episode_0018

Having accepted the special quest(?), I

immediately roamed around the Magic Tower with Merina.

“Here, Merina. This is a crystal ball. Do elves have crystal balls too?”

“Hmm. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.”

“Well, you guys don’t communicate with the outside much anyway.”

“That’s right. Is this a communication device, then?”

“Right. If you channel magic into it like this….”

As I channeled a little magic, the crystal ball lit up and the screen turned on.

-Zhiing.

“Wow…!”

“How is it? Amazing, right?”

“The light is so pretty!”

“Hehe. Shall we look at other things?”

“Yes!”

“Okay. This is a magic power accelerator, that’s a flask exclusively for high-concentration magic solution, and that is….”

After walking around for a while, showing her this and that,

-Grumble.

“Ah.”

A cute sound came from Merina’s little stomach.

“I guess it’s time for lunch.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry.”

“What is there to be sorry about for being hungry?”

I smiled kindly and soothed her, who didn’t know what to do.

“Then shall we go out of the Magic Tower to eat lunch?”

I suggested eating out, thinking of showing her the scenery outside the Magic Tower.

But Merina’s reaction was unusual.

“Outside? Ah….”

“Huh?”

A reaction that anyone could see was reluctant.

‘She doesn’t want to go out to eat?’

Feeling a little uneasy, I decided to ask.

“Merina. Do you not like eating out very much?”

“Ah, it’s not that….”

Hmm.

‘Was I a little too sensitive?’

But no matter how I looked at it, she definitely seemed reluctant to go out.

‘In times like these, it’s best to be direct.’

I decided to just ask rather than second-guess.

“Merina. Is there a reason why you don’t want to go out?”

“Yes? Ah….”

“You don’t have to say if it’s difficult to talk about.”

I smiled as much as possible to ease her tension, and

“That’s, actually….”

My sincerity must have gotten through to her,

Merina also told me the truth.

“When we go outside, there are humans, right…?”

“Um, is there?”

“Yes… so….”

Um?

What is she talking about?

“So, you don’t want to meet people outside, is that it?”

“Yes….”

Hmm.

She doesn’t want to meet people, huh.

Wait a minute.

I felt a sense of incongruity and mulled over her answer.

-When we go outside, there are humans.

‘Humans?’

Feeling a warning light turn on because of her word choice,

I asked her as carefully as possible.

“Um, Merina.”

“Yes?”

“I’m only asking this because I’m really, really wondering.”

“Yes! Ask me anything!”

“Um, by any chance. Does Merina not like humans very much?”

A very bizarre question at first glance.

And as always, my ominous premonition was right on the mark.

“Yes.”

“Aha.”

So Merina is,

‘A spoiled elf kid who is a racist.’

As I was burning my hope circuits, wondering if she just disliked the people outside, Merina even confirmed it.

“Humans are extremely inferior, aren’t they? They smell weird every time they breathe… so I don’t really want to encounter them.”

‘Cough.’

I became mentally confused by the word choice and level of remarks that were hard to believe came from a 10-year-old (human standard) girl.

Looking back on today, there were definitely some things that stood out.

She kept leading me to places with few people,

Or hiding behind me whenever she had to face other people.

‘I just thought she was shy.’

To think that she just purely hated humans.

It was very shocking.

But the question still remained.

“Then Merina. You don’t even want to go near humans?”

“Yes. I don’t want to get close to them as much as possible.”

“Then do you know that humans are here on a field trip to the World Tree?”

At my question, her expression rotted.

“Of course. That’s why I came here.”

“Aha.”

I was starting to get a sense of things.

In my common sense, I have never heard of an elf being a racist, so Merina is probably not a typical elf.

After talking to Merina a little more, she easily revealed the reasons why she hates humans.

They smell.

They are ugly.

They are stupid.

When all of these are combined, they are ultimately inferior.

‘Someone with an impressive mustache comes to mind.’

She seemed to have awakened to unusual ideas at a young age.

Then how would the father who has a daughter with dangerous ideas feel?

‘It must be a headache.’

So the Chieftain decided.

To take this opportunity to fix his daughter’s ideology(?).

‘So he accepted the academy’s request for a field trip and sent his daughter into the midst of humans to fix her ideology.’

I decided to ask the most important thing I was curious about now.

“Then Merina, why didn’t you say anything when you met the teacher earlier?”

“Are you talking about Rachel?”

She doesn’t even call her teacher.

Well, from her point of view, she’s just here for a temporary visit.

‘I guess I should be grateful that she even uses honorifics.’

“Even if she is a human, I have determined that it is reasonable to treat someone who has risen to the position of Vice Tower Master of such a huge Magic Tower with the respect they deserve.”

The young one speaks eloquently.

Then now for the real main question.

“Then what about me?”

“Yes?”

“I’m just an ordinary human with no title?”

And at that moment.

Merina showed the biggest reaction she had shown today.

“Wh- wh- what did you say?”

What’s wrong.

Why is she being like this.

Merina began to stutter as if something was broken.

I was also embarrassed.

“Why, why is that?”

“U- u- sister. You’re human?”

“Huh. Of course.”

“Th- th- that can’t be…!!!”

What’s wrong.

‘She didn’t know I was human?’

This is a completely unexpected situation.

It seems that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t expect it.

“N- n- no way!! How can sister, no. Serena be human…!”

“No, then what did you think I was?”

“Th, that’s…!”

The answer that followed was absurd.

“…an angel race?”

“…no way!”

I couldn’t help but shout at her ridiculous words.

But Merina was spitting out words with an expression that she had been genuinely betrayed.

“B, b, but. Someone as beautiful as Serena, who smells good, and above all, is so loved by magic, can’t be human!”

“…oh, my head.”

By this point, my head was throbbing.

‘I wasn’t planning on just getting the World Tree’s Tears for free.’

From the start, keeping Merina by my side for a month was a super super super hard quest.

‘After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in the world.’

I missed my mom for the first time in a while.

* * *

After my identity reveal(?),

Serena and Merina became a strange duo.

The title for me was demoted(?) from ‘Sister’ to ‘Serena’.

They walk together, but maintain a distance of about 50cm.

And most of all…

“Okay, Merina. Shall we go over there now?”

When I turn to her like this,

-H dodak.

She quickly gets out of my sight, hides, and answers.

“S, sure.”

When I asked why she was doing this,

Her answer was quite something.

-I, I can’t accept that Serena is human!!

‘If you don’t accept it, will I become an angel?’

To be honest, I wanted to just throw her anywhere, but I couldn’t.

‘I’m putting up with it because of the World Tree’s Tears.’

In order to grow to the next level, the World Tree’s Tears was essential.

With the World Tree’s Tears, I could fix most of the problems I’m facing now.

‘Even though I look like this, I did a lot of educational volunteering in high school.’

When I met children while volunteering in education, I met many extraordinary children.

Children whose common sense was only slightly better than that of a beast.

Children who acted as if their whole body would become inflamed if they listened to others.

Of course, some of them were believers in wrong ideas injected from the internet.

But all of these children?

I rehabilitated them all.

Merina was rather moderate.

She only had wrong ideas.

I could communicate with her,

And she followed me quite a bit.

‘I will definitely rehabilitate her, Chieftain.’

Please prepare the World Tree’s Tears well.

* * *

After a stormy day,

The next morning dawned.

As I opened the classroom door and entered today,

-Slam.

Merina, startled, turned her body, showing her back to me.

-Swish.

This kid. She’s still like this.

‘But it can’t be like this from today.’

I boldly went and sat next to Merina.

-Thud.

“Huh…?”

“Hello, Merina. Good morning.”

What is the best way to fix wrong ideas?

In the end, it was the direct approach.

It was the same with all the children I volunteered to educate.

If I continued to talk about the wrong parts of their ideas logically and meticulously, they would eventually be rehabilitated, even if there was a difference in time.

Then what are the wrong parts of Merina’s ideology?

‘Merina said she hates humans because they smell, are ugly, and are stupid.’

Then I should constantly imprint the existence of my perfect counterexample.

You hate humans.

I’m human.

But I don’t smell?

And I’m not ugly?

On top of that, I’m smarter than you?

My plan was to constantly emphasize the superior aspects of me, or rather, of humans in this way.

This is a method that only I among humans can do.

‘If this continues steadily, they will start to doubt their own ideas.’

-Not all humans are inferior.

That was my ultimate goal.

I smiled automatically at the perfect plan that I had.

I didn’t bother to hide my smile and narrowed the distance with Merina even further.

“Hehe. Merina. Don’t worry. This sister will fix your distorted ideology.”

“Hieeek.”

-Shiver Shiver

Merina, feeling some kind of fear, trembled and made a strange sound.

“E, eek! Get, get away from me!”

Feeling threatened,

Merina even tried to push me away with magic.

-Zhiing.

“Oh, what?”

I lightly canceled her magic and said kindly.

“Uh-uh. Magic is forbidden when you’re with me~.”

“N, no way…?”

Fortunately, my magical talent was several levels above Merina’s, so this was possible.

In addition, since the amount of time spent on magic was different, it was only natural that there was this much of a gap.

I said to her in a confident voice.

“How is it? Human magic is useful, right?”

“That can’t be. This doesn’t make sense!”

“It does!”

That’s how the ‘Elf Rehabilitation Project’… no.

The ‘Spoiled Elf Rehabilitation Project’ was launched.