The Gods' Trials (3): The Elves' Picky Eating...?
I stared at Yggdrasil, who was speaking with a perfectly straight face. Sure, the elves didn't eat a single ingredient derived from plants... but making that the subject of a trial right here and now? Sylphid had been a bit conscienceless too, turning a race with herself into a test problem, but Yggdrasil just felt like she was shoving her own responsibilities onto Baal under the guise of a "trial." Was this really okay?
"Picky eating...?"
"Yes, picky eating. Do you know anything about elves?"
"Yeah. Long-lived race with pointy ears. I heard they can commune with grass and trees."
At Baal's words, Yggdrasil gave a small smile and continued.
"Then this'll be quick. Elves don't put plants in their mouths at all. Even ingredients that other races eat without issue make those kids break out in hives—they won't touch them."
Well, yeah, since they can commune with plants. It'd probably feel like eating your neighbor. Honestly, elves eating plant-based foods would be the weird part.
"They get enough nutrition from meat or photosynthesis, but they don't use any plant-derived ingredients... so compared to other races, they start falling behind. They're compensating with innate abilities and the experience from their long lifespans for now... but as time passes and new things emerge..."
Yggdrasil looked genuinely worried, like a parent fretting over a child with severe picky eating habits.
"So, I want to fix their picky eating... but whenever I see those kids, my heart softens. I can't take a hard line. That's why I want you to do it for me."
Baal pondered Yggdrasil's request for a moment, then tilted his head.
"But... how do you do that?"
"No idea. It's a trial, so you'll have to figure it out yourself, right?"
Yggdrasil... that was extremely irresponsible. Anyway, changing the elves' meat-heavy diet... Hmm. How could that even be fixed?
The biggest cause was probably their ability to commune with plants. Once you can talk to them, you can't see them as food anymore. Heck, if other humans could chat directly with plants or animals... they might hesitate a bit too. Or not? Beastkin can commune with animals to some degree, and they eat them just fine... Hmm. Let's skip beastkin—that'd derail things.
For elves, it's the communion plus Yggdrasil, their goddess. Eating a being in the form of their god? Blasphemy! And not just any god—she's the world tree mother who created and nurtured their race. Shoving plant ingredients into the mouths of elves who revere her that much... I could probably do it, but could Baal?
No clue. Urgh. Both Sylphid and Yggdrasil—why these tricky trials? Was it because I fudged things with Gaia? They weren't onto me, were they? Punishing me by making the tests harder?
"Of course, it's not easy, so I'll give you plenty of time. One month. Make the elves eat veggies somehow in that time."
"Urghhh..."
Baal's worries deepened at Yggdrasil's words. Changing an entire race's eating habits in a month... Yeah, this one felt impossible.
"Hmm... what should I do?"
Baal gazed down at the elves, lost in thought. They were skillfully skinning game and processing meat—clearly not their first or second time.
"What would Gaia do?"
"Me?"
She'd said it was fine to call her Gaia when the other kids weren't around, so Baal was using it freely. Honestly, I still wasn't used to "Gaia"—I'd sometimes go, Gaia? Oh, right, me—but hey, I've been called by tons of names over time. I'd get accustomed soon enough.
I looked down at the elves and pondered deeply.
"Elves not eating plants is mostly because they commune with them, plus Yggdrasil—their goddess—is a plant deity."
"Yeah, that's right."
"So unless you strip their communion ability and swap out their worshipped god from Yggdrasil to someone else... it's impossible."
I could gather all the elves and alter their natures in one go, but that'd be too much for Baal. Plus, you'd need them all in one place, which was tricky. Most lived in forests around Yggdrasil, but a tiny few had ventured out—adventurous types always existed among them.
"Then what do we do?"
"Hmm..."
Turning the impossible possible? Too much for Baal. Better to exploit the loophole in Yggdrasil's trial instead.
She'd said "picky eating," after all. Solve that somehow... The issue was making them eat plants. Wait—no. Change the angle.
What if there were plants they had to eat? Parts grown specifically to be eaten?
A clue flashed in my mind. Plants had parts grown for exactly that purpose.
"Fruit."
"Fruit?"
Baal tilted his head at my murmur.
"Yeah, fruit. That's the key."
"Fruit... why fruit?"
I explained to the puzzled Baal.
"Fruit exists to carry its seeds elsewhere. It has to be eaten for that."
"A part that must be eaten?"
"Exactly. Plants might even want their fruit eaten."
From the plant's view, the fruit wasn't vital—just the seed. And animal dung fertilizes those seeds too.
"Without overhauling the entire elf race, this might be the only way."
Yggdrasil's trial was just to fix their picky eating. If they ate fruit, wouldn't that pass? A bit of a stretch, but the most feasible option.
"Hmm... I don't fully get it, but if Gaia says so, it must be right!"
Baal nodded eagerly, swallowing my words without a shred of doubt. Seeing that innocence, I started to worry. If someone tricked this naive little godling... disaster.
Hmm. Education. Education was the answer. I had to drill proper manners into this brash young sky god and mold him into a proper king of gods!
"So, we just shove a ton of fruit at the elves?"
"Do that abruptly, and they'll get suspicious. Approach slowly."
"Slowly?"
I nodded slightly at Baal.
One day, in the elven city of Alfheim built around the world tree Yggdrasil, a certain rumor began to circulate. It started with a question from a small human boy who had come from outside Alfheim.
"I heard elves don't eat anything from plants at all—is that true?"
"Of course. To us elves, all grass and trees are like family."
"Then you don't eat fruit either?"
"Nope, not fruit either."
The boy paused at the elf's words, then spoke up.
"I learned fruit is made to be eaten along with its seeds... Wouldn't plants hate it if you didn't eat it?"
"Uh, i-is that so...?"
Thus began a small doubt: Is fruit made to be eaten?
Even for elves who shunned all plant products, this sparked heated debates.
"Plants are our family, so we mustn't touch anything from them!"
The hardline carnivores insisted not even a nibble.
"But isn't fruit made to be eaten? Shouldn't we honor the plants' will by eating it?"
New moderate carnivegetarians argued fruit was fair game.
"Then just ask the plants via communion and do as they wish? That's what our ability is for, right?"
Some passed the buck to the plants themselves.
"Ancient records say the world tree pitied our starving ancestors and bestowed fruit upon them, which they gratefully ate! That means the world tree approves of eating fruit!"
Others dug through history for answers.
"Why not extract just the fruit flesh and brew? Those dwarf bastards drink beer, and it pisses me off. Time to ditch animal-milk booze and make fruit wine!"
What the hell were these guys?
"Elves already have this image of tenderly nurturing plants—eating their fruit might ruin that."
"Then just show other races our strict carnivore side."
"To preserve the plant-loving elf image. Not thrilled, but..."
"Necessary, though."
Countless debates turned Alfheim into a madhouse.
The little human boy who sparked it all—Baal—looked down at the elves and grinned.