“Th-this is truly a rude request, but…”
“What?”
“I know it’s impolite, but couldn’t I stay here even briefly?”
“Why?”
Why does he want to stay here? There’s nothing here. I was genuinely puzzled. He won’t die right away if he leaves. Starving to death on the way down is his own business. I was wondering what to do with this, but I didn’t plan to keep him in my nest continuously.
I mean literally I was just wondering what to do, not that I would permit my nest.
I don’t know how the man heard my words, but he clearly looked troubled. He spoke to me almost desperately.
“I’m very sorry to make further requests to the benefactor who saved my life… but I have absolutely no idea what I should do right now. Even just for a brief moment is fine, but if you could give me time to at least grasp the minimum… wouldn’t that somehow be possible?”
At his words, I felt a strange feeling. When I glanced at Havi, Havi also had a subtle expression. Havi tilted his head and said to me,
“How should I say this, he’s really… speaking in a difficult way. Should I say polite, or oddly formal in his speech?”
“I think I’m hearing this kind of speech pattern for the first time in thousands of years.”
“You just saw the human leaders not long ago. Don’t those things use that kind of speech?”
“I don’t know, they were all stuttering and couldn’t speak properly, so I couldn’t hear their speech patterns. There were only crazy humans clinging and wailing or screaming and running away. And I peeled all their skin off and hung them up anyway. I was so angry at the time that I couldn’t even hear what they were saying.”
What a really strange human. But I didn’t particularly dislike it. The humans I’ve seen recently were too rude, and seeing him plead with a pitiful face moves me a little. Most of all, he’s pretty. Something pretty is clinging asking to be saved once, so I’m tempted.
“Mm. If it’s just for a moment.”
“…Are you really sure it’s okay?”
“What could possibly happen?”
Havi asked worriedly, but I laughed cheerfully. And I asked the thoroughly intimidated human.
“Aren’t you hungry? Eat first.”
He slept for a long time, so he must be hungry, right? Let’s feed him right away and think later.
***
The human wasn’t bad, better than I thought. In various ways.
Even though he said some of his memories were lost, he still knew quite a lot. First of all, his most important survival activities were smooth, and his language abilities were considerable. Most of all, unlike other humans, he was quite polite.
“What were you, I wonder?”
“…Well, I’m not sure.”
He does everything well on his own without needing my hand. He makes food for eating on his own, and there’s no problem at all with washing or grooming. Most of all, he’s pretty. Hair like sunlight, eyes as cool as the autumn sky, a solid body and smooth skin are all well-maintained. He’s quite handsome.
As I watched, I couldn’t help but become curious. Of course, it’s not just me. The human was also quite curious about me.
Just in case, I told the human various stories.
Like how he was picked up near Havi’s burrow, or how there were corpses in similar attire scattered there. I also roughly washed and showed him the wrappings he’d been wearing at the time. It was armor that was crude but seemed quite carefully made.
“What do you think your role was? I think it might have been combat.”
“That… is it because of the armor?”
“That too, and you have a good build. Usually humans use adult individuals with good frames as combatants. Isn’t that right?”
“Perhaps, that might be so. I can’t be certain.”
His body has already fully recovered, but who knows when his memory will return? Havi said it would take quite some time, so it’s hard to expect it right away. It’s only been a short while since he woke up. This is quite troublesome. I’m curious, but he doesn’t know anything himself.
“Um, Levia, sir.”
“Mm?”
“Why are you, Levia-sir, alone in such a place?”
“Because this is my nest.”
“Home, you mean?”
“In your terms, yes.”
This human is as curious about me as I am about him. Even though he’s thoroughly intimidated, whenever he has a chance, he often asks something like this. I answered his questions while thinking to myself.
This one still preserves human common sense. That means he has memories of that. Humans live in groups, so it would be strange to him that I’m alone. He must have asked me because he recognized that as strange.
Then he remembers almost everything, so why can’t he only remember his name and the reason he came here? I tried voicing a speculation I could at least come up with.
“Did you dislike your name and situation?”
“I, did?”
“Havi said so. He said humans are individuals where body and mind are together but strictly separated. If there’s something they really, really hate, there are cases where they erase the memory themselves. Might that be what happened to you?”
It’s merely a simple guess. I don’t know the truth. How could I know what he himself doesn’t know? What the Dryads and my kin saw and heard was just the fact that humans were heading here.
“Our kids said you had a conflict with other humans while coming here.”
“You can know such things too?”
“This is my territory, and it happens to be near the nest so there are many children who can speak. Anyway, they said so. Why did you fight with other humans? Do you remember that?”
“Th-that’s… ugh…!?”
Again. The human seemed to grimace slightly and then clutched his head and collapsed again. When I say something worth thinking about, the human seems pained and grabs his hair and collapses like that. He suffers so painfully that I was surprised at first, but now I’m somewhat used to it.
Because after that action ends, he remembers something, even if just a tiny bit. After waiting a moment, the calmed human raised his head again.
“Eli, on…”
“Eli?”
“Eli, on, I think… it was.”
“Your name?”
“…Probably, yes.”
The human who was catching his disheveled breath pressed his head firmly and barely continued speaking.
“I’m not certain. It’s just a word that came to mind right now. If I infer the form, it seems like a name, but I’m not confident it’s mine.”
“That’s unfortunate. It seemed like it would have been a chance to dig up more memories.”
Does it hurt a lot? I reached out my hand and then hesitated. Ah, I almost breathed energy into him without thinking again. I withdrew my hand again, pretending nothing happened, and asked.
“Is there nothing else that came to mind together?”
“…I think I only saw a scene of someone shouting that toward me.”
“Then it must be your name, well. Don’t think too seriously about it.”
It’s regrettable for the human—no, for Elion—but I have a lot of time. The urgent one is this thing with little lifespan left. I’m fine with anything. How many years pass doesn’t really matter much. It’s just a bit annoying that there’s a lot to manage when winter comes around.
“Good, then. Elion, this wrapping… No, try wearing these clothes too.”
I picked up the silk I’d received most recently. These are clothes I couldn’t have Raha try on. Maybe because Raha was too fragile, when I put these on him, he couldn’t even walk properly. Since Elion has a good build, I think he can try them on.
When I spoke in an excited voice, the human—Elion—showed a troubled look.
“Um, Levia-sir… do you like these kinds of things?”
“Precisely which? The appearance of these clothes? Or this kind of action?”
“Both.”
“Both. I really love pretty things. You’re a pretty human, and I want to dress you in pretty wrappings. If you wrap pretty things prettily, they become even prettier, right? There’s nothing bad about it at all.”
Since he’s an adult, the lines are a bit thicker and firmer, but he’s handsome anyway. Human wrappings rot away over a long time anyway. I’m preserving them as much as possible, but the colors might fade, so it’s beneficial to have him wear them while I can.
But Elion doesn’t seem pleased that I’m dressing him in pretty wrappings. He stared at me then said with a reddened face,
“From my perspective, Levia-sir is more… beautiful.”
“That’s obvious, but I have no reason to wear human wrappings.”
“Why not?”
“If I wear them, I can’t see them. I want to see pretty things. Isn’t that obvious?”
What would I do wearing them? Human wrappings are too cumbersome and uncomfortable. If I wear these, it’s even hard to walk. In the first place, I’m only imitating human form, so walking in the human way itself requires quite a bit of attention. On top of that, if I wear these, it’s too hard.
A really very long time ago, when I first received them, the colorful fabrics were so pretty that I wore them all day long, but that was only then. They’re pretty to look at, but when I actually wear them, I can’t do the most important thing—’appreciating’ them. Reflecting them somewhere is only good for a day or two.
I looked at Elion’s hair, who reluctantly accepted, with regret.
“I wish you had longer hair on your head. Then I could twist and pin it up in various ways and put lots of human ornaments on it.”
There are many ornaments made by humans, but it’s a waste. Come to think of it, I’m reminded of Raha. While I was with Raha, there was the fun of decorating him with this and that even a little. Of course, it wasn’t very enjoyable. Because Raha pestered me to decorate me just as much as I decorated him.
I helped Elion, who was at a loss fumbling with the wrappings, put on the clothes. The flustered thing barely received the wrappings—no, the clothes—with awkward movements and asked.
“…Wouldn’t it be strange for me to do that?”
“Why would it be strange? You’re pretty, and it’s good to make you prettier. Don’t humans like pretty things?”
“Probably, I think they’d like them, but…”
Elion, who seemed to ponder for a moment, answered with a sigh.
“For now, it seems I didn’t like it that much.”
“Why?”
“Somehow it feels like… I’m losing energy, that kind of feeling.”
Why is he losing energy? His life force doesn’t seem to have changed much though? After thinking for a moment, I looked at him with pitying eyes.
“Oh dear, your body is weak. Should I give you my fragment… no, would that be a bit difficult? Should I have you receive spirit dew? Are you in pain right now? The dew only forms at dawn.”
If his body is really not well, it would be difficult to have him eat a fragment right away. So I asked wondering if I should have the Dryads give him dew. If he could wait until dawn, I was going to feed it to him right away. But this one seemed troubled by that too.
“No. It’s just, well… From my perspective, Levia-sir is far more beautiful, so when you do that… I think it’s out of a feeling of waste.”
“Your tastes are more particular than I thought.”
“Is that, so?”
“It seems that way to me.”
Again, again. Again he tilts his head to the side with a stupid face. He doesn’t seem to understand what I mean. I was about to add an explanation but gave up with a sigh. Since he says so himself, there’s no need for me to make him understand. Right now his memory isn’t complete, so any explanation I give would be incomplete anyway.
“Let’s eat after putting this on. Ah, I have some human books collected too, you know? Just in case, let’s look through those too. Something might come up, right?”
At my words, Elion glanced around cautiously and nodded. He’s quite gentle. Is it because he’s an adult? He seems well-raised. He’s polite and doesn’t throw tantrums.
Somehow I felt proud. Right, this was the feeling I wanted to experience.
