In this situation, what Kurtz should do next is–
“–It was absolutely HORRIBLE!!”
Listen to Feiyu’s complaints as she openly displays her anger with a pout.
“…I can imagine your feelings. Lady Feiyu, you are after all a noble person.”
“Isn’t that right!? Not only did they kidnap me, but to try to degrade me to slave status and sell me off – I won’t be satisfied until those noble faction fools are torn to pieces!!”
“Yes, yes… As you say, Lady Feiyu.”
“You’re quite an understanding child! I had thought human children were like babies compared to elves, but I shall revise my opinion!”
While saying this, Feiyu happily downs her glass.
There’s already a mountain of bottles piled up beside her.
“…Lady Feiyu, haven’t you had a bit too much to drink?”
“huff… I’m drinking in your place since you won’t drink, you know?”
“I’m sorry. Humans are not allowed to drink alcohol until they reach the age of fifteen.”
“Since no one else is around, a little bit is okay, isn’t it…?”
Puffing out her cheeks in displeasure, Feiyu fidgeted with the glass in her fingertips.
The elf was completely drunk.
Seeing Feiyu in such a state, Lucia gently tries to console her while offering her own glass.
“Now, now Lady Feiyu, I can keep you company with drinking as much as you’d like.”
“My, not only fighting but also drinking? You’re a splendid maid indeed.”
“In my homeland, we drank fruit wine instead of water. I don’t get drunk easily, so I don’t drink frequently, but if you wish, Lady Feiyu, I’ll gladly join you.”
“Uu…not only did you save my life, but you’ll also join me for drinks…I’ll sing your praises as my benefactor for generations to come!!”
After firmly shaking hands, the two tilted their glasses vigorously.
While Feiyu, being a demi-human, is likely not too intoxicated due to their alcohol tolerance, it’s Lucia keeping up at the same pace that’s more worrisome.
“…Lucia, are you really okay?”
“I’m used to it, so I’m not drunk, but my bladder might be reaching its limit.”
“Then go to the bathroom.”
“I thought the young master were prolonging the conversation to want to see his maid wet herself out of some peculiar fetish?”
“Don’t assume such strange proclivities.”
After confirming Lucia is sober, Kurtz changes his demeanor.
“Lady Feiyu, may we get to the main topic now?”
“Ah…now that you mention it, you did say you had something to discuss. Having a child relay the message is a bit vexing, though.”
“No, I’m not a messenger, but the person in question.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m the one who instructed Lucia here to rescue you. Including the information I had her pass along——”
As Kurtz tried to continue,
the table before them was smashed with a shattering sound.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
“——You’re not saying foolish things just because you think I’m drunk, are you?”
Fist still dropped, Feiyu turns her furrowed, angry crimson eyes towards him.
Elves can manipulate the magic power within to enable light and deft movements.
Not only can they leap between trees by manipulating magic, but with enough training, they can use even the slightest branches as footholds. When hunting, they can even assimilate with the surrounding magic to completely conceal their presence.
However…the crimson-eyed elf called “Blaskas” possesses a different power.
“I know of your innate magic—’Comrade’ Blaskas.”
Seeing Feiyu’s state, Kurtz adjusts his tone to confront her.
“The ability to freely control things like gathering and dispersing ‘gravity’ that equally affects all objects…that is the innate magic that manifests in the crimson-eyed born into the Blaskas family.”
“Ha…I never thought I’d hear the name ‘Comrade’ from anyone other than grandfather.”
The Blaskas family was once listed among the Comrade of the Eisenhud dukedom.
As proof, the Eisenhud prompted the manifestation of “innate magic” and exchanged the “Blood-Iron Oath” with the crimson-eyed born into the Blaskas so that their “innate magic” would be passed down.
But that is a story of the past.
“So—what business does an associate of the ‘Great Sinners’ have coming to me now?”
Feiyu questions in a low, resentful voice.
The household that called them Comrade and exchanged the imperishable Oath, only to turn their backs on it later and abandon them.
That is what the Eisenhud household represents to the demi-humans.
“I heard about the Eisenhud from grandfather since I was little. Despite being of a different race, they called us demi-humans ‘Comrade’ and vowed to rescue their Comrade no matter the adversity they faced, a great and noble lineage.”
To the demi-humans, the existence of the Eisenhud was a hero and symbol.
Cast out by human hands, they were on the verge of walking the path of elimination at one point.
It was then that the Eisenhud befriended all demi-humans and became a bridge, allowing them to unite not as individual races but as the greater group of “demi-humans” with a unity not inferior to humans.
And yet, the Eisenhud abandoned everything they had built over three centuries ago.
“Grandfather said there had to be a reason the Eisenhud would never abandon their Comrade…but the head Artesia Eisenhud never lent an ear to the demi-humans’ words, never spoke a word, never even met face-to-face.”
The demi-humans sought audiences and sent letters countless times.
But Artesia rejected them all.
“Against the unforgivable acts of ‘demi-human hunts’ aimed at us…not only did the head Artesia not rise with her Comrade, she did not even extend a hand to help, betraying the once imperishable ‘Blood-Iron Oath’ and fleeing her responsibilities as head.”
She lists Artesia’s past transgressions as if stating criminal charges.
“I am grateful you rescued me. As one who carries the blood of the Sylvayu Royal Family, I promise to grant Blaskas whatever honors you desire under my name. However—if your wish is to side with the ‘traitors,’ then as a demi-human I cannot accept it.”
These are not the words of an individual elf race.
They are the collective will of the “demi-humans” abandoned by the Eisenhud.
Which is why—
“—The ‘Blood-Iron Oath’ we made with the Eisenhud still continues.”
Upon hearing Kurtz’s words, Feiyu twists her expression in puzzlement.
“What nonsense…that was lost three centuries ago. I don’t know if you’re an Eisenhud associate or their hidden child, but if you naively believed in that betrayed Oath and helped me under that assumption, then it was a futile effort.”
“Can I take that as the will of your Comrade Trakia Blaskas?”
“…Do not casually speak my grandfather’s name.”
Feiyu thrusts her fist towards Kurtz with anger swelling within her.
“Grandfather…Trakia still believed in the Eisenhud.”
Opposite the crimson-eyed Feiyu with a faint film of tears, Kurtz quietly weaves his words.
“I know. Trakia Blaskas defended Artesia to the very end as a Comrade, even being ostracized by not just his demi-human brethren but the Blaskas retainers as well.”
Feiyu’s grandfather…Trakia continued to believe in the Eisenhud until the end.
Despite being stripped of his position in the Blaskas household and ordered to live in exile, he kept sending letters stating he would “certainly aid them as a Comrade” to the Eisenhud.
“Grandfather fondly spoke of how the Eisenhud called us ‘Comrade’ and said ‘they’re the ones who see our crimson eyes and call them beautiful.'”
Among elves, crimson eyes are seen as an ominous symbol associated with “fire.”
Which is why the ancient custom was to dispose of crimson-eyed newborns as ill-omened children.
However…when a crimson-eyed child was born into the Blaskas, a branch family of the royals, the king at the time took pity and declared an “end to the outdated, mistaken custom.”
But that could not have been an entirely happy path.
The crimson-eyed were subjected to the slanted gaze and contempt of their demi-human brethren, and the discriminatory ideology against the rarely born crimson eyes has not been completely eliminated even now.
With the Eisenhud, who had been friendly, absent, not only Trakia but Feiyu herself faced no small amount of mistreatment within the royal family, I’ve heard.
Yet Grandfather Trakia continued believing in the Eisenhud, speaking of them,
That there were those who would call them “friends” despite being scorned by demi-human brethren.
That there were those who would not abhor the crimson eyes they were born with, but praise their radiance—
“—’If our brethren loathe our crimson eyes, then let us who bear the name of iron and blood call them friends.'”
Feiyu’s eyes widen slightly after Kurtz weaves those words.
“That is—”
“Words the founding lord of Eisenhud spoke to the prince of Blaskas at the time.”
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