94. Someday
It wasn’t long before the land of the elves was known to the world.
Only one hundred years. It had only been a hundred years since the official establishment of diplomatic relations between humans and elves. It was because it was blocked by the Songgot Mountains, notorious for being rugged, rising high like a huge wall.
The Songgot Mountains are rugged. It is an isolated space, and the monsters living there are overflowing with monsters that do not belong anywhere, and are no different from pure wildness itself.
The monsters that survived in the rough natural environment that has not yet been touched by humans are different from the other monsters in the forest.
To Adrien, a little elf living in a small forest village next to a mountain range, these cruel and ferocious monsters were just a toy and an interesting subject that caught his attention as a child.
“Mister! Hello!”
As Little Adrienne greeted her vigorously, the patrol guarding the border between the village and the mountain range stroked her head.
“Adrien, are you going out today?”
“hehehe…. Yes!”
“Write…. Today….”
The patrolman looked at the dense forest for a while, then nodded and opened the door.
“Come back to town on time, Adrien. If you’re late again, your mother will be worried.”
“Ahahahaha…. Uh… Rum… !”
“Adrien, you mean…. As my older sister tells me, the forests of Songgot Mountains are always dangerous. You don’t know when and where monsters might pop out….”
“Oh, yes! I know!”
Adrien, who was excited about the long-awaited outing in the forest, listened to the words of the ranger in one ear and ran down the narrow forest path.
The monsters in the mountain range became noisy for a while, so I couldn’t come out to the forest for a while.
For young Adrien, the forest was simply a collection of interesting things. Everywhere they went, they were full of new things, and the beings they had never seen before were enough to interest the young elf.
“Wow….”
For example, yes. Like these big footprints clearly imprinted on the floor.
“Ugh…. Is it a bloody rake bear… ? It’s not….”
Little Adrien, who had been running around the forest for a while, saw the footprints of the newly discovered monster and her eyes lit up.
Adrien, who was crouching down and examining the footprints that seemed to have just been engraved, eventually began to follow them.
The footprints were not those of a single monster. Adrien, who was following the scattered footsteps, suddenly felt a sense of incongruity.
“Uh… ?”
The footprints of countless monsters were followed along the trail in the forest that Adrien often used.
Adrien raised his head. If these footprints are connected, if you go straight in this direction….
This direction was the direction where the village was located.
Adrien ran. He fell, got a bruised knee, got a scratch from a branch, but he didn’t care.
“hehehe…. hehehe…. hehehe… !”
If you turn around here, a peaceful and quiet town as usual will appear. Obviously, it will appear.
“Ah….”
Adrien let out a short sigh.
Acrid smoke, houses reduced to ashes with the flames extinguished, bright red blood splattered here and there. Blood. Blood.
“Ah… ? Ah… ?”
Traces of being trampled by vicious monsters were left all over the town.
The monsters were nowhere to be seen.
The survivors were also invisible.
“Oh, Mom….”
Adrien could only stare blankly at the collapsed house.
She went to the forest today without permission, and this morning was no different than usual. Why on earth?
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Now, as usual, she’ll be scolded by her mother. Then, today would be a perfect day as usual.
“Ah…. Eww…. Uh….”
In young Adrien’s mind, an extreme hatred for her demons was established.
* * *
“Whew….”
Adrienne took off her hood and turned it over.
She said she would come all the way here, what a rough journey she had to go through. Looking at the huge tree in the distance, Adrien put on a relieved expression.
Since that day of her childhood, she has already passed over 20 years. Even so, it would be a mistake to say that the hatred towards monsters has disappeared.
Adrienne made up her mind to apply for her dream, the Silver Wings Patrol, today.
The Silver Wings Patrol. A group created to hunt huge monsters. It was a group that was disbanded a long time ago, but was recently re-established to prepare for the rapidly emerging threat of the Demon King’s Army.
A long time ago, even in the village where Adrien lived, there was only one ranger from the Silver Wings.
“Here…. Me too….”
Adrien, with a heart full of anticipation, set foot in Elysian, the city of spirits, the heart of the Elven Kingdom where the World Tree is located.
It was not difficult to apply for the patrol team, and entering the patrol unit was not a difficult process either.
The moment she joined the patrol was the beginning of her hardships.
Once elves reach a certain age, aging rapidly slows down. It was thanks to having a very close body with the spirits.
Thanks to that, elves were able to accumulate more information than other races while maintaining their youthful bodies for a long time.
And many of these elves ended up being so-called oldies, intoxicated with their years and indulging their arrogance.
Because the longer you live, the more experience you have accumulated.
Among other races, this was the reason why elves came to be called an arrogant and stubborn race.
A lot of absurdities. The longing of the top jockeys who have lived for several more decades. Rigorous training. A twisted and twisted culture in which you have to lead your dreamy body and stick your head in the mud even while sleeping.
‘Did I come in for this… ?’
Adrien’s mind was gradually twisted. It was good to defeat the gigantic monsters that appeared from time to time, but the vicious thirst within the patrol never ceased.
One year, two years, three years…. Finally, 10 years.
It is said that the Songgot Mountains will be lowered in 10 years.
“Hey. Can’t you do this? Uh?”
“Sorry… !”
“Haa…. You shouldn’t have to shoot your bow faster…. With only this skill, do you deserve to be called a member of the Silver Wings Patrol?”
“Sorry!”
“Hey. Done. Gather all the buds above you and below me. Today, I go through mental remodeling throughout the training session.”
Adrien, a proud and selfish old man, was finally completed like that.
* * *
“Wow….”
Unbeknownst to me, admiration came out.
“No, I…. That is…. Well, back then I was a little…. How to say…. Should I say it was a mistake in my youth….”
“No, that…. And….”
Exclamations of exclamation came out. No, I had to come out.
After hearing the biography of the old man Adrien, Adrien, who is now sitting calmly in front of me, is trying to look a little different.
“Kkondae…. You’re a kid….”
Certainly, Adrien was particularly picky and was good at finding fault with trivial matters. When I asked why, it was because she had already been properly corrected as a kkondae.
“No, but…. How many years ago was that? 10 Years ago?”
“It’s been over 10 years…. It’s already been 4 years since I joined the hero’s party.”
“No, not that…” .”
Adrien had a face wet with memories of her past, but she wasn’t what I wanted to ask.
20 Years ago…. Little Adrien, so…. If you think of Adrienne as a child, she’s roughly around 10 years old….
Twenty years there…. And, 10 years in the Silver Wing Patrol….
10 Plus 20…. 10…. Four years in the hero’s party….
… Uh?
My body was overcome with fear. The pretty elf woman sitting in front of me right now is at least the same age as my mom, something like that….
I was so afraid that I finally couldn’t stand it.
“Hey, Adrienne. I suddenly became curious, but then your age is now….”
“… Uh?”
Perhaps not expecting me to ask her age, or realizing her own mistake in detailing her year, Adrienne looked at me with her blank expression.
“… You, with my mother….”
“Now. That is. Will it matter?”
“… ….”
“Huh? Austin. Is that important now? Huh?”
“It doesn’t matter….”
“Huh? What?”
“… It doesn’t really matter. Huh. Oh~. Would you like to continue listening to the story?”
I almost died. I was so sure
I could tell that Adrienne’s fingers, wriggling as if to grab something, were just the right size to squeeze my neck.
“Kuhmm…. Anyway, I heard about your past.”
“… Sorry. It wasn’t a very nice story to hear.”
Adrien gave her a wry smile. I waved her hand and replied.
“No. No. On the contrary, I felt like I got to know more about Adrien, which was pretty good.”
“Yes…. Thank you…. Please listen to this boring story until the end….”
I lost my parents to monsters, and I became an old man because of my surroundings….
I stood up and gave Adrien a light hug. There’s nothing like a warm hug for a broken heart.
“It must have been difficult. Adrien.”
“Uh, uh, huh?! What, what, what are you doing….”
“If you don’t like it, don’t.”
“You fool…. I don’t hate….”
As we were hugging each other lightly like that, a question suddenly came to my mind.
“By the way…. I understand why you became a kkondae, but doesn’t it have little to do with how cold you were to me at parties?”
Adrien opened her eyes wide for a moment, then began to hesitate, avoiding my eyes.
Why are you acting like that all of a sudden? That’s why I wanted to know more.
“No, why? Listen? I understand why you acted like an old man, so why did you act so cold to me? Isn’t this a separate issue from becoming a kkondae?”
“That, that….”
“… Huh?”
“Eith… ! Me, I don’t know! When you’re done talking, get out!”
“Uh, uh… ?”
* * *
After Adrienne forced Austin out of her room, she returned to the table where she and Austin had just shared body heat.
‘So why have you been so cold to me? Isn’t this a separate issue from becoming a kkondae?’
Because humans, a relatively short-lived species, die sooner than elves, they distanced themselves from Austin, whom he grew attached to. Such an embarrassing fact.
“How do you say that….”
She realizes that Austin, whom she treated kindly at the party, gradually came to her eyes…. So, that she looked like that to get even further away.
Adrien, she couldn’t speak yet.
Adrien, who had been sitting in her chair for a while, suddenly realized one thing.
“… Ah. Right.”
What Austin said, the groundbreaking way to solve it without returning to the warrior party, that she hadn’t heard yet.
“Ah… I don’t know…. I’ll have to listen later….”
Blaming himself for kicking Austin out too soon, Adrienne, sullen, threw her body onto her bed.
“I can’t tell you yet…. But….”
But someday.
The day will come when I can confidently speak to Austin.
I wanted to believe that the elf came to understand the other person’s feelings a little.