Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Extra Chapter 8: Yunis’ Birthday

「Yunis’s birthday?」

「Yeah, they are next week.」

Aur glanced a Lilu, who happened to be in a bad mood for some reason.

「So, what about that?」

「Birthday party! Let’s make one for her!」

Aur continued to look at her as if she was some kind of alien life form.

「What are you talking about?」

He actually said that, the absolute madman!

「Birthday is only once a year. It’s a day that has to be celebrated!」

「Then why can’t they be celebrated more often if they are so important?」

Lilu sighted before she replied to that idiotic suggestion.

「Do you even know your own birthday date?」

「No, I forgot it.」

A vein popped on Lilu’s temple. She felt as if something inside her that wasn’t supposed to snap was about to snap.

「I do not remember my own birthday, but I don’t really mind it. I’m sure that Spina feels the same, although it’s a little different in her case.. what I’m trying to say is, is there even a point to remembering something like that?」

Lilu unconsciously clenched her hand into a fist.

「And besides.. no, let’s drop this subject. There’s no need to discuss pointless things.」

「............... As you wish, master. Stupid Aur.」

Lilu whispered that last part as she left Aur’s room, clearly dissatisfied.

「And that’s why we need to do it without Aur!」

Lilu’s fiery speech was met with a small applause by Mari and Mio. Ellen and Spina looked at her as if they didn’t understood a word she just said.

「So what is this about again?」

「Yunis’s birthday party! That! We’re! Going! To! Make!」

Lilu responded to Ellen’s question by putting emphasis on pretty much every word.

「And what exactly is this birthday that you speak of?」

「A day when you were born!」

Ellen twisted her neck in puzzlement.

「But wasn’t Yunis born over a decade ago?」

「Do I really?! Have to?! EXPLAIN FROM THERE?!」

Screaming externally (and internally) Lilu grabbed her head with both hands. It was foolish of her to expect that a forest dweller would know about such customs.

「Anyway, I want everyone to prepare a gift for Yunis and give it to her on the day of the party. Of course this has to remain a secret both from Yunis and Aur, are we clear?」

「Yeah!」

Mari raised both her hands into the air and shouted enthusiastically.

「Ara? Everyone, what’s the deal with such a crowd? What are you doing here?」

「Kya!」

Surprised, Lilu jumped in place and screamed in a cute way. Heeding her words. While trembling all over, Mari smiled and said:

「It’s a secret, big sister Yunis. It’s about your...」

Spina jumped into action and covered Mari’s mouth with her hand. It was swift reaction, judging by the fact that one more word might’ve jeopardize their entire plan. Good job, Spina!

「About my..?」

Ellen explained to Yunis who cocked her head to the side.

「We were just talking about how you should watch out for master if he decides to pay you a sudden visit during the night. If you let your guard down for even a second, he might slip into your bed unnoticed.」

「W-Well, it’s not like I wouldn’t mind him actually doing that..」

Saying that as she averted her eyes, Yunis suddenly smashed her hands together.

「Ah, that reminds me, I have some urgent business that I must attend to. Sorry, everyone, we’ll speak some other time.」

「Nice save, Ellen!」

Lilu made a thumbs up.

「A gift, huh?」

After they went their separate ways, Ellen muttered that to herself, walking together with Mio.

「We do not have that kind of custom at our forest, so I don’t know what kind of thing should I procure..」

「Well, if it were me, I’d like to get something that would make me happy.」

Mio sounded a bit worried. She did not had that many occasions to exchange gifts with other people, so she too was at a loss for what to do.

「Is it really that nice to get something from another person?」

But that suggestion only made Ellen feel more troubled. Although it was better than in the case of White Alvs, Black Alvs did not possess as strong desires for material things like humans and the other races did. They did had their wants of course, but they were a little different than normal ones. In any case, she decided to consult this matter with her best men: Aletto, Betty, Chloe and Delfina. They were her most trusted people and she knew they were going to give her good advice, but..

「Any ideas? Any at all?」

After a brief moment of silence, Betty spoke up. She was the most courageous of the four, and always was the first to break the ice.

「Lord Aur’s semen!」

She spoke bluntly.

Let me correct myself then. She was the most outrageous of the four.

「How about a weapon?」

As Betty’s proposal was vetoed unanimously, it was Aletto’s turn to share her idea next.

「Yunis is a hero who prides herself in her weaponry, so it would be logical that a splendid weapon would be good for her as a hero.」

「A weapon, you say?」

Ellen gave it some thought.

「But we have no skills as weaponsmiths, and a wooden sword is absolutely out of the question.」

「Then why not make her a bow?」

Ellen only shook her head.

「She can run faster than any arrow, so the bow is not necessary for her at all.」

「Wha-!?」

Aletto cried out in surprise. She knew that heroes possessed the powers beyond human limits, but she didn’t thought it was to such an extent.

「Then how about food?」

Chloe was next I line to think about something, and as expected, she proposed something practical.

「Yunis is very serious about her health, so maybe we could cook some of the Alv cuisine for her?」

「Hmm, that might not be a bad idea. Then Chloe, could I ask you to do it?」

「Eh?」

To Ellen’s order, she made a grave expression.

「Well, the thing is.. I always left the preparation of food and such to my subordinates, so I don’t know much about the art of cooking myself..」

「I see. So is there someone..?」

Ellen looked around, but for some bizarre reason her men refused to look her in the eyes.

「Delfina! Isn’t there something you can do?!」

Ellen seeked help from Delfina, the best bowman of the four. She looked like she was asleep the entire time, but when she opened her eyes she murmured quietly:

「There is something I can do.. I guess.」

And she send everyone gathered there in an uproar.

「Yu~~ni~~s!」

Mari run as fast as she could towards Yunis, and then she clung onto her leg.

「What’s wrong, Mari?」

Yunis kneeled to get on Mari’s level and rubbed her lovely cheeks with her hands.

「Yunis, is there something you want right now?」

「Don’t throw her a straight ball!」 Spina shouted in her mind as she observed the whole situation from around the corner.

「Hmm, something I want you say? Anything would suffice?」

「Yup!」

Since the whole point of the party was not to let Yunis know about it, Spina jumped out to save the day.

「Then, your smile is enough for me, Mari.」

Yunis laughed cheerfully.

「My.. smile?」

「Yeah. It’s the best thing for me.」

「... Got it!」

Mari nodded subtly.

She then got off of Yunis’s leg and run back to Spina to make her report with a sad expression.

「Sofii, I tried my best.」

She was saddened, but still tried to smile nonetheless.

「We’ll just have to let her have it, then. Give me your face, I’m sure I have a knife here somewhere.」

「Nononononononno I didn’t mean it like that, Spina!」

「Just who do you think I am? I can take a hint. Just give me a minute, okay?」

The two of them began to struggle over Mari.

「The die has been cast, Mari! Weren’t you the one who said that you will do your best?!」

And like that, Mari began to cry. Yunis hugged her and patted her head to calm her down.

「There there sweetie, no need to cry. It’s not your fault.」

「I.. it’s not?」

「Yup, you did nothing wrong. So Spina, care to tell me what was this all about?」

「Probably some kind of play that I do not, and do not care to, understand.」

Spina shrugged the entire thing off.

「Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s something that I have to help master with, so I’ll be on my way.」

Spina picked Mari up and quickly left the scene. She was just no good at interacting with Yunis. She’s always so bright, and sunny, and cheerful. To her, who considered herself to have a heart as black as midnight, she was like a worst possible nemesis.

And since she’s been helping Aur with his research so often, she didn’t have that many friends even among the denizens of the dungeon, and was not able to maintain a proper conversation for long. But.. why is she even worrying about such insignificant things in the first place? Mulling over such thoughts, Spina racked her brain as to what gift she should present to Yunis at the day of the party.

On the fateful day, Lilu had called Yunis to one of the chambers that was completely shrouded in darkness. She understood that energy needed to be saved, but why go so far as to extinguish all the lights? When she wanted to ask about that, lights suddenly went on and she was blinded for a second.

「「「「HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!」」」

And what she saw when her sight returned was a brightly decorated meeting room with tables covered with a lot of dishes and a banner with {Happy birthday to you, Yunis} written on it.

「Huh?」

She had difficulties catching up with this whole situation, so she blinked over and over again.

「Today’s your birthday, is it not?」

「We’ve prepared a lot of presents for you!」

「Sorry I kept quiet about all this.」

When she heard all of them saying such nice things, tears began to run down Yunis’ cheeks.

「Eh, Y-Yunis, what’s wrong? A-are you hurt?! You feeling all right?」

Seeing her reacting like that, Lilu was struck with a panic attack. Shedding tears, Yunis covered her face with her hands and shook her head.

「It’s.. it’s not like that.. I’m sorry, I.. I’m such a crybaby...」

She sounded happy, but her appearance was full of sadness. Lilu and the others were at a loss for words when someone placed his hand on Yunis’ head.

「Good grief. That’s why I told you to knock it off.」

It was the lord of the labyrinth, Aur.

「Yunis, raise your head.」

Aur fixed Yunis’s hair and turned to the rest of his underlings.

「What did I say? That there is no need to celebrate such a thing as birthday here.」

Crying her eyes out, Yunis continued after Aur.

「Be... Because of me, my mom.. she...!」

「You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to.」

Aur then patted Yunis’s head. Thanks to her words, Lilu realized. Yunis didn’t wanted to celebrate her birthday, because for her, it was the day of her mother’s death.

「But there is one thing you’re mistaken about.」

Aur used his hand to wipe the tears away from Yunis’ face.

「Birthday is not the day when you celebrate being born.」

Aur said in a deep, low voice that calmed the heart.

「It is a day when you celebrate that you live, and to share the joy of what you managed to accomplish with others.」

「To celebrate.. everything that I’ve done..」

「Exactly.」

Nodding deeply, Aur looked around at everyone who just stood there, dumbfounded.

「You don’t have to torment yourself over your mother. If you look carefully around you, you’ll find many things worth celebrating here.」

Yunis looked at Lilu and the others, and then back at Aur.

「Of course, you’re right.」

「Of course I am.」

Yunis smiled, wiping her tears with her sleeve. And when she smiled again, it was as if an intense weight was lifted off of everyone’s shoulders.

「Well, let’s eat before all the food gets cold.」

「Oh yeah, look what we made for you, Yunis. I hope you’ll like it!」

「I made it with Mio’s help.」

Spina muttered quietly as Lilu pushed Yunis unto her seat.

「Look, we have food for days here! Ale, white and dark bread, pumpkin and pork pie, and even some pasta too!」

「Pas..ta?」

「Goodness gracious, Yunis. It’s because you’re used to that high-society cuisine that you’re unbeknownst to the pleasures of simple food!」

Basically, Mio just chastised Yunis for eating only the food fit for the royalty. Next, she tried something that was apparently made by Spina. Although she herself did not remembered making that particular dish.

「Well? How is it?」

「Not bad I guess. It’s good, I like it a lot.」

「I-is that so?」

Spina turned away, trying to hide her embarrassment, but Lilu poked her sides with a wide grin on her face, saying things like 「What are you getting so shy about?」

「I’ve prepared a gift as well.」

Lilu put out a packet from under the table. Other girls also took out the boxes they have hidden.

「C-Can I open them?」

Yunis began to open the packages with delight, getting excited like a little girl. First one was a cloth bag wrapped with a lovely ribbon.

「Oh, that’s mine.」

Mio said, embarrassed.

「I hope you’ll like it, but..」

Inside was a wooden brush.

「Yunis, your hair are so fluffy that they must be a problem in the morning.」

「Thank you! It’s just what I needed to take care of them properly.」

Yunis affectionately stroked the red hair that made her ponytail and then she hugged the brush tightly.

「I’ll make sure to cherish it.」

Next bag was similar to the first one, but it was somewhat bigger and loosely wrapped. The inside seemed to be filled with tree branches and rocks.

「Oh, this one’s mine!」

Mari laughed happily while raising her hand.

「Straight tree branches and smooth, silky round stones!」

「Uwah, you’re right! So straight! So round!」

「Uehehehe, I know, right?」

Yunis squeezed Mari’s cheeks playfully in response.

Then she picked up a beautiful wooden box adorned with decorations made from colored glass. When she opened the lid, inside she found a single, poisonous mushroom. Its poison was so strong that it started to eat away at the box from inside.

「Ah, this one’s mine. This little baby is said to be the most poisonous mushroom in the entire forest. If you apply its poison on your blade, you’ll be able to cut through your enemies instantly, as it is said to eat away at meat and bone like they were paper.」

Yunis silently closed the lid, and then said with a worried smile:

「Yeah, I’ll treasure it.」

She decided to omit the fact that she was going to seal it away.

「Next is..」

Yunis tried to open a bronze glass bottle, but Spina stopped her.

「It’s a present from me. But since opening it here would cause quite a disaster, could you please open it in some other room?」

「I’m afraid to ask, but I have to: what’s in there?」

「Aphrodisiac slime.」

Spina Answered while smiling suspiciously. Now that she had a closer look, it looked like the contents of the bottle swirled and raged inside of it like they had a terrible bloodlust that could only be quenched by the blood of its enemies.

「Oh, and you don’t have to worry. I set it up so this time it stops working when you climax, so it’s relatively safe to use. Supposedly. Probably. Allegedly.」

「I-Is that so?」

Yunis remembered what happened last time when she used something like this, and her face became crimson red. Sure, it felt good, but she thought that she was going to die, even when she tried to stop it.. It’s decided, she’s going to seal this thing up together with the mushroom. Steeling her resolve, Yunis picked up the last box.

Inside she found a stick in a very, perhaps even too familiar, shape.

「Behold my ultimate creation! It reproduces Aur’s penis in a 1/1 scale, and it even comes with auto-lubrication and magical vibration function!」

「Lilu, Spina, don’t take this the wrong way, but.. are you perhaps trying to keep me away from Aur?」

「「No we are not.」」

They responded simultaneously.

「Geez, the two of you.」

Yunis began to laugh, and all the others followed suit.

「Thank you, everyone.」

Then Aur also took out a small box and handled it to her.

「Yunis, this is from me.」

「Well, I didn’t expect to get a present from you, Aur. What is it?」

It was a beautiful box made out of silver. But when Yunis opened the lid, there was nothing inside of it.

「My gift to you is that box itself. It bends the space inside of it so that much more things fit into it and whatever you put inside does not deteriorate. I hope you’ll use it to store everything that is important to you in there.」

「Yes, I will!」

Yunis nodded happily, and hugged Aur.

Later that night, when all the festivities were over.

「Sorry I didn’t tell you.」

Lilu and Aur were the only ones left in the meeting room, cleaning up after the party.

「Yunis’ mother died during childbirth.」

「Everything turned out fine in the end so I don’t blame you.」

「That may be so, but..」

Then a thought occurred to Lilu. The pasta dish that Mio did not remember making, everyone preparing fitting gifts for Yunis.. overall, things went a little bit too smoothly. Was it because..

「Aur, did you helped us again?」

Aur didn’t give her a straight answer, instead leaving her with an enigmatic 「Who knows?」