'Right now, I'm heading to the Shrine of the Oracle'

Rey's calm demeanor did no justice to the way he felt at the moment. He had only spent about two days in the Land of the Elves, yet he was already as close to accomplishing his goals as he possibly could.

He tried his hardest not to be optimistic, but he couldn't help but be excited.

'If all this works out, I really have to reward Ater for showing me this way.' He smiled to himself.

Before this, Rey had no idea what to do. He suspected that he would have to wait months, if not years, before arriving at a proper answer.

~What about me, Master? You won't reward me?~

'Of course, I will! You really did a good job in our short time here!' Rey smiled some more, rendering genuine praise to the Symbiote Slime inside him.

~Hehehe hehehehe!~

'So far, so good. Thanks to my interference, Gratiana isn't going to be punished. She and the other Young Ones returned to the shore after the announcement.' No one was harmed in the process of him arriving at his goal, and he felt oddly proud of that fact.

'And' He cast his gaze to the Esteemed Elder who walked closest to him, and it was none other than Aurora El Slavarai.

'... It seems she doesn't remember me at all from the KariBlanc deal fiasco. That's good, I suppose.'

Rey didn't think it would make much of a difference if she remembered him or not, considering how much of a hold he had on all the Elves at this point, but he was still glad that he was operating on a blank slate for the most part.

'I'm also curious about something.' Since he was in a good mood, Rey decided to indulge himself by asking a question he hadn't seen anyone address yet.

"I've observed everyone in your Community, and yet I see no Males." He turned towards Aurora, who instantly gave him all the attention he desired. "Do you have no Males among you?"

His question only remained in the air for a few seconds before a reply came to him.

"Indeed. Only females exist among we Elves. In fact, we had no idea of the existence of Males until after our first contact with other Races."

Rey was stunned by the answer. It only made him more curious, hence prompting him to ask a follow-up question that anyone in his position would have asked.

"How do you mate, then?"

"Mate?"

Rey swallowed hard as he sought a much better word to use to better structure his question.

"Reproducing, I mean. How do you reproduce if there are only female Elves?" He finally blurted out the question and awkwardly waited for an answer.

When he first arrived and saw no Male Elves, a part of him suspected that the Males were perhaps being held hostage in some sort of breeding facility to donate their seeds to the females for reproduction.

But Aurora just disproved that.

'The Elves can't lie to me, so I'm curious about how they are conceived. Or is their biology fundamentally different from ours?'

Rey was correct. The Elven biology was indeed different from that of other racesbut not in the way he would have imagined.

"Once a year, during the time of 'Iranatuf', a certain percentage of us grow certain genitalia. The same genitalia that are found in Males of other races" As Aurora said this, her face grew pink, almost as if she understood the nature of the topic she was discussing with him.

The fact that they were discussing this in publicwith Rey being an outsidermade it even more awkward.

Still, she spilled the beans.

"Those who develop those parts have the duty to insert and provide their seeds and after that day well, it's like this"

"Don't worry about it, haha! I think I get it already" Rey promptly replied, raising a hand as he laughed to hide how flustered he was.

'Oh damn! This is more surprising than what I expected' His suspicion of the breeding farm was even less shocking than what he was listening to. What Aurora was telling himthe secrets of Elven birthwas practically something known as 'dickgirls' on Earth.

'I can't believe they exist in this world and they're Elves?!' He swallowed hard, deciding to bury the information in his mind.

But, right as that thought was about to sink into the abyss, something popped into his mind.

'D-does that mean that Esme also?!' Despite trying very hard not to imagine it, a cursed image with Esme having a slight bulge between her legs entered his mind. He instantly shook his head, nearly in tears as to why he would have such a thought.

Rey reckoned the thought would haunt him forever if he didn't get the answers he needed.

"D-do Half Elves also experience this?" He croaked out.

"What? No way! Only Pure Elves are capable of such!" Aurora instantly responded, almost as if she was slightly offended about Rey's insinuation.

"It is a gift of Nature that only we enjoyone of the many reasons we are special."

Rey nodded as she spoke about their 'condition' with such pride. He didn't know if he was the one being a jerk due to his own understanding of girls and reality, so he decided not to think too much of it.

'I think some people are into that stuff too, so' He shuddered slightly while maintaining his casual smile, hoping to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

"Noted."

Thankfully, his trick worked, and Aurora returned her attention to the shrine, which was already in sight.

'I guess I now have another reason to be happy that Esme is only half Elf.' He smiled, finally deciding to throw all of the cursed information he just recieved into the farthest recesses of his brain.

That way, he wouldn't look at the Elves in a different way.

'I wonder what Esme is up to right now. She wanted to sit this one out, so she should still be back in our lodge''

Thankfully, when he thought about her this time, there was no bulge to be seen.