C96: Labor Elves

Once upon a time, a group of elven thieves stole from my farm and ate multiple of our tomatoes.
The recommended sentence is decapitation, as voted by the majority of our residents.

But I want to avoid any kind of casualty as much as possible.
That’s why the sentence I plan to hand down is…

“Voluntary service!”
“VOLUNTARY SERVICE?!”

They’ll be compensating with their bodies for the damage they have caused.

“D-Dear?! Have you had such ideas from the very start?!”

Huh?
Why is Platy making a face as if she didn’t expect me to say that?

“Elves are parallel to the mermaids in terms of their beauty. By making these twenty-or-so ladies do voluntary service, don’t tell me that…”

I have no idea who said that, but their suspicions are growing deeper and deeper.

“I thought better of you, Master! If you just wanted to do naughty things, you can always call me!!!”

Thanks to Veil’s blunt protest, I finally understood what they meant.

“You’ve got the wrong idea! When I said “service,” I didn’t mean it in that way!!!”

I’m talking about labor here, you guys, labor!!!
They’ll compensate by laboring for us!

“…Huh?”

Some of the elves raised their heads, giving me anxious looks.

“Um… Are you sure, Lord Saint? They’re wanted in the Demon Kingdom, so even if they’re pardoned for their crimes here, they will still be liable for extradition.”
“Why don’t they also make up for those crimes here? I’ll talk to the Demon King about it.”

I’m sure he must be busy reforming his nation as well as invading the Human Kingdom.
And so, the verdict is in. Court dismissed.
As you were, everyone.

---

“…A-Are you really sure?”

The leader of the bandits, who has a particularly fine figure, asked me.
I think her name’s Aileron, if I’m not mistaken.

“You do realize that we’re infamous criminals both wanted by the demon and human race. Are you not one bit worried about us being here?”
“I think things should be fine in that regard.”
“…Hmph. You best not underestimate us elves. No matter how much the likes of your race surround us, you can never capture us. We could disappear like smoke at any time if we wanted to.”

Except, I don’t belong to the human race.

“You’re free to run if you’d like, but I advise against that.”

At present, Veil is soaring the skies in her dragon form, clearly a way of asserting her dominance over our elven newcomers.

“AHHH!!!”

And there go the shrieks on cue.
Some elves’ knees gave way and dropped on the ground butt-first.

“If you lowlifes would like to know what will happen once you flee to the forest, you’re free to try it now if you’d like, and I’ll gladly burn your hiding place down in turn!”
“Veil, don’t threaten them too much.”

After warning her about this, Veil left a dismissive “tsk” and flew away.

“I’ll always be watching you, even if you can’t see me.”
“…Veil sure is a worrywart.”

Veil’s minor threat is more than a death sentence for races other than hers, and the elves were no exception.

“A dragon?! Why is there a dragon here?!”
“Boss, I knew we shouldn’t have set foot in this ominous place!”

It’s just a farm…

“But I’d really appreciate more helping hands here.”

First things first…

“I want to know your fortes.”

Naturally, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Letting them do work they’re not good at only hampers our efficiency, nor is it any fun.
I want to make them do what they’re good at and efficiently contribute to our farm.

“How about farm work, for starters? Are you fine with weeding out and harvesting?”
“Don’t make fools out of us!!!”

Ooh, quite a strong reply from their leader.
Can I put my hopes on this?

“You think us forest-dwellers can do work on plains?! Grasses and trees grow on their own, they’re not something that needs our tending!”
“That’s what you’re boasting proudly about?!”

What a total letdown.

“We elves are-!” she spoke but was interrupted by Belena’s presence.

You were here?
Oh, the entire time, you say?
Sorry, you didn’t stand out, so I couldn’t tell.

“By nature, they are a race that thrives from gathering. They find rich forests to settle in and live off the nuts and herbs they find there.”
“Wow.”
“Hence it can also be said that they aren’t one to adapt well to the civilized lifestyles of the demon and human races. Elves have a particularly unique view on nature, and this is also one of the reasons why they don’t mingle with the other races.”

And the demonstration of that is what happened earlier, huh?
For them, nature’s bounty is something that should be plucked out of the ground as they grow on its own. So, it’s not something that they look after and harvest on schedule.

“Even if they get to learn how to work in the fields, eventually, they’ll be at an impasse due to their characteristic mindset.”
“Oh…”
“For the same reason, they can’t handle carpentry or woodwork either. To elves, nature is just something that exists and not something they can work with to make their lives better.”

Seriously?
Well, that’s a bummer.
They pretty much can’t do any of the work here.

“If they could easily adapt to society, they never would have resorted to thievery in the first place. They say that no race is more troublesome than elves who have lost their forest to live in.”
“How about we leave the hunting to them then?”

They look like they’d do well in hunting.
They’re forest dwellers, after all.
We need to go to the dungeons to hunt on a regular basis, so I’ll just leave that to them…

“Do you really think that’s still necessary for us?”

We already have the stage-two mutated Orcs as well as Lampeye, the Witch of Hellfire, who’s proud of her prowess.
Honestly, we don’t have any problems in terms of war power, even if we just have Veil around.
I guess we really do have more than enough people in this field.

“That leaves us with no work to give them!”
“Other than keeping them as your mistresses, that is. I think it’s better if we hand them over to the Demon Kingdom instead…”

Upon hearing this, the elves perked up their pointy ears and quivered.
Also, is it just me, or do I sense some kind of hidden meaning in Belena’s words?

“Hey, um…” suddenly interrupts Aileron as she picks up a certain object beside her. “I’d like to ask you about this…”