I woke up in the morning to the sunlight.

　Something soft against my left arm. A beautiful half-elf beauty was asleep in my arms.

　My wife, Tina.

　Normally, Tina would wake up before me and prepare breakfast, but today she was still asleep. We are now in the elven country of Alheim, where we are invited as guests to the royal castle.

　We've been invited as guests to the royal castle there.

　Therefore, the maids who work for the castle will prepare breakfast for us, so I'll let Tina sleep a little longer.

　The reason is that yesterday she was wearing an unfamiliar dress and looked tired. It reminded me of Tina's wedding dress.

　She looked really beautiful.

　I think I should have complimented her more. I regret a little bit that I didn't get the words out because I was staring at her.

　I saw Tina asleep next to me, slumbering next to me.

　She looked beautiful in her wedding dress, but Tina sleeping beside me like this was so cute. I stroked her head.

'Huh.'

　Tina made a cute little noise.
　She looks pleased.

　Cute.

　I'm not going to stop doing this.
　But the time is almost up.

　There was a knock at the door. The maids of the castle service had come to wake us up.

"The breakfast is ready, sir. Would you like to come in?

Yes, I'm coming.

　I replied and the maid walked out of the room.

'Tina, wake up,'

Moo.

　I let my face slip under the covers as if I didn't want to.
　Tina's probably awake.

　So...

'I'm so hungry, if Tina wakes up now, we can go to dinner, I'll give her a kiss as a reward...'

　with a thud

　Tina rolled up the covers vigorously to reveal her face.
　Her eyes were closed and her lips were poking out a little.

　I touched those lips softly.

'Good morning, Tina.'

Good morning, Mr. Hurt.

Breakfast is ready.

All right. I'll change in a minute.


　When we got dressed and walked out of the room, the maid who had come to wake us up was waiting for us. The maid took us to the room where breakfast had been prepared.

''When you have finished your breakfast, His Majesty would like to speak to you two.

　What is it?

　We ate a bit hastily.
　It was delicious.

　I sometimes thought that elven rice would be thin, but it was just plain good. Come to think of it, I've been eating half-elf Tina's food all this time, so maybe I've gotten used to the thin taste.

　Putting that aside, it looks like the Elf King is calling for us, so let's get going.


　─ ─ ─ ──***──.

　He came to Tina and the Elf King's office.

'Good morning, good to see you here,'

Good morning.

Good morning. I was told you wanted to talk to me.

Yeah. Well, have a seat at the table.

　The Elf King urged me to sit on the visitor's sofa. The Elf King sat down on the sofa facing him.

I'll get right to it, but are you interested in becoming a nobleman of this country?

A nobleman, sir?

'Tina was originally the daughter of a baronial family in this country. But when the country realized that Tina's father was dead, Tina was enslaved, so she did not inherit the title, and the House of Halibel was stripped of its title.

　If Tina hadn't become a slave at the time, Tina would have been a viscount, apparently.

''So, my country would like to give another title to Tina, the hero who defeated and destroyed the Demon King, what do you think?''

I don't think so.

　Tina answered immediately.

''Can you tell me why?''

'First of all, I'm not interested in power. And even if I were given a fiefdom, I wouldn't be able to run it well.

'I could make you an honorary nobleman with no real estate,'

'Still, a nobleman should expect a fair return, don't you think? For example, I could be sent to war.

　With power comes obligations. For example, if you get a fiefdom and rule it, you must pay a portion of the profits you get as a tax to the state.

　If you are an honorary nobleman without a fiefdom, you have to provide the country with strength and so on. We, who have no men, must go to the battlefield ourselves.

''My master is Master Hurt. "My master is Master Hult, and if he can give me any orders, he is the only one. So I won't be a nobleman.

So, how's Hurt?

Me?

　I'm the third son of an earl, so if I marry and leave the house, I'll lose the family name. However, I think I will receive support from my parents' family.

　You won't have any trouble making a living. If the need arises, I'll become an adventurer and kill monsters to survive. In the first place, if I, a human race, became a noble of the Elf Country, it's easy to imagine that the Elf nobles would be inundated with criticism.

''I don't need a knighthood either.

　He declined the Elf King's offer.

'Well, then, is there anything you want from this country?

　I'm not sure what the Elf King's intentions are.

''There's nothing in particular you want us to do but is there something you want to negotiate with us?

'We want your blessings. I promise to give you what you want for that as best I can.

Blessing? We can't give that to you.

It's not about the blessings that the spirits give. I want the assurance that you will not be the enemies of this country.

'I don't think I'll ever be an enemy of this country, which is Tina's home.

But Hurt is human. And there are those who want the World Tree that we elves will protect.

　Here's what the Elf King had to say. In the long history of the world, there had been many times when the human race had waged war against the elves in search of the World Tree.

　Each time, the elves have fought off the human race and continued to protect the World Tree. However, now that Tina was united with me, there was a chance that Tina would side with the human race.

　Tina-Haribel, the hero who defeated the Demon King and who is powerful enough to win alone against a large army of demons, could become the enemy.

''If Tina, plus Hurt, who is as powerful as Tina, or even more powerful than Tina, becomes an enemy, this country could easily be destroyed.

　The Elf King bows to us.

He said, "From now on, I will give you the leaf of the World Tree, the only one I get every year. So, please bless my country. I ask you to promise me that you will not become an enemy of my country.

　He turned to face Tina.


'I hated this country,'

　Tina speaks to the Elf King.

'The elf who killed your father and mother. I hated this country. I even thought about getting revenge on them when I got my powers one day.

　The Elf King's body trembles. Tina has enough power to exact her revenge now.

''But right now I don't think about that at all. Sarion took my revenge, and a certain brave man healed my wounded heart. And now we have Hurt-sama.

So, uh,

"I promise not to attack this country.

If Tina says so, I'll do it.

'Thank you! So, the leaves of the world tree as a price.

I've been meaning to talk to you about that.

　Just as I was about to speak, the wind blew into the Elf King's office.

'Ah, Hurt, you're in a place like this.
Master Sylph!

　The sylphs appeared.

'King, yoo-hoo! Thanks for the food yesterday. It was delicious.

Yes, that's good to hear, sir.

What are you doing here?

I didn't give Hurt a wedding present. Here you go! Leaves of the World Tree!

　The sylph handed me a dozen leaves.
　He said that they were all leaves from the World Tree.

''..........''

　The Elf King froze when he saw my hand with a large amount of ultra-rare items (leaves of the World Tree) on it.

''That's why I don't need the leaves of the World Tree. Oh, but I'll keep my promise, so please don't worry.

　After that, the Elf King almost forced me to give him all sorts of treasures, but I refused them all.

　In the end, he even asked me to make Rifa a concubine.

　Of course I politely declined.