How to Cook Elf Sisters Donburi (3)
"Sis is gone again..."
I let out a sigh and flopped onto the bed. Without her, the room felt so terribly vast. I was lonely.
Just like always, after we'd finished subjugating the monsters for the day, Sis's whereabouts became a mystery.
We always came back to the inn together...
She'd been glued to my side without fail after our daily routine ended, but lately, it felt like we spent more time apart.
Why's she hanging out with those short-lived races...?
Seeing Sis getting chummy with the other heroes made my stomach churn.
She's my sister... my one and only...
She was my everything right now, but it seemed like I wasn't hers. It hurt.
Whatever was so fun about it, Sis would flirt and giggle with those short-lived heroes, then vanish off somewhere.
"Sigh, where could Sis have gone, leaving such a cute little sister behind? You know, don't you, friend? Huh?"
I vented to the adorable spirit, but the baby spirit just danced innocently on the back of my hand.
I stroked the spirit and placed my hand on the ground.
"Children of the Mother, answer my call."
Whispering my will and mana into the earth, the spirits that heard my summons began wriggling around me.
"Will you find Sis and let me know?"
At my request, they scattered in all directions. The spirits, turning into faint, hazy lights, dispersed like mist forming and vanishing.
Ten minutes felt like an hour. While I waited desperately, one spirit transformed into a butterfly and returned, circling me excitedly.
"You found Sis?!"
I jumped up with a joyful expression and asked. The spirit flew in a circle.
"Can you guide me?"
Sparking near my head, the spirit slowly flew off as if saying follow me.
"...Here?"
I eyed the nodding butterfly with suspicion.
Why here again... Ugh...
The place the spirit led me to was where Leon Sodus was staying.
I had no intention of coming back here... Ugh.
Maybe because of that unpleasant auditory experience from last time, just being here again gave me chills.
How long has it even been since the battle ended... Already...!
The monster corpses we defeated probably hadn't even cooled yet, but lewd noises echoed from the end of the hall.
She was probably entangled with that vulgar partner of his again.
Ugh, monkey-like sex drive...
I sighed at the end of the long corridor filled with base lust, where faint flesh-slapping sounds already rang out.
To the spirit that guided me here, I asked once more.
"...Are you really sure?"
The spirit glowed brightly as if to say yes.
...There's no way Sis is here...? Did she pass through or something?
"Okay, then... got it."
I slowly headed toward where the spirit was guiding me. It was in the direction of the lecherous short-lived male's room.
As I tiptoed down the hall on my toes, a horrifying thought crept up.
No way... that voice isn't Sis's, right?
The wet, pathetic gasps grew closer. The lewd moans from beyond the wall sounded eerily like Sis's voice. I knew it wasn't, it couldn't be... but I had to check.
I crouched low, heels raised, and sneaked up to his door. To avoid being caught by the frenzied couple, I peeked briefly through the window.
Just like yesterday, I could see their depraved acts through the window. Two short-lived races mingling flesh, copulating obscenely.
Seeing their bodies intertwined, I felt relieved.
That couldn't be Sis.
My Sis wouldn't do something so vulgar. The crude motions visible even through the door, the nasal whines fawning over the male—they were clues enough, but what convinced me it wasn't Sis was something else.
"Chained around the neck like that... Even if Sis were to sleep with a human, she wouldn't allow that."
Sis and I had worked hard to free slaves from greedy human traders. Sis despised those who treated her kin as merchandise, objects for base desires, more than anyone.
After raiding slave caravans, Sis would always shatter the chains with eyes full of contempt. With a voice like icicles, she'd coldly sentence the slavers to death. For her to wear a collar, the symbol of slavery? Impossible.
It was a slim possibility, but I'd even imagined Sis dating a guy named Leon. Even then, she wouldn't permit such acts. At least, the Sis I knew would never.
The woman shaking with joy, her breathing controlled, human rights violated by the collar—zero chance it was Sis.
Ugh, what a waste of time.
I clicked my tongue softly enough not to be heard and slipped out.
Once outside like when I came, I gently scolded the failed spirit.
"Friend, that's not Sis in there! Search again!"
The spirit, confused, landed on my hand and conveyed its thoughts: The one inside is just like Sis.
"Hm? Just like Sis?... Ah, no way..."
Looking at the spirit flapping indignantly, I pieced it together. It wasn't Sis inside, but it was just like her.
Aha, so that's it?
I'd heard humans lusting after elves use tools to make their partners look elven. Crude wax ears and blue-dyed wigs sold like hotcakes in brothels—Sis and I had been disgusted by human depravity back then.
Leon Sodus must be using that stuff too.
A cute but slightly dim baby spirit could easily be fooled. I pictured him asking his partner to mimic Sis's appearance.
"Tsk."
My opinion of that bottom-feeder human hero kept plummeting without end.
"Women who accept that crap, men who demand it... Ugh, vulgar short-lived races..."
Since he can't seduce Sis, he resorts to that pathetic nonsense...
Accusing him of eyeing Sis weirdly had been spot-on, even if initially unfounded. Now I knew he had a special lust for elves.
"Eww, does that mean he lusts after me too...?"
Disgusting, filthy short-lived scum. I had to warn Sis about this guy soon.
To do that, I needed to find her first.
"Same ears and hair color doesn't make it Sis!"
I sent the butterfly back and asked it to search again. It struggled to understand, flapping around Leon Sodus's lodging insistently, wings beating as if insisting it was right.
After arguing with the butterfly for a while, someone tapped my back.
"Estelle? What are you doing?"
Sis looked at me with a dissatisfied expression.
"Sis! Where were you? I was worried..."
Lora Sis coldly pushed me away as I tried to hug her.
"Sis...?"
To my shocked self, Sis said flatly.
"Sis has a private life too, you know. Tracking me with spirits like this doesn't feel good."
With a casual wave, she banished the butterfly to the spirit realm.
"No, Sis... I was just worried about you..."
"Sigh, Estelle. How long are you going to act like a baby with Sis?"
Sis scolded me. In such a cold tone.
"It's not babying! Sis, you've been so weird lately!"
I sniffled and told her, pleading for the kind Sis I knew to come back.
"Weird how?"
Even at my cry, Sis responded indifferently.
"You know! Disappearing in the middle of the night without a word, hanging out with humans!"
"Estelle, you're old enough to sleep alone now, right? And what's wrong with getting friendly with the human heroes? They're good people. Open your heart a bit, Estelle."
She'd changed. Sis used to hate humans.
"It's not about sleeping alone! And good people? That disgusting human male Leon wants to enslave elves—he's a gross pervert!"
At the mention of Leon Sodus, that revolting pervert, Sis's face twisted.
"Grow up, Estelle. We're heroes meant to defeat the Demon King—causing division like this?"
"Sis... you don't believe me?"
I felt strength drain from my body. That wicked tongue had deceived her. I nearly collapsed from despair.
"Young Master Leon is a good man."
"Sis, no! Sis...! Please believe me... that short-lived male is trash..."
Even as I sobbed to her, it didn't reach.
"Sigh, Estelle. Stop slandering people without evidence. Go back to your room. We'll talk more tonight."
"...I hate you, Sis."
Sighing at me like I was a nuisance, Sis felt so alien. Hoping she'd grab me, I ran back to the inn.
...Sis didn't grab me.
The Demon King drew closer each day, but the distance between Sis and me only grew.
"Sent her off okay?"
I welcomed her back.
"Yes, sorry to keep you waiting, Young Master."
"It's fine. Soon enough, Estelle will understand too."
"I hope that day comes soon. Chasing Estelle away like that... it makes me feel so bad."
"Hmm, yeah?"
Her mouth apologized for being harsh to her sister, but her eyes gleamed with anticipation for the 'game.'
I liked how her priorities were shifting.
"Well, Lora has a private life too—Estelle needs to learn that. Plus, we won't need to lie to her soon. It's just a temporary fib. No big deal."
"...Yeah, I suppose so?"
I diluted her guilt. I let her know she had the right to private time uninterrupted.
In truth, it was the right to not be interrupted during her tuning, but she didn't need to know that.
It planted the idea that she had the right to enjoyable play without interruption. That thought wore down her guilt, making chasing her sister away to play with me feel trivial.
"Hehe, right? So, shall we continue that history lesson we couldn't finish earlier...?"
She donned the restraint on her snowy neck and stripped in an instant. Raising both hands like a helpless slave surrendering, she exposed her lascivious armpits and said.
"I'll explain with my body why elven slavery is wrong."
Her new play with me was a hands-on morality lesson.