Ch.122Volume 11 (3)

After being appointed as a recommended student by Professor Elena, my personal time became quite abundant. Without needing to obsess over grades and only attending lectures I wanted, I could invest a lot of time in my writing.

Of course, if Professor Elena called, I had to rush to her laboratory immediately. Since she appointed me as her recommended student, I was essentially her assistant. Though being a fresh newcomer, she didn’t push me around like she did with Cindy.

Because of this, when I wanted a break from writing, I would visit Professor Elena’s laboratory. I usually met Marie and Cecilly after all their classes were over, so it didn’t matter if I stayed until then.

Skipping over the routine of teaching Cindy writing techniques in the lab, Professor Elena would ask for my opinions or I would ask her questions, leading to discussions between us.

Lastly, contrary to my appearance, I boasted exceptional knowledge and unique perspectives, so she showed signs of wanting to nurture me into a graduate student by giving me various papers and books.

From the beginning, though we called it discussion, it was unreasonable to compete with Elena who had accumulated knowledge for hundreds of years, so she mainly focused on my unique perspectives.

“But while I understand being a recommended student, what exactly do other students do when they become third-years? The numbers seem too small no matter how I look at it.”

“It’s simple. Like you, they become assistants and receive knowledge from professors. Professors also find it more efficient to focus on individuals rather than dealing with many students at once.”

“So they receive lectures from professors in the hall?”

“Yes. If you want, I can ask them. All the professors here are my disciples, so they’ll gladly accept.”

“…That’s okay.”

I was speechless at Elena’s answer that all the history hall professors were her disciples. Well, it makes sense since she’s an elf, a representative of the long-lived races.

Afterwards, while looking through books to gain more excellent knowledge, a curious thought suddenly occurred to me. It was a question that naturally arose since Elena was also an elf.

“Professor, excuse me, but how old did you say you were?”

“Hmm? I haven’t even lived 300 years yet. Why do you ask?”

Elena looked up from her book at my question. Her green eyes behind round glasses expressed curiosity.

I thought about the time when the racial war broke out and voiced what I was wondering about.

“I heard from Cindy that there’s serious conflict between elves who fought in the racial war and those who didn’t. Is that really the case?”

“Well…”

After hearing my question, she leaned back in her chair and began to carefully organize her thoughts.

Gazing at the ceiling for a while, Elena eventually began to give her answer piece by piece.

“I’d say it’s half right and half wrong. The racial war was the catalyst for elves to break away from racial supremacy. But as you know, deeply ingrained ways of thinking are very difficult to change. Especially for elves, who have lived for so long, this trait is prominent. Moreover, the racial war was more about elves self-destructing rather than human alliances doing well, which makes it worse.”

“So you’re saying there are racial supremacists even among the new generation?”

“That’s true, but they’re essentially treated as uneducated folk among the new generation. Conversely, the old generation despises philanthropists. Simply put, it’s an ideological battle.”

“Social phenomena are as complex as among humans.”

“The saying ‘people are the same everywhere’ didn’t come from nowhere, did it? Generational conflicts arise not just among elves but across all races.”

There’s a very famous saying(?) from my previous life.

Kids these days have no manners.

This famous phrase is recorded not only in the 21st century but even in the distant BC era. Ironically, however, those ill-mannered kids grow up and transform the world.

“But why do you ask? Generational conflicts are common among you humans too.”

“That’s true, but unlike humans, elves seem particularly resistant to unification. Professor, you know about the incident where Warchief Icare was arrested during the war, right?”

“Of course I know. Icare was one of the few elves who understood human battle tactics well, but the Senate arrested him for violating laws. Even as an elf myself, I couldn’t understand it.”

As I’ve mentioned a few times before, elves were incomprehensibly poor at unification during the racial war.

On the surface, they appeared to fight with one heart and mind against the human alliance, but that was merely superficial, as evidenced by Warchief Icare’s arrest.

Moreover, Arwen informed me that when the Dark Elves tried to send support, the Senate flatly refused. They rejected help from Dark Elves even while losing to the human alliance, simply because they were considered outcasts.

In contrast, humans did whatever it took to secure victory. Sending assassins was basic, and they cut off supply routes despite the many sacrifices involved.

However, due to the political complexities, the aftermath of the racial war was devastating. The most representative example is the ongoing conflict between the Empire of Minerva and the Kingdom of Teres.

After listening to Elena’s explanation, I pondered deeply and carefully sought her opinion.

“Do you truly believe it’s impossible for elves to unite as one? It seems like they would argue about laws and such even during large-scale wars like the racial war.”

“The Queen wouldn’t, but the Senate would probably speak up. Even a tiger without teeth still has legs. As you wrote on your test paper, history tends to repeat itself.”

“So it’s very difficult.”

“Yes. Above all, the new generation isn’t much different from the old. Whether it’s a racial characteristic or not, elves tend to firmly believe in what they think is right. That’s why exceptional figures like Warchief Icare stood out.”

It seemed I should keep my novels as fiction. If Elena, with her objective perspective, spoke like this, then elves as a race must be terribly inflexible.

Arwen, like a new generation elf, implements various groundbreaking policies, but occasionally shows inflexible aspects. The same goes for Cyris, who currently acts as my errand boy.

The last time I summoned him, he arrived in the middle of bathing, which was quite startling. I remember immediately sending him back.

“Then reconciliation between elves and dark elves would be even more impossible, right?”

“I can’t give a definitive answer on that. I know very little about what kind of people dark elves are or what their goals might be. I know the history well, but in over 200 years of living, I don’t have a single acquaintance among them. It’s one of my main research topics currently.”

In reality, dark elves are one of the mysterious races with very little known about them. They occasionally appear in the world, attracting attention, but no one knows their purpose.

Of course, I’m different from others because I have Cyris, a very useful errand boy. They live tribal lives deep in forests or mountains, undergo harsh training from childhood, and grow into proper warriors.

The occasional appearances in the world are for gathering information and earning money to buy necessary items. I heard that each dark elf warrior is worth more than a hundred men, so they only need to do mercenary work briefly.

Cyris explained that they continue this uncomfortable lifestyle while waiting for Alfheim to accept them back.

‘They can’t help but have strong patriotism.’

Even though dark elves are more flexible and individualistic than other elves, they are still elves. They fundamentally have the chosen people consciousness of being selected by God, and it’s quite strong.

And Alfheim is the first civilization established by elves following God’s will, a land flowing with milk and honey. Almost everything that can be called “first” is in Alfheim, so their patriotism is natural.

‘But what would their reaction be if Alfheim were destroyed?’

I looked up at the ceiling and thought about the development of volume 12. The main content of volume 12 is Mary confessing to Xenon, but towards the end, it concludes with demons plotting to ambush Alfheim.

The full-scale invasion of Alfheim takes place extensively in volume 13, and unfortunately, at that time, Elf Queen Elisha’s mind was devastated after Kayre’s death, making it difficult to prepare properly.

Not only that, but Xenon’s group also went on reconnaissance with the elf warchief due to continued threats from demons, and that’s when the council’s trolling began.

‘I wonder how Arwen will react.’

When volume 11 was released, Arwen sent a letter containing her feelings through Cyris. It had an absurd yet cute content asking if Kayre and Elisha broke up because of her.

Of course, since it was a story I had already planned, I didn’t forget to explain well to clear up her misunderstanding. Nevertheless, Arwen seemed quite anxious and asked me to tell her through Cyris if I needed anything.

Knock- Knock- Knock-

While I was busy constructing the story in my head, someone knocked on the laboratory door. As I turned my head toward the door, a very familiar voice came from behind it.

“It’s meee… I’m coming innn…”

It was the voice of Cindy Skywalker, an elf woman with a distinctive exhausted and slurring speech. Soon the door opened, and I could see her face with my own eyes.

Her dark circles and half-closed eyes, along with her carelessly tied hair, remained the same, but true to being an elf, her beauty was outstanding. Rather, she exuded a subtle charm unlike any elf I knew, with a hint of decadence.

And today she looked somewhat happier than usual. Though her eyes were drowning in fatigue, the corners of her mouth were slightly raised.

‘Come to think of it, she went to Yggdrasil to submit her paper, right?’

I remembered that she had gone to Yggdrasil, one of Alfheim’s sacred sites, to submit her paper. Thanks to my forceful teaching, Cindy’s writing skills had improved remarkably.

Even when Elena reviewed it first, she said it was sufficient and urged her to go to Yggdrasil quickly, so it must be fine.

While I was thinking about this, Elena looked at Cindy and asked with an expectant expression.

“How was it? Did it go well?”

“Yesss… It passed safelyy… Now I can sleep peacefullyy… Hehehe…”

Cindy smiled broadly with a relieved expression. As I’ve mentioned before, elves are called walking libraries, and becoming a professor requires going through a difficult process.

One must have knowledge comparable to an omniscient scholar in their field, and even the papers that must be submitted to Yggdrasil are absurdly difficult.

In fact, it makes sense because elves live long lives and can focus intensively on one field, and the number of accumulated papers is countless. Even if you select a topic, there are numerous similar ones, making it extremely difficult to pass.

Therefore, Cindy’s paper passing is something to be congratulated for.

“Congratulations. So Cindy has earned her doctorate now?”

“Yesss…”

Cindy answered in a slurring tone and slowly walked toward me. Eventually, she came in front of me and carefully took my hand.

I was slightly taken aback but remained still, seeing Cindy’s genuinely happy smile. Then, despite her slurring, she thanked me with a sincere voice.

“It’s thanks to youuu… Thank you so muchh…”

“What did I do? I only taught you how to write. The research was entirely done by you, Cindy.”

It’s true. I only taught Cindy writing techniques; the research was conducted by Cindy herself.

But Cindy seemed to think otherwise. She shook her head and smiled brightly.

“You did help meee… Issac, without you, it would have taken me decades for sureee…”

“If that’s what you think… Anyway, what are you going to do now? Since you’ve earned your doctorate, you don’t need to stay under Professor Elena anymore, right?”

Now Cindy could become a professor or scholar if she wanted. It means she doesn’t need to act as Professor Elena’s assistant anymore.

Cindy seemed to realize this as she let go of my hand and thought deeply. But she tilted her head as if nothing particular came to mind.

“Well… I’ll stay here for noww… There are still many papers and books I haven’t readd…”

“Really?”

“Yesss… So come visit often toooo… If there’s anything you don’t know, you can askk… I’ll help you as much as I cann…”

“Then…”

After briefly considering what question to ask, I decided to ask Cindy the same question I had just asked Elena. By the way, Cindy was still holding my hand.

“Do you think elves can truly unite as one? Not just elves but including dark elves as well.”

“…That might only happen in novelsss…? And I don’t know what dark elves dooo…”

Hmm. So she also considers it something only possible in novels. I nodded at Cindy’s answer.

“Oh right… I heard an interesting piece of news at Yggdrasil todayyy…”

“What news?”

“You know the Biography of Xenon that just came outtt… The part where Kayre and Elisha broke uppp…”

“Ah, that. What about it?”

Cindy, seemingly unaware, answered while still firmly holding my hand.

“There’s a lot of talk about ittt… Scholars were fighting over ittt…”

“…Why would they fight over that?”

“Because it’s too realisticcc… In reality, there were many cases where humans changed their minds or died first because elves couldn’t readily accept themm….”

“… …”

“There’s a nationwide survey and it’s causing quite a stirrr… Papers might come out soonnn…?”

I’m really looking forward to the reactions to volume 12.