episode_0043

Prosh, the Elf Who Became a Ghost

“Why are you so surprised, Zeke? Are you dissatisfied with me being the former Commander?”

“No, that’s not it!! So you’re saying you were the senior commander of that elf named Alten or whatever?!”

“Well, something like that… By the way, Alten became Commander? Hmm… Why did those higher-ups appoint such a rigid and inflexible fellow as Commander…?”

…This elf also knows that Alten is inflexible… Or maybe this old man is just unusual… This old man is definitely wittier than the elves outside. While the elves outside are taciturn or ostracize humans, this old man actually welcomes me, a human.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Zeke? Is there something on my face?”

“Ah, no…”

“Hahahaha! But I momentarily forgot that nothing can be on a ghost’s face!!”

“…Haha…”

…Why is he so full of energy? Didn’t he die and become a ghost? He’s so different from the image of a ghost I have that I can’t even speak. I thought all ghosts were gloomy and terrifying beings that scare living creatures…

“Wahahahahaha!! By the way, threatening to burn the World Tree is so funny!! The Alraune must have been absolutely terrified, right? Wahahahahaha!!”

…Should I say he’s different from my imagination…? Is this elf really the Commander before Alten? I can’t believe it… Still, looking at his strong physique, he definitely feels like a Commander. Hmm… He really might be the Commander.

“Then you’re really Alten’s former Commander?”

“That’s right. I was in charge of blocking this place from humans. Well… I regret those actions now.”

“Why do you regret them?”

“Ah… I had an epiphany. After gaining that epiphany, I came to regret having ostracized humans. When you think about it, we are similar to humans, so to have deliberately sought out only our superior traits and ostracized humans… It’s truly shameful, isn’t it, Zeke?”

It’s… shining!! Is this how one shines after gaining an epiphany?! His words were so true that I couldn’t even refute them. Prosh-nim’s words were so wise that they completely changed my perception of elves being all rigid and stubborn.

“My goodness… This is my first time seeing an elf like you, old man…”

“What? That means… the elves outside still haven’t given up their old ways. Then you must have received the Judgment of Sustenance?”

“Uh… Yes!”

“Oh dear… But to think how uncomfortable the elves must feel that you’re still alive… It’s a little amusing! Hahahaha!”

“…But old man, why did you become like this? Did you really become this way because you had an epiphany?”

“That, and you try being alone here for more than five years! No light, already dead so you can’t die again, no one else! How painful it was!”

…Wow. That one sentence made it all clear. He became like this because he was so lonely and desolate… I can’t imagine what kind of personality he would have developed if I had come here any later. Ugh… Even such a robust person can become like this if they live alone in a place like this… Should I be grateful to Aria after all…?

‘Hehehe… Zeke-nim is thinking of me…’

“Aaaaargh!!”

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Zeke? Why are you suddenly screaming?”

“Ah… No, it’s nothing…”

I suddenly screamed because I imagined what Aria would think if she heard that. Honestly, I think she would really do that… And even now, Aria’s gaze is burdensome… and terrifying. What is this feeling that she’s constantly watching me no matter where I am…? Surely she’s not actually watching, is she?

“Anyway… Does the Elder-nim still ostracize humans?”

“Ah… Yes. It was also the Elder-nim’s order that made us come to a place like this.”

“Hmm… So even the thoughtful Elder-nim hasn’t changed his mind… That’s sad news. Well… I guess it can’t be helped…”

“But old man, why are you trapped here as a ghost?”

“Ah… There’s a story to that. More importantly, Zeke! Have you ever seen my daughter?!”

“What? Your daughter? What does she look like…?”

“Ah… All elves look similar, I suppose. But my daughter is different. Hmm… She has a pure appearance… Her name is Veronica…”

“What?!”

“Why… Why are you reacting like that?”

No… The elf who struck Aria’s abdomen with a spear tip is this old man’s daughter?! What kind of coincidence is this?! And they don’t resemble each other at all… As I recoiled in shock, Prosh tilted his head and asked me.

“Is there another problem this time? That reaction… You must have seen my daughter!”

“…Uh… My companion and I were arrested by your daughter and your successor Commander, actually…”

“…What?! My daughter became an elf soldier?!”

“Ah… Yes. Is there a problem…?”

“Damn it… I told her not to become a soldier… Veronica…!!”

“Is there a problem? Veronica wanted to join…”

“That’s not important, Zeke. Veronica has a secret… A secret only I know…”

“A secret…?”

While I was hearing Veronica’s secret from Prosh, Aria continued to ascertain my location using her abilities and walked along the path.

“Oh… Zeke-nim is staying still! Good… I must close the distance with Zeke-nim while I have this chance…!”

“…But Saint-nim…”

“What is it?”

As Veronica called out to her, Aria glared at Veronica with a displeased expression. Seeing Aria glare at her, Veronica was greatly flustered.

“Ah… Ah… Well… That…”

“…If you called me for something trivial, I’ll tear your limbs…”

“Sa… Saint-nim and Zeke-ssi, I… I was just curious how you… how you met…”

“…Oh my.”

‘Huh?’

When Veronica expressed curiosity about Zeke and Aria’s story, Aria’s expression, which had been glaring at Veronica as if to kill her, instantly softened. As Aria’s mood suddenly changed, Veronica gasped internally.

‘Wh… What?! Why did her mood suddenly lighten?!’

“Hehehe… You… you want to know about mine and Zeke-nim’s love story…!”

“Ah… Ahaha… Yes… Yes…”

“Hmm… Then you’ll have to reveal all your secrets to me too… The story between Zeke-nim and me is immeasurable in value, to the point that it would require revealing all your secrets, you see?”

“What…? What am I supposed to…?”

“…Oh my? Shall I reveal it directly then?”

“Wh… What?!”

As Veronica recoiled, Aria brought her shining staff to Veronica’s abdomen. Immediately, Veronica’s hair color and ears began to change. Veronica’s hair began to turn from blonde to pink, and her ears began to round. Feeling her ears and hair color changing, Veronica stumbled backward and said,

“H-how… How do you know that my appearance is different from other elves due to a rare illness…?”

“Oh my? What are you talking about? An illness?”

“What…?”

“You. You’re human.”

“I’m… human…?”

While Veronica was flustered by Aria’s words, I was greatly shocked by Prosh’s revelation that Veronica was actually human, not an elf. But her ears were pointed?!

“Ah… No, wait a minute! Veronica had blonde hair and pointed ears…?”

“Ah, that. I cast a spell. Veronica is human, Zeke. I found her in the forest when she was a newborn.”

“You found her?”

“Looking back, if I hadn’t picked up Veronica back then, I would still be a useless fellow, intoxicated by my superiority.”

“To that extent?”

“The story might be a bit long, Zeke. It was back when I had become Commander and was carrying out missions…”

Prosh began to tell me stories from his youth. And I began to listen while recording them in my logbook. So… it was about 19 years ago. At that time, Prosh was leading other subordinates to patrol the forest. Having heard news from the Alraune that there were intruders, Prosh looked around and said,

“Nothing. It seems all the human intruders have been eaten by the Alraune.”

“Serves them right, Commander. Shall we return?”

“You all return. I’ll scout a bit more in case of any unforeseen circumstances.”

“Understood!”

The elf soldiers, having received Prosh’s command, began to return to Proserpina. After everyone had left, Prosh began to look around. Then, Prosh, seeing objects strewn across the ground for the first time in his life, looked closely at them and thought,

‘These aren’t things elves use. It seems humans were here… Hmm?’

“Oh my~ Isn’t this the new elf Commander?”

“An Alraune.”

“Hehehe… We ate all the humans who were here~ I came to let you know…”

“I knew that, so I already withdrew my subordinates.”

“Is that so~ Then…”

At Prosh’s words that he had already withdrawn his other subordinates, the Alraune smiled faintly and quietly returned to the forest. As the Alraune disappeared from sight, Prosh continued to search the forest. Then…

“Hmm?”

“Waaaaah! Wahhhhhh!”

The sound of a baby crying reached Prosh’s ears. Prosh then began to approach the source of the crying.

‘Is it an elf baby? There must be an elf who left their baby behind after a human attack… I must find it…?!’

Prosh, who had thought it was an elf baby, was greatly surprised to see that the crying baby was human. He then took out the bow from his back and aimed it at the human baby.

‘Even if it’s a baby, it’s human. If that child grows up, it will certainly become a threat to the elves. I must kill it…’

“Kyaaa!”

Prosh, who had been about to kill the baby, unconsciously lowered his bow when the baby suddenly smiled brightly at him and giggled. Regaining his composure, Prosh aimed his bow at the baby again.

‘Pull yourself together… That baby is human… No matter how young, it’s human!! Humans have threatened elves… Ancient elves suffered at the hands of humans…’

“Kyaaaa! Aww~”

‘Suffered… suffered… the suffering… Ugh… Ugh…’

“Aww!”

Prosh, seeing the baby’s innocent smiling face, began to tremble the hand holding the bow. Then his face began to look like he was about to cry, and he finally lowered his bow, covered his face with his hands, and thought.

‘What am I doing right now…? Because of my responsibility as Commander, and my pride as an elf, am I really trying to… kill this brightly smiling baby…? Isn’t that baby, like an elf baby, innocent of everything…? To such a baby, I just… No… Human children are all born with an evil nature and grow up like that… Isn’t that what I’ve been taught? Then I… I… Ah…’

“Wah?”

Prosh pondered deeply, then, as if having made a decision, he put his bow on his back and with both hands, embraced the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes beneath the tree.

‘…I hope this choice isn’t wrong. Or… do I wish it were wrong…? Why is it my heart… that I can’t understand…? Comm…?’

“Ah!”

As the baby suddenly reached out and touched his cheek, which had been in continuous internal conflict, Prosh looked at the baby. The baby then drooled and continued to touch Prosh’s cheek with a bright smile.

“Ah-ah!”

“…Yes… I suppose I won’t know until I experience it… My child. Your name is Veronica. I will raise you. So, tell me what the true nature of humans is.”

“Ah-ah!”

“You understand? You’re smart… When we get back, I’ll feed you first…”

“Ugh…”

“…By the way, this child’s parents… Surely… they were eaten by the Alraune…?”

Prosh realized that Veronica’s biological parents had been eaten and killed by the Alraune. Prosh then picked a flower nearby and placed it where Veronica had been, thinking.

‘I will take care of your daughter. Prove it to me. Whether humans are truly evil. Or good.’

I was intrigued listening to Prosh recount the moment he found Veronica. So… the strict and rigid Prosh-nim, like other elves, changed his mind after seeing Veronica. No… to be precise, he decided to find out.

“I still can’t forget that bright smile.”

“Why?”

“Because that smile… was telling me. That my thoughts were wrong. So I kept struggling internally. But the moment I saw Veronica’s face… my heart strangely leaned towards trusting humans, you see?”

“Perhaps it’s because you had a gentle nature even back then? It wasn’t completely absent, but there was a tiny part of your heart that was tender, it seems.”

“That’s true, but… what can I say… I think there was also a sense of guilt. The fate of having to kill that child. But my desire to escape that fate seemed to cause my internal conflict. Well… thanks to that, I was able to see my daughter grow up well. My personality also changed.”

“What? Then…”

“My current personality is entirely a gift from Veronica. Well… raising a child was indeed difficult.”

“Ah… Ahaha… I can imagine… Still, would you tell me more?”

“Of course. After that, I raised Veronica at home. I deceived other elves, telling them she was an elf baby whose parents were killed by humans. And since a very small number of our elves have a rare disease that causes poor eyesight, I used that to cover for her vision.”

“What? Vision?”

“Yes, vision. Our elves have incredibly good eyesight. That’s why elves are good at archery.”

Oh, that’s new information. I immediately recorded this in my logbook. But why do they rely on the Alraune for help? Checking for intruders should be easy with excellent eyesight alone, shouldn’t it? Is it because the Alraune have a large population…?

“Well… that’s how I fooled the elves successfully. Her ears and hair color were disguised with my magic. But raising her was no ordinary task. She would suddenly cry in the middle of the night, draw on the walls, and do all sorts of dangerous things. Thanks to that, I even thought that humans are born with an inherently bad nature.”

“…Elf babies don’t do that…?”

“Exactly. At the time, I had no experience raising children either, so I thought only human babies were like that. Still, whenever I felt tired, seeing Veronica’s bright smile… those thoughts completely disappeared. And as I pondered what attitude to show Veronica to make her happy, I somehow developed this personality.”

“And then?”

“Hmm… When Veronica turned ten…”

Prosh recalled the memory of Veronica going to elf school when she turned ten. At that time, Prosh was reviewing reports from his subordinates. At that moment, Veronica opened the door and ran to Prosh, crying.

“Daddy-waaah… Uwahhh…”

“Hmm…?!!! Veronica! What’s wrong?!”

“The kids at school are teasing me for not being able to see…”

“…At school?!”

Hearing that, Prosh’s face contorted, and he grabbed a spear nearby and ran to the school. And I was in shock upon hearing this story.

“You grabbed a spear and ran to school just for that?!”

“That’s how much I came to love Veronica. And thanks to that, I came to believe in the possibility that humans can also be good… In fact, after that incident, I realized that humans are similar to elves. There are elves who tease my daughter, so what’s the difference between elves and humans? Just pointed ears and all blonde hair?”

“…Your words are so true I can’t argue… Anyway, to think that someone with your personality would become such a doting father… The world is truly unpredictable.”

“I agree. Still, I’m glad Veronica taught me about family affection. Back then, I had sworn I wouldn’t get married.”

“Oh? I’m asexual too.”

“…Hmmmm…”

When I said I was asexual, Prosh let out a chuckle and began to look at me, tilting his head. This person… No, why is this elf suddenly acting like this…?

“Why… Why?”

“Didn’t you say earlier that you had a companion?”

“Uh… Yes.”

“Who knows? You might fall in love?”

This… this old man… He’s saying something that would cause big trouble if Aria heard it… Ugh… If Aria were nearby, my day might have turned into a torment…

“So, what’s the next part of the story?”

“Ah… After that… eventually… something I didn’t want to happen to Veronica eventually did.”