Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Something Feels Off
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Something felt strange.
Fate is truly capricious.
The elf girl Asha, lost in memories of her past life, sat blankly on a tree stump, staring up into empty space.
A clear blue sky.
Pure.
The scent of flowers tickling her nose.
Fragrant.
But inside her heart...
'What the hell is this...'
Bewilderment crashed over her like waves, chilling her fingertips.
Asha lifted her dainty little hands and rubbed her face dry.
"Haa..."
Adoptive father, Min Hyeong. You said protecting the world was your calling.
Then I guess the orphan start is mine.
Because I'm alone again.
Not even ten years old yet—a tender age before blossoming into youth.
Her mother, plagued by poor health from some chronic illness, had passed first.
Then her father, lost in grief, stopped eating and drinking altogether and soon followed her.
'Completely alone.'
Left all by herself in this remote mountain hollow...
Asha let out deep sighs as she stood. She brushed the dirt off her backside with her hands.
Shaking her head, she turned toward the cabin and started walking.
Her mind was far too resilient to wallow in despair like this.
After all, she had memories from a past life full of rolling with the punches.
She'd just have to make it on her own.
And there was one thing better than her previous life.
A healthy body!
Wasn't that the greatest asset in life?
Asha let out a wry chuckle as she gripped a farming tool.
Even a schoolyard mutterer recites poetry after three years—so with all she'd picked up trailing after her parents, she wouldn't starve.
'Just hang in there till adulthood.'
All she knew of this world came from the fragmented tales her late parents had shared.
It was definitely a medieval fantasy realm.
But that was about it.
Was she born a cliché elf? Or part of the clan from her adoptive father's stories? Or was this an entirely different world?
Living by a spring deep in the mountains, Asha had no way to gather proper information.
Either way, in her current state, even running into bandits would spell disaster.
So she couldn't slack on her training.
She didn't believe in gods or anything, but she hoped this was just an ordinary world.
Once she built a solid foundation, she wanted to live easy and carefree.
This was a new life, but Lee Si-an's core hadn't changed.
She wasn't old enough for that anyway.
'Living as a family unit in the mountains—so probably your typical elf, right?'
She'd never encountered another intelligent being besides her parents.
Not once.
That was how isolated this mountain hollow was.
Rather than dwell on her late parents, Asha focused on immediate survival. She prepared for the future.
There was so much to do that she barely had time for training, but time flew by all the same.
Fifteen years old. By this world's reckoning, Asha was now an adult.
She'd followed her parents' way of tracking dates, so it was probably close enough, she figured.
Her height had shot up to around 150cm before she knew it.
At this rate, would she barely top 160cm once fully grown?
Asha scanned the old height marks she'd carved into a tree trunk.
"Ugh—!"
She laced her fingers together and stretched, a thin, high-pitched breath slipping out.
Her budding breasts rose and fell naturally with the motion of her arms.
"...What a tiring day."
She muttered as she kneaded her stiff shoulders.
From sunrise: fieldwork, training, and sometimes scouting the mountains near the cabin. She never wasted a moment until sunset.
Yet she'd never run into another soul.
She'd once spotted signs of a campsite, but she hadn't bothered pursuing them.
If it was an armed group, she wasn't sure she could handle them.
Slave traders, corrupt nobles, mercenaries no better than bandits...
No thanks to those filthy clichés.
Living solo with no one to compare to, but by her own measure, Asha could feel her beauty blooming more each day.
Better to stay cautious.
'Still, maybe it's time to widen the search radius.'
Retracing familiar paths made her stronger faster than in her past life.
And her healthy body, blessed with mana, surely played a part.
Asha flashed a confident smile.
...And so a year passed.
Then another, bringing her to seventeen.
"So lonely..."
Asha muttered, sprawled out like a starfish on the grass.
Now she got it.
Why her adoptive father, Min Hyeong, had taken her in.
Humans are social creatures. He'd wanted company for the chores and someone to talk to.
Her past life at least had civilization.
Now she was just a mountain girl with nothing fun to do.
Elf in the woods or whatever—she was seriously considering breaking out.
'I've scouted everywhere around the cabin.'
To venture farther, she'd need to plan for overnight camping.
The cabin had no valuables worth mentioning anyway.
Maybe pack up properly and follow the valley downstream?
As she reviewed her plans in detail...
Twitch.
Asha's long ears perked up, detecting an unfamiliar sound.
'Blades clashing.'
Intermittent bursts.
Still distant, but growing louder.
Someone was fleeing this way, clearly being chased.
Asha sprang to her feet and brushed the grass and dirt from her hair and clothes.
She gripped the hilt of the sword she always kept at her side.
Her piercing ice-blue eyes stared straight through the forest ahead.
Clang! Screech!
Blades met in a shower of sparks, the harsh ring of metal echoing through the trees.
"Guh...!"
The female knight's kick slammed mercilessly into the mercenary's gut through a momentary opening.
Without hesitation, she whipped around and bolted.
"Hey! After her!"
"Don't let her get away!"
The uninjured mercenaries gave chase, hot on her heels.
Individually, they weren't fit to lick the dirt from her boots, but numbers were a weapon in themselves.
And she was wounded. They were steadily closing the net.
'Bastards!'
The knight ground her teeth, swallowing a curse amid ragged breaths.
Where had it all gone wrong?
This job gave her no reason to betray her employer.
It was a simple scouting mission, chasing rumors of human tracks spotted in these mountains years ago.
Desperate for any lead, she'd hired mercenaries tied to the tale.
They claimed to have seen signs while crossing the peaks.
But their actions screamed fugitives—bandits who'd fled somewhere, not innocent travelers.
Her haste in not vetting them properly was the problem...
Clang—!
She reflexively parried a sword slashing at her side.
They traded sporadic blows as she plunged deeper into the mountains.
At this rate, she'd lose her way even if she shook them.
She couldn't change course either.
They were right behind her.
And the moment they caught her, her fate was all too clear.
No way she'd go quietly.
But limits had a way of arriving.
"Damn..."
Men who'd hung back from the fight used their numbers to block her path ahead.
Surrounded, the knight steadied her breathing and sized them up.
She'd hired six mercenaries, but only four ringed her now.
Even after stamina drained fighting monsters they'd stumbled into mid-scout and taking wounds from their ambush, she'd whittled them down.
"Why not give up already, knight lady?"
"You'll bleed out at this rate."
"..."
The mercenaries snickered, mocking her.
Silent, she scanned for an escape without yielding.
Her glance upward was pure coincidence.
Someone perched on a branch, silently observing.
A single girl amid the dense leaves, backlit by dappled sunlight.
Golden hair cascading to her waist fluttered softly in the breeze.
Peeking from between the strands: slender, pointed ears.
'An... elf?'
Why was an elf girl in these brutal mountains?
Perplexed, the knight's eyes narrowed.
Right then.
The elf girl signaled with her hand.
Simple gestures—easy enough to read.
-I'll ambush. Just keep their eyes on you.
The message itself was the problem.
The knight doubted her own eyes.
'An elf... calling the shots?!'
What were elves, if not a race that lived and died by honor, their heads full of flowers?
They'd charge in yelling fanfares, fighting fair and square—no surprise there.
But an ambush? From an elf?!
The knight froze in stunned disbelief.