Chapter 40

“Wait, where did you get that cellphone? It wasn’t here when we came in.”

If it were Ria’s personality, it wouldn’t be strange for her to hide it, but I had read the original novel and remembered quite a bit.

In the original, Ria whined a lot about how there were no cellphones in the convent, and the Saintess was terrible with machines. She had never really held a smartphone properly since she was young.

Given the circumstances, Ria’s father probably put her in the convent as a punishment, so he must have confiscated anything like a smartphone.

But it wouldn’t have been easy to get one in there anyway.

And yet here was Ria, holding a cellphone. It wasn’t the newest model for a hero’s daughter, but…

I had never seen her use one before!

“I borrowed it.”

“From whom?”

“From Lee Si-yoon.”

Huh.

So he would actually lend it out just because she asked… Makes sense, given his personality. It’s exactly the kind of character that readers would describe as a pushover.

The Saintess was a bit of a pushover too, but Lee Si-yoon was much worse. Well, that’s probably why we got to see a heroine rescue episode.

“He said he wanted to buy you chicken, so he lent it without hesitation.”

“…When are you going to return it?”

“Oh, he’s coming again tomorrow. He has that princess’s stuff too.”

“Ah…”

Does she think I don’t know how to use a smartphone? Ria fiddled with the cellphone while answering.

“Hmm?”

But something felt a bit off.

I had never come across any information in the original that said the Elf heroine was a princess. It mentioned nobility several times, and it felt like they were intentionally emphasizing that.

…But still, that didn’t seem important right now.

Thinking back, at that time, Lee Si-yoon had been placed a little further away. He’s still low in rank, and the only reason he followed us would be that he was trustworthy among my acquaintances.

It must have been for my own mental stability. Magic and saint powers are highly influenced by the caster’s mental state.

Especially since the other party is a princess.

The hunters around the Gate had been whispering to each other, and as soon as the princess was mentioned, one of them poked the other in the side. It was entirely possible that Lee Si-yoon hadn’t heard.

Normally, he would have come back after treatment and returned to his world, but whatever happened, the Gate vanished.

…Whether we could go back to the original world was a secondary concern, but for now, in this world, it would be better to keep our identities hidden as much as possible.

Okay, thinking like this, the situation seems to fit a bit.

As I was nodding to myself—

“I ordered it.”

“Fried chicken?”

“One fried chicken, and just in case, I also ordered a seasoned one. Since we’re at it, some cheese balls and fries… Hey, how do you know about fried chicken?”

“…You thought I’d live here and never had a whole chicken?”

The church’s funds come from 80% donations and 20% taxpayer money from the government. As long as tax money is used, you can never be totally free from citizens’ scrutiny.

Sometimes, there are people who file complaints when they see nuns or clergy ordering takeout.

But is it really fair to make the growing children only eat church food? It’s quite common for priests or the Sister Warden to treat the kids to outside foods like chicken or hamburgers.

Or maybe the adults from the volunteer group treating us when we went to do charity work, or the older nuns who still get activity fees would treat us occasionally.

As I shared this proudly, Ria responded with a deflated face, “Is that so…?”

Why? Was she disappointed she couldn’t say something like, “Ah, this is what ‘chicken’ is”?

But seeing Ria’s gaze go a bit pitiful, I couldn’t hold back that feeling.

*

Chicken tends to smell pretty strong.

Well, there’s no delicious food that doesn’t stink a little. That ‘smell’ is a really important part of the taste.

So Ria and I chose to eat outside.

She said, “Let’s go out to the back of the church and hop over the wall to get the chicken,” but I was a bit surprised when I saw her actually leap over the wall to bring back a set of chicken.

“Why? Did you think someone would catch you?”

“I thought someone would support me from below or something.”

“Do you think one of us could support you up there?”

We both shook our heads, looking up.

Well, Ria is a candidate for hero. In the original, she leaped around with ease. In a fantasy world like this, you need that kind of physical ability to fight against fantasy beasts.

Holding the chicken, we moved to a more secluded spot. We both knew quite well the hard-to-see corners of the church building. After all, we had been around cleaning the place.

Click.

I turned on the small flashlight I brought, and Ria turned on the LED of the smartphone.

We positioned the two devices to illuminate the area around the chicken and opened the box.

“…Ah.”

The smell was overwhelmingly stimulating. In a good way. The health foods coming from the church included meat and fried items, but nothing had this violently high calorie content.

Sure, church food might be nutritious—

“Wait.”

Suddenly, Ria closed the box. Then, she quickly bent down and shielded the light of her smartphone and flashlight.

I wasn’t dumb enough to ask “Why?” out loud.

“…”

Tap, tap.

I heard footsteps.

Someone was walking this way.

Could it be the Sister Warden? Or the night patrol duty? Either way, if we were caught, we’d be on the receiving end of some unwanted remarks.

I didn’t want to get scolded tonight—

Thud.

But the footsteps trailed off and suddenly stopped.

“…Ugh.”

Then came a groan of pain.

“I followed the delicious smell and ended up falling… I wonder what my father would say if he saw me…?”

It was a voice I had never heard before.

Ria and I blinked in surprise.

What stood out more than the voice was how she referred to her father.

Father?

In the darkness, Ria and I looked at each other.

Then, we slowly stood up, each holding our flashlight and smartphone.

As we approached the sound—

“…Ah.”

What we found was an Elf.

Her hair messy as if she had just woken up. It was unclear if it was curly or wavy, but it was all tangled. And—

Her odd-colored eyes were looking up at us.

“…”

Ria and I exchanged dumbfounded glances.

Then we looked down at the Elf in silence.

*

In this world, Elves are practically vegetarian.

Oh, not for ideological reasons. The Elves in this world just dislike meat.

In the novel, it was mentioned it’s because of the smell. Just like how humans sometimes can’t eat meat that smells too bad, Elves, having keen noses, avoid such meats— but then, does that mean they’re okay with grass smells?

A sleeping Elf like me had woken up, trying to grasp the surroundings, and followed the smell of food that had flowed in through the open window for fresh air without realizing.

…Of course, the smell she followed wasn’t fried chicken.

“I’m starving…”

Tears streaming down her cheeks, she was stuffing fries into her mouth.

…Aren’t chicken fries often fried with chicken? Is that okay?

Or maybe she was so starving she didn’t care about the smell anymore. I had a friend who didn’t eat kimchi, but then ate it while in the army.

Seeing her munching away, we simply passed a handful of fries over to the Elf. We had cheese balls and enough chicken to eat one each anyway.

Chomp, chomp.

…Mmm.

Did I eat like that when I had ramen?

Feeling a bit self-conscious, I took smaller bites of the chicken. It was tasty. I might’ve shed a few happy tears under normal circumstances.

However, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t ignore the Elf next to us.

Ria felt the same way, and instead of teasing me like usual, she kept her gaze on the Elf.

After the Elf almost finished off what seemed like a huge share of fries, she must have felt our stares and looked up in surprise.

“…?”

Silence.

A silence much heavier than the one that had passed between Ria and me settled between us.

The Elf slowly lowered her hand, raising her chin proudly.

Then, with one hand on her chest, she spoke.

“…I am Glaria, the noble bloodline of the Royal Family of Charle, honored to receive such precious food.”

Ah, right. That was her name.

…So that means she is a princess?

“…Um.”

Ria looked at the princess, Glaria, and said, “You have oil on your finger.”

“Gasp!”

At Ria’s words, Glaria quickly pulled her hand away.

But the oil on her shiny fingers had already smeared onto her clothes.

“…?”

Once again, an awkward silence settled.

What are we going to do about this atmosphere, Glaria?