Eldmia Ega
Eldmia Ega
My first day with Asilie passed like that, and morning dawned.
After finishing my parents' grave, we visited the town Asilie had mentioned to sell off the bandits' possessions. The place was gradually taking shape as a small city, just as she'd said, with a militia settling in and beginning to stand guard. Maybe that was why we had no trouble getting in even with Asilie keeping her hood pulled low over her ears.
The bandits' belongings were shabby, but the horses sold for about one and a half gold coins per head. According to Asilie, even that price was reduced because the horses hadn't been properly cared for, so it seemed horses were truly a precious commodity.
The one that fetched the best price was surprisingly not the bandit leader's horse, but another guy's. Was it Glen? It had a white spot on its forehead, so I remembered it, and they said it was the best cared-for and finest horse.
Since we needed a horse ourselves, we decided to keep that one. After selling everything else, we ended up with 7 Itisel Kingdom gold coins, 16 silver coins, and 18 copper coins. It was a bit of a shock to learn only now, after eight years in this world, that currency was split among coins issued by kingdoms, major merchant companies, and so on.
"Merchant-company coins rarely end up in ordinary people's hands. The same goes for currency from other kingdoms."
I heard that merchant guild coins only came in gold. They seemed to function like a sort of check. Because of that, their gold content was high and they were large, so they were valued at almost twice that of other gold coins. Most other kingdoms were similar, but the Ragnell Kingdom's currency was the lowest in value, so the advice was to avoid it if possible.
"One silver coin covers about a week's food for an average adult. Not lavishly, and if you only eat two meals a day, you might have a little money left over."
It would've been great if it was 10 silver to one gold, but apparently 40 copper made 1 silver, and about 30 of those silver made 1 gold. It was a hassle, but not beyond understanding. When I quickly understood and answered her questions, Asilie smiled.
"Maybe because your parents were adventurers, they taught you arithmetic well. You're even quite skilled at mental calculations. That's a relief."
I couldn't exactly say I'd been through university, so I just answered with a smile as well.
As we went through Asilie's practical course on economics and bought the necessary goods, 10 silver coins vanished in an instant. Of course, I'd carefully selected only what was needed, but from an ordinary commoner's perspective, it was an eye-popping expenditure.
The major factor was that a lot of what could normally be handled through bartering in the village was gone, even if the house had been intact. The small cart was loaded with livestock like a pair of chickens and a pair of goats, in addition to various odds and ends.
It sank in anew that I would be spending the next eight years with her. And I once again expressed my gratitude to her for making that decision.
"Thank you so much."
Asilie, whose face was hidden by her hood, didn't ask what I meant and instead answered with a faint smile.
"I'm more grateful."
Asilie... she was a god...!
By the time we returned from our first outing, the day was already gone. We only had time to put things roughly in order, so it wasn't until the next day that we could properly start preparing the household and getting ready for winter.
Since I'd decided not to use physical enhancement for a while, the help I could offer was ultimately limited to an 8-year-old's capabilities, but as the child of a hunter, I could at least manage bleeding out the animals she caught and skinning them with a great deal of struggle.
That shattered my first prejudice. Elves in this world ate meat!
No, it wasn't just that they ate it—they made it a staple. It was such a culture shock that when I asked, I saw Asilie laughing so hard she was holding her stomach, to a degree that made me wonder if someone could even laugh like that.
"Some strange prejudice must have crept into that knowledge you've picked up from somewhere. All things in the world are ultimately meant to move according to balance. Protecting the forest is the same as keeping the balance of its animals and plants."
We only hunted as much as needed. That was all there was to it, Asilie told me.
"The only thing we guard against is excess greed."
"Uh... so that's why you don't get along with dwarves?"
From what she'd said, it seemed like they couldn't be on good terms with dwarves who dug up perfectly good earth to craft jewels and metals, so I asked. On that point, Asilie couldn't give a definitive answer.
"Well, I wouldn't call it being on bad terms. They're a race obsessed with making things better and greater, so that obsession occasionally causes unpleasantness. When you pick apart everything, their actions seem obnoxious, but then when you see the results, all those actions turn out to be reasonable processes... or something like that?"
Asilie continued talking while casually skinning the deer she'd brought back, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, having gone out at dawn to catch it.
"They never waste resources. Just as we try to use the animals we hunt efficiently for our lives, they use the minerals and gems they mine efficiently. If you only look at the process they go through to make weapons and ornaments, by elven standards it's excessive consumption, but that's merely from an elf's perspective; it's an indispensable part of how they live, so there's really no problem at all. It's probably more like we have something that rubs us the wrong way from an elven standpoint, so we grumble a bit."
"You really don't hold back when pointing out your own people's prejudices, Sis."
"Hehe. A healthy intellect is built on healthy criticism. More importantly, it looks like you need to correct your biased knowledge about races. I'll teach you as bedtime stories before you sleep at night."
I couldn't bring myself to say that my racial knowledge was based on fantasy novels from Earth, where such things didn't even exist, so I just brushed it off with a childlike smile.
If they'd created something that didn't exist to that extent, that was fucking impressive. Could they have actually been a visitor from another world?
While I indulged in silly fantasies and butchered the deer, Asilie constantly taught me this and that. Some of it was simple knowledge about hunting, but most were stories about the ways of the world. Judging from how the content was interesting and piqued curiosity, it seemed she was making an effort to keep things from being boring, conscious of my young age.
Even without that, the stories I would have listened to diligently anyway continued until night without a single dull moment.
"Eldmia. How do you want to live with what you learn from me?"
After a hearty dinner, while washing the dishes, Asilie asked.
"You're clearly different from other children in a lot of ways. The biggest difference is that at your age you didn't even hesitate to kill people. But I don't get the sense that your emotions are twisted or that there's anything wrong with the way you think. At first I wondered whether losing your parents had damaged you somehow, but if anything, you control your emotions better than most adults."
I wanted to say, 'Isn't it obvious because I'm perfectly normal?' but since a crazy person always claims they're normal, I just shut my mouth, met her eyes, and waited for her to continue. I had a vague sense of what she was getting at.
"But precisely because of that, I have to ask. Do you want revenge?"
"Do you think the commander from the Demon King's Army who wiped out our village will even still be alive by the time I'm capable of taking revenge?"
At my question that popped out without hesitation, Asilie's eyes widened. This time it was my turn to speak.
"I'm confident I can learn anything you teach me. Not just faster than kids my age—even compared with kids five years older. Unless they're geniuses, I'll understand things and learn faster than they do."
That was only natural. I already knew some things, my way of thinking was different, and even my motivation for effort was on a different level.
"Even if I learn everything I can from you, Sis, and make it to 16, I don't think that means I'll be able to kill a commander from the Demon King's Army. If he were that easy to kill, someone would've done it already."
But I wasn't a genius. My mental age was just different from others'. I wasn't special.
"If I keep working, I figure I might at least be able to stand on my own by 20. If that bastard is still alive then, of course I'll take revenge. But it won't be revenge driven by emotion."
It wasn't something an 8-year-old kid should say. Even I, if a little kid spouted something like that in front of me, would let it go in one ear and out the other rather than take it seriously. But Asilie was different.
"Then?"
With her eyes still calm and serene, she waited for my answer. Even though we'd only known each other for barely two days, her eyes naturally inspired trust.
"I don't ever want to go through this kind of shit again. I don't want to experience that absurdity of having everything taken away when I did nothing wrong, and committed no sin."
That was why I would grow stronger. That was why I would survive.
"If he's still alive then and I'm strong enough, I'll find him and kill him. And with his blood, I'll leave a message where everyone can see it."
In the darkening night, relying on a single orb of light Asilie had summoned, I held her gaze and declared.
"No matter what happens, never mess with Eldmia Ega."
Asilie's eyes wavered.
"To warn everyone like that, I'll take revenge, survive, and become strong."
For myself. And for those who might come to be associated with me and befriend me as I lived on.
I would get stronger no matter what it took.