Chapter 223

Elf (1)

After returning to her lair, Banir immediately prepared to settle down for a long sleep.

She could rest assured about the safety of Tyrano, the child she had raised like the apple of her eye.

Just as she curled herself into a ball and was about to close her eyes, someone suddenly came to mind.

The human who could be considered quite an alien presence even within the Forest of Four Seasons.

’Come to think of it, he is rather strange. He felt as though he came from another world.’

The way he spoke and many other things about him made him seem like someone who did not belong to this world.

She had been born near the end of the Age of Myth. Unlike the adults of her time, she did not know the details.

She only knew that there was something extraordinary about him.

’I should investigate him more thoroughly when I wake up.’

If she had her way, she would visit the regions where other dragons resided.

However, the Forest of Four Seasons was a labyrinth from which even dragons could not escape.

One wrong move could cause space itself to distort, leaving her unable to return forever.

Even the rules she had painstakingly discovered often became useless after only a few days.

’Escape, huh...’

Banir slowly closed her eyes.

That human continued searching for a chance to escape despite the probability approaching zero.

She had thought the same thing in the distant past, but humans truly were a fascinating race.

They worried about a ninety-percent probability while considering a ten-percent chance "worth a try."

Did that human share the same mentality? Or was it merely his will to survive?

Whatever the answer, he did not seem likely to die anytime soon—as long as he did not succumb to reckless bravado.

’I’m becoming even more curious about what things will be like when I wake up.’

Banir gradually closed her eyes. As her exhaustion caught up with her, her body grew increasingly languid.

She had also made thorough preparations in case an intruder appeared. All that remained was to sleep.

Banir’s consciousness slowly began to sink.

She looked forward to being greeted joyfully by her child when she awoke.

***

Was this what people meant when they said a chill ran down their spine?

I shuddered as I read the post Let’sGrowTrees had uploaded—a post brimming with madness.

Their way of thinking was a million light-years removed from that of an ordinary person. What made it even more dangerous was that some of what they said actually made sense.

Dragons had been known as evil beings since ancient times. They had, in fact, committed all sorts of atrocities during the Age of Myth.

Even Banir herself had admitted that much. The origins of the gods were questionable, but I would set that aside for now.

’Should I not have given them that core?’

If they were capable of giving me a World Tree sapling, then even if they were not the supreme ruler, there was a high probability that they were a senior official.

Extremists had always been prone to causing disasters beyond anyone’s imagination. Hitler was the most obvious example.

Yet ironically, extremism still persisted despite cases like Hitler.

In fact, the longer an era of peace continued, the stronger such tendencies tended to become.

’Still, the elves’ leader... Wait, no. They said their queen was crazy too, didn’t they?’

Unease slowly welled up inside me. Quite some time had passed since I handed over the core.

I had completely forgotten because of the incident in El Dorado, but I had heard that Alvenheim was unstable as well.

People said the saying "no news is good news" did not apply to Alvenheim.

There were even rumors that Alvenheim’s national power was growing stronger by the day.

’I don’t care what else they do, but I hope Alvenheim doesn’t mess with El Dorado.’

Asella, the Hero, had told me herself.

She said they would use every means available at the national level to rescue me.

Honestly, it was probably closer to rescuing Ludwig than rescuing me. I was just part of the package.

’For now, I’ll have to wait and see. And if a reasonable trade comes up, I’ll have no choice but to make it.’

The World Tree sapling was not the only thing Let’sGrowTrees had given me.

There were also gloves made from the cocoons of silkworms that had eaten World Tree leaves, as well as tobacco.

The gloves were extremely useful and even possessed an innate regenerative ability.

I had received three pairs, so Ludwig could use them as well.

It was unfortunate that they did not fit Kkobong.

’They make working so much easier.’

Thanks to them, I never got blisters on my palms.

As I mentioned earlier, they could regenerate on their own, making them extremely durable.

’As for the tobacco...’

I took out the World Tree tobacco. I still had plenty left.

I had not smoked much lately because nothing particularly stressful had happened. There were also the little ones to consider.

Well, people said it was beneficial to the body unlike ordinary tobacco, but I had no idea whether that was true.

Maybe Ludwig and I could each smoke one when we were genuinely exhausted in both body and mind.

"Oh, right. Mr. Ludwig."

I held out the World Tree tobacco for Ludwig to see.

"Do you happen to smoke? I mean these."

They were closer to cigars than cigarettes. Since Ludwig was a paladin, perhaps he avoided such things.

The moment Ludwig saw the World Tree tobacco, his eyes widened. He then looked back and forth between me and the tobacco.

His expression seemed to ask where I had obtained it. Judging by his reaction, he apparently knew what World Tree tobacco was.

[Hmm? Isn’t that tobacco made from World Tree leaves? Where did you get it?]

Cain, who had been playing with Wonmo and Tyrano, discreetly approached and asked where it had come from.

I had obtained it through the Gallery anyway, so I answered as if it were no big deal.

"I traded for it through the Gallery. I gave someone a guardian core before, and they gave me these and the gloves in return. Oh, and I also received a World Tree sapling."

[They gave you something like this so readily even though you aren’t a king? That makes no sense.]

Cain spoke as though he could not understand it.

To Cain, they must have been unimaginably rare items.

However, Cain came from the distant past. Things were different now.

"Things must have changed by now. Times have changed, after all."

[Have they? Alvenheim was always filled with unbearably stuffy people. I find it difficult to believe.]

"Did you dislike elves as well, Lord Cain?"

[There were plenty of good elves, but their race as a whole was simply frustrating. If someone had bestowed items like these on another person during my time, they would have been branded a traitor to their race. Even I only smoked World Tree tobacco once in my entire life.]

They really were a race of insufferable old fogies.

Even the noble Cain had only smoked World Tree tobacco once in his lifetime. That alone showed how twisted they had been.

Then would he also know about the relationship between the elves and dark elves? Curious, I asked him.

"Do you know that the elves and dark elves split apart? The dark elves live in the desert now."

[Surely these ’dark elves’ do not refer to elves with dark skin?]

"They do. Apparently, the two groups separated after a civil war."

[Good grief. They say old habits die hard, and it seems they finally went and caused a disaster.]

Cain clicked his tongue.

Judging by his reaction, similar tendencies must have existed even during his era.

As time passed, extremism had run rampant until their race finally split in two.

’Hearing all this makes me wonder if elves are inherently closer to being assholes.’

This was Cain, someone known to the world as the very embodiment of nobility.

His personality might be more like that of a friendly neighbor or uncle, but his noble status remained undeniable.

If even he criticized the elves for being frustrating, I could more or less imagine what they had been like.

’But rather than being stuffy, the elven queen seemed extremely progressive.’

The elven queen was one of the rulers frequently discussed on the Gallery.

She was a great figure who had opened Alvenheim to the world through the Enlightenment.

Furthermore, she had won the hearts of her people with her outstanding oratory.

’Her only flaw is that she seems slightly insane.’

Humanity had always been highly sensitive about its territory.

Yet Alvenheim currently encroached upon those borders at every opportunity, so naturally, no one had anything nice to say about them.

The problem was that the elves were far too powerful. Since ancient times, they had been a race capable of standing toe-to-toe with the demons.

If a race like that united and started running wild, other nations would find it difficult to protest no matter how much it pissed them off.

"Would you like one?"

"Thank you."

In any case, when I offered one to Ludwig, he gladly accepted it.

Perhaps tobacco was something he could never entirely give up, since before he was a paladin, he was also a soldier.

When I lit it for him with a match, Ludwig took a deep, satisfying drag.

"Whew..."

Smoke billowed from his mouth before scattering into the air.

They said smoking only looked cool when the person doing it was cool, and the atmosphere truly felt different when Ludwig smoked.

Although the golden apple had made him younger, his beard remained as thick as ever.

He looked exactly like a battle-hardened veteran enjoying a smoke.

’It suits him perfectly.’

I did not smoke one myself. I had never really been a smoker, and I was not particularly stressed.

[Could I perhaps have one as well?]

"How exactly is a statue supposed to smoke?"

In any case, our brief break ended, and we finished lunch as well.

After lunch, I began making concrete plans for our expedition.

First, I considered revisiting the areas I had already explored.

I might have been familiar with them, but Ludwig was not.

’Would it be better if we all traveled together?’

My first concern was deciding whom to bring.

It was particularly difficult to decide where Fast Sloth should be stationed.

It would be one thing if I did not need to depend on Fast Sloth, but I was still weak.

’Besides, if we all go together, food will become a problem...’

What if we all traveled together and ran out of food?

We already ate enormous amounts. If we became stranded on top of that, it would be disastrous.

In the end, splitting into groups was unavoidable. For now, we would revisit the regions I had already explored and decide afterward.

"Mister, pack your things."

"Understood."

"And you guys, stop playing. We’re leaving."

"Kkyuu!"

"Piii!"

Our first destination was the mandrake colony.

I might have to feed them to the little ones later as a tonic, and they were also essential ingredients for making elixirs.

It was about time I asked Starlight Princess to make more elixirs, so I planned to gather a few.

[Are you not taking me with you?]

"Stay here and pretend to be a statue."

[How disappointing.]

"What could you even do if I brought you along, Mr. Cain?"

[Cheer you on?]

"What are you, a totem?"

He sounded like some useless Magikarp talking about using Splash.

Maybe things would be different if he evolved later, but for now, Cain was an incredibly weak statue.

Still, he looked lonely, so I brought him with us anyway. He could be an actual totem for all I cared.

Afterward, our entire group traveled together until we reached the mandrake colony.

And then...

"Kkiyoooooot!"

"Ggueeeek!"

We witnessed two fully grown mandrakes fighting over territory.

Those were not merely strange cries. They were genuinely grappling and brawling with each other.

[Are those really mandrakes?]

"...Yes."

[But they’re throwing kicks. Even I have never seen anything like that.]

"Neither have I."

Were those things really safe to eat?

***

While Grylls began exploring the surrounding regions in earnest, the crisis in El Dorado gradually settled down, bringing international affairs into a period of relative stability.

Even so, unease continued to linger.

If one had to name the most unsettling nation of all, it would be Alvenheim—the nation of the elves and the land where the World Tree stood.

It was not as though a civil war or a comparable crisis had erupted in Alvenheim, as it had in El Dorado.

Its movements were simply deeply ominous. What happened outside its borders was more concerning than anything occurring within them.

Other nations were watching closely, but Alvenheim had remained so quiet that they had gained nothing of substance.

Even when several countries occasionally provoked it, Alvenheim merely brushed them aside with composure.

"So, have all the experiments been completed?"

"Yes! That is correct! The energy source modeled after the core is stable, and the prototype’s movements are proceeding exactly as intended."

"Good. Very good."

But as someone had once said, they had only knelt to gather momentum for the leap ahead.

Upon hearing her secretary’s report, Alvenheim’s ruler—the elven queen—raised her voice.

"Prepare an address to the nation for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, Your Majesty?"

"Yes. All preparations are complete. It is time to announce the beginning of our awakening."

Elijah, Queen of Alvenheim, proclaimed:

"Make Alvenheim great again!"

The sleeping giant had awakened.