Chapter 020

"Please calm down, Mother. I'm not getting hurt because I want to."

"That's why I'm telling you to be more careful. Is it reasonable to fight against eight Warhammers on your own? You should have run away."

"Eight Warhammers?!"

The Beastmen sisters exclaimed in surprise.

It seemed they had been unaware of this fact until now.

"Hehehe. Do you now understand how amazing I am?"

For some reason, Eldmir deliberately stretched, anticipating the next moment, but it didn't make any impression.

Esrin interjected, "Seriously, are you crazy? You fought against eight Warhammers?!"

"Yes, yes. How reckless this kid was, and he fought it alone."

"Alone? Eldmir, how on earth are you still alive?!"

No, you're treating me like a ghost now.

I thought it would be like this. Damn it.

"Hey, hey. Stop making a fuss. It's okay if you're alive, right?"

"No, how is this a fuss? And what to do! Blood is seeping through your clothes here!"

With that, he checked his physical condition again, and it was indeed true.

He wasn't aware of it because he didn't feel any pain, but once he became conscious of it, the pain slowly started to rise.

The pain is also painful, but the thought of re-bandaging it made him feel annoyed.

A cold sweat ran down his back, but Eldmir tried to feign nonchalance.

"Just calm down for now. The important thing is that I'm alive, and they are only half-alive. I won. Got it?"

"…Unbelievable."

Eldmir emphasized the point that he had won and defeated half of them.

In response, the Catkin sisters, including Esrin, lost their words and looked at Eldmir with expressions as if they were seeing a ghost.

Turning his gaze away from those sisters, Eldmir sent a meaningful look toward Elysia.

'No, why bring up unnecessary stories with the kids?'

'That's right. If you don't want to create this kind of situation, do better next time.'

A silent conversation passed between the two, and Eldmir eventually sighed.

The old saying that children cannot defeat their parents is completely wrong.

How could a child defeat a parent?

So, just by listening to his mother's words, he ended up living obediently.

"Do you understand? I'm that amazing. So, you all don't need to worry and just wait here quietly. I'll have a little chat with this guy for a while."

Eldmir, who left those words, subtly gestured to Irian.

Irian, who had been watching them from a step behind, nodded and opened the door, stepping outside.

As Eldmir attempted to follow, Kelis called him to a halt.

"Hey, Eldmir."

"Yeah?"

Kelis hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Actually, I heard it from here too. The words Eldmir shouted outside."

"…Oh, really?"

All that commotion was heard?

Eldmir felt somewhat embarrassed for no reason.

He quietly considered whether he had said something unnecessary.

For some reason, Kelis blushed and said to him.

"Th-thank you."

"Huh?"

"I said thank you. In reality, we mean nothing to you… we were just, as good as enemies passing by."

Eldmir chuckled at her quiet, mosquito-like voice as she lowered her head.

He signaled to Elysia with a nod, and when Elysia confirmed by closing the door, he spoke.

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Uh… People say thank you at best, but you…!"

Kelis exclaimed and raised her head.

Her face was as red as a ripe tomato.

"From the beginning, you're the weird one! Just like the Elf said. We're your enemies. Somewhere out there, Beastmen might still be fighting your kin! …Everyone can't just treat us as guests."

"Well, I don't really think what I did was that valuable. It's something anyone could have done, just like I want to believe. My desire for that is stronger."

He removed his foot from the direction of the door and approached her slowly.

Then, he placed his hand on top of her head and gave it a somewhat rough pat.

"Uh."

"It's just that if my actions can mean something to someone, it's like a simple 'act' for me, which is not a big deal for me, can be 'help' for you guys."

"…How can that be?"

"What?"

"That what you said. Just like that Elf's parents, someone else among us might also experience something similar because of you. Aren't you afraid of that?"

Her big eyes were shaking with anxiety.

She seemed to tremble in fear, like a young child afraid of being scolded.

"Haha…"

He laughed softly and wondered how to respond.

He thought and thought again about how to comfort this delicate, thoughtful, and anxious young girl.

"You don't need to shoulder the karma of your race, Kelis."

"…!"

Eldmir briefly lowered his body, then slipped his hand between Kelis's armpits, gently lifting her.

He didn't pay attention to her surprise and, meeting her eyes, he spoke with a calm tone.

"The reason you're a royalty is simply because you're strong, or rather, because you're a War Beast. That's all. If not for that, they proved what would happen themselves. Even though they're of that race, you feel an unusual sense of responsibility."

Her own kind had already cast her aside once.

Driven by their racial instincts to overpower the weak and prove themselves as the strongest, they had bared their fangs. Nevertheless, she still thought of herself as royalty and acted as a princess.

She remained the princess of the Beastmen, and the princess of a now-extinct race who clung to herself in loneliness. Above all, she had no reason to feel guilty.

Even though they were her kin, they too had bared their fangs at her, and she could be considered a victim as well. Nevertheless, she was burdened with guilt as if her kin's mistakes were her own.

"Little one. Whether you regain your divine power, revive your race, or whatever else you do, I shouldn't say anything about that. But one thing I know better than anyone."

"…"

"Don't let responsibility devour you. Their mistakes are theirs, not yours. What you need is not to waste emotions on them but to look out for your own future."

"…"

"Find what truly matters to you, something you consider valuable. Whether it's your sister, or maybe your dream that you don't even know about. Perhaps if your dream truly involves rebuilding your race, well… it's okay to feel a little sense of responsibility."

He shrugged his shoulders and gently placed Kelis back down.

Then, he lightly patted her shoulder.

"You're an unnecessarily naive and kind person. It's okay to be a little selfish. Just as I help you for my own sake, you should also sometimes place 'you' in your principles."

"…"

He glanced at the other sisters around him.

Ersi.

Esrin.

Ketrit.

He looked at each of them one by one and grinned.

"Aren't you afraid? Of course, you are. You're probably worried that somewhere right now, your kind is harming my fellow elves."

As he said this, he felt Kelis shiver through his hand.

He tapped her shoulder a few times and then removed his hand.

"But what difference does it make? You're different from those people. You won't do that, right? So, what's there to worry about?"

They believed it was right to help them separately.

They could be friends separately from them.

——They and you are separate entities.

Eldmir said so.

"Did that answer your question? I hope it did."

With those words, he gently stroked her hair once and left the room.

Left behind in the room, she touched her own head where his hand had passed, staring at the spot where he had disappeared.

Her hair, as if clinging to her head, had turned bright red.

・・・❈・・・

Irian and Mother were already seated and engaged in conversation.

Although I had asked to speak first and waited, it seemed to take a little longer than I had expected.

Seeing me sit down next to Mother, Irian greeted me with a nod.

"How far did you get in the conversation?"

"Well, I was explaining how we ended up meeting Kelis and why we're treating those kids as guests."

"Ah, from there, huh?"

During the two days I was unconscious, they probably didn't pay much attention to the stories.

Sitting in the seat next to Mother, I inwardly clicked my tongue, and Irian looked at me.

"Eldmir, I won't bother with trivial stories like having to harm those Beastmen now because they're my parents' enemies or something like that, as you said. As you mentioned, it's just my personal grudge, and to you, they might just be guests you need to guide."

I felt that with this declaration to put aside the pent-up grudge, the conversation might go more smoothly.

As I began to have a glimmer of hope, Irian spoke again.

"That's why I want to hear your thoughts even more. I would like to think that, as I personally deal with them with personal resentment, other Elves wouldn't be much different from me. Even if they don't have the same grudge as me, they still have a relationship with them in everyday life. Eldmir, why are you able to welcome them as guests?"

Irian looked at me with a serious expression, as if he had to listen to this statement carefully.

Such doubts were reasonable.

The three sentinels of El Rien treating Kelis and her group as hostile and not understanding me were by no means coincidental, nor were they just being aggressive.

And it wasn't a misconception either.

They were simply behaving that way because it was the natural order of the world.

"Your concerns are valid. In the eyes of other Elves, it might seem like I've gone mad, leading enemies into the forest."

I nodded my head in agreement with his words.

"We can't have Elves as enemies among my guests. If we make a mistake, it could create a situation that threatens our village, our kin, and even the World Tree."

I chuckled softly after saying that.

It was a kind of irony and self-pity.

"But my thoughts are different from yours. In the grand scheme of things, Beastmen may be our enemies. However, to consider those children as enemies just because they are Beastmen? No, it's not right."

I met Irian's gaze head-on as I said this.

"Thanks to the brothers, the peace of the forest has been preserved. I'm well aware of their efforts. When I think about what my brothers have dedicated to the forest for centuries, even a thousand thank-yous wouldn't be enough. But you see, why have we, until now, known nothing but preservation?"

Irian's brows furrowed at this sudden point I made.

"What do you mean by 'nothing but preservation'? That's an absurd statement."

"Either they just protect it, or sometimes they attack and retaliate. Isn't it too barbaric to see it as the way of the elves?"

"It's not… We've tried to interact with other races several times to spread the teachings of the forest. We've shown mercy to those who intrude upon the forest and spread the benefits of the forest to those outside. That statement is nothing but an insult to our entire race. It just means you're forgetting who you are."

Irian responded sharply with a clear voice.

But his tone didn't carry anger; it was filled with a determination to logically counter my thoughts.

It must be because he had a negative view of my usual way of thinking.

However, I shook my head.

"You seem to have misunderstood the essence of my words. Even though I'm just a youth who hasn't even undergone the Coming of Age ceremony, I'm still a respectable Elf who has received the teachings of the forest. I'm not ignorant of the mercy that Elves show to the forest's enemies. However…"

Should I say it?

A small doubt began to surface within me.

This was one of the doubts and conflicts that I had carried and pondered over for twenty years while growing up in the Elf village.

I had harbored doubts about the Elven race, and if others heard, they might consider my thoughts unreasonable and dangerously heretical.

For the first time, I began to slowly articulate the thoughts that I had kept locked away in my heart.

"My point is that we are Elves. Not Beastmen, not Orcs, nothing else. We are a race that values harmony as a virtue."

And finally, my long-held frustration and doubt found their way out.

"We are such a race. Since when did we become so closed off as a race?"