Chapter 288 : Rounded Ears
「Your ears are rounded! But… how?」(Mark)
「Hehe~ I used a magic tool to make my ears look rounded just like human ears.」(Ester)
Saying that, Ester brushed her hair back to show me her ears more clearly.
I could see green earrings in her earlobes. That must be the magic tool she was talking about.
「I see. But why did you decide to hide your pointy ears? 」(Mark)
「Umm… Actually, the people’s reaction when they saw me yesterday was bugging my mind, so I talked with Celine about it last night. It seems that people with pointy ears are rare outside the Schultria Village, so I thought it would be best to hide them so as not to cause trouble for you guys.」(Ester)
She looked cool when people and the children looked curiously at her ears yesterday, but she actually minded it.
「I got this magic tool from Tori-sensei as a farewell gift. I didn’t use it until now because I thought I would be fine, but… Anyway, I decided to keep using it until I got used to living in the outside world.」(Ester)
We will be moving to places with more and more people. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t worried about Ester.
「Ester, as I said last night, there are many elves and half-elves who use those magic tools to hide their pointy ears to avoid trouble, so you don’t need to worry about it.」(Celine)
Celine said that as she took a seat at the table in the center of the room.
If what she said was true, then I might have met elves or half-elves even before I went to Schultria without realizing it.
「But there are some elves and half-elves who don’t use this magic tool, right? I thought I would be able to confidently live in the outside world without using it just like those people, but…」(Ester)
Ester looked down. She seemed to be a little disappointed in herself.
When she felt down like that, her pointy ears would normally bend down.
I looked at her ear, but I all I could see was a stiff rounded human ear.
Noticing I was looking at her ear, Ester approached me, sat face-to-face with me on Nicola’s bed, and chuckled.
「Fufu. Mark, are you curious about my ears?」(Ester)
「Yeah, just a little.」(Mark)
「You know what? They didn’t actually change shape, you know? This magic tool only created an illusion to make my pointy ears look like rounded ears. My pointy ears are still there. Do you want to feel them?」(Ester)
「Eh? Can I touch them?」(Mark)
「Yeah, but… Please be gentle, okay?」(Ester)
I held hands with Ester many times. I even hugged her from behind once when she gave me a piggyback ride.
However, I’ve never touched her ears.
Honestly, I’ve wanted to touch them at least once, and now is the chance!
I stretched my hands forward and gently put my fingers on both of her ears.
「Hya!!」(Ester)
「I, I’m sorry! Do I hurt you?」(Mark)
「N, No… I was just… a bit surprised… You can continue.」(Ester)
「Alright…」(Mark)
Ester closed her eyes, and her face turned red somehow.
I kept massaging her fluffy, smooth ears. I could feel their pointy tips even though they looked rounded in my eyes.
Seems like they really are just illusions.
The earrings that were said to be the magic tools seemed to be made out of green magic stones. I wonder if they used Ester’s wind-attributed mana to create the illusions.
「Hee~ I see now. This is fascinating.」(Mark)
「Ahh… Umhh… Mmmhhh…」(Ester)
Ester was groaning as I kept massaging the tip of her ears.
It’s weird to feel something that can’t be seen with your fingers.
I tried to find the flow of mana and found that the mana was coming out of the earrings and covering Ester’s pointy ears.
If you are a magic expert, you might feel the flow of mana around her ears, but normal people won’t be able to feel it. They won’t be able to notice that these human ears are actually elven pointy ears.
The center of the ears feels like a mixture of chewy and fluffy. It feels weird yet so good in my fingers.
This is bad… I can’t stop my fingers….
「Aaahh… Mmhhh~…M, Mark… Mmmhh…」(Ester)
ーSquish, squish… Squish, squish…
「Mmhhh~! Aahhh~ Aaaahhh…~!」(Ester)
ーSquish, squish… Squish, squish…
「Ahh~! AaaAaahhh…~! Mark… Maaaark~!」(Ester)
「…Aa!! I, I’m sorry!」(Mark)
I let go of Ester’s ears as soon as I came to my senses.
Oh, no… I got too carried away…
Ester’s face was so red and it looked like steam was coming out of her face.
「Ester, are you okay?」(Mark)
「I, I’m okay… Don’t worry… Hahh… Hahh…」(Ester)
Ester replied to me while looking away.
She looked so embarrassed.
Ugh… I feel bad now…
『Gunununu!! I’m jealous! I’m soooo jealous!! I want to squish Ester-chan’s ears too!!』(Nicola)
While I was looking at Ester apologetically, Nicola was resentfully glaring at me from the side, and Celine was smiling bitterly while watching us from the table.
No matter how close you are to a girl, you shouldn’t squish her ears like that.
I have to reflect on what I’ve just done…
「A, Anyway, shall we go downstairs now?」(Mark)
「Fufu. Alright. Let’s go!」(Celine)
I didn’t want this awkward atmosphere to continue, so I decided to ask them to leave the room together.
When we went downstairs and got to the dining room, I saw Tio sitting at the counter with a large backpack next to her.
She was surrounded by her father, mother, Ruki, and some employees.
Seems that they gathered to say their goodbyes to Tio.
You can gain access to [Early Access] page and read up to ten chapters ahead by supporting me on [Patreon]
Thanks for the chapter! ❤️❤️❤️