## Chapter 358 – Beneath the World Tree (2)
Eyes full of wonder and fear, mixed in equal measure, were focused intently on us.
Of course, this was only possible because Liel was diligently defending us, but it seemed nearly impossible for the elves to easily relax their guard in the face of a monster.
“Um… Monster-nim…?”
“Don’t call me ‘Monster, Monster.’ Call me Leah. Wouldn’t that make the monster listening feel bad?”
‘The monster is Enic, which is me, and Leah is, strictly speaking, an Other, right?’
“Oh, right. That’s true! I forgot!! Ohohot!!”
But Leah, seeing me on her shoulder, started muttering to herself, which probably made her look like a crazy person talking to herself.
Leah was answering my thoughts, but from their perspective, I, perched on the shoulder of the massive Leah, probably just looked like a tiny, insignificant monster.
We endured their gazes with the feeling that a system window like [The Elven Villagers’ Wariness has increased by +1!] had popped up, and soon we were able to receive cautious words of gratitude.
“Thank… you. For helping us…”
“May the blessing of the World Tree be upon you…”
Still, they were the kind, warm-hearted people who lived in the forest.
“How can we ever repay this kindness… If you’re going to eat us… then take me instead…!!”
It was disheartening that the suspicion of being eaten hadn’t been dispelled, though.
Eventually, when all the remaining elven women of the village were able to come out, I scanned them all with a wide gaze.
‘This is insane…? Anyone would think this was a club…’
Everywhere I looked, there were only beautiful women.
And most of them didn’t seem to be over twenty.
There were a few elves who seemed a bit more mature, with a ripened air, but even they didn’t look older than thirty.
Most of them were slender or had a youthful feel, but those age-related elements that could be a matter of preference seemed to be resolved by the sheer beauty of each individual.
Even Liel’s family alone… There was an elf who looked somewhat similar to her but younger, so I thought she might be a younger sister.
But that was her mom.
[By any chance… how old is your mother…?]
“My mom? Hmm… this year… she’ll be… 712 years old?”
“Liel? Are you talking about my age? It’s 752 years. It’s embarrassing if you shave off that much, isn’t it?”
‘Good heavens.’
The epitome of youthfulness.
That girl with the round face and charming baby fat, like a Western child model, was actually a mother with a husband and two children.
[Then that person…!! Is that your older sister?]
“Ah… the other girls are just neighbors. I’m the eldest daughter, so I don’t have any older sisters. Yurne is my younger sister. She’s 189 years old. Yurne is the late bloomer…”
And the one who seemed mature and I thought was Liel’s older sister was actually her younger sister.
A late bloomer younger sister, no less.
For a moment, my eyes were about to turn back to their mother, who was smiling brightly again, but a sense of danger somehow prevented my compound eyes from turning.
Anyway, she’d be living with that face for the rest of her life, so if she just found a man who matched her tastes, she could live a long and healthy life, loving each other.
[Then… you are… Ah… never mind…]
Sometimes it’s better not to know.
The vague thought that the age of that somewhat clueless Liel was “somewhere between 189 and 752” could sometimes be beneficial to one’s mental health.
Seeing a hundred or so beautiful women, who looked no older than their twenties, gathered together, was enough to make this scene feel like a paradise in itself.
‘So elves really are a race of beauty… It wasn’t just a rumor, then…’
Judging by objective beauty alone, each one was so beautiful that they felt like dolls.
‘I never thought I’d experience the saying “female celebrities plow fields and drive cows” in this way.’
Frankly, no matter how pretty celebrities were, there was a limit to it, and you could feel their humanity, but here it felt like you were in an exhibition hall of dolls carved by God himself.
Anyway, putting the idle chatter aside.
When we got down to business, the elves thankfully gave a fairly welcoming response to Leah’s statement that she wanted to live in the forest where this village was located.
Perhaps it was difficult to refuse in their indebted position, or perhaps they knew they couldn’t stop her in the first place.
But more than anything, it might have been because they were aware that there was a problem that needed to be resolved first.
“As you may have heard, there’s a terrifying monster outside… My husband, and the husbands of the other women, all…”
“At this rate… even if we try to live in this forest…”
The situation seemed more serious than I thought. I was actually relieved that nothing had happened when we entered this place.
“It seems they don’t mind us coming in. We just need to make sure they can’t get out.”
As if reading my thoughts, Leah gave a quiet, muttered answer.
After all, the opponent was also a hunter who hunted elves.
A hunter who hunted the elven men of the village, who were supposed to be hunters themselves.
If that was the case, then a hunter would know the mind of a hunter best.
“I can definitely feel their presence, but I can’t pinpoint them. They might be subtly provoking me…”
As Leah muttered almost certainly and glanced at the surrounding forest, I, also tense, clung tightly to her shoulder, scurrying my four pairs of spider legs.
Perhaps the opponent was quietly observing us from somewhere, even at this moment, reassessing the capabilities of their new prey.
If this was truly a dangerous situation, it might be better for me, who wasn’t of much help in combat, to crawl into Leah’s egg sac and quietly wait for things to end.
‘I don’t even know what will happen if I die like this… There are too many unknown factors…’
If, by any chance, my spider body was crushed and I died, and my soul, having lost its way home, disappeared, that would be a disaster.
I had experienced and become certain that when I was possessed by a Colony Member, I could return to Enic’s main body even if I died, with only a fairly painful sensation, but the situation was too different now.
The fear of death, which I hadn’t felt for a while after the lair had grown to some extent, was enveloping me.
But even though I was trapped in a spider’s body, I was still Enic.
The great monster who put all the females in the world under his roots, and the conqueror who ruthlessly exploited them as nourishment.
‘There must be a way. A way to help Leah and overcome this situation.’
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Hehet~ We have guests. I’m so sorry we don’t have anything to offer.”
“Don’t worry about it. Once we leave the village, we won’t be meeting again.”
“But still~ Uhoho. We have our reputation to uphold, you know? Would you mind waiting while I brew some tea?”
Leah and I, who had been relieved to see the presence watching them disappear, were led by Liel and her family to a place where we could stay temporarily.
We entered a slightly larger hut that seemed to serve as a village hall, and once again had to endure the gazes of the elves who had crept in and were surrounding us with wide eyes.
“What’s it like outside?”
“Wow…!! Your legs are amazing!! How do you walk?”
To describe the atmosphere of the elven village in one word, it was pure innocence and naivety.
Their lifestyle seemed far removed from magic and the conveniences of civilization, and their greatest interest, as simple settlers who lived purely by gathering and hunting, seemed to be Leah, an outsider and a completely different race.
They stroked her smooth legs in wonder, put flower crowns on her head, and necklaces made of flowers around her neck, and chattered about all sorts of things they were curious about outside.
Leah, unable to bear the attention she hadn’t experienced in so long, made a troubled expression and seemed to be putting her hand on her shoulder…
‘Right, this is where I come in. Leah, selling your husband… I won’t forget this… Ack!!’
…only to end up offering me as a sacrifice to the elves.
At first, they seemed wary of the small monster she offered, but soon their eyes sparkled as they waited for me to write something.
“Wow…”
“Waaa…!!”
“It wrote!! A monster did!!”
Then, when I wrote something, they got excited and squealed among themselves, cheering as if it was amazing.
[I am a clown who was sold off to divert attention from Leah-nim. My dance skills are exceptional.]
When I showed them my crab dance with my spider body, they all burst into laughter.
I wondered how little entertainment there was in this rural corner of the world that they were laughing at something like this.
Of course, it was a secret that I was about to burst into tears myself after seeing my dance reflected in their sparkling eyes.
‘I’m a real clown.’
But whether I was a clown or a clown bone, my personal interests were directed elsewhere.
[Would you introduce me to you and the village?]
I was suddenly curious about what kind of creatures these elves were, and why they were living in a place like this.
“Kyaa!! Cute!!”
“I will!! I’ll introduce you!!”
“Red-haired unni!! Can I borrow him for a bit!!”
As the elven girls, laughing and hugging me tightly in their arms, tried to introduce me to the village, Leah belatedly reached out to retrieve me…
“My… husband…!! Wait…!!”
“Red-haired unni!! Can I touch your belly?”
“Uh…!! Uhh…? Where are you touching!! Hee!!”
“Waaah!! It’s twitching…!! The fuzz is so soft~ Fluffy!!”
“P-Please stop… Hyaaaang…♡”
In the end, Leah was being closely marked by the other half, becoming a tool to satisfy the collective curiosity of the elven girls. Her voice, filled with embarrassment, was also heard from inside the hut I was escaping from.
‘Next time, I should touch Leah’s spider belly too… Soft… fluffy, huh…’
.
.
.
.
.
.
