The Origin of Elves (3)

“Elder! Arisa has returned!”

In the depths of a forest with steep mountains, where few others venture, a place usually quiet became quite lively for the first time in a long while.

Arisa, a warrior of the clan who had gone out on a mission, returned earlier than expected.

After Isilia rescued Arisa, she naturally headed straight back to the village without looking back. The elves, unaware of this fact, gathered one by one, curious about Arisa’s return.

“Arisa!”

Soon, Arisa returned to the village with the patrol guarding the village outskirts. Many elves sighed in relief, seeing that she didn’t appear to be hurt or injured, and subtly watched her reactions.

She was now the only one who knew about the latest events in the outside world. Although their clan’s rules dictated that they live completely separated from the outside world, even they had an innate curiosity.

“What happened, Arisa? Where’s the priest who can solve our problem?!”

“I couldn’t bring the human priest, but I came across even more amazing news, Elder.”

Amidst this, someone hurriedly approached her. It was Elnar, the clan’s elder and leader, who had grown a long white beard, showing signs of advanced aging.

It was Elder Elnar who had instructed Arisa, who volunteered herself, to go outside and bring back a human priest.

“What do you mean? What more amazing news?”

Elnar, and the other elves around, couldn’t understand Arisa’s words. Given the gloomy situation where several villagers had fallen victim to the erosion occurring near the village, Arisa seemed oddly excited.

Moreover, she hadn’t brought back the solution she had promised.

“When you hear about who I met, everyone will be surprised.”

Arisa tried to suppress her excitement and began to tell about her experiences. She explained everything: how she had to inevitably contact humans, how some of them betrayed her leading to the worst situation, and then who she met and how she was rescued.

Naturally, there were intense reactions to each word she spoke. However, the biggest reaction was when she mentioned being rescued by Isilia, a high elf.

“Impossible!”

Elnar, who had been listening to the story, shouted without realizing it.

It was a reaction born from knowing how implausible Arisa’s story was.

“High elves have long since disappeared without a trace, their lineage broken. There’s no way they could still exist in this world!”

“But it’s true. There was a real high elf, different from us, who has lived since ancient times.”

To Elnar, who strongly denied the idea that someone they thought of as a distant ancestor could be alive, Arisa showed the strand of hair she had received from Isilia.

Elnar was speechless at the sight of the silver hair, which contained a tiny amount of mana completely different from that of elves.

‘It can’t be. High elves are already…’

A being from such a distant past that even the records are now doubted for their credibility. Elnar’s eyes trembled unconsciously.

If a high elf who existed in that era really existed, even he, the oldest in the clan, would be no match for even their toenail.

* * *

“So I was ordered to bring you here. I understand that they find it hard to believe.”

“There’s no need to feel too burdened. After all, we came to investigate the erosion too.”

Arisa, whom we met at the meeting place, explained in detail how they reacted when she returned to the village and told them about me.

In fact, these were burdensome reactions that I hadn’t really wanted. I had come to help them, not to reign over them or disrupt the order and rules they had established.

“The humans accompanying you… they should be fine. We were planning to bring a human priest to the village anyway since we had no other solution.”

Arisa wasn’t particularly surprised to see my companions, whom she was probably meeting for the first time. Rather, she seemed to think it would be stranger if I were alone.

‘I guess we don’t need to worry about environmental issues?’

We started to enter deeper into the lush, dense forest following Arisa. This was clearly within the territory of the human kingdom, but it was an overwhelming forest that even they hadn’t been able to fully develop.

“—!”

At the same time, the spirits gaining strength from such natural power began to feel extremely happy. For spirits who enjoy even the forests near cities, this place must be literally like heaven.

“It’s a nice place.”

I smiled slightly. To me, who doesn’t particularly yearn for a nature-oriented lifestyle, it’s just a forest with nothing in it, but certainly, if one stayed here, the power of the spirits would grow rapidly even without doing anything.

“There! My kin!”

And then, Arisa pointed ahead. A group of elves armed with bows, just like her, were waiting for us.

They were clearly warriors protecting the village.

“Wait, Arisa, what are you doing? Those are outsiders. How could you bring them here?”

“T-these people are companions of the person I told you about!”

The problem started there. As I feared, they really did reject my companions, viewing them with suspicion.

Arisa, who had assured us there would be no problem, stuttered in confusion.

“Companions of that person?”

“Of that high elf? Why would such a being be with humans and beastkin?”

The elves murmured when the surprised Arisa mentioned my name. It seemed they were at least aware that I was coming.

“Arisa is right. These are my people. Is there a problem?”

Sensing this was the right moment, I revealed myself. I pushed aside Patrick’s waist, who was blocking me, stepped forward, and lowered my hood to show my face.

“…!”

The elf warriors stiffened and flinched when they saw me. Just like Arisa when she first saw me. Although the situation wasn’t as urgent as then, they seemed quite fascinated by me, who was of the same race as them but possessed a completely different power and appearance.

“Are… are you really the high elf from history?”

The one who seemed to be their leader, a young elf, mumbled in a dull voice that contrasted with his sharply handsome appearance.

It seemed they still couldn’t quite believe it. Well, even I think it would be hard to believe if a Stone Age person from ancient times appeared and claimed to be your ancestor.

“I actually asked Arisa about that. About how I should make you believe me at once.”

I smiled bitterly, recalling what I had discussed with Arisa on the way here.

About what to do if my kin, who could be called my distant descendants, didn’t readily believe me. And also about what attitude to take if I were recognized as a high elf, the origin of elves.

“Th-this is!”

“The ground is moving!”

I deliberately made a hand-flicking motion while using earth spirits to move the ground we were standing on. I tore up all the ground that my companions and I were standing on, making it move slowly towards them like a giant surfboard.

I could feel Laila and Arisa, and even Patrick and Lina who had experienced something like this before, flinching in surprise.

“Spirit magic is a power completely lost to current elves after the extinction of high elves. I guarantee that in this world now, I’m the only one who can properly communicate with spirits. Isn’t this proof enough?”

While they were too shocked to speak properly, I decided to properly imprint on them who I was after demonstrating the power of spirits.

I had no intention of reigning over them or pretending to be an adult or ancestor at this point, but as Arisa said, it seemed that having at least minimal authority would make things go faster.

“Impossible. Spirit magic is really…”

“I heard that respecting and revering elders is part of elf culture. Are you going to keep questioning my words? Or are the elves of this era just cowards hiding in the forest, afraid of a few humans?”

I crossed my arms and boldly demanded my rights from them, who were hesitating with eyes wide open as if they had seen an unbelievable miracle.

I might be called an old fogey, but from what I heard, they seemed to like this kind of thing.

“N-no, that’s not it!”

“Welcome, great high elf. We will guide you to the elder immediately.”

Fortunately, my bluff seemed to work, and the surprised elves all knelt on one knee, acknowledging me as their superior.

‘This is easier than I thought?’

Until now, I had been reluctant to act like a 10,000-year-old elf, but I grinned as I realized that in elf society, where age acts like a trump card, it was quite comfortable.