-20-

“…I can understand you now.”

Roan responded with a hint of reluctance. The fairies giggled.

“Humans, what are your names?”

Even though they were speaking Imperial, it was somehow difficult to understand.

“I’m Delis, and this is Roan.”

The fairies chattered among themselves, repeating “Delis” and “Roan” before bursting into laughter again.

“What are your names?”

“Cindy.”

“Seirin!”

“I’m Frina.”

Cindy, Seirin, and Frina began chatting non-stop. They seemed to be quite talkative.

“We’ve never been to the human world.”

“We’ve heard it’s dangerous.”

“What’s the human world like?”

The fairies surrounded us, asking questions eagerly.

“It’s probably not that different from here, but it’s much larger.”

“Ooooh.”

Their eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“I want to visit!”

“You humans don’t seem so dangerous!”

“Especially you, you seem nice.”

Seirin rubbed her face against my arm happily. Cindy looked at Roan and said, “You’re not bad either, but…”

The fairies spoke in unison, “A bit scary.”

Roan, who had just been told he was scary, looked at the fairies. They shivered their wings and said, “See, still scary.”

“Not a bad feeling, but intimidating.”

“He has a very strong aura.”

Roan didn’t have a scary face; he looked more like an angel. Just then, the elder dwarf entered the room.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“It’s alright.”

He sat across from us and looked at us intently.

“I trust you,” he said.

I felt relieved. I had worried that they might not trust us just because we were humans.

“Why do you trust us?” Roan asked, his voice filled with curiosity. The elder dwarf chuckled.

“When you live long enough, you see things without needing to ask.”

The dwarf got to the point.

“First, I’d like to hear about Reb. Why hasn’t he returned?”

Roan answered, “As I mentioned earlier, he is receiving treatment at our home.”

“Why is he injured?”

“Slave traders illegally captured him.”

The fairies reacted with outrage.

“That’s insane!”

“How could they!”

The dwarf’s face turned pale.

“He was badly injured during their attempts to tame him.”

Roan’s words made the dwarf’s face even paler.

“They captured a dwarf as a slave?”

His voice was thick with a mix of sorrow and anger.

“Heinz! This is unacceptable!” Seirin shouted.

She called the dwarf “Heinz,” which seemed to be his name. Heinz looked like he was recalling unpleasant memories.

“Humans have always tried to exploit us.”

His voice grew faint, almost as if he were dying.

“How did you manage to save Reb?”

“Actually, I tried to buy Reb to save him, but it didn’t work out, and I got captured too. Roan saved us both.”

Heinz listened in shock before asking, “Roan?”

“This is Roan,” I pointed to my side.

“We completely wiped out the slave traders. They won’t be capturing any more dwarves,” Roan said confidently.

Heinz ran a hand through his beard, overwhelmed with emotion.

“If this is true, I don’t know how to repay you. Thank you.”

“He promised us a sword as a reward. That will be enough.”

“A sword?”

“Yes. Reb said he would give us his masterpiece.”

“If it’s his masterpiece….”

Heinz seemed to recognize the significance of the sword. At that moment, Frina spoke up.

“We have it!”

I recalled that Reb had left the sword with the fairies.

“That’s right, Reb said it was with the fairies.”

“Indeed, it is with these children,” Heinz confirmed.

“We came here to receive the sword. We considered bringing Reb, but we thought it best to get it quickly.”

Heinz asked the fairies to bring the sword.

I pointed at Roan again.

“There aren’t many swords that can withstand this person.”

Heinz, surprised, looked at Roan.

“Do you perhaps know how to use aura?”

“Yes,” Roan replied.

“I see. No wonder your presence felt extraordinary.”

I suppose being a secondary male lead in a novel requires a strong presence.

“But why did you try to save Reb?” Heinz asked me, puzzled.

“I wanted to ask him to make a sword for Roan. But even if it wasn’t for Roan’s sword, Reb would have been rescued.”

The heroine would have rescued him eventually. But I was glad that I managed to save him when I did. His injuries were severe enough when I rescued him; by the time the heroine arrived, he might have been even worse off.

Heinz, having listened, said, “Are you two a married couple?”

“Yes!” I replied, delighted that we appeared to be a couple to others.

“I see. Going to such lengths to get a sword for your husband, you must be very close.”

“Yes,” I agreed, feeling pleased to hear that we seemed close.

I glanced at Roan, who appeared a bit stiff at the comment. I hoped he didn’t think we weren’t close.

Just then, the fairies returned.

“We’re back!”

Heinz opened the door to let them in. The three fairies entered, each holding part of the sword—hilt, and blade.

It was a broadsword, black with golden patterns on the scabbard. It matched Roan’s hair color, and I thought it would suit him well.

“Try it,” the fairies urged Roan.

He took the sword, grasped the hilt, and slowly unsheathed it. The silver blade gleamed with a blue tint, looking sharp enough to cut before it even touched anything.

“Roan, how is it?”

He swung it a few times and said, “It’s an excellent sword.”

As expected! Then, I saw a blue aura forming around the blade. Is that aura? I’ve read about it, but this is my first time seeing it.

“It holds up well even with aura. It seems more durable than my current sword.”

Heinz, looking proud, nodded in agreement.

“We dwarves do make good swords. It’s yours now.”

“Thank you.”

“We should be thanking you. Is there anything else you need? A single sword doesn’t seem enough to repay you. We’ll gladly help if we can.”

Heinz spoke apologetically. We politely declined.

“That’s okay.”

“No, we have enough.”

Still, Heinz seemed reluctant to let us leave empty-handed.

“Well, if you ever need anything, just ask. Thank you again for saving Reb.”

“Alright!”

“We’ll ensure his safe return once he recovers.”

“Thank you. Since you’ve come all this way, why don’t you stay and have a meal with us tonight?”

“Sure!”

I was getting hungry, so this was perfect timing.

With Roan’s sword secured, we could now enjoy a proper meal.

We began our meal with Heinz, the fairies, and some of the dwarves we had briefly seen earlier. The food was surprisingly good, almost indistinguishable from what humans ate.

There was fresh vegetable soup, layered lasagna, and sherbet made from forest berries. Perhaps because I was hungry, everything tasted even better.

I couldn’t stop praising the food as I ate.

“This is really good. Roan, it’s almost the same as the food humans eat.”

“Indeed. Eat as much as you like, my dear.”

“Mmm,” I replied, my cheeks stuffed as I continued eating.

One of the dwarves we had seen earlier spoke up.

“Thank you for saving Reb.”

He looked apologetic for doubting us earlier.

“We originally harbored deep hostility toward humans. The reason there aren’t many dwarves left might be due to humans.”

He spoke with a serious expression.

“But I’ve realized that not all humans are like that. Thank you.”

“We’re also glad we could save him.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Thank you.”

As the words of gratitude continued, the dwarf who had been the most suspicious earlier spoke up.

“Sorry. I think I was too stubborn earlier.”

Heinz had told me. This dwarf had lived as long as Heinz and had seen much of human cruelty, making him more wary of them.

“It’s natural to be suspicious. Thank you for understanding now.”

“…Thank you.”

The warm atmosphere continued.

“By the way, aren’t you a Sword Master?”

“Yes, I am.”

“That’s impressive. You’ve reached the ultimate level.”

One dwarf said in amazement.

“Are you planning to leave tomorrow morning?”

The dwarf asked. Roan replied.

“Yes, we plan to leave early in the morning.”

At that moment, Seirin spoke up.

“Wait! We want to go with you!”

“We want to see the human world!”

The fairies said, holding small fruits in both hands.

“Can we come too…?”

“…….”

One of the dwarves spoke.

“But it’s still dangerous for you.”

“No, it’s not!”

“As long as we stay close to Roan and Delis, we’ll be fine.”

“It’s not dangerous if we stay together.”

“Hmm.”

The dwarves seemed to think there wouldn’t be much danger if we were with them—probably because Roan is a Sword Master.

Heinz spoke.

“Could you take the fairies with you? They can come back with Reb later. Of course, this is a request, so it’s okay if it’s difficult.”

I felt the fairies’ eyes on me. They were looking at me, pleading to take them along.

I thought it would be okay to bring them. They were talkative but fun to be around. I quietly asked Roan.

“What do you think? I think it’s fine.”

“I don’t mind either.”

Roan’s response was positive, much like mine.

“Alright.”

“Wow!!”

The fairies cheered in delight. Watching them made me smile.

After the enjoyable meal, we went up to our room.

But there was a slight problem.

“…….”

“…….”

There was only one room.

They firmly believed we were a loving couple, so naturally, they gave us one room.

Being out here often leads to such situations. It’s definitely good, but… I kept feeling tense, recalling Roan’s words.

“Because it’s hard to resist when you’re in front of me.”

…. Let’s stop thinking about it.

I glanced at Roan, who seemed equally flustered.

But it was too late to ask for two rooms, so what could we do?

“Let’s go in first…?”

“…Yes.”

The atmosphere quickly grew awkward.

I felt like I could kiss a fairy if they showed up to break this tension.

We entered the room and quietly unpacked.

The room was enveloped in silence. Roan wasn’t much of a talker, and now I had nothing to say. In fact, I couldn’t.

I had a definite feeling that if I spoke now, it would lead to extreme awkwardness.

“You should wash up first.”

Roan said, looking at the bathroom attached to the room.

“I’ll go now.”

Why was I so nervous about just going to wash up?

Hoo, hoo. I took deep breaths, trying not to let Roan hear. Calm down, my heart.

I quickly grabbed my clothes and headed to the bathroom.