Volume 12 Chapter 4 The Hardship Elf’s Tale of Adventure ①
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Truly… if the master is that way, then of course the apprentice is the same,” I muttered as I watched their backs vanish beyond the gate I had forced open into the Realm of Man.
Soyuz—so the human adventurer called himself. When I learned that he was Lucia’s apprentice, I could scarcely believe my ears. That Lucia, raising and training a human? Even now, I struggle to understand it. At best, she was free-spirited; at worst, a selfish, reckless Elf. The thought that such a woman could nurture a child of man seemed impossible. If she had simply treated him as a servant, making him fetch and carry like a slave, I might have accepted it.
But to hear that a human endured her training—that I could not credit. I remembered when my father, the Village Chief, ordered Lucia to train the young of our village. She did not hold back, not even in practice. Many Elves nearly died under her hand. My brother Volodya and I fared no better. In fact, we suffered more, because she singled us out and forced apprenticeship upon us. Each day we braced ourselves for death under her merciless regimen. Even now, recalling it, my body trembles. Somehow, we survived.
And yet, she had trained a human—one who could not even commune with spirits. To raise him as a warrior? It seemed unthinkable.
I had to amend my judgment: without doubt, Soyuz was Lucia’s apprentice. His skills as an adventurer, his ruthless way of fighting—willing to use any dirty trick, shameless though it might be for a warrior—all were hers. And, above all, he lacked the common sense and good judgment expected of humankind. In that, he was her mirror image.
The first time we met, he mistook me for Volodya. Rage distorted his face as he drew his sword and unleashed a killing intent so intense it nearly split me in two. That fury, that merciless resolve—I had no doubt then. He had absorbed Lucia’s teaching even more deeply than we had.
That any mere human survived her—and, worse still, came to revere her—is beyond comprehension. Surely, he too carries grave flaws within him. Perhaps he is not a proper human at all.
* * *
Lucia.
Once the greatest warrior of our village—and the greatest source of our troubles. None contributed more, and none caused such harm. The village is gone now, reduced to ashes, yet when I trace the chain of blame, her reckless acts lie at the root. Truly, she was both our strength and our ruin.
”…And yet, for me, her apprentice, to think such thoughts—perhaps it is presumptuous,” I whispered bitterly.
Regardless, our present crisis allows no indulgence in memory. After the war, our already-dwindling kin were further thinned. Should conflict with humans erupt again, our race may not survive. We must strike down those arrogant men and avenge our people. Soyuz can scour the Realm of Man. I will hunt this side with equal resolve. With their power, they may yet breach this world again.
* * *
Days passed swiftly as I searched the Elf Realm, though progress proved meager. The fault lay within our own society. We have no nations like men, only scattered villages, each self-ruled. Only in great wars do the Village Chiefs gather and unite. In truth, our race lacks cohesion.
Thus, when I warned of peril, most cared little. Some even cast me out as a nuisance. Many said only, “They were fools to deal with outsiders; that is why their village burned.” Yes. Elves, long-lived as we are, care little for worldly affairs. We are not quite decadent, but deeply conservative.
My father’s generation, and those before, had fought human wars. Those who bore such scars now refused even to speak of men. Their wars had been fierce indeed. Yet for that very reason, we must not repeat such folly.
Humans advance ceaselessly. Centuries ago, we outmatched their numbers through spirit power. But today? I doubt we could. Their ingenuity races ahead. That device the bandits carried, which sealed spirit power—that alone proves how far they’ve come.
Lucia once said something like this:
> “The more you learn of humans, the more fascinating—and terrifying—they are. Never make them your enemy. They lack our long lives, but they are far more diligent and cunning. In a few centuries, Elves may lose even our quality of superiority. If we wait until then, it will be too late. Better to know them now, and seek friendship, not rivalry.”
Over a hundred years ago, when she slipped away to the Realm of Man and was scolded by my father, I once asked her why she pursued humans so eagerly. That was her reply.
Now, at last, I begin to grasp her meaning. Humans are indeed fascinating—and terrifying. I spent decades among them as an “adventurer,” and most I met were nothing like the monsters of old tales. Many became true friends. They were curious, passionate, and their knowledge broadened my own. Their devotion to food alone borders on madness. How can they care so deeply for taste? Even that bewilders me.
Of course, I also met incomprehensible men, and wicked ones. Soyuz embodies the incomprehensible; the bandits who attacked my village, the wicked.
The tragedy that befell my home could befall another. That I cannot allow. At the very least, as an Elf who suffered this calamity, I cannot afford to fall behind that incomprehensible, shameless human who surrounds himself with young girls as though it were nothing.
No. I will not.
Notes:
• Volodya – A mysterious and powerful elf, never seen by Soyuz before, who seeks to purge Lucia. He exudes killing intent and is strong enough to intimidate Soyuz.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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