The Origin of Elves (5)

“It’s true that the influence of elves has diminished compared to the glorious ancient times. However, we will continue to protect this glorious tradition and bloodline forever, just as we have done until now.”

Elder Elnar proudly explained who they were and how they had lived while personally showing us around their clan’s city.

I just nodded along appropriately. After all, I had decided not to get deeply involved from the start. They have their own lives.

Although I’m said to be the origin of elves, my identity as an elf is actually much weaker than that of the current elves, so I didn’t want to disrupt it as much as possible.

“The city is clean and beautiful. You must be managing it well.”

As they say, even a whale dances to praise, so it seemed there was no harm in giving compliments. As it happened, the aesthetics of the city in the middle of a dense forest were as bright and clean as something out of a fantasy novel, so I sincerely praised its beauty.

“Ooh…!”

“The high elf praised our city!”

The surrounding elves rejoiced at my words, just as I had expected. It was strange and burdensome that they reacted so much to a single word from me, but still, seeing their surprised reactions wasn’t so bad.

“Y-yes? It must be incomparable to human cities.”

Even Elnar beamed with joy. Sensing the moment, I elbowed my companions in the side.

Looking closely, most of the elves were those who had lived for hundreds of years without knowing the outside world. If we could appropriately fill their pride, it seemed we could easily score some points at this time when all attention was focused on us from the outside.

“They say a word of praise pays a thousand-nyang debt. There’s nothing to lose, so hurry up and praise them.”

“P-praise? What exactly?”

“Anything! Just exclaim how amazed you are that the sky is clear or how impressive it is that the air is clean. No matter how trivial!”

I clicked my tongue and urged Laila, who was questioning with a bewildered face. At a glance, the elves were watching not only me but also my companions of different races.

As if they wanted these outsiders to react to them and this city. I instinctively realized that if we satisfied those reactions, we could gain something.

“The road paving is very well done. It’s the first time I’ve seen even the alleys so neatly paved.”

Patrick was the first to open fire at my urging. Flinching at the numerous elves’ gazes directed at him, he tried to maintain his composure and started exclaiming at what caught his eye.

The stone-paved roads? Of course, they were made very neatly with white stone, but in fact, all the cities I had been to had done the same.

But Patrick’s attempt was sufficiently effective.

“Oh, a human who knows something.”

“See! I told you 125 years ago that we should use white!”

The elves, who had gathered like clouds as if a celebrity had appeared, seemed to feel a thrill as they stirred at Patrick’s exclamation. Thanks to this, the atmosphere flowed into pressuring my companions to give more reactions.

“How does this look? It’s a street lamp made using self-luminous phosphorescent grass that glows when the sun sets.”

“Stone houses are nice, but the traditional style is wooden houses. Do you know about elven huts?”

The elves, no longer holding back, swarmed in demanding reactions from them.

As the flustered Patrick, Lina, and Laila expressed amazement at something, the elves were very satisfied and pleased, so they too began to react more exaggeratedly, providing a kind of service.

‘I can see it, I can see it.’

I let out a hollow laugh watching the scene. This seemed like it should be called race-ism rather than nationalism.

Still, I thought if that made them happy, it was enough.

“We are all grateful that the high elf has acknowledged us. We have prepared rooms in the best place, so please rest well today. It would be better to have detailed discussions when the day breaks.”

“You didn’t need to go to such trouble for us.”

Elnar, who seemed to be in a much better mood, laughed heartily and pointed to a palace-like place in the center of the city. He said that not only had he prepared a place for us to stay there, but he had also prepared a feast.

I thought there wouldn’t be time for entertainment and feasting when victims had already occurred due to the erosion, but Elnar requested that we accept it, saying everyone had prepared it with joy at meeting their great ancestor.

“Well, I guess we have no choice then.”

“Everyone will be delighted. Perhaps with Isilia’s visit, this moment could be the moment our elves leap forward again.”

Elnar laughed heartily and said he would go ahead to prepare, heading towards the banquet hall. I stood still, watching his retreating figure that seemed somewhat light-footed. He looked like a picky old man matching his appearance, but not to the point of being annoying.

“That’s enough now. What’s with being surprised at seeing an ordinary carriage? Are you mocking us? What did we ride to get here?”

After that, I pinched Patrick’s side, who was suddenly surrounded by elves, showing an exaggerated reaction with his hand on his forehead and eyes wide open.

“But this isn’t an ordinary carriage, it’s made of premium wood, pulled by reindeer…”

“Let’s just go in. This is enough. They’re not wary of us anymore.”

I smiled slightly and looked around. Although the sun was setting, many elves were still around us.

The wary gazes that had poured on us when they first saw us were now hardly felt. Rather, their liking and interest had increased, so looking at that, we had achieved our goal.

“Go and get some rest. I’m planning to go to the site as soon as dawn breaks tomorrow.”

“I heard there’s a banquet.”

“That’s true, but don’t overdo it. You know what I mean, right?”

Laila and Lina, who had shown interest in the elf village, were very interested in the banquet prepared by the elves.

It seemed they were genuinely looking forward to it, not just reacting for the elves’ sake, so just in case, I reminded them of what we needed to do.

‘They’ll react on their own anyway.’

The elves were more luxurious than we thought and living more prosperously than we imagined. For a banquet prepared by such people, it didn’t seem necessary to emphasize reactions to my companions.

Just as they had prejudices about the outside world, the outside world also had strong prejudices about elves.

Of course, some of those prejudices were accurate, but essentially, such prejudices arose because they couldn’t actively interact with each other, so it wasn’t a good phenomenon.

“Honestly, I’m looking forward to it. Elven food. When else in my life would I get to eat such things?”

“Come to think of it, we know almost nothing about their eating habits. There’s a rumor that elves only eat vegetables, but surely people living in a place like this don’t just eat grass, do they?”

We moved to the banquet hall, which was as splendid and well-made as the exterior, and sat down quietly to receive the food the elves would serve.

As Patrick glanced around saying he was looking forward to it, Lina agreed and her eyes sparkled.

Now that we had confirmed that the rumors and prejudices spread in the outside world – that elves living secluded in forests are poor, that elves are violent and barbaric – were mostly false, everyone’s expectations about elves had risen significantly.

“Yeah, surely an entire race can’t all be vegan?”

“Ve… what?”

“It’s a thing.”

And it was the same for me. Squeezing Ethan as a source of money, I, who had never felt any lack, always ate three hearty meals a day.

It was I, who now refuses meals without seafood or meat, who informed my companions that the common knowledge that elves only eat vegetables was false.

Remembering Ethan’s face as he protested, asking if I was some kind of carnivore, surprised at the absurdly high food expenses, I waited quietly for what they would bring, not showing it.

“Since the high elf has specially come, we’ve prepared dishes emphasizing our traditions even more. Please, help yourself.”

“…?”

However, after that, I froze as I saw what Elnar and the elves brought and laid out in front of me.

They said they prepared traditional food to serve their ancestor, but it was a tradition I had never seen before and definitely didn’t want. Grass, fruit, more grass, and yet more grass.

Everywhere I looked, it was just fresh nature.

“Wait, is this even cooking? It’s just ingredients laid out!”

Upset, I finally picked up an unknown vegetable placed in front of me and got angry. They had given my companions food that at least resembled cooking – prepared, boiled, or grilled – but for me, they had brought out whole, unprocessed items as if expecting me to eat them raw.