Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Elf, Frailty.
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Elf. Guardian of nature.
They possess a distinctive beautiful appearance and long ears.
And they excel with bows... They cherish life so much that they don't eat animals...
That's the setup. A standard one you see in most fantasy novels.
And just like in other novels, the relationship between humans and elves in this world wasn't great either.
Humans prosper by exploiting nature.
Elves can only survive if nature itself exists intact.
In other words, they're complete opposites from the start. Like water and oil, they can't mix.
Even in relatively peaceful eras when exchanges between humans and elves were smooth, conflicts kept arising.
There were humans who tried to enslave elves, and humans are inherently a race that harms a lot of lives.
Humans found elves annoying, the way they silently judged with their eyes whenever humans ate meat or chopped down a tree.
Elves would periodically put the brakes on human development projects, insisting that nature needed protection.
And when the era grew turbulent again? They fought.
That's why some people assessed it this way.
Perhaps humans and elves are even less likely to get close than beastkin and humans.
The relationship between beastkin and humans is actually simpler.
They fought like age-old enemies, and the fights always ended in human victory.
Though beastkin rights... no, beast rights? got trampled into the dirt, at least the fights stopped happening.
Now it's just one-sided oppression. Fights used to be mutual.
In contrast, humans and elves can't resolve things just by fighting it out.
Their fundamental directions clash endlessly.
Well, yeah. If they fought as viciously as with beastkin and one race got completely wiped out, it might resolve eventually.
But it's not that extreme... No justification for it.
The damage would be huge either way, and they'd face condemnation from other races.
In the end, for this situation to resolve, someone has to yield.
Humans give up using nature, or elves give up protecting it.
Is that even possible?
...It was.
The world sometimes flows in truly unpredictable directions.
Time passes. From medieval fantasy to... not quite modern, but modern fantasy was a fair description.
And with the flow of eras, technology and many other things advanced.
They invented new things using resources and found ways to extract them more efficiently and abundantly.
They advanced into undeveloped areas, gathered new resources there, and expanded human settlements.
After the last great war, humanity enjoyed unprecedented prosperity.
And at the same time, there was a race facing an unprecedented crisis.
Not the beastkin living miserable lives.
But a race that was just struggling to survive, miserably or not.
Elves.
Elf. Race of the forest. Guardian of nature.
This isn't just some flashy title.
It's something more fundamental... the very essence of the elven race itself.
It's easier to think of them as incarnations of sorts.
Nature's will to protect itself, manifested in elven form.
Therefore, naturally, elves' mission is to protect nature.
So what happens if they fail that mission?
No one holds them accountable for it.
But... it's not without any penalties.
Humans built great cities and started living alongside other races.
There were discordances, but creating spaces where they could live together with other non-humans held great significance.
Elves were in those cities too.
And the sight of elves that humans finally witnessed living alongside them... was very different from the known image.
The bodies blessed by nature!
Gone. They were just so frail. They caught illnesses at the drop of a hat, and parts of their bodies broke easily.
The distinctive beautiful appearance!
...Still remained, but the vibe was totally different.
A decadent look that made you question if this was really the appearance of a race that lived in nature.
Dark circles under their eyes, frizzy hair.
No, it was more surprising that they still looked beautiful despite all that.
And their personalities? Cherishing life, protecting nature, basically kind-hearted?
Gone. Prickly and irritable.
Amid all that, they went around protesting here and there, raising voices about protecting nature and opposing everything.
Thus, human perception of elves hit rock bottom.
Opinions arose like "I don't want to see their faces" or "If that's how it is, just go back to the forests."
If things had worsened further here, their image might have tanked worse than beastkin's, but it didn't.
The truth about the elves' current state came to light.
Elves are such a weird race.
The more nature gets destroyed, the more their bodies break down.
On the flip side, the more nature is preserved, the stronger they get.
What a scam. They're basically permanently buffed no matter what.
Nature is huge to begin with. Isn't that basically infinite lives?
The records say elves have great physical abilities. Is that why?
At first, people mocked elves, saying they got strong bodies for free and had it easy.
"Forests alone are massive. How long would it take to destroy all that?"
But hasn't a lot been destroyed already? They're clear-cutting entire mountains.
And then one bombshell question dropped.
With technological advancement, we've used a ton of nature. Hasn't it been pretty destroyed?
People chuckled at first, scrambling for rebuttals...
Yeah...?
We have done a lot over the years...?
They reached the conclusion that it seemed correct upon reflection.
I thought about it deeply.
We really have destroyed a lot of the environment.
At first I thought it was just sympathy bait for elves and tried to rebut, but...
I got nothing... Am I the only one?
When I was a kid, there was a hill behind my hometown. Went back recently and it's all cleared...
Now with portals connecting everywhere, we're stripping forests for resources, right?
They even went to where elves live, saying there are rare materials there.
And wildfires keep happening because people sneak into mountains for magic experiments.
Environment isn't just forests. Air and water too.
Factories are belching out insane smoke right now...?
Yeah, I haven't seen stars at night lately.
Sunlight barely gets through with how hazy the sky is.
They're dumping pollutants into the sea too.
Heard from someone that fish in the sea are all dying and washing up on beaches...
The second fact people learned.
Humans had destroyed more nature than they thought.
In other words, elves' health had deteriorated more than expected.
And it was worsening in real time, even faster.
Asked an elf about their physical condition.
Can't sleep well at night.
Basically lethargic.
Sometimes get dizzy for no reason.
Too lazy to eat, just want to breathe.
Immunity way down, catch illnesses easily, suffer longer, hurts more.
Body bruises easily, skin tears from a light scratch.
Trips and breaks something.
Probably more, but the elf was complaining of fatigue so I let them go.
Uh...
Hmm...
It's pretty bad...
Sudden thought.
Elves are in that much pain already...
And it just ends with a decadent appearance?
They really are pretty though.
Jealous for real.
On second thought, not jealous.
If they're suffering that much, better to be ugly...
At that level of pain, better off ugly...
Hmm...
Starting to get why elves have bad personalities...
Man, the day for reevaluation has come.
Thinking back, were they really that bad?
Just a bit irritable. I get that way too when I can't sleep...
They also learned why elves kept complaining about protecting nature.
Because they wanted to live. No grand reason, just didn't want to die.
"Stop the logging? What can you do if I keep going?"
"I'll die."
"What."
They really meant they'd die. Not a suicide threat, more like a terminal diagnosis.
Eventually, people said again, "Why not just go back to the forest?"
This time with worry, not irritation.
There are no forests here, just cold buildings. Wouldn't that make your health worse?
Keep telling us elves to go back to the forest.
Does that mean we should just watch you destroy nature?
That's basically euthanasia. Not even painless, it's agonizing.
Have to lie down in protest where there are lots of humans.
Ah...
Better to try something in the city than return to the forest for a foregone conclusion.
The World Tree's condition is bad too.
Then shouldn't you go back even more...?
It's beyond what we can fix. Need magitech, which we don't have.
Ah...
Even bringing up the World Tree, their sole deity, made the mood even gloomier.
"World Tree? Isn't that just a big tree?"
"Yeah? Let's check. I'll die too then."
"Wait a minute."
Even those mocking elves with the World Tree shut up.
Some people still disliked elves.
Results show elves' lifespans are drastically shortening...
And the rate is accelerating...
Meanwhile, human lifespans are increasing...
Theoretically, humans might outlive elves someday...
My head hurts...
This can't be real...
Deploying "They're really dying!" sobered everyone up automatically.
In the end, elves flipped all public opinion, preaching nature protection's importance through their own ruined health.
Such an elf was right in front of me.
"Ow ow..."
She lay on the ground, letting out pained groans.
'Emergency.'