Grado Clan’s Culture

"Alright, guys. Isn't it about time to lay off on bullying me now?"

Due to my earnest pleading, the topic of my female relationships was

finally dropped. Well, at least Tinia and her attendants finally

understood that I, Mimi, and Elma got along really well and

acknowledged each other.

Actually, Mei should be included as well, even though she was a

maidroid. And from their reaction earlier, I get that Tina and Whisker

were serious in getting into 'that' sort of relationship with me, but let's

put that aside for the time being.

Mei wasn't really all that assertive when it comes to matters like this,

and as for the situation with Tina and Whisker, they do understand my

current situation and were simply expressing their favorable feelings

toward me without reserve.

Well, it does feel like I'm sort of backed into a corner though.

"Now then, let us talk about ourselves as well."

"We'd be happy to hear all about you. What's a good topic to ask

though?"

"I'm curious about the lifestyle of the elves. What does life on a planet

look like?"

"What is it like...?"

After hearing Mimi's question, Tinia tilted her head and organized her

thoughts for a few moments.

"We of the Grado clan are a tribe of hunters. Everyone wakes up at

dawn, and the women wash and cleanse themselves using freshwater

from streams or watering holes. The men gather firewood in the

meantime, and once the women are back, they would take their turn in

cleansing themselves as well."

"I see. And after performing your morning routines, the men would

probably go out to hunt, right?"

"Correct. Our main prey are dingirs, mumbas, lezarias, pirurus, and

kinjas."

"I can't tell what kind of creatures they are just from their names."

Mimi tilted her head. I also couldn't imagine what those creatures

would look like.

"Dingirs are ferocious creatures that would even attack people in some

cases, and mumbas are usually cowardly, but are extremely dangerous

when they go into a frenzy. Lezarias are dangerous beasts with large

bodies and tough scales and skin. Pirurus and kinjas are birds."

"There seem to be a lot of dangerous creatures though..."

"Well, even if they're dangerous beasts, they shouldn't be as dangerous

as the monsters you fought before, Hiro. You know. Those Twisted.

They're all wild beasts in the long run, so they probably won't attack

with no reason."

"Have you won against beasts before, Hiro-sama?"

Tinia tilted her head curiously after hearing Elma's words.

"The ones I fought were actually biological weapons rather than beasts.

They were created with the instinct to attack every creature apart from

themselves. It wasn't just limited to people. They would kill everything

apart from the one controlling them."

"...So they were beasts that were made to kill everything apart from

their own kind?"

"That's basically it. There are actually lots of creatures similar to those

things and people who make and take advantage of them outside Refill

IV, or rather, Theta."

"...That's quite a frightening story."

Tinia-san gasped and drew signs in midair with her right hand. It was

probably a prayer or ward of some sort.

"But even so, you still managed to fight and overcome such frightening

creatures, Hiro-sama."

"That's basically true, but it's not like I fought them with just my flesh

and blood body. I did use power armor to fight off those white

abominations a while back."

"But you did fight those Twisteds unassisted though. They were far

more dangerous."

"I didn't exactly want to get thrown into such a situation y'know..."

I definitely don't want to experience being thrown into a planet that's in

the middle of being terraformed a second time. I'm definitely gonna buy

lightweight power armor once I get the chance. It might be a good idea

to head to a high-tech star system specializing in those products once

we're finished with our business in the Refill system.

"Hey, hey, what kinds of weapons d'ya guys actually use to hunt those

creatures? I think using laser weapons would do a number on the

quality of the meat and stuff."

Tina, who's been listening in without commenting previously, finally

opened her mouth to ask a question while raising up a mug of alcohol.

As a tech-loving dwarf, it makes sense that she's curious about that

stuff.

"Basically, we do not use non-local weapons when hunting for game.

The hunters use spirit silver arrows, spears, and hatchets to hunt."

"Spirit silver?"

I tilted my head after hearing an unfamiliar term. It seems Tina and

Whisker's eyes were also gleaming with curiosity after hearing about

unfamiliar material.

"Yes. Metals are generally incompatible with spirit arts, with the sole

exception of spirit silver."

"Spirit arts... So basically, you're talking about magic, right?"

Actually, Elma can also use spirit arts. She actually demonstrated it to

me a while back. Well, she just conjured up a small flame that was only

good for substituting a lighter though. Elma said outer space didn't have

a lot of the stuff that made it possible to conjure such arts, so as a result,

she couldn't use anything that was reasonably powerful.

"Oh yeah. Now that you mention it, I've heard of elves talking about

psionic compatibility and stuff in the past. So that means this spirit

silver stuff is some sort of PAM, I guess."

"PAM?"

"Psionic Amplification Material. That's the long version. Its acronym is

PAM. In other words, it's a material that can amplify mental and

spiritual powers or something like that."

"A material that can amplify mental powers huh."

"Yep. Most of them have metal-like properties, and they're also

produced in very limited quantities, so they're very rare. And they're

also very difficult to process. They'd get ruined the moment you

processed them the same way as regular metals."

"Even so, they have few other redeeming qualities apart from being

able to amplify mental power, so they aren't really valuable as raw

materials. They aren't that tough, nor are they heat resistant, despite

the high difficulty of processing them. But they're still rare and

mysterious, so it seems there are enthusiasts who expressly collect PAM

out there."

"I see... So Theta's inhabitants fight dangerous beats with bows,

arrows, and spears made of such rare materials huh. Do you ask the

wind spirits to make the arrows fly faster, ask the earth spirits to

enhance the penetration power of your spears, and stuff like that?"

Tinia, who was listening to our exchange with great interest, showed a

surprised look after hearing my remarks.

"Yes, that's correct... But why do you know of such things, Hiro-sama?

Ah, perhaps you've heard of them from Elma."

"You can say that."

Elma then discreetly elbowed my side in protest. Ouch.

I simply just said what was on my mind, but it looks like some of the

knowledge I brought over from Earth either strangely clashes or jives

with a number of elements in this dimension. If I made a careless

remark, it might lead to the exposure of my unique circumstances – my

being suddenly thrown into this dimension along with Krishna. In order

to prevent that from happening, Elma often backs me up, and

constantly reminds me not to blabber on carelessly. I'm glad she's

expressing her concern for me, but can't she be gentler about it?

"Um, what do you do with the beasts you hunt?"

"Oh. The hunted beasts would be drained of blood, cooled with water,

and brought to the settlement to serve as our food. The skin and fur are

tanned and processed into various items. They haven't served any to us

right now, but offal dishes are also quite delicious."

"O-Offal dishes..."

Mimi, who's heard of offal dishes for the first time, got a bit blue in the

face. Well, offal dishes might seem a bit iffy for those who aren't used to

them, I suppose.

"Yes. The internal organs don't last very long, so they aren't widely

available, unlike meat. However, I don't hate them since they have a

certain deliciousness that you won't be able to find in regular meat. It is

our belief that, as much as possible, we should try not to waste

anything once we take lives for our sustenance."

"I see... Well, it's something we personally can't relate to that much,

but we do understand the concept."

"It's something unthinkable for us considering our usual lifestyle huh."

"That's true."

Our lifestyle as mercenaries is far removed from the elves' ways of

respecting the blessings of nature and trying to minimize waste. Well,

we do go out on hunts, but it's not like we consume the flesh of our

targets. Uh, but perhaps we do consume them in a sense, huh?"

"We have our ways and you have yours. I think there is no problem as

long as there is mutual respect."

"There's a saying that when in Rome, do as the Romans do back where

I'm from, so I suppose it would be better to follow the local customs as

much as possible while we're on Theta. We'd want to respect the local

culture as much as we can."

"That's right. And I would like to try eating offal dishes as well."

"Yeah. I wanna drink more elven alcohol too."

"Right. This alcohol's really tasty after all."

It sounds like you only care about filling your bellies, guys. Well, I

suppose that's just normal tourist behavior. Or rather, I can't exactly

mouth off to Mimi and the others since I'm heading planetside for the

express purpose of seeking cola. I'm pretty much of the same mold huh.

The rest of the dinner proceeded in a peaceful manner, and we

continued to exchange stories even after finishing off the food. Tina and

Whisker have been gulping down alcohol nonstop since earlier, but they

showed no signs of being drunk. Just where were they stuffing all that

liquor anyway? The dwarven body sure is filled with mysteries.