“Th-then, Fumier will give it a try.”
Fumier stepped forward, taking the teacup from Ye Xingyao’s hand with some hesitation, gently sniffing the tea’s aroma before her brow furrowed slightly.
It does seem a bit different from the other teas she’d tried… Sister Xingyao really is amazing, able to notice even such small details.
Filled with curiosity about its flavor, Fumier tilted her head back and drank the tea in one clean gulp.
The next second, the little girl’s face scrunched up entirely.
“Ah ah ah?! What happened?!”
Ye Xingyao, who had been smiling just moments before, was genuinely startled by Fumier’s expression. Confused, she downed the tea from her own cup, savored it for a moment, and found that it wasn’t nearly as unpleasant as Fumier had made it seem.
“N-no, it’s nothing, Sister Xingyao… It’s just, Fumier thinks it’s really bitter…”
Fumier’s little face stayed scrunched, her expression practically spelling out the words “not tasty.”
“So there’s still no way to let Fumier taste things the same way we do?”
Yi Shiyue’s attention also shifted to the two girls interacting nearby. Having roughly guessed what Ye Xingyao was trying to do, she looked at Fumier, who was sticking out her little tongue, with some regret.
Ye Xingyao nodded, her expression showing a hint of disappointment. If Fumier couldn’t enjoy human food and could only drink their blood forever, how monotonous would that be?
Even if she couldn’t gain magic power from it or sustain her energy, just being able to taste the flavors would be nice. She really wanted Fumier to try her cooking.
“Hmm, if Sister Xiaoyue and Sister Xingyao also find this drink bitter, then maybe it worked? Fumier only feels nauseous drinking things like this.” Fumier could see their disappointment. Enduring the bitterness in her mouth, she reflected on how this tea differed from the other drinks she’d tried, then tilted her head and reminded them.
“Oh?”
Ye Xingyao snapped back to attention, looking at Fumier’s face and nodding thoughtfully. Maybe this little girl could actually taste the flavor of the magic power contained in foods imbued with it?
That gave Ye Xingyao a whole new line of thought.
“Alright, let’s leave it at that for now. Are you both ready? Let’s go check out the library.” Tossing back the rest of her tea, Ye Xingyao wiped her lips, stood up, and patted Yi Shiyue’s shoulder.
If the library had any information on blood elves, she could research how to cook for Fumier. In a place Ye Xingyao herself hadn’t noticed, her thinking seemed to be heading down an irreversible path toward being a devoted wife.
Of course, she personally just thought it was interesting, and taking care of Fumier was part of her responsibility anyway.
After locking up the house she’d been staying in, Ye Xingyao led the two girls on a leisurely stroll through the Moon Elf village.
She didn’t plan to head straight for the library. For her, experiencing the everyday life and culture of the elf race was also important work. Yes, Star Elf work.
She absolutely, positively was not lost. Please remember that. Star Elves do not get lost, and Ye Xingyao does not have some “terrible sense of direction” as a cute trait.
Come to think of it, although Ilaira called this place the Moon Elf village, she hadn’t actually seen any Moon Elves on the streets. Not a single one.
The vast majority of elves here had beige hair, with forest elves and earth elves appearing only rarely. Their features were no different from the other elves she’d met, though. Could these beige-haired elves actually count as Moon Elves?
She couldn’t exactly ask out loud. If she hadn’t known that real Moon Elves looked like the white-haired girl whose hand she was holding, she might have started believing Moon Elves had beige hair.
What was truly surprising was that the elves immersed in their daily lives or work, upon noticing the gaze and seeing a white-haired Moon Elf holding hands with a black-haired human girl, all wore expressions of wanting to avoid them.
Seriously? Is it that bad?
Ye Xingyao and Yi Shiyue exchanged glances, momentarily speechless.
Were they avoiding them because of Ye Xingyao’s seemingly human identity, or because two girls were affectionately holding hands while walking? It was genuinely puzzling.
But either way, for elves who strictly adhered to traditional decorum and propriety, it seemed like quite the shocking sight.
“Um… the library should be up ahead, right?”
Ye Xingyao patted the head of the golden-haired girl beside her, pointing at the tall white building in the distance.
Rather than a library, it resembled a somewhat medieval-style Western manor. Ye Xingyao didn’t know much about such architecture, just some terms like Victorian and Gothic.
What was worth noting was that directly facing the library’s entrance stood a fountain, and that fountain sat in the courtyard of a building resembling a shrine.
This must be the altar Christie mentioned. She wondered what the elves held their rituals for here.
Incidentally, most people in Zhongzhou were non-believers, while Xizhou, the southern state, and the northern state all had their own faiths, unlike the eastern state.
Approaching the library and standing at the entrance to take in the full view of the building, Ye Xingyao realized it wasn’t as grand as she’d imagined. At least compared to the electronic libraries in the satellite cities, it was pitifully small.
A sign hung on the European-style door, inscribed with text Ye Xingyao could only half-understand. She could barely recognize one character for “book,” and while she could guess the general meaning of the rest, she still couldn’t quite match them up. Her knowledge of the Elven Language was limited to pronunciation; there were many characters she couldn’t write or connect to their sounds.
Still, given that these elves were using the Common Human Language too, she figured she counted as fairly learned among the younger generation of elves.
Just as Ye Xingyao was lost in thought, with Yi Shiyue and Fumier waiting for her to make a move, the library’s doors were pushed open from within.
Walking out to meet them was a woman exuding an air of intellect all over, wearing a robe characteristic of the elf race, carrying a distinctly bookish elegance. What surprised her was that the woman was actually a forest elf.
Of course, elves of any age were always beautiful, but those whose temperament was evident at first glance were rare. The woman before them was one of them.
“An unknown human miss, a peculiar blood elf miss, and this… would you be Miss Yi Shiyue? Might you distinguished guests be interested in the library?”
“Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve chatted with strangers. Please forgive me. My name is Sharon, and I am the keeper of this library. If you have the leisure and inclination, please do come inside and look around.”
The forest elf woman named Sharon lowered her head and offered a bow.