The Elf Kingdom

Around the time Kyle’s party reached the Demon King’s territory and were entering the Demon King’s capital for the first time, the Elf Kingdom was in an uproar due to the disappearance of the Spirits.

First, let me briefly introduce the Elf Kingdom.

The Elf Kingdom is located in a vast forest in the northwest of the continent and has severed all contact with the outside world since the Thousand Year War.

The reason is that Elves love nature and Spirits, but humans and dwarves destroy and pollute nature.

There are seven ancient treants who have lived in the Elf Kingdom for a thousand years, one of whom is the World Tree.

The ancient treants usually appear as giant trees, but they can transform into tree giants.

The six ancient treants are positioned in a circle around the World Tree.

The Elves made the place where the World Tree is located their capital, and they built cities where the six ancient treants are located, naming the cities after the ancient treants.

At the center of the capital is Bite (female), a demigod-level ancient treant and the World Tree, in the form of a giant tree.

At the center of each city are also ancient treants, important vassals of Bite: Agenies (male), Sena (female), Quenira (female), Buseth (male), Prosaul (male), and Ugdede (female).

The World Tree Bite has a history of splitting Lucifer of Pride, the Tentacle of Original Sin, during the Tentacle War a thousand years ago, and the other vassals are also heroes who were active in the Tentacle War.

In addition, young treants are growing in tree form throughout the Elf Kingdom.

The Elf capital, Bite, is home to 250,000 Elves.

The populations of the six cities are as follows: Agenies (150,000 Elves), Sena (170,000), Quenira (200,000), Buseth (190,000), Prosaul (180,000), and Ugdede (210,000).

Elves live for a long time and have a low birth rate, so the population of an Elf city is smaller than that of a human city.

In the northwest of the Elf Forest is the Fairy Kingdom and Fairy Lake, which the Fairies consider sacred.

The Elves consider the Fairies to be part of the forest, so they do not interfere in their lives, recognize their autonomy, and have limited interaction.

The Elves created satellite cities called Divisions on the border of the kingdom to guard against external invasion, and anyone who enters is killed without exception.

There are a total of seven Divisions from the Bohark Forest border to the Hamel Empire border.

The names of the Divisions are Cruelnut Division (60,000 Elves), Aconshell Division (70,000), Bloomleaf Division (60,000), Thistleback Division (60,000), Nettlebeach Division (80,000), Ironcherry Division (60,000), and Walnuttip Division (50,000).

The Divisions are home to not only soldiers but also their families, children, the elderly, and ordinary people, and the main functions of the city are focused on guarding and defense.

Elf culture can be explained by nature and Spirits.

Thanks to the World Tree Bite in the capital, the Elf Kingdom is always rich in life force and mana, making it an environment that Spirits love.

Therefore, Spirits that have entered the Middle Realm gather in the Elf Kingdom, and most Elves are Spiritcasters.

Because Elves love nature, when they build a house, they ask for the understanding of the surrounding treants and use dead trees, stones, and soil to build a house that harmonizes with the trees with the power of Spirits.

In addition, they do not create farmland or fields separately, but use Spirits to make the trees and grass of nature grow healthily and bear abundant fruit quickly, thereby obtaining food.

Thanks to the World Tree and abundant Spirits, trees and grass can bear delicious fruit infinitely throughout the year, so there is no food problem.

Elves do not raise livestock and think of the animals of the forest as friends, but they do not completely abstain from meat.

Elves manage treants as Spirits so that they can grow healthily.

Elf armor is made from tree bark that the treants directly tear off and give, and it is as hard as iron.

The main weapons of the Elves are bows and curved swords (swords with curved blades).

Elves make bows and arrow shafts from branches and bark given by treants, and arrowheads and curved swords are made from hard metal collected by asking the Spirits of the earth.

Elves regard the World Tree Bite as their mother and god, and they revere her, following Bite’s orders in important matters related to the rise and fall of the kingdom.

However, internal affairs of the kingdom are resolved by the Elf King and his vassals.

The Elf King is a High Elf named ‘Mirphis’.

King Mirphis’s grandfather died in the Tentacle War a thousand years ago.

King Mirphis has a wife, ‘Shandalar’, and a daughter, ‘Eloi’.

There is one female Unicorn in the Elf Kingdom called ‘Sunshine’.

A Unicorn is a white horse with a horn on its head.

Sunshine is a divine beast that has existed with the World Tree since a thousand years ago, and she is wise, so she is respected by the Elves.

—

It is now the time when Kyle’s party is entering the Demon King’s capital.

This point in time is approximately 13 months after Kyle captured the Four Great Spirit Kings at Marquis Sainz’s castle and corrupted them with darkness.

For 13 months, the corrupted Spirit Kings gleefully corrupted the Spirit Realm with darkness.

The Elves did not know that the Spirit Kings had been corrupted.

Since 13 months ago, Spirits in the Elf Kingdom went to the Spirit Realm and did not return to the Elf Kingdom, so the number of Spirits residing in the kingdom gradually decreased.

In addition, existing Elf Spiritcasters also had their connection with the Spirit Realm severed, so they could no longer summon Spirits.

Since Elves use Spirits in everything from construction to food production to manufacturing, the Elf Kingdom was currently at a crossroads of survival.

The most critical problem was that the trees and grass that had been bearing fruit throughout the year were not bearing fruit well, and the quality and quantity had also decreased, so the Elf Kingdom was about to face a food shortage.

King Mirphis gathered Queen Shandalar, Princess Eloi, the Unicorn Sunshine, and his vassals in the conference room of the capital palace to discuss why this situation had occurred.

King Mirphis said with a worried face.

“I didn’t notice that the Spirits were disappearing little by little. There has never been a situation in our kingdom where Spirits disappear. Why is this happening?”

Sunshine replied in the voice of a woman in her 40s.

“Hmm…. It seems that something bad has happened in the Spirit Realm. We need to wake up the World Tree Bite and ask her.”

“Can we go to the Spirit Realm?”

“Bite will know. After the discussion, let’s go ask her together.”

“I understand. Then we need to solve the immediate food problem. Is there any way to solve the food problem?”

The vassals around him buzzed.

Abein (male), the leader of the progressive faction and a young Elf, suggested.

“We have been relying on nature to obtain food until now. How about farming and cultivating like humans, or interacting with humans?”

Then the old vassals’ faces turned red and they pointed and cursed.

“You bastard! Are you trying to break the rules of the kingdom that have been going on for a thousand years?! What are you going to do if nature becomes polluted?! You stupid bastard!”

“These days, kids don’t have the basics. What kind of mind did our ancestors have when they maintained the nature of the Elf Kingdom? Tsk tsk tsk.”

The Elf vassals were divided into progressive and conservative factions.

The progressive faction was made up of young Elves who argued for abandoning the old customs of the Elves, introducing agriculture and animal husbandry, and interacting with the outside world.

The conservative faction was made up of older Elves who argued that the customs of the Elves should be maintained.

As the chronic problems caused by the customs of the Elves were revealed by this mass disappearance of Spirits, the two factions fought every day, making their relationship even worse.

King Mirphis and Queen Shandalar were still conservatives, so the customs of the Elves were being maintained, but the ideology of the progressive faction was spreading among young and young Elves.

Abein shouted with a slightly angry face.

“We’re already managing trees and plants with Spirits, which is agriculture!”

Rotomir (male), the leader of the conservative faction, shouted with an angry face.

“We are communicating with trees and plants! We are not managing them under us!”

“What’s the difference between that and this!”

“Huh… This guy is going to ruin nature. Would you like it if plants gathered Elves in one place and fed them feed and raised them?!”

“The plants used in agriculture are simple and have no ego!”

“Would you say that if plants cut your brain in half and made you a doll without an ego?!”

Then Lirei (female), a moderate, slowly raised her hand and said.

“Um… I have something to say.”

King Mirphis, who was getting a headache from the argument between the progressive and conservative factions, quickly pointed at Lirei and shouted loudly.

“Everyone be quiet! Lirei has something to say!”

Everyone shut their mouths when King Mirphis ordered.

Lirei said cautiously.

“The point is that we need to obtain food without destroying nature, right? We can ask the treants to find empty land and plant plants for food there, and let them grow naturally in an environment where they can grow happily.”

In fact, this was also agriculture, but the words were different and the sounds were different, so it seemed closer to nature, so Rotomir nodded.

“That’s right. Even if we don’t gather plants for food in one place and do agriculture, we can plant more of them and let them grow naturally.”

Abein thought about it and agreed because this was a similar proposal that was halfway to agriculture.

King Mirphis looked at his vassals and ordered with a solemn face.

“From today, the Elves of the Elf Kingdom will each plant seeds of plants for food in various places in the kingdom with the help of the treants! The vassals will promote this throughout the kingdom!”

The vassals chanted in unison.

“We will obey!”

King Mirphis dismissed the meeting with a sense of accomplishment that something had been resolved.

“Today’s meeting is over. Sunshine-nim and I will go ask Bite-nim about the problem in the Spirit Realm.”

King Mirphis went to the World Tree Bite in the center of the capital with Sunshine.

The World Tree Bite was a giant tree with a thickness that combined dozens of mature baobab trees.

King Mirphis stood in front of Bite, bowed his head to pay his respects, and then tapped on the bark.

But nothing happened.

Around the time King Mirphis tapped dozens of times, a beautiful voice of a woman in her 40s was heard from the World Tree.

“What’s wrong? Mirphis?”

King Mirphis spoke about the Spirit disappearance incident and the crisis of the Elf Kingdom caused by it.

Bite’s leaves rustled with worry. Ssaaah.

Bite said.

“Hmm… That happened while I was sleeping. I’ve been having bad dreams lately, and it was because the Spirits were disappearing. This is a really big problem.”

Sunshine worried.

“Bite. It seems that something big has happened in the Spirit Realm. If the Spirit Realm collapses, this continent will also be in danger.”

Sunshine and Bite were friends who had known each other since a thousand years ago and spoke informally to each other.

Bite affirmed.

“You’re right. I’ll contact my friend Omar in the Spirit Realm.”

At the center of the Spirit Realm is the World Tree Omar (female), who was born with Bite a thousand years ago and can communicate with each other.

However, communicating between the continent and the Spirit Realm consumes divinity, so Bite and Omar usually turn off their connection to each other.

Bite consumed divinity and sent a message to Omar.

– [Omar. Spirits are disappearing in the Elf Kingdom and Spiritcasters are also disappearing. What’s going on in the Spirit Realm?]

Then Omar immediately sent an urgent message.

– [I’m glad I got in touch! The Four Great Spirit Kings have been corrupted by darkness!]

– [The Four Great Spirit Kings have been corrupted! What’s going on!]

– [That’s exactly what it is! Most of the Spirit Realm has been corrupted, and divinity is being consumed even to maintain the area around me! I can’t communicate much! I’ll open a Spirit Realm portal, so send reinforcements!]

– [I understand!]

Bite and Omar can consume divinity to send living things or objects to each other’s location.

The continent and the Spirit Realm are close, so it took very little divinity compared to sending them to a completely different world.

Bite cut off communication and shouted in a hurried voice.

“Mirphis! Sunshine! The Four Great Spirit Kings and most of the Spirit Realm have been corrupted by darkness, and the Spirit Realm World Tree Omar is in a dangerous situation. We need to send reinforcements!”

King Mirphis asked with a worried expression.

“I understand. How many can we send?”

“The situation seems dangerous, so Sunshine must also go. My divinity can only handle Sunshine and 300 Elves.”

“I understand. I will select the best warriors.”

King Mirphis informed the Elf Kingdom that the Spirit Realm had been corrupted.

King Marphis selected expedition heroes to purify the Spirit Realm with light.

The strongest force of the Elves is the Spiritcasters, but unfortunately, most of the Spiritcasters had lost their Spirits and could not be used.

Therefore, wizards, swordsmen, and archers were sent to the expedition.

The composition of the expedition was as follows:

Princess Eloi (female, Light Wizard),

Progressive leader Abein (male, Swordsman),

Conservative leader Rotomir (male, Swordsman),

Tesarion (male, Archer), son of the Mayor of Buseth,

Askal (male, Plant Wizard), the strongest of the Cruelnut Division,

Lindis (female, Plant Wizard), the strongest of the Aconshell Division,

Lindis’s younger sister Taenia (female, Archer),

Tyrael (female, Swordsman), who single-handedly slaughtered dozens of Tentacles in the Bloomleaf Division,

And 292 other heroes and the Unicorn Sunshine.

Several weeks later, the expedition stood before the World Tree Bite to go to the Spirit Realm.

The leader of the expedition was Princess Eloi.

Eloi had platinum blond hair braided in a waterfall and decorated with flowers, a kind and intelligent face and pointed ears that looked like she was in her 20s, a height of 170cm, a C-cup chest, and a slim and curvy S-line body.

Sunshine looked at Eloi and asked with a kind expression.

“Eloi. It feels like just yesterday that you were crying as a baby, but you’ve already grown up and are taking on an important mission. This mission will be dangerous, are you okay?”

“Sunshine-nim. I am no longer the child of the past, but the princess of the Elf Kingdom and an excellent Light Wizard. I can’t just stand by and watch the kingdom’s crisis.”

“That’s admirable.”

Then Abein shouted.

“I will risk my life to protect Princess Eloi safely!”

Eloi chuckled and said.

“Oh my! Are you flirting with me now? I’m not a princess who is taken care of by someone, but a hero who protects someone!”

Abein stammered and made excuses.

“No… I know that Eloi-nim is excellent. I meant that as a close combat warrior, I would protect the wizard.”

“I understand~ Abein-nim. I’ll look forward to it~”

Abein’s face brightened and he shouted.

“I understand!”

Sunshine shook her head at the sight and said to Eloi.

“Eloi. I will allow you to ride me this time. Get on my back.”

The Unicorn Sunshine can only be ridden by virgins, and Eloi was still a virgin.

Eloi thanked her with an excited face and got on Sunshine’s back.

“Thank you! Sunshine-nim!”

When the expedition was all ready, Bite shouted to Sunshine and the 300 Elf heroes in a solemn voice.

“Heroes who will go to save the Spirit Realm! I will open the door to the Spirit Realm, so save the kingdom and the Spirit Realm from the crisis!”

All the heroes shouted.

“Uwaaaaaa!! Just trust us!”

A white sphere of divinity came out of Bite’s body and fell to the ground, turning into a giant white portal leading to the Spirit Realm.

Eloi raised the magic wand in her right hand and shouted in a brave voice.

“Heroes! Let’s all go to the Spirit Realm!”

Eloi, riding Sunshine, entered the portal, with Abein on her left, Rotomir on her right, and 297 Elf heroes following the princess into the portal.

Around them, hundreds of thousands of Elves, including the King and Queen, cheered for their expedition.