(A/N: Reference picture of Shella )
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Sharin guided me to the place where Shella usually trained and left me alone as soon he spotted Shella sitting under a beautiful white flowers tree .
The weather of this place was almost similar to Zürich , so I didn't had any problem with change of temperature.
I silently approached her and saw her spacing out with her hands plucking the petals of the white flower.
Her facial features were really good that can make anyone feel attracted and the most fascinating thing was her ears which I really wanted to stroke atleast once. Her beautiful white hairs were fluttering due to the breeze which made her look more attractive.
[She is you future wife then why the resistance ? Just jump on her!]
"Shella san , can we talk for a moment?" I didn't had a mask when i approached her .
She got startled and dropped the flower and turned her head toward me .
"Y-yes ." She stammered a bit while replying . Her ears were slightly red ,and twitched a little.
'Cute'. I managed to stop my urge to fondle then and sat beside her , while maintaining my distance.
"Are you okay with this marriage and all ?"I asked while gazing toward the hazy sky .
" Yes . If it's about the safety for my people then I can do anything". She said in a low tone but there wasn't any hesitation in her words.
" Shella san, you know the seal of marriage will disappear if between one of us leave this world right?" I asked as what I have heard from Sharin san ,while we were walking toward this place. He was a little disappointed with my enquiry about divorce when I haven't even married yet.
"Yes ,why do you ask?" Her face turned toward me suddenly.
" I don't know if you will believe me but I am not from this world and after saving your tribe , I will return to the place where I belong and where my loved ones are waiting for me". I said the truth as I didn't wanted to make her sad afterward or maybe this could make her happy to realise that she won't be binded with a stranger for her life.
"So after marriage, you will save us and leave this world right? " She asked and her voice deemed to inaudible pitch.
" Yeah thats what I planned, so don't worry you will be in a relation with me for only 10 days at most . So until then let's get along ". I peeked my head , trying to look her into her eyes.
"..."
".. Shella? "
She stood up all of sudden and before leaving just said these words.
" Please take care of me until then, husband" .
I didnt knew why but I felt a little happy to hear the word husband but I couldnt bring myself to think any further in this matter as I didn't wanted to cheat on Miyuki and Nino.
[Sometime you really are insensitive]
'Huh? '.
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Shella POV:
I just ran away from Izumi san even I shouldn't had. I didn't knew why but when he said we will get separated after marriage, it made me sad, very sad.
The time when he asked my hand in marriage infront of grandpa , I was literally shocked but didn't reacted as I knew Izumi san is only trying to help my tribe . But when I saw his face , my heart skipped a bit. I would be lying if I say that I wasn't attracted by his face but I was sure that it wasn't love at all.
I don't know what love or liking someone was as I never had any relationship in the past .
I only admired my big brother as he was truly exceptional warrior and in my eyes as well as a great man but when i met Izumi san i realised how much kind and selfless a person could be.
He literally came out of nowhere just to help our tribe from getting enslaved and in return didn't asked anything.
I had saw his eyes , even for seconds but I didn't felt any greediness but only warmth.
And when he defeated my brother so easily , I felt him very handsome.
'Oh my lord... What am I even thinking". I hid my blushing face behind my palms and ran toward my house.
I didn't knew whether I like him or not but one thing was clear for me that I wanted to know about Izumi san more.
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I came back to the centre of the village, without my mask as it was no point to wear it when chief of the village have saw my face.
I was recieving many glances but it wasn't filled with disgust or wariness but curiosity and sense of approachibility from them.
I walked in the market and noticed that people use a different kind of coins for trade. When I asked one of the merchent about it.
"It's the coin we recieve from the far away capital . They give us 10000 or more coins for supplies of herbs, ores and some other things every year and we distribute it in the whole village according to the labour they did and the guards who protected us for the whole year . And yes, those people from capital also bring some of the best of the medicines and armoury and sell them in return of this coins. Those who accumulate most of the coin in whole year , can buy to their heart desire". The merchent was really nice to tell me this much information in free .
" You are the son in law of our chief , how can I ask for compensation for mere information which anyone could have gave you. " He shrugged and continued his business.
'Hmm.. far away capital huh. '
I walked back to manor and saw Sharin san sparring with nights. He saw me approaching and stopped his on sided assault on the soldier who was only recieving until now .
"Hey brother in law. How was your talk with Shella . She just ran inside the house sometimes ago ". He asked with a grin.
"Ah yeah it was settled. Anyway can you tell me about the capital ?" He nodded and waved to the group , gesturing them to stop for now.
"What do you want to know.?" He asked me after wiping his crystal like sweat.
"Where is it and how much coin does actually worth ?"
"For the whereabouts of capital, then no one has saw it and even those who tried to follow the mercent carts from the capital, always got lost in the middle of the track. And the first rule for the trade was not to ask for capital location from the traders and soldiers ,or they won't come ever again , so it was agreed by all three tribes without hesitation. We did considered the risk to beat them up for the information but the risk was too high to pay as those medicine were very rare to find . "
" So no one has saw the capital huh". I concluded on which he shooked his head.
" And that coin won't had matter if it's not about the weaponary and medicines they brought ever year. The last year, due to the war we spent every ounce of our treasury to buy the medicines for the recovery of the fallens . That's why our weapons are like this now".
" Isn't there any blacksmith in this village? " I asked him .
"We don't have equipments nor any of our ansectors were blacksmiths so no we have to buy new weapons after every year". This was rather shocking .
'Darbi can I operate my dojo... Please' I asked her as I knew the dojo access was in her hands.
[But you won't be able to return back home remember that]
[Requesting Authority]
[Acquiring ruler's authority...]
[Access Granted!]
'I love you'
"Shalin san , can you tell me how I can acquire best metal in this forest?"
"Umm... best metal . We have the spears which we bought except for that nothing else". He showed the spear , borrowing it from a nearby elf .
" It's simple metal". I frowned to realise that the spears were nothing but just regular metal which obviously could get rusted within a year.
'So this is business'.
" Okay. Sharin san I would be going for the day and don't worry I will return back before morning". Since it was nearly mid noon I was sure to figure out something in the time being.
" Are you sure. You dont know but this forest is really confusing. I think you should take a guide-... Ah why not you take your future wife". Before I could refuse he patted my shoulder and went back to the manor immediately to call her.
'sigh~ '
[Date is it?]
'No it's not and by the way why are you so cooperative today. Is it because I am saving this Village?'
[Kinda yes!]
'Figures'.
Shella walked toward me and after discussing with her we proceeded toward the village entrance together, grabbing tons of attention from the crowd.
'Ah... It's embarassing'. I glanced at Shella and as to be expected she was blushing too , while trying to keep a poker face.
"Sorry for that but our village is like a big family so you know..." Shella tried to make up for it after exiting the village , when i interuppted her.
"Don't sweat... I know and I understand". We proceeded in the jungle in slow pace.
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Shell POV:
Me and Izumi san were walking toward the great end of the village , which was the farthest point we had tracked the soldiers from the capital and after that only hue and fogg.
My own people made me embarrased to no end and the worst thing was that they embarrased me infront of Izumi san. I was not sure why but I was getting more and more concious about Izumi san ,passing each moment with him.
I thought I might love him however I knew that ,it was just my mind making me think like that because Izumi san was strong and so kind . And I thought love doesn't work like it so I kept it aside and resumed what I could do to assist Izumi san.
After walking for 3 hours through the forest, filled with small hitches along the path , we reached our destination .
"This is the point where I become useless ." I said as even I had track of the forest , my knowledge was limited until this point and beyond it I wasn't any help to him.
" Don't say it like that . Anyway I think we should rest for some minutes ". I nodded as we never took a break in the journey which made me surprised that Izumi san had a great stamina along with his strength.
"Need water? I can fill this from the nearby lake". I showed him the emptied container of water .
"Nah..here have this". He grabbed a white container like thing out of thin air which had water inside .
He opened the lid and passed it to me. With astonishment in my mind I took the water and just after i drank the first gulp he exclaimed..
"Ah wai-....nevermind". I glanced at him in confusion before continuing drinking a little strange water , when I caught Izumi san for t, blushing for the first time, with his eyes averted in other way , like he did something bad ,but I didn't knew what?
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Izumi PoV:
I knew this fogg was a spell as I recieved mana flow from it , and it was easy to find the source of the chanter with it , so after resting for a bit , I decided to act as I planned .
"Shella san, grab my hand so we won't get seperated". Without hesitation she grabbed it . Her hands were cold and soft which made me realise that I barely have held hand with my girlfriends until now.
This feeling was nice but I had to focus on my senses in order to find the source.
*Zzzz* a buzzing sound passed by us, however I knew it was just illusion but it wasn't same for Shella. She hugged my hand instantly in fret , pressing her ample breast on my arm.
I was thankful for the fogg which didn't revealed my red face right now.
"Shella san, every thing is okay. It is just a trap to scare us away ." I soothed her and I felt her tensed nerved calming a little but still she was sticking to me.
I wasn't bothered by it much tho...so I let it be and kept on moving forward until the fogg seemed to started disappearing , revealing a clear picture infront.
"So the far away land wasn't that much far huh". Infront of our eyes , about half a km ahead, a huge wall around 50 ft was standing tall with blue flags on the corners of the perimeter , with several guards stationed on the top of the wall.
"No way. We were so close to the capital and never found it until. now". Her widened eyes said the story how much she was surprised.
"So wanna go or you want to stay?" I asked .
She wasn't clinging now, but her hand was still entagled with mine.
'Isnt it illegal before marriage? ' I chuckled.
"I want to go but you see I think , me being an elf will raise suspicioun".
"Ah don't worry , I got it covered". I took out a long coat which Nino gave me before coming here and covered Shella with it.
"Now let's see what this capital has to offer us".