Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga

Chapter 5: Really Had to Do It to Feel Right

Time always flew fucking fast whenever one worked hard at something. If one worked hard because that something was a life’s goal, it really flew fucking fucking fast.

That must be why it flew by fast. Already, 3 years had passed since I lived together with Asileye.

It flew by fast enough that one wouldn’t even need a vacation if one’s military service went even half as fast as this. And through those years, I could confidently say it.

Asileye really was a literal lifeline lowered by a god. A god definitely was living and breathing in this world.

What her skills were like as an adventurer didn’t matter. She, who was an elf, was an excellent hunter, a woman overflowing with domestic expertise, and a perfect teacher. To a point that the bandits of that day now felt like agents of a god, Asileye was perfect.

If nobles wanted to truly educate their children, they needed to hire an in-house elf tutor.

“That’s a really weird idea. An in-house elf tutor? Before that, have you seen a noble with an in-house tutor before?”

“Eldmia Chan-ce!”

“That again…?”

Eldmia Chance!

It’s nothing special. It’s simply a signal to not ask. 8 years was a long time and wasn’t a length of time one could ignore attachments from forming, but that was a thing for later. Although her every action in the last 3 years was to my benefit and even though she was my trusted support and a lifeline, it was a fact that in the end there were stories I couldn’t open up on as a reincarnator.

But Asileye, without any particular discontent, smiled and brushed my hair. On her glistering light-blond hair and glossy skin wasn’t even a tiniest speck of a hint of the days we first met. Actually, such hints had already begun disappearing not even a week since we began living together.

When I asked, she said her resilience improved in various ways when in a forest. I couldn’t stop gawking at the truly fantasy-like racial trait.

‘Do humans have anything like that?’

‘Humans… uh, don’t.’

I looked at Asileye blushing her face as she said no and concluded for sure.

There really was nothing useful.

If the racial trait that that elf thought up just now was just those related to face-blushing nightlife, then enough was said. Thanks to that, I had a memory left over of being depressed for a while.

But even if the human race wasn’t special, human Eldmia Egga was special!

It wasn’t a joke but real. Because my body could in fact use magic power in whole.

I actually couldn’t openly use it because Asileye vehemently opposed it, but the more I compared it with the mana refining techniques I learned from her, that instead became even clearer.

But we still couldn’t tell why. It didn’t look like it was unrelated to me having reincarnated, but in the end, it didn’t seem like an area that we could figure out with the knowledge of one just-born human and one century-old elf.

Furthermore, I couldn’t tell why, but it couldn’t use magic even though body strengthening was possible. I also wondered why I could easily use magic if I refined magic power like Asileye taught me, but couldn’t use magic with magic power, but I couldn’t dare ask.

It was definite that Asileye would scold me over a long time just from me making such an attempt. Maybe not in the past, but now an unrestrained wave of scolding stormed.

“Come to think of it, the village was rowdy saying a hero got chosen at the Imperial Holy Council.”

   As she organized the stuff she bought as soon as she returned home just now, Asileye passed a story she heard. At that story, I unexpectedly got shocked while cleaning the fireplace’s soot and unconsciously turned to look at Asileye.

“Wow. There really was a thing called a hero?”

“Yeah. I also heard about it only from my parents, and never thought I’ll actually get to see one get chosen.”

Asileye and I really came to live like a family.

Even the way she talked, which I’d thought was originally like that, being a formality that came out from being awkward was a little fresh. Though, I did now tease her sometimes with her speech style from back then thanks to that.

“Okay, try it on.”

The things Asileye took out as she let down her ponytailed light-blonde hair with a bright smile were undoubtedly man’s pants and a coat. At the new clothes I hadn’t seen in a while, I unconsciously let out a laugh.

“Sis, what are these? Why’d you buy such things when I got clothes I can still wear?”

“Fixing them up three times over is more than enough when my little bro’s growing day after day. I can use them as rags later, so stop dilly-dallying and try them on quick.”

I giddily smiled as I wiped my hands, and when I changed into the pants and turned around, Asileye satisfyingly smiled.

“Yep. I knew it’ll fit perfectly. Now don’t grow up for a while.”

“Can’t do. I have to get taller. At the least, I’m gonna grow until 180.”

“You planning to be a giant or something?”

“Most little problems are easily solved if you’re tall. I gotta grow while I can get taller.”

My 11 year-old height reached almost 160. I’d actually grown nearly 40 cm in 3 years. Due to really growing day after day, I had only 5 cm or so left until I was similar to Asileye whom I had to look really far up at. At this rate, it felt like I would casually pass 170 just at 14 years old.

“Really, with how you talk and your size too, who’ll see you as an 11 years-old now?”

I looked at Asileye mischievously smiling as she ruffled my hair and smiled back too.

“Big sis doesn’t look like a 120 year-old either, so you do not have to worry about that.”

When I imitated her old speech style and teased her, immediately my side got pinched and I let out a scream.

“You dare tease your big sis who went through all that hassle for her little bro?”

“Ah! Hurts! Sorry! Help!”

Because her attack didn’t end with that first one, I had to really panic and run around. Asileye became satisfied only after I got pinched enough to wonder if my side didn’t bruise, and then waved towards the outside.

“Come out. Let’s cut your hair today while I remember to do it.”

“Ouh. It actually has been stuffy.”

I stuffed a worn-out robe and a silver plate at my side and then followed Asileye outside with a chair.

Asileye’s hairdressing tools were spirits. The unimaginable idea of using wind spirits to cut one’s hair wasn’t merely a culture shock but horror itself.

Even being dragged by Asileye and getting my first haircut as she stated that there wasn’t a single case in elf history of cutting one’s neck while cutting hair was now a fun memory. 

I abruptly remembered it and mentioned it to Asileye as she neatly trimmed my hair beginning with cleanly cutting upwards the back and sides of my head, and.

“There actually is an elf that cut off an ear. He’s a historic elf that left a moral not to play around while getting a haircut.”

I ended up trembling in a deep sense of betrayal and fear while waiting for her hands to finish.

It felt like the movements of spirits that had felt like gentle hands turned into an executioner’s sword dance!

“Liar. Liar! Big sis is a liar elf mage!”

“What’chu talking about? There really is no case of cutting the neck. I didn’t say that there wasn’t a case of cutting off an ear. Now, how is it?”

Chewing over the sense of betrayal deepening at Asileye’s smile as she showed me using the silver plate I brought as a mirror, I looked over my reflected appearance. In truth, Asileye’s technique was so great that there wasn’t even a need to check.

In the silver plate, a handsome boy with short black side hair and just a little long top hair was trembling in a sense of betrayal.

“I see a handsome young man betrayed by his trusted big sis and trembling.”

“You honestly aren’t a handsome young man.”

“No wait, you can’t use elf standards for comparing, sis. Wouldn’t this much be handsome by human standards?”

“What more can I say when even you end that as a question?”

Having lightly moved the spirits to brush off the hairs, Asileye cleaned up the area by picking up the silver plate and the robe, and I grumbled and picked up the chair.

Honestly I looked good even though I did look a bit sharp.

“Well, you do look a lot better than the humans in the village.”

Asileye spoke as she faintly smiled and entered the house.

“Right? It’s not just me blabbering bullshit by myself, right?”

As I thought, Asileye was the best!

“Ah. Speaking of which, I heard you fought with the village kids the last time you went down there.”

Mid smiling happily, I seriously jumped from surprise.

“W, what the? Why would you hear that now when that was so long ago?”

It was a story at least a month old. Since it was around then that I went down to the village.

“The rumor has completely spread around when I got to the guild. Why did you fight?”

3 years was a long time. 1 year had passed since Ogwen, which had straddled the line between a village and a city, was marked on the maps as a city with the name Ogwen the Outskirts and an adventurers’ guild came in. It wasn’t very big, but it was a step by the kingdom to handle the nearby unnatural changes and monsters that arose with the Demon King Army’s renewed activities.

About half a year had passed since Asileye, whose original job was an adventurer, registered again and began occasionally taking on simple commissions to support living expenses.

“I fought for my creed.”

“Don’t reply with nonsense.”

“No, what’d you mean nonsense? It’s for real, you know?”

It wasn’t a lie. I merely went to the smithery to fix a practice longsword and then took care of a bunch of hooligans that jumped out of the blue saying they’re gonna steal it. Due to those kinds of brats increasing a little possibly due to the village suddenly getting bigger, I merely scolded them without bending my creed.

My that creed, absolutely do not touch Eldmia Egga.

“I considered sis’ honor too and scolded them with just my left hand and a hand behind my back.”

Asileye only acted cautiously at first due to selling the gears stolen from the killed bandits, and didn’t particularly hide that she was an elf when visiting the village after that. A pair of an elf and a human child wasn’t common, and we of course were one of the famous gossip topics in the village. I couldn’t have her get falsely accused of having a crazy hooligan family member when she was even active in the adventurers’ guild, could I?

“What would I even get by beating up those tiny kids? Well, honestly I did fight with an arm behind my back sort of as a kind of training, but I don’t intentionally go around picking fights for that.”

“Tiny kids? Those kids are 4 years older than you, you know…?”

“What does being born first matter? They act like tiny kids.”

When I uninterestedly answered, Asileye drew an unsure and complicated expression and smiled.

It looked like she didn’t particularly plan on getting angry over that. Well, there wasn’t really a reason for me to get scolded when I didn’t do anything wrong in the first place nor impulsively fought.

“By the way, how did you suddenly hear about that?”

“It looked like someone was asking around searching for who beat up those guys from then.”

“Eng?”

What the? Did even this world have sassy overbearing parents too? That’s strange.

All of them looked like motherless fatherless brats, though.