Chapter 167

PHA – Chapter 167 – This Gives off Perry Expedition Vibes

“Did you not sleep well last night?”

The next morning, Lalu couldn’t help but grow curious when she saw Alice yawning sleepily after taking a seat at the dining table. Alice had been sleeping like a baby throughout this past week, and she had always woken up refreshed and energized. So, it was strange to see Alice looking like she didn’t sleep well on the last day of their school trip.

“Mhm. I was thinking about some things, so I ended up sleeping a little late, but it’s nothing serious,” Alice said as she rubbed her eyes and took a bite of a youtiao.

The food culture in this world was very odd. Essentially, it was a mix of Chinese and Western cuisine. There were even strange fusions of the two different cuisines, and one example of this strange fusion was the “steak roujiamo.” Rather than putting minced or chopped meat, they used an entire steak to make the roujiamo.

Alice guessed that this must be the doing of some pitiful, short-lived transmigrator. However, not much information was recorded on this world’s food culture. Even though she had found information on some short-lived chefs in history, she couldn’t tell if these people were transmigrators or not.

“She must’ve been thinking about some elf,” Luna coldly said while looking away from Alice. She might not have chosen to interrupt Alice and Filia’s conversation last night, but she still felt peeved at Alice for having a midnight chat with an unfamiliar elf.

After all, Luna had determined to dedicate her life to the Hero and remain by the Hero’s side. Although she was still a maid right now, she couldn’t help but feel as if someone had just jumped the queue in front of her when she saw an unfamiliar elf being so close to Alice.

“Should I cast an Energize on you?” Luna asked as she looked at Alice.

“Ah, that… Nevermind…” Alice dryly laughed.

Energize was the spell Heris had previously used to drive for an entire day and night. The spell could keep a person in peak condition for an extra 12 hours, and the target of the spell wouldn’t feel sleepy in the slightest throughout this period. However, after these 12 hours had passed, the target would have to sleep for an additional 12 hours or risk dying from exhaustion.

Although certain capitalists had already improved and optimized this spell to an exaggerated extent, it would still leave a small degree of damage to one’s mind. It might not be a problem to use it one or two times, but the damage would accumulate with use. Hence, it’d be best to avoid using it altogether.

“We’ll be returning at 10 o’clock. Many people have been complaining about the elves’ food this past week,” Zauna said, smiling as she took a bite of Luna’s cola biscuit. “Thankfully, we have Luna to cook for us.”

Most of the students attending the school trip this time were from Class Groups B and C, while only a few students from Class Group A had chosen to participate in the school trip. These few students were mainly nobles who were still trying to get into Alice’s good graces. Because of this situation, few students on this school trip had maids attending to them like Alice did, and most of the other students had no choice but to suffer through the elves’ excruciatingly bland food for the past week.

“But while they might be complaining about the food, they’re still getting along quite well with the elves,” Alice said as she listened to the noise outside the window.

The March Academy’s students weren’t the only ones making this noise. Some of the village’s young elves were also contributing to this noise. The stress they previously faced because of the demons had sparked the interests of younger elves toward the outside world. As a result, these young elves had started to take more initiative in talking with the March Academy’s students.

Alice could even hear some boys shouting “pass the ball” outside the window. The March Academy’s students were probably teaching the young elves some ball sports. Once the human students left, Alice estimated that these young elves would grow more accepting of foreign cultures.

Meanwhile, the elven patriarch and elders also seemed to have tacitly approved of this cultural exchange, as no elves had come to stop the human students and the young elves from playing around.

“Speaking of which, Alice, the patriarch asked me to tell you to meet him in his office before you leave the village,” Lalu suddenly said while sipping on her hot milk. “I think he has something to talk to you about.”

“The elven patriarch wants to see me?”

Alice was stunned when she heard Lalu’s words, and her first reaction was to wonder if the elven patriarch had seen through her identity as the Hero. Meanwhile, her second reaction was to wonder if Filia had told the elven patriarch about her secret.

However, after giving the matter some thought, Alice felt that this was unlikely to be the case. Alice had talked about a lot of things with Filia last night. Naturally, she had also told the elf that she was trying to hide her identity and why she was doing so. In response, Filia had patted her chest and promised to keep her identity a secret.

Filia was the Seventh Hero’s girlfriend, so it was unlikely that she would go against a promise she made to a Hero. Hence, Alice felt that the elven patriarch was unlikely to know about her identity as the Hero.

“Could it be…”

…

“These are the elven race’s Seeds of Nature, Your Highness.”

Inside the elven patriarch’s office, Patriarch Elway placed two Seeds of Nature in front of Alice. Of course, he wasn’t intending on giving both seeds to Alice.

“Of these two seeds, one was harvested from a Fruit of God just yesterday, while the other is a seed that we’ve preserved for several centuries… Please pick one to take back, Your Highness.”

Sure enough, just like Alice had expected, the elven patriarch had called her here to give her a Seed of Nature. After the Fruits of God’s ripening period had been shortened drastically, the elves had also become much more lenient about giving away the Seeds of Nature.”

“I’ll choose this one, then,” Alice said, smiling as she picked the recently harvested seed. After all, she already had a Seed of Nature that had been preserved for a very long time sitting inside her suitcase. Although she wasn’t sure if there was a difference between a fresh and an old seed, she decided that it wouldn’t hurt to have both options available.

“Very well. The Seed of Nature doesn’t require any special means to preserve. Although it can produce mana, its interior is sealed very well. So long as you do not use powerful magic to break it, it shouldn’t be damaged easily,” Patriarch Elway said as he kept the other Seed of Nature. Then, he continued, “Actually, by giving away this Seed of Nature, we hope that Your Highness can help our village establish friendly relations with the Gryffin Kingdom.”

“Hmm?” Alice was a little surprised. She originally thought that the elven patriarch would use this Seed of Nature in exchange for a favor in the future. However, it seemed that the elven patriarch didn’t plan on saving this favor for future use. “You mean…?”

“When the demons were asking us for the Seeds of Nature, we considered the possibility that our research would stagnate if we hand over the seeds. As a countermeasure to this problem, we decided to introduce human technology to the village,” Patriarch Elway said with a serious expression.

“Now, although the Seed of Nature’s production has increased, and the village won’t experience any development gaps anymore, we realize that we still won’t be able to keep up with the times if we rely solely on the Seed of Nature’s research. So, we still intend on introducing human technology to the village, and we hope that Your Highness can convey the elven race’s sincerity to King Hatter.”

Alice quickly understood the elven patriarch’s aim. Naturally, she was more than happy to oblige, so she smiled and said, “That won’t be a problem.”

Magic items were not a rare resource, and the human realm was more than capable of meeting the demands of the small elven population. Meanwhile, not only would this exchange help improve the elven race’s overall strength, but it would also help the economy of the human countries.

It was a win-win situation for both sides. So long as Hatter’s brain was functioning normally, he definitely wouldn’t refuse the chance to trade with the elves.

This was also a way the elves could use to improve their strength. After facing the threat of the demons this time, the elves had realized that they could no longer maintain their peaceful lives by simply isolating themselves without improving their strength.

It would seem that Alice’s actions this time had inadvertently opened the doors isolating the elven race from the rest of the world.

…

TL Notes:

[1]Perry Expedition:

(Copied from Wikipedia)

The Perry Expedition (Japanese: 黒船来航, kurofune raikō, “Arrival of the Black Ships”) was a diplomatic and military expedition during 1853-54 to the Tokugawa Shogunate involving two separate voyages by warships of the United States Navy. The goals of this expedition included exploration, surveying, and the establishment of diplomatic relations and negotiation of trade agreements with various nations of the region; opening contact with the government of Japan was considered a top priority of the expedition, and was one of the key reasons for its inception.

The expedition was commanded by Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, under orders from President Millard Fillmore. Perry’s primary goal was to force an end to Japan’s 220-year-old policy of isolation and to open Japanese ports to American trade, through the use of gunboat diplomacy if necessary. The Perry Expedition led directly to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the western Great Powers, and eventually to the collapse of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor. Following the expedition, Japan’s burgeoning trade routes with the world led to the cultural trend of Japonisme, in which aspects of Japanese culture influenced art in Europe and America.