Chapter 49 – Origin of Elves (4)
‘This is where the elves live…!’
As Patrick entered, led by the elven warriors, he looked around with heightened tension.
It was more than understandable. The elf tribes had opted for complete isolationism long ago, guarding their lands with almost no interaction with the outside world.
The others, including Rina and Lila, felt similarly. Only the elves, for whom this was home, seemed unperturbed. In fact, among the elves surrounding them, only one remained entirely calm.
“It’s quite a large territory, isn’t it? Will it take longer?”
“Oh, no. We just need to walk a bit further.”
Irilia casually asked the elven warrior guiding them, and the one who introduced himself as Leon shook his head, his expression tense and beads of cold sweat appearing on his brow.
‘I don’t know how to behave around them.’
Leon was a veteran leading the warriors, but he didn’t know how to act around the High Elf, who felt like an ancient ancestor to him.
Contrary to their thoughts, Irilia didn’t insist on strict etiquette and instead chuckled, telling them to feel comfortable. However, that kind of interaction only placed an additional burden on the lower-ranking elves.
“–! —!!”
“Yeah, I’m starting to feel it too.”
Amidst this, Irilia nodded at the spirits’ commotion as they approached the elven village, sensing a bothersome energy growing stronger the closer they got.
The unusual phenomenon reported by the elves turned out to be the same erosion she had wanted to investigate and stop.
‘The spirits are screaming. I need to hurry.’
The spirits were particularly sensitive to the erosion that sought to destroy the world. As the only one who could communicate with them, she couldn’t ignore it.
“There it is.”
By that time, they had reached the entrance of the elven village. A mysterious land that Irilia had only heard rumors about, and she had barely ever heard any gossip regarding it.
‘Oh. I thought it would be a small settlement, but…’
She was amazed at what she saw. Having been led to believe it was a small village with huts through descriptions of the elves, the village was more like a small city with white stone walls and structures.
“It seems everyone is waiting, likely because they heard the news.”
Leon pointed at those standing in front of them. Including Elder Elnar, quite a few elves had come out to greet Irilia.
‘I will verify with my own eyes. I really can’t believe this. Why have they only just appeared now?’
Elnar gripped the staff he was holding as he spotted the approaching party in the distance. Although he was a clan leader and an elder, his curiosity about the High Elf matched that of the younger elves.
“Elder, this person is the one!”
“…?”
Finally face to face, Elnar froze for a moment, looking down at the ground. Only by looking down could he see the petite girl.
Her long, pointed ears were the same, but everything else, including hair and eye color, was different. She was the very High Elf they had been so eager to learn about.
“W-How…?”
Elnar finally managed to speak. While living long was one thing, he was more curious about how she had avoided aging. No matter how much of a High Elf she was, aging couldn’t be evaded.
That was a fact firmly recorded in history.
“Is that your biggest curiosity?”
Irilia smirked at the old man, who looked several times her age by appearance. The fact that he would first inquire about her appearance upon seeing a long-vanished ancestor from long ago piqued her interest.
“I just slept a bit longer.”
“Are you really a High Elf? One who existed even before the collapse of the First Tower?!”
“I can tell you anything about that era. Do you require more proof?”
As Elnar’s voice trembled, Irilia shrugged as if to say that more proof of her identity was unnecessary.
However, for the elves present, such proof held no real meaning. The bloodline imprinted in their instincts reacted strongly.
Along with the spirit arts believed to have vanished from this world long ago, an instinctual sense writhed that only those connected to the High Elves could feel.
It wasn’t simply because they were distant descendants who continued naturally. The High Elves, once humans who entered the tower and transformed their own kind, had ultimately created the elven race itself.
“No, you are indeed a High Elf.”
Elnar felt the flicker of a dormant instinct that hadn’t awakened for hundreds of years and was left with no choice but to acknowledge Irilia’s identity, which appeared that of a young girl.
Once Elder Elnar acknowledged it, the other elves also no longer hesitated and bowed their heads. They recognized Irilia as one of their kin and an elder.
“Just act casually. It’s strange to be so formal.”
Irilia waved her hand, feeling burdened by their behavior. Indeed, at first glance, Elder Elnar and Irilia resembled a grandfather and granddaughter.
Even if she was declared to be ten thousand years old, her actual age was nothing compared to that, and it felt terribly awkward to her.
“More than anything, these friends are my companions. Is it alright if I bring them inside?”
“Uh, no, those are…”
Elnar, who had been completely absorbed in Irilia, finally noticed those around her and widened his eyes.
There stood an awkward-looking beastman with twitching cat ears and two human men and women who were incredibly tense. Outsiders had suddenly appeared in the lands closely guarded by the elves.
“Ah, no!”
Elnar instinctively jumped back. It was an outcry born from the thought that the place he had protected for hundreds of years was now exposed to outsiders.
“Why not? I’m telling you they’re trusted people!”
“There are no trustworthy humans. This is a lesson that has been passed down since ancient times. But more importantly, how can someone who is our origin be wandering around with humans?!”
“Well, it’s because when I opened my eyes in this world again, these were the only ones around.”
Irilia scoffed at Elnar’s panic. At that moment, she viewed humans and elves as essentially the same, lacking any significant thought about her identity.
For elves, who had been passing down teachings to be wary of humans for thousands of years, this way of thinking was hard to accept.
“Of course, there must be bad ones. I heard roughly about the history between elves and humans, and I even fought against those bad ones while rescuing Arisa. But isn’t it a bit outrageous to view all human groups as one? You were the one who wanted to bring a human priest in the first place.”
“T-That…”
Elnar was tongue-tied at Irilia’s rebuttal. It was indeed they who decided to ask for help to resolve the unusual occurrences in the village, mulling over how to prevent greater damage.
‘Would saying anything further here be overstepping my bounds?’
Seeing the uneasy elves, Irilia suppressed her urge to speak.
She still felt that she was not in a position to lecture them.
Even if the elves revered her as a long-vanished ancestor, and even if there were parts of their actions that troubled her, Irilia had no intention of reshaping their current existence according to her foreign wishes.
For now, she only wanted to ensure her friends’ safety. After all, she believed they wouldn’t act in a way that could harm the elves.
“Don’t you trust my word? I never expected to be treated like this after seeing my kin again.”
She appropriately utilized her status. As she shook her head in apparent disappointment and turned away, all the elves’ gazes fell upon Elder Elnar.
“N-No! I will recognize them as guests, so please come back!”
Desperate, Elnar caught Irilia. He could not cast aside the opportunity to hear from the High Elf who had come to visit them.
Even if Irilia decided to leave, the sentiments of the younger elves who had learned to honor their elders would undoubtedly become tumultuous.
‘How will they react upon knowing that I, and all other High Elves, were once humans? That those who ascended the tower to save the world had changed everything?’
Irilia bitterly smiled as she looked at the elder elves, who seemed to be needing more time to adapt.
It was one of the shocking secrets she alone understood, but she saw no reason to divulge it and planned to keep it to herself forever.
