A Righteous Female Knight Never Compromises!-Chapter 25 : Elves ears get red when they lie
{Chapter 25} Elves ears get red when they lie
"...Strange, where did she go?"
After completing her promotion and leaving the principal's office, Anna didn’t go to inspect the crystal fragment that had fallen off on its own. Instead, she began searching for Atala, who had been taken on a tour of the academy by Scarlet.
Just then, the bell rang, and students and teachers began pouring into the hallways, completely different from when she had arrived.
Had the knight academy changed its uniforms in just half a year?
Seeing the students wearing uniforms completely different from the ones she had worn during her time, Anna was surprised but also secretly relieved.
A single set of uniforms cost quite a few gold coins. Back then, she had worn the same set from the start of the semester until graduation.
After all, these uniforms provided protection equivalent to light armor, so it was understandable that they were expensive…
But if the academy had suddenly decided to change uniforms during her time as a student… she probably would have had to borrow some money from her roommate again…
...Borrow money?
Anna suddenly remembered that she still owed Gianna 10 gold coins.
Although Gianna had said she didn’t need to repay her upon graduation, Anna couldn’t just not pay her back, especially since she wasn’t short on money now.
After all, she had Helga and Louise to support her now! (With full confidence.)
"Isn’t this Anna? You look much more spirited after half a year!"
Unexpectedly, before Anna could resume her search for Scarlet and Atala, she was spotted by one of her former teachers.
"It really is Anna, my most outstanding student! Care for a match?" The teacher for sword theory and practical combat also appeared.
"I heard you married two young ladies from noble families? Is that true?" This was her interpersonal relations teacher.
"Being liked by two people, you must have been followed a lot, right? Anna, your counter-tracking skills were never that great…" This was the teacher for the tracking and counter-tracking course, the only class Anna had ever gotten a D in.
...Just a moment ago, everyone passing by had been strangers to Anna. How had so many familiar teachers suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
And some students who had continued their studies or become teachers at the academy after graduation also showed up.
‘I never knew I was this popular.’
"Anna! Prepare to die!"
...Finally, amidst the sea of voices, an unusual noise emerged.
Some students Anna either knew or didn’t know appeared, wielding longswords.
"You took away the elegant and lovely Miss Latimir, and now you’re openly two-timing?!"
"You’re just a fallen noble! Go die!"
In an instant, the teachers’ warm greetings turned into a scolding match against the troublemaking students.
Watching the hallway descend into chaos, Anna, who had done nothing but somehow became the center of attention, felt a strange sense of guilt.
"...Better make a quick escape."
If she didn’t leave now, the commotion would likely reach the principal’s office.
With that thought, Anna leaped directly from the third floor.
...When she finally found Atala and Scarlet, they both looked puzzled.
Seeing Anna’s evasive gaze, Scarlet asked curiously, "There seemed to be a group fight at the office building just now? Anna, you were there, right? What happened?"
"I dunno!"
For some reason, Anna’s speech had suddenly taken on her father’s accent. Her eyes were now completely unfocused, as if drifting into the heavens.
"Anna, did you know?" Atala suddenly spoke up. "Elves’ ears are the most expressive part of their emotions and also the most sensitive."
"Huh?" Anna didn’t understand why Atala was revealing her own weakness.
"When an elf lies, their ears tend to turn red, half-elves too."
"..."
Now Anna understood what Atala was getting at.
"Eh? What’s going on?" Scarlet initially didn’t grasp Atala’s meaning, but when she noticed Atala’s gaze fixed on Anna’s ears, she looked at Anna’s reddened ears and immediately understood.
"I should’ve known better than to tie my hair up today." Anna grumbled as she let down her high ponytail, which she had tied up to look more professional.
"Actually, it’s because..."
Anna then explained what had just happened.
"...But Scarlet, why are your eyes also drifting?"
Halfway through her explanation, Anna noticed that Scarlet’s eyes were also wandering, much like hers had been earlier.
"That’s because Scarlet was the one who told the teachers you were back." Before Scarlet could explain, Atala "helped" her out.
"W-wait! Atala! We agreed not to tell Anna..."
"But lying to a friend is wrong, isn’t it?" Atala tilted her head. "Elves never lie."
"This..."
Realizing she had been tripped up by the elf’s moral code, Scarlet looked at Anna, who was smiling kindly.Scarlet’s
"Sorry!"
...After giving cheeks a few light pinches, the matter was more or less settled.
"But what Atala said earlier means..." Scarlet, with one cheek still red from the pinching, examined Anna closely. "Anna, do you have elven blood?"
"Well... it’s said that one of my ancestors was a mix of elf and human..." Anna didn’t mention the celestial bloodline. That wasn’t something to casually reveal; it needed careful consideration.
"A mix of elf and human... so you’re a half-elf?" Scarlet circled Anna several times. "But you look completely human..."
"It’s been many generations. The elven bloodline must have diluted by now." Anna shrugged.
"Maybe not." Atala, however, shook her head. "If the bloodline had diluted, your ears probably wouldn’t be so sensitive."
"...Is that so?"
Anna instinctively touched her ears. Thankfully, when she touched them herself, they didn’t trigger any strange sensations.
In fact, when strangers touched her ears, Anna didn’t immediately enter that... awkward state, as if it were a particularly sensitive spot. It seemed that only when she was with someone she liked did her ears become that sensitive.
"But to check the purity of Anna’s bloodline, we’d have to take her to the Elven Forest."
"The Elven Forest... I’d love to go there if I could." Anna sighed. "Although there are books describing the Elven Forest, it’s still best to see it with your own eyes."
However, the social and moral views of elves were quite different from humans’, and the gap between long-lived and short-lived beings also played a role... She wondered if she would end up like that writer who had gone to the Elven Forest as an ambassador for the Iveg Empire, only to be inexplicably executed…
Chapter 25 : Elves ears get red when they lie
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