Book 8: Chapter 3: Wives on the Go (2/9)

“Father, I’m back!”

The Elf King’s study was at the uppermost floor of Alheim palace.

Leaffa opened the door and entered.

The Elf King was alone inside the study doing his work.

“Leaffa, it’s good of you to come. You…it’s just you?”

The Elf King had contacted Leaffa and told her to go home and show up once during the vacation of the academy of magic.

Ten days weren’t enough to travel back and forth between Alheim and the magic academy.

There was no other way but to have Halt take her via teleportation magic.

That was why he assumed that Halt would come with Leaffa if he summoned her. However, in reality, she returned on her own, and this surprised the Elf King.

“Everyone seemed to be busy, so I requested Halt to teleport me. I returned on my own.”

“I-is that so…”

‘Are things not going well between Halt and Leaffa?’ — the King thought, and it made him worry.

The reason why the Elf King summoned Leaffa was because he wanted to check whether Leaffa and Halt would have a , who was set to become the next king of the Elves.

There were no sons in the royal family of Alheim.

Leaffa, her older sister and younger sister — there were only those three princesses.

The first princess who was Leaffa’s older sister had already been married into the royal family of another kingdom. The child born there would become the prince of that kingdom.

Her younger sister, the third princess of Alheim, had also started dating a human boy recently.

Some of the ministers were clamoring that the third princess should break her relationship with that human boy, and an elven boy must be adopted into the royal family as the princess’s groom for the sake of an heir.

However, that human boy was also an excellent guy with a promising future, but  more than that, the third princess seemed to really love him, so the Elf King was hesitating whether he should break them up.

Because of that, the son of the second princess Leaffa was currently the most promising candidate to be the next king of Alheim.

The elven royal blood would then be mixed with that of a human, but nobody would probably protest given that Halt was the hero who saved Alheim.

Moreover, even if it was a child conceived between an elf and a human, it being a half-elf wasn’t set in stone.

In Halt and Leaffa’s instance, there was a possibility that their child would become a human, an elf or a half-elf.

It would be good if they gave birth to an elf son. Actually, the king thought that he would give all the support they needed, so they should continue having children until they have an elf son.

Of course, Leaffa didn’t know anything about this.

“Father, I came here today to make a request.”

“Request?”

“Yes. I want to enter the treasury where the Treasured Grimoires are placed for safekeeping.”

“It’s fine if you want to enter the treasury, but…don’t tell me, you’re not going to say that you want to read the Treasured Grimoires or something, right?”

“I want to read them!”

“I won’t allow it.”

“W-why?”

“There are several banned documents there containing forbidden arts. Curses can overflow just by merely opening the book. It’s too dangerous.”

“I-I will be careful.”

“No. In the first place, now that you’re Halt’s bride, you are no longer part of the royal family. There is no way I can let someone like that read the Treasured Grimoires.”

“No way…”

Actually, Leaffa was still registered under the royal family of Alheim.

If that wasn’t the case, then Halt and Leaffa’s child could never inherit the throne of Alheim.

There were times when Leaffa introduced herself as the former princess of Alheim; she didn’t know that she still possessed the status of a princess.

However, the Treasured Grimoires were too dangerous.

If Leaffa ended up being cursed because she carelessly opened the book, it would affect the continuity of the royal family of Alheim.

There was another way, and that was to order somebody else to search the book that Leaffa was searching for, but then —

A mage who could read the Treasured Grimoires without being cursed did not exist in Alheim during this era.

‘No, even if we searched the entire world, there was probably no one who can do it’, was what the Elf King thought.

The Treasured Grimoires was a relic from ancient times.

It contained a number of super high-level spells that had been long forgotten.

Unfortunately, no one could read them.

They would be cursed if they opened the book.

Moreover, even if they did manage to open the book by force, there was no one who could decipher the letters that were written within it.

That was why the Elf King lied to Leaffa.

He wanted to protect his daughter.

“Why are you so interested in the Treasured Grimoires in the first place? That thing is just being guarded for safekeeping, and there’s no reason for you to need such a thing.”

“That’s —”

Leaffa was at a loss for words.

Tina and even the Mai and Mei of the Spirit Race didn’t even know anything about that Bunshin Magic.

She wanted to create that.

Ordinary grimoires wouldn’t do, because the probability that they contained any hint about that spell was too low.

Thus, she wanted to confirm whether there were any clues in the Treasured Grimoires which was said to be written during ancient times.

That wish fell apart.

Just when she thought of that —

“Yahoo! Leaffa, long time no see.”

A whirlwind suddenly rose in the midst of the king’s study, and the Wind Spirit King Sylph appeared in the center.

“S-Sylph-sama!?”

“Ah, yes, long time no see, Sylph-sama.”

Ever since Halt and the rest left Alheim, Sylph never manifested again.

Because of that, Elf King was overwhelmed with shock when Sylph suddenly appeared.

“I felt Leaffa’s mana so I came to check. You’re the only one here today, Leaffa? Where’s Halt and Tina?”

“I returned because I have something to do here, so it’s only me for today.”

“Hmmm. What’s your errand, Leaffa?”

“T-that’s —”

Leaffa explained that she wanted to read the Treasured Grimoires, so she came here to discuss this with the Elf King. 

Of course, she never said a word about how she wanted to make Halt use that Bunshin Magic in order to create a reverse harem.

“Ahh, the ancient grimoire that is in the custody of this country, huh. Yep, that’s right, you have to be careful with those stuff, because you’ll be cursed if you don’t follow the right procedure to open those books.”

“Sylph-sama, do you know how?”

“Of course. I’m the one who gave some of the books to the King of the past. So, do you want me to help you open it?”

“Is that alright!?”

“Yup! — Ah, but then, even if we did open the books, we might not be able to read it. There are a lot of books with letters that even I can’t read, after all.”

“I think it will be okay. There is somebody close to me who possesses a skill that can decipher even the language of the deities.”

She was referring to Luna.

She came from the same world as Haruto before. The goddess of wisdom bestowed a skill called [Language Comprehension] to her when she was reincarnated into this world.

“Is that Halt?”

“No, it’s a human girl that was recently married to Halt.”

“What? Don’t tell me, is Halt married to someone other than you and Tina-sama?”

“Yes. Halt has a total of eleven wives, including Tina-sama and me.”

“— WHA!?”

“Ahahaha, as expected of Halt!”

“B-but, you received the blessing of Sylph-sama, and she acknowledged your marriage. That’s why, well… So, you’re favorably treated compared to Halt’s other wives, aren’t you?”

If that was not the case then he would be troubled.

The Elf King was anxiously thinking that Leaffa might not be allowed to have many children if he had that many wives.

“A-actually… This is a bit hard to say in front of your esteemed self, Sylph-sama, but everyone of us Halt’s wives received the blessing of Creator God-sama, and he also acknowledged our marriages. That was why we are all on equal footing if we based it on the blessings bestowed on us.”

“C-Creator God-sama bestowed his blessing!?”

“Eh, that’s amazing.”

Sylph floated towards Leaffa, then she lightly touched her head with a finger.

“Whoa, it’s true!… Eh? But my blessing is still there?”

Normally in this world, when a higher-ranking deity bestows a blessing, the lower-ranking deity’s blessing would be overwritten and it would disappear. 

Even though the Creator God’s blessing, considered to be the highest order of divine protection, had been bestowed, Sylph’s blessing on Leaffa was still there.

“I had been truly happy that I received Sylph-sama’s blessing…So when it was discussed that Creator God-sama would bestow his blessing on us, I requested that Sylph-sama’s protection would also remain.”

“Really!? Leaffa, thank you! I really love you, Leaffa!!”

Sylph hugged Leaffa.”

“D-discuss with Creator God-sama!?… What on earth are you talking about, Leaffa?”

The level of their conversation was too different, so the Elf King’s thoughts were in a jumbled mess.

He couldn’t even come to terms with the fact that Sylph-sama — said to be the avatar of Yggdrasil, and the Wind Spirit King that was known to manifest rarely — was currently hugging his own daughter right in front of his eyes.

The Elf King desperately tried to understand the situation, when Leaffa suddenly counterattacked.

“Father, if Sylph-sama was with me, then opening the Treasured Grimoires wouldn’t be too dangerous, right? …Ah, but since I’m no longer part of the Royal Family, you will not let me see the Treasured Grimoires?”

“Leaffa, you’re no longer part of the Royal Family now? I’m pretty sure that the Elves have to report to me if somebody enters or leaves the Royal Family, right? But I didn’t hear anything about Leaffa’s case.”

“Eh, really?”

“T-that’s, ahm, er —”

Huge beads of sweat fell like waterfall from the Elf King’s forehead.

The Elf King apologized that he made Leaffa think that she was no longer part of the royal family, and explained that it was out of his concern for her.

Then, he permitted Leaffa to read the Treasured Grimoires.

“Oh, now that I think about it, even if we did open it, both Sylph-sama and I can’t read it, is that correct?”

“Then we’ll just bring them to Halt’s place, and have the child who can decipher it read for us! I also want to visit Halt’s mansion! So, we can take the Treasured Grimoires with us, right?”

It’s precisely a secret book because it is being kept secret — unfortunately, there was no way he could say that to the Sylph, who was one of the Spirit Kings.

“I-if Sylph-sama will protect the Treasured Grimoire, then there isn’t any problem.”

“I got it. I’ll protect it!”

“Father, Sylph-sama, thank you very much.”

Afterward, Leaffa and Sylph entered the treasury together, and they gathered all the Treasured Grimoires that might be related to Bunshin Magic, from A-Z.

––––-

T/N: Whoah, I just felt a bit irked at how the Elf King treated Leaffa — like some kind of birth machine that would provide him his successor X( Well, it was explained in Volume 3 that the Elves were long lived and their birth rate was pretty low, so I could see where he was coming from, but still…funny how Sylph unwittingly helped Leaffa. Anyway, I missed Sylph’s cuteness!!