In the World of Midgar Extra 2 — The Free Spirit Elf (1)

꒰ঌ In the World of Midgar Extra 2 — The Free Spirit Elf 1

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According to legend, the world used to have no mana when the people of heaven descended onto Vanaheim, a mountain that soared into the sky.

They watched over the world, and took on the duty of gathering the world's impurity. They formed forbidden golden apples, which were made of concentrated impure mana.

Once, out of curiosity, someone ate a golden apple, and the person, whose body became infected with mana, was exiled from Vanaheim and became human.

That was when the people of heaven incurred the displeasure of goddess, and from then on, they became unable to cleanse the world of impurities. That was why the world overflowed with mana, and Midgar ceased to be a paradise.

Humans, who were cast to the earth, spread to every corner of the world, and they each started to change in their own environments.

The ones who continued to eat beasts that were full of mana became beastmen.

The ones who descended to Helheim, the world's hell that was filled with impurities, became vampires.

The ones who ran free across wide plains became halflings, and those people further split into those who holed up in caves to become dwarves.

And the ones who lived in forests, staying in contact with nature that was filled with mana, became elves.

That was considered the beginning of the world.

[From: History of Midgar Part 1: The Secret of the Birth of the Seven Races]

There were seven races of humanity living in Midgar.

Beastmen, or therianthropes, lived on the plains, while the flugels lived on high mountains. Dwarves lived in caves, and halflings lived a nomadic life with no fixed home. Humans lived anywhere they liked, while vampires resided in the dark. And elves could be found in the forest. That was the common sense of this world.

It wasn't decided on by anyone in particular. It was simply a result of their inborn instincts telling them which places were easiest to live in. If there were someone who decided this, it would have to be the goddess that birthed them all.

That's why no one doubted anything and simply lived like it was natural.

But among those people, a certain elven girl named Juvia was one of the few who doubted what was 'natural'.

Elves lived in the forest. They were born in the forest and died there, too.

They spent peaceful, unchanging days in the forest. They lived off of a small amount of grain, didn't fight, and didn't change. Every single day for however many years, decades, or centuries, they simply existed.

What the hell? This is way too boring. Are we plants or something? If we're going to keep spending every single day without change like this, then there's no point in being part of humanity, right?

It made Juvia want to tell people, "Then why don't you just turn into a tree?!"

Why do we have hands? Why do we have legs? Why do we have heads, and magic, too?

If you want an unchanging life so bad just become a plant or something.

Change into something like a tree and live your entire life carefree like that.

'These unchanging days are the most precious thing. Peace is happiness.'

That's what every old elf parrots back at me.

Sure, it's true that peace is important. If peace continues, then there'll be no large amounts of pain or deep despair, either.

But if nothing ever changes, then that means there'll be no great joy, either. A life with no ups or downs. Just a flat existence.

Juvia didn't especially reject the idea of it. After all, everybody had their own feelings and opinions.

However, at the very least, Juvia hated the idea.

I was gifted with eyes, so I want to see so many different things. And I have ears, so I want to hear so many sounds. I want to touch with these hands, walk with these feet, and feel things directly on my skin.

With those feelings, Juvia left her home forest.

Nothing really led up to it, and she didn't have any real goal, either. She didn't even have a destination; she was just a girl who left her forest with vague and obscure dreams.

Later, Juvia would look back on those times and lament about how unplanned everything was. The girl that would later be called the Witch Queen was still a simple, honest youngster back then.

Juvia, who left the forest without any plans or prospects, eventually ended up in the Trade City of Ydalir, and, of course, she got lost there.

Elves always fundamentally lived self-sufficiently and would help each other frequently. That was why, to them, it was natural to share when someone was in need, and even when wanting compensation, it was done through trading goods.

In other words, Juvia hadn't learned the value of currency yet.

In the first place, she had no familiarity with the concept of using small circular lumps of copper or silver to 'buy' things. She did have knowledge of it, at least. Juvia had heard that in human towns they obtained things by doing that, and she had seen the merchants that dropped by the forest every once in a while do the same with the elders of the forest, too.

However, in the end, she only knew of it and never placed much importance on actually learning more. Knowing and understanding were similar, but two completely different things. That's why Juvia left with no money to her name, and was left at a loss at not being able to get anything.

"N-no way... To get things in a human town, you need... No, I can't even get a place to sleep for a night without money?!"

The one who would later be crowned the first Svel Queen was utterly surprised by a simple fact that was obvious even to children.

If a certain person that was hailed as the strongest mage in the future were to see this, she'd probably faint.

Of course, Juvia wasn't joking around. She was, in fact, extremely serious. She was seriously surprised and troubled.

However, to the people that saw her she simply looked like an idiot with no common sense, and they would only think, What's an elf doing here?

At any rate, Juvia regrouped. She at least understood that the first thing she had to do was obtain money. Without money, she couldn't get food nor a place to sleep.

Just in case, Juvia had the food and water she brought from her forest, but there was a very limited amount she could carry with her low physical strength, so it would probably last three days at best.

There was a limit to how unprepared someone could be.

"E-excuse me, Miss!"

"Huh? Me?"

Juvia understood that she needed money. However, she had no idea how to go about getting money. And if she didn't know, she just had to ask. It could be said to be a correct decision.

The person would probably think the question was so obvious even a child could answer it, but anyway, Juvia did the right thing.

Juvia stopped a young woman with long red scarlet hair, wearing some cheap knight-armor. The red haired woman wasn't ugly by any means. In fact, she'd be considered a 'drop dead gorgeous' for a woman, but thanks to her being generally filthy, it was all wasted. At the very least, she probably wasn't a person that worked and lived in town normally.

Having to rely on someone who looked like that showed that Juvia was probably backed into a pretty tight corner.

"It's embarrassing, but I just came here from my forest, so I'm not very familiar with human towns. How do people earn money?"

"Money? … I mean, what other way is there but work? Though, I only know one place that'd suddenly hire someone nobody knows like you."

"There is one? Then please, show me to this place."

"I don't mind, but… are you sure? This isn't a place for a woman to find a job, and it can't be called good work either, even if I'm stretching it."

"I don't mind."

More than anything, Juvia needed money.

At this rate, she wouldn't be able to live in town. And if that happened, she'd have no choice but to return to the forest, which would be far too embarrassing to do after she had mouthed off like she did before leaving. It'd only been a few days since she did that, after all. If she actually returned, it was clear she'd become a laughingstock, and among elves, who had very few ways to entertain themselves, that status would last for several decades.

Humans would forget after 75 days, but elves remembered for 75 years. In other words, she'd be laughed at and ridiculed for 75 years. And that was something Juvia couldn't take.

"Then, well, I'll introduce you, but…Don't hate me for this," the red haired woman said before showing her to a dingy-looking bar.

It was dirty and reeked of booze. Juvia's first impression was one of filth. It could be summed up in that single word.

It seemed like the first floor was used as a canteen, but from the bottom of her heart, Juvia thought, It's amazing that they can stomach eating here.

It reeked of grease and fat everywhere, the stink of booze filled the air, and the men that were loitering were the worst. The stench of their cheap armor was awful, and they were stained with the stench of blood and fat.

They must not have washed in some time, as they really did smell just as much as they looked — like a bed of disease.

It stinks! It stinks! It stinks! More than anything, it stinks so bad I can't stand it!

"Wh-what is this place, a cesspool? Is the job you're introducing me to cleaning up a cesspool?"

"Hahaha, a cesspool, huh? Well, that's not wrong. In truth, there are some jobs that are close to that. If you value your life, then it is an option to just take dirty jobs like that."

"D-don't joke with me!"

"It's better than dying and being eaten before being shat out, yeah?"

The red haired woman stepped over to the counter and sat in an empty space. For a while, Juvia couldn't figure out what to do, but the red haired woman was beckoning her with her hand, so she took the seat next to the red haired woman.

The chairs were in an awful state, too. Just by sitting down, they creaked and groaned.

"Adventurers, or in other words, people who sell their lives at a massive discount. There are no conditions at all to become one. Even if you're a slave or have no physical ID and are homeless, you'll be accepted without question. However, no matter what happens, it's all your responsibility. No matter if you die or are injured, no one's going to take responsibility for it."

"It's not exactly without conditions."

The master behind the counter cut in in the middle of the red haired woman's explanation. He was a stern-faced man with his white hair all slicked back.

He started adding on to the explanation while polishing a glass.

"It's true that there are some places that accept newbies with no conditions, but at the very least, it's different here. Dying as an adventurer is the adventurer's own responsibility, but if they fail the job that was given to them, it's our reputation that suffers. That's why if you lack ability, I'll only give you stuff like chores."

"So he says. Isn't that great? Even without any ability you can at least get some chores to do."

Adventurer… Juvia had heard that word before.

In other words, they were the bottom of human society. Or, small-time punks. Or, walking dead. It wouldn't be strange for any of them to drop dead tomorrow. In fact, it was rare for adventurers to leave a corpse. That's why they didn't need burials or prayers.

It was an awful, shitty job that sounded worse the more Juvia heard about it. Just the worst occupation. That was the job of 'Adventurer'.

Juvia had no money, so she would become an adventurer. However, because she had no money, she couldn't buy a sword or armor or anything else.

And because she couldn't complete requests like that, she'd just die. If she at least had the money to get equipment, well, she wouldn't be dipping her hands into such a mob-like job in the first place.

If she had the ability to fight monsters, then she could try for being a mercenary, part of a volunteer security organization, or even a knight.

That's why all the ones who became adventurers were half-assed. Only useless people would gather, and every day their faces would change. And because the job was like that, it didn't need any sort of conditions to it.

In fact, if someone with any sort of societal status and ID were to become an adventurer and die, it would be a problem. If some noble kid became an adventurer on a lark and died because of it, that bar would be inundated with terrible rumors. Or the nobles might unleash assassins in their anger.

That's why nobody had any ID. It was better not to have one. The more one became someone no one would miss, even if they disappeared tomorrow, the more they were fit to be an adventurer. The job of adventurer was like a last bastion for those unwanted by society.

"Right then. I'll be judging your ability. Come with me to the back."

"G-got it." With a gulp, Juvia swallowed her saliva and stiffened her expression.

Juvia had some confidence in her ability to fight. Her physical strength and stamina were absolutely useless, but she was an elf. She had magic.

In the first place, elves were humans who were changed by mana, and were the race out of the seven who were most suited to magic.

Magic was an academic practice. It was made of theories and logic.

Almost all living things had mana inside of them, but to turn that into phenomena, one needed their own formulas, which were something one just didn't master in a single day or night.

For the same magic, if a human were to learn it, it would take ten-odd years to obtain, although that depended a bit on the human's natural talent. A human's average lifespan was around sixty years, so over ten years would be over 10% of their lifespan. But elves usually needed only about half the time to learn magic (it depended on the elf, though), and using that amount of time to learn magic was nothing to the long-lived elves.

That's why elves and vampires were good at magic.

And speaking of long-lived races, there was one other…

"Master, I'd like to take this job..."

A golden haired girl stopped the master just as he was about to go through the entrance to the back room and showed him a job request form.

"Oh, if it isn't the lady with the black wings. That job's pretty tough, but it shouldn't be a problem for you."

She was a very beautiful girl.

First, the proportions of her face were near perfect. It was remarkable even among elves, who were all beautiful. Then, there was her golden hair.

Her long, flowing hair was like those tails of majestic birds. Her eyes were also like bright ruby orbs. But the most striking feature of hers was the pitch-black wings that grew from her back.

Juvia had heard that the flugels all had white wings, but apparently, people like her existed.

Juvia watched her as she quickly left after stating her intentions.

Meanwhile, Juvia questioned the red haired woman.

"Who was that?"

"Ahh, you're surprised? The flugel girl is an adventurer. And a really good one, too, so there's no one here who doesn't know her."

"She's a flugel but… the color of her wings is rare, right? I'd heard that the flugels's wings were all white, but am I behind the times?"

"No, your knowledge is correct. Well, basically, she's the same as us… She has nowhere to go. At least, other than a cesspool like this."

"Well, sorry for being a cesspool! This ain't place for ladies."

The master, who had heard the redhead's comment, replied with sarcastic remark.

But Juvia didn't care; her thoughts were fixed on the black-winged girl she just saw.

The flugels prided themselves on the whiteness of their wings.

Then that meant that girl surely lost her place in her hometown. She had no other choice than to come to a human town and work as an adventurer.

When she thought that, Juvia realized how blessed she was. As well as just how little she belonged in that dingy bar… she left her forest without much thought, but she had somewhere to go back to. She'd be laughed at for 75 years, but she at least had people who would accept her.

But there was no one like that for that black-winged girl.

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