Her appearance was exactly what one would expect from someone of the elfin race: semi-long hair, reaching just below shoulder height, ears relatively longer than those of a normal human. Additionally, her intensely gazing emerald green eyes made me briefly lose myself.

There wasn't much to say about her external appearance other than that she was incredibly beautiful. Furthermore, the time I spent with her made me realize that her inner beauty was equally striking. Although a bit different from common elves when talking about changes and such, I think it makes her even more charming in a way.

Although not for long, we stood about ten seconds staring at each other. Seeming to realize that something was amiss, she finally noticed that her hood no longer covered her face. With flushed cheeks, she quickly pulled it back up.

I, on the other hand, genuinely didn't care much about hiding my face anymore. Anyway, she already knew what I looked like. Moreover, although humans and other races are rare in Eldoria, that's just it. It's not like elves have never seen a human before; they just don't see them often.

And this resulted in Elves glancing at me momentarily but then quickly returning to what they were doing. I also doubted they would snitch on me or anything, I mean, from the perspective of the elves in this extremely closed realm, there must be some reason for having a human here.

"It was nice talking to you..."

Suddenly, while various other thoughts passed through my mind, she spoke again, this time her voice sounded so low that probably without my enhanced hearing, I wouldn't have been able to hear it.

"Do you think so? For most of our conversation, I really didn't say anything very helpful"

As soon as I mentioned that, she shook her head from side to side and sighed afterward.

"You heard me and tried to understand me. Moreover, you didn't label my words as foolish or comparable to something a child would say. It's ironic that my own race doesn't listen to me, but a human, whom we consider inferior, does... no offense"

Honestly, I don't feel offended. I mean, I'm not even human anymore. Somehow, being called human doesn't affect me anymore, as it feels distant from me. Also, I don't know if that's what you meant, but your words evoked a certain identity in my mind. As we spend more time talking, this identity intensifies even more.

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After that, we continued to talk for some more time. My face was still exposed, and, to be honest, I didn't care anymore. Before we knew it, the night grew even darker as the activity on the street diminished. At this point, we both realized that we should head back to our homes.

"...it's getting late; I think it would be unwise to prolong our stay here"

Her words brought me back to reality, making me realize that the night was getting late. Speaking of which, she was a truly fascinating person. Her stories were captivating, and her ideas often had an intriguing appeal, some even reminiscent of my old world.

Standing up, she took a step forward, but suddenly paused for a few seconds. Then, she turned to me once again. In a peculiar manner, her jade eyes shone with a greater intensity than usual.

"I'm Elowyn..."

Having said these words, she remained silent, her incredibly expressive jade eyes fixed on me. It was clear what she expected at that moment.

"I'm Makoto, nice to meet you, Elowyn"

With that, she nodded and walked off in a random direction. Once her presence was no longer visible, I got up from the bench and headed towards the inn where we were staying.

It didn't take long for me to reach the place, and just as I left, I entered. The window was already open, so all I had to do was simply jump inside. At times like these, I'm really glad I've increased my physical strength.

Anyway, upon entering the room, the first thing I noticed was that everyone was already asleep in their beds. My bed was on the far left, practically against the wall. Moreover, the beds were naturally large, so two people could fit in one bed, and that's how we would sleep.

Leona was sleeping in my bed, while Aoi and Saemi shared another, and Ana and Fujiwara shared the third. I was already quite tired from what happened throughout the day. As soon as I lay down, I quickly fell asleep. The next morning, I was awakened by something soft and fluffy on my face.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was two pairs of cute ears. I was still half-asleep, so my hands instinctively moved towards the fluffiness.

"Ah!"

A cute groan echoed, but I was still too sleepy to notice what it was. I continued to pet the fluffiness, then took a bite.

"Hyuu..."

It was at that moment that my mind began to clear, finally realizing what I was doing. However, by this time, several shadows were around me, watching.

"You're quite lively early in the morning"

Fujiwara exclaimed while watching me with a smile on her face. As soon as I heard that, I finally let go of Leona's ears and looked at her in confusion. She was right on top of me; furthermore, she still seemed to be sleeping while mumbling.

"Makoto... not now... not in front of all these people... hehe, you're really a naughty boy, aren't you?"

I was sincerely wondering what the heck Leona was dreaming about for those words to come out of her mouth. Moreover, the fact that the girls were looking at me with amused smiles on their faces made me considerably embarrassed. Not because I felt like I was doing something wrong, but because it seemed like I was doing something wrong when I shouldn't have been.

Like when your mom walks into the bathroom while you're using it without knocking first to check if anyone's there.