Schrödinger's Elf
Schrödinger's Elf
I found an elf girl, much like picking up a stray cat.
Vivid and pretty brown hair, like autumn-dyed fallen leaves.
Clear, bright chestnut eyes.
And a slender, round face like freshly risen dough.
In any work, the fact that elves are a praised race never changes. Even in the original work, <Splendid Days of the Golden Empire>, elves were set up as a race of beauty and harmony.
Rien.
Frost Flower Clan.
The seventeenth branch of the frozen forest.
The girl moved her long ears jjonggeut-jjonggeut while introducing herself. This was thanks to accepting that the human who had suddenly knocked them out of the oak tree had nothing to do with vicious slave hunters.
"An elf! How could an elf...! How on earth did you encounter an elf?!"
"I'd like to know that myself."
I had requested help from the White Bone Mace Tribe, who had been interacting with the elves of the Silver Barrier Mountains.
Upon arriving at the scene, the chieftain discovered the elf eating salted cheese—the barbarians' representative emergency ration—omul-omul, and showed a startled reaction.
'They're unusual in many ways, but how can they speak the human language so fluently? It's not just a rushed, last-minute acquisition... it's proficient enough to be close to standard language. Their speech pattern and language skills are far more fluent than these low-IQ barbarians.'
Aren't elves originally conservative while rejecting other races?
However, the elf girl was the exact opposite.
Fluent in the human language.
Though a bit clumsy with long and difficult words.
Also, hostility towards humans coexisted alongside friendliness.
The elf, with a diminutive stature like a squirrel, approached ppol-ppol with small steps. Then, breaking the salted cheese given as a snack in half tok, he held it out to me.
There was no reason to decline.
I took a bite of the hard salted cheese.
Then, the elf girl named Rien broke into a bright smile.
"What a truly fairy-like, beautiful boy! I've seen numerous young elves before, but this is the first time seeing an elf so beautiful he looks like he came straight out of a fairy tale!"
"...Huh?"
"Elves compare men to branches and women to roots. Since the brat discovered by the Tsar introduced himself as the seventeenth branch of the frozen forest..., he is naturally a boy."
"......."
A boy.
In other words, a young boy.
Not a girl.
He was a boy of delicate appearance.
To think a boy prettier than any girl actually existed.
Could such a thing be possible?
While listening to the explanation of the White Bone Mace Tribe, I stared at the brown-haired elf. No matter how I looked at him, he only seemed like a girl with a frail build.
"Turns out it was Alex-gay, not Alexei."
"Gay-gay-ya...."
"All this time, our Milena was barking up the wrong tree. How pitiful for all those years she spent holding an unrequited crush."
The warriors of the Gray Wolf Tribe whispered in hushed voices.
Was it because they had journeyed together all this time?
They had shed their stiffness and developed a close relationship.
And they showed signs of pushing Milena to become the Tsar's queen.
"If the Tsar is curious..., shall I personally verify the elf's gender?"
"Why go that far?"
If they say he's a boy, he's a boy.
I didn't have much interest anyway.
Or rather, I didn't feel like confirming the answer?
Though I did have a tiny bit of curiosity.
I decided to leave Rien's gender like Schrödinger's cat.
"So, for what reason did the elf come down from the Silver Barrier Mountains?"
"Eueung...!"
Is there some internal circumstance that's hard to confess?
Or perhaps banished by the elves to a harsh environment for some reason.
Rien mumbled while chewing on the salted cheese, trailing off.
"Right now, I'm being chased like an escaped convict because of my damned uncle... But still, I'm the king of the humans who are busy running around the snowfields like reckless fools. If something happened to your kin, or if you're being persecuted by your own people, as someone in a similar plight, I could help out, you know?"
"Eueung... thank you."
The Schrödinger's cat—whom I couldn't tell if he was a boy or a girl—nodded while blushing.
Then, harboring a shred of trust, he revealed the internal situation of the Silver Barrier Mountains.
"Huh?"
"Fight... lots, lots... Kin, super angry. At humans beyond the wall. Because they blindly beat and dragged away our kin..."
"Beyond the wall? The bastards behind kidnapping the elves and beastmen are the Golden Eagle Tribe."
"Don't know. Kin were... just so angry at humans beyond the wall..."
A fight.
In other words, it probably meant war.
The humans beyond the wall.
It was the Unified Empire, which had persecuted and banished them.
Currently, the elves of the Silver Barrier Mountains seemed to believe that the Unified Empire was behind the slave hunts.
"Chieftain. Can I see a map?"
"Of course!"
The chieftain of the White Bone Mace Tribe pulled a tattered piece of cloth from his pocket.
It was parchment detailing the surrounding geography in detail.
The territory of the White Bone Mace Tribe.
The Silver Barrier Mountains and Frost Claw Valley.
A massive settlement of frost trolls.
And the territory of the Unified Empire stretching beyond the wall.
I had chosen the White Bone Mace Tribe as a refuge to shake off Boris Berkut and the Golden Eagle Tribe. Because it was the powder keg of the Frozen Lands, dotted with numerous factions where troops could not be recklessly deployed.
'The commander of the Unified Empire in charge of numerous fortresses at the front lines of the wall... was definitely Grand Duke Winterhart. As a reader of the original work, there's no way I'd get that confused. Since Grand Duke Winterhart's only daughter was the villainess who clashed with the female protagonist over the Crown Prince.'
The villainess.
The essential staple and scene-stealer indispensable to romance fantasy works.
A villain who is more popular than the female lead.
Reading the original novel <Splendid Days of the Golden Empire>, I remembered genuinely cheering for the tragic Tsar, Alexei Berkut, along with the villainess, the 『Frost Flower of the North』.
-Hersilia Winterhart! I annul the political marriage with the Grand Ducal House of Winterhart!
-I have uncovered the truth that you have been persecuting and slandering my fiancée all this time! You lack the qualities of a Crown Princess, and of an Empress! Leave the imperial capital this instant!!
-How could anyone be husband and wife with a blunt woman who doesn't have a single shred of cuteness like you!!
A Crown Princess for twenty-nine days.
A virgin yet a married woman.
A divorcee who was unilaterally dumped without even having shared a bed.
That was the end of the villainess who had truly loved the Crown Prince.
Since it was still a timeline one year before the prologue began, the tragic ending could somehow be altered..., but because the Grand Ducal House of Winterhart of the North and the barbarians of the Frozen Lands were the worst sworn enemies who had fought for hundreds of years, there was no opportunity to extend a hand of alteration.
The barbarian Tsar murdered all the tax collectors and attendants dispatched by the Empress.
This was revealed to be a fact.
Because the Tsar had declared war.
Furthermore, the evidence left at the site where the diplomatic delegation was murdered was all too clear.
Do not kill guests who have traveled a long way.
Wasn't that the sole unwritten rule of the Frozen Lands that had existed in this lawless territory?
However, the barbarian Tsar violated the unwritten rule and slaughtered all the tax collectors and attendants. It was clearly to use them as sacrifices for a declaration of war against the Unified Empire.
"Alexei Berkut...! To defy the rule of the Unified Empire!"
"Knights of the North! Everyone, raise your weapons!!"
"We must organize a subjugation force at once! This is a rebellion by the barbarians!"
The barbarians of the Frozen Lands deceived the Unified Empire and trampled on the Empress's honor.
It was only natural for the knights of the Grand Duchy of Winterhart, who had always been loyal to the Unified Empire, to be enraged.
"Intelligence has arrived from a bat of the Frozen Lands. Currently, Alexei Berkut has been driven out by sewer rats and fled to the territory of the White Bone Mace Tribe. It is close enough to reach in half a day's ride leading the Grand Duchy's cavalry..., so I shall subjugate Alexei Berkut and return."
"...There shouldn't be a need for you to step forward personally. Is it perhaps because of the Crown Prince?"
The noble young lady, letting down her beautiful lapis lazuli-colored indigo hair, requested the subjugation from her father, the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Winterhart.
Hersilia Winterhart.
The Frost Flower of the North.
The only daughter of Grand Duke Winterhart.
And the tragic Crown Princess who was never loved even once.
The villainess of the North had a personality that knew neither tact nor compromise, to the point that she was repeatedly subjected to harsh words from the Crown Prince, such as "a blunt woman without a single shred of cuteness." Yet even while constantly receiving such cold treatment and contempt, she could not abandon her loyalty to the Crown Prince, thinking only, "If I continue to dedicate myself and work hard for the Unified Empire, wouldn't the Crown Prince look at me too?"
She did not know how to express the love in her heart.
Therefore, she merely substituted it with unwavering loyalty.
Obtaining the permission of Grand Duke Winterhart, Hersilia organized a subjugation force with the knights under her command. It was to pass judgment on Alexei Berkut, who had murdered the diplomatic delegation of the Unified Empire.
"We have rushed here at your summons. Give us your orders, Lady."
"The lancer unit has arrived as well!"
"Hat-hat-hat! An expedition outside the wall for the first time in years."
Organizing the subjugation force did not take long.
Because a few hundred cavalrymen were enough.
Alexei Berkut.
The Gray Wolf Tribe guarding the Tsar.
And the White Bone Mace Tribe that turned to the Tsar.
The cavalry commanded by the noble lady of the North passed through the castle gate, leaving behind the realm of civilization. And they traversed the realm of savagery, teeming with murderous cold and ferocious magical beasts.
