13. Elf Zion and Yumina
“Shield!”
With a powerful shout from behind, a golden shield appeared in front of the siblings.
The fierce wolf collided with the shield, its violent momentum halted with a thud, emitting a menacing sound.
Its backbone was broken.
‘Here she is!’
The shaman’s expression brightened at her arrival.
But the relief was short-lived. There were two more wolves left.
“Children, get down!”
As soon as they heard her scream, the boy and the girl didn’t even look back and just collapsed onto the snowy ground.
Sharp arrows cutting through the air were shot one after another.
The arrows were so fierce that they seemed more like bullets, piercing through the bodies of the remaining two.
The impact was undeniably effective.
Though they were as big as their stature, even if they might not have died, the arrows deeply embedded into their skin made them realize the threatening attackers.
“Keaah!”
“Kkiing, kkiing!”
Covered in blood, they fled in haste.
“…….”
Even as they quickly ran away tail between their legs, she remained vigilant until the end, not letting her guard down.
Complacency against monsters is never allowed.
Even giants often fall victim to blind arrows and teeth.
Once their figures were completely engulfed and disappeared in the snowstorm,
she let out a long sigh.
“Haah.”
She approached the two siblings who were lying on the snowy ground.
She reached out her hand to them.
“Are you both okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?”
“Uh, well, that, um.”
The boy and the girl hesitated.
But soon, they grabbed Irina’s hand, stood up, and expressed their gratitude.
“T-Thank you….”
At their words, Irina smiled broadly.
“You don’t need to thank me. It’s the gods who helped, not me.”
“G-Gods?”
“Yeah.”
The children seemed puzzled, not quite understanding.
As she answered, a smile crept onto her lips as she glanced back at the extinguished campfire.
That was it.
The deeds of her god, whom Irina followed.
***
“Let’s go to the square, kids.”
“The square?”
“Yeah. That’s where I live. You also came here to find the flow of magic, right?”
“Oh, yes! That’s right! We felt a quite abundant flow of mana here!”
…The flow of magic?
It seems like they heard something important in their conversation.
‘Could it be that there’s a reason why the elves have started appearing one by one here?’
[Yes. More precisely, for the elves residing in the World Tree, finding their origins, their mothers, is as natural a phenomenon as it gets.]
It seemed that the elves were quite adept at sensing the flow of mana around them.
There was something to gain from listening carefully to their conversation.
But while his ears were tuned to the conversation between Irina and the little ones, Han’s eyes were fixed on a completely different place.
“I should at least confirm where those Dire Wolf fellows went.”
Unbeknownst to many, Han could multitask just like when he used his phone for multitasking.
As if listening to the radio, his ears eavesdropped on Irina’s situation, while his eyes scanned the surroundings.
Currently, Han was deeply engrossed in his exploration.
Bright red bloodstains stood out vividly against the white snowfield.
The colors contrasted sharply, making them visible from afar.
Of course, the Dire Wolves showed considerable amount of bleeding.
Some arrows had even struck their faces directly, indicating a likely fatal outcome, but for safety’s sake, confirmation was necessary.
“But it seems to have been in vain. They’ve gone so far that they’re already out of my sight.”
To bleed so much and still survive and move away unscathed.
Monsters are indeed monsters.
Since designating his race as an Elf, Han’s focus had now shifted to Irina.
As a result, he could no longer see the vast surroundings.
It was regrettable but unavoidable.
“For now, they probably won’t be coming back. I might have to be content with this for now.”
Han decided to lower his guard for a moment.
He shifted his gaze back to Irina.
She was in the midst of taking the two little ones back to the central square.
Pointed.
The two children, with their characteristic long and pointed Elf ears, gazed intently in one direction.
“I can feel the mana better than before.”
“Is there really a World Tree over there?”
The children raised their hands, pointing.
“Yeah. Of course. Right now, it’s still at the level of a small sapling, but you’ll definitely love it when you see it. Plus, there are apple trees and mushroom trees growing abundantly, so you won’t have to worry about food at all!”
“Wow! Apples! Mushrooms!”
At those words, the children’s ears wagged up and down even faster.
As if it was a sight that clearly expressed their excitement.
“But what are apples? I know mushrooms, but…”
“Yeah. They’re very big, red, and delicious fruits. They’re as sweet as honey.”
“Wow! Like honey?!”
At that, their long ears shook even more vigorously, like flapping wings.
“How fascinating.”
While Han focused on the conversation, he observed the children closely.
Thanks to Irina, Han now had a chance to examine the two children in detail.
“They’re all so cute. Of course, it’s a given that children are cute, but these ones are exceptionally so.”
Han is also fond of children.
Sometimes, when taking a walk in the neighborhood park, he would see kids from the nearby elementary school playing together.
However, the appearance of these kids was so exceptionally well put together that he had never seen anything like it before.
It was like a miniature version of a fairy tale couple.
Their appearance was so splendid that it could be described as something to look forward to.
“Of course, it’s because they’re elves, right? Elves are known for their exceptional beauty compared to humans, a common knowledge spread widely through the hunters’ grapevine.”
This was the first time Han had encountered another race of elves besides Irina.
That’s why she was even more intrigued.
As Han watched the children closely, Irina suddenly added, as if a thought had just struck her, “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Irina.”
“I’m Zion! And this is my little sister, Yumina!”
“Oh, hello….”
Zion and Yumina.
The two little ones seemed quite contrasting in their demeanor.
Zion, the boy, exuded confidence, as seen when he faced the wolves before, while Yumina, the girl, appeared rather timid.
Even as she greeted them, Yumina clung tightly to Zion’s hand, hiding behind him.
She still seemed pale, perhaps from the shock earlier.
“hahahaha. They’re both adorable.”
Irina found their actions cute and merely ruffled the kids’ heads.
Then it happened.
Pointing towards a grassy field in the distance, Irina said, “Oh, there. That’s towards the central square.”
“Wow!”
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They pushed through the snow and made their way to the urban square.
There, they were met with a vast expanse of greenery spread out at a distance.
Above the snow, the sight of lush greenery and abundance was the only one to be seen, leaving the two children in awe.
Perhaps due to the excitement, the children’s ears perked up and moved vigorously, as if they had never seen such a sight before.
Without thinking, the kids shouted excitedly.
“Grass! And there are trees! It’s all green!”
“I-I’ve never seen so much grass before! Amazing!”
And then it happened.
Ding!
A message popped up.
[Congratulations!]
[You have successfully completed the second special event, ‘Encounter’!]
[As a reward for completing the special event, a new item, ‘Plush Straw Bed,’ has been unlocked!]
Finally, the message for completing the event appeared.
“…A plush straw bed?”
Han expressed doubt at the unexpected reward.
“If it’s a bed, why not just give a regular one, this is a bit…”
[This is not fair.]
Whenever it comes to fairness, it’s all about fairness, fairness.
Just because of that, those young kids almost died earlier.
If we just loosen up a bit, where’s the harm?
[It’s impossible. It’s not fair.]
“Ah, really!”
But Han, who was complaining, quickly realized something.
Wait, when you think about it, this world was a place where even a decent bed was hard to come by.
I wondered if the elves had ever seen a proper bed in a place like this.
[That’s right… Beds are not considered very important to the beings in this world. Survival takes precedence above all else, so it’s not uncommon to sleep on the cold ice floor.]
‘Is that so….’
I had anticipated it, but it was a rather bitter revelation.
The system wasn’t unfair.
In other words, it meant that this world was so harsh that it could be expressed as unfair to that extent.
[Additionally, it should be noted that in this world, straw mats are more practical than simple beds.]
“Is that so?”
[Yes. However, further explanation would deviate from fairness.]
Well, that’s enough information.
Han decided to take it positively.
At least he had made an effort.
From the system’s perspective, he had made some effort, so to speak.
‘Well, let’s just leave that reward for later and focus on helping the kids adapt to this environment for now.’
The children, setting foot in a place where only Irina had lived, marveled as if in disbelief.
“Wow… I’ve never seen such a vast green field since I was born. There are many tall trees grown as well….”
Yumina, who had been hiding behind Zion, also curiously peeked out and asked cautiously.
“Could you have grown all these plants by yourself?”
“Uh-uh. No.”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t grow them all by myself, actually. There are others here with me. Just like you received help earlier.”
“…Help? From whom?”
At that, the children briefly met each other’s eyes.
It was a completely foreign sound to them as children.
“Just now, did you see the fire appear in front of you? That’s the evidence that protected you from the wolves. It’s the work of the god.”
“God… you say?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded.
She just smiled at the two kids who were looking at her in confusion.
In fact, this was a natural reaction.
Unless experienced firsthand several times, it wouldn’t make much sense even if explained.
“Well, let’s focus on looking at the World Tree now.”
However, Irina, with just a bright smile, guided the two children inside.
Soon, the children faced a small sapling in the central square.
A small broccoli, hidden as if concealed behind the thick apple and mushroom trees.
They stopped in front of it, mouths agape.
“World Tree… A truly living World Tree.”
Tears welled up in the eyes of the children as they looked at the small sapling, which had grown to about their height.
For the elves, it had always been conveyed as something very precious, enough to bring great excitement at first sight.
“Why do tears keep coming?”
“Ahhh!”
Zion sniffled.
The girl next to him, Yumina, seemed unable to contain the overwhelming emotion anymore and began to cry out loud.
“It’s truly amazing. This is what adults have only heard about in words…”
They murmured with faces soaked in indescribable emotion.