“…What does that mean?”

[Honey.]

“Ah! No! It’s a misunderstanding!”

Jiwoo almost jumped back.

“I thought the man next to her called her El because it was her name. No, if that’s not it, then why not explain… And why does she accept it?”

Helka chuckled.

[El, Honey.]

“….”

[El.]

“….are you making fun of me?”

Jiwoo looked at Helka with a fiery face while fanning herself with her hand. Helka, as always, maintained a dignified expression, with just a hint of a raised lip. Yet somehow, it made him seem even more playful.

“Come to think of it, you guys always say you understand my emotions without words. So, you probably knew I didn’t mean it in that way, right?”

[Yes.]

“….”

Jiwoo opened her eyes wide and relaxed her lips. She was more surprised than embarrassed. It was astonishing that this rigid man would playfully tease someone.

“I also had something I wanted to ask.”

[Yes, please ask.]

“If I really said I was going to another group, would you have let me go? Even though you know exactly what I’m thinking?”

Helka, who was usually quick to answer, hesitated this time. Once he started to break down, there was no way to predict the end. So Jiwoo shook him and pressed him.

“Helka?”

[It would be wise to think about it while the child is still here.]

Helka pointed to the white bird crouched as if sleeping on Jiwoo’s shoulder.

[We know. Perhaps we know more than you think… This attitude might be a bit uncomfortable for you. However, we simply hope that you make a better choice.]

It wasn’t exactly the answer she expected. It sounded somewhat cliché, and Jiwoo found herself confused about what Helka meant.

[But we also have fools despite the good ears. Even if you see a fool, please understand. But perhaps he could be your answer.]

“I don’t understand what you’re saying…”

Helka smiled with an innocent expression.

[Shall we talk about it again later? How was this outing? If there’s something you enjoyed, should we bring it to our village too?]

“Ah… It was good. Especially…”

As Jiwoo began to mumble, Helka continued the conversation with a low and leisurely voice. Yet, amidst their conversation, the words spoken by Callan lingered in Jiwoo’s mind.

Callan, who once proclaimed to be the one to try to love first, seemed to be more troubled than anyone else.

But such thoughts were only temporary. Jiwoo gradually drifted into sleep, carried away by the rhythmic tones of Helka’s voice and the sound of footsteps on fallen leaves.

With them around, the forest was always peaceful.

7. Complicated Sounds

“So, you should have taken me with you.”

Enci spoke after hearing the explanation.

Although Jiwoo felt the need to explain her early return, it seemed that Lanceil and Tevon, who had returned first, had already explained everything to the village.

In fact, Callan, who replaced Enci, wasn’t bad at all. Although there were some frustrating moments with him, the relief Jiwoo felt when she lost her strength was due to Callan’s attitude.

Upon returning to the village, everyone was busy with not only rebuilding the village but also preparing for the remaining wedding ceremonies.

It was truly surprising that the wedding had not concluded yet. The first night celebration was completed, followed by the proposal ceremony, and now the wedding ceremony awaited. There was something else after that, but Jiwoo didn’t pay much attention to the details.

Considering how rare marriage ceremonies were, they were expected to be grand events.

Currently, only the proposal ceremony has been successfully completed. After the first night celebration, she received a ring and partied until dawn, marking the end of the proposal ceremony.

“Anyway… So, I thought about learning the language here.”

“Really? It might not be necessary.”

Among them, Enci, who became Jiwoo’s language tutor, raised an eyebrow.

“Think about it. Whether you speak or not, we don’t have significant discomfort. The discomfort would be yours. So, if you learn the language, it makes more sense for us to adapt to you.”

“That’s true, but…”

Jiwoo hesitated for a moment and then redirected the conversation.

“Is it challenging for me to learn the characters here?”

“Hmm. Let me show you.”

Enci cleared the table and placed a rounded wooden board on it. Taking a pen from his pocket, Enci began drawing an unfamiliar pattern on it. Pressing firmly into the soft wood, the surface was carved like an embossment.

Actually, Jiwoo thought it would be something like Chinese characters, even if it’s challenging. So, with frequent exposure, she might recognize them.

However, what he had written down was ambiguous, neither clearly characters nor drawings.

What Enci had written or ‘drawn’ were multiple lines. They sometimes broke in the middle, then resumed, but they were just lines.

Rather than characters, it looked more like the countless grooves on a vinyl record.

“Can we communicate with this?”

“When the wind blows over this, you’ll hear a sound.”

As if Enci had used magic, a gentle breeze swept through the space where the two were. It was a soft, not rough, shallow wind.

Ring. The sound of the wind chime decoration in front of the door was audible.

After a while, Jiwoo whispered in a very soft voice.

“…I don’t hear any sound.”

“Humans can’t hear it. It’s a delicate sound.”

Jiwoo turned her gaze back to the rounded wooden board, resembling a vinyl record.

It seemed challenging. It became more real when seen up close.

“You don’t have to read this directly, but it serves as a basis, so it might be confusing.”

“Oh, so that’s why it’s difficult to learn.”

“If you take enough time, there’s almost nothing you can’t do.”

“Umm…”

“Don’t worry. With this kind of writing, it only records mundane information. If you want to learn about novels or learn other continents for fun, I can easily find books in that regard. I can also create moving picture materials.”

“Ah… with alchemy?”

“It’s more like magical engineering than alchemy. Well, yeah. In a way, although I don’t really create gold, that’s how it started.”

“Can Enci do it too?”

“There’s nothing I can’t make… but, do you want one?”

“N, no…”

Enci shrugged his shoulders.

“It was initially named to study how to make gold, but the meaning has changed now. We just use it. We may be unchanging beings, but there’s no need to change this, considering that fact.”

It was similar in the world Jiwoo originally lived in.

“We had a similar term, but it changed later.”

“To what?”

“Um… chemical engineer?”

“That’s fine too. Chemical engineer. Chemical engineer…”

Enci still seemed to savor the word as he continued to stare at the wooden board.

“Do people here have no desire for money?”

“…That’s right.”

It wasn’t that they lacked material desires from a human perspective, but they seemed to have reached a point where they could say that they truly didn’t have desires based on their own standards.

Lost in thought, Jiwoo initially brought up the topic and briefly missed what Enci was about to say.

“So… probably, if you live here, you won’t be able to leave your name behind.”

“Leave a name?”

“Humans live like that, right? The desire to leave achievements that future generations will remember for a long time. Or the aspiration to rise to such a position. We don’t have that. We just… live like trees. We grow, we wither, and that’s all.”

Jiwoo listened until there and then burst into laughter.

“We’re planning to get married… then, shouldn’t you talk about the advantages?”

“Advantages… well, to us, that’s not a disadvantage either.”

Clean, mint fragrance and the feeling of cleanliness from the white hair. Long ears stood upright, focused on the sound of the letters.

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