was greater than elves but lower than that of humans. With the situation of food being as it was, their population stayed relatively the same. Occasionally they would arrange marriages with forest giants from other villages, avoiding interbreeding more than was necessary.

Incidentally, when Foeldan was approaching the thirtieth road, his wife passed away from an illness. His oldest child was approaching puberty. You’d normally assume that Foeldan’s children would go delinquent with him gone so often, but it wasn’t possible in a small village like this anyway.

「I brought some guests wid me, everyoneー！」

In response to Foeldan’s voice, numerous forest giants shuffled over from all directions. There were perhaps around 400 of them. Considering how there were even older people with slumps and people who were off from work, it seemed a reasonable estimate.

「Humans? That’s rare, eh.」

「He saved Artiem’s life, eh.」

「They’re gonna be briefly stayin’ in Ortem, so I figured I may as well introduce you all, eh.」

「Ah, okay. Then they can’t stay much long, eh.」

「Thas right.」

The forest giants surrounded them in a rather friendly manner. Even if they meant well, it was still quite intimidating.

「You goin’ to da goblins’ place next？」

「Thas wha I’d like to do.」

「Den we got sum good booze for you. Take a barrel. How about our guests?」

「I want some！」

Makoto jumped at the offer of the (presumed) chieftain. Being brewed for forest giants, it was needless to say that when they set off again, Makoto was all chuckles and Tatsuya was looking at her exasperatedly.

「Now this is impressive.」

「Goblins rely on their extraordinary numbers.」

「Dat’s cuz we can’t win against elves or giants with da same numbers.」

The goblin village. There were hardly any buildings present. Instead there were cellars and tree hollows all around for the goblins to live in. According to Goivejon, due to how fiercely the population dwindled or was replaced, they couldn’t afford to make too many buildings. As a result, the only people who could have houses were those who did important jobs, such as him. The only other building in addition to a house was a storage shed.

The number of goblins stretching across the village was extraordinary given the entire area. Just by roughly counting the population, it was clear that it outmatched the forest giants, and more and more goblins shuffled over by the minute. They seemed to be quite celebratory.

「Chief, Chief. There’s some fresh booze from dem forest giants.」

「Ooh! Thanks a lot！」

Foeldan set the keg down in sync with Goivejon as he spoke. The chief cheered as he saw this. Now, even though this was just one barrel, it was made for forest giants. Handled properly, this could be served one cup per goblin.

「Oh yeah, I just remembered.」

「Wazzup, guest？」

「We took down three razor-clawed jaguars earlier. Are they even edible？」

「They were all pretty big, so we figured they’d provide ample food. If they’re edible, then we were thinking of leaving you one. What do you say?」

「Well, that’s good to hear. Cuz they’re violent ‘n evil. We goblins would probly hafta sacrifice 50 men ta take down just one.」

「’N when it comes to eatin’ dem, dey’re pretty gamey but if ye smoke ’em dey sure taste good.」

Nodding at the very welcoming goblins, they took out the biggest one from the bag. When the goblins saw the size of that prey, they cheered.

「Many thanks, many thanks.」

「Chief, Chief. We gotta give dem sumting too.」

「Indeed. But all I can give ’em right now is rettrel wine ‘n smoked marga eggs……」

「What’s that?」

「Rettrel is a fruit that can be harvested around the second month. Tastes a lot like mountain grapes but with a richer flavor. Same can be said for the wine. Put that together with marga bird eggs ‘n ye got yerself a good combo.」

「If you’re fine with us taking it then.」

Makoto didn’t hesitate to partake in this drink/snack combination. Perhaps because she had to stifle her interests as a fujoshi, it felt like her craving for alcohol was growing worse and worse. Then again, she wasn’t addicted per say, so at least she wasn’t going to sell out her comrades just for some booze.

「If yer goin’ to where dem fairies are, couldja bring a barrel over while yer at it?」

「Roger that.」

Nodding lavishly at the chief, they carried a barrel three times the size of a regular goblin, putting into the bag.

「Now I guess it’s just the fairies.」

「Fairies from these parts? Yeah, we should probably be careful around them in particular.」

Tatsuya and Makoto whispered to each other before departure. Unbeknownst to them, Goivejon was grimacing at what they had just said.