The Elf Is a Freeloader - Chapter 14

「Sorry! Yasutaka!」

With his hands together and head lowered, Takashi apologized to Yasutaka.

「Nah, don’t mind it, Takashi. I was the one who asked you to liquidize Eru’s silver and bronze coins like she wanted. Also, I forgot about your dad’s perceptiveness.」

「That’s true. If it’s Takashi’s father, it’s no wonder he was able to deduce Eru’s matter from such a trivial item, petty deceptions wouldn’t have passed.」

Since they were kids, both Yasutaka and Aoi knew Takashi’s dad, Hagino Kouichi, the current mayor of Nisshin City, very well.

He is kind to the three of them, and in the past, he took them bug catching and fishing, and would often go camping and the like with them. Also, since he had extensive knowledge on various areas, he taught them multitudes of things.

「I appreciate you saying that. And…… my old man said he wanted to meet Eru-chan.」

「Your dad does?」

「Why, I wonder?」

Yasutaka and Aoi looked mystified.

The two could not understand Kouichi’s reasons for wanting to meet Eru. It couldn’t be that his reason is simply because he wanted to meet someone from another world, right?

「I don’t understand that much either. But, old man said that he never do anything that would trouble Yasutaka and Eru-chan. How about it? Could you try asking Eru-chan once?」

「Alright. For starters, I’ll try asking Eru. But, when Eru and your dad meet, I’ll be sitting in.」

「I’ll be there too. It’s not like I doubt Takashi’s dad but, I’m still worried for Eru.」

「Got it. I’ll tell my old man that. Then I’ll leave Eru-chan’s side to you?」

Yasutaka nodded at Takashi’s words.
He trusted Takashi’s father but it would be lie if he said did qn’t feel any uneasiness. He surely wasn’t the only one, Aoi and Takashi were thinking the same as Yasutaka.

In any case, I’ll have to talk to Eru first.

Yasutaka decided so.

・

On top of the table are dozens of randomly arranged large cards with katakana written on them.
And in front of a deck of 10-odd flipped cards, is Eru sitting on a stool.
Eru picked up the topmost card from that deck and turned it over. Written on it is the hiragana 「つ」 .

「『つ』……huh. Let’s see…… The katakana of 『つ』 is……」

Eru’s gaze slid over the katakana cards placed on the table.
Before long, her eyes stopped at one card, and she picked it up.

「If I remember correctly, this should be it……」

Muttering so, Eru confirmed the other side of the card she picked up. However, what was written on it was the hiragana character 「し」.

「Aw…… This isn’t 『ツ』 but 『シ』, huh. I got confused because they looked so similar……」

What she’s currently doing is studying katakana.
Searching for the hiragana’s matching katakana, this method of learning is a bit game-like.
Its designer was Aoi. When Yasutaka and Takashi heard Aoi’s idea, they worked together in making it using drawing paper.

After that, Eru repeatedly used it to memorize katakana. Now she’s memorized about 80%, once she properly memorizes the rest of the chaacters that look similar like the 「ツ」 and 「シ」 just now, or 「ソ」 and 「ン」 , she’d be able to read katakana perfectly.
However, she’s still not very good at writing both hiragana and katakana, so it is vital that she practice it in the future.
Incidentally, she can converse enough for simple greetings.

As she continued studying katakana, Eru’s long pointy ears suddenly twitched.
Simultaneously, she looked happy as she raised her face from the table.

Shortly after, the lock on the door of the entryway unlocked and the door opened. It seems someone opened the door and entered the house.

Of course, the one who came in was Yasutaka.
Looking happy, Eru went to the entryway to meet Yasutaka.
As Eru ran through the house with a pitter patter put a smile on his face, Yasutaka wore the translation earring he received from Eru who came to greet him.

「Welcome home, Yasutaka-san.」

「I’m home, Eru.」

It really is pleasant having someone say 「Welcome home」 when he comes home. Yasutaka has been feeling this way again recently.

「Listen, Eru. I’ve got a bit to discuss with you, is that alright?」

「To discuss?」

Eru looked puzzled as she tilted her head.

「Un. I want to composed when we talk so I’ll get changed first. Please wait in the living room.」

「Very well. Then, I will prepare some tea.」

Eru learned how to use the kitchen gas stove recently, and is now able to make tea and simple dishes.
Even though ingredients such as vegetables are all unknown to her, there seem to be some vegetables that taste the same as those from Eru’s world.
Also, it seems that they basically just roast meat and fish then eat it and since the method for roasting doesn’t really differ very much, even if the equipment aren’t similar, it’s still somewhat possible to recreate that world’s dishes.

However, a conclusive difference is the seasoning.
This world is far more bountiful in seasonnings than Eru’s world. Hence, this world’s dishes are still impossible for Eru.

Still, even though it’s instant, black tea seems to be Eru’s favorite, he noticed that she looked very happy when she drinks black tea.
Seeing Eru like that, Yasutaka decided he should bring her to the cafe he worked part-time at and let her drink black tea that isn’t instant. The black tea the manager of that cafe brews is quite good and is popular in their neighbourhood.

However, he must talk about Takashi’s father right now.

Yasutaka finished changing clothes, and when he entered the living room, Eru garnished the black tea she brewed with a slice of lemon.

「Ehehe. This 『Lemon』 fruit, if eaten by itself, it’s terribly sour but if added to black tea, it becomes extremely delicious, doesn’t it?」

Apparently there wasn’t any lemon or a similar fruit to it in Eru’s world. When Eru brewed black tea before, she ate the slice of lemon that garnished it, it was too sour that she teared up. That memory was fresh in Yasutaka’s mind.

Yasutaka, who laughed as he remembered that memory from a little while ago, pulled himself together and approached Eru who seemed to be enjoying the black tea in front of her.

「The mayor of this town would like to……see me?」

「Yeah. Even if I call him the mayor, he’s Takashi’s dad.」

「Hee, Takashi-san was the son of the mayor. So that means that Takashi-san will be the future mayor of this town?」

「Hmm, who knows? That guy has the disposition suitable for a politician like his dad, and he said so himself that he wanted to be a politician too but…… even if he says he wants to one doesn’t necessarily mean he will become one.」

Naturally, there were people who had mayoral positions in Eru’s world too.

However, the positions of mayors and village chiefs in her world were almost hereditary. Understandably, there are no concepts of election and the like there.

Yasutaka and Eru’s knowledge about that were different yet neither of them realized it at the time.

「Nevertheless, what business could the mayor have with me?」

「It seems that even Takashi doesn’t know.」

「Ah! Could it be that he has a request for me as an adventurer? Like an infestation of goblins that need extermination somewhere in this town?」

「Goblins……you say, if I remember correctly, in your world, they were monsters that are hostile to humans, weren’t they? No way, that’s because there are no goblins in this world.」

「Aw…… it was like that……」

In her world, it is often the case that the dispatch requests that come to adventurers are from the person in the position of the mayor or the village chief.
When monsters such as goblins and demons appear in the vicinity of a village, rather than requesting the country to send soldiers, it is much faster to request support from adventurers.

Actually, Eru has experience being requested by a certain village’s chief to cross swords with goblins that ravaged their livestock and fields.

「How about it? Want to meet Takashi’s dad?」

「Yes. Since it’s a request from Takashi-san’s father, I can’t just decline.」

「I see. Then, then I’ll message Takashi.」

Yasutaka promptly took out the smartphone from his pocket, and sent a message to Takashi. Yasutaka and his friends they had an unspoken agreement that, unless it’s an emergency, they would always contact each other by mail.

Eru’s immensely curious eyes sparkled as she watched Yasutaka’s hand manipulate the smartphone he’s become familiar with.

「Yasutaka-san! Is this another kind of magic item…… i mean, appliance?」

「Yeah, this is a mobile telephone. It’s a device that lets you contact a companion that’s far away. This way you can send sentences and talk with your companion immediately.」

「Wow, it’s just like a 『Talisman of Dialogue』」

The 「Talisman of Dialogue」 is a magic item from Eru’s world, two sheets are paired and then you’d be able to communicate vocally.
However, communication is limited only to the pair, so compared to the mobile phone that could connect with anyone, it’s far less convenient.
Also, it’s too expensive and is a magic item primarily used by an officer for military operations. There are some among the adventurers who have this but they are too few, and it isn’t a product that a mobile phone where one person could possess one or more.

「Besides that, there’s another magic item called 『Scroll of Continued Writing』, it’s a pair of scrolls where you write on one side and it shows up on the other side. The 『Scroll of Continued Writing』 is also expensive but it’s not worth as much as the 『Talisman of Dialogue』 that is why there are quite a few adventurers who brought this.」

「I see. If the 『Talisman of Dialogue』 is the mobile phone, then the 『Scroll of Continued Writing』 thing would be mail function. Those tools really are similar.」

Having heard Eru’s story, he believed that there certainly wasn’t much difference between the electric appliances and magic items she mentioned.

What if Yasutaka’s current world had not developed through science but rather, with Eru’s world’s magic.
It would be possible that around this time, instead of cellphones, they would almost certainly be using magic tools with a similar effect.

While thinking that there was no point in it, Yasutaka surprised Eru a lot with the downloaded apps on his smartphone like for pictures, music playback, video recording, video playback and the two laughed freely together.

Incidentally, he secretly set a picture he secretly took of Eru which he especially liked into his smartphone’s homescreen.