My eyes meet the eyes of the brown-skinned girl. The alfar named Katima.
I guess she’s not drowning this time. She’s floating down while holding onto a log.
Arata… Help…
Is what it feels like she’s saying as she looks at me with pleading eyes, so I grab a nearby tree and bring it over to her. She moves her hands to the tree, and I pull her up.
“Thanks, Arata.”
“Sure… So… Why were you floating down…”
Is all I say before I realize she’s looking kind of risque.
She’s from a race that worships nature to begin with, so they don’t wear more clothes than they have to, meaning that she has her belly button exposed, for example.
And because she’s wet, the clothes on her upper body are out of position, and her modest chest is exposed.
“What’s wrong, Arata?”
“Nothing… Just put this on.”
I look away and give her my clothes.
“Hn? Katima’s not cold.”
“Just do it.”
She doesn’t seem too bothered, because I guess she doesn’t really feel embarrassed.
Watching Elga and Livia tells me that it’s not like they don’t care at all about this sort of thing, but then again, they are a different race than Katima.
Anyway, she does what I say and covers her upper body, and I can finally turn her way.
Do Luna, Krr, and Grr dislike getting wet? They’re watching us from pretty far away.
“Why were you floating down the river again?”
“Well… To talk to you.”
“Me?”
How are those two things even related?
“Katima’s smart. Katima noticed that Arata’s place and the mountain where Katima lives are pretty far apart. But floating down the river is easy and fun.”
“…So…?”
“And then as Katima floated down the river, Katima got a leg cramp and couldn’t get out.”
“I think it’s best if you just stay away from bodies of water.”
A smart girl would learn and not let this happen a second time.
“But what a great coincidence, to find Arata along the way… No, it’s the great spirit’s guidance.”
She seems pretty moved, so it’s hard to tell her it really was just a coincidence. All I can think is that she should come by and see us normally without that ‘guidance’.
“By the way, what is it you want with me?”
“Ah… Alfar don’t forget when they’re indebted to someone. That’s why Katima wants you and Reina to come to Katima’s village.”
That would mean adding a new setting to my life on this island.
I need to talk to Reina first, so I’ll bring Katima along.
She’s already done making lunch, and she looks at Katima, and then at me.
“Arata, I won’t be mad, so tell me the truth. What did you do this time?”
“Hold on. I don’t think it’s good to start suspecting me right from the start.”
“But…”
Yes, I generally attract trouble, but this time it’s not trouble… I think!
And even if there is trouble waiting for us in the alfar village, it’s not my fault… I think!
“Looks tasty!”
“Krr!”
“Grr!”
“Ah, yes, I just finished preparing lunch. We’re having pizza today, and I don’t see why adding one person will be a problem, so Katima…”
Reina stops. She’s probably thinking about how Katima ate the last time she was here.
“Can Katima eat too?”
“…Yes. You can go ahead and eat first. I’ll make another pizza.”
She’s already imagining that there won’t be anything left for her, and looks a bit resigned as Luna and the others cheer.
“I’ll help.”
“Thank you.”
Not that I can do much. But still, I think it means something to help her at all.
We’re starting to run out of emperor boar meat, because we’ve been trading with the divine beast people’s village, but we still have plenty of meat from the shantak bird that Luna hunted, and the prey that I hunted with Tiltue. I doubt we’ll be hard up for ingredients for a while at least.
“But why did Katima come here?”
“Ah, to invite us to the alfar village. Apparently they’re having a welcome party.”
“Eh… I wonder how elves, I mean, alfar live. In the continent they stay secluded in forests, so they’re rarely seen.”
I’ve heard from Elga that alfar and elves were originally the same race, but they were separated due to a schism caused by worshiping different great spirits.
These great spirits don’t exist in the continent to begin with, so apparently they’re all elves, and there’s no such thing as an alfar.
From Reina’s point of view, they’re probably all the same.
“Well, I don’t see a problem with that. But we are in the middle of making a path to the divine beast people’s village…”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Katima says that it takes half a day of walking to get to her village on the mountain.
If we went there today, it’d be dark by the time we arrived.
“How about Katima draws us a map, and we go there later?”
“But if they are having a welcome party, they might have already made preparations.”
“Ah…”
That means we’ll have to postpone working on the path. But that feels pretty half-baked, and I don’t like it.
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Katima?”
Katima watches us making a pizza, with bits of cheese still around her mouth… No, she’s definitely after this pizza too. Her eyes are glued to it.
“Arata and Reina have to prepare too, so everyone decided that when everything’s ready, Katima will tell them. So we can wait.”
“I see. But I don’t want to keep you waiting either…”
“Alfar are patient. It’ll probably be fine if you take fifty years or so.”
“…I see.”
Then I guess there’s no need to worry.
Ever since I arrived on this island, I’ve been feeling like myself and the people who live here feel differently about a lot of things. But I’ve also learned that the secret to life here is to not mind them too much.
Reina doesn’t seem bothered, because I guess she’s already adapted. She’s more worried about whether or not the pizza she’s making will be enough.
“That said, what are you going to do, Katima?”
“Hn? Stay here?”
She says naturally, like she’s asking if that’s a problem, so I think it’s kind of odd.
I don’t really have a problem with that, and when I look at Reina, I feel like she doesn’t mind either.
“Katima’s brilliant. Katima can help with anything.”
“I see.”
I feel like she wouldn’t have been dragged down the river twice if she was so brilliant, but in any case, we are welcoming a new housemate.
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Thanks for the treat.