Chapter 7: Tempest, Astrea la Aeras 1

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Trouble. I was in serious trouble right now. I had accepted a quest at the guild, then split up to prepare and was in the middle of shopping. That was when I got accosted by unfamiliar elves, dragged into an alley, and was now being showered with abuse.

I was really, truly in trouble. Personal insults and discrimination were hurled at me. I was receiving the extremely standard full-course treatment from elves, and yet I was genuinely troubled.

This was…

This is unbearable! I’m going to end up feeling good…!!

“—Seriously, why is a filthy human male like you anywhere near Astrea-sama? Get lost already, trash.”

H-hahii…!

The abuse from a slanted-eyed elven archer… I couldn’t get enough of it!

“Normally, someone as lowly as you would never be allowed an audience with her. Please disappear at once. …Or perhaps I should kill a mere male human like you right here?”

Oof!! A bold declaration from a ponytailed elven mage!! The way she looked down on me like garbage, the explicit declaration of contemp…. 

Amazing! Say more!

“Good grief… You two are going too far. But surely you understand, yes? That lady is precious to us elves. Ordinarily, only the chosen among elves may attend her. To have a vulgar male like you so close to her… You lowers her dignity. You soil her.”

Uhyoooooo!! The breath of the cross-dressing beauty elf!!

…Hmm, it just smelled like the forest. That didn’t excite me at all. Change it up.

Hah…!! If I leaned forward a bit… Wouldn’t I be able to kiss them? If I were to kiss them by accident… Surely everyone would forgive me, right…? 

『That would be intentional, not an accident.』

You’re absolutely right, Dark Marianne.

I wouldn’t do such a thing, but if the other party happened to slip and we ended up kissing… Or rather, making out… Would you forgive that?

『I would not.』

I see…

“Hey, are you even listening? To think you’re such a lowly creature you can’t even understand our words.”

“As expected of humans… Let’s kill him here and take Astrea-sama home. We came all the way to this stinking place for that very reason.”

“Honestly… You two, don’t you realize that behavior like that will make her dislike you? After all, Astrea-sama’s companions include the 【Crimson Sword Saint】 and the 【Saint of Holy Smite】—two humans with noteworthy merit. This man aside, we must at least keep up appearances regarding humanity itself.”

Ohhh, nicely said, cross-dressing elf. I also liked the way the cross-dressing elf casually insulted me.  I preferred being mocked as an individual rather than as part of humanity. It felt more affectionate. Insults delivered after fully understanding who I was left no escape and forced acceptance, which made them favorites of mine.

Astrea used to say things like that too, once upon a time. Before I knew it, she had completely stopped doing that.

…Come to think of it calmly, wasn’t it pretty gross to be happy about getting insulted by your party members? Thank goodness I hadn’t shown my true nature. But still! This cross-dressing elf…Her chest was huge…! The archer elf and mage elf were considered standard-sized between elves, but this one was different!

She was comparable to Astrea… No, maybe even comparable to Carla!?

!!!!!?!?!?! T-this was bad! She was so close I was about to bump into her chest!! The armor let me gloss over it, but I couldn’t gloss it over in my head! My libido, my fetishes, and my virginity combined into the worst kind of human (me), constantly leaking desire!

That wouldn’t do. I was a rational masochist, not a man who got aroused anywhere and everywhere. Remember my childhood training to be an utmost gentleman!

I got beaten for eating poorly and felt good. I got beaten for greeting poorly and felt good. I got beaten for interacting poorly with women and felt good.

This was bad… I shouldn’t have remembered the pleasure from recollection…!

“Tch… Honestly. So what will it be? Will you disappear right now? Or… Do you need to be taught a lesson?”

T-t-taught a lesson!? Co-Could it be….! Would the cross-dressing beauty elf beat me senseless while saying, ‘You’re truly vile and disgusting,’ strip me naked, scoff at me, kick me with the tip of her heel, and mock me while looking down on me as I cried!?

That’s a reward, isn’t it…?!

“No, I will handle this. This is trash that rose in status by parasitizing Astrea-sama’s great power. It would be best to erase him with the power of wind.”

W-wind!? When Astrea had used wind on me before, I’d been brutally torn apart. Could it be they’d torment me the same way…? Slowly shaving away my limbs, then finally slicing my face and torso with wind as I cried and begged for my life, while the elf mage mercilessly followed up saying, ‘Lowly creature, how disgusting’… Ngh…! The temptation was hard to give up…!

“Unnecessary. I will shoot him dead with my bow.”

The main contender… The slanted-eyed elf!

This one was undoubtedly a sadist to my tastes. First off, archers were already sadists. Surprise attacks from outside your field of vision, one-sided assaults from beyond your range… That was sadism incarnate. And then they coated their arrows with paralysis poison.

Turn me into a target once I couldn’t move, then slowly torment me with repeated shots.

When an arrow hit my arm or leg, she’d say, ‘Yes, that size of target is just right,’ before loosing an arrow that pierced my chest. The pain spreading slowly wouldn’t heal, and as I died, arrows would be fired again and again as if I were her mortal enemy, until I died riddled with arrows.

This is bad…! I am getting excited…! Hey, hey, Marianne, what should I do!? With such luxurious options, which one I’m supposed to choose!? It’s like a full course at a high-end restaurant, a top chef’s specialty! I couldn’t choose, I couldn’t choose something like this…!

『Please die.』

Marianne would never say something like that!!!!

“Enough. Let’s kill him and bring Astrea-sama back.”

“Agreed. What about his companions?”

“We’ll take them along as well. They’re only humans. There’s no way they’ll defy us elves.”

Ah, we are doing this now?

Then this was where things got serious, so I’d switch gears. What came before was just my fetish. There was no reason to miss out on being insulted by three beautiful elves. I’d end it quickly and send them home. I would be doing it for their sake too. No, really.

Because if Astrea saw a scene like this….

“…What are you doing?”

Ah…

“A-Astrea-sama! It is an honor to meet you! We will dispose of him at once, so let us return to the village together!”

“Who are you? Dispose of what?”

“Why, this man, of course!”

“Oh? —Kill.”

“…What?”

—The wind blew. It was only an instant. Not even a gust, just something like a gentle breeze passed by. Before it could reap the elves’ lives, I pulled the cross-dressing elf into my arms. Normally, that would mean the wind would mow me down and turn me into a pitiful lump of flesh, but Astrea wouldn’t make such a blunder.

“Hey. That was dangerous.”

The wind brushed my cheek. But it had no sharpness, only a warm wind that gently wrapped around me.

“That was too much. They didn’t actually do anything to me.”

Astrea was a tsundere granny, but she was extremely strict toward her own kind. No, really. No joke. Since forming the party, I’d gone through situations like this many times, and each time the elves received severe punishment.

At first, it hadn’t been a big deal. She’d tell offending elves things like “Stop being so disgraceful” or “Obey human law,” then later apologize to me quietly. But then…

Three years ago, there was an incident where I ended up completely mangled. After that, Astrea showed absolutely no mercy. What had once been verbal warnings turned into immediate violence. Specifically, she’d slice off elven arms with wind blades, sever legs, bury them in the ground with storms… Basically, she’d be doing whatever she pleased.

For me, beautiful elves showering me with every kind of abuse was a delightful event, so it was a shame Astrea had suppressed it. Running into it again today for the first time in a while had really gotten me fired up. Because being insulted when you’d done absolutely nothing wrong was the best.

I wasn’t scolded or suspected at all. Just continuously insulted, enduring it and feeling good in return. It was a legal narcotic, a precious experience you might not even get at certain establishments, so I savored it to the best I could.

Of course, Astrea’s actions constituted criminal behavior under the capital’s ordinances but she was, after all, a High Elf. Using her position as the princess of a race adept at magic, she had apparently obtained something called an “absolute arrest authority against any discriminatory act by elves toward humans.”

I didn’t know the details to be honest. In any case, once Astrea had that authority, elves who got beaten into submission by her were immediately deported, and almost none tried to mess with me anymore. Because of that, I’d been enjoying elven-crafted abuse for the first time in a while but maybe I’d lingered too long. The cross-dressing elf trembled in my arms.

Well, of course. All elves could read the wind. Which meant they understood its movements and thus must have realized that Astrea had come for their life without hesitation.

“W-what are you doing!? Astrea-sama, we are not your enemies!”

“T-that’s right! Have you forgotten!? I served you at your side when you were young—”

“—Silence.”

The voice of a 【High Elf】 bound the elves. There was no special command authority. It was simply that Astrea was overwhelmingly higher in rank. That single fact shut the elves’ mouths and immobilized them.

“I remember. Griselda, Fain, Rose. All three of you have become such petty women.” Some idiot old man probably egged you on, right? Going on about how the village was supreme, how elves were paramount. Did he tell you to bring me back because I was to be his bride? Elves mean nothing to me now. Got it? Then get lost.”

~*~*~*~

“Hey, Astrea, I’m glad you helped, but… Wasn’t that a bit much?”

In the evening, as we traveled by carriage, I spoke to Astrea. She’d come looking for me after finding it suspicious that I hadn’t returned during our pre-quest shopping, but we’d nearly ended up with the alley painted red.

“It was fine. Elves are arrogant idiots who look down on other races and think they alone deserve the goddess’s favor. I chased them off, but they’re not reflecting at all. They still think they were in the right, you know?”

“I know elves fairly well. At least those ones apologized earlier.”

The cross-dressing big-chested elf, Griselda, whom I’d carried to safety, had thanked me sincerely and said, “If you ever come to the village, you’ll be welcome… Please be sure to visit my home.”

They were different from the elves before. The insults were nice, but gratitude was honestly nice too. I considered myself just an ordinary masochist, so when a beautiful, big-chested elf squeezed my hand, my heart skipped a beat.

“Hmph…”

“…But still, thanks for helping me. I was happy.”

I’d really appreciate it if she’d treat me that way too. But it wouldn’t happen…

Bring back the sharp-edged Astrea from back then…!

I liked the current Astrea too, but the sharpness I’d never experience again was precious…!

“…It was nothing… Compared to what you’ve done so far.”

“Haha, no way. I don’t remember doing anything remarkable.”

I’d never done anything worthy of praise from a High Elf princess. I usually just got beaten up while the problem got solved on its own. 

Wait… Does that mean I’ve been completely useless, just satisfying my own fetishes while they do the work…?!

“…I see. If that’s what you think, then it’s fine for now.”

“Hey, that’s scary. What’s with that, granny? Say it properly.”

“I’m not a granny!!”

~*~*~*~

As always, his self-evaluation is completely broken…

Astrea thought as she looked at Finn, sleeping soundly beside her. The three slept peacefully, while she stood watch through the night. They were together, yet not together. She felt the irreconcilable difference between herself, an elf, and the three humans over something so trivial despite it being nothing more than an ordinary night watch rotation.

“…This won’t do. Maybe it’s because I met my own kind for the first time in a while.”

She recalled the past. Three years ago, Astrea had wanted to see Finn Debyura’s life to the end.  Because she had met a hero who overcame despair and changed fate.

High Elf princess Astrea la Aeras was in love… With Finn Debyura… With the hero who could even change her destiny.

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