Waking up as usual, I felt a presence watching over me while sighing by my side. To ascertain who it was, I feigned sleep.
According to [Sense Presence], it was the Elven Maiden-san. For now, I want to ask "What are you doing?"
Later, Gobumi-chan-chan, Redhead, Blacksmith-san, Sisters-san and Alchemist-san all had me surrounded and were examining me closely as well, again I wondered why they were doing this.
Since it is impossible to feign sleeping forever and because I felt an eerie feeling from the looks of Gobumi-chan and the others that sent a chill down my spine, I opened my eyes.
Elven Maiden-san went into a panic, her movements were so funny that I laughed in spite of myself. Then I got hit by her.
Why?
After that I finished my breakfast, then sparred against Gobukichi-kun who just like me after becoming an ogre couldn't participate in the others' training, because an ogre can easily kill a hobgoblin even when holding back.
After we finished, the morning training was still in progress, so I told the hobgoblin currently in charge of the morning training that Gobukichi-kun-kun and I are going to escort Elven Maiden-san to the Elves' Village, then we departed from the mine.
We advanced on the way to « The Elves' Village » while hunting Argiopes etc. on the way and after walking for about three hours we finally arrived at the village.
We were suddenly surrounded by elves, there was 25 of them in our view, but according to [Sense Presence] there was actually 48.
They are aiming at my and Gobukichi-kun's vitals with bows and arrows made of [Mithril]. This isn't that dangerous of a situation for us though.
I can kill all of them easily if I used all my abilities and with our armors on the mithril arrows would just get reflected even if it's fired at a close range. In addition, the life force of an ogre is not something that can be underestimated.
Though receiving a direct hit to an unprotected head would be somewhat dangerous, but I am confident that we can avoid an arrow aimed at our heads even if it's shot at point blank range.
However, it is troublesome to fight here, in addition, Elven Maiden-san is here.
By reflex, Gobukichi-kun was about to slaughter the elves. He equipped his axe and shield immediately - he didn't have to carry them around because he's storing them in the bracelet-type magic item - . By the way, the bracelet-type magic item can hold up to 12 types of items and it is possible to stack 20 of the same type of item. I stopped him with a hand signal and Elven Maiden-san managed to talk down the surrounding elves quickly.
Then we entered the village while being surrounded by elves who were monitoring us under the pretense of escorts.
As for the structure of « The Elves' Village », to put it simply they live inside carved giant trees.
It is built around one enormous tree that you cannot see right when you enter the village. Traffic is handled by the other trees having scaffolds complete with stairs, residences, and suspension bridges.
The living area is primarily in the trees and not on the ground.
It's unlikely that everyone are living in trees though, since I can see things like stables on the ground.
While being exposed to uncomfortable looks ranging from disdaining to curious looks we continued climbing up the stairs, then crossed a bridge before arriving at our destination at last.
There was a mansion with a size completely different compared to the others. Apparently this is Elven Maiden-san's home.
We went into the mansion, where I met with the father of Elven Maiden-san.
He had a splendid mustache and was a Dandy looking old man with a fine toned body for an elf. If I were an elf, I would have felt jealous.
I tried sitting on a seat I was offered, but it creaked disagreeably, so I had to politely decline. Tea was served and as it got time to refill we moved onto business.
To summarize the contents of our agreement, because I saved Elven Maiden-san I'm going to receive a reward.
I didn't help her for free, but I didn't not know how much to ask for as I didn't how precious his daughter is for him and because it was my first time doing something like this, however, the main reason why I didn't ask him how much I wanted directly is to probe his personality.
I decided to ask him to give me a reward suitable for someone who saved his daughter's life, in other words a reward big enough to exchange for the life of Elven Maiden-san.
He said "Ask what you want, here's no need to be polite about it, is there?", then I retorted "She's your daughter, give me a reward appropriate for someone who saved her life". I implied my request like this.
He may hate me for it, however, if it's to know how he will act upon it and to understand his personality, it's a cheap price.
These were my only intentions.
To be honest the result was unexpected, but an [Ancient]-Ranked [Artifact] ended up in my possession.
The magic weapon was in the shape of a bow, and according to [Appraisal] it's name is [Sure Hit Great Bow (Failnaught)].
It does not require arrows, when the bow is fully drawn the arrow is materialized by a mysterious power, therefore it will not run out of arrows.
It possesses a unique ability just like its name implies which is called [Certain Hit], by this ability's effect the arrows shot by this bow will always hit their target, unless it is protected by a shield. It also possess other abilities that improve its power.
This bow seems to be one of this family's heirlooms considering Elven Maiden-san's reaction to it. Nothing is impossible to exchange for his beloved daughter, huh. He must be a really doting father.
Well, I can't help but be satisfied with such a reward.
After getting a family heirloom, I felt a little bad about leaving just like this, so I decided to give him some of the information that I had about the human's army.
It's also because I like Father Elf's personality.
"Ah, that's right, the humans will use this route too"
"They'll will reach the forest in about..."
"This trap is actually pretty effective in this scenario, it would be a good idea to use this strategy here too"
When I leaked some information, he said "I'll pay, so please continue".
The rewards were 30 chainmail shirts made of [Mithril], 30 [Mithril] short swords, 20 [Mithril] Ingots and a few magic items convenient for day to day life.
I got rewarded by someone who knows how important these information are.
He is basically saying " I'm glad he's someone that values information". ~Obarou
While I was watching Father Elf who was writing down the information about the human's army and about the traps and strategies that I recommended for him, I took out ten each of the knives made from [Water Spirit Stones], [Earth Spirit Stones] and [Wind Spirit Stones] by Blacksmith-san and put them on the desk.
Also while I was at it, I took out three shovel-type [Unique]-Ranked magic items with abilities suitable for the elves who excel at handling [Spirit]s.
It's not like I was thinking of selling him a favor, but I thought that it would make up for the shortage in combatants caused by the loss of the elite elves.
Our negotiations were safely concluded with this. Then, I exchanged a solid handshake with Father Elf while smiling amicably.
However, when I was asked "Do you know the whereabouts of the elite unit?", I had no choice but to smile and say "I don't know".
When we were about to head back, Father Elf gave me some souvenirs while saying "This is the elves's secret medicine, in addition, this is an elven alcohol. Please take them". By the way, there were three casks of the alcohol.
Yep, this was thanks to [Luck], wasn't it?
I'm looking forward to drinking this alcohol.
Before we left, Father Elf said "This a cheap price compared to the help you provided me".
At night. Since we finally got our long-awaited alcohol, I drank with everyone.
"Elven alcohol tastes so good--------!!" I shouted involuntarily.
Yeah, I'll have Father Elf treat me again.