Sendai Yuusha wa Inkyou Shitai

The Elf Girl Observes

「Nn………」

Basking in the sun’s light, I wake up.

I, who takes pride in being one who is good with waking up, without being captured by the drowsiness of waking up, got up.

「…? …………!」

At the time I get up, pain starts running all over my body.

Just when I was thinking “Why?” I remember the reason.

I was, in the middle of my journey, surrounded by those hideous Orcs, ganged up on and beaten, then was brought to their nest.

Then, the moment it seemed like I was about to be raped, a light had completely enveloped me.

That’s right, just like this downpour of sunshine from the heavens, a warm light had……

Just what in the world was that? Just when I was thinking that, the room’s door was opened.

「Ara? So you’ve woken up?」

The one that appeared from the opened wooden door was a brown haired woman.

「Is there anywhere that hurts?」

The woman asked that as she took a seat in the chair that was placed right next to me, who was sitting on the bed.

「……A bit. However, there, ish no, problem, with da moving, parts.」

It’s clumsy Ishurel language. Even I know it.

However, for someone who was in the Elf village just a few years ago, I think that I’ve made some pretty good progress.

「Fufu, that certainly is good.」

She showed me a smile that was reminiscent of a flower.

「What, ish, your, name?」

This woman was probably the one who saved me. I wanted to know her name.

「My name is Sherry. And what is your name?」

「Me, Lililuri. In, old words, it meansh, healing, person.」

「Really. It certainly is a good name. It’s wonderful.」

She probably genuinely thinks that. She answered with a smile that even I who was of the same gender would be charmed by it.

I’ve confirmed it. That this woman is the one that had saved me.

「Sherry, san. Are you, da one, that sha, saved me?」

That’s why I tried to tell her my gratitude, but she shook her head at my words and denied it.

「No. The one that saved you was a man from the guild called Yuuya Shirou.」

◇

「This, person did?」

「Yes. ……Fufu, he certainly does sleep well, doesn’t he?」

Just as I said that I’d like to thank the man who had saved me, she brought me to a different room in the same house.

What was there was,

「Uhehehe~, Sherry-san is the type that looks thinner dressed up, aren’t you~……Gukoh~」

while making a slovenly face, a sleeping man that was probably doing dirty things to Sherry-san in his dreams.

「………」

I was unintentionally at a loss for words.

I was saved by such a, such an ill-natured man……?

The man that saved me was, as the people of this country say, a “prince on a white horse”-like person……I wanted to scold myself for visualizing such a naïve imagination even for a second.

「Nn~, chu chu chu chu.」

「！？」

My loathing went running.

He suddenly faced the sky, pushed out his lips, and started to pretend like he was kissing.

No, he probably is. In his dream, facing Sherry-san.

「Fufufu. He’s so interesting, isn’t he?」

Just as I was shuddering out of total disgust, Sherry-san that was next to me laughed.

「Inter, esting? ……This, ish?」

「Yes. He’s different from how he normally is, isn’t he? ……Ah, I see. Lililuri doesn’t know about it. ……Just watch, ‘kay?」

Just as I was pointing my finger as if I were looking at filth, she giggled and got close to him and whispered.

「Would you like to eat? Would you like to have a bath? ……Or maybe………」

「I’ll have Sherry-saannnnn! ………Huh? ……What was I doing just now?」

Having been awoken all at once by her whispers, he got up and, probably because his mind just opened up, he tilted his head from how his dream had such a huge difference from the scene that was now before him.

「Fufu. Good morning, Yuuya-san. Breakfast is ready, you know?」

「Thank you very much, Sherry-san. ……What is for breakfast today?」

As Sherry greeted him, who was now awake, he changed to something like a well-mannered young man with a refreshing attitude that wouldn’t let you feel the perverseness that was there up until now.

「It’s Horn Rabbit Stew. I’m pretty confident in it, you know?」

「Really? I, love, Sherry-san……, ‘s stew!」

「Ufufu, thank you very much. Could I have you go downstairs ahead of me?」

「Sure!」

Saying that, he left refreshed.

「See? Isn’t it cute? How even though he has perverted eyes, yet desperately tries to hide it.」

It looks like I’ve misunderstood Sherry.

Sherry, you’re probably one of those so called devilish-types.

◇

From then on, taking one day, I observed this man called Yuuya Shirou.

・The Yuuya Shirou that was helping with the field work at the village is staying at.

While helping out with something he’s not used to, or maybe field work is just fun but, how he brought down a hoe into the ground to his own humming, that figure somehow even made me start to enjoy it.

But when Sherry appears, he openly looks at her body as if licking her all around.

As I thought, he’s a pervert.

・Once again helping out, the Yuuya Shirou that helps with the wood cutting job.

He showed the professional woodcutter such skill that it was enough to shock him. He smashed a large tree whose thickness surpassed that of a large adult in just one stroke, and on that large tree that was about to fall from being split in half, before it fell, you could see that it was finely chopped.

Because he did this with the axe that the woodcutter uses which emphasized more on firmness rather than sharpness, it was tremendous.

But, when he was praised by Sherry who had heard about it, at that moment, that manliness that was there up until then collapsed and he began a weird laugh with a slovenly face.

As I thought, he’s a pervert.

・When it’s past noon, the Yuuya Shirou that becomes the village’s children’s playmate.

Once lunch was done, maybe having made a promise, he began playing with the village’s children.

In a game called tag, when the role that was called “it” (basically only one person) touches one of the people running a way, the “it” changes to the one that was touched. It’s a strange game that changes the chasers.

When he becomes “it”, he chases after the runners at a speed that isn’t how he is normally, but oppositely, when becomes a runner, he raises the fun by making movements that could be said to be slowly running away.

Like he was restricted to a place, at times when I see that he was cornered to a wall, I also start to laugh.

But the moment that Sherry enters his view, his movements change. He caught the children with inhuman looking movements and began to run away.

The children that saw those movements were screaming happily about it. I was enraged and thought “Do you want to show your good points to Sherry enough to destroy the game’s balance?”

He was a pervert after all.

・The Yuuya Shirou that practices swinging with a wooden sword.

Making a unanimous end to his games with the children, he headed back home while saying “See you tomorrow” and making a bitter smile to the children that were whining that they wanted to play more.

I’m sure that he made the promise from today like this too.

Sending all of the children home, he got a wooden sword from Sherry’s grandfather who was also this village’s chief and began to practice swinging the wooden sword in the house’s garden.

Swinging down the raised up wooden sword, swinging down when it was raised up. He repeated that monotonous action many, many times.

At first I thought that it was boring, but, within those many repetitions, I eventually began to think of that movement as beautiful.

I knew that that refined action had, even if it was that barbaric so called swordsmanship, changed in a supreme art.

As he repeated his swinging practice, he suddenly thrust the wooden sword into the ground and stripped his upper clothing.

T, to be stripping his clothes outdoors! He really is a pervert! Was how I was panicking, but as he tossed his clothes, *dosa*, it made a sound that I wouldn’t think fallen clothes would make.

He had made an unusual amount of sweat and he cast aside the clothes that had absorbed that sweat which made it heavier.

The muscles that appeared from under the clothes, they had also reached the utmost limits.

Would it be fine to say that it didn’t have any useless fat? His body possessed monster-like muscles that had been optimized to move at a speed that was like the wind.

It’s not like he was really muscular, and yet, those who caught sight of it wouldn’t be able to look away.

Having stripped off the clothes of his upper have, he, not practicing swings this time, as if there were an enemy right before him, began swinging.

*Bun*, *Bun*. The wooden sword made a wind cutting sound each time he swung.

As he swung his sword, he glared at the empty space before him with a sharp gaze.

I remember that I shuddered at the sharpness of that gaze.

It was a gaze that said, “I can’t overlook any of the opponent’s slightest movements!”

It felt like anyone exposed to that gaze that looked like it could kill would be filled with fear and become unable to fight.

And then, I sure that he would, like a snake, slyly finish off that enemy whose movements had been dulled.

There is no way that anyone could forget that fearfulness.

What a calculated fight it must be.

My thoughts that were thinking that way were betrayed in a good way.

*Ni* (grin).

He smiled.

Not a smile that looked like it ate people up, but just one that genuinely enjoyed the fight, that smile that looked just like a child’s.

*Dokun*, I knew that my heart was throbbing.

……Just what stupid thing am I thinking of? He didn’t do such a calculated fight at all.

No, that’s not right either.

That’s right, someone that would be unable to fight after taking in that gaze that could kill wouldn’t even be an enemy for him!

He had endured, acknowledged a first-rate swordsman that had come, and fought him.

Then, that someone who had made a smile surface on him, they must have been an opponent that he had recognized enough to have been fun.

If that rival were here in front of him right now, the greatest battle of the century would’ve been burned into my eyes……

I remembered the strange disappointment of not being able to see his rival that was floating in empty space.

*Bun*!

I wonder how much time has passed since he started practice swinging.

As an especially large wind slash resounded, the wooden sword that was swung stopped in mid-air, and as if time had stopped, *pita*, his figure had become motionless.

The outcome was determined.

I’m sure that the blade that was stilled in mid-air was right at the rival’s neck.

Would anyone blame me for mistaking the wooden sword for a famed sword that was forged by a peerless master smith?

Having been shown a supreme battle of warriors, I had applauded “both” warriors without thinking.

「！」

He saw me.

*Dokun*. My chest had throbbed once again.

His eyes were round with surprise. Rather, did he think that there weren’t any onlookers?

「……」

I worried, “Did I destroy the world of those two?”. But, by the embarrassed smile that was suitable for his age that he showed me that next moment,

my heart was stolen.

*Dokun, Dokun Dokun*. It won’t stop.

The throbbing in my chest won’t stop.

What just happened? My chest is, moving so intensely it hurts.

My face is getting hot and it’s so painful even breathing is hard. …………Just what, ……is this?

Just as I was panicking over my body’s first abnormality that I could remember, Sherry-san appeared from out of the Village Chief’s house, calling out to me and him saying “Dinner’s ready.”

That gallant, keen-edged atmosphere that came from him up until then being blown away, he tossed aside the wooden sword that made you think it was his beloved sword that he had spent a lifetime with, and ran to Sherry-san with a slovenly face.

Seeing that figure, for some reason, I thought with sorrow rather than disgust.

Different from before, my chest was attacked with a pain that seemed to burst.

Though I was about to shed tears from the pain, as I picked up the clothes that he had tossed aside, strangely, it felt like the pain had softened just a bit.

He’s……a pervert, ……probably…

◇

「Fuu…」

Having had dinner, I make a small sigh in the room that I was sleeping in when I had woken up early.

Just as I had sat on the bed, *kon kon*, the door to the room was knocked on.

「Yes, come in.」

「Fufu」

The one that appeared behind the opened door was Sherry-san.

「How was he? ……Was he, really such a bad guy?」

Just like this morning, she sat in the chair near the bed and kindly asked with a smile.

「……No. …Wasn’t, a bad, human, at all.」

I understood after observing him for the whole day today. Though he certainly is a human that seems to think about indecent things when he sees women, especially Sherry, he definitely isn’t evil.

Rather, there are probably many that adore him…is the personality that he has that makes you think that.

Continuing on, from his diligence in becoming someone else strength to the kindness that he showed the children. And then, from what he showed me with the wooden sword in his hand, that gallantry.

The world being as it is, if he were to have some kind of ambition, wouldn’t it be big enough to set him up as a hero. His actions were enough to make Lililuri think so.

「Really, well isn’t that great. For you to have been saved by such a guy.」

「!?」

At her nonchalant words, I took enough of a shock to involuntarily stand up.

Yes, that’s right. ……I haven’t said a single word of gratitude to him.

What a foolish thing for me to do!

To him who had saved me, whose dignity as a person, together with my body, was about to be raped and violated, ……I had, I had not told him any words of gratitude.

On top of that, I had tried to [probe] him, the one that saved me!

……Such an outrageous…, how could I, do such a thing.

That would just be returning favor with enmity, wouldn’t it!?

「……!」

I dashed out. I wanted to meet him immediately, and tell him my thanks.

「Fufu.」

Seeing Sherry-san’s smile that I saw just before I left the room, I also had a deep gratitude within my heart for her.

◇

*Kon, kon*

I lightly knock on the door of the room that he is probably in.

「Ye~s」

Together with the stretched voice, from the opened door was the figure of him half way out.

「Ah. ……Uhm…」

He couldn’t help but have a long pause.

After all, without revealing my name to him, I went and “observed” him, looking down on him.

「Th, that is……I want to say, gratitude.」

At this time, I terribly cursed my clumsy words.

I can’t convey it with such words. My appreciation, nor my apologies, I can’t express them.

Just as I was suffering, he changed that expression with a bitter smile into a grin.

『In that case, I’d like to know your name.』

*Dokun!*

In a sweet, whisper like voice, the words he muttered, they were in the language of my hometown that I could use the best.

『You know the Alexelia (a-lek-se-li-a) language!?』

I immediately respond in the Alexelia language, a peculiar language that had been handed down among the elves.

『Yeah. There was a male elf that was a good friend of mine, see. During my arguments with him, I learned it.』

Him saying that and closing one eye and winking, I made a small giggling laugh.

『I’m Yuu. Yuu Yashiro.』

『Eh?』

The words that he suddenly said, I couldn’t immediately understand them.

『Your name is…?』

He had, asked for my name. I’m sure that my actions were fast after understanding that.

『Lililuri. My name is Lililuri.』

To me that had pretty much reflexively answered, he,

『A healing person…That’s a fine name.』

That’s right, he smiled.