Are they a mutated species?
An idea occurred to Rain as he continued to stare at the long-eared girls in front of him.
In his homeworld, there were only two races: humans, to whom he belonged, and demons, who had always opposed humanity. However, sometimes humans were infected with demonic energy, which caused their bodies to mutate and acquire non-human features. Such people could not be found on the streets, because they were quickly found and enslaved for sale to the nobility.
Therefore, as soon as he saw those who were different from humans but still resembled them, he naturally assumed them to be part of the mutated species.
Speaking of which, some awkwardness in the behavior that the group of girls in front of him were displaying, and the surprise written on their faces as they looked at the buildings around them also spoke in favor of that assumption.
'But...'
His footsteps came to an abrupt halt as he sank into thought.
Honestly, when it came to mutations, it only made people uglier: making their skin unpleasantly dark, covering their hands with blisters, or simply deforming their body proportions to a grotesque state. After all, demonic energy was incompatible with humans, disfiguring and mutilating everyone it hit.
But these girls in front of him were pristine beauties for lack of another word.
Their skin was fair and pure, silky hair cascaded over their shoulders, and the elegant proportions of their bodies would make even the brightest of girls envious.
This left his feet no choice but to move in their direction before Rain even realized it.
A few of them took notice of his approach, but most still didn't notice him, continuing to chat animatedly.
"Hi, ladies."
...?
Suddenly the group stopped talking among themselves and absolute silence hung between them. Everyone turned to him.
The gazes of about ten long-eared girls focused on him, examining him with the same curiosity they had been examining the buildings around them a moment ago.
Rain didn't say anything else either, studying them in response. How often in the past world had he been able to encounter something so beautiful that he didn't know?
It was a rare opportunity.
"Do we know you?"
Finally, one of them that looked the bravest asked cautiously.
"Not yet."
Rain waved his hand lightly, simply smiling.
As soon as one of them spoke, all the others exploded with their voices as well, completely wiping out the silence.
"Is that a human male?"
"He's handsome..."
"But why is he smiling...?"
"Who cares? He's even more handsome when he smiles."
"But Grandma used to say that all humans are far from nature and..."
"Shhh, stupid, he can hear us!"
As soon as a little commotion was ready to take place among them....
"Tsk, don't shut her up. She's totally right."
One of them slightly separated from the group and walked toward Rain. Her long blond hair was gathered into a ponytail, swaying with every step she took.
"Humans are filthy and uncontrollable creatures driven by their own desire."
Boldly standing directly in front of him, she crossed her arms over her chest, looking him over from head to toe.
"I'm betting that even now, looking at your bodies, he mentally undresses them and imagines you in his bed doing lewd and dirty things for him."
Rain smiled even wider at her statement.
As ridiculous as it was, he couldn't completely deny her words.... but still, he wasn't so bad.
Taking his silence as his surrender, the ponytail girl turned to the others with a triumphant smile.
"See? He's not even trying to deny it! He was really plotting to do dirty things to you!"
Knowing full well what vile and horrible things humans were capable of after the disaster that had struck the Great Forest, she didn't want her naive sisters to suffer at the hands of this man. Who but she could protect them?
Of course, Rain didn't know any of this. Grinning at her heated words, he just shook his head.
"I don't deny that there's some truth in what you say.... but what healthy man wouldn't have such thoughts? It's just a natural part of life, long-eared."
The sudden answer made her body stiffen and a smile freeze on her face. Every muscle in her body froze in an attempt to comprehend his words.
For a moment, she looked more like a statue than a living person.
"...What did you call me?"
Of course, that was only before her initial shock passed and she reached for the longbow behind her back.
"Say it again if you dare, human."
Before he realized, the arrow was already lying in her bowstring, ready to pierce his body at any moment.
Despite that, he didn't budge from his seat, and his face still showed a relaxed expression with a slight smile.
"Do it, long ears."
It seemed to have struck some string in her again.
"Y-you! You brought this on yourself...!"
Her slender hand gracefully but no less threateningly pulled back the bowstring with the arrow on it and when she seemed ready to let it go…
"That's enough, Aelorian."
The voice of the woman who had been standing in the middle of the remaining group came clearly to her ears. In a moment, as if out of thin air, the woman was right behind her, effortlessly holding the tension of the bowstring with her hand.
"But he...!"
Rain blinked a couple times. His eyes didn't have time to follow her movement.
'Just as I thought.'
Of course, his previous calm didn't come from nowhere. He believed that the loud girl would eventually be stopped before she could do anything stupid.
Rain's gaze fell on the woman who had come out to join them. She, too, had long ears, and neither her appearance nor her attire was particularly different from the others.
She was one of the two women he had noticed in their group earlier. Although their appearance did make them look alike, making it difficult to tell them apart, only these two naturally exuded an aura as calm as a quiet lake, as if they were unaffected by the turmoil of the world.
And what's more... the bodies of these two women radiated a warm motherly aura that only Rain could feel.
With the idea that they were not ordinary, he concluded that they were probably the Masters of these girls. Knowing that, they would be unlikely to let anything happen here.
Kill or injure a human being while in a human city, deep in human territory?
Whoever they were, only complete madmen would do such a thing. And from the looks of it, they didn't look like it.
…Okay, except for that frantic girl poking him with a bow even now, shouting something in his direction only to be suppressed by another long-eared woman.
"I apologize if our actions have hurt you."
Finally dealing with the one she called Aelorian, the woman bowed slightly to Rain in apology.
While he had previously perceived her as the Master of these girls, now, given her demeanor, he was more inclined to think she was something like their bodyguard. A very hot bodyguard.
It was unknown whether she was disguising herself for some special purpose or just didn't see the point of standing out, but at first glance it was really hard to distinguish her from the other girls.
Anyway, the level of manners between her and the previous loud girl was like heaven and earth. That's probably what comes with life experience.
"It's okay, it's nothing."
Rain carelessly brushed it off while his thoughts were occupied with only one thing.
How? How can he get her?
He couldn't help it, but this woman in front of him was awakening the darkest desires in his soul.
"Then with your permission we will leave you."
The sight of her being ready to turn around and leave at any moment further fueled that flame in him.
His eyes glittered with a sinister gleam and the fingers of his hand trembled slightly, feeling the urge to just reach out and get her while she was within his reach.
But thinking for a moment, he eventually shook his head internally, taking control of himself.
Judging from her movements earlier, which he couldn't even keep track of, her level was to be much higher than the girls around her and Rain himself.
And even if it wasn't for that fact and he was actually stronger, what could he do right now? Pounce on her and force himself to her?
It was just too boring and devoid of any interest, far from the way he usually did things.
If he could just get everything he wanted so easily, it wouldn't be a reality.
'I need some time. Maybe not today or even tomorrow… but one day I'll have her.'
With that promise in his heart, he looked at her receding figure with a calmer gaze, calling out to her.
"What's your name?"
She stopped and thought for a moment before turning around.
"Sarielle."
'Sarielle? What a beautiful name.'
"I'm Rain. Hope to see you again in the future."
With no response whatsoever, she turned around and walked off again. At the same time, that loud girl from earlier took one last look at him.
"Pray we never meet again, or else..."
Without finishing her threat, she turned and walked away.
...Or rather, she was dragged away by this charming woman.
"Princess, don't forget why we're here. You can't kill humans on your first day in their city."
"Then I can do it tomorrow?"
"..."
"Just kidding. I just wanted to scare him, you know? I'm not crazy enough to kill humans."
"...Of course, Aelorian. We believe you."
"Hey! What's wrong with your tone! Are you doubting my words?!"
Pretending not to hear her, the woman began to look at the architecture of the nearest building with full interest.
'What a funny group of folks.'
Rain thought to himself as he watched them slowly leave his sight.
But even after they were out of sight, their group never left his thoughts.
A group of such beautiful mutated blondes...who are they really?
'I'll be praying for us to meet soon.'
[They're the Elves.]
Nari's sudden words interrupted his train of thought.
"What? Elves?"
Rain had never heard of this before.
[Yes, Elves. One of the races of this world and those who value nature above all else. They may rarely appear in public, preferring to live in their forests, but once they do, they inevitably attract attention.]
"...That sounds like important information that you should have transferred through Rain's memory transfer to me earlier."
Previously, when he had just moved to this world and had to accept the memories of the past body owner, his system had said that only important information would be placed in his head that would allow him to assimilate to this world as quickly as possible, excluding unnecessary things so as not to clog his mind in vain.
But one of the races of this World? Whatever said, it seemed pretty damn important.
[Yes, but the previous owner of the body had no contact with them and there was nothing in his memory about it.]
That was the expected response.
[Like I said before, Elves spend most of their time in their forests and rarely appear outside. Perhaps the only place where they are often found is the Academy where you study. Unfortunately, past Rain started leading a reclusive life before he even entered the Academy, so he had no face-to-face encounters with Elves.]
The system's explanation made sense, but Rain only sighed and rubbed his face.
"Haaaa... If you know that, give me such important information next time in advance, okay?"
Any more and he would be in a ridiculous situation due to his lack of awareness.
Considering he used experiences from his past world and mistook them for a mutated species, he could actually do strange things.
Like walking up to them and holding out a bag of coins, wanting to buy them or something....
After all, it was a typical attitude towards the mutated species that roamed freely in the city, one that could often be found in his past world. But in this world, it would only look like idiotic behavior.
'I suppose I can't project principles from my home world onto this new world.'
A slight smile appeared on his lips as he laughed at this ridiculous situation.
[Okay, I admit that was my mistake and I will warn you about such things from now on.]
Finally getting the desired response from Nari, Rain glanced in the direction where the group of beautiful Elfesses had recently disappeared.
"So Elves, huh?"
In the crimson light of the rising sun, his smile took on a sinister color.
"I simply must try this new dish."