Listening to Anortha talk about elves made me realize that these elves are both somewhat similar to typical elves you find in fiction, and somewhat different. They do like nature quite a bit, as can be seen by the houses literally built in the living trees around me, but apparently, in large cities, like the elven capital city, they don’t all live in trees. According to Anortha, trees need too much space to live and can only grow so high, so in densely populated cities, trees are insufficient, so they built extra buildings, and apparently not all elves follow building codes and some of the trees died of lack of sunlight or nutritional issues, so in the end, there’s a lot more artificial buildings and a lot less trees.

Luckily, common gestures and body language are pretty much the same as humans, so I don’t have to worry about having a nod being interpreted as a rude gesture, or a stuck-up middle finger being interpreted as a polite greeting.

One of the most surprising things to me was the stereotype in fiction that all elves look beautiful. Well it turns out that is true, but only for adults or children who have mastered magic. The elves only look beautiful because when they get proficient enough at magic, all elves essentially modify their appearance to their liking, so of course they would all end up good looking. In fact, that is one of the key requirements that separates the children from the adults. It isn’t the only one though, as Anortha went through that procedure, but still is considered too young to be an adult. I was pretty shocked that elves only look good because all of them undergo what essentially is plastic surgery.

I asked Anortha what she originally looked like, and she said she didn’t change much, just made her face more symmetrical, as well as changed her hair color to blonde, since that was the color combination that elves considered beautiful. She refused to tell me what her original hair color was.

It was not surprising to me when the elf told me that elves can live hundreds of years, as she did tell me she was twenty-eight and she looked and acted like a child. That being said, it was hard for me to tell whether a year was the same as my old world, for they have 30 hour days, 292 days in a year, and 24 day months, with every third month being 25 days.

One day, in the middle of the family dinner, Anortha’s father left to have a talk with Anortha, leaving just me and her mother at the table.

Anortha’s mother remarked, “Your cooking isn’t bad. Definitely saves me times from having to make it myself.”

I nodded in response, and then realized the implication of her statement. I tried to find something to write on to respond, but she interrupted.

“We were really suspicious of how our daughter suddenly was willing to cook and that the result was pretty good. We were worried that someone in the village might be taking advantage of her, especially she is currently the only child here right now. So one day, I left work early to spy on Anortha, only to find out that it was you who did the cooking.”

Wait, when did this happen? And how come I never noticed anyone?

Her mother continued, “My daughter mentioned that her allowance is not enough to provide you everything, which was the whole point, since the plan was to make her realize that it is expensive to take care of someone who does nothing. We were then planning to have her let you go. However, you ended up being a lot more capable than expected, so instead we would like to formally hire you instead.”

She handed me a piece of paper and a pen, and asked, “Any questions?”

I had plenty of questions but decided to first write, “What are you expecting out of me, and what do I need to do?”

“Just do what you have been doing, and I’ll probably ask you to do odd chores, like cleaning the rest of the house, from time to time. That’s it.”

I wrote, “How much am I getting paid for this?”

“You’ll be continuing to receive free food and lodging as you already have, plus you’ll be paid 144 per month.”

“How much is that?”

“Don’t worry, that’s pretty standard pay for live-in maids.”

Is that how she views me now? As a live-in maid? Although I suppose that does sort of fit.

I wrote my next question: “How long is this job for?”

“Ideally, until Anortha goes and lives by herself. Although we plan to make it a non-binding contract, so you can leave whenever you want.”

“And you can fire me whenever you want to?”

“Yes.”

Oh lovely. Now I have to worry about making sure the parents like me too.

“What happens if I refuse the offer?”

The elf flashed me an evil smile and said, “Then I guess it was nice knowing you.”

Great. So I don’t even have a choice.

I wrote, “Then I will accept it.”

“Good,” she said, as she resumed eating.

I waited a bit for her to give me something to sign, but there was no sign of that, so I had to ask, “That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Oh, besides not telling my daughter about this deal or the fact that we know it is you that is cooking. Oh, and give me back the paper and pen. Anortha should be coming back anytime now.”

Are verbal agreements enough for elves or something?

It turns out that nothing really changed, except I steadily accumulated some golden coins that I honestly had no idea what to do with. I already had all I needed, and it wasn’t like there was much to buy anyways. At best there was the general store that I occasionally was sent out to buy groceries, but there was nothing that stood out. Either they were mundane objects, or magical tools I don’t know what they are for or wouldn’t be able to operate.

Actually, Anortha’s mother did ask me to clean the common areas, but when I was handed an oversized mop without any water, and when she learned I couldn’t use magic, she just never asked me again.

I still spent most of time playing with Anortha, and now that I can communicate more complicated rules, we can do more entertaining games like chess, or she can teach me how to play some more novel elven games, although apparently a lot of them require the use of magic.

I don’t know if it was because I started beating her in that elven strategy board game, or because she still is losing in chess, or she was actually bored of playing similar games and wanted something else, but one day, she offered to teach me magic.