Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Elves' Labor and Unexpected Rewards
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“Ugh, uugh.”
I feel like I’m going to puke.
The warm sunlight felt horribly stinging.
The peaceful forest felt like a demon’s lair.
The ground looked like the sky, and the sky like the ground.
“No, no more...”
-Thud
Exhausted from the intense labor, the elf finally dropped to her knees and checked the time.
The elf couldn’t hide her shock.
“E-eight hours?!”
The rare ingredient that only grew in Elrad, luminous mushrooms.
She had already spent 8 hours gathering them.
Of course, that included rest time.
And meal times too.
“This is impossible!”
Eight hours—eight straight hours without even slacking off once!
Unable to endure it any longer, the elf logged into the gallery and posted.
[Title: If you think this is really unbelievable, mega-upvote lol]
(Exhausted staggering elf meme)
(Elf completely drained during break time meme)
I’m human myself, but no matter how I think about it, aren’t the elves working too much?
It all started when that Judak AI or whatever showed up.
Even other races would agree they should ease up lol
[Upvotes 1] [Downvotes 3]
- Aren’t you an elf? lol
- (-elf- con)
- I’m human myself ← Sigh, you elf spy bastard
“Ugh!”
But it was no use.
She couldn’t sway public opinion.
No race sympathized with elves.
“It’s all because of that thing...”
ChatJTG.
It all happened after that AI was delegated authority over elf society.
Armion asked the AI in front of everyone.
“ChatJTG, what should we do to make elf society healthier?”
[You call that shit talking? lol]
[Pointy-ear brats have probably never worked a day in their lives, but if they wanna eat, they gotta contribute at minimum, right? lol]
[They should work 8 hours a day?]
And so, elf society made all members work 8 hours a day, rest time included.
“What about those who slack off?”
[Implement quotas. Normally risky, but pointy-ears can handle it lol]
[If they bring back less, ban alcohol for those ears]
Slackers got hit with a one-day alcohol ban.
Keep your eyes open, or your nose—no, your ears—get cut off.
That was exactly the elves’ situation now.
“Haa, haa.”
One elf sweating buckets during labor finally snapped.
“Hiiiiaaak!”
-Thud!
In the end, trying to meet her quota, the elf punched the ground in rage.
“Hiiik. It hurts!”
Of course, only her hand hurt.
She knew that, deep down.
Ever since the World Tree left, elves were no longer the strong ones.
She understood that all elves had to change.
“I can’t survive like this.”
But who were elves?
Labor protesters, work-haters.
They had never properly worked a day in their lives.
For such elves, long hours of labor bred rebellion over effort.
“Even if it’s Lord Judak’s creation, we can’t take this!”
Six days was incredibly patient for an elf.
Elves sharing the same thoughts gathered in droves in front of the castle.
Just as they were about to protest the AI’s decisions.
“What are you all doing gathered here?”
Along with the pure elf, the problematic AI appeared.
The elves flinched and cowered, their strong-weak-weak-strong DNA kicking in.
“W-well.”
But there was a limit.
“You’re going too far!”
“How can we work 8 hours? Even humans can’t do that!”
Grumbles erupted from all around.
PureElf: How many hours do humans work?
[They work 12 hours a day?]
“Hiiik.”
“Hieeik.”
Of course, they couldn’t win with words.
But when has history ever been made by logic?
Almost all elves had gathered.
Even the queen would have no choice but to retract her words.
But before that could happen, Eliana struck first in chat.
PureElf: Elves are swarming, what should I do?
[Oh, they’re swarming? Knew it lol]
Negative reaction.
Like she knew it was coming.
The elves tensed, waiting for the AI’s response.
[But the pointy-ears worked hard ㅇㅇ]
“Huh?”
An unexpected reply.
It acknowledged their hard work.
[Surprisingly persistent, worked diligently. As expected of elves, impressive.]
And praised their efforts.
Completely unforeseen.
As the elves blinked in daze, Eliana typed again.
PureElf: So what should I do?
[They worked hard, so reward them ㅇㅇ]
.
.
[One bottle a day normally, but three today lol]
Three bottles of soju!
Since the AI was introduced, they’d barely gotten one a day.
Three bottles?
“Hiiik?”
“Th-three... bottles...?”
Three times as much!
Three times the happiness!
The elves’ ears twitched in shock.
But it didn’t stop there!
[Tell them off tomorrow too ㅇㅇ Give three bottles tomorrow ㅇㅇ]
A full day off tomorrow!
No need to work 8 hours.
Three bottles of soju tomorrow too!
“Hieeik.”
“ChatJTG, he’s a god!”
Life returned to the elves’ dying eyes.
It granted their demands.
No, before they even demanded, it acknowledged their efforts and promised even greater rewards than expected.
- Elf yaaahooo!!!
- (Elf butt left-right flip con)
- Judak, is he a god? Judak is a god! Judak, is he a god? Judak is a god!!
The elves cheered wildly on the spot, fervently praising the AI and pure elf.
One reply at that time.
ㄴ You used to chug five bottles a day
But the dopamine-soaked elves.
They never saw that reply.
*
One week since introducing the AI to Elrad.
[‘PureElf’ sent you 3 bundles of luminous mushrooms!]
Judak*: ? What’s this
A sudden gift arrived.
PureElf: Fresh luminous mushrooms harvested this week
PureElf: Heard you needed them for research, so sending some
Judak*: Thx?
PureElf: Thank you always ㅎㅎ
And from elves, no less.
Five bundles of luminous mushrooms, hard to obtain easily, fresh too.
“A dream?”
Elves sometimes sent me gifts.
But those felt like tributes.
The gifts were dolls, talismans, all sorts of things.
So, this luminous mushroom gift carried huge meaning.
“Elves picked these themselves...?”
Luminous mushrooms that only grew in Elrad.
Meaning, gathered by elves.
Elves personally labored to gather luminous mushrooms.
“Does that make sense?”
I was dumbfounded.
Elves being diligent?
And it didn’t end there.
Elves started posting items directly to the gallery for sale.
[Title: @@@Glowshrooms 10 bundles for 1,000@@@]
Author: PureElf
(Fresh glowshrooms in bundle quality pic)
(Elves sweating while working pic)
Not old warehouse stock x
Not low-quality mushrooms x
100% pure high-quality mushrooms personally harvested from elf-only glowshroom fields @@@@
Buy 10 bundles = 1 bundle price, 10% discount event!
<< Quality guaranteed
@@$$Buy now!$$@@
[Upvotes 5821] [Downvotes 1201]
- Wait, is this real?
- Someone buy and leave a review; elf-made is sus;
ㄴ Just bought some, quality is insane???
ㄴ Wow, never seen them this fresh fr
ㄴ Wow sexy
[Title: Explaining for those who don’t get it!]
Author: ElvesArePrettyCuteAndAll
Explaining with a restaurant analogy for easy understanding!
Think restaurants: Neighbor shop (normal glowshroom price) sells one beef slab for 8 grand units to profit,
That shop (Elrad) sells three beef slabs for 31 grand units!
Who buys at 8 grand units?
But the meat (glowshrooms) was personally sourced by the restaurant owner!
[Upvotes 103] [Downvotes 5201]
- Wtf are you saying
- In the end 8 grand units is better value ffs
- I don’t get it at all
- Ah, great analogy~!
- Analogy or not, glowshrooms flooding market makes happy lawbung upvote lol
ㄴ Me first
ㄴ Mega-upvote lololol
ㄴ (Mage blankly thumbs-up con)
Dystopia.
It was clearly a good thing.
But that word popped into my head seeing the current situation.
“No, not dystopia.”
In the end, the crumbling elf society normalized.
Of course, individual elves got more labor and less reward.
- AI gave elves three bottles of dew
- Elves free tomorrow!
- (Elves are happy! Drooling elf con)
Happiness index oddly skyrocketed.
Elves happy, benefiting mages happy.
Finally, I regained gallery stability and was happy too.
“So utopia maybe?”
Looking at elves, my feelings are mixed.
Are all elves like this?
But dark elves weren’t.
[Title: Potato Farming Success!]
Author: Loen
(Abundant potato harvest pic)
(Dark elves with dirt on faces happily holding potatoes pic)
Succeeded in potato farming underground too!
We can finally settle!
[Upvotes 192] [Downvotes 2]
- Hng ㅠㅠ Finally us too ㅠㅠㅠ
- Potatoes are big...! We won’t starve!
- Leader, looking reliable for once
ㄴ Loen) Hey
- Judak*) Oh nice
ㄴ Loen) Ah, thanks!
ㄴ Loen) Wouldn’t have done it without Judak!
They were diligent from the start.
Gave them potato farming method and seeds, they trial-and-errored among themselves and succeeded.
Above all, realistic race, so they’d worry about the future more than me.
Unlike elves, no need to fret over them.
“The only flaw is the canyon...”
Below Lumelin Canyon.
A deep pit like an endless abyss, not a speck of light.
The very place goblins had thrown themselves into.
“They said no falling sound.”
So deep, no sound.
No corpse smell rising either.
Maybe something below the canyon.
“It’s been quiet so far.”
Might check someday.
But prioritizing clearing surface beasts over invisible worries.
Dark elves said it was quiet since they entered the canyon.
I brushed it off as no big deal.
*
Canyon bottom.
In pitch darkness without a single ray of light, a chilling eye gleamed.
[...]
A massive, ominous shadow lump.
It always held its breath, gazing upward.
One day, two days, one month...
Just waiting endlessly.
For that moment that would eventually come.
[When that time comes.]
It would escape this abyss called bottomless pit and head upward.
Toward the outside full of life and light.
But waiting only for that uncertain day, it curled up again.
“Gigantic.”
[...?]
“Body totally totally big. Cute.”
Until a green-haired kid came bouncing down.