Chapter 11: Parental Love

Chapter 11:
Parental Love

 

BACK AT FILIA’S HOME, we had lunch together with Elgis and Fira. After we finished cleaning up, Fira came back to the table and smiled at me.

“Thank you for helping me pick up the dishes, Yuri.”

Huh? All I’d done was carry my own share of tableware. I could’ve done way more, honestly. I was about to say “Pssh, ain’t nothin.” Then I hesitated. Whew, close call. I had to keep talking respectful-like.

“Oh no, thank you, you’re far too kind.”

“Yuri,” said Fira knowingly, “you don’t have to strain yourself, you know? You don’t need to be so humble either. It sounds like you’re a little unaccustomed to speaking this way.”

Wait, how did she know I wasn’t used to it? Did she have the same Telepathy ability as Filia?!

Filia gave me a look. “You don’t need to read minds to see that.”

Was I that obvious? I’d thought I was improving, but finding the right words could be so difficult.

“Besides,” Fira continued, “you’re Lia’s partner, right? In that case, you don’t need to be so reserved.”

“All right. In that case, I’ll gladly accept your offer—thanks.” Speaking formally isn’t supposed to make whoever you’re speaking to feel uncomfortable. If the two of them preferred I just be myself, then I supposed it was fine.

“Now that we’re all finished with lunch,” said Fira, “are you two going out again? Lia, Yuri?”

Filia shook her head. “No, I’d like to talk with you both for a short while.”

It was probably important to take some time and talk with her parents so she could really open up and speak frankly about her abilities. Also, it’s just important for a family to make time for conversation, you know?

I asked Filia “Is it okay for me to stick around?” with my eyes, and she nodded “Yes.” I’d assumed it’d be better if this remained just between them as a family, but apparently that was all me worrying too much.

“You’d like to…talk. May I ask, then—if that’s all right,” said Fira carefully, “what’s outside of the woods? We know so little about it.”

“Okay. Hmm…” Filia nodded. “I suppose I’ll start from the point when I met Yuri.” She turned to me suddenly and whispered in a low voice, “Leave it to me, Yuri: I’ll clear your name for you!”

“Hey, wait a minute, when did my name need clearin’ exactly?” That didn’t sound right at all!

But Filia didn’t listen to my appeal and got right into telling her tale.

She mainly spoke about her journey with me. I was under the impression that she’d been in a real spot, just wandering around aimlessly before we met, so maybe there wasn’t much to say about what had happened before. She talked about registering with the guild, the fight with the Grim Reaper, the magic battle tournament. She also gave an impassioned speech about the deliciousness of Slime Jelly. Whoa, that had really been a milestone for her, huh?

Still, she was probably trying not to worry her parents. I mean, she didn’t even bring up being kidnapped. Finally, the topic of the conversation gradually shifted toward more and more recent events.

“Oh, and listen to this: Yuri defeated a majin.”

“A majin?! Th-that’s incredible…” Her parents looked even more shocked when they heard that. So even elves who lived deep in the forest knew about the strength of majin, and I still hadn’t? Ugh.

“My goodness, Yuri, what is the secret of your strength?”

“Daily training to develop stronger muscles. For example…” I raised my fist up in the air—then smashed it into my own face as hard as I could. SMACK! A dull sound echoed throughout the room.

Filia sighed. “Well, that’s that. Yuri’s finally lost it.”

“Nope. This is a totally unique training exercise of my own design. I punch myself. See, that way I can both punch and be punched at the same time! Brilliant, huh?”

“You said, with a twinkle in your eye. Mother, Father, I know you’re speechless and, yes, I am afraid he is just like this.”

C’mon, it was a huge time-saver of a technique! But apparently, the excellence of this method wasn’t quite getting across to them.

“Maybe it’s the passage of time,” I mused. “Elves and humans just see time differently, huh? If you were humans, the minute you learned about this technique, you’d probably all start smacking yourselves and shedding tears of joy, huh?”

“Yuri, that sounds—quite frankly—horrifying.”

Good grief. Ah, Filia, saying such odd stuff all the time! I mean, who wouldn’t want to see a training session?

“Let’s get back to the story,” said Filia, grabbing her drink. But just as she was about to take a sip, the wooden cup slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground, spilling the water across her clothes and onto the floor.

“Gyahh!” Filia cried, trembling. “O-oh no, now I’ve done it…”

Fira shook her head. “Come now, dear, you were just being a little scatterbrained. I’ll clean up. Why don’t you go upstairs and change?”

“Th-thank you, Mother. I will,” replied Filia, heading upstairs.

Elgis and Fira forced a small chuckle.

“She’s the same as always, isn’t she?” said Elgis.

“It’s a bit of a relief, really,” said Fira.

“Did Filia used to be that scatterbrained?”

“Oh, yes. She’s always been proper, but she can be so absentminded sometimes.”

Filia’s parents really knew her well. Even though Filia had this incredible air of competence, along with a beautiful face and a gentle demeanor, in reality, she could be pretty clumsy. But, well, her parents’ expressions were tinged with seriousness now.

“Lia looked like she was having so much fun. Thank you, Yuri,” said Elgis.

“We really—well, I believe we really hurt that girl. So Yuri, thank you for saving her,” said Fira.

Both of them bowed deeply toward me. Wait, what was going on?

“I dunno what you’re talking about. I don’t remember doing anything like that for Filia.”

“You rescued her when she lost her path, and, well, we never thought we’d get the chance to talk to Lia again, after how deeply we hurt her. We’re truly grateful.”

They’d hurt Filia? When—oh, they were talking about when their behavior changed back then, right? It just seemed so weirdly impossible now, though. Both yesterday and today, I had only seen Elgis and Fira as sweet, good parents. Even I, a stranger, could see they loved their daughter. Had their faith in the Almighty Wind God really driven them to be so cruel?

“Why did you treat Filia coldly?” I asked. “Filia told me it was because you believed so strongly in the Almighty Wind God, but…was that really it?”

“My faith isn’t… I’m not deeply religious, but I didn’t have the courage to stand up to the village.” Elgis bit his lip and looked at the floor.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Belief in the Almighty Wind God has been fading in this village for some time. These days, the only person with a truly deep devotion is the village chief. It is said that for generations, the blood of the Wind God has flowed in the veins of his family. His authority is so great that if you dare defy him…you can no longer live in the village.”

Yeah, I was starting to get the picture here. “You followed the village chief’s orders, then. Rather than go against his wishes, you just…ignored Filia. That’s what happened?”

“That’s exactly right.”

So maybe Filia’s inability to read her parents’ minds wasn’t because they were disgusted by her, but because they’d closed off their minds to her from sheer guilt?

Elgis looked overwhelmed by sorrow and anguish. “I can say these things all I want, I suppose—say that if we’d disobeyed the chief, we might have still put Filia’s life in danger for violating his decree. But no matter what I say, we did something terrible to our girl.”

“You did. When Filia told me about her past, she was shaking and crying…”

At that, the two went completely still, like time had come to a halt.

“But the smile she’s had since we got here…it’s real,” I said. “I can tell.”

It wasn’t like I could read minds or anything. If anything, I was pretty awful at guessing how other people felt. But Filia and I had been traveling together long enough that I think I knew Filia’s feelings better than most.

When we first arrived, I had sensed Filia feeling somewhat timid toward her parents, but that was hardly the case now. This was just my opinion, but it seemed Filia was beginning to open up to them again.

I continued as her parents listened in silence. “You two are the only parents Filia has, and now you’ve been given the chance to make amends. Isn’t it up to you to use that chance?”

Okay, sure, I didn’t have parents, and I didn’t quite grasp stuff like caring for your family. It was hard for me to get it. But when I looked at how Filia had been since we got to the village, I somehow felt like maybe I did get it. Here, Filia was a kid again, a kid who adored her parents.

“Filia’s definitely expecting a lot from you two. She’s probably thinking: ‘Maybe I can bring them to my side this time.’ I’d like it if you didn’t betray her expectations. She might be your beloved daughter, but she’s also my beloved partner.”

I hit them with my real feelings. When it came to how I felt about Filia, I wasn’t gonna lose. But this was a family affair, and I couldn’t just rant about how I felt. The rest was for the three of them to talk about. Saying anything more would just be insensitive.

I’d been sitting up straight, but now I leaned in close. “I’m sure Filia will probably talk to you about this stuff sooner or later. Until then, it’s probably a good idea to keep carrying on like normal. Oh, and for now, I think I’ll just say that it’s probably better not to let the mood get dark. I’m sure you know this since you’re her parents, but she’s sensitive to that kind of thing.”

“I’m…really glad you’re our daughter’s partner, Yuri. Thank you.”

“We will have to talk to our daughter directly about this, properly.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Probably better to talk to Filia directly, straight out.”

Yep, I really felt like I understood where they were coming from now. Good talk.

Filia ran back down the stairs, having just changed clothes. “What were you talking about? Wait—don’t tell me. Was Yuri hitting on Mother, by chance?”

Was I what?

“What?!” Elgis gasped. “Yuri, I won’t forgive you for this! Not only are you after Lia, but Fira too?!”

Wait, why did he fall for that?! He’d been talking with me the whole time!

Fira got in on the goof and drew closer to me. “Oh, but maybe I’ll be swayed by Yuri?”

“Waahhhh!” Elgis…shouted? Said? I wasn’t sure how to even describe a guy pretending to cry.

“I kid, I kid, honey! Elgis is the only husband for me!”

“Fira!” The two of them shared a passionate embrace. What exactly was going on here? And how had this happened?

Wait. Was this just how they normally acted? Were they secretly just as awkward as Filia? I squinted at Filia, wondering if she found this weird, but she was happily gazing at them as they embraced.

“Mother, Father, you’ve always been so close. Someday I want to have a marriage like that.”

This was normal?

“Elgiiis!” cried Fira.

“Firaaa!” cried Elgis.

Huh. Guess this was a standard to aspire to, eh? More wisdom of the world for Yuri!

Now that Filia was back, the conversation returned to what she’d seen outside the forest. It seemed like Filia just wanted to keep on talking about one thing after another, so her mouth never stopped moving.

“Oh, and then! Yuri—”

“Hey, Lia? I think I’d like to hear about more than just you running around with your sweetheart,” said Fira.

“M-my—my sweetheart? He’s no such thing! I’m only talking about Yuri because I have extremely few friends!”

(Uh, that wasn’t the comeback Filia thought it was.)

“Why don’t you tell us what’s been going on with yourself, Lia?”

“Hmm, well, it’s a little embarrassing to go on and on about myself, don’t you think?” said Filia, blushing a little. Jeez, she could get so bashful for a narcissist.

Elgis turned to me instead. “How about we hear from you, Yuri? What do you think of Lia, eh? What’s she like, from your perspective?”

What did Filia look like to me, huh? Once again, it was hard to put into words. “Let’s see… I think she’s kind and considerate. When I was fighting with the majin—remember when Filia mentioned that?— I lost one of my arms. Filia healed it back. Normally she messes around a lot, but she’s super serious and really cool when she’s casting recovery magic.”

I was in front of her parents, so I thought it’d be a good idea to pick up the slack for her a little. That kind of care for others was what made me a true gentle muscle man, after all.

“J-jeez, Yuri! You’re going too far!” said Filia happily, lightly smacking me on the shoulder.

“Oh, and then, she also said somethin’ to me like, what was it? ‘You can lick the bottom of my foot—’”

“Whaaaaaa?! J-jeez, Yuri, that’s too far! Again! But…but bad!” said Filia, repeatedly smacking my shoulder in a panic.

Sorry, that just slipped out! Not the greatest thing say in front of her parents, huh? But when I looked over at Elgis and Fira, they were leaning forward attentively.

“Now, Yuri…” said Elgis, “did you lick it?”

Did I…uh…what? “Uh, no, of course not.”

“Eh he he. Still a novice, Yuri. If I were in your shoes, young man, I would lick it without a second thought.”

“What?!” Filia cringed out of her skin. “Father!”

“I understand Elgis,” said Fira, nodding sagely. “I’d lick it too.”

“Hey, wait a minute, Mother?!”

Filia’s family was nuts. Or maybe…maybe this was what a family just did?

Nooope, don’t think so. It was all so much that Filia just kind of froze.

“It’s so nice to be doted on, isn’t it?” I said.

“Is this doting?” Filia said with a groan. “Does this count as doting?”

Why was she asking me? I had no idea!