83 - A Certain Elf’s Perspective (1)

In the magically lit underground—the dwelling of the new species of monster called Argos—I let out my umpteenth sigh of the day.

I knew the reason why.

“Why… is it always me…”

I sighed again, glancing at Ashiru, who sat in formal seiza posture with teary eyes, sniffling pitifully.

We had recently welcomed this girl into our clan, but I never imagined there could be someone so utterly incapable.

Now I understood that when Argos said, “She’s useless, so I’m giving her back,” he hadn’t been joking but serious.

That said, she was a precious link to him, and it would be a shame to let her go.

Above all, given that she had faced death twice because of Zesato’s tyranny, if I didn’t keep her under my protection, she could very well be killed.

It was true she couldn’t do housework or hunt.

Needless to say, she couldn’t farm, do physical labor, or handle paperwork properly, and with her poor aptitude for magic, any technical profession was out of the question.

If anything, she was clumsy and far from efficient, and even her motivation left much to be desired.

And yet, for some reason, she was overconfident.

From hearing her talk, I learned Ashiru had absolute confidence in her body and believed she’d someday seduce some convenient man and live securely for the rest of her life.

I thought, “Ah, so she aspires to be what’s called a femme fatale,” but it turned out she was still an innocent maiden who had never even dated a man.

I agonized over how to interpret this mismatch between words and actions.

In the end, I concluded, “Isn’t it simply that she has no will to try?” and decided to teach her the essentials for living.

The result, as I said earlier, was disastrous.

It was such a terrible state that everyone marveled, “How did she even survive this long?”

She wasn’t a bad girl—in fact, she was on the good-natured side—so abandoning her wasn’t an option, which only made things worse.

I wondered what kind of upbringing could produce such a girl and sent someone to inquire about her parents, only to learn something unbelievable.

“You see, that whole ‘If she tries, she can do it’ idea is an indulgent fantasy. She can’t do it even if she tries, and she knows it, so she has no motivation. About the only thing that girl can do is use her body to catch someone who’ll support her for life.”

Her own parents had already given up on her.

I thought, “Is that really okay?” but apparently the parents also had their calculations: “If she marries someone rich, we’ll have it easy too.” So they kept feeding her ideas to boost her confidence, and this was the result.

The Gardel clan’s reputation exceeded even what I had heard, and my knees nearly buckled.

However, I quickly recovered and decided to think positively.

Since I was in charge of looking after children, there could very well be more problem cases like her in the future.

Then she could be my practice run.

Determined to rehabilitate her no matter what, I took her into the clan and decided to give her thorough education.

But it was no use.

All she ever thought about was how to slack off, and even the basic training to get her to a functional level was apparently torture to her. At this rate, she’d probably run off before reaching the abilities of an ordinary person.

So I thought of finding her a marriage partner to prevent her from escaping, but—

“She’s just too big…”

“Combined with that lazy nature, it’s just plain vulgar.”

“Sorry, I prefer modest ones.”

The men’s opinions were harsh.

I myself felt guilty about foisting her on someone, so I shelved that idea.

It was right around when I was considering the next plan that she came with a proposal of her own.

Apparently she had thought things through in her own way and said, “I’ll accompany you when you make contact with Argos.”

She at least understood her position, and it was a request that neatly made use of the merit of having taken her in.

It turned out later that it was just an excuse to escape training.

Thus, upon arriving at the ruins, she became such a handful in the underground with her constant screeching that we had to calm her down to keep her from damaging the valuable Imperial materials.

Anyway, based on the information she provided, Argos had never gone deep into the underground, nor had he ever tried to stop her from entering, so we judged there was no problem with us proceeding inward.

According to Ashiru, there was some monster’s corpse deeper inside, and due to his massive size he couldn’t enter that part of the ruins, nor did he seem to care if people trespassed there.

“We can guess what the Empire was doing here… but judging by that girl’s terror, it was probably nothing good.”

I nodded at the words of the guard standing by my side.

After reporting the results of our preliminary search of the area, one of them approached with a troubled expression, holding something out.

“A book?”

“Yes, but… the contents are, how should I put it…”

She trailed off, but I couldn’t judge without seeing it.

So I took the book and flipped through the pages—and my mind went blank.

“Nude women… aren’t they?”

If this was in Argos’s dwelling, that would mean he read things like this.

I couldn’t process it, and when I checked other pages, they were mostly the same.

“Perhaps he just shoved any books he found into the shelf?”

Someone suggested, and everyone agreed.

As one of the men flipped through pages and expressed admiration while putting it back in its place, Ashiru, watching, commented:

“I’m definitely better-looking than that. I’d make a much better picture.”

As everyone looked on in exasperation, she added, “I’d like a job like that,” so I taught her some reality.

“I don’t know how they drew such detailed art, but to be a model you’d have to hold the same pose for hours, you know?”

It was an indirect way of saying, You couldn’t do that, but she didn’t seem to get it, responding, “Eh, all I have to do is sit still, right?” utterly clueless.

Having posed for a portrait before, I knew it was quite tough work and couldn’t imagine her managing it.

In any case, there was no point entertaining Ashiru further, so we all headed deeper into the ruins.

What we saw at the end of the dust-filled, sterile corridor lit by magic light exceeded our expectations.

“What… is this?”

Even he, who normally spoke carelessly, had a trembling voice and could barely keep composed.

Inside the chamber we reached lay a toppled cylindrical glass container. Inside it was something unmoving, as if asleep, something that could only be described as grotesque.

“That’s what I’d like to ask,” she replied.

I agreed with her.

There was no doubt it was something extraordinary.

However, no one suggested inspecting the inside, and we decided to check the other rooms.

From what we found, there were six monsters that appeared to be human-spider hybrids—or rather, as if forcibly stitched together.

And there were three other things truly deserving to be called “abominations,” different in shape from those inside the large transparent cylinders.

They were all definitely dead, but their appearances contrasted sharply.

Some looked as if they had suffered and writhed in agony until the moment of death, others looked peaceful, as if they had simply fallen asleep.

And there had been ten glass containers for the human-spider monsters.

“The numbers don’t match.”

At my murmur, several who had already noticed nodded solemnly.

“Lady Rusheru, how do you interpret this?”

“Most likely, an Imperial experimental facility. Experiments violating morality… I believe they died during the process. However—”

Yes, the numbers didn’t match.

There were nine corpses of experimental subjects, but ten containers.

“If one had simply been empty from the start, there’s no issue. But if a successful one left this place…”

“This is from two hundred years ago. We don’t need to be bound by the Empire’s past.”

“Even if one survived, that’s all ancient history,” someone said to dispel the unease.

Everyone agreed, and I nodded as well.

“An affront to life,” someone muttered, but I had nothing to say.

(The Empire has perished. But what they did and how they fell has not been accurately passed down.)

This wasn’t something I could judge.

Thinking that, I ordered them to gather the materials here.

But there weren’t even papers, let alone documents.

“We should have brought someone well-versed in Imperial affairs.”

No matter how we searched, we found nothing useful, and we couldn’t learn any details of the experiments here. Faced with this lack of information, I muttered my regrets.

On the other hand, I felt relieved, wondering what would have happened had we actually learned the full details of what had been here.

Whether bringing only fighters for Ashiru’s safety would turn out to be a blessing or a curse remained to be seen.

There were plenty of things better left unknown.

Even so, since we had seen it, we had no choice but to report it.

(Come to think of it… why did he bring her here?)

Did he not consider that someone who was guided to his dwelling could lead others here?

No, he likely anticipated it.

In that case, did he want us to see this?

(His massive body couldn’t fit through—but if he wanted someone to see it, he could have Ashiru do it… oh wait, she did see it already.)

At that moment, a phrase connected in my mind.

“Returning her because she’s useless”—was that what he meant?

I had already thought we needed to meet again.

That feeling only grew stronger, compelling me to act.

“Let’s leave a letter. Argos surely anticipated we’d come here… then it would be convenient for him to know we came.”

If he read the letter, surely he’d visit the elf village.

Who could have imagined exchanging letters with a monster?

There was no doubt about his intelligence—then what kind of message would pique his interest?

Feeling a little thrill, I walked back down the corridor.

A monster like none before, Argos; an Imperial experimental facility sleeping beneath the earth.

It might be improper, but I couldn’t help finding it fascinating.

Why did such dangerous fire-playing look so dazzling to someone like me?