Even on Earth, countless people had dreamed of elves.
After all, elves had already been famous creatures long before monsters such as orcs appeared in reality.
Since orcs existed exactly as people had always imagined them, elves surely existed somewhere in the world in precisely the same form people expected.
A great many people believed that.
And I had been one of them.
‘So there really was a reason people said ignorance was bliss.’
A brief yet seemingly endless amount of time passed.
Only then did I barely recover from the shock and steal another glance at Elfinire’s body, which was packed with muscle.
At first, I had assumed that Elfinire was simply an unusually peculiar elf.
I had been wrong.
“Look at that. It is a human.”
“Oh my, it really is a human.”
MURMUR MURMUR.
Before I knew it, other elves had gathered around to stare at me.
Every last one of them, men and women alike, had bodies covered in muscle.
Only then did I finally understand why the elves were so muscular.
‘They could not avoid building muscle even if they tried.’
How could they not gain muscle when they ate meat every single day?
They ate nothing but meat for all three meals.
They never ate plants.
They never consumed carbohydrates.
How could anyone possibly put on fat while maintaining a diet like that?
‘More importantly, can anyone actually survive like that?’
I was not sure, but they had clearly survived until now, so it was probably fine.
I clicked my tongue softly and glanced at Elfinire, who stood beside me with her arms crossed and a sullen expression on her face.
“...Why are you following me?”
When we had left the house a little earlier, Elfinire had glared at me the instant I stepped through the door.
Since she was the one who had gone so far as to treat me, I had tried to leave her house quickly without arguing, only for her to follow directly behind me the moment I stepped outside.
Thanks to that, I had already endured this uncomfortable companionship for more than ten minutes.
Upon hearing my question, Elfinire snorted loudly before shouting at the top of her lungs.
“How could I simply leave an outsider—especially a human—alone when I have no idea what you might do in the village? Even if you defeated the Mutant, I still do not trust you. You will not be able to leave me behind, human.”
That reason suited her perfectly.
In any case, she was saying that she could not leave me alone, so there was nothing I could do about it.
I let out a small sigh and was about to continue our uncomfortable journey when—
“That is enough, Elfinire.”
“GACK?!”
Someone suddenly appeared and brought a right hand down hard upon the top of Elfinire’s head.
Elfinire went limp with a brief cry.
I held my breath as I stared at her sprawled across the ground, twitching weakly.
“My apologies, human. This child is extremely wary of outsiders, particularly humans.”
I turned my head with stiff, creaking movements.
An elderly elven woman with a wrinkled face stood there, covering her mouth as she chuckled leisurely.
My eyes trembled violently as I looked at her body.
Her face unquestionably belonged to an old woman.
Why, then, was her body in far better condition than Elfinire’s?
“My name is Elumia. Though I am hardly worthy of the title, I am merely one of Elsid’s elders.”
The elderly elf who introduced herself as Elumia bowed her head slightly toward me.
“I heard that you killed a Mutant corrupted by Demonic Energy.”
“Yes.”
“You have my sincerest gratitude. If that Mutant had spread its Demonic Energy to the other Demonic Beasts, we might have faced a terrible disaster.”
She thanked me in a genuinely sincere voice.
Then she turned a cold gaze toward Elfinire, who was staggering back to her feet.
“Elfinire. Are you aware of how you are treating our benefactor?”
“But this man is a human! You know what humans did!”
“I do. But is this man the same as those people?”
“......”
Elfinire clenched her fist tightly at Elumia’s words.
Her knuckles turned white as her fist trembled.
A moment later, she ground her teeth, released a surge of verdant energy, and vanished in a cloud of dust.
“Oh dear. She left.”
I had not been able to tell where Elfinire had gone.
Elumia, however, seemed to know.
She stared intently in a certain direction and shook her head.
“Under the circumstances, it appears that I will have to show you around Elsid myself. May I ask your name?”
“Ah. I am Han Mir.”
“I look forward to getting to know you during your stay in Elsid, Mir.”
Elumia smiled and extended her right hand toward me.
I stared at her outstretched hand.
“I heard that humans greeted each other this way. Was I mistaken?”
“No. We greet each other this way as well.”
I lightly took Elumia’s hand.
Her palm felt as coarse as stone beneath my fingers.
Once our greeting was finished, Elumia clasped her hands behind her back and turned around.
“Is there anywhere you would like to visit?”
“No, nowhere in particular.”
“Then I shall guide you as I see fit.”
With that, Elumia began walking forward.
I glanced around at our surroundings, which had somehow fallen completely silent, then hurried after her.
Elumia smiled at the sight of me and spoke with evident delight.
“It has been ten years since an outsider last visited Elsid. Perhaps that is why I find this so exciting.”
“Ten years?”
“Yes. Ten years ago, a group of humans lost their way in the Verdant Forest. They discovered Mother and began walking toward Elsid.”
Elumia stopped and turned her head to look somewhere.
I followed her gaze.
A colossal tree stood in the center of the village called Elsid, making its presence impossible to ignore.
“The wardens went out and brought the humans here. One of them was critically injured, so they remained in Elsid until that person recovered.”
Elves were the children of the World Tree.
They were a race that could not stray far from the World Tree.
For that reason, elves greatly favored places where the lingering presence of the World Tree remained, and they never left its vicinity.
They had lived exclusively within the Verdant Forest.
When they encountered human outsiders for the first time, Elsid became remarkably lively.
The five humans soon befriended the elves.
They stayed in the wardens’ home until they had fully recovered.
‘...Wait.’
The wardens’ home?
Something did not feel right.
I turned away from the World Tree and looked at Elumia.
She had been gazing at the World Tree, but at some point, she had lowered her head with a bitter expression.
“On the day the five humans departed, the wardens left to escort them, leaving behind a young elf who dreamed of becoming a warden herself. The wardens never returned.”
“......”
She was looking at me now.
I met Elumia’s green eyes.
“To that young elf, the wardens were family. But when they failed to return even after several days, the young elf left the village alone to search for them.”
“Do you mean...?”
“Yes. The young elf discovered her family brutally slain. However, the bodies of the five humans were nowhere to be found.”
Her family had left to escort the humans.
Yet her family was dead, while the humans who had departed with them were missing.
Many elves examined the time the humans had spent with them and the traces left upon the corpses and concluded that the humans had not been responsible. They believed Demonic Beasts had killed the wardens.
The child who had lost her family, however, believed that the humans had done it.
She had little choice but to believe it.
She had been far too young to endure such a loss without having someone to hate.
“That is why the child—why Elfinire—became unable to trust humans. She is kind by nature, so please do not despise her too much.”
“......”
“She was also the one who took responsibility for bringing you here as Elsid’s sole remaining warden.”
After saying that, Elumia smiled as though the bitter expression had never appeared on her face and pointed toward the World Tree.
“Since fate has brought you to Elsid, would you care to visit the World Tree?”
“...What? We can go there?”
“Of course. The Chieftain’s dwelling is located inside the World Tree. As an elder, I reside directly in front of it.”
Were elves not supposed to avoid harming plants?
Yet they lived inside a tree—and not just any tree, but the World Tree they called Mother?
Was that not harming it?
When I voiced my confusion, Elumia burst into laughter as though she had heard the most amusing story imaginable.
“Elves do not live solely on meat.”
“Really?”
“Of course. We merely prefer not to harm plants. We will eat them when necessary. That child is simply unusual.”
“I see...”
“Furthermore, Mother personally created the space where the Chieftain resides for the Chieftain’s sake. It does not harm her.”
Elumia wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and tilted her head toward the tree.
“Let us go. It would be best for you to greet the Chieftain.”
“All right.”
Only after coming out into the village did I realize that, aside from Elfinire, the other elves did not appear particularly wary of me.
They were still displayed as ‘???’, but I needed to earn their recognition regardless.
I had no desire to cause a major disturbance, so greeting the Chieftain was probably the right decision.
I nodded and followed Elumia toward the World Tree.
***
“It is enormous.”
It had looked enormous even from a distance.
Up close, the World Tree was so immense that the word overwhelming came naturally to mind.
Elumia lightly tapped my shoulder as I stared blankly up at the World Tree, then pointed toward a certain spot.
“It is over there.”
“...Is that a root?”
“Yes. It is a root. A dead root that Mother raised above the ground for the Chieftain.”
A dead root.
So that was why she had said it would not cause the World Tree any harm. It had already ceased functioning.
I approached the root, which only protruded slightly above the ground yet looked large enough to contain an entire subway car.
The moment we reached it, Elumia gestured for me to wait and called out.
“Chieftain. I have brought the human Elfinire found.”
“Oh, yes. Come inside!”
BANG!
The outer surface of the root burst open with an almost absurdly cheerful sound.
I gasped as fragments scattered in every direction.
An elderly man stood with one foot planted atop the shattered pieces of the root.
Our eyes met.
He looked at me standing beside Elumia, then slowly lifted the sunglasses he was wearing and shouted.
“So, you are the human my granddaughter brought here?”
Magnificent abdominal muscles were visible beneath the extravagant coat draped over his shoulders.
After briefly lifting his sunglasses, he snapped them back into place and grinned.
“I sincerely welcome you to Elsid, human!”
“......”
“Hmm? Why are you making that face? Is something not to your liking?”
“N-No.”
It was just...
‘I had merely realized that I still had one illusion left to shatter...’
I barely swallowed the words that had risen to the back of my throat and forced a strained smile at the Chieftain—
“Hmm?”
Wait.
Had I heard him incorrectly?
I scratched inside my ear and stared at the Chieftain.
In other words...
“Granddaughter?”
“It appears Elumia did not tell you. Genealogically speaking, Elfinire is my granddaughter.”
“...?”
You said the wardens were her family.
I hurriedly turned to look at Elumia.
She must have noticed my stare, but she deliberately looked elsewhere and began humming.
“What did you think of our future Chieftain? I would like an honest answer from an outsider’s perspective.”
Cold sweat began running down my back.
My mouth dried up like a desert as I stared at the Chieftain.
‘One wrong move and I am doomed.’
The man before me was the supreme authority among the elves.
If I made even the slightest mistake, I might cause the very disturbance I had hoped to avoid.
‘I am well and truly screwed.’
For some reason, this moment felt even more troubling and nerve-racking than fighting the Guardian of the Tutorial Tower.
I swallowed dryly and slowly opened my mouth as the Chieftain leaned expectantly out through the opening in the root.