From the Land of the Elves - 03
Ten days had passed since Sylphy joined the traveling companions.
They were heading smoothly toward Elvenheim, but there was still a little way left to go.
After finishing their meal, they warmed some water and drank the warm liquid.
It had been a habit to drink warm water before sleep, as it seemed to seep into the body and circulate through the entire frame. Especially when sleeping outdoors, that sensation was particularly strong.
"Lois-nim. Can I ask just one thing?"
"Olivia-nim has only one arm now, right?"
"You can tell just by looking, right?"
"The bandage looks pretty bad, so it's a serious injury?"
"Actually, I don't even know how I'm alive."
Even if a person is pierced through the head and heart by an arrow, I really couldn't understand how they were alive.
So, I didn't feel like saying that Alex didn't finish the job was foolish.
Who would think that this person is alive?
It's not a joke. If the Demon King had turned him into this state, he would have died and just gone back.
"Someone like that is doing handstands with one arm, doing push-ups?"
"Sometimes I call people who should have died but are alive the mystery of life. And this is a mystery. ... If I think of people based on this, I'll see all kinds of terrifying sights."
"Hoo! Now I feel like I've gotten used to moving a bit."
"Be gentle. Do you know that a curse is devouring your life in real time right now?"
"This much doesn't interfere with rough exercise. It's just light exercise."
"I can't do it."
"Me neither."
"We both need to build up our stamina and strength."
No, I think it's above average.
Just doing one-arm handstands while standing on one hand is amazing, and with a small pebble stacked below and supporting with just one finger on top, it makes me doubt if this is really a person.
If it was both hands doing handstands, I could probably do it too.
Slurp, I drank the warm water and naturally handed the warm water to Sylphy with the other hand.
"Oh, thanks."
"You really don't sweat a drop."
"It's just light exercise. Someone said light exercise is good for sleeping."
We promised to call it vigorous exercise.
If they had enhanced the body with mana, maybe, but they did it with just the naturally circulating mana without much effort.
People who push physical abilities to the extreme enhance their bodies with circulating mana, and it eventually becomes their original physical ability.
That's why masters of physical enhancement react very quickly to ambushes and such.
For example, with Sylphy, even if sleeping, circulating mana greatly awakens physical ability and senses. So, unless like Sylphy who has stealth skills, ambushing sleeping Sylphy would be impossible.
"Hmm, interesting."
"What is it?"
"If Sylphy uses stealth skills while sleeping, would you react to an ambush?"
"No, I'd die."
"Before this, you reacted. But now I don't know, Sylphy? Want to try?"
"No! After ambushing me, my life? This seems like an experiment where only I get hurt!"
"It's a joke, a joke."
"But how old is Sylphy?"
"...... Lois-nim."
Sylphy's face seemed to suddenly shadow.
"Do you really need to know?"
"...... Ah, yes."
Among humans, the longest-living race is the elves.
Among them, the high elves with longer average lifespans.
Sylphy, who is half high elf, could be said to be the longest-living race except for elves.
Clearly, after the full-scale war between humans and elves, a ceasefire after a long war, half-elves occurred in large numbers, and after quite a long time, elves fought elves and entered humanity.
And elves became humans 300 years ago.
In other words, Sylphy is at least 300 years old.
"Elves seem not to have seen old people. Lois? Is there a reason?"
"They are always hunting, always in the forest where they might be prey, and they receive the blessing of the World Tree, which can be called the god of that forest. In other words, their young time is extremely long."
"I see, I didn't know. ...... Ah, then what about that old hag?"
Calling Titania an old hag is a bit much, but since Titania's favorability inside Olivia is very low right now, and no one is listening here, it should be fine to that extent.
In Elvenheim, I hoped they wouldn't say that.
"Living since the human-elf war era? That's 1000 years ago. Elves' average lifespan is 500 to 600 years, and even high elves live too long, don't they?"
"That's right, that's a bit questionable."
"Even when I was in the hero party, the Titania I saw was young."
"How old would that be in human terms?"
"Um, mid-20s?"
"That's weird no matter how you think about it."
It far exceeds the average lifespan of elves.
But if you look at the elves' book, not all the past Titania lived that long.
If that's the case, perhaps the title of Titania itself has meaning rather than the title being meaningful.
"Speaking of which, I heard there's a curse that doesn't age, the Curse of Agelessness..."
"Sylphy, do most people dream of being immortal?"
"Ah, yes."
"And why is the distinction of curses usually done by humans, but why is the power of immortality called a curse?"
"Um...... Because I have to send someone I love?"
"That's a romantic answer."
People who live long see people they know die first after getting close to other races, and feel depressed or shocked in various ways, but it depends on the long-lived race.
Depending on the long-lived race, they die according to fate, and many feel that they've lived enough as that race.
"The Curse of Agelessness, if it affects humans and exceeds their lifespan, pain comes rushing in from that moment. The body and soul already know when they're going to die, but because of the curse, they're forcibly maintained."
"Yeah, I've heard. ...... The biggest cause of death for people with the Curse of Immortality is suicide, I think. Even though they didn't live that long, they lived just like human lifespan and died."
"So, it's better to cure such curses as soon as possible. The Curse of Immortality is relatively easy to cure even after a few years, but if it's been decades, it's hard to cure."
The longer the period the curse has been embedded in the body, the harder it is to cure.
Usually, one year is important.
If you cure it within a year, you can do it simply, but if it passes that, it becomes complicated, and you can't cure it all at once, and as time passes, it becomes more and more complicated until you can't cure it at all.
There were people who prepared holy water or something to immediately cure the curse.
The Curse of Immortality doesn't have much immediate effect in battles, but depending on the curse, it could cause a big burden in battles.
"Hey, Lois. I haven't experienced a curse until now, but...... This is the first time with the Curse of the God of Death?"
"That's right, curses often don't work on people with strong mana."
That's why if a strong person gets a curse, it's likely they've already reached a point of exhaustion.
"Why me......"
"In my case, I just swallowed the curse. In that case, no matter if it's tolerance or whatever, it just gets on. It's like welcoming someone by opening the door and letting them in~."
"Ugh."
Even a curse at the legendary level that might appear in legends about the God of Death was even more so.
Rather, it's strange that Olivia, who didn't die after getting it, is alive.
"Even if it's about Alex's arm, I won't accept it unless you cut it off! I!"
"Haha, I've heard Olivia-nim's story, but it's really amazing."
By the way, I told Sylphy everything.
It wasn't the kind of story that could be hidden, and since we were going to Elvenheim together and deciding on a single battle, Sylphy had allowed it, saying that as a companion it's fine.
But Sylphy is a characteristic of being quite generous to anyone once the heart is opened.
Truly like a puppy.
Wow, you're my companion too! Hehe!
Probably because of that generosity to those whose hearts are opened, they were careless and got hit by the Curse of the God of Death.
Conversely, for those who don't open their hearts, especially those with black hearts in any form, they treat them coldly to the point of suspicion if it's the same person.
By the way, I experienced both sides, so it was really a subtle feeling.
"Lois, how far is it to Elvenheim?"
"It's still a bit of a way. It's a closed place, but at least we'll maintain contact with the royal capital. Perhaps we might have heard the news that the Demon King hunt or the hero died."
"In some cases, Rayna might have returned."
"Why? It would be fine to stay a bit more in the royal capital."
"Eh? No, it's just intuition, but I've always felt that Rayna is burdened by Alex. I don't know exactly, but she tried to minimize the time spent together. Maybe after the report, she didn't come back as quickly as possible."
"Hmm."
The Rayna Forest I remember was definitely a bit nervous like Olivia.
But she had the goodwill to risk her life for a fallen child.
That's why I was honestly surprised.
Alex would think that way.
I knew he didn't care about goodwill and malice for the purpose.
But Rayna and Velita...... especially Rayna, could be said to be unexpected.
I thought my eye for people wasn't bad, and I didn't think that against Olivia, who hadn't made a big mistake, she would assassinate and turn to ashes.
'Maybe there's a reason.'
That was good for Olivia, no matter what.
Anyway, since Olivia said she wanted to meet directly and judge, it would be better not to say anything until then.
"Hey, but."
"Why?"
"Every time at meals, the act of feeding like feeding a baby bird...... I'm sorry, can you reduce it a bit! I can't stand the awkwardness!"
"Sylphy."
"Yes?"
"I don't have a choice."
Olivia smiled.
"Why only at meal time does my arm not move well because of the Curse of the God of Death. Lois, please feed me."
"Most choices are the strong one's. Or would Sylphy feed me?"
"Lois! If I do that to another man, is it okay!?"
Slurp, I drank the warm water and said.
"Hmm."
"The reaction is boring!"
"Lois-nim, don't make Lois-nim too troubled......"
"No, if it's Sylphy, it should be fine."
"Really!?"
"Hmm."
Olivia also looked at Sylphy thinking the same as me.
More feminine than female.
Even the skeleton was feminine, it was the woman itself.
The hair was short, but still couldn't erase the feminine feeling. Sometimes there are people with neutral appearance among people, but this is too openly female, so no words.
Olivia nodded too.
"Ah, somehow I know."
"...... I was born with this face, not because I wanted to be born with this face."
"Isn't it okay? People like what they like. It's not that appearance itself is bad, so there will be women who come at it with 'possible!' and pounce."
"That's really comforting."
"By the way, I like half-closed eyes."
"......"
"......"
It's my face.
Sylphy smiled awkwardly.
"Olivia-nim expresses affection without restraint."
"I knew that no one knows how human connections will turn out. If I hesitate to express that I think it's good about what I think is good, I might regret it later. I want to do my best for the people I cherish now."
Because he was upright as a hero, he was also upright in affection.
"Let's sleep. We have to wake up early tomorrow too."
"The reaction is too dry......"
"Lois-nim is not easy in his own way either."
There are various reasons.
The decisive problem right now is that Olivia is in pain.
The flutter in the chest when feeling for a patient is often a different flutter than rational.