75. Return in Glory
75. Return in Glory
The dinner at the Claudius family estate could only be described as magnificent.
In a dining hall that could easily pass for a banquet chamber, traditional elven dishes were spread across every table.
As the savory aromas filling the hall had our party settling cheerfully into their seats at each table, Nikolai whispered to me.
"Boss. Are these really elves?"
"They're elves, yes."
"But for elves, isn't it a little... protein-heavy?"
As Nikolai had pointed out, in stark contrast to their epithet as the Forest Folk, the table was laden with cuts of meat that looked packed with protein.
It wasn't pork, the staple of humans, but the sight of roasted fowl—chicken or duck, impossible to tell—garnished with mushrooms utterly shattered Nikolai's fantasy about elves.
As a reincarnator who had grown up knowing elves were like this, I had no choice but to ask what fantasy the transmigrator Nikolai had imagined.
"Nikolai. Just what did the elves in your head live on?"
"I figured they lived on nothing but fruit and grass, Boss."
"They're people, too."
When you thought about it, wasn't it obvious?
They were indeed a people who loved the forest, but for a people to sustain themselves on a national scale, agriculture and hunting were essential.
If they were still elves living on a tribal level, that would be one thing, but having founded a state centuries old, it was only natural their traditional cuisine had evolved this way.
The fact that the meat-to-vegetable ratio was still roughly one to nine, at least, subtly conveyed their identity as a forest race.
For Nikolai, who still couldn't accept it, I added an explanation.
"You know elves mainly use bows, right?"
"That part matches my imagination."
"Contrary to the image, bows aren't agility-based weapons; they're strength-based. So, if they lived on nothing but fruit and grass like you said, where would elves build their muscle?"
"Uh... couldn't they build it with some kind of magic?"
"Don't give me that magic nonsense."
At my dismissal, Nikolai pulled himself together and accepted reality.
Afterward, we each took our seats at the tables and focused on the introduction of the Claudius family, which took place in the center of the dining hall.
The Claudius family was headed by the patriarch, a senator and the head of the Claudius family, who had two wives, and below them, nine children.
And Ceres was the youngest of them all, monopolizing the affection of her family.
...Recalling that she was 89 years old did briefly cause some cognitive dissonance, but regardless, she was adored as the baby of the family.
First, the wives were introduced, and just before it was time for the siblings' introductions, Nikolai, unable to hold back his curiosity any longer, whispered into my ear.
"I thought elves were a race with a weak sex drive. That doesn't seem to be the case, apparently?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, you said the father has two wives, but nine children still suggests a rather vigorous marital bond..."
"Look at the age gaps and then talk."
At my shut-up-and-listen dismissal, Nikolai sullenly listened to the siblings' introductions.
The first was the eldest son.
"I am Caron Claudius. I believe I am about 672 years older than Ceres."
"????"
A multitude of question marks materialized above Nikolai's head.
Before he could even comprehend what he had just heard, the eldest daughter's follow-up came.
"Cecilia Claudius. My age is a secret."
"It will be about a 550-year gap."
When Caron interjected to reveal Cecilia's age, a jolt of Cecilia's lightning made Caron's back arch like a bow.
Whether that happened or not, Nikolai's mind was doing its utmost to process a 503 error.
Only after listening to the introductions of the remaining siblings could Nikolai make sense of the situation.
"Most of them... are about one hundred and fifty years apart?"
"Still want to argue elves have a vigorous sex drive?"
"...I retract it."
I'd been horrified too when I first learned of it.
Honestly, at a rate of roughly once every 150 years, it was at a level where you'd question whether the concept of biological sex even had meaning for the elven race before doubting their libido.
Still, Nikolai was only briefly startled by the overwhelming scale of the ages, and he quickly regained his composure.
Unlike with the food, perhaps because the image aligned with his imagination, his acceptance was swift.
At last, when Ceres's introduction ended, it was time for the master of the household, her father, to introduce himself.
There was no major issue up to the moment he introduced himself as Rondel Claudius Maximus.
Which is to say, immediately afterward, there was an issue.
Ta-da!
As he snapped his fingers, the dining hall transformed.
And from somewhere came a familiar melody, a familiar atmosphere, familiar lighting...
I knew these signs all too well.
Only then did I recall one fact.
Rondel Claudius Maximus.
He was famous as a senator elected fifty times who had effectively run the Hyphen Kingdom for five hundred years, but before becoming a senator, he had been a magical scholar and a Tower Master.
And that the vast majority of wizards were madmen, and the higher their realm, the higher the probability they were out of their minds.
Lastly, that the sensibilities of an ancient fossil who had thoroughly enjoyed every bit of endgame content over a thousand years were a realm we could not dare to fathom.
Though no one had instructed us, our entire party simultaneously began rubbing our faces in exasperation.
Rondel, utterly unbothered by our expressions, continued his performance.
"Welcome to the Claudius family."
As he pulled a mask from his pocket and donned it, shifting his attire into a suit, our pupils swayed wildly, losing all sense of direction.
And within that dizzyingly swaying field of vision, I spotted Celestia.
As if she had tossed aside all pretense of formality long ago, she was guzzling whiskey straight from the bottle.
*
The day after the lavish hospitality of the Claudius family.
Allen and the magical girls conducted their morning training at the training grounds situated behind the mansion.
Perhaps intensely curious about their youngest's training, Ceres's family braved the early morning chill to observe her session.
Having it abruptly turned into an open class, Ceres hesitated briefly, unlike usual, but soon adapted to their gazes and exchanged blows with Allen.
Watching this, Ceres's mother marveled.
"When I watched on the screen, I was unsure if our daughter was truly capable of this level, but it really was her performing it."
Ceres's third sister, Kristana, who was one hundred and fifty years older, agreed with their mother.
"You said the Priest is from the Price family? As expected, his martial arts are outstanding. With skills like that, he could easily star in a drama himself. Is there a particular reason he doesn't?"
"He says he's content helping the actors focus entirely on the production."
Nikolai smoothly deflected the question from Ceres's sister, Kristana.
For a split second, the words 'Though he is currently actively starring as John and Riv...' nearly escaped his lips, but his experience acting as Peter helped him out here.
Impressed by Nikolai's quick-witted response, Kristana seemed to make a decision, abruptly rising from the spectator seats.
Then she dashed straight toward where Ceres was in the middle of sparring.
At the sudden intrusion of a third party, Allen and Ceres stopped their training and turned toward her.
In contrast to Ceres, who was gasping for breath, Allen, having barely broken a sweat, spoke first.
"What is it, Kristana?"
"If it's alright with you today, would it be okay for our youngest and me to have a match?"
"With Ceres?"
Allen briefly scanned Kristana from head to toe, then nodded and stepped aside.
Patting Ceres on the back as she caught her breath, he gave her a new training instruction for the day.
"Fight her without using any wide-area skills."
"Alright."
Despite Allen's sudden instruction, Ceres entered her combat stance without a single complaint.
For nearly the past year, Allen's training had been unplanned, impulsive, and harsh enough to be called unreasonable, but its effectiveness was undeniable, so Ceres had reached a point where she now accepted it without a word.
Kristana, who had been observing the two's martial forms, narrowed her eyes and then took a stance toward her younger sister.
The stance was so familiar that Allen reflexively asked about her fighting style.
"What might your profession and martial school be...?"
"Team leader of the Southern Forest Rangers, Team 2. My school was Elven traditional close-range archery, and I've recently incorporated John-style composite combat techniques."
"Aha."
Allen grinned triumphantly at the way his own techniques appeared whenever he least expected them, then returned to the referee's position.
Ceres, facing her sister for the first time in a long while, scanned Kristana's entire body and waited for the signal to begin the bout.
No sooner had Allen's starting signal dropped than the two charged at each other.
Initially, Kristana overwhelmed Ceres.
Freely wielding joint locks she seemed to have learned from John, she ruthlessly attacked her sister's joints and wrestled Ceres to the ground.
Forcing the ground game amid rising dust, Ceres seemed on the verge of a helpless defeat to Kristana.
But the moment Ceres entered Stardust Mode, Mari's signature technique, the overwhelming power broke the joint locks.
Veiling the demon on her back with wings of emanating mana, the magical girl mercilessly pummeled her own sister.
At first, Kristana managed to block her sister's barrage with her guard, but faced with the overwhelming firepower, her guard ultimately crumbled.
And the instant Ceres's fist halted just beneath Kristana's chin, Allen declared Ceres's victory.
Kristana conceded cleanly to the decisive outcome.
Ceres, meanwhile, stood frozen in place, dumbfounded that she had actually beaten her sister.
Kristana simply smiled brightly at her and congratulated her on the win.
"Congratulations, Ceres."
"Sister, don't joke around. You went easy on me, didn't you."
"No. I gave it my all, okay?"
"That's impossible. Just a year ago, you toyed with me. What happened?"
"Hm... I wonder. Ah. There is something, I suppose?"
"Really? Can you tell me?"
"I will. But at breakfast. The meal should be ready soon, so go wash up. I'll tell you while we eat."
"Okay."
Noticing her dust-covered appearance, Ceres casually cast a simple water-attribute spell over her head and headed toward the showers.
Kristana watched proudly as her youngest sister, so utterly different from the one she'd been before leaving for the academy, displayed such a carefree, unaffected side.
*
When Ceres and her friends came to the dining hall after training, the table greeted them with traditional elven cuisine just like the previous night's dinner.
Still hungry from training, Allen devoured his fill of meat the moment he sat down.
He pushed the mushrooms aside as he ate.
Pia, seated to his right, watched through narrowed eyes before sending a telepathic message like a mother scolding a picky child.
[Picky eating isn't good, Allen.]
[Ugh... I'm fine with other stuff, but mushrooms, they're just...]
It wasn't a matter of taste.
To judge by taste, Allen possessed a freakish palate that could even eat insects.
It was just that in his previous life, after seeing a zombie with mushrooms growing from its body, he found it exceedingly difficult to eat mushrooms anymore.
Unaware of those circumstances, Pia simply stared at Allen, wondering what was wrong with him.
It baffled her that a man who could gladly devour bizarre foods like grasshoppers and octopus couldn't eat mushrooms.
While Pia was speculating about Allen's condition, Diane, who was seated to Allen's left, swiftly picked up the mushrooms.
"If you're not eating them, give them to me."
"Ah... sorry, Diane."
"No. I like mushrooms."
Diane didn't know Allen's circumstances either, but for her, it was all the same, because the act she could perform after eating these mushrooms was her true objective.
While Allen's entire focus was on his meal, Diane flashed a victorious smile that only Pia could see.
Grasping its meaning, Pia scowled for a split second before returning to her usual gentle expression.
Then, like Diane, she began selectively taking only the mushrooms from Allen's plate.
From a distant table, Ceres watched with pity as the two women bickered while plucking mushrooms from Allen's plate, then refocused on her conversation with her sister.
"So, where were we?"
"That the year you spent at the academy had an entirely different density."
"Ah, right. That."
During the meal, Ceres had been hearing from Kristana about the reason she had become stronger than her sister.
According to Kristana, the intensity of Ceres's past year had surpassed fifty years of her life as a Forest Ranger.
Ceres couldn't understand it.
How could a single year, at best, surpass fifty years?
It felt as though that denied her sister's efforts over the previous fifty years, which made her uncomfortable.
Looking at Ceres like that, Kristana offered an explanation in a gentle voice, with an affectionate smile.
"Ceres. What's the difference in average lifespan between humans and elves?"
"On average, it's almost tenfold. Depending on bloodline, it can be several hundred times that."
"Right. So, who is more desperate: an elf guaranteed decades upon decades, or a human who can't be sure of tomorrow?"
"Well, humans... Ah."
Through the exchange with Kristana, Ceres understood.
Elves and humans had completely different levels of desperation.
Elves claimed to work for their dreams, but their efforts always retained a margin of leisure.
Compared to that, humans lacked such leeway, making them a race with no choice but to pour their entire being into effort.
Looking back, Ceres, who had been so proud of working hard for her dream, realized her efforts before entering the academy were nothing compared to the efforts of this past year.
Training moderately in the training grounds and building basic stamina could not be placed on the same comparison table as endlessly repeating death and resurrection by the Sanctuary's power and fighting wrestlers in life-or-death bouts.
Watching her enlightened youngest sister with satisfaction, Kristana continued.
"Isn't it fascinating? Elves who live alongside humans display abilities incomparably superior to elves who live only among their own kind."
Thinking about it, every renowned elf among their kind, without exception, either had a human spouse or was favorably disposed toward humans.
Only then could Ceres realize their secret.
They were living human time through an elven lifespan.
Ceres felt grateful for the enlightenment her sister provided, then suddenly felt a question.
As far as Ceres remembered, her sister also had her own dream.
But for someone who knew this secret, she hadn't spent her time with humans.
Rather, as a Forest Ranger, she had preferred solitude.
Sensing this contradiction, Ceres asked a slightly indirect question.
"Sister, do you dislike people?"
Understanding the implication within, Kristana gave a bitter smile and stroked Ceres's head.
"I was just about to tell you that. You know an elf's prime and a human's prime are different, right?"
"Uh... yes?"
An elf remained in their prime from beyond 100 years old until they grew old, but a human past 30 gradually drifted away from their prime.
Kristana nodded and continued her explanation to Ceres.
"An elf's prime is long. So, even if we walk side-by-side with a human, before we know it, we'll find ourselves having pulled ahead of them. And that gap makes elves arrogant."
Sorrow filled Kristana's eyes.
"Among arrogant elves, some discard the human they've left behind to find a new one, or conclude they no longer need humans at all. Then, when they've left human time and find their own selves filled again with elven indolence, only around that time do they finally realize their arrogance."
Ceres stopped eating and focused completely on Kristana's words.
Because she had a gut feeling that if she missed this moment, she'd regret it forever.
"By the time you realize your arrogance, those humans have either long returned to the soil or have already closed their hearts to you. And what fills an elf's chest is nothing but guilt and regret. So remember this. Always guard against arrogance, and be grateful to the friends beside you. Opportunity does not come twice in this world."
Finishing her words, Kristana refocused on her meal.
And every now and then, she would rub the bracelet on her wrist.
Ceres quietly watched her sister's figure for a while, then turned her gaze toward Allen.
After staring at him for a long moment, Ceres resumed her meal as well.
Engraving the names of her friends in her heart in place of the word 'human.'