47 – Elf Top
Not all fairy tales end with ‘Happily Ever After’.
In fact, old fairy tales often had terrible endings. Fairy tales were written to teach children about good and evil, and it was easier to make them not do something than to make them do something.
For this reason, the essence of persuasion and punishment was not persuasion but punishment.
Children who lived in an era of punishment had to live in a scary world where wolves and clowns laughed to eat people.
The forest is a scary place. So, don’t go into the forest carelessly. Little Red Riding Hood was eaten by a wolf to teach her that. He was a poor child who was just thinking about his sick grandmother.
Pinocchio was hanged on a tree branch, the Little Mermaid was blown into foam and the girl in the red shoes had her ankles cut off.
This is because the taboo was violated.
There were many things in the world that should not be done. Adults had a duty to ‘protect their children’ and had to keep them in a safe enclosure, even if it meant scaring them, rather than letting them fall into danger.
So the fairy tale was written. To scare the child. To make children who realize how scary this world is, hide in a corner and crouch.
It was clearly good intention, not malice, and kindness, not callousness.
For a child who should just be curious about the world, it was too cruel.
I hoped that all fairy tales would have a happy ending. I wanted my child to see the world not as a scary, dark place where she didn’t want to enter, but as a playground full of joyful surprises.
『Even if it is a fairy tale, the world is not a fairy tale, right? Mermaid is not the main character of a fairy tale! I don’t quite understand….』
“Fairy tales are the world that children see. It is the role of adults to change the world.”
All fairy tales begin with transformation.
It ends with a new daily life.
The reason why medieval fairy tales were cold and cruel was because everyday life in the Middle Ages was cold and cruel. The world that adults should teach children is just that.
So, first we had to change the world.
A place where Pinocchio can watch the circus with peace of mind. To a place where Little Red Riding Hood can walk through the forest with peace of mind.
The Little Mermaid can confess to the prince even though she loses her voice and has no legs.
To such a world.
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『That’s not too extreme in another sense… ? It’s also sudden! Honestly, it’s just because the mermaid is pretty, right?
“Can you please not break the immersion…? I’m working.”
『It’s because Lane keeps muttering strange thoughts! What does mermaid have to do with fairy tales?』
Regardless of whether the expression ‘muttering’ one’s thoughts is correct.
Honestly, Sharp’s opinion was correct.
『I’m always right, right?』
Well, anyway, that’s it for this time.
For the first time in a while, I actually encountered a mermaid who resembled the Little Mermaid from a fairy tale.
I guess it was fun because it felt like I was in a fairy tale book. It’s a little embarrassing, but it was related to the romance I had.
Change a story with a sad ending to a happy ending.
Once upon a time, I wrote a short novel with the concept of ‘The Little Mermaid Learning Sign Language’. It wasn’t a very interesting article, though.
『Rain keeps saying that, so I’m curious about something…. Can you tell me the fairy tale called ‘The Little Mermaid’ that was in Lane’s hometown?』
“Fairy tale-telling is also good… I’ll organize it and tell it to you tonight.”
Would you like to become a children’s book author when you retire from your organization?
Or, while I usually write my own writing, I occasionally invite neighborhood children over and tell them fairy tales. I think it would be fun either way.
Of course, this is assuming that the children don’t hate or fear me because I’m half human and half demon.
I felt a little sad when I thought about children hating me.
『By the way, Rain.』
“Huh?”
『Didn’t you say you were going to church?』
“That’s right?”
『This is the top, right?』
“Honestly, I want to go there last… But I need to borrow a few things first.”
The peak I visited was the equinox of the ‘Golden Wind’ peak, the largest peak on the continent.
As it is a port city with active trade, most merchants have branches here. Golden Wind was one of them.
There was one very unique thing about this top.
All the senators at the top of ‘Golden Wind’….
『You’re an elf?』
It’s an elf.
That race with long ears and blond hair. The president of the academy where I briefly worked was also a high elf.
‘Were there elves even in the mythical era?’
『Of course! They are the children of the World Tree! I didn’t have a very good relationship with the Temple of Whetstones and Cutlery. The elves… I hated sharp axes! Oh my god, how can that be? It makes no sense to hate cutlery, really.』
Elves seem to have been roughly similar even in the mythical era.
I approached the elf who was looking at me blankly from the stand. And the ‘branch manager’ said he was sorry and took out the token he had sent as a gift.
The elf who was wary of me, half human and half demon, looked surprised when he saw the ‘mark’.
“I’m trying to get some stuff.”
“The pirate’s promise… Did you bring something rare?”
“Here is a list of things you need.”
“Hmm? It’s not difficult… Are you really going to use the ‘Pirate’s Promise’ to save this?”
“As you can see, it’s half human and half horse.”
“Aha. Yes, the request has been confirmed.”
A pirate’s promise.
This is a mark that allows you to place a request at the top of ‘Golden Wind’ only once. It was similar to the gold plaque I received from the emperor.
The difference is that the gold plate receives ‘unconditional support’, but the ‘pirate’s promise’ is that even if something is requested with this, a fair price must be paid.
『But why is the name Pirate’s Promise?』
That’s because the predecessor of the ‘Golden Wind’ was the pirates.
『Yes?』
We live in an era where even the concept of the ecosystem is not properly understood. To races other than ‘elves’, trees had no value beyond lumber.
Of course, countless mountains periodically became bare mountains.
The elves who regard the World Tree as their mother… I have been working on the recording business for a very long time.
The problem is that the recording business was a money-consuming monster in many ways. No matter how much help the spirits received, there were limits to normalizing the ecosystem with the elves’ manpower alone.
In addition, there were some lords who were reluctant to carelessly plant trees in their territory. If there is a forest, the possibility of demons creating a nest increases. To be honest, I found it a bit embarrassing.
Anyway, for that reason, the elves devised various methods to protect the forest.
The result was the establishment of a pirate group.
『Why does that happen?!』
Simply put, the elves needed money. But the problem was that the elves had no proper way to make money.
The things elves could do were completely far from ‘productive work’.
You might think that because they have the ability to make plants grow, they can give a good harvest to farmland, but from the elf’s perspective, there was no difference between cutting down trees or harvesting grains.
However, they were not reluctant to become bandits because it meant polluting the sacred forest.
As a result of the elves trying various things….
The one that achieved the highest profits was the ‘Elf Pirates’.
『What should I say… Even in this era, elves… It’s an elf….』
The synergy between the elf and pirate professions was better than expected.
Elves are beings who receive the blessings of all spirits. No other ship could follow the ship whose sails were led by the wind spirit, and with the water spirit protecting it, there was no need to fear the damn waves of the sea.
The elves who had been plundering so many ships suddenly realized something.
There is no need to steal goods from the merchants, and the fact that they can make much greater profits if they lead the trade through their own ships….
『Isn’t it a little late to realize this?! Usually, it’s better to try moderate measures first….』
‘Well, because I’m an elf.’
『Ah, I see.』
The elves took advantage of their experience as pirates and founded a business.
The top that was created in that way was the ‘Golden Wind’ top.
Honestly, it was a bit awkward for other merchants… Even if the business was changed from merchant to piracy, piracy was not impossible, so complaints from other merchants were quickly put to rest.
That was the secret story of the birth of the Golden Wind Merchant Marine, the ‘richest merchant on the continent.’
For reference, it is said that half of the profits from the top of Golden Wind are used for greening projects. Now, instead of chasing away humans entering the forest with arrows, the elves were able to purchase forests and mountains and exercise their legitimate rights to private land to drive out humans.
In the end, it could be said that a peaceful compromise was found.
As a result, exchanges between elves and other races also became active. One of the influences was that the academy’s president was a high elf.
『If I were a priest of flames and bellows, this is a story that would make me want to set the World Tree on fire.』
‘Is that so?’
On Earth, the country even issued capture licenses to pirates and encouraged piracy.
Of course, it disappeared with the end of the Age of Exploration.
『What on earth is Lane’s hometown?』
‘Where people live.’
Well, anyway.
Now that it has happened.
It was time to visit the church that I had been putting off.