Adventure (3)

Lu flew up above Ariel's head and spun his body around. Sparkling dust fell from Lu's body, covering Ariel, and soon Ariel's body also began to sparkle with light.

Sprinkling dust was not an easy task for fairies. It was similar to a mage using magic. They would get tired quickly after doing it a few times.

"Hah, hah..."

Still, Lu felt a sense of fulfillment because Ariel's body was starting to float up into the air.

A faint smile appeared on Ariel's expressionless face. As the ground grew farther away, the tall trees fell below her feet.

Continuing to float up into the air, Ariel could now clearly see the entire forest landscape before her eyes.

The vast, lush forest.

It was somewhat moving to see such a sight from the sky.

Her face was bathed in the warm sunlight, and a refreshing breeze lightly ruffled her hair as it passed by.

Gazing at the forest scenery, Ariel fixed her gaze on one spot.

It was a village located in the middle of the forest.

Smoke rose from the chimneys of buildings that looked like houses, and people were bustling about energetically.

Ariel set that village as her destination.

She had become hungry after seeing the smoke rising from the chimneys. To satisfy her hunger, she would need to buy food, and to buy food, she needed money.

Ariel had no money. But she did have the troll's corpse.

Since the troll's corpse was said to be quite valuable, she could take it to that village and sell it.

The fairy's flight dust did not last long. The sparkling light on Ariel's body began to fade as she slowly descended back to the ground.

Shortly after, having landed on the ground, Ariel set off in the direction of the village.

"I'll go with you, sister!"

Lu scurried along behind Ariel.

*

Ariel and Lu arrived at a lakeside. It was good to go to the village, but first they needed to clean themselves up.

Ariel was completely drenched in troll's blood. If she went to the village looking like that, people would find it suspicious.

Thinking that from now on she should be careful not to get monster blood on her when fighting, Ariel jumped straight into the lake.

Unlike Ariel who jumped in without hesitation, Lu cautiously washed himself only near the edge of the lake.

For fairies, lakes were dangerous. A fish could easily jump up and swallow them whole.

Countless fairies had been eaten that way. Well, there were also many cases of birds swooping down to snatch them up.

After washing himself, Lu flew over and sat on a nearby rock. He quietly watched Ariel while drying his body in the warm sunlight.

Ariel was standing in the water, vigorously scrubbing the troll's blood off her face. Her wet silver hair sparkled in the sunlight.

A tender smile formed on Lu's lips. Although he called her 'sister', to Lu, Ariel was still a young elf. Regardless of her strength, she was an innocent elf ignorant of the ways of the world. That's why she had tried to just leave behind the valuable troll corpse.

Lu felt a protective instinct. No matter how strong Ariel was, if she didn't know about the world, she could still fall into danger.

He thought it was his role to guide Ariel so that wouldn't happen.

"Sister! Don't go into the deep water! It's dangerous!"

After shouting that, Lu cleared his throat with an "ahem". It felt a bit awkward. For some reason, he already felt like Ariel's protector.

Of course, Ariel didn't listen to Lu's words. She was just focused on washing off the troll's blood.

Shortly after cleaning off all the troll's blood, Ariel walked out of the lake, dripping water.

Lu quickly flew over and used his sleeve to wipe the water off Ariel's face.

"Sister, let's dry off first before going. If we go like this, you might catch a cold."

Ariel nodded. She doubted she could actually catch a cold due to her defenses, but she also didn't feel like walking around completely soaked.

Ariel sat on the rock Lu had been sitting on and dried herself off. The sunlight was warm enough to quickly dry her body.

"Mmm, when we get to the village, I'll have to drink booze first. I haven't had any alcohol for days, so I feel like I'm getting dizzy."

Ariel quietly looked at Lu speaking like that. Lu's outward appearance was no different from a boy's. It was an appearance that did not suit alcohol at all.

Of course, the fairy race does not grow any further from the appearance of a boy or girl, so Lu was a perfect adult.

In that sense, Ariel is also a complete adult, contrary to her appearance. She was old enough to drink alcohol. Not that she particularly wanted to drink alcohol.

Ariel wanted to eat sweet foods rather than alcohol. She thought she would be happy to enjoy things like cakes and bread with milk.

*Rustle*

A sound like stepping on fallen leaves came from behind. Ariel and Lu turned around at the same time.

"Ah..."

There stood a girl. A girl with brown hair braided on both sides, and freckles all over her face.

"Eh, an elf...?"

The girl looked at Ariel's pointed ears with wide open eyes. And then she turned her gaze to Lu sitting on Ariel's shoulder.

"A fairy...?"

An expression of disbelief appeared on the girl's face.

Elves and fairies were not races that could be easily seen. This is because both races rarely leave their own territories.

If they leave their territory, all that awaits them is danger.

Like the troll monster they encountered earlier, or being captured by greedy humans... There were countless other dangers.

For that reason, elves and fairies rarely left their territories, and they rarely encountered humans. It was only natural for the girl to be surprised now.

In fact, the girl was seeing elves and fairies for the first time. She had heard that there were races called elves and fairies, and had seen them in picture books, but she had thought she would never see them in person.

Beautiful looks with pointed ears. Elves are a race loved by the goddess of beauty.

Therefore, they grow but do not age. Their growth stops at the most beautiful age and they no longer change.

Fairies were similar. Fairies were a little younger than boys or girls, but in any case, they did not age past a certain age.

To the girl, while she didn't know much about fairies, the elf still seemed young. She looked a few years younger than herself.

Still, she was undoubtedly beautiful like an elf. To the girl's eyes, Ariel looked like a doll.

Her eyes lacked some vitality, but her straight nose, small full lips, chubby cheeks, fair skin, and sparkling silver hair...

The girl unconsciously approached where Ariel was.

And she greeted her with a trembling voice.

"Ah, hello...?"

*

The girl's name was Kanna.

Thanks to her cheerful personality, Kanna was able to quickly become friends with Ariel.

Of course, becoming friends was only Kanna's thought. Ariel had no particular interest in Kanna. She just recognized her as a freckled girl.

"I see. So you two are going on an adventure. That must be fun. By the way Ariel, can I touch your ears?"

Kanna asked, looking at Ariel's pointed ears. In fact, she wanted to touch not only Ariel's ears, but also her sparkling silver hair and chubby cheeks.

Although they had just met, Kanna had already fallen for Ariel.

Then Lu flew over and glared sternly at Kanna.

"No way! My sister's body is not something you can touch as you please!"

It was as if he was protecting Ariel.

Lu didn't really like Kanna. Not only because she was human, but also because she was acting friendly so suddenly, which seemed suspicious.

"Oh, I see..."

Kanna scratched her cheek awkwardly. Seeing him protect her like that, it seemed that Lu and Ariel were very close. They must have spent a long time together.

"I'm sorry."

Kanna apologized. Ariel didn't react, and Lu asked with a somewhat arrogant expression.

"You said your name was Kanna, right?"

"Yes."

"You came from that village up ahead?"

"That's right. Herrington Village. I live there."

Herrington Village was the village that Ariel and Lu had seen from the sky earlier.

"Is there anyone in that village who would buy a troll corpse?"

"A troll corpse?"

"Yeah!"

"Hmm, maybe Sir Lloyd would..."

"Who is Sir Lloyd?"

"He's a merchant who frequents Herrington Village. He mainly deals in spices, but if it makes money, he would probably deal in troll corpses too."

This merchant named Lloyd happened to be in Herrington Village at the moment.

"Sister, what do you think? Should I tell this girl to guide us to Herrington Village?"

At Lu's question, Ariel nodded and got up from the rock she was sitting on.

Lu flew up to Ariel's shoulder and shouted at Kanna.

"Hey human! Guide us to Herrington Village!"

That's how Kanna ended up guiding them to Herrington Village.

*

As they entered Herrington Village following Kanna, the villagers' eyes were drawn to Ariel and Lu.

Just like Kanna, it was the villagers' first time seeing an elf and a fairy.

Drawing the attention of the villagers, Ariel and Lu followed Kanna to Lloyd.

Lloyd was conversing with people in the village square. As a merchant, he had some experience seeing elves and fairies before.

However, those were elves and fairies being sold as slaves in cities. It was his first time seeing ones freely roaming around like Ariel and Lu.

"You want to sell a troll corpse?"

At the sudden mention of selling a troll corpse, Lloyd made a dumbfounded expression.

Troll corpses are extremely difficult to obtain. To get one, you'd have to hire professional hunters at a high cost.

For a young elf and fairy to want to sell a troll corpse was simply baffling.

"Yes! A troll corpse!"

Lu shouted with his arms crossed. Being out of the fairy village for the first time, he was still clumsy at conversing with humans. He kept raising his voice to hide that clumsiness.

"Hmm..."

Lloyd stroked his chin as he looked back and forth between Ariel and Lu. His expression showed he didn't quite trust them.

"So where is this troll corpse?"

At Lloyd's question, Kanna glanced at Ariel. She was curious about that too.

They had guided Ariel and Lu to Lloyd after they said they wanted to sell a troll corpse, but from the lake until now, the two were empty-handed. Just where was this troll corpse?

Kanna's curiosity was soon satisfied. When Ariel stretched out her hands, a troll corpse appeared in mid-air.

"Hieek!"

"Aaah!"

People around them cried out in surprise and backed away. Lloyd too stared wide-eyed at the troll corpse.

While it was surprising for a troll corpse to appear in mid-air, it wasn't entirely impossible. Using a magic item, one could make a troll corpse appear like that.

Of course, that was Lloyd's mistaken assumption. There were no magic items in the world that could store something as bulky as a troll corpse.

"Umm..."

In any case, Lloyd examined the troll corpse seriously. He had never dealt with troll corpses before, but trading one could potentially yield great profits.

However, this troll corpse was missing its head. The eyeballs, teeth, and skull could fetch high prices, but those parts were gone.

Still, the other parts were in good condition.

Trolls are ferocious, so when hunting them, their hides often get damaged. But this corpse, apart from the missing head, was pristine. As if the head had been cleanly removed with a single strike.

'Even professional troll hunters would have difficulty doing this...'

Lloyd looked up at Ariel and Lu.

Ariel had an expressionless face, while Lu stared at Lloyd, fidgeting his legs.

In the end, Lloyd decided to buy the troll corpse. While it was a bit odd, there was no reason to hesitate if he could profit from it.

He offered a reasonable price. Since Ariel and Lu were unaware of market prices, they accepted whatever he offered. Fortunately, Lloyd was a conscientious merchant.

After receiving the gold coins from Lloyd, Ariel turned around wordlessly, with Kanna and Lu following behind her.

It was a fair and clean transaction.