Raising the Elf’s Genius Slayer

---

Chapter

Rionne could hardly believe her ears. Did that cat just say “butler”? No way, that can’t be right.

It was definitely a misunderstanding, so she replayed the moment in her mind. The way Tsukiyo’s lips moved, each word that slipped out, it all came together to form the right conclusion at last.

“Right, ‘butler.’”

With a grin, Rionne smiled. From now on, Tsukiyo wasn’t the esteemed warrior of the Beastman Tribe anymore. She was just a frisky female cat daring to imply Enok could be her butler.

“Excuse me, oh Great Warrior? What did you just say?”

“Oh, you mean ‘Swordmaster’? How perfect! With you as the human kid’s teacher, this will be so much easier.”

Tsukiyo laughed elegantly, a sultry smile like a moonlit night.

“I will bestow upon your disciple the honor of becoming my butler. How about that? They’ll be a butler to Tsukiyo! Impressive, right?”

“Ah, ‘butler.’ What does a butler do?”

“Huh, you don’t know what a butler is?”

Sighing, Tsukiyo stuck a smoking pipe in her mouth. Feeling good, she sprinkled some catnip into the pipe and took a puff, blissfully lost in the clouds of happiness.

“Hmph….”

Rionne watched Tsukiyo’s face turn red and tremble with disdain.

“A butler, you see, is someone who attends to my needs, and when they’re free, they watch butterflies with me, open my tuna cans, and when it’s bedtime, they serve as my pillow… a noble position, indeed.”

“Ah… a pillow.”

“Well, I might even share my Churu with my butler. How about it? Sounds tempting, doesn’t it?”

With a calm gaze, Tsukiyo looked at Enok. But just for a moment. Her body floated off the ground.

“Huh…?”

Rionne gleefully grabbed Tsukiyo by the scruff of her neck, her smile fading into rage as she drew closer.

“You perverted kitty! What? You’re going to use Enok as a pillow? How shameless…!”

“Shameless!? What are you even saying, meow!”

“Who are you to eye someone with a chest so flat?!”

“W-Whaaat!?”

“If you’re going to get clingy with Enok, at least grow taller first!”

Tsukiyo’s mouth dropped open, processing the unthinkable insults hurled at her.

“H-How could you say something so harsh! It’s all because I’m big, you know, meow!”

“Do you think adding ‘meow’ at the end makes it cute!?”

“This is instinct! If you keep making me mad, I—meow!”

Realizing she’d slipped and squawked the “meow” out, Tsukiyo’s eyes gleamed with determination.

“Oh, I see now! Your true plan is to butt in on your disciple! Who’s the shameless one now! Ha!”

“W-What…!?”

Taking advantage of Rionne’s flustered state, Tsukiyo escaped her grasp and landed lightly on the ground. With a graceful motion, she straightened her wrinkled clothes and scoffed, incredulous.

“My goodness, how utterly disgraceful. I heard the Swordmaster is nearing nine hundred years old, and here you are, lusting after a kid who isn’t even twenty!”

“Who, who, who’s lusting?!”

“Isn’t it obvious? Even every passing kid in the neighborhood would agree if they saw your face!”

“I-I can’t believe this!”

“Hmph! Stop your nonsense and release my butler!”

“Who’s your butler!?”

With her face burning red, Rionne stood her ground. Suddenly, the winds in her domain came to a halt.

In the eerie silence, Tsukiyo bared her fangs.

“Are you challenging me?”

The ground shook as if an earthquake hit. Her aura swelled, distorting the space around them, as if she were fighting Enok for real.

The elves watching the duel blinked in confusion.

“Uh… what should we do?”

“Shouldn’t we support Lady Rionne?”

“Come on, why so serious? This is just a love spat!”

Thinking about it, they knew this type of scene wasn’t new. The elves agreed to quietly watch the spectacle unfold.

“Hey, Rionne.”

However, Enok, who was caught in the middle, felt a bit compelled to intervene? He gently tugged on Rionne’s sleeve, and her face lit up with a smile as she turned.

“Enok…!”

As expected! Enok always supports his sister! I knew I could count on him!

“Did you really get all riled up?”

That day, Rionne’s world crumbled.

*

Not even a quarrel would escalate to sword fights.

After all, both were adults who understood their own powers well enough. A miscalculation could lead to chaos, and that would be hard to clean up afterward.

Of course, the biggest reason was that it simply didn’t need to end in a blade drawing.

“Human kid, think carefully. If you become my butler, I’ll give you ten Churus a day.”

“Churu?”

“Oh…! You don’t know what that is? How can there be so many who don’t know about Churu…?”

Sighing, Tsukiyo pulled out Churus from her bag. Enok tilted his head at the tiny, fishy-smelling packaging.

“Is this really that delicious?”

“Absolutely! It’s the finest delicacy this world has ever seen.”

“Hmmm.”

As he suspiciously examined the Churu, Enok cautiously tore the package open. Sniffing it, a strong fishy odor hit his nose.

“Yuck….”

“Just eat it!”

But with that much anticipation, would it genuinely taste good? Cautiously, Enok placed it on his tongue.

“Bah…!”

“Ugh…?”

“It’s fishy. It’s awful.”

“N-No way, meow…!”

Could it possibly be spoiled!? Snatching the Churu from his hand, Tsukiyo bit into the opened end herself.

“Hmm…!”

Delicious…! The heavenly flavor danced on her tongue…!

How could this exquisite taste have gone unenjoyed all this time? She’s wasted half her life, missing out!

“…It’s truly unfortunate for you, butler.”

“……?”

The two stared at each other in disbelief, unable to relate to one another. And amidst it all, one elf was fed up.

“Hmph!”

She blatantly scoffed and glanced over.

“Ahem!”

Clearing her throat dramatically, she shot side-eyes at Rionne, who was struggling.

[How pitiful…]

Rionne’s eyes trembled. This was unacceptable. How could a person change so drastically in just a day? They had just declared love for her!

“Ugh….”

Rionne buried her face in her hands, a mournful sound escaping her. Spotting the frantic eyes between her fingers, the undine shook her head disapprovingly.

[What a foolish girl…]

Meanwhile, Enok, who had been finding amusement in Rionne’s reaction, felt a tug on his sleeve and looked over.

“Butler, now that I think of it, you don’t appear to be trained as a Swordmaster, yet you carry a sword?”

“Because Rionne gave it to me?”

Rionne’s ears perked up at that. Tsukiyo chuckled softly at the sight.

“Ha… how could you be so….”

Isn’t it something a nearly nine-hundred-year-old elf shouldn’t do?

“Butler, if you ever sense a threat to your chastity, feel free to come and stay at my place.”

Rionne’s body froze.

Enok sensed the time had come. If this continued, Rionne might genuinely sulk. That would be quite troublesome.

He quickened his pace, tightly gripping Rionne’s hand.

“Are you sulking?”

“N-No! I’m not sulking!”

“You were about to sulk, huh?”

“I’m not! I don’t sulk over things like this!”

Rambling incoherently, Rionne stumbled over her words. Enok chuckled, sensing something was off, prompting Tsukiyo to perk up her cat ears.

“Butler…?”

Even calling out didn’t elicit a response. Tsukiyo hurried after, tugging at his sleeve frantically.

“Ahem! I shall give you the exclusive honor of opening my tuna can!”

But Enok’s reaction was less than enthusiastic.

“No way. It’s time for you to head home.”

Tsukiyo halted in her tracks. Enok waved his hand casually.

“Take care.”

Staring blankly at him, Tsukiyo pouted in response, turning her back.

“Whatever.”

*

Rionne’s sulking stages could roughly be divided into five phases.

Micro-sulk, small sulk, moderate sulk, major sulk, and mega sulk.

Currently, Rionne was hovering around a moderate to small sulk, so careful handling was required. If she crossed into moderate sulking, it could last a day.

“Rionne.”

“What?”

Her reply was curt. Enok turned his eyes briefly before speaking up.

“I know you’re not really sulking.”

*Gag…! U-Um…?*

“Honestly, your reaction was just cute.”

“W-What…? Cute…?”

“Yup.”

Rionne stopped dead in her tracks, biting her lip to suppress a grin before finally turning away.

“W-Well… is that so?”

“Yup, Rionne is cute.”

“Heh, heh heh….”

[Oh wow…]

The undine cringed.

Well, it was still fine up to this point. Just barely manageable, after all.

A question lingered about whether a grown-up would even relish being called cute, but seriously, it was fine. She tried hard to push through.

“W-What? Am I cute, meow?”

[KYAAAAAA!!!!]

However, Rionne’s outrageous declaration sent the undine spiraling out of control! Did she even realize she was mimicking a cat? Had she completely lost her sanity?

But suddenly, a voice chimed in from above.

“How disgraceful, Swordmaster. Adding ‘meow’ at the end of your sentences is something only the kids in our Tribe should do.”

There hung Tsukiyo, upside-down from the ceiling.

[…What are you doing?]

Tsukiyo, who had just let out a contemptuous snicker, gazed at Enok with a face as red as the blood rushing to it.

“Butler, from now on, you may call me Choco if you wish.”