"Mirna you have fuzz on your chest."

"Ah, What is this?" She says pressing a hand to her bare chest. "Why am I sticky? Captain?"

"No. It's the glue Mirna, get your mind out of the gutter."

"Oh, right! What gutter though?"

"Never mind, I thought you were referring to something else. Do you still have your leaves from yesterday or did you lose them last night?"

"They are here." She says grasping at a handful of twigs from the side table.

"You got it?"

"Yep. Hows it look?"

"Well, you still are covered in fuzz. Do you wanna wash up and get a new coating of glue? I think El brought some back to the ship."

"No bath. I'm fine."

"Well at least wipe the red fuzz off," I say handing her a warm towel.

"Muh fine. But you have to glue me."

"I… Alright fine."

"Make sure you do it well so they don't fall off again. That was embarrassing." She says wiping at her chest and crotch with the wet rag. She lightly sniffs the towel before handing it back to me.

"So it's embarrassing to lose your leaf but it's not embarrassing for me to spread sap onto your chest and crotch?" I ask retrieving the rag and returning it to storage.

"Why? You are Captain, I don't mind you seeing or feeling me. But for random people to see my most private areas..."

"I see."

"Mhm."

So half naked is fine though? I don't get it. I figured the girls would be actively against dressing so… lewdly. I was rolling with it because it's the culture here but I didn't hear a single complaint from them.

Secret exhibitionists? No, that's culturally insensitive. It couldn't be that. Their reasoning must be the same as mine.

"Captain," Rou says glancing at me once Mirna and I were done getting ‘dressed'. "What took you two so long? El already ran off with her sister."

"Oh, that's understandable. The two have been separated a long time. What's the plan today?"

"I will conveniently ignore the fact that you didn't answer my question." She says with a playful scowl. "Nothing in particular though, explore the city, try some food, the normal tourist stuff."

"Sounds good. Where's everyone else?"

"Bath, it seems everyone woke up covered in blanket fuzz."

"Ah, yeah Mirna and I had that same issue," I say sitting down beside her and taking a few half-cooled cookies from storage. "Mirna do you want to get started on a quick breakfast?"

"No, problem!" She says dashing towards the kitchen island and beginning work on oatmeal.

She always yells at me whenever I take premade meals from storage for breakfast so I've learned to properly ask her.

Mirna worked away in the kitchen, as Rou and I talked about various things. Soon a trickle of other crew members finished bathing, collect around the table beside us.

"Done!" Mirna happily says, placing a large pot of oatmeal in front of the group. We all quickly dig in.

"It smells like..." A voice says stepping through the door. "Yep thought so, Wendy you have to try some of this!"

El leads her sister by the arm into our galley and quickly pulls a seat up beside her own and sits the girl down.

"But Ely it's rude too..."

"Oh, no it's fine, the more the merrier. I'm sure Mirna would love to get more compliments on the taste."

Mirna smugly nods while taking a large spoonful into her mouth.

"Is it..."

"Yes, it's vegan you weirdo," El says, barely glancing towards her.

"Well, actually it..."

"Shhh, Captain." She says glaring at me.

Eh? Ah, alright fine. I suppose cream is fairly unknown in this world, she probably won't notice.

"This is amazing!" Wendewyn says shoveling bites into her mouth rapidly. Only pausing briefly to moan happily. "It's so smooth, but it's more filling than soup. Is this wheat?"

"Oats."

"Ah! We should look into growing this. El how well do you think it would..."

"It's better on plains, but it will grow for sure, the soil here will probably need a bit of work to be ideal."

"We can ask Kapi for help, she's good with ground refurbishment."

"Why don't you two speak Elvish to each other? Wouldn't it be easier?"

"Eh, but that's rude."

"Exactly, it's not nice to speak an unknown language while in another person's home. Common courtesy would be to speak Common."

"I see," I say with a nod. "Oh, you mentioned another name. Who's Kapi?"

"Maid in our household. She's really good with magic stuff. Probably one of the best in the forest."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

It couldn't be, right?

No way. El would have figured it out by now if she were. I just subconsciously expect everyone is a spirit at this point. I wondered at first if perhaps it was Wendy but that didn't make sense.

But I am curious when we will finally come across the Elf spirit. I honestly thought it would have happened by now. But I haven't gotten a telepathic message or anything. Maybe she doesn't want to meet me?

She could be the shy type.

Everyone finished their meals and happily patted their bare bellies. I could definitely get used to staying here. But I need to get my blood pressure in check.

"Ready to explore?" El says leaping up from her chair and losing a few leaves in the process.

"I think so? Everyone good?"

"Yep, let's find good food!"

"No, we have to find a good bar!"

"Are there any strong elves I could fight?"

"Yeah, yeah! That too!"

"Donwyn is pretty strong."

"Eh? Him again, it looked boring when El fought him."

"Ely? You fought Don?"

"I creamed him."

"What!? How?!"

"I am much stronger than I was when I left!"

"I suppose you would have to be considering how long you lived on that island. And the amount of lifeforce you have." Wendy says gazing at El with mana running through her eyes.

"Ah, that's..."

"Sorry, that… I know you don't want to talk about that."

"It's ok. I have learned to live with it." El says with a half smile.

I suppose being turned to a demon has a benefit or two?

I can tell that the empathy I once had is slowly dwindling, I'm sure the same is true for the girls. But I don't think its the worst thing in the world. I think its necessary to live this life.

We departed the ship and began walking amongst the forest. The shops were mostly located in an outlying tree amongst the forest, I suspect it's location is probably based on the closeness to the port.

We climbed the wood spiral staircase up towards the canopy. Much of the wood appeared to be reinforced with magic, although the deck itself was normal whitish wood.

"It's so it can sway. Elf wood snaps when it bends so we need to be careful where to use it." Wendy says noticing my gaze.

"Interesting. I thought it made everything better. In fact isn't that what you told me?" I ask towards El who nonchalantly glances around.

"Ah, well El is only a child. She would only understand such a basic understanding. In fact depending on how it's performed the treatment can strengthen many different properties. I noticed your hull was somewhat roughly performed. Ely, you really should have been more careful."

"Muh, it works fine so who cares."

"But it could work better. If you had paid more attention in cl…"

"Lalalalalalalalalala" El sings over the words continuing ahead of her sister up the stairs.

"Such a baby," Wendy says in exasperation.

"How much older exactly are…"

"A century."

"A ce… Excuse me?"

"Hmm, it's not so strange. My parents are over eight hundred years old. If we had children at the rate humans do, our numbers would grow far too quickly. A hundred years between children is normal, although it's not under our control exactly."

"I see."

"That's right if you ever want the touch of a real adult Elf, feel free to call." Wendy says smirking and following after her sister.

However, she doesn't make it far before bumping into one of the tan skinned maids I recognized from yesterday.

"Who is an adult?" The woman says looking down at the Rou-sized Wendy. El hides behind her and smirks coyly.

"Ah, Kapi… I was just…"

"I can still faintly remember the smell of your diapers you know."

"Don't say that so loudly! Muhhhh..." Wendy says frowning and casually avoiding my gaze.

But when exactly is one considered an adult in the elf world? I suppose the King and Queen are surely adults at eight hundred, I wonder how old this Kapi is? She doesn't look much older than…

Oh. I see.

Now I feel dumb. I suppose I should start trusting my gut feeling.

"Ah if you keep staring at me with those lewd eyes I'll..." Kapi says blushing and covering her chest with her arms.

You say that but you are clearly excited.

No, don't tell me I was right again. Is this one exhibitionist the reason for all these elves attire? Damien, you left the wrong person in charge.