The Elf Nation Anemosgive

At last, after passing through the wasteland, our party arrived at the Elf Nation Anemosgive.

A lot happened along the way, but we finally made it…

“…………”

Zenith-chan, the elf slave, looked restless. She used to be a princess of this country after all.

A coup occurred, and apparently her family had been scattered.

“Should we not have come here after all?”

“N-no! That’s not it. It just feels nostalgic.”

“How long has it been?”

“…I don’t know. But I think it’s been a very long time…”

Come to think of it, Zenith-chan was an elf. I heard their sense of time differs from humans because they live long lives.

So instead of remembering exact years, she probably only understood it by feeling.

“I hope you get to meet your family.”

“…Yes. Though it’s more likely they’re no longer here…”

Well, since she was sold as a slave, there was indeed a chance they weren’t in the elf nation anymore.

“Well, we’ll deal with it when it happens!”

“Seyi-sama…”

“You can’t say it’s hopeless before even searching. We haven’t found nothing — we just haven’t found them yet. If it fails, we’ll think about it then.”

Because she was smart, Zenith-chan thought too much about many things.

But endlessly thinking about bad possibilities only made you tired. Moderately, casually — if it fails, deal with it then.

“That’s how life works, winging it. There’s no pass or fail anyway.”

“…Yes, thank you, Seyi-sama, for encouraging me.”

“If a companion feels down, you cheer them up. That’s only natural.”

Back when I was a corporate slave, no one spoke to me even when I was depressed.

So I couldn’t ignore someone suffering the same way…

“Alright! So we’ve arrived at Anemosgive, but where should we head first?”

“…The royal capital would be best. There are many people there.”

“Then to the royal capital we go. But first, isn’t there somewhere we can bathe?”

After walking the wasteland so long, I wanted to rinse off.

“Master. Body cleansing has been performed using the Purification Potion. There are no impurities on the body surface. End of report.”

“My body may be clean, but you still want to get into the water. It’s hot!”

Honestly, I wanted a bath though.

According to Zenith-chan, towns with baths were still far away.

So at least a quick wash.

On the wagon bed, the rabbitkin Daphne-chan twitched her ears.

“Big sis! I hear water!”

“Well done! Toka-chan, head there!”

“Understood!”

Daphne-chan had good hearing and found a water source by sound. Impressive…

…or so I thought.

“Whoa… what is this poison swamp?”

There was a large lake in the forest.

But it was clearly filled with thick slime.

“…Strange. There shouldn’t be a swamp here.”

“I can’t bathe in this…”

“Don’t give up, Daphne-chan. This is exactly when the Purification Potion comes in!”

The Purification Potion not only removed simple poison and curses, it washed away impurities from surfaces. Quite convenient.

And it was only a low-grade potion.

I opened a bottle and poured it into the swamp.

The purple slime quickly turned into a clear lake.

“Wow! Clean water! Big sis is amazing!”

“Well then. Time to bathe!”

We changed into lighter clothes and washed ourselves in the lake.

Toka-chan swam like a frog. Daphne-chan splashed water with Zenith-chan.

Cherge and I sat by the shore, refreshed by washing ourselves.

Yaaawn… sleepy…

At that moment—

Rustle! The forest bushes moved violently.

Cherge immediately drew her gun and prepared to fire.

But I grabbed the robot maid’s gun and pointed the muzzle upward.

“Why are you interfering? End of report.”

“If it were an enemy, Daphne-chan would have noticed.”

Even while playing, her rabbit ears wouldn’t miss an approaching enemy.

I went toward the bushes. There, an elf child lay collapsed.

A wooden bucket lay nearby. They must have come to fetch water.

Were they planning to drink that poison swamp…?

Unbelievable…

“More importantly. Cherge, potion.”

I entrusted low-grade potion management to Cherge.

Keeping them inside the Alchemy Workshop accelerated time and caused quick deterioration, so carrying them was better.

I received a bottle and made the elf child drink it. Their complexion quickly improved.

“That should do. Let’s wait until they wake up.”

“Another detour? End of report.”

“It’s fine. Detours are part of travel.”