In the Land of the Elves - 13
The hero occupies a position chosen by the goddess.
Thus, there was no guarantee that the hero would always be the strongest.
After all, the hero was merely a knight chosen by the goddess, and that alone was no proof of absolute supremacy. A few people had even speculated that other heroes of the same era might surpass the hero in strength.
However.
Humans sometimes birthed monstrous exceptions.
“I found out something scary.”
“What’s scarier than that sight?”
The elf soldiers muttered the words awkwardly.
From the very beginning, Olivia had defeated her opponents with effortless ease, easily parrying every strike, and then immediately counterattacked, asking where it had hurt.
The most shocking detail was that with a single clash, Olivia had already grasped the opponent’s weaknesses. Her absurdly keen observation skills must have been blessed by the goddess in combat, it seemed. The words “blessed by the goddess” were not spoken lightly.
“That person never moved even a single step from that spot during the spar with us.”
“What? No, wait… So we all got hit by someone who didn’t move from their spot?”
“More than that, look at their state. It’s clearly not normal. How strong would someone in a normal state even be?”
Sylphy nodded in agreement.
Sylphy had traveled with Olivia for a long time, yet most monsters had fallen in a single blow. It was almost suspicious how strong this person was, to the point where one wondered whether there even existed monsters that could survive a single strike.
Olivia had claimed she was weak and that she was now on par with a Demon King Army cadre, but then how strong were those cadres, and how strong was normal Olivia?
When the members of the hero party had told her they were scared of Olivia, it had been confusing. Yet seeing her endless strength, one could understand why it would be terrifying.
Well, no matter what, they had crossed a line they should never have crossed.
Olivia was kind and considerate, yet she did not spare those who had sinned.
She might lighten the punishment depending on the circumstances, but she would never deny the punishment itself.
Or perhaps, even for the victims, she might impose an even heavier sentence.
It was not frightening at the moment, but if that ideology had been extreme, it would have been enough to instill fear.
“Don’t laugh! We elves have our pride too! At least make them move from that spot!”
“Pride or whatever, they’re all dropping one by one.”
“I feel like my posture has improved. The hero is good with not just swords but bows as well.”
“Better than me at drawing the bowstring with mouth or feet and shooting.”
“Ugh! This isn’t a spar, it’s training!! Anyway!! At least make them move from that spot!!”
“Good? When the hero says it’s too much, we’ll keep challenging. So line up again.”
“I’ll challenge with a different weapon.”
The elves, having forgotten the bad rumors about the hero, were earnestly sparring with Olivia.
Well, it was closer to training than sparring, and Olivia pointed out each one’s flaws after knocking them down.
It seemed Olivia had not been boasting when she said she could handle any weapon.
“Sylphy-nim, aren’t you joining?”
“I… it might ruin the good atmosphere.”
Les approached Sylphy’s side and spoke.
The training ground was very lively now, and at this moment, there was no difference between human and elf.
But if a half-elf, an impurity, joined in, the good atmosphere might collapse into something foul.
If the atmosphere was burning well, it would be better to end it well.
“Your skill in creating a bow with mana and shooting it quickly is excellent.”
“No, well…”
Les looked at Sylphy’s hand.
“That callus isn’t from a day or two of practice.”
“That’s the same for Les-nim too.”
“I have to do this. It’s not because I’m guard captain, but as a soldier guarding Elvenheim, I couldn’t neglect training. But you trained hard even though you don’t have to.”
“…Maybe you just didn’t want to forget.”
“What do you mean?”
Sylphy smiled awkwardly at Les’s words.
“That I am an elf.”
“…”
“I might not want to forget that I have elf blood flowing in me too. At the moment of shooting the bow, I can feel that I am an elf.”
Especially when shooting and intuitively hitting, and actually hitting, feeling the blood of elves who shoot bows well flowing from within.
No matter how you looked at it, for Sylphy who craved a sense of belonging, the existence of elves was particularly important.
Moreover, Titania had eventually taught Sylphy how to shoot a bow, so he trained every day thinking it was the only connection.
It was not real combat experience, but he had not missed a single day of training shooting arrows at targets with a bow, and he had developed the habit of instinctively drawing the bow quickly.
“In that short moment, making a bow with mana and shooting to save the children. That skill was also excellent. Better than most elves.”
“You’re flattering me.”
“No, it’s not empty words. Sylphy-nim’s skill is considerable. As expected, the blood of Titania’s lineage.”
“Do you think so? I only dirtied the royal blood.”
“…”
Les was silent for a moment, looking at Sylphy.
His eyes looked very sad.
“Your thoughts are definitely Titania’s… sin of this Elvenheim. …Please speak to Titania again. She will never dislike you. She has lived in loneliness for a long time and is afraid of too many things.”
“She is afraid of Titania?”
“Yes… loss, betrayal… the pain that comes from all connections. Because of that, she turned her head away from you and committed a sin.”
“…”
“And that sin eventually reached all half-elves too. Our Titania is the savior who protected Elvenheim for a long time and a wonderful person.”
Les fiddled with his sword cautiously and spoke.
“If she falls into hell, I can fall with her. She is the benefactor who changed my life.”
“I see.”
“But she sometimes goes out of control in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a way to correct Titania’s mistakes because I’m dull and can’t speak well.”
“…I don’t have any sharp ideas either.”
“Maybe not. But Elvenheim, which has become stagnant and decaying water, might get new water flowing in. …I think Sylphy-nim resembles Titania. In some sense, more than Rayna-nim.”
Sylphy swallowed hard.
Rayna was Titania’s daughter.
Sylphy was Titania’s grandson.
Yet it seemed odd that Sylphy resembled Titania more than Rayna.
Whether the generational inheritance he had heard about had manifested in Sylphy, he did not know, but his appearance definitely resembled Titania more than Rayna’s.
The problem was that he was male and resembled her.
“Give me yourself. You are strong. …It’s unbelievable how little actual combat experience you have.”
“Haha…”
Laughed awkwardly.
At that moment, Olivia waved her hand.
“Sylphy!”
“What? Are you leaving now?”
“Will you teach me how to use a bow once? You handle the bow better than me.”
“Uh, yes!?”
Sylphy froze after naturally approaching Olivia.
The elves, who had been only paying attention to Olivia, all naturally turned their gazes to Sylphy.
And upon checking ears, they all reacted.
“Half-elf…”
“Why is a half-elf here?”
“Is he a companion of the hero?”
“Half-elf, huh.”
Sylphy swallowed hard.
He felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere and the numbers.
Looking at Les, Les was just staring at Sylphy.
Did he really resemble Titania?
Saying he resembled a person with countless achievements made him feel inexplicably ashamed. He was not a good person to himself, but was he wonderful to Titania?
“…”
Among the elves looking at Sylphy, one slowly approached him.
“You said you made a bow with mana?”
“Uh, yes… Well, it’s embarrassing, but I have royal blood flowing.”
“Hmm.”
Many elves would not know about Sylphy.
The time Sylphy had been in Elvenheim was very short, and due to Titania, contact with other elves had been almost none, so there were few elves who faced Sylphy.
Moreover, a lot of time had passed, so some might have forgotten.
“Just because royal blood flows doesn’t mean archery is excellent.”
“Right, Rayna-nim also has royal blood, but there are elves in the elves who are better archers than Rayna-nim!”
“Don’t be arrogant just because high elf blood flows, half-elf!”
No memory of arrogance.
They wanted to ask Olivia and Les for help, but both were silent, just staring at Sylphy.
It felt like they were taking a test.
Sylphy calmed his pounding heart and exhaled deeply.
“Okay.”
“What?”
“Then will you compete with me in archery?”
“What?”
“If you win, I’ll quietly step back. But if I win, quietly admit that my archery skill is inferior to mine and receive education from me.”
“Ho, hoo.”
A sharp sound was heard as the elves collectively erupted in anger.
Elves prided themselves on archery being their specialty.
If poked, they would naturally react.
Especially not ‘half-elf’ saying such words. From that point, there was no option to back down.
“Hahaha! Hahahaha!!”
Olivia laughed loudly.
And said.
“Good, then I’ll be the referee. How about it?”
“Okay, hero-nim. …Watch this, half-elf.”
Sylphy raised his hand to his chest as if calming his pounding heart again, saying.
“It’s Sylphy. …Not half-elf, right.”
“Good guts. If you win, that name… until the moment this life ends, I won’t forget.”
“Okay.”
From the point of being half-elf, one gets an unfair and unreasonable starting line compared to others.
But he could not give up.
Everyone who thought Sylphy was great said so to Sylphy.
Then, shouldn’t they try to cross that unreasonable line once in a while by being deceived by that ‘great’ comment?
“Let’s do it, a match.”