Dark Elf:Volume1 Chapter3

Status: Incomplete

1/4 parts completed

   

Chapter 3: Day and Night, Never Stop Learning

Part 1

Deadly parasites.

“Wait, um, hold on.”

Klaus Knockburn forgot all about taking notes on his stick. He just blurted out some words while the forest evening turned to night. He only realized he had used the human language when Slender slowly tilted her head atop him.

He had to shift each letter ahead by two, with consonants and vowels separate.

He focused on converting everything into dark elf and tried again.

“Wait! Parasites? You mean inside me? And what about Brashgain’s resurrection!?”

“I don’t know anything about that. But you passed through the sticky, stringy plants directly pierced by the especially dangerous bones and fangs. Since you had not used the preventative pollen, it was only natural to assume you had been infected with the dragon bugs.”

“What about Brashgain!?”

“Sh.” Slender’s long ears moved and she looked to the side while still sitting on top of him.

“Someone is approaching. But it isn’t just human footprints. I hear metal as well.”

“Is it Elzane’s group? Only the knights would bring horses with horseshoes this deep in a forest so full of tree roots!”

“I don’t want them after me again. Come with me.”

She finally got off of him, the warmth and weight of her crotch vanishing. Only once it was gone did he realize a girl in a tight skirt had spread her legs to straddle him. He so desperately wished he had been given the chance to appreciate it.

“I won’t cry. As long as I live, there’s still a chance of it happening again!!”

“Use our language. And come this way.”

He had expected them to run in some direction found on a compass, but the forest was still full of surprises. Slender crouched down and grabbed a string handle hidden below the grass. She pulled it up and an 80cm square opened in the ground.

“Eh? What!?”

“Use dark elf.”

She had warned him twice now, but he really wished she would be more forgiving of these reflexive statements. She climbed down first and beckoned him in. It was a good thing he wasn’t claustrophobic. He excitedly climbed in with her and she shut the mysterious cover above them. They were now in total darkness, but she pulled out something. It was a glass-shielded lamp the size of an eyedrop bottle. It didn’t look like she had just lit it.

“You were hiding a lit flame…in your cleavage? Th-that sounds dangerous.”

“We are allowed to collect fire after a lightning strike, but we are not allowed to light it ourselves. A-and what does my cleavage have to do with this!?”

That sounded like a weird custom to Klaus. Were fire, water, wind, and earth considered to be works of nature they were forbidden from creating themselves, but fires lit by lightning strikes had been created by nature and were thus acceptable? He had heard that there was a nearly million year gap between primitive people starting to use fire and figuring out how to start fires themselves.

“So you don’t start fires? That explains why I didn’t see any after all my observations. Oh, that also explains why you went to the effort of leaving your village and mixing a hot spring’s water with the river water to bathe.”

“Observations?”

“Um, never mind that!!”

He laughed off the glare she gave him. These reactions were part of what made direct communication so much different from before. It felt like pouring love into his icy wife.

“But this is great too. No, it’s the best!! I feel so fulfilled I swear I’m going to end up pregnant!!”

“?”

He took a look around. They were in a very long horizontal tunnel that appeared to have been dug out of the dirt. It wasn’t very tall, so he would bump his head if he didn’t stay crouched. Slender kept a cautious eye upwards, presumably because of the knights walking around up on the surface. She gestured him forward and she took the lead since she had the only light. Klaus Knockburn had finally received official authorization to chase after the brown girl’s round ass. That tight leather skirt was the most attractive thing he had ever seen.

“But what is this place?” he asked her.

He could see one of her long ears turn toward him while she continued on ahead in a crouch. He had seen this before. It showed she was mildly interested, as opposed to fully ignoring him. Now that he could understand her and had better context for understanding her little idiosyncrasies, he found her cuter than ever.

The tunnel branched off here and there, but it didn’t look like someone had dug this out with a shovel. If so, surely the dark elves would have made it tall enough for them to stand up inside. The materials were odd as well. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all coated with some kind of translucent film instead of just dirt. The film was more than a centimeter thick and it was made of a strange substance that wasn’t quite glass or crystal.

Slender replied while bending over and placing her round butt right in front of his face.

“I doubt the humans know about this place. Because not even the other dark elves know it exists.”

“Eh?”

“Otherwise I couldn’t have snuck you out of the clearing through here.”

This place apparently connected to the clearing where they had tried to burn him. But that only raised further questions. If the other dark elves didn’t know about it, had Slender dug it all by herself? That seemed like a lot of unnecessary work even if she did use magic. And why would she do that anyway? The dark elves appeared to use metal for their arrowheads and jewelry, so had she wanted a monopoly on the mineral resources in this area?

…Oh, right. Jewelry. I forgot to give that back.

Klaus recalled the earring that had initially created a connection between them. It was a crucial writing implement for him now, but she was right here with him. He couldn’t just hold onto it forever.

“Um. You dropped this when you rescued me before, didn’t-”

He trailed off when she turned back toward him. He thought she was responding to him, but then he saw she was holding something in her hand.

…A white snake? No, a bug!? But it’s huge!

“Creepy-crawly.”

“Yikes!?”

Bugs were not supposed to grow more than 30cm long. He had never been more grossed out.

“These things dig holes all through the ground. And their slime hardens on the walls and ceiling, keeping the tunnels from collapsing. The tunnels can be useful in an emergency, but I would prefer not to remain in the dragon bugs’ home for long. So stay quiet and keep moving.”

“Th-these things were…inside me?”

“It’s a possibility.”

The translucent film that wasn’t quite glass or wax was apparently something secreted by these bugs after it hardened. Did that mean they could be found all throughout the forest? He shuddered at this unseen side of the dark elf forest. Was this what Professor Dissection had wanted from that collector?

“Wait. If that fire ceremony was actually meant to drive these things out of me…”

“…”

“Why did you interrupt and let me escape? No, wait…if the ceremony was never competed, what about the bugs inside me!?”

Slender had chosen to use a flame in this cramped indoor(?) space, not because she was unfamiliar with oxygen deprivation, but because the pale bugs avoided lights. He imagined himself trapped down here with those things in complete darkness. A terrifying thought to say the least.

Eventually, their subterranean expedition came to an end.

“This is the place.”

“?”

Slender stopped partway through the tunnel, but he doubted she could be using a map down here. Was there some kind of mark only she recognized? Still crouched down, she pressed her empty hand against the ceiling, which slowly opened. It was another square trapdoor. That must have led them to the deep, damp forest, but the bright light outside dazzled Klaus’s eyes. And that was with the sun nearly set.

“Good…the coast is clear. Hurry on up. If the dragon bugs do get inside you, they really will need to be smoked out of you with herbs.”

“What do you mean?”

“The dragon bugs really are a dangerous parasite. More will continue to be born as long as Brashgain’s bones remain. Humans are not naturally immune, so whenever you enter the forest, we must drive you back out. A wagon passing through on your road is fine, but you can never live here permanently.”

I can’t believe it, thought Klaus. There was nothing special about the Forest of No Return itself. It was only the result of the constant threats from the dark elves trying to keep vulnerable people away.

After viewing the surface (and failing to notice how far up her thigh her skirt had risen), Slender sighed.

“But the ceremony to drive out the dragon bugs with smoke is a drastic measure. It is guaranteed to drive them out, but there is a significant risk of the patient not surviving and dying a painful death. Do you really want to undergo a procedure like that?”

“…”

“An untreated dragon bug infection is deadly, so the elders thought they were doing the right thing. They treat everyone who even might be infected just in case, but I could tell you were the type who would die from what was likely an unnecessary treatment. So I rescued you.”

She climbed out of the hole first, giving him a good view of the underwear below her short skirt. Everything else was made of a tough leather, but these were white and lacy. He was surprised they had the means of making something like that, but then he recalled the delicate, see-through outfits of the dancers like Short Hair.

He really did need to see these things for himself. You couldn’t make assumptions, even about underwear. And the hint of brown skin showing through the thin fabric hit his brain with devastating power. Three cheers for fieldwork!

“Hell yes. I have a new life goal. My peeping days are over. I want her to let me remove those from her.”

“What, more human language? Just hurry up.”

She looked puzzled but was not aware what he was talking about. She powerfully pulled him from the hole, closed the trapdoor, and then hid the small lamp back in her flat chest. It must have used a double layer of glass for insulation.

They had covered a lot of ground in the tunnel, but they were still inside the forest.

How big was the forest in all? He had seen a map when helping his rotten teacher pack back in the royal capital, but the Forest of No Return was managed by the dark elves who threatened and drove out any humans they found. He doubted any humans had ever left the stone-paved road and trekked their way deep inside to take an accurate survey. If the map was only a general estimate based on external observations, it could vastly differ from the reality.

“You said you wanted to know about Brashgain, right?”

Yes. What was the truth there?

“Then come with me. You might not believe me if I told you on my own.”

“Wh-where are we going?”

Slender winked as she answered him.

The idea that the dark elves were an exclusionary species may have been inaccurate.

“Our village.”

Part 4

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