Black General

"Roko!"

Upon leaving the throne room after having his discussion with Rivera, Roko found two dogs bouncing up to him happily. One of them was the dignified looking Klaus and the other, the bubbly, happy Penumbra or Penny. Both were happy to see him and were playfully licking and nibbling his fingers.

"Hey guys." Roko looked up as the dark elf trio walked up to him, "Glad to see you guys are still doing alright."

"We couldn't bring ourselves to leave after seeing the state the elves were in." Drift smirked, "We dark elves aren't so heartless to abandon those in need even if they're elves."

"Plus it feels good to see those stuck up elves looking to you for help doesn't it?" Roko said.

"Haha, yeah!" Ohm laughed, "You should've seen their-uhh wait a minute-"

"I think it's healthy to indulge in your real thoughts." Roko smirked, "But just remember that you've won a debt from the elves but a debt is just as constricting as it is freeing. Act too recklessly and you'll end up filling that debt without even knowing it. To use it wisely one must act wisely. Understood?"

"Y-Yeah. Got it." Ohm scratched his head confused, "This is kind of the opposite of what the princesses said you were."

"I don't know what they told you, but I'm no paragon." Roko sighed.

"I didn't think debts could be so political." Reaumur said.

"That's why I try not to deal in debts." Roko scoffed, "I just help others when I want to."

"Isn't that just altruism?" Drift smiled.

"To some people, maybe." Roko shrugged.

"Mommy look! A doggy!"

A small elf child ran up and began touching Klaus. Klaus looked at the child with a very annoyed look and teleported behind Roko. The child just laughed and trotted back over to begin pestering Klaus with pets again. Klaus teleported again, this time on top of Roko's shoulders. The child reached up trying to reach the dog again but sadly was much too short to reach. The child tried jumping but when that wasn't working either, tears began to build up in his eyes.

"Penny, get him!"

At Reaumur's command, Penny walked over and began licking the child's face. The child began to smile again as he began to redirect his pets over to Penny as his mother quickly ran up to them.

"I'm so sorry for my child!" She gasped, "I'm sorry if he caused any trouble for you all!"

"Not at all!" Reaumur smiled, "Shadow- I mean Klaus doesn't like being petted much but Penny loves it."

"O-Oh..." The elf mother stopped, a bit perturbed by the friendly dark elves, "I see. A-again, I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"It's no bother. People have been coming up quite frequently to pet the dogs." Reaumur nodded, "People of all ages. Don't worry about it."

"Oh. Okay… ...May I pet her?"

"Sure!"

After a few minutes, the elf family got enough of petting the blink dog and walked away, politely bowing and waving as they left.

"You're pretty picky when it comes to people aren't you?" Roko said as he reached up to scratch the head of the blink dog that was draped over his head.

"Ahaha." Reaumur giggled, "Most blink dogs are pretty intelligent so they often choose their own owners. Klaus is somewhat more picky than even normal blink dogs though."

As if to prove a point, Reaumur reach up to pet Klaus who just sort of snorted at her hand.

"Still, I'm glad to see you're getting along with Klaus now." Drift said.

"Well, I have had a dog before but not one as intelligent as this." Roko said as he pulled Klaus off his head and placed him back on the ground, "Though now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen a lot of pets in this city."

"That's because most human pets live such short lives compared to elves." Ohm explained, "A normal dog's life is kind of a blink of an eye to an elf. The only comparatively normal pet for us to own is a tortoise and they're not exactly exciting pets."

"What about blink dogs?" Roko asked.

"Blink dogs can live pretty long as well." Reaumur nodded, "They make pretty good pets but they're more like partners since they're so intelligent. However, normal elves have a hard time bonding to blink dogs because blink dogs were born to hunt displacer beasts."

"Most elves just want to pamper and live peacefully with a blink dog which most blink dogs aren't sedentary enough to enjoy." Drift continued, "It's actually a point of jealously between elves and dark elves that we have a healthy ongoing relationship with blink dogs."

"And that's because you guys do more hunting than normal elves?" Roko guessed.

"That's right!" Reaumur smiled, "Puppies like Penny enjoy the attention but older blink dogs want a more active lifestyle. Klaus is not much older than Penny and he's run away from home numerous times."

"Well, I'm only a step or two above a homeless person so I don't know how long Klaus will want to stick around with a person like me." Roko said as he and Klaus looked at each other.

"Really? You two seem to get along pretty well though." Reaumur blinked.

"I get up to a lot of trouble for some reason." Roko sighed, "But I'm more of a bookish person. Case and point, I'm going to be spending the next few days nose deep in books."

"Wow." Ohm chuckled, "You're just in all kinds of business aren't you?"

"I just try and keep the peace wherever I go." Roko sighed.

"Ummm..."

A shy voice drew everyone's attention around to the elf mother from before who approached them tentatively, "Your friend's arrived."

"Friend?" Roko frowned, "Are you expecting someone?"

Turning to the dark elves, Roko saw their faces pale in shock, "Oh no. We forgot to tell you!"

Standing at Granreveria's gate was a large dark elf, dressed in heavy leather armor, carrying an ornate spear and glaring at every elf that was staring and whispering around him at a safe distance.

"What a distasteful city. All opulence, no diligence."

"General!"

The dark elf looked up as Drift, Ohm and Reaumur ran up to him with the company of two blink dogs and an unknown human.

"I-It's good to see you arrived safely, sir!" Drift said as he quickly saluted.

"Hmph. You've kept me waiting for about 10 minutes, Drift." He growled, "What were you doing?"

"Looking for help." Ohm muttered.

"What was that?!"

"I mean, we have no excuses sir!" Ohm shouted.

"Damn right." The dark elf scowled, "First I hear you've been helping a human and now I hear you're helping ELVES?! Do you have no sense of dignity?!"

"A lot of things happened, dad. We-"

"You will call me general in front of all these people, Reaumur! Did I not teach you better?!"

"Yes! Sorry, da-I mean general!"

Satisfied, the big dark elf turned to look at Roko who looked back at him with an unimpressed look.

"And are you the human that we helped?" He frowned.

"We helped each other." Roko corrected.

"You look so weak. I'm not surprised someone like you needed help. You may be friends of the elves but you're not friends of the dark elves yet, young man."

"Big talk for someone who hasn't done anything yet." Roko scoffed.

"AAAAAHHH-" Ohm and Reaumur quickly ran over and covered Roko's mouth as Drift walked up with a distracting smile, "General! You must be hungry after all that travel right?! Let us find something to eat first, shall we?"

"Hmph. I dread to see what these elves call food but I'm feeling generous enough to give it a chance. Lead the way."

"Right this way, general."

Drift lead the way towards what felt like Treesa's lodge. Along the way, Ohm and Reamur pulled Roko back and began to explain everything to him in hushed tones.

"We sent word that we were assisting the elves' rebuilding a day after the raid ended." Reaumur whispered, "Naturally they were concerned for our safety so they said they were going to send someone to make sure we weren't treated harshly."

"Of course we tried to explain that wasn't necessary." Ohm added, "But they insisted and well...they chose the worst possible person to send."

"You said he was your father, Reaumur?" Roko asked.

"Y-Yes." Reaumur looked down, "His name is Romer. I'm afraid my father can be a little extreme. He doesn't like elves very much but after hearing I was here, he forced the council to send him here personally."

"Honestly, we would've much preferred they had sent Polaris. He's always wanted to see the elf city, be it through conquest or coexistence. He would've been perfect but the council overrode him probably."

"How is your dad with humans?" Roko asked.

"I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen him with a human before, "I mean, he probably doesn't hate them so please be nice to him, Roko!"

"I don't hate him quite yet but he does seem hard to get along with."

"I promise he's a nice guy, just don't get him mad!" Reaumur insisted, "And...well...I guess this situation isn't really going to be a great example of his character."

"Look, all we got to do is keep him pacified for a day or two and then we'll just leave." Ohm said, "We probably won't get a lot of helping done with him around and he doesn't want to be here either so we'll just leave."

"A shame to have to leave after doing so well. We were all just getting along."

"Heh. Well, we weren't going to stick around forever. We don't belong here."

"And what if you could stay here? What if you could break down the animosity between the elves and dark elves? Wouldn't that kind of world be one that Lady Brea hoped for?"

Ohm looked at Roko speechless as Roko walked forward to catch up with the rest of the group.

Roko watched as he watched Romer feast on several dishes at once. Kaguya, Momo, Helena, Roland, Mikado and Varis all watched with mixed expressions ranging from indifference to suspicion to disapproval.

"This food is great!" Romer cried.

"We're glad you like it, sir." Drift said as he and the other dark elves sat across from Romer watching him eat.

"But this isn't elven cooking is it?" Romer leaned over the table to stare down the nervous dark elf trio, "Who made this?"

"O-One of the human girls, sir." Ohm gulped.

"That so?" Romer sat back down, "Seems humans have a lot of hidden talents."

The dark elf trios laughed nervously as Romer resumed eating. The humans all continued to hang at the back with conflicted emotions.

"So what's everyone thinking?" Helena asked.

"Troublesome." Kaguya frowned, "He's not going to be one that pays much attention to suggestions."

"Can't say I like him very much." Roko scowled, "He's pretty prideful and doesn't care much for coexistence."

"Do you guys think I can beat him?"

Everyone turned to look at Momo.

"I mean like...if we fought." Momo said sheepishly, "Like, he seems strong but I think I can take him. Right?"

"I don't see why not." Helena shrugged, "Anyway, how about you, Mikado?"

"He's going to be quite disruptive to all our efforts." Mikado frowned, "And we can't really get rid of him either."

"Well I think he's cool." Roland added, "I mean his daughter's cool at least."

"Roland, I don't remember asking you." Helena sighed, "I'm not a fan of the guy either but I don't think we can just get rid of him. We need some way of controlling him at least a little. Maybe we can find some sort of secret and use it as leverage?"

"That's just going to cause tension between us and the dark elves." Roko said, "I'm not against it but we also have the option of gaining his respect and thereby a bit more control over him."

"You're the last person I expected to talk about winning his respect." Helena smirked.

"Seriously, I know you're just gonna roast him every chance you get." Roland scoffed.

"That's why it's not going to be me." Roko scowled.

"Okay, who then?" Kaguya asked, "Momo?"

"You want me to fight him?" Momo asked excitedly, "I mean, I'm still a bit tired from fighting the giant monster but I think I can take him."

"I don't think he'll take you seriously Momo." Roko said, "Or, even if he does, he'll claim he wasn't taking it seriously. Basically, I don't think he'll ever accept being beaten, at least by a woman."

"So what now?" Helena asked as Momo looked disappointed, "We leave it to Varis?"

"Varis can't speak." Kaguya sighed, "What good would that do?"

"So what's our option then?" Helena frowned.

"Where's Corissa?" Roko asked.

"Corissa? She's in the kitchen with Treesa." Helena looked conflicted, "She's keeping an eye on her. Treesa's...not been handling the appearance of dark elves in her lodge very well."

"I see." Roko nodded, "I guess this was a pretty difficult thing to spring on her so suddenly."

"She's a mess." Kaguya nodded, "Barely keeping herself together. Whether it's out of hate, rage, fear or despair who can say. Could be all of those really."

"That bad huh?" Roko winced, "I didn't think she'd take it so badly."

"We had difficulties convincing her to stay out of sight." Kaguya sighed, "I do feel sorry for her."

"Hey!" Romer's loud voice carried over to Roko's group with a commanding tone, "Who's the chef?! Bring her out here!"

"Who was the chef?" Roko turned back to his friends.

"That would also be Corissa." Helena sighed.

"Right, then I guess we have to go get her then." Roko sighed as well.

"I'll come along." Kaguya offered, "And look after Treesa while she's gone."

Entering the kitchen, Roko could see Corissa sitting on a chair on the far end of the room. Right in front of her was Treesa, their usually cheerful young housekeeper sat with her arms clutched around her, her eyes big with unstable emotions flickering through her face. Lips taunt, face pale, her body trembling but seemingly against an urge to explode outwards. Her hands floated away from her arms as if trying to find something to defend her home with only for her to pull them back and hold crushingly tight to her arms again. Corissa watched her in this dramatic episode, occasionally offering a few words of encouragement.

"Everything okay?" Roko asked in an uncertainly soft tone, unsure how to approach this situation.

"Yeah." Corissa replied as calmly and gently as she could, "Treesa's doing fine. She'll be okay."

Watching her, Roko wasn't sure he believed that description but what could he do? Yet he couldn't just do nothing.

"Hey..." Roko said anxiously, "I'm sorry for disturbing you like this. This was unexpected and we appreciate you letting us borrow your home for a moment. We'll try to resolve this as quickly as possible. They won't be here for long."

Roko's voice seemed to disturb Treesa's movements for a moment but she quietly returned to her silent struggle without acknowledging him.

"Is there anything wrong?" Corissa asked, looking up to Roko, "Did something happen?"

"Nothing too alarming." Kaguya replied, "The new dark elf just wants to meet the chef."

"Oh!" Corissa blinked, "I assume he liked the meal then?"

"He certainly wasn't shy of expressing his enjoyment." Roko scoffed.

"I see." Corissa stood up, "I guess it's my turn to meet him then."

"I'll take over your place." Kaguya said, "Treesa needs the company now."

"Thanks." Corissa nodded, "Shall we go then?"

With a nod, Corissa and Kaguya exchanged places and were about to leave when Treesa suddenly spoke up.

"Roko."

Turning around, Roko saw Treesa look up at him with as pleasant a smile as she could offer.

"Thank you. I'm going to be fine. It's just...I'm not used to seeing other dark elves."

"...I can't pretend I know what you're going through. But I don't want to see anyone living in fear like this. That's why I'm trying to create a world where elves like you don't have to live in fear any longer."

"Does that world include letting violent monsters into the sanctity of your own home?"

Treesa glared at Roko who simply looked back at her calmly with a hint of disappointment. There was nothing more he wanted to say, nothing he could say, really. He wasn't going to try and convince her here and now to overcome her hatred. Not as she was now at the very least. Treesa's violent glare quickly calmed down and she went back to hanging her head down and clutching her body together.

"Sorry." She said softly, "Tell them that they're welcome to stay as long as they want. But at some point, they must leave."

Roko nodded and followed Corissa out of the room finally.

"Here she is, the chef."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Corissa gave a small cute bow in front of the intimidating dark elf. Romer looked over Corissa with a studious eye. Corissa simply stood there as Romer walked around her, examining her from all angles. She glanced at Roko occasionally as if to ask if this was okay but Roko just shrugged. Upon completing a lap around Corissa, Romer sat back down at his table, now closely studying Corissa's face.

"Ummm..." Corissa said anxiously.

"Would you like to meet my son?" Romer asked.

"DAD!" Reaumur yelled at her dad as she stood straight up, glaring at her laughing father.

"I'm kidding!" Romer's laugh seemed to echo through the room, "My son is having trouble finding a wife though! Don't need to worry about kids for the moment, he just needs someone nice to take care of him! Can't trust that boy to be alone!"

Corissa laughed nervously along with Romer as Reaumur buried her face in her hands out of embarrassment.

"But seriously, that was a nice meal." Romer said as he slapped Corissa on the back, sending her stumbling forward a few steps, "I've never had human food before. Maybe I should try it more often!"

"Uhh...thanks." Corissa said, rubbing her back a bit, "I'm honored."

"Reaumur! Drift! Ohm!" Romer turned to his subordinates, "We'll introduce ourselves to the queen tomorrow! For now, we return to our rooms. I'll come by later to hear each of your individual reports."

"Yes sir!" Drift saluted as they stood up, "We'll lead the way to the home we've been using so if you'll just follow me-"

"Lead the way?" Drift frowned, "Is this not your base? This is an inn isn't it? Should be plenty of room for all of us."

"Errr..." The dark elves looked at each other in a panicked manner, "N-No, we have a much better home prepared so-"

"And this home has enough room for all of us?" Romer raised his eyebrow.

"Y-y-y-y-…." Drift stuttered, unable to give the answer he dearly wanted.

Roko watched as the dark elves began to huddle up again, desperately consulting each other. Roko understood. His home would barely have enough room for the three dark elves alone, much less a large bellowing man like Romer. Housing four dark elves would be a tight fit for a house made for one. The lodge made the most sense but with Treesa…

Roko's head began to overheat as he desperately tried to think of some way to resolve the situation when Corissa walked up to Romer and gently touched his wrist. As the dark elf turned to her, Corissa gave him a bright smile before responding,

"Sorry but the rooms have been mostly taken up by us girls and I'm afraid some of us would get somewhat anxious when there's another man sleeping with us. I know it's selfish but we do enjoy a bit of privacy."

"Oh! Not at all!" Romer stood up from his seat, a light blush covering his face, "I didn't know that you girls would be occupying this inn! Don't worry, we'll find somewhere else to stay at!"

"Thank you so much!" Corissa's smile seemed to get brighter as she stood back from Romer, "I'm glad you could understand."

"No, don't mention it!" Romer said, "Aha. Ahahaha. Hahahahahaha-"

"Are you sure elves aren't attracted to humans?" Kaguya whispered to Helena.

"I mean, I never said they couldn't be charmed." Helena snickered, "Besides, this is Corissa we're talking about. You could say she charmed a tree and I'd believe you."

"And now she's starting to learn how to use that power for herself." Kaguya added.

"No, I think it's still unconscious for now." Helena said seriously, "But if she ever manages to get control over this power…"

"She'll be the most powerful creature in the world." Kaguya nodded seriously.

…

"So you guys AREN'T talking about, like, holy, right?" Momo asked, "I mean I was pretty sure I was following along correctly but I'm not quite sure."