Ch.139139. Elf Kingdom (2)

Having unintentionally witnessed the darkness of the Elven Kingdom (which wasn’t particularly hidden), I promptly switched off my concern about this rather unimportant matter and made my way to my destination, “Totler City.”

As far as I knew, “Totler City” was a resort located in the northern part of the Elven Kingdom’s capital. According to the boastful immigration officer who had been so unpleasant, it was frequently visited by the middle class from the capital.

With its pastoral scenery and adequately comfortable infrastructure, it could be considered an excellent resort for vacationers. Consequently, what was once an ordinary rural area, “Totler City” had essentially become both a resort and a retirement community for former city dwellers.

From this information, I was able to discern several things about the Elven Kingdom.

First, the Elven Kingdom appeared to have a firmly established centralized governing system.

In my experience, cities in this era were practically nations unto themselves, resulting in complex webs of vested interests and political dynamics across regions, making true centralization merely a product of fantasy.

But this Elven Kingdom was distinctly different from other domains.

Unlike humans who viewed each other as implicit (and sometimes explicit) competitors even within the same country, citizens of the Elven Kingdom genuinely embraced the concept of a “Fatherland” in their minds.

I couldn’t help but think that it was no coincidence they boasted the most advanced civilization in the Western Continent, and simultaneously, another piece of information surfaced in my mind.

If my previous self had vaguely assumed that elves simply “lived in forests,” after witnessing the fruits of their civilization, I had to revise that notion.

Credit had to be given where it was due.

Elves were… surprisingly humans who lived better and more comfortably in an environment nearly indistinguishable from modern times.

Of course, saying it was like modern times is one thing, but digging a little deeper would reveal it didn’t quite match the brilliance of true modernity. Even so, the elves’ over-technology reached into realms I could scarcely comprehend.

For instance… things like Bluetooth showerheads.

Sure, it’s not strange that beings with longer lifespans and higher intelligence than humans would develop an advanced civilization, but when a scene straight out of arcane punk unfolds before eyes that had only held vague notions, one can’t help but be amazed.

What particularly surprised me was how unexpectedly open-minded these elves were…

“Gregory. We’ve arrived.”

“…Ah. Thank you, Sophia.”

My thoughts were interrupted there. Sophia and I, riding on Robo and Astra respectively, had arrived right in front of a city situated in the middle of a vast golden plain.

“Totler City,” the place where my mother’s mentor was said to be staying—the very reason we had come all this way.

※ ※ ※

The moment I first laid eyes on “Totler City,” I couldn’t help but look around in admiration of this resort city’s beautiful landscape.

The elven cities we had seen until now were characterized by futuristic, sci-fi designs and sensibilities—arcane punk cities.

They featured skyscrapers unusually tall for this era, forming forests of towers, with vegetation placed between them to create an eco-friendly impression.

In contrast, “Totler City” projected a much stronger eco-friendly image overall.

The city’s buildings were no more than five stories high, with most resembling quaint houses of two to three floors.

Additionally, the entire city was deeply integrated with the forest; unlike other cities that contained vegetation, here it seemed as if the city’s buildings had been inserted among the trees.

Small animals like squirrels and rabbits casually crossed the roads, deer and wolves played among themselves, and even a brown bear with its cubs could be seen settling down in what appeared to be a park.

In this land that strongly evoked the sense of being part of nature…

“Is it this way…?”

“…Yes. The prophet’s eye sees it that way.”

After briefly taking in the scenery and soaking in the atmosphere, Sophia and I began wandering around the city in search of the house where my mother’s mentor resided.

Sophia used her precognitive abilities within her comfortable limits to navigate this maze-like city, while I followed behind… already frustrated by our thirty-minute disappearance in “Totler City.”

In truth, there was a reason for our struggle.

My mother had given us the exact address her mentor had sent her…

The problem was that upon checking this address, we discovered it only applied within “Totler City” itself.

Given the nature of “Totler City”—which seemed less like a city with a tree-planting project and more like a forest with a city built into it—its structure was incredibly complex and bizarrely formed.

The fundamentally maze-like complexity of the city’s layout was just the beginning of our problems.

The buildings here were basically half-buried underground, adding subterranean passages to this already complicated structure, making it nearly impossible for anyone unfamiliar to find their way.

Even within the same building, each floor had different entrances and exits, and to make matters worse, “Totler City’s” addressing system was truly bizarre.

[The Hill Where the Sun’s Wind Blows]—I know elves are famous for their circumlocution, but what are we supposed to do with an address like that?

Their speech wasn’t just roundabout; it was twisted like a pretzel. Consequently, Sophia and I had no choice but to rely on magical assistance.

…Of course, even precognition wasn’t exactly straightforward, so we had to spend well over ten minutes just finding our way.

Still, there was one fortunate thing.

“…We’ve arrived.”

“Sophia, you really did well.”

After wandering around inside “Totler City” for quite some time.

Nearly an hour later, Sophia and I finally reached a building with the same name as written in the address.

‘This is…’

A treehouse that looked somehow familiar, reminiscent of our home in Aleinos Forest.

As I was feeling a strange familiarity with this scene that seemed plucked straight from a fairy tale…

-…Creeeeak.

With the sound of old hinges, the treehouse door opened, and a female elf emerged from inside.

No, she is, she is, she is, she is, she is…

Distortedrepeatedcontinuingmoonlightdeathmysterymagicshadowshadowshadow—

“—Ugh!”

The moment something beyond comprehension reflected its form on my retina.

Into my eyes, which had become able to see the unseen through prolonged exposure to the mystical, a waterfall of visual information powerful enough to crush one’s sense of self came pouring in.

Naturally, understanding and analyzing all this information was impossible.

If I tried, my brain would likely be well-cooked by information of unmanageable quality and quantity.

So, following my survival instinct, I applied a filter to my brain. Or rather, through a hastily crafted spell, I muddled my reason and allowed madness to take root in my mind.

Only after disturbing my consciousness to such an extent could I perceive the being before me.

I see it. I see a concept in the form of a fairy. Something that normally resides beyond perception, incomprehensible to a mortal mind, but able to remain here due to its mixed human blood granting it some material existence—a legacy of myth.

A demigod, an imperfect deity with human blood, or Demi-God. The fairy-formed demigod observed me, and a human-shaped shadow, moonlight, night clearly recognized me, and then…

“You… are that child’s disciple.”

‘That person,’ who had somehow dispersed the presence that seemed to surround me from all directions, instantly dispelled the pressure and flow that had enveloped their body. Then, in a voice that seemed to engrave itself directly into my brain, they spoke those words.

“Haa, haa, haa…”

After instinctively catching Sophia, who was about to collapse beside me while taking rough breaths.

Only after somehow shaking off various strings that seemed to bind my soul could I finally open my mouth.

“…Yes. I am Gregory Aleinos, the adopted son and disciple of my mother. O Demigod.”

“My, you recognize me, I see?”

The person who spoke as if impressed that Sophia and I had noticed her identity, my mother’s mentor, waved her hand lightly to cast some kind of magical power over us…

“My name is Hecate. I am the mentor of Circe, your adoptive mother.”

“…What?”

She referred to my mother by a name I had never heard before, while introducing herself with a name that somehow sounded familiar.