A girl who looked no different from Fina or Noa came out from behind the desk.
"Marne-sama, I brought the girl who brought the Demon Blue Flower." (Ellelaura)
Marne-sama?
This girl?
"Yuna-chan, I'd like to introduce you. She's Mane-sama, who works at the Ministry of Magic." (Ellelaura)
Ellelaura-san was smiling.
Maybe, are you enjoying I am being surprised?
"Ellelaura-san. You said Marne-sama is old..." (Yuna)
That's what she said.
But the girl in front of me was Fina's size.
"Who is that, old lady?" (Marne)
The girl looked at me with a glare.
"No one said that." (Ellelaura)
"That bear said I was old." (Marne)
The girl glared at me.
"Well, Ellelaura-san said." (Yuna)
I answered honestly.
Although she was young, she seemed intimidating.
"Yuna-chan?" (Ellelaura)
"Ellelaura-san said that she was old and would soon pass away." (Yuna)
I was not lying.
"Ellelaura. Do you want to die?" (Marne)
This girls were amazing.
"I just said she was getting old." (Ellelaura)
No, she said she would die suddenly.
But, as Ellelaura-san said, it was about getting older.
I looked at the girl again.
……Ear.
"Elf?" (Yuna)
"Half-elf." (Marne)
The girl answered.
"It seems that your actual age is close to 100 years old. Looks like an old person to me."
"Because I'm half-elf, I'm not old." (Marne)
I found out that the girl was half-elf.
But…….
"No matter how long elves live, don’t she look strange?" (Yuna)
Even Luimin had grown to a certain extent.
She was not this kind of kid.
"There is a deep reason for this." (Marne)
"A deep reason?" (Yuna)
"Hmph, there's no reason for me to explain things in detail since I just met you." (Marne)
Certainly not.
"...Can I go home?" (Yuna)
It looks like it's going to cause some trouble.
"No"
"No"
The two voices harmonized.
"You're the girl who prepared the pressed flowers, right?" (Marne)
Girl, Marne-chan? Marne-san? Marne-sama? looked at me, then at Ellelaura-san.
"Yes, it's her." (Ellelaura)
Girl, Marne-chan? Marne-san? Marne-sama? Looked around. "There's no place to talk," she said in a low voice.
"Ellelaura, please clear that table and I'll prepare some tea." (Marne)
Girl, Marne-chan? Marne-san? Marne-sama? While looking at the table piled with books, she gave instructions to Ellelaura-san.
Being able to give instructions to Ellelaura-san was amazing.
Girl, Marne-chan? Marne-sama? went to the back.
Ellelaura-san reluctantly began to clean up the books and other items on the table.
Apparently, we would talk after clearing this table.
"I'll help too." (Yuna)
Books and objects were placed not only on the table but also on the chairs.
It's hard to be alone.
Besides, I couldn't stand to watch while Ellelaura-san was cleaning up.
"Then put those books in a pile over there in a corner." (Ellelaura)
I stacked the books on the table and carried them all together.
There were books on plants, books on ores, research books, magic-related books, and magic-related books on the book I carried.
There were many books on plants, medicine, and magical effects.
The same went for ores.
There were many books on the possibilities of magic tools, practicality, and so on.
There was not only a table in the room, but also bookshelves, which are scattered here and there.
Had she read all this?
Also, there were a number of magical tools that made no sense.
Was this a flashlight?
The majority of things that glow are things like lamps that illuminate the surroundings.
This was made to illuminate a distance.
"Yuna-chan, I know you're interested, but it would be helpful if you could carry them." (Ellelaura)
"Sorry" (Yuna)
Ellelaura-san and I cleaned up the things around the table.
Then, when I finished cleaning up, the girl, Marne-chan? Marne-san? Marne-sama? appeared with tea.
I was having trouble deciding what to call it.
Even though she looked like Fina, she's older.
If you watched an adult version like Kagari-san, you'd get an image of an older person, so even if you're young, you wouldn't mind calling her Kagari-san.
But this was my first time meeting her.
Moreover, the way she spoke didn't sound like an adult like Kagari-san.
Marne-chan fitted perfectly. But she's a half-elf, and older than Ellelaura-san.
Furthermore, Ellelaura-san called her with an honorific title.
"Then sit down." (Marne)
"We took care of it." (Ellelaura)
I could understand how Ellelaura-san felt.
"It's your punishment for treating me like an old woman." (Marne)
Girl, Marne-chan? Marne-san? Marne-sama? set out the tea and sat down on a chair.
Ellelaura-san and I also sat down.
"So, that girl dressed as a bear is the one who brought the flowers, right?" (Marne)
"Yes, she's Yuna-chan, an adventurer who lives in Crimonia." (Ellelaura)
Ellelaura-san briefly explained me.
"I'm Yuna." (Yuna)
"I'm Marne. I'm a researcher." (Marne)
"Researcher..." (Yuna)
"Marne-sama focuses on researching plants, minerals, and natural systems." (Ellelaura)
"That's not all. It's everything I'm interested in. However, my father was an elf, so I'm mostly into that type of thing. I also research magic and make magic tools." (Marne)
Apparently, her father was an elf.
Does that mean her mother is a normal person?
"Um, what should I call you?" (Yuna)
I had been thinking for a while, Marne-chan? Marne-san? Marne-sama? I was having trouble deciding what to call it.
"You can call me whatever you like." (Marne)
"Marne-chan" (Yuna)
...I was glared at.
This one fitted her best. It looked like it didn't work.
"Marne-sama" (Yuna)
"I'm not your boss." (Marne)
"...Marne-san" (Yuna)
"That's fine." (Marne)
Even though she said anything was fine, it was decided.
Apparently, she wanted to be seen as older. Adding "chan" gave the impression that an older person was addressing a younger person.
"I can call you Yuna, is that okay?" (Marne)
"I don’t mind." (Yuna)
Kagari-san was used to being called by her name by younger girls.
Actually, I didn't care about guys who were older than me.
"Then let me ask you directly." (Marne)
Marne-san looked serious.
"Why are you dressed like that?" (Marne)
Ellelaura-san poured out the tea.
"Should you ask about flowers there?" (Ellelaura)
Ellelaura-san said while covering her mouth with a handkerchief.
"That's important, but if there's something in front of you that you're concerned about, you can't ignore it. That's what it's like to be a researcher." (Marne)
She said it with pride.
It certainly sounded like a researcher's line.
"Well, if possible, I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask me anything about this outfit." (Yuna)
Marne-san looked disappointed.
Did you want to know that much?
"But you're the rumored bear" (Marne)
"Rumor?" (Yuna)
"They say there's a girl dressed as a bear who goes in and out of the castle." (Marne)
Certainly, if you walked around the castle wearing a bear costume, you'd be the talk of the town.
Furthermore, my picture book was also distributed to some of the people who worked at the castle.
It's no wonder she knew me.
"But I didn't expect the bear's appearance to be this cute." (Marne)
So far, I had never seen a costume in this world.
"Certainly, I don't see anyone dressed like Yuna-chan." (Ellelaura)
"Well, if you don't want to talk about it, I won't force you to ask. There are one or two things... hundred of things that I don't want to talk about." (Marne)
Suddenly, the numbers jumped.
Well, I had many secrets too. Besides, it wouldn't be strange for a half-elf who had lived a long time to have more secrets than I did.
"Maane-sama’s age is also one of her secrets." (Ellelaura)
"I just stopped counting halfway through. That's enough for me. Tell me about the flowers." (Marne)
In response to Marne-san's words, Ellelaura-san took out the pressed flower frame that Shia entrusted to her from her item bag and put it on the table.
"I'll ask you straight to the point." (Marne)
She said the same words with the same expression as before.
"Where did you get this flower?" (Marne)
I told her about what I gathered on Mileela's moving island, which I had decided to do before I came here.
"If you want to confirm, ask the fishermen of Mileela. They know this." (Yuna)
"It's a moving island. There's an island like that." (Ellelaura)
"So, does that mean that island no longer exists?" (Marne)
Marne looked disappointed.
Targui was on the move.
All I knew was that it passed by the Land of Harmoni, the slime town, the frozen town, and where was it now?
Well, if I used Bear's Transfer Gate, I could go there anytime, but I wouldn't know where it was.
"I heard that this flower is precious, but can't you get it anywhere else?" (Yuna)
"It's a special flower that only blooms in certain places, so it's not easy to get." (Marne)
"But just because it blooms in some areas doesn’t mean it’s not available." (Yuna)
"It often blooms in deep forests where monsters live, so it's not easy to obtain." (Marne)
So, that was it.
I wondered if the reason why there were so many monsters was because a lot of monsters sometimes came to Targui. Or maybe it's because of Targui itself.
"Furthermore, the effectiveness decreases as time passes after collection." (Marne)
Well, blooming flowers and withered flowers. There might be a difference between fresh meat and rotten meat.
"By the way, how do you use it?" (Yuna)
"There are many ways to use it, but the most commonly used one is ink." (Marne)
"Ink?" (Yuna)
A word I never thought of came out.
"You can use this flower to make special ink." (Marne)
"Marne-sama, that alone doesn’t convey the message." (Ellelaura)
"Ink made from this flower will be difficult to reproduce." (Marne)
"In other words, it can also be used for contracts." (Ellelaura)
Ellelaura-san complemented.
"It can also be used for magic circles. Drawing with this ink will increase the effectiveness of magic circles." (Marne)
"Yuna-chan, I think you would understand if you used magic, but it would be easier to control it if you had a medium like a wand to use it." (Ellelaura)
In my case, it's a bear puppet.
"It’s the magic stone for wands, rings, and pendants, right?" (Yuna)
The students used it during the social gathering at Shia's school.
"What does that have to do with ink?" (Yuna)
"People who know me know about it, but people who don’t know me don’t know it. Hmm…"
Ellelaura-san looked around.
Then, when she spotted something, she stood up and headed to the end of the room.
"Marne-sama, let me borrow this cane." (Ellelaura)
Ellelaura-san returned with a cane in hand.
The cane was filled with a red magic stone.
Ellelaura-san put her strength into the magic stone part.
Then, the magic stone came off.
"Look at this" (Ellelaura)
She showed me the part of the staff where the magic stone was stuck.
"Magic Circle?" (Yuna)
A magic circle was drawn on the part of the staff where the magic stone was removed.
"This magic circle makes it easier to control mana and increases its effectiveness." (Ellelaura)
I didn't know.
I thought it was just magic stones.
Author's Note (Before the chapter)
I am very sorry.
I edited the words at the end of the previous post as follows.
I wrote the reason for this in the final afterword.
...[1]
I corrected it. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Author's Note (After the Chapter)
Marne-sama was a half-elf.
*The reason I changed the tone at the end of last time was because I wanted it to be an older half-elf (who looks younger), but as I was writing it, the tone ended up being the same as Kagari[4]-san's, so I wanted to make a distinction.[2] So, I corrected it. I am sorry.
*Also, we apologize for the inconvenience, but we will be off next time.[3]
...
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.
Translator's Note
[1] It's the corrections. The raw I translated is already the corrected version, so there's no need to worry about it. It's the reason why I need delay at least 1 week before I start translating it.
[2] It's quite hard to imagine, and almost no distinction when translated to English, especially when only using automatic translation.
[3] That's quite unfortunate. Please expect that no translated chapter of Kuma will be published on the next Wednesday.
[4] By the way, I changed Kagali to Kagari. All previous chapters should be Kagari instead of Kagali now. Why? first, Google Translate suggested Cagalli, but I chose Kagali. But then I realized Kagari should fit better especially for the Japanese-themed region, I think.