I left the Elder's house and walked through the Elven village.

It was early morning.
The air of the forest was calm and cool, and the sunlight falling through the trees was pleasant, but I didn't have much time to enjoy it.

Let's look at the situation.

Satsuki likes me.
Mee likes me.
Cyril likes me.

...... I'm getting embarrassed thinking about it myself.

It's like an adventure story that embodies the kind of drinking and drinking that men want.

No, it's true that such adventure stories are not unpopular.
However, what I like are not those kinds of stories, but rather stories that are more stoic and that find a sense of mystery in harsh reality.

No, wait, wait, that's before we get to that.
This is not a story in the first place.
It's the reality I'm facing.

I'm confused.
I'm having a hard time accepting the disconnect between my idea of what normal reality is and the actual reality I'm facing.
The common sense in me that says this can't be, refuses to accept the reality.

'......, but is there no other way but to accept it......'?

After thinking about it, I had no choice but to conclude that.

If you don't start by accepting the reality of anything, the thoughts that follow will not function properly.
If you deny the reality in front of you by saying, 'This world is wrong,' you will not be able to move forward from there.
The secret to living in reality better is to first accept the reality as it is and then think about what you are going to do about it.

...... No, this way of thinking is usually necessary when you are faced with harsh reality.
But now that we are facing an unusually sweet reality, perhaps this way of thinking is still appropriate.

But what are you going to do now that you've accepted it?
What am I supposed to do?

'...... I don't know.

All I could do was hold my head.

My hope and my future.
Honesty and dishonesty.
How should I deal with their feelings?

It's hard to tell with a little thought.
Maybe it's something we need to think about little by little, over time.

That was when I was thinking about it.

Just as I thought I heard the rustling of grass and leaves, a woman came staggering out of the bushes ahead of me.
It seemed to be an elven woman.

I don't think I've seen her before.
I'm not sure, because I haven't checked all the elves in the village, and it's hard for me as a human to tell the faces of elves apart, but I think she was probably an outsider.

But on the other hand, they look familiar to me.
He may look like one of the elves we have encountered so far.

However, there was something more important than that.

The Elf woman seemed to have a large wound on her abdomen.
She seemed to be holding the affected area painfully on top of her blood-stained clothes.

'Hey, are you alright!

'Huh,huh...... people,while......? ...... Why are there humans here ...... Ugh!'

The wounded elf woman staggered and almost fell.
I rushed over to her and held her in my arms.

'Pull yourself together. There's a Holy Order in our company. I'll call them.'

'Are you sure ...... that's helpful ...... I'll thank you ...... please ......'

'We can talk about that later. Do you have any enemies nearby?'

'No. ...... I don't think so. ......'

'All right. Rest easy.'

I lay the elf lady on the ground, raise my sorcerer's staff and cast a spell.
The spell I use is a loud voice spell.

This is one of the elementary spells that magnifies the voice of the target so that it can be heard farther.
I used this spell on myself and shouted loudly to the people around me.

"Cyril, this is William. We found a badly wounded elf. I need you to heal him. He's a little ways to the left of the elder's house. Can you come?

My voice, magnified several times its normal volume, echoed through the forest trees and throughout the village.
Now, if Cyril is in the village, he should be able to hear us.

And so, I waited for a while.

'There he is, William! That's him.'

Soon, Cyril came running.
She got down on one knee next to the prone patient, put her hands on the affected area and performed the miracle of healing.

'Cure Lightwounds!

A warm light comes from Cyril's hands.
And after a moment, the light subsided.

'Are you okay? Are you feeling better?

'Yeah, it's a lot better...'

'The wound is deep and you've lost much of your vitality. Once wasn't enough. I'll use it again. Just stay still.'

Cyril repeated and used the miracle of healing.
The badly wounded elf's complexion improved considerably.

'How about now? Can you get up?'

When Cyril asked that, the prone elf slowly raised his upper body and then smiled at Cyril and me.

'Oh, thank you, I'm grateful. You, too. ...... So, what are you guys doing here? This is supposed to be an elven settlement. ......'

'It's...'

As I was about to explain, Satsuki, Mee, and LeFania arrived at the scene.
They must have heard my loud voice and came to see what was going on.

And when she saw the scene, LeFania shouted in surprise.

'Mother ......! Why are you here ......?

'Lefania ......! Something terrible has happened, you must tell everyone immediately. A pack of orcs attacked our village.



The elven woman and LeFania rushed to each other and exchanged hugs.
It was Satsuki who interjected from the side, not wanting to read the atmosphere.

Orcs in another elf settlement? They've been selling Orcs at a big discount lately, haven't they? But if we're dealing with orcs, we have four reliable bouncers here. See?

Satsuki looked over at Cyril, Mee, and me... and when her eyes met mine, she blushed and squirmed.

But the elf lady who seemed to be the mother of LeFania shook her head without paying any attention to Satsuki.

'It's not about that kind of scale! It's the Orc Emperors, the highest level of Orcs, that are leading the charge! These troublesome orcs attacked us with an army of over a hundred!

''Is ......? What, a hundred ......?

Hearing those words, even Satsuki's face turned pale.