The Porter Has No Interest in the Hero’s Party

“Smile.”

There are two elves facing each other. The woman with a more mature appearance puts her hand inside the young elf’s mouth. Then she turns the young elf’s face toward the mirror while lifting the corners of the mouth.

“Smile. Like this.”

The young elf tries to smile. But no elf anywhere could genuinely smile in such a situation. An awkwardly distorted smile. A smile with half-twisted corners of the mouth and contorted eyebrows becomes a hideous image in the mirror, etching a nightmare for the young elf.

But the mature elf is harsh. She forcibly carves a smile on the young elf’s face once more. Cheeks pressed down and teeth visible through the lips, creating a ridiculous appearance. But the young elf cannot laugh at the sight.

Because the flesh hurts, and tensing the facial muscles is frightening.

“You can do it. You can, so smile.”

But the mature elf fails to understand the young elf’s feelings. She believes only one thing: that this young elf can smile brightly.

“Hello!”

Mille greeted the elf elder with a bright smile. The elf elder briefly acknowledged her greeting and blinked. The hero was relieved to see him respond to Mille’s greeting. Somehow, we also felt fortunate that he had returned her greeting. Lena rubbed her eyes and said:

“Hey, am I the only one already tired? I feel like we’ve been marching for days.”

“We haven’t actually walked that much.”

Ashuria dismissed it calmly, but a strange fatigue was visible on her face as well. If I looked in a mirror, pressed fatigue would probably be on my face too. I didn’t join in their conversation and looked at the hero. The hero smiled and said:

“We’ve imposed on you so suddenly. Thank you for your hospitality.”

Surprisingly, the elf elder truly welcomed us. There was delicious-looking food on the table, and the elf elder greeted us with a solemn expression in neat and tidy attire. He bowed his head at the hero’s words and said:

“Not at all. Serving food to those who fight against the Demon King’s army is only natural. Please don’t hesitate and eat plenty.”

The table extended from in front of the hero all the way to us, emanating delicious smells. Mille was stomping her feet invisibly, eager to eat quickly, and Lena was also wiggling her fingers on the table, waiting for the meal to begin.

Both Ashuria and I were hungry, so we were staring intently at the food.

“Yes, then we’ll enjoy the meal.”

And so the dinner with the elf elder began. The food mainly consisted of meat steamed in leaves, salads using fruits, and bread-like items. Befitting a race living in the forest, the seasoning was extremely simple, making it easy to eat without getting tired of it. Mille shed tears saying it was the taste of her hometown that she hadn’t had in a long time, and Ashuria increased her eating speed with wide eyes.

The elf elder watched the hero neatly cutting and eating bread and said:

“We’ve also heard about the achievements of the heroes.”

The hero nodded and smiled.

“Ah, you flatter me. It’s an achievement that couldn’t have been possible without the other kingdom commanders and soldiers.”

“Particularly, the story of insulting the opposing commander during the previous agreement and making him faint on the spot is quite memorable. I didn’t know the hero’s eloquence was so outstanding.”

“Kuhup! Ahem…! Hmm…!”

Lena, who was eating rice wrapped in a leaf, turned her head trying to hold back her laughter. The hero smiled with a strange expression, then nodded and said:

“Ah, ahaha…! Yes. I… I really hate demons. Uh, somehow… such vulgar language came out.”

“You’re modest. Please enjoy your meal.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you for the hospitality.”

The elf elder rose from his seat but paused momentarily. Then he nodded, smiled, and said to us:

“Come to think of it, I haven’t mentioned the accommodations.”

The accommodation was quite an important matter. Seeing the hospitable elf elder, the hero seemed to expect him to provide a separate official residence or room. We stopped eating and listened to the elf elder’s words.

“I’ll speak to the inn about your lodging, so you can receive about a 30% discount. I hope you rest comfortably.”

The elf elder moved slowly and left the room. Mille said in an excited tone:

“A 30% discount! That’s amazing! They don’t usually give discounts!”

Ashuria nodded with a truly tired-looking face and said. She strangely looked more fatigued as time passed.

“That’s truly wonderful, Mille.”

Lena resumed eating and said:

“Right. Right. A 30% discount, right? The elf I worked with insisted he should receive 30% more and ended up getting stabbed to death by me. Compared to that, this is quite proper.”

The hero, seemingly having given up, said with a deadpan face:

“Then how many rooms should we get? If we get one individual room each, that would be me, sir, Lena, Ashuria, and Mille. So five rooms? The kingdom will cover the expenses anyway.”

Mille stopped eating with a puzzled expression and said:

“Huh? Why five?”

“Why five, you ask?”

“My house is here, you know?”

“…Ah, that’s right.”

The hero seemed quite tired too. Lena chuckled and said to the servant standing nearby:

“Is there any alcohol here?”

“Alcohol is charged separately.”

“This is really driving me crazy.”

Lena shook her head and poured water all around, drinking it like alcohol. Then she said to me:

“Sir, look at this. If I look at that wine bottle while drinking water like this, doesn’t it feel like I’m drinking alcohol?”

Lena seemed very tired too. I shook my head, then poured water into a bowl like Lena did and looked at the wine. Then I gulped it down and let out a thick exclamation as if drinking alcohol.

“Kuh…! Ah, it really feels like drinking alcohol.”

“Right? Ahahahaha!”

“Hahahaha!”

Our laughter echoed throughout the room.

And so, with an enjoyable drinking session, our free meal came to an end.

But having not drunk alcohol, it was impossible to be drunk. After filling our stomachs with water for quite some time, we walked unsteadily at the rear, rubbing our uncomfortable bellies. The hero was rubbing his head to relieve his fatigue, and Ashuria closed her eyes while touching the cross around her neck. Lena said:

“It’s really dark here at night. Do they live without turning on lights?”

“Bright lights attract insects. So at night, they use weak lighting like this. Elves have good night vision.”

The lighting was so dim that it felt like being in fog. The hazy light emanating from all directions made me wonder if I was truly drunk. Thanks to the sun setting early in the mountains, we walked in a straight line toward our lodging while looking at the stars.

“This seems nice. Fewer insects than expected. It’s super romantic, isn’t it? With the dim lights, you can even see the stars when you look up.”

Lena said, looking at the sky. The hero also seemed to agree with Lena’s words, nodding and saying:

“Indeed. Seeing stars like this in a village feels fresh. It’s like camping in the forest.”

“Right. Ah, Mille. Where is your house, Mille?”

Mille looked truly happy to be back in her hometown after a long time. She was humming a tune while walking at the front, and at Lena’s question, she raised her finger and said:

“Over there!”

It was a house on a hill slightly above the inn we were heading to. It was quite large and well-located, giving the impression that she was someone in an important position in this village. Lena said:

“Mille. What? Were you rich?”

“Huh? Not rich, but my mom is a researcher, so the house is big! We need space for lots of books.”

“Your mother was a researcher. Elf researchers are famous for their deep knowledge and good research results due to their age.”

“Yes! That’s right! Mom has several papers in the kingdom, and the graduate students she taught at graduate school are still studying there, she said.”

“What? It seems like it was quite a while ago, but they’re still in graduate school? They must be really interested in studying.”

I didn’t know exactly what graduate students did either, so I appropriately agreed with Lena’s words. The hero also said:

“They must be happy to be under a good professor.”

“Right. My mom wants to graduate them too, but she said their skills are lacking, so she needs to keep them for about 5 more years. Mom’s passion seems really amazing. It’s cool!”

We had already arrived at a fork in the road. Mille looked back and forth between her house and the inn. The hero smiled and said:

“You can go home first, Mille. It’s been a long time since you’ve been home.”

When the hero’s permission came, Mille’s eyes sparkled, and without looking back, she ran up the hill.

“Mom!”

With a loud voice that echoed across the low mountain, the door flung open, and Mille’s figure disappeared without even leaving a shadow.

“Dev. Did you bury father properly?”

“Yeah.”

“I need to check if you buried him properly tomorrow, so mark the location on the map before you leave.”

“Yeah.”

And beside us, the elf who had been digging the grave earlier walked past. Ashuria clutched her head, and Lena said:

“Don’t think about it. Thinking will make you more tired.”

“…Let’s hurry and rest.”

The hero looked truly exhausted.