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“Hmm?”
When Davey turned behind, he saw a very small four to five year old girl looking up at him with her pure and bright eyes. The little girl looked as innocent as the others, but there was one thing that set her apart from the rest of the elven children. Unlike the elves, who usually wore a considerably loose and airy outfit, the girl in front of Davey was wearing a strange robe covering her entire body.
“Do you want to eat some?”
And unlike the other elven children, the little girl had the courage to come up and interact with Davey.
Even though Davey found the elven race to be disgusting and was not comfortable dealing with them, he just could not turn such a child away. Treating the little girl like an ordinary child, Davey handed a candy to her. However, he startled the girl and she immediately hid behind the tree that Davey was leaning on.
The girl slowly peeked at Davey and said, “U… Uncle… Are you a human?”
Blue Ribbon, Red Ribbon, and the young elven girl had similar physiques. However, being of a race that lived for a long time, the little girl’s pronunciation was on a completely different level compared to Davey’s girls.
“That’s right. I’m a human.”
“Hnnngh…” The girl looked at Davey curiously after she heard his answer. And slowly, ever so slowly, she came forward again and approached him carefully. She murmured, “Yummy smell…”
“Here you go. Don’t bite it, lick it slowly.”
“Yummy smell!”
The girl’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the candy. Listening to Davey’s words, the girl carefully stuck her tongue out and licked the lollipop. Her eyes widened in surprise at the candy’s sweetness. She started to smile brightly as she shoved the entire candy in her mouth. “Hehe. Yummy.”
“What’s your name?”
“Myuu. My mom named me.” The girl ignored Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon, who were both in Davey’s arms. She looked straight at Davey before calling out, “Uncle.”
“How about calling me ‘brother’ instead of ‘uncle’?”
“Uncle.” The girl was very stubborn. She asked again, “Uncle, are you a human?”
The little girl’s insignificant question from earlier had come up once more. When Davey squinted before nodding, the girl hurriedly tugged on his arm and exclaimed, “Myuu will show you her treasure!”
In response to the word ‘human’, the little girl told Davey that she would show him her treasure. Davey, helpless after seeing Perserque pull on his sleeves and urge him to follow, shrugged his shoulders.
—The fact that this child wants to show you her treasure means that she has a very favorable impression of you, Davey.
“Huh? Huh? Quiiiick! Myuu will show you her treasure! It’s a pretty and sparkling treasure!”
Davey, with his two girls in his arms, slowly pushed away from the tree he leaned on. He let the small lady urge him and tug at his arm, following her. “Alright, let’s go.”
Myuu’s pure smile became even brighter at that moment. There was just something about a child’s smile, regardless of their race, that could turn one’s heart warm and soft.
***
Myuu, the little elf in a robe, led Davey toward a denser part of the forest. It was quite a bit further away from the village where the other elves lived. It was obviously still a part of the elves’ territory, with spirit beasts running around, but Davey still found it strange.
“Uncle! Here! Here! Sit here!”
Davey could not understand the little girl’s excitement, but he still followed along and sat on a stump.
The moment he sat down, Myuu dashed towards a small hole in a tree and expertly crawled inside. It was quite a shabby space to be called a house, but the way Myuu entered and exited the tree with ease made it look like it was her home.
Davey left Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon in Rinne’s care as he looked around the area. One of the spirit beasts, which was looking at the other side of the forest, turned and glanced at him for a moment. Then, it slowly approached Davey, nudged his hands, and rubbed its head adorably against him. It was purring so loudly that even Davey could feel how much it liked him.
Hornless Elkdiars were spirit beasts known for not approaching anyone recklessly, cautious even toward elves. But this very same Elkdiar approached Davey the moment it found him and showed him how much it liked him. Even during his first visit to this forest, Davey had found out that the spirit beasts and spirits were very kind and friendly to him. This just went to show how ridiculously high Davey’s inherent affinity to nature was.
“Heave…ho.”
Only after Davey waited for quite some time did Myuu, who crawled inside the hole in the tree, wriggled and slid down from the tree. She ran to where he was and handed him a small purse.
“Treasure! Myuu’s treasure!” Myuu shouted with a big grin. She urged Davey to look at it with her eyes.
When Davey opened the purse, he was surprised by his discovery. “Oh? Isn’t this a spirit stone?”
“Sparkles! Mom gave it to me!”
Davey chuckled, since Myuu was asking him what he thought of her treasure. He was wondering how he should answer when Perserque tapped him on the shoulder. With a gentle smile on her face, she said…
—Tell her that you’re jealous. Children show their treasures and always want to see how surprised and amazed you are.
“Oooh! What’s this? This is very surprising. I’m very jealous, huh?”
—…
Perserque’s gentle expression hardened and turned cold. Davey’s strained and poor performance did nothing to impress her.
—Even a monkey can do better than that.
Even Davey had to agree with what Perserque said. He knew that his acting was so lousy and awkward that even he himself found it quite embarrassing. But it seemed like Myuu thought differently.
“Hehe!” Myuu smiled brightly, accepting Davey’s awkward acting to be the truth. She happily poked the spirit stone with her finger before holding out a fruit that she took out of her pockets. “Uncle! Can you be Myuu’s secret friend?”
‘A secret friend?’
“What…do you mean by secret friend?” Davey asked, bewildered.
The little girl simply nodded, as if there was nothing wrong with what she said. “Yeah! Yep! Mom told Myuu before she went to heaven that there are humans that Myuu can trust! Uncle has a warm scent, so you’re a good human! That’s why Myuu wants to be friends!”
Davey wondered if this was an appropriate reaction from an elf. After all, elves were a race that rejected others vehemently. Davey found it really strange. But just when he was about to check the girl’s information…
“Hnggh… Refreshing!” Myuu found her robe’s hood to be too stuffy, so she took it off and finally revealed her appearance to Davey. She looked completely different from the elves. Of course, it was not her missing front teeth, but something else entirely.
—My goodness… Their existence has disappeared for almost 300 years. How…
“A half-elf…”
The little elven girl, who was strangely receptive and kind towards a human, with her light green hair was half human and half elf. She was a half-elf.
***
A half-elf was born from a union between an elf and a human. Compared to pure-blooded elves and high elves, who had long and pointed ears, half-elves’ ears were a bit blunt at the ends. Of course, their ears were still a bit longer than that of humans.
Myuu was a half-elf, someone born between a human and an elf, so she was not that hostile to a human like Davey. Her father was probably a human.
However, despite the bright smile on Myuu’s face, she still could not hide her longing for affection and her loneliness. She asked again, “Uncle! Uncle! Will you be secret friends with Myuu?”
“Let’s be friends. We can be friends.”
“But the village says that you should not stay with Myuu,” Myuu said with a pout. “Timmy and Ellie said that too!!! Because he said that Myuu’s a half, she does not have any right to have friends!”
“Who said that?”
“Hnggh… It’s scary Grandpa Condae. Yeah! Yeah! Grandpa Condae said that it’s a crime to stay with a half! Timmy and Ellie said sorry and that they won’t play with Myuu anymore! Is Myuu a half?”
Elder Condae was definitely the elven elder who had openly shown his hostility towards Davey.
Myuu was smiling brightly as if she was just talking casually with her friends, but the content of her story was not very pleasant. Davey had no idea how absurd or reasonable these words were, but he thought that it was an extremely unpleasant incident for the child to have gone through.
“Who’s the more hideous and disgusting race?”
For Davey, whether it was an elf or a human, a bastard would always be a bastard.
Myuu was born from the love of an elf and a different race entirely. If Davey looked at it from the perspective of those conservative and arrogant elves, then Myuu’s existence would definitely be something repulsive and ugly.
“You don’t have to keep it a secret.”
“Huh? Why? Grandpa Condae said that one should never be friends with Myuu though?”
A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.
“That old bas… No, that grandpa does not know any better.”
“Y, Yeah… Myuu also does not know difficult things!” Myuu, who was tilting her head just a few moments prior, smiled brightly as if she finally understood, “Then, uncle! Are you friends with Myuu?”
“That’s right.”
A bitter feeling rose from the depths of Davey’s heart after seeing Myuu’s bright and pure smile. The only reason why Davey was acting friendly towards the elves here was because of Yuria. Also, there were quite a few elves here that had a decent amount of common sense. Well, except for the conservatives.
“But…you’ll get in trouble if you get caught…”
“This uncle of yours is much scarier. I’ll scold them back. Don’t worry.”
To hear the word ‘brother’ from the mouth of a bean-sized girl would prick Davey's conscience, so he settled for uncle, which was the next best option.
The little girl tapped her lips in thought while Davey took a small bite out of the fruit that she had given him. She started to giggle. “Really? Kyahaha! Then you’ll be Myuu’s friend! Just a friend, not a secret friend!”
“That’s right.”
“Ah, Uncle… What's your name?”
“Davey.”
Myuu muttered Davey’s name repeatedly, as if figuring out the pronunciation and the sounds coming from her own mouth.
“Davey O’Rowane.”
“Davey O’Rowane… Davey. Davey. Then, Uncle Davey?”
“That’s right,” Davey answered, patting Myuu’s head gently.
Red Ribbon, who was sitting right next to Davey and sucking on her candy, took out her remaining candy and offered it bravely to Myuu. “Would you like to eat some candy?”
“Wooow! Want to! Want to eat!”
Children could get along so easily. A bitter yet warm smile appeared on Davey’s face as he watched Myuu, Red Ribbon, and Blue Ribbon become quick friends.
Seeing how Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon were friendly with her, Myuu grew even happier. She ran around in circles, shouting how she had gained more friends. Then, Davey asked her as if he just remembered, “Myuu.”
“Huh?”
“Shall this uncle show you a spirit to celebrate us becoming friends?”
“Spirit? Yeah! Wanna see! The little friends! So cute!”
Well, Davey did not know if the spirits or Myuu were cuter. As Myuu jumped around happily, Davey stood up. He should not delay things even further. Then, he looked for a suitable space and drew a magic circle with his fingers. The magic circle was not big, but it had everything that he needed. He then said, “Well then, Myuu. Stand over here.”
The girl immediately ran towards Davey and stood right where he pointed at. Davey grabbed her by the armpits and lifted her up before gently placing her down on the magic circle. Then, he said, “Now, you have to repeat what uncle says. Alright?”
“Yeah! Myuu will look at the spirits!”
Davey rubbed the smile off of his face when he saw Myuu’s bright and sparkling gaze. He looked at the magic circle calmly while slowly releasing his spirit mana.
Unlike pure-blooded elves, the half-elves had considerably lower affinity with the spirits. And according to general knowledge and common sense, there was no way for the young Myuu to summon a spirit.
—But you’re someone that demolishes common sense.
For Davey, it was not that hard to give a friend to someone who needed a friend, even if he had to defy and destroy common sense.
Davey stood still and wondered what kind of spirit would be good for Myuu. It did not matter which spirit it would be, but for elementalists, their first spirit had a great influence on their preferred spirits in future.
‘Hmmm. Right, it’s also nice to open random boxes.’
Davey bit back the smile that was creeping on his lips as he said, “O’ Great Will that has existed since the beginning of time, in charge of all things including nature.”
“Be… Beginning of time…” Myuu, fascinated by the spell that Davey uttered, diligently repeated after him. Her words were as clear as she could make them to be.
“O’ Great Will, as your noble and lofty air caresses me, I beseech you to open a contract with me.”
Davey’s spirit mana escaped from him on behalf of Myuu, who was still reciting the words after him. As they continued the spell, Davey wondered which spirit he should summon for the girl.
‘Choose, who to choose? Which spirit to get? Which spirit to take?’
“A water spirit? Or an earth spirit? Which spirit do you want to see?”
‘Just tell me, this uncle will definitely bring this friend to you.’
“Unghhh… the little friend! Myuu wants to see the little dirt friend!”
“Alright… So you want to see Gnoum?”
“Myuu wants to see Gnoass! Gnoass!”