Chapter 620: The way of the expressionist
Accompanied by a sullen-looking elf woman, I felt as if 「Celesta」 had suddenly appeared at the end of a deserted road that weaved through the darkness.
“Wa……!”
“Lively……!”
An air of obscenity that is very Celesta. There were ogres, beastmen, dwarves, lizardmen and a few dark elves gathered around an open-air table. It was a bustle like in a crucible, a crucible unique to Celesta. No, this town itself must be Celesta, but the section I had been in so far was rather quiet and orderly, like an upscale residential street on Trot. The bars were not overflowing with noise.
“The mixed-race, all-accessible lodging is right around the corner. ……The only place where you can get more than a dozen people to show up at night is the Bolton hotel……. The old man closed the front door because he doesn’t like daytime, so now would be a good time to check in”
“Is it safe there……?”
“There aren’t enough hotels in the area to justify the extravagance. And you shouldn’t expect any nice meal service there. If you’re going to eat, just snack around here. They don’t have any bland food that elves like, though”
The woman took the chicken off the bone from the table where they were drinking and took a bite. The customer who had it taken from him reacted immediately.
“Ah, you……what are you eating!”
“Don’t be petty, Dennis, just a piece or two of meat”
“……What, young lady Gloria, is it? Are you done with your work already?”
He seemed to know her.
“Well, today. I’m not in the mood to go home without a drink, but I’ve been getting tangled up with some weird people. He’s brought all these elves and they can’t even find a place to sleep”
“Oh……what a beautiful group of people you have here. Where did you guys come from?”
“Well, it’s hard to say where we’re from……but I guess we’re from Trot’s countryside……for now”
“Trot? You brought the elves from Trot to here? That’s a strange thing to do”
The middle-aged fox beast named Dennis makes a strange face. Well, the perception of Celestians around here is that Trot is still a country that is hostile to the elves. It takes a while for those things to start changing and for the perception to actually spread.
“You know that there is an elven forest deep in Trot, right?”
Irina says, taking the meat from Dennis-san’s plate and biting into it. Dennis-san’s mouth almost dropped open in an 「Aha」 moment, then closed again bitterly.
“What does it matter?”
“It’s open now. There are quite a few elves passing through
“Haa? Really? Why is this suddenly happening? The elves are famous for their arrogance and their refusal to change their ways”
“Are you talking about me?”
“No, I’m talking about someone other than Young Lady Gloria”
Gloria, who was sitting on the edge of the table, eating a bird’s foot.
“Well, I’m curious about that too. Did something happen in the north? What clan are you from?”
“I would tell you my name, but I think you should be the first”
“……I am Gloria. My clan was sky-blue, but I was excommunicated. Now I’ve said it”
Gloria-san quickly introduced herself. ……Excommunicated? I looked at the female slaves around me and exchanged looks at the heavy words that suddenly came out of her mouth. On the other hand, Irina hears it without hesitation and says her name.
“I am Irina, daughter of white clan”
“…………”
Gloria-san, is absolutely mortified. She drops the bone.
“Young lady?”
Dennis-san picked it up (it was on the table, in case you were wondering) and looked up at Gloria while taking a bite of the remaining meat. He didn’t seem to know why she was crestfallen. ……No, it’s not normal to know. Yes.
“Even if you don’t know my face, you seem to know my father’s name
“White Yan……Yan, I think you mean……wait a minute, why did the daughter of the chief of the nine northern clans come all the way here?”
“I thought you were slow of hearing, so I said my father’s name. I’m the chief now. My father has already retired”
Irina is a bit proud of herself. I know it feels good to get such a good response. That’s how upset Gloria was.
“Wh, What’s that……eh, wait……looking closely, it’s the red-haired woman! Are you……?”
Aurora, sky blue clan Dior’s daughter. Sorry for the late introduction”
“!!!”
She opened her eyes in astonishment.
“I do not know the circumstances of your excommunication, however, even though we belong to the same clan. If you don’t mind, may I ask?”
“……Tsk. ……Well, I did hear that that boy had a younger sister”
With a sigh, Miss Gloria sat down beside Dennis-san.
“Not exactly a pleasant story. Why don’t you let the tired ones sleep at the Bolton hotel?”
“……Ah, yes”
I motion to the female slaves with a hand gesture. Dismissed. It’s a sign that they’re at their own discretion. We went to the hotel to leave our luggage and had a meal. The hand signals were from the Celesta army, so Neia and Beatrice, the gauntlet knights and Fennel were all confused, but Anzeros, Luna and Hilda understood and guided us around.
We stayed at the bar and Aurora, Irina, Laila and I sat across from each other. The table is quite large for a party, so there are a few drunken guests besides Miss Gloria and Dennis-san. Some of them whistled on this side of the table, as if they were strangely but happily surprised by the sudden increase in the number of beautiful people, even though it was already late in the evening.
“…I don’t think it’s something worth paying that much attention to”
“What, now. I’m not afraid to ask questions. Both about the state of affairs in this city and about you personally”
“……The circumstances of my excommunication are not something to discuss for the sake of sightseeing”
“If you really don’t want to talk about it, I’ll leave it at that. We both gave our names. We’re both interested in each other and we’re not going to let each other get away with it”
“……Tsk. Well, it’s certainly strange that the chief of the northern clan and the princess of Klaves are wandering the backstreets of this town side by side. It’s not very pleasant to be passed by without being led astray, is it?”
Gloria accepted a ceramic cup brought by the waitress and took a sip of the fire wine in it before looking at me.
“How did such an important person end up wandering around here? You should tell me about that first
“You, how is the Fire Dragon War going?”
“? Ah, I saw it. I was still near Klaves at the time”
“Then you must have heard the legend of the dragon riders. ……The last black dragon of the desert and the youngest daughter of the blue dragon of the northern forest. And the silver dragon of the faraway lands and a dragon rider appeared who was commanding them all”
“……What kind of a dangerous thing are you talking about?”
Gloria drinks again lightly licking the fire wine. Dennis-san next to her also swallowed hard.
“Well……what’s a dragon rider?”
“It’s someone who can command dragons despite being human. Depending on his mood, cities and forests could burn down. Humanity can’t stop it. After all, dragon slayers, the only ones who can kill them, are banned now, right?”
“……I see”
“So, in order to come up with a countermeasure against him……you’re going around negotiating with lands that might be related?”
What? What’s with me like I’m the bad guy. ……Ah, thinking back on what Irina said earlier, it did sound like she was talking about the threat of dragon riders. Thinking that, I glanced at Laila, who looked like she was trying to hold back a laugh.
“Well, I can’t say it’s unrelated. That’s all I can say. I don’t want to go into too much detail because it’s politics”
“…………”
The other side of the table looked serious. I’m not sure if I should reveal the story and explain it properly. Laila and Aurora biting back laughter. I realized that I was in a pattern where I would have to prove various troublesome things if I told the story and I swallowed my words for the time being.
“So, let me hear about you. Why were you excommunicated and why are you in a town like this?”
“……Even as a drinking tale, it’s a half-baked story. I’m worried that you’re looking forward to it so much”
Miss Gloria turned her eyes away from Irina and muttered in a deflated manner. She sipped her drink for a while again, then sighed.
“……The picture I drew became an issue at the Elders’ Meeting”
“Hmm?”
“I’ve been around long enough to be able to spend a lot of time obsessing over things. I painted a lot of things, but no motif appealed to me more than the human body. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to have a scroll that depicts a naked woman in this country. Someone who was inspired by them and drew one got criticized by the elders’ meeting……and then the usual outrageous thing happened”
“…………”
Scrolls depicting naked women? ……Erotic picture scrolls? What, excommunication for imitating that……?
“H, Hey, Aurora, what’s this about the elders’ meeting? Isn’t your father the greatest of them all?”
“The sky blue clan is too big for the clan chiefs to arrange everything, so……on minor matters that are not enough to raise a judgment, the elders in each region talk with their neighbors and try to harmonize them. It’s not enough to hold my father down, but he seems to have a strong voice”
“I think the redundancy of authority is very harmful”
“……As you said, the blurring of the boundaries creates room for mutual reservation and scheming, which can be problematic”
I understand most of what Irina and Aurora are explaining. And I am a little disappointed. I am a bit nervous just thinking about dealing with an arbitral body that is run by an old man with strong authority but not clear responsibilities……. In Polka, the baron was the only noble lord who stood his ground, but in Trot´s royal capital, such traditional power structures were everywhere. Not as an administrative body, but as a customary 「Group of opinion that must not be transgressed」 in each occupational union and each district. It was like an invisible spell that inhibited new movements and drained their vitality. Words that are unclear as to who really said them echo inside the closed world like wooden spirits, softly enveloping and suffocating the opponents in a whirlpool of near worthless words such as 「Morally unacceptable」 and 「Outrageous」 without any clear reason. Only the emotions that conceal the object of the rebuttal continue to entangle like a multi-layered spider’s web. No amount of rebuttal will work against them. There is no other way but to understand. Gloria was swallowed up and crushed by it.
“Well, the elders pointed that out too. But a woman’s nakedness?”
“Han, the elders’ meeting was a poke in the eye. ……”Would it have been better if it had been a naked man?”
“It would have been easier to understand if it had been her own sexual desire”
“I don’t dislike it, but it’s not satisfying. Expressing yourself is a challenge to the receiver. It is not always connected to one’s own desire. It’s also a true desire to question a man’s instincts and make him recognize what you have assembled with the understanding, aesthetic sense, ideals and ideas……that you have as a woman. It’s a pathetic pursuit for an artist who only deals with their own instincts, but I don’t particularly want to imitate them”
“……That’s something that only experts can understand”
“That’s right. I’ve talked too much”
Gloria laughed. But I was impressed by her words. They also contained something universal as an expressive person. They made sense to me as a blacksmith. Not all blacksmiths who strike swords are excellent swordsmen. They cannot strike only with their own feeling. However, swordsmen are not blacksmiths either. There are times when the ideals we hold as a physical sensation are not technically correct or functional. As an expressive person and a receiver, you can fill the gap in sensitivity with your imagination, or propose a counterproposal, make an appeal and then be recognized as having surpassed the other person’s ideals. ……There is no doubt that this is a kind of bliss. And above all. I feel an inexpressible reverence for the nobility of the soul that is not ashamed to face a woman’s nakedness with sincerity.
“And so, I was kicked out of the forest…….and ended up here”
“It seems that this is not a good environment for an elf to live in
“But I like it”
Gloria smiles a little sadly.
“The excommunicated elves don’t get along with the non-excommunicated elves next to each other, do they? The city that was cold to the elves was warmer to the stragglers, as it turns out. And while this is not an elf-friendly town, it’s a Celesta town and not one that actively picks fights. It’s a matter of pretending you don’t know them and pretending you don’t see them. There’s a way to live”
“That may be so……but there are towns with such strong discrimination, even in Celesta”
“There have been times in the past few hundred years when this area was Trot. Before Celesta, this prairie area was once an independent country. There are plenty of other colonies that don’t give a damn about the comfort of human life” “Isn’t it the same with Klaves? Humans are one of the races. Don’t you think we have the right to have such a city?”
“……Hmm”
“I think they should let us live a little more comfortably. ……Ah, there are no jobs that make much money except for painting and even that money isn’t earned very often. Some nights I have to sell my springtime cheap to make ends meet. But I’ve come to appreciate being alive more than being in the forest”
Gloria glances down at her cup for a moment with slightly intoxicated eyes, then gives me a quick wink.
“Ah, yeah. You don’t look so bad. How about it, for a hundred a night from now on? Not quite the whore of Talc, but good enough to have a good clientele in town”
“Ho. What do you say, master?”
“Wh, What is it?”
“It’s no use mixing it up on the floor. There is no noisy Selenium or Dianne. I thought it would be nice to play with her”
“What do you mean by mercy?”
“What’s the matter, you want to mix it up? You got a girl in here or one of the other ones? You’re doing well, even though you don’t look like you’re popular. It’s totally fine for us to mix it with multiple people. Hooray for you to indulge in luxury, hooray for me to have less of a burden”
Gloria says with a grin, while Dennis-san, standing next to her, takes a swipe at her.
“H, Hey hey, if you’re going to sell me something like that now, it’s about time you started dealing with me too, Miss. You’re only supposed to do two deals a day and everyone’s waiting their turn”
“I dealt with you last week. And can’t you let me choose my partner once in a while? I get bored of seeing the same people over and over again
“That’s not true, Miss……”
“Kuukukuku. I’ll consider skipping a turn if you pay me three times as much”
“Three times a hundred!?”
“That’s a special discount for this young man. The regular rate is two hundred, right?”
“I can’t afford six hundred……”
Dennis-san is disappointed and the drunken customers around him are laughing. But……it is a strange space. They’re all so carefree around the prostitute they use. Maybe white elf prostitutes are rare, so they’re treasured. And maybe they can’t look up to them because they’re their senior in the eyes of most other races. They say that if you lose your virginity, you can’t resist after that. I can’t resist Selenium either.
“Ah……I’m very interested in that too”
“What is it? You don’t have a hundred?”
“Well……I just wanted to see that painting of the female body that Gloria painted. If that’s what you’re still painting now”
“Hee”
Gloria smirked.
‘Are you a fan of erotic picture scrolls?”
“Of course”
The moment I skipped the pretentious words and jumped to the slang term 「Erotic Picture Scroll」, I felt like I had connected with this woman.
——————————
Somehow I had that feeling. I wished it were so.
“This is my latest work. 『The Dance of the Whore』”
I opened the scroll at the home that Gloria showed me and was impressed.
“……Oo……Oo……!!”
“I, I’m not proud of it, but it’s selling pretty well……”
“All of it, please”
I said, grabbing all the ones on the desk and Gloria-san looked puzzled with her mouth open.
“……Eh, no, not like that”
“I’m giving them out to all my friends”
“Eh, eh……I’m happy, but……”
No, in fact, there are people who buy them at the regular price. I’ve been asked to do so. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to pay for it thanks to the dragons trading treasures in Polka.
“…Okay, I’ll sell. ……I’ll sell them”
“Yess”
“……I’ll sell, but wait a minute. I’ve just been dealing with another guy and he’s a little dirty”
“Eh?”
“Umm……I can’t just hand them over to you and be done with it, since you’re willing to buy that much……I mean, I’m not satisfied……”
Gloria blushed and looked away.
“Ah, emm……are you staying at Bolton’s? If so, I’ll come if you tell Bolton that Gloria will be coming later……okay”
“……N, No, well……I’d be very happy if you’d keep me company”
……Emm. I don’t know. I know it’s just a courtesy.
“I’m glad. ……I, I’ll look forward to it”
Suddenly, her way of speaking seems childish……and her ears are happily plucking……she’s so cute.