Chapter 25

----------------------------------------

Our progress from that point was smooth. Although we were a lot slower than when we were alone, we reached the village by sundown. The journey was exhausting, but everyone was delighted. Tailfolk and elves alike, they shouted as they met their fellow races. Lily smiled as she watched them hug each other. Wharnebald came out to look at the commotion we made. Still, he quickly wrote an emergency letter to Edelweiss when he saw the elves we saved.

Wharne made an emergency tent for our new refugee and housed the elves at the village chief house. The discrimination was apparent, but nobody complained. We all knew that we were in elven land. The hostages questioned the villager about Lily, and they pointed to our village. The emergency tent was then given to our village as they deemed it fit for the new refugees to be in our jurisdiction.

"This place is very nice," Lily commented at the inn Lhorne recommended. "Are you sure we can stay here for free?"

"Yes! Wharne explicitly stated that this four-star inn was free for the three of us! Even Mattheus was allowed to stay here!" Lhorne said proudly. The elf was hostile toward humans, but the tailfolk adopted suspicious behavior. They didn't outright hate humans, but they tended to avoid Mattheus where ever he went.

"So, will you have dinner? Or will you sleep?" Lhorne asked. He was gushing about the excellence of this particular inn. "The Catkin and Wolfkin here were educated to be polite enough even for elven standard."

"I will have dinner. Then sleep."

"Of course not! You need to take a bath too! Just look at our bodies. It is full of dirt, soot, sweat, and blood!! how can you sleep like this!" Nora shouted. "This inn has a bathroom, right?"

"Of course, this inn has bathrooms. Don't joke around. We elves also love to take baths. We had bath salts, soaps, shampoo, conditioners, towels, showers, bathtubs…." Lhorne continued to praise the excellence of the elven community. He was smiling while gushing out his prideful elven origin.

"We are famished. May Cybele and Dryades forgive us for our poor attire. We hadn't eaten anything since yesterday and were in a difficult battle for our lives. I pray that our apparel didn't offend you too much." Lhorne eloquently spoke to the waiter. The wolfkin bowed while smiling and took our orders.

"This dish is River Lobster, and this dish is salted bacon with cheese, and the main dish for today is a red curry hotpot with juvenile Moss Boar and spices. Dear heroes of tailfolk. Please enjoy them!" The handsome wolfkin winked at us.

"Please have our complimentary chips for free!" Catkins suddenly intruded and handed bowels full of chips before us. Her eyes shined as if they had met their idol for the first time.

"Thank you!!" Lily ate with gusto while smiling at Nora. She was amazed at the hot food before her. She never ate anything warm in her life since she usually got leftovers from Luigi. However, today, she can eat up anything, and everything will be prepared specially for her.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I looked around while wagging my tail. The chair was annoying as the backrest really hindered my movements. Surprisingly, we were the only ones eating. Other guests look at us like some sort of animal zoo. A lot of waitress tailfolk looked at us while whispering. When Lily glanced at them, they smiled while waving their hands.

"Ahh, we now have that idol treatment. Even the elf customer looked at us while whispering about our achievements. They can't ignore us since we also saved elves from evil human slavery. After the word spread out, the few elves patron then stood up and greeted us after hearing the story of our exploit from an excited tailfolk. Lhorne stopped eating immediately as he returned their greeting while retelling our achievement. He pointed to a sack containing Silvester's head as he reveled in victory.

"The elves only lightly greeted us. They mostly went to Lhorne…." Lily whispered to me in her mind. She had enough of the food and was currently drinking water. She seemed uncomfortable since Lhorne and the other guests were chatting about her before her eyes while seemingly ignoring her. They didn't say anything bad. Lhorne was gushing us with praises, but Lily couldn't mix into their conversation, which led to her annoyance.

"Yeah, the elf's language was sophisticated. I am sure that they feel uncomfortable with how you phrase your words. See, Lhorne explained about the ordeal and trial of life from the heavens, while you only say we had a hard fight with Silvester but still won."

"But the waiter and some tailfolk merchants were eager to talk to us…." Lily commented.

"Yeah. This is about different customs between races."

"Good day Miss Lily. Have a nice rest. May your slumber be blessed by the tail of the moonlight." Lhorne's friend smiled at us while saying goodbye. Lily only tilted her head in confusion as she saw the man leave.

"You are supposed to answer, 'May you also be blessed by the illumination of the earliest star.'" Lhorne said while sighing. How are we supposed to know that? These elves are a total pain in the neck!

"Are there schools to teach us these manners?" Lily parrotted my questions. Regardless of these stuck-up elves, we are in their community now. We need to learn one way or the other.

"Oh! Yeah, of course! In fact, Madam Edelweiss already applied you to go to a regional school in Regoia!" Lhorne said as he smiled at us. Lily was pouting as she didn't seem eager to attend these schools.

"Let us have the night so we may be blessed in the next dawn," Lhorne said as he bowed to Lily.

"Thank you. Good night!" Lily smiled while waving. I followed suit by waving my tail to him.

Lhorne looked at us while smirking teasingly. We went to our separate bedrooms after that.

"The bed is so soft!!" Lily said as she spread her arm in an attempt to hug the mattress. She snuggled the soft feather pillow.

"Lily!!" Nora shouted. Our bodies weren't that dirty since we did bathe in the river after the assault, but she still scolded us regardless. "The bathroom is this way!"

"Come on! Let's take a bath together!!" Nora jumped while herding Lily into the bathroom.

"NO!" I tried to hug Lily with all my might as Nora wanted to grab me.

"Ara,♪ we also had a new brush. You know♪ , unlike that brush for horses like before, this one was made for furry tailfolk and not for the scaly ones. Look♪! Feel it!♪ it is soft, right?" She said as she rubbed the brush on her hand. It is soft, and when she moved the scrub, it felt like it scratched the itches we never knew we had.

"So, will you let me brush this tail?" Nora stroked my tail, and I felt a shudder of pleasure.

"Lily… Please… No…❤" I pleaded to Lily with all my might without letting it go.

"Shiro doesn't like you. Could you give me the brush?" Lily said while she protected me from Nora's perverted hand.

"Ahh… what a shame, your tail was so beautiful. Please let me hug it as my pillow!"

"No! Shiro is mine!" she hugged me. Nora then gave up and washed her body. Lily then carefully cleaned and brushed me. Her movement was soft as if she was massaging me, and when she moved her brush, it felt like she scratched the itch on my back. I never felt more comfortable than ever.

The next day, a letter of summoning came to us.