Now that I think about it, it all started because we saved them.
Back then... I'd used [Generous] against a chimera variant, hadn't I?
I wonder if I could defeat that same chimera now, as I am.
Setting that aside, Pakira-san had found me out.
So it was only natural that the other two knew as well.
I'd heard from Lupinus-san beforehand that she wanted to talk.
I'd pretty much guessed what it was about, but no one could have predicted it would be now.
"Um, um..."
"It's best to start from the beginning. First, why did you realize?"
"Okay."
Everyone was unconscious. So it was hard to imagine that's where I'd be found out.
"It was Riv who noticed. She said you smelled of elixir."
"Elixirs have a smell?"
Smell... they don't, right? Do they? What? A smell?
"Mmm... there's still a little bit of the elixir smell on you now."
"Huh..."
I couldn't help but sniff at my own clothes and skin. I don't get it.
Elixirs are supposed to be odorless and tasteless, right? Pakira-san gave a slight, wry smile.
"That's something even we don't really know. It's Riv's sense."
"So the Riv sense, as they say."
"Hmm… feels good…"
"Ah… I sort of get it now."
So that's what you'd call Riv's spatial-sense thing.
A sixth sense or something like that. Something people in this world don't have.
The smell of elixirs probably isn't actually a smell.
It's something she can sense.
"But at first, I figured you were a hired hand."
"I thought you must have an employer."
"Well…"
That's certainly more convincing.
"Hmm… but that wasn't it…"
"…Why did you think that wasn't the case?"
"Well now. How should I put this…"
Pakira made a troubled face.
"?"
"Wof. Do you remember what you gave to Pakira?"
"Um, ah… the elixir…"
"…That's why… I thought something was off…"
"I considered that you might have an employer, and that this was all on their instructions."
"Well now. If that's the case, one has to wonder what the purpose would be."
"So there's a purpose behind it."
"Hmm... Torquetam... the purpose of helping... I don't get it..."
Yeah. It's not like I had a good answer when someone asked me about the purpose either.
"I did wonder if we were the purpose, honestly."
"To be blunt, whether an elixir and the likes of us are even a fair trade..."
"Hmm... Riv and the rest... aren't... quite that full of ourselves..."
"Indeed."
I see.
So they were weighing whether we were worth the cost of using an elixir... was that it?
I'd rather not think too hard about that part.
Life is the most precious and important thing there is. But in this world, life is fragile and of little value.
I understand that much, at least. But no matter how many times I hear it, I just can't make peace with it.
"So then, you went and... confessed the whole thing, didn't you."
"Well, yes."
"Allow me to thank you properly this time."
Lupinus bowed her head once more to express her gratitude.
I couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.
"No, that's, well..."
"Hmm... Riv also wants to say thank you."
"I shall also offer my thanks as Torquetam."
"Thank you so very much."
"...Thank you..."
"Thank you."
I didn't know how to respond to the three of them expressing their gratitude.
I hadn't done it because I wanted to be thanked.
I did it because I thought it would be wrong to leave someone to die when I could save them.
"..."
"Forgive the presumption, but there is something I would like to ask."
"What is it?"
"Why did you save us?"
"Huh? Why?"
She tilted her head. Lupinus looked at me with suspicion.
"The elixir is worth far more than our lives. You are aware of that, aren't you?"
"...Seeing someone on the verge of death and choosing not to help... that simply wasn't an option for me. It would be wrong to have the means to save someone and not use them."
"No. It isn't wrong at all."
"Not a thing wrong with it."
"Hm..."
Torquetam denied my reasoning so matter-of-factly. I couldn't help but give a wry smile.
"Well... anyway, that's just the kind of person I am. But I do choose who I help. I don't go around saving just anyone."
I'm not going to help someone who harbors hostility or murderous intent, though.
I know where to draw the line. And there's one important thing I should add.
— I don't need a reward or anything like that. That's not why I helped.
The atmosphere turns awkward in an instant.
"..."
"...Mm."
— Very well.
Lupinus nodded. But her expression was somewhat stiff.
She doesn't agree, but she understands — or so I'd like to think.
— My, my. How very Wof of you.
— Mm... I don't... dislike... that kind of... thing.
Those two finally managed to string together some words.
Well, if you asked whether that's like me — yeah, probably.
— Now then, on to the next matter.
— Next?
Wait, I thought we were done here?
Like, shouldn't there be a part where they ask why I had an elixir or something?
Not that I'd want that, but just then, Lupinus stood up.
— Um?
She moved away from the sofa, sat down directly on the floor, and abruptly bowed her head to the ground.
"For this incredibly generous —" "sum of money —" "I thank you with all my heart!!"
"Wh-whaaaat!?"
I jumped to my feet without thinking. It was a magnificent prostration.
Both hands formed a triangle before her as she pressed her forehead to the floor.
Magnificent...
sum of money...
...
"Thank you so very much for the sixty million oro!!"
Lupinus declared, grandly prostrate.
Uh, the degree of gratitude here is way beyond what she showed when I saved her life.
I looked helplessly at Pakira and the others. They were all dumbfounded too.
"Wh-what are you doing, Lupinus!"
"It is simply my gratitude."
"Hmm... even so... a dogeza is... seriously... way too much..."
"This is Soil Under Occara. The highest form of courtesy."
Lupinus said with a dead-serious expression.
The level of earnestness is on a completely different plane. Wait, what even is Soil Under Occara?
The highest form of courtesy... I mean, when she puts it that way, sure, but something still feels off.
Pakira apologizes to me.
"My apologies. This one here — she hated her family, you see. Now that there's no need to secure their support anymore, she's overjoyed."
"Hmm… not exactly overjoyed."
Does she not get along with her family?
"Sigh… I understand. Lupinus, please raise your head and stand up."
"Has my sincerity been conveyed?"
"Y-yes. It's been conveyed thoroughly."
"I'm glad to hear that."
She rises gracefully in one smooth motion, brushes her hair back, and offers a faint smile.
Hard to believe this is the same elf who was prostrating on the floor just moments ago.
"Well, even so, it wasn't quite enough."
"Is that so?"
"That Tasan's little offer of help is about all that saved things. Oh, right — there's something I want to show you."
"Something you want to show me?"
"Lupinus, your business here is finished, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's fine now. The Soil Under Occara is done too."
So what exactly is a Soil Under Occara?
"Then let me show you. This way."
We leave the living room, pass through the entrance hall, and turn at the far end of the corridor. There's a side door there.
The door opens inward — into the estate itself.
"This estate has a central courtyard."
"It has a courtyard too?"
I see. But an overhang? What a strangely structured house.
Pakira opens the side door.
A perfectly square plot of green. On the opposite side, windows of the estate are visible.
Right in the center of that courtyard stood a tower. Not particularly large, a stone-built tower.
Hmm?
"Wait, that looks familiar... Huh, this tower!"
The watchtower that Mineha is illegally occupying at my house!?