"The victim was the son of a baron, and doesn't have a title himself. But he's a relative of a noble still, and it's an insult to the nobility if the bandits don't get punished," Jonah explained in his sophisticated way of speaking. "Umu... allow me to apologize again for this inconvenience," then he apologizes to Fin.
Being considerate to a noble like Fin, they have provided him a horse. Of course, being the way he is, he complained to them that they should give one to me as well. However, not liking the special treatment, I refused and convinced Fin instead to share his horse with me. It resulted with me, sitting in front of him, while he hold the reigns.
"Are you okay, Fin?" I asked the unusually serious Fin.
"Yes, I'm okay. How about you, Eria-sama? I hope it's not uncomfortable for you..."
"No, it's not uncomfortable at all! You're good at this, Fin!"
"I-Is that so?" again, Fin stutters.
Together with Jonah and the soldiers, we tread smoothly on the road. Along the way, Fin and I chatted with Jonah, knowing a bit more where he and his men came from, which army faction he was working for, and so on. Of course, Jonah himself has several question for us too...
"Miss Eria, may I ask how old are you?" Jonah asked, coming from our side.
"I'm exactly 116 years old."
"116? I see, you're pretty young for an elf... you're the youngest one I've seen so far."
"I was an orphan, so I left our village as soon as I was able to."
"It's unusual for an elf to be an orphan..." Jonah murmured in bewilderment.
I understand why he was shocked. Once an elf woman gets pregnant, she comes back to her home village with her husband to have a safe birth. There, they will take care of their children until they mature at the age of 20, and then, the child can decide on their own what they're going to do after. Most young elves stay in their village for a century or so, living a peaceful life, until they suddenly get an urge to go out of their forest and have an adventure. Elves in this world really do have a messed up sense of time... but that isn't really surprising, considering the fact that they could live for plenty of centuries.
As for me, I left our village as soon as I turned 16, since then, I've been a having adventures of my own. Despite being an elf, I have the common sense of humans, so I was pretty much an anomaly.
"I'm sorry if I brought up any sad memories of the past."
"It's fine, it's not like I care that much about it."
"Umu, I see... then, if I may rudely change the subject," Jonah said as he shift his eyes at the direction of my sword. "May I asked how long have you been practicing swordsmanship?"
"Well... I asked the guard elves in my hometown to teach me. I remember I was only three then..."
Jonah's eyes widened as he heard my reply, saying the cliche' line of "I can't believe it!" and more. Still, I didn't expect Fin to be surprised about it too. "As expected of, Eria-sama," or so he says.
Well, I don't really think it's something so surprising. After all, it's a man's romance to master the sword in a fantasy world. Technically, I was not one anymore, but nonetheless...
"I assume that you practice constantly throughout after?"
"Of course, and not just the elves, I also asked other sword masters to teach me."
"I-I see... if you learn the art of weaponry at a young age, it becomes your second nature. I heard that elves are usually only interested in the bow or magic if they're of young age. They supposedly only turn to learn swordsmaship when they get a few decades old... or even centuries old."
"That's true, elves like me are proud of our magic capabilities. Still, it's not unusual for one or two to take interest in becoming a swordsman at a young age."
"So even in the elven race, there are those who aspire in the path of swordsmanship at a young age. Fufu... how interesting," Jonah laughs to himself. "Miss Eria, I know this may sound foolish of me, knowing we are on a mission, but I truly want to take a chance to have a little spar with you."
"A spar?"
"Indeed... now, it is cowardly, but I want it to be a match where you don't get to use magic."
"Umm... that's fine... but are you sure we can do that now? Or later?"
"We can... later... The bandit's encampment is still a day away from here, we will have to set up camp before sunset. We can do it then."
"I see," I rested a finger on my chin and said, "Then, let's do it... as long as we don't get to hit each other too hard, it's fine."
"Don't worry, I have capable healers among my soldiers."
It's hard to refuse someone asking so nicely, so I ended up accepting. Still, I think it's not too bad to cause a little commotion ones we camped up. I can also hold back, enough to have a decent match with him, so I don't think it will really go in any negative or troublesome direction.