Chapter 30
Translator: True Detective
The Elf and the Woodcutter
Ben brought the unconscious elf to his home without anyone knowing.
Fortunately, because Ben's house was the cabin of his father who was a hunter, located slightly away from the village, there was no worry of being discovered by anyone if he was just careful.
「What do I do about this.」
Since he decided to help, it was right to take responsibility and help until the end.
He had no intention of abandoning her now or anything like that, but the problem was that he needed to touch her to care for her... he was worried whether it was okay to grope a person of the opposite sex's body as he pleased, even if it was for a medical examination.
His mother, who had taught Ben about medicinal herbs, also taught him about medicine, albeit at a basic level.
While doing so, she also said it was right to set such things aside for a moment when caring for a patient, but...
「Because I can't just leave her like this. Phew, please do not lead me into temptation...」
Easier said than done.
Since it was a situation where he could not just leave her until she regained consciousness, Ben examined the elf's condition while reciting a prayer inwardly.
It might be different if she merely fainted from exhausting her energy, but what if there was a major problem with her body?
If he missed the golden hour, it would be a big problem, so he had to examine her.
As a result,
「It doesn't seem like there are any major problems.」
He could not be certain how much human medicine would apply to another race, but for now, he administered first aid as much as he could.
He also disinfected the wounds on the soles of her feet and carefully fed her water mixed with honey and grain powder so she could regain her energy.
After that, he warmly covered her with a blanket so her body wouldn't get hurt in the noticeably chilly weather...
「Ah, you're awake── Ugh!」
The elf's eyes, which had been closed as if she was dead, opened, and she subdued Ben in a single breath.
The elf, who had lost consciousness immediately after receiving help in the mountain, was in a state where she had not grasped the situation.
With a human right before her eyes in such a situation, she reflexively subdued him first.
「Calm... First, calm down! The slave hunter went somewhere else!」
Human words could not be trusted.
A gaze embedded with deep-rooted distrust.
However, the elf, who succeeded in recalling the situation right before fainting, did not harm Ben.
Ben desperately attempted to communicate towards such an elf.
We are creatures who can communicate.
Then we can sufficiently solve the problem through conversation.
With that single thought, Ben spoke while giving an unasked-for self-introduction and explaining the situation.
「What is your name, Miss Elf?」
「...Why should I give my name to a mere human?」
「Uh... for starters, because I am your lifesaver?」
Because it wasn't a wrong statement, the elf, who conflicted for a moment, spoke.
「Melissa.」
「Melissa, huh... It's a name that suits you well.」
It was a remark made with genuine goodwill, but it seemingly only sounded bad to the elf suffering from human distrust.
Her expression distorted, perhaps thinking he was throwing a flirtatious remark.
Seeing that and getting flustered, Ben spoke.
「Anyway, rest assured. I have no intention of handing you over to slave traders or anything like that. I do not know your circumstances, but after recovering your health, you can go your own way.」
「I don't need it. ...Thank you for helping me, but from humans anymore than this──.」
The elf Melissa, who was raising her body with the momentum to kick off and leave this place right away, staggered and laid her body back down on the bed.
She had reached her limit due to overexerting herself in the process of subduing Ben.
Because she was handled roughly under the slave hunters, her insides were a mess even if she looked fine on the outside, for the reason that they could not damage their product value.
Right now, she had no choice but to accept Ben's goodwill whether she liked it or not.
Acknowledging that fact, Melissa broke her stubbornness and intended to use Ben's house as a hideout for a while.
「......I will definitely repay this favor.」
At that voice filled with conflict, Ben smiled and nodded.
Looking at such Ben, Melissa asked as if she couldn't stand it because it bothered her no matter what.
「I can't understand. Why did a human help me? What profit is there? Are you trying to win my favor or something?」
「Hmm...?」
It was a tone that seemed to show she had suffered a lot in the meantime.
At Melissa's remark laced with a sense of distrust, Ben shrugged his shoulders.
「Does a person really need a reason to help another person?」
That was Ben's true feeling.
Because he was a rare, good person who knew how to act in this era.
「Be righteous, be truthful. I am simply living as my parents taught me.」
It was such an obvious statement, yet it was an era where that obvious thing was not obvious at all.
The moment she heard Ben's words, Melissa spoke as if she couldn't hold back.
「Reality is not like that. It is a world where wicked people gain power and live well.」
At that tone calling him truly foolish when he probably wasn't ignorant of how the world worked, Ben let out a small laugh.
「Even so, I do not think living wickedly is the right answer.」
It wasn't that he had some grand meaning or anything.
Whenever he tried to do something bad, Ben would hear an agonizing voice from a corner of his heart.
A voice he could ignore as much as he wanted if he tried to ignore it.
A voice where ignoring it wouldn't cause any problems.
However, Ben did not want to ignore it.
He is foolish.
He is an idiot.
Even if he heard such things, he followed that voice.
「I have ignored that voice a few times in the past. Every time... an uncomfortable feeling that is hard to explain with words tormented me.」
He did not want to live his life carrying such agony.
So Ben said he wanted to live kindly and was striving to live like that.
Looking at such Ben, Melissa...
「Everyone has the will to be good, huh... To think there is a human trying to practice such a sound argument in this kind of world. You are not destined to live a comfortable life either.」
She decided to respect his attitude toward life.
The impossible, bizarre cohabitation between an elf and a human that started like that.
Amidst that, while recuperating to find the energy to return to the land of elves, Elvenheim, Melissa closely observed her benefactor named Ben.
She was partially looking for signs due to the unwithdrawn distrust, wondering if he was perhaps trying to make her let her guard down and sell her to slave traders, but her purpose of purely observing was greater.
Because a good person like Ben was a rare existence even among elves.
The human race, a lunatic race that started waging wars among themselves the moment the Demon King disappeared, and then began capturing and using other races as 'resources' in those wars.
To Melissa, who had thought the human race was truly just this tiny bit better than the demon race, Ben was an incredibly fascinating man.
It wasn't like he was a clergyman following the teachings of a god or anything.
His appearance of knowing how to show restraint even while being conscious of her as a woman was interesting.
「Acting rationally and knowing how to restrain instincts is what makes a human. Otherwise, if you don't know how to hold back, you're no different from a beast, are you not.」
Once, she had asked him out of a strange competitive spirit, wondering, 'Am I not that attractive?'
The answer she got back then was this.
「I also made many mistakes in the past. There was a time when I was full of youthful vigor. But humans are animals that know how to learn from their mistakes.」
「......If there were just a few more humans like you in this era...」
Would this current madness, chaos, and foolishness have been a little different?
Melissa was to the point of having such thoughts, and she came to feel coziness in the time spent with Ben.
The comfort she felt for the first time since being caught by slave hunters and forcibly dragged to the world where humans lived, almost like the time she was in the 'forest'.
However, as if it had only waited for her to let her guard down in that peace, an incident occurred.
As if to say there were no eternal secrets in the world, a villager who learned of Melissa's existence informed the slave hunters.
Ben, who belatedly noticed that fact, tried to evacuate Melissa before it was too late.
The problem was that the slave hunters, who were firmly poisoned with malice after missing Melissa, invaded faster than imagined.
Everything was ruined now.
At the moment everyone could not help but think so, a miracle──no, the good deeds Ben had built up all this time bore fruit.
As if proving why a person should live diligently, those who had received help from Ben in the meantime helped Ben and dragged the slave hunters' ankles.
They stalled for time by pretending to be hard of hearing and deliberately giving wrong directions, or by pretending to be senile and acting as if they mistook the slave hunters for their sons returning from the battlefield.
Thanks to that, Ben succeeded in evacuating with Melissa before it was too late.
Experiencing this miracle-like sight, Melissa seemed to be lost in deep thought.
Even if it is slow, evil deeds are bound to come with a price, and good deeds are bound to be rewarded.
To think that extremely old proverb actually happened.
「Haa...」
Beside Melissa, who was feeling an extraordinary emotion, Ben let out a sigh.
Since this kind of thing had happened, he could not return to the village again.
It meant he had no choice but to leave the place he lived and settle in a new land whether he liked it or not.
He didn't regret his choice to help Melissa, but his mind was certainly complicated because he hadn't known he would end up leaving his beloved hometown in this manner.
To such Ben, Melissa spoke.
「Will you not go to Elvenheim with me as well?」
It was something that happened because of her.
If it was a human like Ben with a kind heart, her kin would not reject him either.
「I might face hardships again on the way to Elvenheim by myself, so... I want you to help me until we escape the human world.」
In return, I will also take responsibility for your life.
Understanding the hidden meaning contained in those words, Ben widened his eyes.
Looking at Melissa, who turned her head as if to hide her reddened cheeks, Ben...
「Please accept th── no, please accept this, Melissa.」
Even amidst the frantic situation, he held out the thing he hadn't forgotten to bring along.
「This is?」
「It's her precious wedding ring that my mother left behind.」
That was exactly the ring his deceased mother had left behind.
Holding out the ring she had told him to give to the woman he came to love, Ben proposed to Melissa.
The two people promising to live happily together for a hundred years until the difference in their lifespans separated them.
Proving that love blooms even amidst war like that, the two of them left the secular world behind while holding hands.
Arriving in Elvenheim after an arduous march, the two initially bought the concerns of many elves, but while living happily, they became a symbol that the two races, elves and humans, could become friends.
The comic version of The Elf and the Woodcutter, which was born with more adaptation added than when it was the original fairy tale, was a story that gave a lesson while also feeling somewhat like a shounen manga at the same time.
The villagers who helped Ben escape.
Good deeds were rewarded.
Such parts felt like a shounen manga development, and Noel actually did add shounen manga-like elements.
It was also because she was turning a fairy tale into a comic, and she thought such things would suit it well.
A comic she created with care so that anyone, regardless of age or gender, could read it enjoyably.
Its power was certainly strong.
To the extent that Anna, who had lived without really knowing anything about drawings, took up imitating comics as a hobby.
As a result, thanks to that, Anna...
"You, become my companion."
As they say dreams come true, she was able to be selected as Noel's personal attendant.
Noel, who coincidentally saw Anna drawing comics as a hobby during her break, thought.
'The more candidates for the 2nd generation Homer, the better.'
Thinking it would be good to raise her well and dump the workload on her.
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