Chapter II
Third Person's POV
Rin is walking further into the forest and nothing is yet to be seen. She found many kinds of creatures such as a boar, frogs, deer, dragon, gorilla, and also bugs in different sizes. There are also creatures that she's never seen before such as the Kurokage, Ashimagari, Bake Neko, fairies, trolls, and other creatures that she thought didn't exist. Those creatures are staring at Rin but they didn't do anything and let her through. Rin keeps looking down to avoid those creature's gazes. She makes sure that nothing touches her.
She keeps on going until she finally found a village. She can't believe it, there's a village inside a forest. The houses are basically like the usual tree house with glass windows. It looks stunning. The trees are way higher than the usual. Everything in this forest always seems blue. The lights are from some blue crystals and there are fireflies with blue lights everywhere. It feels so magical and a little bit eerie at the same time. It's weird that they are not sleeping at this hour. It should be midnight by now and everyone looks even busier. Not a pretty good situation for Rin, but maybe this way, she can find Luka more easily.
"I don't see why I have to. I've been living here for as long as I can remember!" someone shouts.
"No, but we're just making sure. We're not going to do anything besides that."
"Well I don't see you guys checked other houses, why does it have to be mine? Is it because I'm a half-elf?"
"No, but-"
"I won't let you go into my house!" she slams the door.
Rin has been listening in the corner. There are the purple-haired elf white and blue heavy armor. He also brought a sword. He is definitely one of the guardians of the palace. From Rin's understanding, he is trying to check the half-elf house. She notices that half-elf with pink hair is definitely Luka, whose Len is talking about.
The guardian looks confused and hesitates to go, but he's finally left. Rin slowly comes out from the corner. She proceeds to knock on the door. For some possible reason, Luka doesn't want to open that door right after what happened before. It's all silence and Rin doesn't know what to do. She tries to knock again but the moment she tried, Luka opens the door furiously and knocked Rin out. She fell unconscious.
Rin is slowly getting back her conscious. She is laying on the bed, looking at the unrecognizable ceiling. This is not her bedroom. She moves her body to sit. Luka is standing by the door.
"Are you awake?" Luka asks.
"Um… still dizzy…"
"I suppose you're well enough to talk. Why are you here? Humans don't belong here."
Luka interrogates right away while checking Rin's up to toe. Rin is currently wearing a brown uniform, with a short brown skirt, black stocking, and black shoes [Trad School Outfit]. Obviously, Luka knew that she's a human. She is still standing by the door and cross her arm the whole time. Rin is also examining the half-elf. She has a long pink hair, light blue eyes, and a slender body. She's wearing a white dress with purple sleeves [San-No- Sakura: Fuuka Outfit]. She also has the elf ears. If Len didn't tell her that she's a half-elf, she would think that Luka is just a regular elf.
"Len told me to come to you. He said that you would help me."
"Tch! That jerk always shoves the problem to me. Why did he help you anyway? I thought he would definitely capture human on sight."
"I… don't know…"
"He even put a spell on you, did he? Well, that spell is still active since I'm the one who touches you."
"Is that how it works? The spell won't break if another human touch me?"
"Yeah. But your outfit is too eye-catching I better give you something else." She throws an outfit across the room, a white one-piece [Fairy Dress Outfit] that fits Rin perfectly. Rin quickly grabs that outfit and change hers.
"Why do you think Len would capture me on sight?" Rin asks.
"Because he did that to my mother. The king gave the order to capture every human in this world one day. They capture everyone but they let go of a half-elf like me. I know Len is just following the king's order, but still, he pissed me off every time."
"He is the henchman of the king so you should be careful too." she continues.
She's still processing the information she got just now. It also creates a lot of questions in her head. Questions that she's pretty sure she will find the answer later. For now, she needs to know how to get to the palace.
"Luka-san please tell me how to get to the palace."
"Why do you want to go to the palace? Isn't that suicide?"
"I know, but in order to go back home, I need to restore this necklace back to the king," Rin shows the necklace to Luka.
"What?! How did you get that?"
"It's from my grandma, she wants me to return it."
"How…"
"I don't know,"
Luka is a little bit confused about how did the king's necklace in Rin's grandma's hand. That necklace is supposed to be gone for a long time. She heard a rumor about the king is actually giving the necklace to someone he loves. There's also rumor that a human took it, so that's why the king hates human so much.
"Could it be…"
Luka is suspecting something, but she's lack of information. It's too good to be true. She better not say anything, it will be shown eventually.
"Luka-san?" Rin called, noticing that Luka's been quiet for a while.
"Oh, you want to go to the palace right? You have to work for me then."
"Okay. What do I do?"
"How is your sewing ability?"
"Sewing?"
"I'm actually a tailor for the palace. Didn't you notice what's going on in this whole room?"
"Oh…"
"As a half-elf, I can't actually do magic like the regular elf, but I still have to do something for the living right?"
Rin just notices even in this bedroom it's full of clothes, dress, and mannequin. There're also pieces of fabric everywhere. For a second Rin thought that Luka is a fighter because she knocked her out the first time they met.
"You're surprisingly good at embroidery." Luka pointed out.
"I have this lesson in my mansion. Poetry over philosophy, embroidery rather than cooking, and dance instead of chess. I was raised that way."
"I see, you're a young lady."
"If you say so," Rin laughs.
It's been a few days since Rin stays in Luka's house. So far there's no major problem. Sometimes people come and they would ask who Rin is. Luka would say that Rin is her acquaintance. Sometimes they would try to handshake Rin but Luka manages to stop them. Rin absolutely owes Luka a lot. As to why she is still not been able to go to the palace, because it's not the time to deliver some clothes yet. Or the palace hasn't call Luka for something. Their only chance to go to the palace is tomorrow when it's time for delivering the clothes. So today they're trying their best to finish the orders on time.
They've been working all day not realizing it's already midnight. After they've finished preparing everything for tomorrow, they're finally able to get to bed. They sleep together since Luka's bed is quite big. The trip is six hours long on foot to go to the palace. They need to conserve their energy as much as possible. Rin knows that much but she can't sleep. Instead, she is looking out the window to feel the night wind, watching the night sky. She's been wondering something these days.
"Will I meet Len tomorrow…"
One hour later, she finally decided to sleep. She closes the window and proceeds to lays on the bed, drifting into her dreams.
