This is a story from Part Three. The town of Polka, on the northern edge of the Trot Kingdom, was entering its brief summer. Flocks of sheep visited the lush green pastures, and the shepherds, taking a breather at the spring of water, were exclaiming in astonishment at the changing appearance of this town.
“Welcome… Ah, Jeanne-san. Is there anything you need today?”
“I’m trying to make a girl’s skirt as practice for sewing. Do you have any good-looking ones at a reasonable price?”
“Sewing practice… I thought Jeanne-san was handy enough to sew clothes.”
“I’ve done some patching and mending a few times. But making clothes from scratch? No experience yet. Grandma Vera said she’d teach me, so I decided to give it a try.”
“Oh, the midwife’s… but a skirt? Not for Peter-kun?”
“For Elenia. Besides, if I know how to sew, the demand for clothes around Andy is higher among the women.”
“You’re making them for all the adults too…? Are you planning to become a tailor instead of a blacksmith?”
“It’s not exactly something I’ve thought that deeply about. But there’s no harm in being able to do it. Thanks to Selen and Apple taking turns babysitting, I have plenty of free time now. Gotta keep sharpening my skills.”
“Hee… I can’t let myself fall behind, then.”
While Jeanne and Organo were chatting cordially as they checked the inventory, a passing shepherd stared at them with a shocked expression.
”…My, my… A dwarf and an elf chatting amiably in a human town. What a sight to see.”
“Oh, welcome. How about a cloak made of waterproof cloth to prepare for sudden rain? It’s a bit pricey, but it’s high-quality fabric woven in the Northern Forest—light, soft, and highly water-repellent. Rain won’t soak through even in a downpour. And it doesn’t make you sweat. We have hats in the same material too.”
“Ah, no… Well, um, I’d heard that elf-crafted goods are available these days, but… would it really be okay to sell to someone like me?”
“We supply major merchant guilds like Sylph separately on a wholesale basis. But this isn’t some direct sales outlet for elves; it’s just an ordinary shop run by locals. I’m merely a hired employee. As long as you pay, I don’t mind what you choose ♪”
“I see… And yet, to be so friendly even with dwarves.”
“Jeanne-san is like family to me.”
“Family…?”
The shepherd made a face as if he didn’t understand what was being said.
Generally speaking, that’s just how it was. Elves and dwarves were known for despising each other.
An elf who treated a dwarf with warmth was already rare enough. For one to casually call her “family” was like pointing at an apple and calling it a fish.
“The world works that way, especially in Trot, where people tend to look down on non-human races.”
“Hmm, it’s disappointing… There’s no harm in everyone getting along. If individuals could understand each other deeply, racial hostility wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Well, I can’t say much either. But if Lady Lyra and Andy hadn’t taken me out, I probably would have held some biased views toward elves.”
“If you say that, had our master not been active in the forest, we’d be…”
“Truly, Andy is a remarkable man.”
Female slaves often had conversations like this, reaffirming Andy’s greatness.
I don’t know how much he understands it, but many people have had their environment and their entire lives changed by him.
The fact that the Elf Territory began turning outward was something that could never have happened without Andy’s intervention. That event, which tore a rift in what seemed like an eternal overcast sky, was a worthy achievement—worthy of being called world-changing—for the elves of the forest, regardless of how he himself felt about it.
Being able to become so close to such a person was, for the elves, like stepping into myth. No matter how much they spoke of his magnificence, their pride never faded, and other female slaves, upon hearing these tales, renewed their devotion to him.
It was an act akin to self-gratification, but by sharing it, their bond grew stronger.
And through that, a consciousness unique among them began to diverge significantly from the perception of Polka’s residents, visitors, and Andy himself. However, given their inherent status as “female slaves”—a title no outsider could truly comprehend—that divergence, no matter how wide or deep, remained unproblematic.
As a result, in Polka, the more time passed without Andy, the more girls grew devoted to him and lost their resistance to acts beyond common sense… giving rise to an incomprehensible trend that some described as “the training of female slaves.”
The scene shifts to the baron’s mansion. ”…” ”…Hey, uh… Selen? Um… isn’t it true that lately you’ve been… acting weird?” ”…Mm-hmm” Apple, who was soothing Peter, could no longer endure the strange looks coming from Selen, who was likewise soothing Elenia.
Lately, Selen had been fixing Apple with a deadpan stare—well, calling it “observation” might be more accurate. It was becoming increasingly frequent.
Apple had known Selen for quite a long time. She understood all too well that Selen was actually an incredibly straightforward person.
Selen possessed the skill and rhetoric to hoodwink people, but as a rule, she never employed them in her daily life.
She would naturally distance herself from unpleasant opponents quickly and say exactly what she meant to convey. She meticulously looked down on everyone except a tiny circle of allies—or rather, she made swift judgments that “there is no need to expend further effort on this target.” Having been oppressed and belittled due to her Half-Elf heritage, she had developed a keen eye for discerning the worth of people and matters in a relationship.
She rigorously omitted any lack of candidness that might resemble social pleasantries.
It wasn’t that she lacked etiquette; if anything, given the chance, she had mastered every manner of protocol, but she completely ignored them when unnecessary.
Therefore, it was highly unlikely that her staring at Apple now meant she was simply rambling without purpose. There must be some specific significance to it.
Yet, Apple couldn’t find any cause.
As always, Peter was latched onto Apple’s nipple in supreme satisfaction, but Peter wasn’t the reason. Selen had only started looking at Apple with that particular expression a few days ago.
However, Selen said nothing.
It was rare for Selen to be so vague. Apple grew anxious, wondering if something was wrong—if she was suspecting some grave matter, though she didn’t quite understand what it was.
Selen, while also nursing Elenia, gave a blank “Mmm…” and then finally shifted her gaze away before murmuring:
“Apple. ……In the past, when you and Mr. Andy were having sex…… it was pretty wild in all sorts of places, right?”
“Eh? W-well…… I suppose…… that might be?”
Caught off guard by the sudden topic, Apple answered vaguely.
“Besides the hunter’s hut, there was behind the hot springs, thickets in the forest…… Thinking about it now, why did you do it in places like that without anyone noticing? If things had gone a little worse, a passerby might have seen Mr. Andy getting his cock sucked clean.”
“Eh, but by then Selen had healed me, so she was secretly using magic to hide us……”
“…………”
“Selen?”
Selen’s gaze returned to Apple.
And after a while passed—
“……Apple. ……Your memory…… is coming back, isn’t it? Why are you pretending not to know that?”
“!!”
Apple froze. Peter, held in her arm, was pressed against her breast, emitting a strange “nmpuuh” sound.
She hastily realized and loosened her grip, but fortunately, Peter showed no sign of actually starting to cry…… No, with the face of someone who had received divine revelation that “I can enjoy giant boobs with my entire face! Such a way of enjoying things exists!” he slowly pressed his face against it with full force again, letting out another strange “nmpuuh.”
“P-Peter-kun, what are you doing?”
“Apple. ……Don’t brush me off. When did your memory…… come back?”
“…………”
Apple let out a small sigh.
“……It wasn’t that long ago. While I was adventuring in the Karlwin Kingdom with Mr. Andy…… hmm, well, for a while before that, my mind felt a bit foggy…… Ah, there were moments I’d feel this weird sensation. Like memories I thought I could recall would vanish because I couldn’t find the trigger to grasp them.”
“……That happened in Karlwin?”
“……Yeah.”
Apple gave a slight nod.
“There was a time when everyone was about to give up, and I had to imitate Mr. Andy. ……I tried to encourage everyone by mimicking him…… At that moment, as I desperately tried to remember what Mr. Andy said, while thinking hard…… suddenly, the image of Mr. Andy as a child flashed in my mind.”
“……Why didn’t you say so?”
“I didn’t know. Whether it was a true memory or some kind of hallucination…… Since Selen had told me most of the details anyway, I thought maybe I was just fabricating memories based on that knowledge……”
But, Apple continued. While Peter rubbed his face into her breast and thoroughly tested new ways of enjoying milk, she smiled wryly and stroked his head.
“Gradually, the before and after became clearer…… Memories I’d never heard of, connections between events…… things like that resurfaced. I wondered why it was happening. I didn’t know Mr. Andy, and I was fully aware my memory was gone, yet he still said he wanted me…… I decided to accept him as a new version of myself falling in love with him again. That should have settled it, so why are these things surfacing now?”
“……I’m sure…… that is……”
Selen tried to offer an interpretation.
That was certainly because, deep down, Apple had never truly been able to fall completely in love with Andy.
Since Selen wanted to live that way, the only choice left for Apple was to follow Selen’s lead, become a female slave alongside her, and continue living that life. In reality, Apple had no other options.
There may have been some lingering reaction to the feelings she once felt for Andy in becoming a female slave, but ultimately, she had merely resolved herself to it.
Apple had already made that decision once before; this time, she was simply reaffirming her resolve.
To be honest, Andy as a child wasn’t exactly a standout kid. Yet, if one were to project their dependence onto the future and draw a picture of it, a reasonably happy scene could come to mind—a sufficient happiness for a rootless half-elf.
Reaffirming and accepting that reality was what the female slave contract represented… and it was the very thing that drove Apple toward devoted service.
However, when Apple joined him on a journey to the brink of existence, struggled earnestly to be useful to him, and wholeheartedly acknowledged his strength and virtues… I think it is then that memories which had previously felt like a dreamlike severance—memories she could not fully grasp or feel—finally connected.
But Selen tries to explain this, then stops.
It would be too tacky. Being lectured with a self-satisfied expression on why one loves another person… it’s just not right.
”…You know, if you told Andy about that, maybe he’d cherish you even more than before?”
”…It feels like I’ve split into two people, and I’m a bit unsettled by it. There’s this new feeling of liking Andy, and then there’s the obsession I used to have for him… both are strong, but they don’t quite mesh together. …Even though it’s the same person I’m in love with, these two different ‘likings’ with different reasons exist independently within me… Do you understand what that means?”
”…Sorry, that sounds complicated.”
I could imagine it, but empathy would be difficult. Two divergent, yet similar feelings directed at a single human being.
Apple had been carrying that secret without anyone’s knowledge.
”…So Selen can figure all that out, huh?”
“Mm… I just felt like the atmosphere was a bit different since you came back. I wasn’t sure if it was because of that incredible trip we went on or something else… I didn’t know which it was, so I’ve been wavering about it for a while.”
“What were you planning to do if things turned out differently than you expected?”
”…I just wanted to know the truth. That’s all.”
Selen smiles wryly.
This, too, was likely the nature of this lonely half-elf.
She had no intention of doing anything to her best friend; she simply wanted to understand why things had changed.
Only now did I realize that I had been causing her anxiety about it, and I mentally tapped myself on the head, realizing I still had a lot to learn.
”…I hope you’ll be able to tell Andy about all this someday.”
”…Mm. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but…”
“It’s definitely a good thing.”
Holding their infants, the two of them laughed gently, forgiving each other for their doubts and lies.