I Became a Gallery Manager in Another World

Chapter 132: Lifting Elfrida (2)

“Hah… I really don’t get it. Why is this bitch, who has been hiding like a rat all this time, suddenly showing up in front of me today? Does this make any sense?”

“You have a foul mouth. If you don’t change your way of speaking, you’ll face serious trouble someday.”

“What do you care, bitch? Do you expect me to speak politely to you, a ‘special-grade target’? Don’t mess with me, I’m already in a foul mood. Tch!”

The woman with purple hair down to her waist was startled by Elfrida’s response.

“…Are you really speaking like that, knowing who I am?”

“Yeah, I know. You’re ‘Laura Lavandula’. So what? Am I not allowed to curse at the former saint, you bitch?”

“…I can’t tell if you’re fearless or thoughtless. The saying about kids these days being scary is…”

At that moment, Laura, who noticed something from Elfrida, fell silent.

“What, why’d you stop talking, bitch?”

“…You’re an old monster wearing the guise of a child.”

She wasn’t just referring to Elfrida’s age being over 200 years old.

Just that wouldn’t be enough for Laura to call her a ‘monster’.

Kwaaak-

With the blessing of ‘foresight’ in exchange for the power of ‘commanding spirits’, Laura could see souls.

Thus, she could understand.

‘She’s a monster.’

The elf in front of her was a monster blessed with ‘talent’ and had honed it to the extreme over a long period.

“That, that bitch really wants to die!! Who are you calling a chicken coop!! Your way of speaking is more like a chicken coop!!”

“…I didn’t say anything about a chicken coop.”

“Shut up!! I’m a high elf, so I’m only 19 in human years, but you’re truly pitiful!!”

“…Pitiful? Even if you’re a high elf, your soul…”

“Don’t dig too deep, bitch. I’ll give you exactly 10 seconds to disappear from my sight. Or you’ll get beaten up badly.”

“You’re quite immature for your age… And I can’t accept your request.”

“Are you picking on me by mentioning age? Do I look like I’m asking you for a favor? This is not a request.”

Duduk─

Elfrida twisted her wrist as she slowly approached.

“Stop there. Don’t come any closer.”

“Are you scared? Then run away, you still have 5 seconds left.”

“…I see you’re strong. But look around.”

“I did, so what.”

“…Are you really planning to face a necromancer in a graveyard?”

“So what if I am?”

“It’s nothing but foolishness.”

“Hah! Do you know what true foolishness is, bitch?”

Elfrida snorted and took another step forward.

“Standing in front of me when I’m angry.”

“I don’t expect you to understand. So I’ll make one last offer.”

Creak! Screech! Screech!

At that moment, a staff emerged from inside Laura’s robe, and the corpses that had been lying dormant underground broke through the earth and rose.

“If you step back now, I’ll let you go peacefully. Otherwise, you’ll face a rough time.”

“Nonsense. Ah~! I just wanted to go on a date today! …That bitch ruined everything.”

Elfrida scratched her head and then suddenly turned serious.

“Watch carefully. And don’t tell anyone.”

Fwoosh─!

A massive flame erupted behind Elfrida.

“This is what happens when the super-genius high elf girl gets angry!!”

---

Four hours before Elfrida and Laura met.

[…]

The Fire Spirit King Ifrit was seriously pondering.

“No, not like that!! How many times do I have to tell you, more up… No! If you do that, your panties will show!! The panties shouldn’t show! Don’t you understand?”

Whether to praise Elfrida for managing all four elemental spirits simultaneously or to scold her for wasting such immense talent on trivial things.

[…Sigh]

After much contemplation, Ifrit decided to just leave her be.

It was a choice backed by two rational reasons.

The first reason was that Elfrida wasn’t the type to listen to words…

The second was that even Elfrida’s seemingly pointless use of her magic significantly helped the ‘lesser spirits’ in advancing to ‘intermediate spirits’.

Lesser spirits, intermediate spirits, and higher spirits.

Though humans’ standards made them all seem the same, they were entirely different in reality.

Lesser spirits were the very essence of magic in nature.

Thus, lesser spirits had neither ‘form’ nor ‘instinct’, and simply followed the magic of the spirit user.

“No! Argh!!! What’s important is the teasing, not showing everything! Ah… Have I completely lost the touch?”

Therefore, no matter how much she cursed, they couldn’t understand and simply followed Elfrida’s magic.

Why did she keep cursing even though it was pointless?

It was just because Elfrida had a foul temper.

[….]

Anyway, apart from her bad temper, Elfrida’s magic significantly benefited the spirits.

When a ‘lesser spirit’ absorbed high-quality magic and grew over a long time, it very rarely developed ‘instincts’, which made it an ‘intermediate spirit’.

Thus, intermediate spirits had the form of animals.

They mimicked the animals that most closely resembled their ‘instincts’.

Many spirit users got frustrated at the intermediate stage because while lesser spirits could be controlled with just ‘spirit affinity’ and ‘magic’, intermediate spirits couldn’t be controlled without understanding the spirit’s ‘instincts’.

In that sense, a spirit user who contracted with an intermediate spirit could be considered a true spirit user.

“Ugh! Damn it! This is so frustrating!!! You have to show the absolute zone maximally without showing the panties!! Do you not know the golden ratio of 4:1:2.5? If you don’t know, study it!!”

Last Stage of the ‘High Spirit’

A stage that a long-lived intermediate spirit reaches when it miraculously develops a ‘self.’

At this stage, most ‘high spirits’ changed to resemble humans and no longer sought contractors based solely on ‘magic,’ but rather had their own ‘criteria,’ making it extremely difficult for any race other than elves blessed by the World Tree to contract with them.

“Yeah! Now you seem to understand!! That balance between revealing and hiding! It’s a precise outfit, yet it somehow looks suggestive!! This is it!! Now you’re getting the hang of it!”

Of course, if one had overwhelming talent as a spirit user, they could forcefully form a contract…

Even Ifrit had never seen anyone with talent on Elfrida’s level.

[I’ve existed for a very long time, but you’re the only one in the world who can handle spirits like this.]

“Of course, do you think this is easy? It’s incredibly hard! Only a super-genius high elf girl like me can do it.”

[….]

Although Ifrit didn’t want to admit it, Elfrida was right.

Just contracting with spirits of all elements required considerable talent, but handling all elemental spirits simultaneously was practically impossible.

The reason was simple.

‘Dry nature’ = Spirit of Fire.

‘Moist nature’ = Spirit of Water.

‘Light nature’ = Spirit of Wind.

‘Heavy nature’ = Spirit of Earth.

All spirits desired magic that matched their nature.

In other words, to handle the four elemental spirits simultaneously, one had to use a contradictory magic that was dry, moist, light, and heavy at the same time.

An impossible feat in history…

But Elfrida could do it.

“Now, stay under the armpit for a moment and then move over there. Wait a minute… sniff…! Okay. It smells good.”

[….]

The more Ifrit thought about it, the more he regretted that such immense talent was bestowed upon Elfrida.

Of course, Ifrit formed a contract with Elfrida because he believed her overwhelming talent and her un-elf-like personality could bring about the ‘Red Revolution’…

[I can’t understand. What does showing your armpits and smelling it have to do with seducing men?]

“Hmph! …You really don’t know anything despite your age? Listen, 50% of a woman’s charm is in her armpits.”

[Sigh… Fine, let’s say that’s true. What’s the other 50%?]

“Thighs. And it’s common sense that what comes from a beautiful girl’s armpits is not body odor but a ‘fragrant maiden scent’ full of pheromones. That’s the scent that drives men crazy.”

[…I still don’t understand.]

“Hah! This is why beings without bodies are hopeless! Well, even if I didn’t do all this, it would be strange if a super-genius high elf girl like me confessed and wasn’t accepted… But it’s like how a tiger gives it its all even when catching a rabbit!”

The more Ifrit listened, the more he felt his non-existent temples throb.

No wonder other spirit kings had given up on the revolution.

[Do as you please.]

“The fact is, I’d do whatever I want even without you saying that!”

When Ifrit thought watching any longer was meaningless and was about to leave.

A familiar man entered his detection range.

[Elfrida.]

“What now! I’m busy!”

[….]

For a moment, he considered keeping his mouth shut, but he knew if he didn’t tell her and Ian saw her like this, she’d whine for the next 100 years, so he held back.

[I think Ian is coming.]

“What? The meeting time is not… Wait, really? He’s actually coming? Did he miss me that much? No, wait, give me a moment. Whew…”

Elfrida, who was momentarily flustered by Ian’s much earlier arrival, took a deep breath and calmed herself like an elf who had lived a long time.

“Just do as we practiced. Don’t get nervous… Whew.”

Swish─

Elfrida closed her eyes and then opened them, her face now expressionless, with a slightly melancholic look in her eyes.

[….]

Indeed, if she kept her mouth shut, she looked just like the ‘beautiful girl’ she claimed to be.

[It would be great if you kept quiet like this half the time.]

“I’m going to make this the perfect day.”

[Do you think this will work? Please act sensibly.]

“I will become the perfect girl.”

As Elfrida dug her trap and waited, the moment Ian entered her range.

─Snap!

The lesser spirits of wind lifted her dress just to the ‘absolute zone’ while flying from Elfrida’s armpits, filled with the ‘fragrant maiden scent.’

[….]

This shouldn’t work.

No, it mustn’t work.

If it did, even Ifrit, who had joined forces with dragons to fight countless wars against demons before the descent of Goddess Elise, wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Whish-!

The moment the wind spirits filled with the ‘fragrant maiden scent’ brushed past Ian’s nose.

“…!!”

Ian’s eyes widened, and his expression towards Elfrida changed.

It was a look Ifrit knew well.

[…Did that really work?]

The expression of a man falling in love.