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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Another nickname for the elves was “Forest Guides”.
Using elven power, the dense forest would willingly reveal beautiful shortcuts to elves and their companions.
Following those paths, one could receive the forest’s blessing and greatly reduce travel time…
Hans had heard such legends in the original work, and it was also a feature implemented in the game.
For example, reducing troop transport time from 30 days to 15 days, or cutting quest round-trip time from 15 days to 7 days.
Of course, this was only possible with an elf in the party.
In this game, time was more valuable than gold, so it was recommended to include an elf heroine in the party early on.
That way, time could be saved.
Of course, veteran players like Hans had grown tired of standard builds and tried various other builds, but now, such veteran entertainment builds were of no help at all.
It was a matter of life and death, beyond whether he could return or not.
Hans wanted to return alive, not die horribly here.
In that sense, traveling with Clara could be seen as a godsend.
They were able to reach the Elven Forest in a very short time.
Hans marveled quietly as he looked at the forest.
Unlike ordinary forests, it was lush and dense, but not a tangled jungle.
It was like seeing a neatly organized emerald forest.
Hans asked Clara.
“Do the elves perhaps manage the forest?”
“No, elves don’t deliberately prune branches or anything. We love nature as it is.”
“So you’re saying the forest can flourish like this just from the elves’ presence.”
Hans gained new knowledge.
This wasn’t even applied in the game.
Honestly, elves weren’t a particularly distinctive race except for their early contract work and time reduction.
The community would even say their beauty was their performance.
However, now that the reality patch had been applied, they were very reliable allies.
They walked forward.
“Stop right there~ I’ll shoot you if you don’t identify yourselves.”
“Aunt Emily!!”
“That voice, could it be Clara?!”
“Yes! It’s me! Clara!”
After walking forward for a while, a voice came from inside the forest.
It seemed to be a familiar voice, as Clara called out happily.
The owner of the voice immediately ran over.
It was an elf with purple hair wearing something like a dress made of leaves.
True to being an elf, she had white skin and beautiful features, but she felt different from other elves.
If Clara and Cluna were model students, Emily the elf looked more like a party student.
To put it more bluntly, she gave off a delinquent vibe.
Emily looked at Hans and said,
“Oh my, then is this gentleman the new commander of the Royal Knights?”
“How do you know that?”
“Cluna told me~ She recently returned to the Elven Forest!”
“I see, she told you, Aunt.”
“Save the emotional reunion for later.”
Catching Clara’s expression darkening, Hans hastily changed the subject.
Managing mental states was something a commander naturally had to do, especially when things were gloomy like now.
“Huh? What do you mean? Ah! Could it be Cluna didn’t tell you?”
“That’s enough.”
“Yes, yes~ I understand~.”
Emily turned her head with a sly smile.
In an instant, only Hans and Clara were left.
Unable to say anything, Hans kept silent, when Clara suddenly shouted.
“Hyah!”
Though startled by the sudden outburst, Hans didn’t show it.
It would be troublesome if Clara went off track by pretending to be surprised.
Hans cleared his throat and calmed Clara down.
“Calm down, Clara. You can’t do anything if you’re agitated.”
“It’s okay, Commander. I’ve already made up my mind.”
“Made up your mind?”
“As you said, Commander. I’ll listen and judge for myself. That’s how I’ll be able to understand.”
“I see. That’s the right way.”
Only after hearing Clara’s resolve could Hans finally feel relieved.
Fortunately, it seemed it had worked successfully, as Clara’s mental state was much stronger than before.
Thank goodness.
If her mental state had collapsed after coming this far, he really wouldn’t have been confident in handling it.
Hans let out a sigh.
All that remained now was for Cluna to properly explain things to Clara.
If there was one cause for concern, it was Cluna’s icy cold attitude earlier, but Cluna, who cared for her daughter more than anyone, would surely explain everything properly to Clara.
That was what he had thought.
“Go back to Lionheart Fortress quickly, Clara.”
“Why do you never tell me anything?!”
“This is a matter you don’t need to know about! Listen to your mother right now!”
Until he became sandwiched in the mother-daughter fight.
“…”
Damn it, what am I supposed to do?
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First, there was something that needed to be made clear.
Cluna and Clara had a harmonious relationship.
Of course, they had just been fighting, growling at each other as if about to bite, but there wasn’t really a problem.
However, if asked whether they seemed like a normal family, that wasn’t quite the case either.
Both Cluna and Clara had something they were hiding from each other.
Cluna wanted to protect, and Clara wanted to be acknowledged.
The similar yet different desires of the two made them close yet distant.
It wasn’t a good situation.
In the end, everyone would get hurt.
And the biggest problem was Hans’s position, caught between the two.
He couldn’t take one side unilaterally.
He was their commander, so his influence would be stronger.
That could unintentionally hurt the other side.
However, if he just sat quietly maintaining neutrality, it was clear as day that the confrontation would continue and eventually reach a breaking point.
In other words, Hans had to provide an alternative that both could agree on while respecting their positions as much as possible, and this was for a somewhat twisted mother-daughter relationship.
In short, Hans was screwed.
Weren’t family issues one of those problems you’re told not to get involved in from the start?
That’s how complex and sensitive family issues could be.
And that was why Hans was here now.
He silently crossed his arms and looked at Clara.
Clara was lying on the bed with her face buried in it.
Her mood was gloomy beyond compare.
To the point where Hans wondered if he might get infected if he spoke to her.
He soon shook his head vigorously.
This wasn’t some infectious disease, what was he thinking about infection?
He cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Still, there’s hope at least.”
“Hope? What hope?”
“Can’t we find out properly here?”
“Mother told me to go back! She’s still treating me like a child!!”
It was a sad fact that Hans couldn’t deny Clara’s words full of resentment.
Even from his third-party perspective, Cluna’s attitude was excessively cold.
Just like as if she was dealing with a young child.
Of course, Clara was young for an elf.
However, Clara was clearly fulfilling her role as a member of the Royal Knights.
So she deserved to be treated accordingly. but he couldn’t just criticize Cluna either.
If someone who loved her daughter so much spoke so seriously, there must be some circumstances warranting it.
In the end, Hans had to represent Cluna’s feelings without touching Clara’s nerves.
He seriously considered giving up, but the answer was always the same.
“These aren’t just empty words. You haven’t checked for yourself yet, have you?”
How nice would it be if we could do everything in life as we wanted?
Win the lottery and just play and eat without working at all.
Who would want to go to a place like a company?
Just like that, there were things we had to do even if we didn’t want to.
Rotten as he was, Hans was now the commander of the Royal Knights.
He couldn’t abandon his duties as commander.
Hans slowly raised his hand.
When his cold hand touched Clara’s shoulder, Clara jumped up like a spring, startled.
He thought such an intense reaction wasn’t necessary, but he decided to let it go for now.
“You wanted to see with your own eyes, but is this really what you’ve seen with your own eyes?”
“Then what? Mother told me to go back.”
“How can we know if that’s her true feelings or not?”
“…That’s…”
“No one knows until we check for ourselves.”
What was needed right now was a small sprinkle of hope.
People can get back up if there’s anything they can do.
Even if it’s just a tiny bit of hope, that’s enough.
Clara looked at Hans for a moment, then wiped away her sniffling tears with her hand and stood up.
Hans nodded as he watched her.
Somehow, they had overcome one hurdle.
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Good good, make sure the family drama ends in “the talk on who gets hans first “
I just realised – does “hans” have a family name? Or is this some massive foreshadowing