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An awkward silence hung in the air. I was too shocked after meeting someone who knew Mother for the first time, while the elf seemed equally flustered by the embarrassment of mistaking me for someone else. Neither of us could find the words to speak. Even the cotton candy in her hands grew larger as the machine spun, but neither of us acknowledged that trivial detail.

“...My mother used to go by the name Ariadne.”

I said, finally breaking the silence. It felt strange to use formal speech with someone who wasn’t royalty or a duke, but she must have been close to Mother seeing how casually she used her name. I couldn’t dare to speak informally to such a person.

At my response, the golden-haired elf’s face brightened.

“Then you’re Ariadne’s daughter?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Oh my, oh my! No wonder you look just like Ariadne!”

She then approached me and cupped my face with both hands, turning it this way and that. I almost instinctively stepped back, but knowing she was looking for my mother’s features on my face, I stayed still.

Mother’s face now only remained in my memories. If that face could be seen in me, too, then there was nothing that could make me happier.

“It really is true! You look exactly like her when she was young!”

Those words filled me with an indescribable sense of relief. Yes, of course, my mother’s blood flows in me too—

“Thankfully, you don’t seem to have inherited her personality. You’re so mature for someone so young.”

...What?

“Pardon?”

I couldn’t help but question the strange words I heard. Young? Mature?

“Ariadne left home about 150 years ago, so you must be just over a hundred years old... aren’t you?”

She blinked at my reaction, asking as if she might have misunderstood.

I was confused because she had understood correctly. I was indeed just over a hundred, but she still called me young while knowing that?

“I’m a hundred and twenty... one this year.”

“Then you really are a baby!”

No sooner had I finished answering that she started vigorously touching my face again.

That look in her eyes was similar to how the others looked at the young duke.

***Starting with Rutis’s candy, then Lather’s ice cream, Tannian’s chocolate, Ainter’s chocolate cookies, and so on. All sorts of snacks were offered to the young duke.

The young duke smiled brightly each time a new tribute was presented. Her innocent smile melted the expressions of everyone in the group.

Please, please grow up just like this.

If she were to turn to the dark side during puberty, not just the Salon ducal family but the entire empire would fall into despair...

What’s going on?

That was when I noticed something unusual. Dozens of elves were gathering in one place. Even the elves from the shops we had been browsing were passing us by, heading towards that concentrated area.

What was really going on? Did a fight break out? No, the atmosphere doesn’t seem particularly ominous for a fight...

Of course, it just has to happen now.

An unusual occurrence like this, a gathering of elves, would’ve been welcome news for the Mage Duchess, who had been secretly looking forward to meeting her kin, but she wasn’t here.

When everyone’s attention was focused on the young duke, the Mage Duchess had set off on her own to check if there were any magic materials sold only in the non-human sanctuary area. I let her go willingly, thinking she was full of expectation to meet her kin under the pretext of fact-checking, but I would have kept her here if I had known the elves would gather while she was gone.

But what could we do? No matter how much we regretted it, a person who was gone wouldn’t come back. That was why someone else had to check instead.

“Louise. I’m going to take a look over there.”

So I pointed to the concentration area and spoke to Louise, who was next to me.

“Ah, okay. Take care.”

Louise, who was puzzled at first by my sudden decision to move alone, quickly understood when she saw the elves huddled together. Anyone would be curious about that sight.

In fact, Louise looked like she wanted to go too, given how incredibly interesting the scene was, but I ended up going alone. Even if it wasn’t a fight, it would be awkward to watch as a group if they had gathered for some negative reason. It was better to check it alone until we understood the detailed situation.

And I was truly glad I went alone.

“My goodness, are you really her daughter? You’re not playing tricks with magic, are you? How can you look so similar?”

“Look at her hair. It was just funny when Ariadne had hair like that, but it’s cute on a young child.”

“All of you, stop crowding her! What if you scare her?!”

A group of elves was buzzing excitedly around someone, reminding me of how the club members had fussed over the young duke earlier. I almost laughed at the resemblance—until I realized who was at the center of the group.

What the...?

It was the Mage Duchess. Her ears were pointed towards the ground unlike usual and she was stiffly looking around, but it was definitely her.

“Ah, baby!”

Ah.

The Mage Duchess, who had been suffering from countless elves’ touches, desperately called out to me when she spotted me standing there blankly. Naturally, the elves surrounding the Mage Duchess turned their gazes towards me.

“Baby? Hey, could this child be your son!?”

“Oh my, oh my! A child just over a hundred already has a son?”

“Ariadne’s... already a grandmother...? While she’s become a grandmother, I’m still...”

A minor, no, a fatal misunderstanding sparked due to the affectionate nickname.

“Young man! Come here!”

Before I could process what was happening, I was swarmed by the same eager hands that had overwhelmed the Mage Duchess.

What on earth was going on?

***It felt like I was standing in a one-sided interrogation, surrounded by a barrage of questions with no allies in sight. I’d never experienced a formal hearing before, but this must be what it felt like. Thankfully, no one dredged up memories I didn’t even recall.

“Oh, so you’re lovers?”

“We misunderstood because you called him ‘baby’.”

The misunderstanding was quickly resolved, and the atmosphere soon relaxed.

“A young one and an even younger one as a couple... How adorable!”

“They’re absolutely precious!”

But wouldn’t a hearing be better than being treated like children like this? I was used to being disregarded because of my age, but this kind of treatment was a first.

It was crazy. The Mage Duchess, who was over a hundred, and I, who was just at the edge of marriageable age, were both being treated like children. The mental shock was no joke.

Young duke, was this how you felt...? I would never treat you like a child again. I’m sorry.

“But where’s Ariadne? No matter how mature the children are, how could she let them wander around alone?”

I saw the Mage Duchess flinch as a blonde elf spoke with her arms crossed.

“Mother has passed away.”

“Huh? Leaving just you two? That girl, if she came this far, she should at least show her face.”

I felt cold sweat at the elf’s words, which clearly showed her disappointment. She hadn’t meant ‘left’ in the way the Mage Duchess did.

“She has returned to Enen’s side.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the Mage Duchess’s answer was followed by a chilling silence.

“Ah, um, well...”

Fortunately, awkwardness had a power that transcended race. I was worried that long-lived races might have a different mindset about death compared to humans, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Ariadne... is gone?”

But from that blonde elf’s perspective, the Mage Duchess’s mother was a friend. No one would be okay after suddenly hearing that a friend they’d lost contact with had died.

The shock seemed to be the same for the other elves, as they all looked visibly perplexed. In human terms, would it be like hearing that a classmate you’d lost touch with after high school had died in their 30s or 40s? I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“Um, excuse me. Child, when exactly...?”

A red-haired elf spoke very cautiously. It must’ve been difficult to ask someone so young—by elf standards—when their mother had passed away. Still, they had to know. To mourn a friend properly, to understand how and why she had left this world, they had to ask.

“In the summer of 1277—“

The Mage Duchess’s words were cut off as the red-haired elf suddenly embraced her.

The Mage Duchess couldn’t finish her sentence. The red-haired elf had pulled her into a tight embrace, tears streaming down her face as she patted the Marquis’s back, soothing her like a crying child. Ironically, it was the elf doing the crying.

“101 years ago? Didn’t you say this child is only 121 now?”

“At twenty, that’s an age when they should be loved and cherished...”

“And Ariadne. What must she have felt, closing her eyes and leaving behind such a young child?”

The voices around us were filled with pure sorrow and sympathy. Listening to their conversation, my own thoughts turned blank.

I knew there would be a significant difference in lifespan and perception between humans and elves, but to this extent? To treat someone in their twenties as a little child who should still be cuddling with their parents?

Insane.

It was confusing. Moreover, elves didn’t even grow slower than humans. Even pure-blooded elves were physically mature at twenty, weren’t they? Yet they still treated them like children?

Of course, I wasn’t in a position to say anything since I haven’t lived in an elven society.

“You must have gone through so much. Losing your mother at the age when you should have been most loved, and living alone for a hundred years...”

Anyway, the Mage Duchess also seemed confused by the tearful consolation. She’d likely never experienced anything like this before. Her father, who loved her dearly, had passed first, and her mother followed soon after, succumbing to illness.

Friends? Friends couldn’t fulfill the role of adults. Vassals? Unless they were exceptionally close, they wouldn’t dare sympathize with or comfort a duke. Even if they could, those friends and vassals would have died long before her.

In the end, experiencing adults’ comfort for the first time in her life, the Mage Duchess quietly hugged the elf back.

***In the bustling commercial district frequented by tourists, the sight of dozens of elves gathered in one place was enough to draw attention. Add to that their somber expressions and tears, and it was a sight impossible to ignore.

“T-Teacher...?”

Moreover, Louise already knew I had gone among the elves. Seeing the elves start to cry must have utterly flustered her.

Louise, who had brought the others over like that, witnessed the Mage Duchess being patted and comforted by dozens of elves.

“Ah, Louise.”

The Mage Duchess greeted her with an expression of pure embarrassment. Her dignity as a master hung by a thread, but thankfully, her towering reputation held firm—barely.

“Oh my. Are these your human friends?”

Or not? Could she not withstand it?

“It must have been hard adapting to the human world, but look at you, making friends. How wonderful!”

“Really? I’m sad that the child seems to have grown up too quickly.”

I quietly closed my eyes at the elves’ consecutive additional damage.

The person respected as the oldest and pinnacle of magic in human society was being treated like a pitiful child here.

...At least this is happening in the sanctuary area.

What would’ve happened if elves were spread throughout the continent instead of just in the sanctuary area?