As I accepted the mochi that Aeris-sama offered, I realized something.
Aren’t these only eaten during New Year?
…
Well, who cares~ at least I can eat it.
I disregarded that useless worry and slowly moved the mochi closer to my mouth. However, Carlos suddenly ran towards the tatami and slammed his hands on it.
“Oi! What are you doing?”
I looked at him for a while and snorted.
“How the hell can you guys understand each other? The two of you are speaking in different languages!”
“Eh? We’re speaking in different languages?”
I gave Aeris-sama a questioning gaze. He made a wry smile and spoke to me in a calm voice.
“Yes, this tatami floor is actually a magic device that allows the people to understand one another. Even if they belong to a different race or have a different language.”
“Oh, I see, this tatami is quite an invention.”
Understanding the reason why, I thought if I’d tell Carlos about it or not. I then noticed Emilia having a face that meant she also wanted to know how we communicate with each other. As such, I decided to tell them.
“According to him, this tatami is a magical device that lets me communicate with him.”
Hearing my response, Emilia nodded in understanding.
“Is that so!? Then, let me go in!”
Carlos, who also heard my explanation, stepped into the tatami. As his foot touched the edge, he was greeted with a very strong gale and was lifted off the tatami.
“Is he your companion? If he is, please tell him to remove his footwear before he enters this place.”
Thinking that no matter what I say or do, Carlos would only force himself to join us. I don’t know what his reasons were, but if he continues to do act like that. Aeris-sama may reconsider being an envoy of peace and instead declares war because of him. Because of those thoughts, I resigned myself and told Carlos what Aeris-sama told me.
Carlos angrily removed his shoes and stepped into the tatami. He then observed how I sat and copied it. Seeing him observe the green tea and sweets that were served to him, I resumed my attempt to eat the mochi because I thought no one was gonna bother me anymore.
However, I was naïve.
Like earlier, when the mochi was about to touch my lips, a sudden shockwave shook the tatami. Because the shaking greatly surprised me, the mochi fell from my hand. Time slowed down around me as I tried to save it, however, my efforts were in vain. The mochi fell to the ground and became dirty.
Ahh~ the mochi….
Tears formed on the edge of my eyes as I observed the tragic site.
“Is this the place? Eclara, are you sure that the elves have invaded the borders here? I don’t see any fighting though.”
“I’m pretty sure. According to the rumors I heard from the villagers, they saw a group of elves marching towards the fortress near the borders.”
“Hmmm… Ahhh! There they are!”
As I mourned over the loss of the mochi, I heard a voice that mentioned a familiar name. I turned my head towards the source of the voices and found three people approaching us. One of them was a girl with shoulder length blonde hair. She wore a green dress that emphasized movement over her looks. The second one was a boy that had black hair and eyes. He wore some light armor over his clothes. The last of them was a girl that had light brown hair and wore a witch’s attire.
“““““ Ehhhh?””””
The four of us made solidified as our eyes met. We were frozen still because of the shock we received. I knew two of them, the boy was Shin and the girl with light brown hair was Eclara. However, the blond girl was new to me.
“You again!”
From my side, Carlos who was on his fours glared at the three people who just arrived.
“Aaaah!!!”
“L-Lumina-sama?”
“What are you doing here?”
The three of them made different reactions as Carlos freed them from their frozen state. As for me, I was offered by Aeris-sama with another mochi. As such, the matter about our sudden reunion was blown away from my mind.
Since I learned from my earlier lesson, I quickly bit on the mochi.
“Thank you very much, Aeris-sama.”
“It’s nothing.”
“If you like, I also brought some mont blancs. Would you like some?”
“Hoho, sweets that were made by humans? Un, I’d gladly accept them.”
Reaching a conclusion, I signaled Emilia by using my hand to approach. When she arrived, I instructed her to take out the mont blancs.
“Bon appétit.”
Aeris-sama accepted the mont blanc and slowly moved it closer to his mouth.
Don’t move it slowly! If you do you’ll…
Before I could complete the sentence in my mind, another shockwave was produced. This shockwave was so strong, that it spilled the tea that I held to the floor. It also made Aeris-sama loosen his grip. He then also experienced the same tragedy I had earlier. I gazed at him with eyes full of sympathy and offered him another.
“Why are you here with Lumina!?”
“Why would I explain it to some third-rate trash huh?”
“What did you say?”
“You’re not needed here, you trash. Why don’t you be like a good little garbage and go away.”
“You piece of shit!”
As Carlos and Shin argued with one another, I sipped from the clay cup and enjoyed the mochi. Aeris-sama also did what I did.
“I guess it’s about time we start discussing the conditions for forging a treaty of peace with your race. However…”
Aeris-sama followed my eyes and sighed when he saw Carlos and Shin arguing with one another. The noise they made as they argued was annoyingly loud. The two of us raised our hands and ordered our servants to move those two away. Emilia and some three boys approached Carlos and dragged him away. As for Shin, some elves waved their hands and blew him away using magic.
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The blond girl quickly ran towards Shin and started fanning him. As for Eclara, she went towards Emilia and started asking her.
“That takes care of them.”
“Yes.”
“So where were we?”
“….”
“….”
The two of us pondered for a while and bit on another mochi/mont blanc.
“Ah, that’s right. We were gonna to discuss the conditions for forming a peace treaty.”
“I see.”
“So, what do we need to offer?”
“Hmmm…”
Aeris-sama pondered for awhile and said:
“We haven’t really decided yet. When I came here, I didn’t really expect to become an envoy of peace.”
“Why?”
“It’s because we expected the humans to be uncultured and barbaric. However, we still had some doubts about that thought. Because of that, it was decided by our leaders to test the culture of your race.”
“And that test is this tea ceremony?”
“Yes.”
I covered my mouth and stopped myself from shouting, ‘Are you idiots!?’ at them.
Taking a few deep breaths, I managed to calm my emotions down.
“Cough* I think this test is wrong in various ways, Aeris-sama.”
“Why do you say so?”
“It’s because the way we have tea is very different.”
“Hmmm?”
“We humans don’t normally sit like this nor bow to our guests during tea time.”
Aeris-sama stayed silent and urged me to continue my explanation.
“I’m only able to do this because I copying you. Normal nobles, like him, don’t bow to others.”
“So you’re saying you’re different from him?”
“Yes. His social status is higher than mine.”
“Really? I thought he was your servant or something.”
“Him? My servant? Please don’t make jokes like that. I would never accept him as a servant.”
“Then why is such a barbaric person with you?”
“Complex reasons.”
I drank the green tea to clear my throat.
“Then would it be okay if tell Gen. Mayers about our talk?”
“He’s the adult you were talking about right?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s fine.”
I then explained the contents of what we talked about to Gen. Mayers. As he listened to me, he made a really surprised expression. When I finished telling him everything, I then asked him how the royal court will react to this.
“Hmmm… those nobles from the court are narrow-minded people. I’m sure they won’t readily accept making peace with them.”
“Why?”
“Well, for one thing, none of them believed us when we told them the state of the relic that’s projecting the barrier. Because of that, Amethyst-sama hastened his planned. He aggressively started bribing some nobles to join his camp and kidnaped Duke Mearess’ daughter so that he’d join us. Furthermore, the Prime Minister Ginsburg has repeatedly advised the King regarding that matter. However, his words were disregarded by him.”
“Are those the reasons why you wanted a coup d’état?”
“I have a lot of reasons that I could tell you. But, let’s talk about those things some other time.”
“Is that so? Then how will I respond to Aeris-sama?”
Gen. Mayers had a very complicated face as he thought of it.
“How about asking for some time?”
“Time? Why?”
“We’ll need some time to change the government so that our talks can proceed.”
“How long will it take?”
“It depends on how smoothly the plans will move.”
“Will it require force?”
“Probably.”
“Then how about asking them for help? They may prove to be useful?”
“I don’t know about that. Can we trust them?”
“Yes, if they weren’t serious about peace then we wouldn’t be discussing with them, right?”
“That is true.”
“Then it’s decided, I’ll try asking him for help and if he accepts then our peace talks will happen earlier.”
Gen. Mayers silently nodded to me. I then returned my gaze to Aeris-sama who was shoving mont blancs into his mouth.
“Aeris-sama, about the peace talks, it seems like there may be some difficulties regarding it. So could we ask for some cooperation from your side?”
“Sure, why not. The only reason why we wanted to go to war with your race is because of boredom.”
What? Is that the reason!? Just how bored are you elves huh!?
“Cough* I thank you for your giving us your cooperation.”
“Our help may come a bit late though.”
“Why?”
“I still need to report the results to my father and the rest of the council. I will then received the conditions for forging a peace treaty with your race from them.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
As we finished our discussion, I took a piece of mochi while he took a mont blanc and ate it.
“Are you gonna leave right after our tea party?”
“Yes, I’ve grown quite fond of these sweets you’ve offered, Lumina. I think I’ll hasten my talk to my father so that I can come back and eat more of this.”
“Thank you for the compliment. If you wish, the next time you come back, I’ll prepare lots more of sweets from our side for you.”
“I’ll do my best to come back quickly then.”
The two of us then continued our tea party while Shin and Carlos were being restrained by our servants. The moment we ran out of sweets, we decided to stop our tea party and separated from each other.
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Happy 50th chapter~
Sorry I didn't post this yesterday~ I was watching a marathon of Sailormoon Crystal~ hehe