The horse-drawn carriage finally came to a halt when we arrived in front of an enormous tree, perhaps one as large as a giant.
Its height was likely many times taller than our carriage, possibly reaching dozens of meters.
The tree's roots looked extremely dense and massive, which meant this tree had existed for a very long time.
Its trunk and branches were incredibly numerous when seen from below, and the tree seemed to act like a roof covering the surrounding area.
Its leaves were dark green, with many of them colored orange, resembling autumn leaves.
Right at the base of the tree, there stood a three-story building whose height did not even reach half the height of the tree.
"Place the carriage over there, and come here quickly once you're done!" said the elf who had guided us here.
——
After getting down from the carriage, the four of us immediately returned and stood in front of the building.
With the elves behind us, who seemed to be watching us at all times.
The building's door opened, and an elf with a hunched body stepped out, his hair already gone.
With his pure white beard, he looked just like an ordinary old man if he were of the human race.
Behind him were several elves wearing clothes that looked different from the others, as if they were guards for the old man.
Their group walked toward us, and it seemed the old man wanted to speak with us.
"Thank you for coming here, Yuusha-sama. I have been waiting for you for a very long time, and I never expected you would come now," said the old man.
"My name is Nephyr, the elder of the elves here. I will guide you to the place where our leader resides," he continued.
Their leader? That meant someone like a king or someone of equal standing, right?
Also… it had been a long time since I last heard the title "Yuusha-sama." The last time was already quite a while ago.
He turned his back and began walking back into the building.
This time, the four of us followed behind him, and of course, the elves continued to keep an eye on us.
Then, Hime said something to me.
"Yukito-san, the person who just spoke to us is the elder that Yuu-chan and I met before," she said.
"Really? Hmm," I replied.
——
This building seemed to incorporate the giant tree as part of its structure, and I could see just how spacious the interior was.
It was probably larger than Sikiyomi-san's inn, because it felt even more spacious than that.
There weren't many items inside, but there were many doors, which meant there were many rooms within the building.
"You are expected on the top floor. Follow me," said the old man again.
He climbed the staircase that spiraled along the circular shape of the tree.
Even so, the stairs were not long enough to make someone exhausted.
—
Eventually, we arrived at the top floor, which only had three rooms.
The room in the center had double doors that were wider than those of the previous rooms.
The design of the doors was also more ornate and colorful, and I was sure that room was where the leaders of the elves gathered.
Oh right, I had thought that the leader of this elf village was that old man, but apparently not.
Besides this village, I was sure there were many other elf villages hidden and unknown to most people.
"You four may enter first. I will follow behind you,"
If the old man said so, then we had to do it, right?
The four of us looked at each other, and I could feel that none of them were afraid or worried at all.
Well, there was no reason to worry just because the situation was like this.
Because their leader was inside, that meant the princess was also inside, and if so, then the leader's wife would be there too.
Yosh, I wonder what kind of people they are—
Creak.
——
The double doors were opened by someone who had already been prepared inside, and I could see what lay beyond.
A wide red carpet extended toward the center of the room.
At the very end of the room stood three people who immediately caught my attention the moment I looked inside.
Before the red carpet reached them, several other elves were standing along its sides.
They looked like important figures here as well, perhaps advisors or something similar.
If this were my previous world, they might be more like government officials.
They looked at us with expressions that I couldn't quite say were genuinely happy about our arrival.
Luke, Hime, Yuu-chan, and I walked side by side toward the three of them.
Since they stood at the end of the red carpet, that meant they were the leaders the old man had spoken about earlier.
The three consisted of one adult-looking man and two women, one of whom still looked like a young girl.
The man wore a long dark green outfit with quite a lot of gray mixed into it.
Similarly, one of the women, who looked more mature, wore clothes with a nearly identical design, dominated by pink with a bit of green.
Now that I looked closely, all three of them had the same hair color—white—and the two women both had light purple eyes.
The girl wore white clothing that did not cover her shoulders or armpits, but extended to a few centimeters above her ankles.
She wore white gloves that reached all the way to her elbows.
She wore no footwear, allowing me to see her bare feet.
The girl had white hair that reached slightly below her chest.
Her light purple eyes were extremely bright, and her height was probably almost the same as Hime's.
When I looked around again, almost everyone in the room was not wearing any footwear.
Only our party of four was wearing them.
Once we felt we were close enough, the four of us stopped and waited to see what would happen next.
"Thank you for coming, heroes. I am Loki, the leader of the elves in this village. Beside me is my wife, Forn."
The woman slightly bowed her head to us before returning to her original posture.
"And then…"
Meanwhile, the girl I had mentioned earlier walked toward us—more precisely, toward me.
I didn't know what she was about to do, but it was enough to make me swallow hard, as I felt a bit confused.
She held her skirt and lifted it slightly, performing the gesture that nobles or princesses make when introducing themselves to others.
Could it be… that this princess was gentle and kind-hearted? If that were the case, I would be very happy to help her.
"Yuusha, my name is Iris Valmarich. You can call me Iris~ I am the only daughter of my father, the leader of our people. From now on, please lend us your help, Yuusha~," she said with a sweet smile directed at me.
"Oi, Iris, you startled the hero," said the man, who was named Loki-san.
"Is that so? I'm sorry, Yuusha," she said while slightly bowing her head to me.
"I-it's fine, really. Don't worry about it," I replied.
——
Loki-san then invited all of us to sit down and discuss several matters.
Since we were the main guests this time, the four of us sat in front of the three of them.
"Alright then, may I ask what business the hero party has coming here? I don't recall ever requesting your assistance," Loki-san asked.
Wow, he went straight to the point. In that case, it was time to bring out "that."
Hime opened her Alter Box and handed a rolled piece of paper—a letter—to Loki-san.
He took the letter and began reading it very carefully, making sure not to make even the slightest mistake.
"I see. I understand why you came here. It has been a long time since I last heard about Lancer."
"But is a request from Lancer alone really enough to make you come here?" Loki-san asked again.
From his words, it was clear that he was being very cautious toward us. Well, he was a very good leader.
"I expected you would ask that," Hime said.
Once again, Hime took another rolled letter from her Alter Box and handed it over.
I was sure this one was the letter bearing Charles-san's signature.
"I see… I acknowledge that you are indeed those chosen to be heroes. From now on, I will regard you as genuine heroes," he said.
So earlier, he had only been pretending to see us as the hero party, huh?
Alright, it was my turn now.
I took out the necklace with a flower-shaped design and handed it to the princess.
"Lancer-san entrusted this necklace to me. He said you would know that we truly are the hero party," I said.
The princess held the necklace, and her expression immediately brightened as she smiled.
"This necklace… Father, may I take him outside?" the princess asked Loki-san.
Loki-san and Forn-san looked slightly surprised by her request.
"You haven't been this enthusiastic in a long time. Very well, I permit you to take him around," Loki-san replied.
The princess smiled, clearly happy that her father had accepted her request.
Suddenly, Hime, who was sitting beside me, tapped my hand.
"Yukito-san, please look after her, okay?" Hime asked.
"Huh? Why?" I asked back.
"Aren't you that oblivious? Well, you'll see later," Hime said.
Honestly, I had no idea what Hime was talking about right now.
I mean, she had just asked me to look after the princess—huh? Why did I have to do that?
The princess stood up and stopped right in front of me, then held out her hand.
"Yuusha, let's go~," she said.
"?" That was my reaction at the moment.
I was confused about what the princess was doing.
Meanwhile, Forn-san chuckled softly, covering her mouth with her hand, and said to me,
"Iris wants to take you on a walk. You should accept, alright?"
Oh, so that was what Hime meant earlier. I understood it very well now.
I took her outstretched hand and stood up, my expression still somewhat confused and, of course, a little reluctant.
For some reason, I felt a bit lazy about doing this, even though I might actually want to.
"Father, Mother, I'll be going with Yuusha. See you later~," she said as she pulled my hand and led me out of the room.
I glanced back and saw the three of them watching me.
And Hime looked like she was quietly laughing, while Luke was smiling quite broadly at me.
Yuu-chan simply stared at me without showing any expression.
…It was time for me to follow the princess, since she had invited me along.