Dear Elven Citizens
Dear elven citizens.
"Bwahahaha!!! My babies!!! Come here!!!"
"Um… is this right?"
"I have no idea…"
Faced with the utterly absurd sight of a little girl who looked no older than a lower-grade elementary schooler stretching out her arms and talking exactly like someone's grandfather, the two siblings sat down beside Estel in a state of pure bewilderment, frozen in awkward silence.
Estel had explained everything that had happened since she arrived in this world, but the two of them had barely absorbed half of it. Every time they tried to focus, those long ears would twitch and those chubby cheeks would work as she spoke, and concentration simply became impossible.
"Uh… so who's who again?"
"I'm Hyunsoo, and that's Hanhee."
"Yes, Grand…father?"
"That's right! Ugh… this one's the big one, and that one's the little one! Yes! My babies! Didn't you miss your grandpa at all?!"
"We did miss you, but we never expected to see you like this."
"Same."
Wedged between the two siblings, jabbing a finger at each of them and laughing with boisterous delight, Estel sounded exactly like their grandfather — but the appearance of the person saying those words left the two of them clutching their heads, at a complete loss for how to react.
"Uh… um…"
"Right, and who are you supposed to be?"
"Ah, hello… Nice to meet you. But are you really… the chairman of Hansung Corporation…?"
Once Estel learned who her visitors were, she had Tene — who had been sitting blankly out in the plaza — brought in as well. Tene had entered the room but hadn't quite dared approach the gathered Evergarden family, lingering at the edges and fidgeting with her fingers as she carefully addressed Estel.
"Of course! I built that place up from a hole-in-the-wall shop all the way to what it became!"
Estel nodded with a smile at the sight of her.
"Whoa… th-that's so wild…! I've only ever seen you on the news for embezzlement or corruption scandals!"
"…Ha, haha…! How old are you again? You've got some nerve for a little kid… Ahem—hem…"
But the reply that came back, though entirely free of malice, was a razor-sharp dagger that dug straight into his most sensitive spot, and Estel nearly dropped the cigarette in her hand.
"Wow… I've never seen a kid say something like that with a smile."
"…Still, she's a good kid."
They looked slightly horrified at Tene's sunny smile as she lobbed her verbal grenades — but the truly terrifying part was knowing she genuinely meant no harm at all.
"Ahem…! Former Chairman. I never imagined even you would end up here. When I first saw that logo I wondered, but I never thought the former chairman himself would actually show up…"
"Bah… drop the 'former chairman' nonsense! Just call me Grandpa."
"…Yes, Grandfather."
"Sir, by the way, how on earth did you end up in a body like—"
"You're telling me. It's a young body, sure, but of all the bodies it could have been…"
"…Pfft, bwahahaha!! No, seriously, I was trying to hold it in…! Oh my god, hahahaha!!! What even is that!!"
Across from them, Darian — who had been fighting to keep a straight face — finally lost the battle and exploded with laughter. In his past life, Estel had always been a big, imposing figure who carried himself with the freewheeling swagger of a real man's man despite his high station. Seeing him now, sitting in a chair with his legs dangling in midair because they couldn't reach the floor, was simply too much.
"Tsk. Well. Looking at that display, you really are our grandson's wife."
"That complete lack of filter — just like him."
Estel clicked her tongue as she watched Darian double over, clutching his stomach in helpless laughter.
Even back in the modern world, the two of them hadn't exactly been enemies, but they had bickered every single time they met. Estel would click his tongue and grumble about what kind of rough tomboy had latched onto his precious grandson, and Darian would fire right back, calling him a stuffy old fogey. These days, with children in the picture, they at least managed a bit of banter — after all, Estel (from a grandfather's perspective) had adorable great-grandchildren in Rosaria and Felix. But when Freya had announced she was marrying Darian and stormed out of the family, Estel had felt the blood rush to his head in pure rage.
"Haaah…! Looking at you now, I wonder if your sons would even believe it… bwahahaha!!"
"This is really…! Good grief! That woman is our grandson's wife? Our grandson is way, waaaay too good for her! Tsk…"
"Grandfather, to be honest, I'm barely holding it in myself."
"…………Aigoo. Not a single soul I can trust."
"B-but you're cute! And cute is the strongest power there is, right?"
"Yes, as expected, only my great-grandchildren—"
"I-I turned into a girl too! Grandfather, if you just age a little you'll grow up qui—"
"*whisper* Elves take at least a hundred years here just to reach middle-school size, so maybe don't say that."
"Ah…"
"Enough, enouuugh!!! That's enough idle chatter — tell me your stories already!!"
Just as Estel had been about to tear up, moved by her great-grandchildren's attempts to comfort her, she instead discovered that there was truly no one she could trust — and bellowed.
"…I see. I'm starting to get the picture."
Once the chaos had settled, Estel nodded thoughtfully as she properly exchanged information with Freya.
"Do you have a plan going forward?"
"As I mentioned earlier, our first goal is to raise the standard of the territory to a certain level."
"Good. Best to get the home base in some kind of order before making any moves — it's a complete mess right now."
"This world isn't the one we knew. Act rashly and you could end up in serious trouble."
"For someone saying that, Grandfather, you seem to have moved rather abruptly yourself."
"Grandson, try living here for a few days. These long-eared slugs will keep living exactly like this for a thousand years — ten thousand years — if someone doesn't force the issue."
"I moved this fast because I had some… special circumstances of my own."
"Still, thanks to you moving the way you did, we were able to find you. I'm grateful for that."
"Yes… By the way — Tene, was it?"
"Yes?"
"This friend of yours has been quite the help, I take it. When I saw that enormous lizard out the window, I swear my heart dropped straight into my stomach."
The memory was still vivid for Estel. She had been buried in work, having converted the elders' meeting hall into a temporary office, when an overwhelming pressure she had never felt before suddenly filled the air. She had scrambled deeper into the building and watched Tene from a distance. Her heart had clenched tight; her ears had pounded wildly. Even with a vast stretch of ground still between them, her so-called sixth sense had screamed at dozens of times its normal sensitivity, shrieking at her to run — and all she could do was force herself not to.
"Elves seem especially sensitive to that sort of thing. Is it still bad?"
"That old man Gordon said it, didn't he? It's exactly as he put it — a strong, unpleasant sensation, like watching something that isn't human wearing a human shell and playing at being one."
Unlike Freya, who felt nothing unusual when Tene was in human form, Estel — with pure elven blood running through her veins — could still sense that ominous aura even through the Polymorph that hid Tene's true shape.
"Still, knowing what she really is, I can relax a little."
"I'm not a… lizard…"
The only reason Estel could remain so composed was that she knew this terrifying being had, in truth, been a modern high school student. Watching that fearsome monster wilt and look dejected at being called a lizard was almost enough to make her laugh out loud.
"She's been a tremendous help, though. Knowing this world was built on modern creative works means the strongest being — the one who only appears in the final stages — is on our side. That alone lets us prepare for the future with some breathing room."
"And as a combat asset, she's outstanding. It took us less than thirty minutes to get from our territory all the way to the Great Forest."
"Ooh… now that is deeply interesting. Transportation in this world is still abysmal except for a handful of special cases. Just thinking about the sales routes we could lock down first is already flooding me with ideas!"
Looked at the other way, the advantages of having such a terrifying being on their side were overwhelming. The current situation was far closer to the best-case scenario than the worst.
"I've got a good idea."
"Pardon?"
"The elves have enjoyed thousands of years of peace, and today's unprecedented events have thrown them into complete chaos."
"And right now, in the middle of all that, I've thought of a way to cleanly resolve this situation and skyrocket the elves' support for me."
Thinking of the elves outside the door — bewildered and uncertain because they didn't know the full truth — Estel smiled with quiet satisfaction.
"You — Tene? Is it all right if I call you Tene?"
"Yes! Um… then what should I call you? Chairman? Sir?"
"Heh heh. Just call me Grandpa."
"Ah, okay! Grandpa!"
"Now then, Tene — there's something this grandpa would like to ask of you…"
"…?"
And with an exceedingly gentle smile, Estel looked at Tene and opened her mouth.
"What's going on inside right now?"
"They say the princess is talking with the dragon and the humans who control it!"
"Honestly, I never thought I'd live to see something like this…"
"World Tree… what is to become of us…"
Outside the royal palace.
Word had spread like wildfire that a dragon had invaded the Great Forest, entered the palace, and was now speaking with the Third Princess. Countless elves had gathered before Helio Plaza — the heart of the Great Forest's capital — murmuring among themselves in a fog of anxiety.
For elves who had grown soft over thousands of years of peace, this was a profoundly shocking event.
A dragon invaded!
And humans came with it!
They say the humans even tamed the dragon!
That's ridiculous!
But the ones the princess sent to the human territory last time came back with them!
What if… the humans dragged a dragon into this for revenge?
Then what happens to the Great Forest?
Wherever people gathered and mouths multiplied, countless stories and rumors tangled with tiny fragments of truth, spawning endless speculation. Still, every elf assembled there shared one feeling: fear.
What was happening inside that palace? What was the princess thinking? Was the dragon about to burst out at any moment and make a meal of them all?
Anxiety and terror spread like a contagion, and the elves began to tremble.
And then—
Whoosh—!
"L-look over there!!! It's the dragon!!!"
"Tenebrix Nox!!!"
Something far too vast to be hidden by the royal buildings launched itself into the air, then slowly descended toward the center of the plaza with its enormous wings spread wide.
"Sh-she's going to kill us!!"
"Run!!!"
"It's over!!!!"
"Ah, am I dead?"
"It was a pretty decent elven life."
Thrown into total panic by the dragon's sudden appearance, half the elves scrambled to flee in every direction, while the other half simply froze in place and accepted their deaths.
Thoom—
Those ominous eyes. Those massive, razor-sharp claws that looked ready to split the ground at any moment. That thick, powerful tail that made a whip look like a toy every time it moved.
Tenebrix Nox set her feet down in the center of the plaza the elves had emptied, settled into place, and looked down upon them.
And then—
"…What is that?"
"Prin…cess?"
"Everyone, look up there!!!"
At the voice ringing down from high above, the elves turned their heads — and pointed toward the forehead of Tenebrix Nox.
"I, Third Princess of the Elven Race, Celebrian Estelle, am here!!!!!!"
There she stood — the elves' own princess, Estel — spine straight, presence commanding, her voice ringing out for all to hear.