Chapter 3 — Perhaps a Dark-Skinned Elf with Huge Breasts Could Serve as Their Antithesis
Tomochika held a large, black bow, about as tall as she herself was. At first glance it appeared to be Japanese in style, but there were some clear differences. The tips tapered into spear-like points, which seemed designed to stab people with. It was a brutal weapon that displayed its vicious nature.
Furemaru had also expanded to cover her hands and forearms, serving the same purpose as an archer’s gloves. Finally, the set was completed by a quiver hanging slanted at her waist, holding a single arrow.
“Umm, I must admit I am not quite sure how one puts a bow and arrow into non-lethal mode,” Hanakawa said, confused by the android’s declaration.
“It is possible because the arrow is also crafted from Furemaru. The arrowhead will expand the moment it contacts the enemy to restrain them!” Mokomoko replied proudly.
“Ohh! That is quite impressive, but I am not entirely sure what the purpose of building it into a bow and arrow is!”
“The bow is the fundamental weapon of the Dannoura School. While Furemaru could certainly be used to create a more efficient weapon for killing, suddenly switching to a new kind of weapon would be difficult for the user to manage.”
“I see!” Hanakawa had no idea what Furemaru was, but he didn’t want to derail the conversation, so he simply pretended he understood. “In that case, if you do not do something about our attacker soon, I feel I might be driven mad!”
In the heart of the Elven Forest, the arrows flying between the trees continued to strike Hanakawa as the other three hid behind him. Hanakawa looked like nothing more than a fat jester, but he was actually the maximum level possible for a human. A normal arrow wouldn’t be able to kill him, and he had healing magic on top of that. In fact, the arrows that were striking him were merely falling out of his body of their own accord. As long as his magical energy didn’t run out, he wouldn’t die, but that didn’t stop the pain of being shot repeatedly. While he was accustomed to near-death situations, he couldn’t bear the steady stream of arrows for much longer.
“All right, here I go!” Without a sound, Tomochika slipped out in front of Hanakawa.
“Umm! Will you be okay, Tomochika? Perhaps it is odd for me to point this out, but if you get struck by an arrow, you’ll die, won’t you?!”
“It’s fine. I’ve mostly figured them out.” Tomochika spun on her left foot, sliding into a stance facing perpendicular to the path of the incoming arrows. A moment later, she was completing her follow-through. In short, she had already fired the arrow. A cry sounded from far away. The steady stream of arrows heading towards them had stopped, so it seemed she had hit her mark.
“Huh? Should firing a bow not require a bit more time? Like pulling the arrow back and selecting a target?”
“You mean the eight steps of archery?” Mokomoko asked. “We have no such practice in the Dannoura School. All we are concerned with is firing as soon as possible.”
“But how did you know where they were shooting from?” Yogiri wondered, confused. Given the vegetation, they couldn’t possibly see the enemy. Even Hanakawa didn’t know how she had found her target.
“The technique she used was to catch an arrow flying towards her and fire it back at her attacker. The moment she grabbed it, she knew the incoming arrow’s vector, and was capable of calculating the location of its source!”
“Aha, so it is similar to Kenshiro’s Two-Finger Interception!”
“Indeed! It is called the Dannoura Counter!”
“Can you not do something about that naming sense, though?” Hanakawa commented.
“Is that really what it’s called?” Tomochika muttered with a bitter expression.
“However, Tomochika,” Hanakawa spoke up again, “you seem awfully relaxed for having just done something rather incredible!”
“Given the correct circumstances, having an ancient martial art be matchless to the point of seeming like a cheat power is a rather common development in other-world stories...” Mokomoko remarked, trailing off as she turned to glare at Yogiri. His instant death power had cleaned up the vast majority of situations they had come across, so there hadn’t been many chances to show off the Dannoura School’s abilities.
“What’s the point of using a non-lethal weapon mode on your bow if you’re just going to send their own arrows back at them?” Yogiri asked.
“Uhh...” Neither of the Dannoura women seemed to have an answer.
◇ ◇ ◇
Cutting their way through the Elven Forest, they soon reached their destination. A woman in a green hood sat leaning against a tree. A bow was lying on the ground, and an arrow was sticking out of her shoulder, so she was almost certainly the one who had been attacking them. Apparently, the arrow had struck a large blood vessel, as copious amounts of red covered the ground. She still seemed to be alive but didn’t have the energy to move. Even with the four of them walking up to her, she barely reacted.
“No, no, no, what are we supposed to do now?! What happened to the non-lethal mode?!”
“That was obviously only for the arrow created from Furemaru! Why would you use the Counter in this situation?!”
Leaving the arguing Tomochika and guardian spirit alone, Yogiri checked their surroundings. There wasn’t anyone aiming killing intent at them now. There might have been some people hiding nearby, but he couldn’t tell. At the very least, it didn’t seem like anyone would interfere.
“I guess it’s Hanakawa’s turn then?” Yogiri said.
He knew that Hanakawa was supposed to be a Healer. They had never actually seen him use his magic, but he had claimed he could heal any injury in an instant. As someone who had attacked them, Yogiri wasn’t particularly worried about whether she lived or died, but they needed information. If they could figure out the situation by talking to her, that would be best.
“Oh, you are correct! There is little chance of me earning Tomochka’s favor at this point, so it is best I attempt to do so with someone new! Rescuing her from certain death is sure to make her look favorably upon me, no?!”
“Does it count if we’re the ones who brought her close to death?”
“Even if we heal her, she might demand that we take her life, but that is in its own way appealing!”
Hanakawa approached the fallen woman and pulled back her hood. Long, golden hair spilled down.
“Why are you checking her face first?” Yogiri asked. “Just heal her.”
“There is a possibility her face could be unseemly enough that I wouldn’t feel the need to heal her, and it would be a true nuisance to have someone like that begin following us around... Oh, she is actually quite an attractive young woman. And if I am not mistaken, is she not one of the elves we were speaking of?”
Though she was sickly pale, there was no doubting her beauty. On top of that, she had long, pointed ears.
“She is! Finally, an actual elf! Wait, no, I can’t let my guard down! It might be some weird monster that just has an elf’s face!” Tomochika was still suspicious.
“Whether she’s an elf or not, can you hurry up and heal her?” Yogiri urged his classmate on again. “It looks like she’s going to die.”
“Very true!”
Hanakawa placed a hand on the elf’s shoulder. As he did, her body was wrapped in a faint glow. The arrow dropped out of her shoulder, and color returned to her face. As the glowing faded away, Hanakawa stepped back to rejoin the others.
“Did it work?” If that was all it took to heal such a serious injury, Yogiri was pretty impressed.
“If she was dead, it would have failed to have any effect. Therefore, she must be alive and thus healed.”
As they waited, the young elf slowly opened her eyes. Though she seemed a bit dazed at first, she soon noticed the four of them and began to glare up at them.
“How dare you, human scum!”
“There it is!” Hanakawa cried. “Meek and submissive is fine, but for an elf, arrogant and haughty is clearly the best!”
“Perhaps you and Tomochika would prefer to enjoy being looked down on by this elf some more, but that sounds dull to me,” Mokomoko interrupted. “Let us move this along.” As she spoke, the archery set Tomochika was holding jumped towards the elf. All at once it lost its shape, transforming into a kind of cord and wrapping itself around the stranger.
“What do you intend to do with me?!”
“We simply wish to ask you some questions,” Mokomoko explained, “but we won’t force you to answer. However, if you are unwilling to speak, as someone who attacked us, there will be nothing for us to do but end your life.”
“Then kill me! I have nothing to discuss with a human!”
“Is that so?” the ghost replied in a monotonous voice as the cord made from Furemaru began to tighten.
“Hey, wait! Stop! You’re actually trying to kill me, aren’t you?!” the elf immediately cried.
“That is disappointing.” Mokomoko sighed. “Surely you could at least try to put on a brave face a little longer.”
“But wouldn’t you normally leave a bit more room for negotiations?!” their captive replied. “I was hoping you’d try hard enough to give me an excuse to actually talk!”
“Oh? So you are willing to speak with us, then?”
“I mean...I don’t want to die, so...”
“That’s pretty selfish, coming from someone who was trying to kill us.” Her lack of resolve rubbed Yogiri the wrong way.
“What do you want from me?! You’re the ones who are trespassing in our domain!”
“I guess you’re right. We did come here without permission,” Yogiri said. “But you could have given us a warning or something. If you attack us out of nowhere, of course we’ll fight back.”
“We did give you a warning!”
“Did you? Oh, those things. So, they’re your friends after all?” Yogiri recalled their encounter with the bug-monkey things. They were the only encounter that had come close to serving as a warning.
“They are one of our peoples. They should have told you that you were approaching holy ground and not to proceed any further! If you ignore that warning, of course you will be attacked!”
“Was that really a warning?” Tomochika asked, cocking her head. “I didn’t understand anything they said.”
Their magical translators hadn’t been able to interpret the creatures’ speech, so they had only caught a few individual words and couldn’t understand what they wanted.
“Okay, you don’t want us going any farther, right? Then we won’t,” Yogiri said.
“But what if that Yoshifumi guy is in there?” Tomochika asked.
“If the people who live here don’t want us coming in, we shouldn’t force our way through, should we?”
“Well...I guess. There’s no guarantee we’ll find him if we search around here. If we wait around the capital, he’ll probably come back eventually.”
“What are you talking about?”
At the elf’s question, Yogiri offered a rough explanation of their situation.
“Are you stupid? If you were trying to get out of the forest, why did you head to the middle of it?”
“When we looked from above, the forest continued forever. We had no idea which direction to go in.”
Yogiri had guessed it was something like the Lost Woods. Space was interconnected in a confused jumble, making it impossible to simply walk out.
“Okay. If you agree not to infringe on our holy ground and wish to leave the forest, I will assist you.”
“If possible, we want to exit to the east. It would be pointless to exit on the west side.”
“I understand. Could you please release my restraints?”
“Mokomoko.”
“Very well.” The cords around the elf were released, merging into a single clump before falling at the robot’s feet. “You do not seem to be a fool, but just to be sure, I have left a part of that cord attached to you. I would advise against trying anything.”
“I have no reason to fight you at this point.”
Although reluctant, the elven girl seemed to understand her situation.
◇ ◇ ◇
“We will be traveling together for a while, so it would be inconvenient not to know each other’s names. I am Fuwat.” As they walked, the elf introduced herself.
Instead of heading for the center of the forest, they were now walking towards the elven settlement. Apparently, Fuwat needed to make a report first.
“I’m Tomochika Dannoura.”
“My name is Mokomoko Dannoura.”
“Yogiri Takatou.”
“I am known as Daimon Hanakawa! I am a level ninety-nine Healer, a member of the party of heroes who repelled the Demon Lord’s invasion of the Kingdom of Iman. Though I participated primarily in the planning, I believe it is no exaggeration to call myself a hero! Oho! My apologies. I am the one responsible for treating your injuries with my healing magic, so how do you feel, Miss Fuwat? My healing ability is at the pinnacle of what can be achieved by humans, so I imagine there are no lingering effects!”
Even though Mokomoko had been introduced to Hanakawa as “Enju Sumeragi,” Hanakawa hadn’t paid any mind to the fact she had just used the name “Mokomoko Dannoura.”
“What are you blabbering on for?!” Tomochika complained.
“I see,” Fuwat said. “You have my thanks. I appreciate you healing me, but I would be even more appreciative if you could not stand so close.” Fuwat immediately stepped away from him.
“Why?!”
“So, you’re an elf, right, Fuwat?” Tomochika asked.
“Yes. And?” She seemed confused by the question.
“And, uhh, you only have two arms and two legs under that robe, right? You don’t have, like, a mouth on your stomach or tentacles or anything?”
“What on earth do you think I am?!”
“I was just wondering whether elves were different from us somehow.”
“We don’t seem much different to me,” Fuwat said, opening the front of her robe. Underneath, light clothing covered a slender frame. As far as they could see, there were no discernible differences between her and a human.
“So that’s what an elf looks like after all! Not some half-bug-half-monkey thing. Delicate and ephemeral, with long, golden hair and pointed ears!” Tomochika finally seemed satisfied.
“No, from my perspective, it seems that elves with enormous breasts have become more popular these days,” Hanakawa said. “While I have been mistaken for a lolicon in the past, to be completely honest, my tastes tend towards the breasts being as large as possible! Well, perhaps it is fine to have small-chested elves here to provide contrast. In that case, perhaps a dark-skinned elf with huge breasts could serve as their antithesis?”
“No one’s listening, you know.”
“You’re so cold...”
“I agree, the bigger the boobs, the better,” Yogiri said.
“Sir Takatou...is this perhaps the first time we have been on the same wavelength?”
“Despite your stupid conversation, we’ve made it,” Fuwat interrupted them.
Passing through the densely growing trees, they came upon a clearing populated by simple wooden buildings. It wasn’t a particularly large settlement, so they hadn’t been able to see it from above. Despite it being the middle of the day, the village seemed quiet, with few people walking around.
“Ah, they’re here too,” Yogiri noted.
Within the village were the four-armed bug-monkey creatures. It seemed they were working to help the elves.
“Let us speak with the elder first. I will explain who you are.”
They walked to the center of the village. Although the buildings seemed more or less identical, there was one that was slightly larger, which must have belonged to the elder.
The elves they passed watched them with suspicion. They normally attacked anyone who entered the forest, so they must have viewed humans as their enemies. Fuwat was leading them through the village without restraining them, so without knowing the situation, they were hesitant.
“I guess not everyone wears those robes,” Tomochika observed.
“These are only for hunting.”
Perhaps due to the heat, the elves wore fairly light clothing. And naturally, they were all exceptionally beautiful.
“This is...the perfect chance for an event where we meet a beautiful elven girl!”
“Elves don’t see people who are abnormally large as a person capable of procreating, so please try to lose some weight first.”
“Huh? What about seeing who I am on the inside?”
“I’m surprised you’d be willing to show that to someone,” Yogiri said, taken aback by Hanakawa’s self-confidence.
“Right here.” As Fuwat indicated the elder’s house, the door opened and a young man stepped out.
“You guys? I never would have thought I’d meet you here.” The boy was shocked. He clearly hadn’t stepped out to greet them.
“Huh? Who are you?” Tomochika was confused.
“I’m Ootori. Haruto Ootori. Maybe you don’t recognize me without my glasses?”
“Ootori?! Why are you here?!”
Even after hearing his name, Yogiri had no idea who the guy was.
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