The Elf Village [1]

It was morning and we were still walking through the forest to reach the elf village. Last night after having dinner, I slept like a dog. I do admit that I was being way too careless, I didn't even put up a barrier so if Mia wanted to attack me in my sleep I would've been an easy target—that is if she successfully avoided the attacks that my body performed on instincts while I was not conscious.

But…right now my attention was somewhere else, we were in the middle of a forest and I didn't particularly have anything to do so…I…was looking through the body features of Mia.

The thing which attracted me the most was her long silver-colored hair, I always thought about how a girl with silver hair would look like in real life, and...damn she looked gorgeous.

On top of that, she had red eyes, yes. The classical fantasy trope of red eyes was not popular for nothing! They really looked good! While her breast size was something I called the "perfect ratio". They were not too big, nor too small, just the perfect size. I won't lie here but she was definitely my type of girl.

Though I didn't plan on hitting on her because…well, I had other things to do. I also don't know what her real motive is so I couldn't afford to simp over a girl who could be a possible enemy.

"What?" said Mia, maybe she detected that I was staring at her for a while now.

"What?" I replied back with another question.

"You were staring at me right now, don't you?"

"No, I was not."

"You were definitely looking in my direction, I saw you!"

"Well, I won't deny that. I indeed was looking at the trees behind you."

"Trees?"

"Yes, trees! Aren't they like…beautiful?"

She narrowed her eyes as she pierced through my heart with a deadly glare like to say "you won't get away with this again". In the end, I didn't get caught so all was fine.

Though there was a thing I was a little upset about, that was that I didn't panic and get a nosebleed as they show in ecchi anime. That was pure fiction after all huh.

After that we didn't talk with each other much and continued our journey, today we had left for the village as soon as the sun came out but still, we were walking. I could use my demon wings to fly over there but I don't want to reveal me being a demon right away. I wasn't totally trying to hide this fact but it's just that if things are fine without it then why should I?

*

It was almost noon as the sun was right above our head, I asked Mia a while ago about how much more we had to walk and I got the answer "just a little more". Well, I was getting that answer for the third time now so I was sure that it was not even worth asking anymore.

But I was soon, proven wrong. The forest opened into a clearing, and what appeared was a village that was completely different from a human one.

The village was surrounded by a wall that might have been over thirty meters tall and looked like it was part of a city.

As we approached the structure, I noticed that carvings of a mouse were engraved into the wall.

The wooden pillars became a radiant green color the farther up you looked and stood without any gaps in the structure; all of which resulted in an imposing and awe-inspiring mass before my glaze.

The walls were surrounded by a myriad of thorns that stretched all of the way to the base of the wooden wall.

Thanks to all of this, the wall appeared to be one huge, green block.

The arched gate in front was only wide enough for two people to pass through at a time and wasn't that high. A portcullis made of black metal was installed above the gate, and it seems like it would take quite an impact to move it.

Atop the gate was what seemed to be a watchtower, but the roof was rounded like a flat cylinder, which gave the thing an overall mushroom-like appearance.

Four children—who were girls—began to joyfully run towards the gate when it came into view.

Even from here, the figures of the two elves who stood guard in the watchtower could be seen as they pointed with their fingers.

"Haa, we've finally made it," I said as I let out an exhausted sigh. I was not physically tired but seeing the never changing scenery of the forest had made me half dead.

The children's cleared the forest and showed relieved expressions as they finally returned to their home.

But things weren't going to go that well, and I somewhat expected this. Don't know how but…I was kind of a gut feeling I'd say.

"Alert the villagers! We have intruders!" An elf who was on top of the archer tower screamed. It was understandable because from their point of view we will look like the humans who kidnapped these children, won't we?

"Please stop, we are not here to cause any harm! We are returning the children that had been kidnapped by the humans," said Mia as she held her arms up in a stance to surrender.

"How can we believe you? You, humans, are even worse than bugs!" said an elf who was guarding the gate.

"Please. Let me meet with the elders, they know me. I truly am here just to return these children," said Mia as she showed no sign of hostility.

Can't believe this was the same girl who was killing bandits mercilessly.

"Like hell, we'll believe you! You aren't going to fool us anymore! Attack them" the elf shouted.

"No wait!" said someone in a weak voice. I wasn't able to see the person who said that but I was sure the voice came from the other side of the wall.