Chapter 103 – The Gaiden – The Exiled Elves

“I’m going to be unlucky today, so…”

Silnia felt a blunt impact on her head and began to fall to her floor.

Seeing that my vision is fuzzy and my memories are jumbled up, I wonder if today is the day I fall behind.
Either that, or the humans are taken to the city.

After all, can’t she go back to her hometown?

The elf fell to the ground with a thud.
She wept her soon-drying tears as she watched the memory of her float before her eyes.

* * *

“Ugh!”

Pain as if her head was breaking.
Silnia groaned and opened her eyes.

Any drink made with raspberries is good, but the hangover is pushed to insane levels.
I still have a very bad headache.

“Huh…”

And unexplained anxiety.
After drinking and losing my memory, I felt a feeling similar to the fear I felt when people asked if I remembered yesterday.

It’s a strange thing.
She feels like this when there is only her in her room and no one around her.

Maybe while I was drinking yesterday and lost my memory, wouldn’t it be a slap in the face of a bad guy?

It seems like last night, an outsider I saw for the first time got into a fight.

“Outsiders… ?”

Silnia grabbed her throbbing head and tipped the water bottle beside her.
The sound of rushing water makes my head a little clearer.

“I think it was black hair…”

Black haired elf.
She has a hair color that she has never seen in the forest where she lives.

So she seems to have judged that she was an outsider.

She slowly passed her water down her throat, trying to remember the face of the man she had seen yesterday.
As the clear water passes into her mouth, yesterday becomes clearer.

A year after her coming-of-age ceremony, she couldn’t properly pair with a man, and she was drinking alone yesterday.

If I remember correctly, the place is an empty lot near the divine tree.
This is where her attention lies, which she likes all the time.

There, it seems that he was chewing on the faces of the parents of the boy who made a mistake while blaming the character of this side.

When I think about it, the hangover and other unpleasant sensations come to mind.
What’s my personality like, I’m just being honest…

“Joy.”

Anyway, I have no intention of getting married yet.
At her grandfather’s urging, she is forced to move out here and there.

While searching for memories of yesterday when the moon was exceptionally dark, a strange smell pierced her nose and wafted through the house.

“Does her grandfather cook?”

Black smell.
In other words, the smell of burning wood pervades the entire house.

In elven households, which are not good at cooking with fire, there is no such strong smell of smoke.

So, if you smell a burnt fire, it’s likely that you’re cooking something grand.

Did mom and dad come back?

Silnia shook her head, moaning from her headache hitting her brain once again.

Her parents have been missing since they were conscripted into the kingdom during the last demonic invasion.
And disappearance in war usually means death.

Especially if it’s an elf that stands out everywhere.

“Grandfather…”

Silnia went downstairs to her, calling her the only family she had left.
The house, which was built around a huge tree, was a multi-story structure, so the design did not take into account elves suffering from hangovers.

Holding back the feeling of nausea that surged with each step she took, she continued down.

“Grandfather?”

“Did you come?”

By human standards, a face closer to middle age than old age.
However, the fact that their hair turns white is the same as that of humans.

Her grandfather, his green eyes fixed on the fire pit, asked in a low voice.

“How is your hangover? It looks like you drank too much yesterday.”

“Did Grandpa bring me?”

“It seems you don’t even remember.”

As her grandfather approached her, she was seen being roasted in the fire pit.

“Aren’t these biscuits?”

Huge biscuits, almost the size of human faces, were being baked in an oven.

The fragrant smell itself is good, but why on earth biscuits?

It’s a food that doesn’t have to be made unless someone has to break their teeth.

To Silnia’s question, the old elf threw a question instead of an answer.

“Sylnia you. Do you handle the water spirits well now?”

“Yes. Why? You don’t think you still see me as a child, do you? Now, the spirits are handled well.”

“Okay. You seem to be able to handle fire spirits well.”

Silnia scratched her head.
It is true that she skillfully handles fire spirits.

And in this elven forest, she is the only one who handles fire spirits.

Dealing with fire spirits in a forest full of fire is not recommended, and the fire spirits themselves are more familiar with humans than elves.

“So, is it past morning now? If it’s still there, leave it alone and have a meal with me…”

“No. It’s lunch soon. You will dress up.”

Her grandfather said and pointed to her side.
Naturally, the clothes hanging from the branch inside her house were the clothes she wore during her coming-of-age ceremony.

An outfit that proves that you are recognized as a member of society and can fight.
In the non-meat-eating elven society, it is a garment with a lot of leather, which is rare.

Of course, Silnia’s grandfather was a priest who served the forest god, so he was able to use rather expensive materials, which also contributed to the fact that he had a lot of leather.

“Why are you wearing this? Where are you saying that even a bear is rampaging?”

“… Just wear it.”

The old man glanced at the window and spoke briefly.
Silnia shrugged her shoulders and got dressed.
Even so, her sensitive sense of smell picked up the acrid smell of smoke.

There doesn’t seem to be much smoke coming from the oven, so she stood next to her grandfather again, wondering why I was so strong.

“I’m all dressed… Wow!”

She was taken aback by the water suddenly pouring out of thin air.

“If you’re going to call the water spirit, you have to do it before you get dressed!”

“If you do it this way, you can surprise your opponent. It buys time for the agile elf to escape without using much power.”

“Yes?”

“But don’t use it on humans. It’s only suitable for dangerous animals. If you have to use it on humans, use it with a fire spirit to make it hot…”

“Grandfather!”

Silnia’s head still hurts, but she suddenly wondered what she was talking about.

“I’m sorry, but my hangover is giving me a headache? Can’t we just drink fruit juice?”

Her grandfather looked at her blankly, then nodded her head.

“That’s it. And wipe her face clean too.”

Silnia grumbled and grabbed her towel.
Still, her grandfather’s water baptism lifted her spirits.

She probably endured her headache today, thinking she was going to greet guests or go somewhere public.

In the meantime, the old man turned off the fire and lifted the huge staff that was placed next to the stove.

* * *

“Is this what I did?”

Silnia saw a huge pile of ashes that smelled so bad it was hard to breathe.
A hot wind was blowing from the ash hill, where she was still blowing bright red sparks.

She caught the suffocating heat, and the eyes that flew from all sides of her.

“I brought Silnia!”

Instead of answering, her grandfather shouted, attracting the attention of elves from all over the forest.

“Now that the suspect who burned the sacred tree has been brought in, the trial begins in the name of the forest god!”

Silnia trembled as she looked at the charred corpse of the giant yew.
Before she could ask what the hell was going on with her, her accusations flew at her.

“Priest! What is the suspect? Are there any other elves besides Silnia that can start a fire here?”

“Is it so! Several people witnessed Silnia drinking around her sacred tree yesterday!”

“Even at dawn, there is a priest among the people who brought Silnia, who was scattered around the sacred tree!”

“It rained yesterday morning, so it’s absolutely not a spontaneous combustion! There is no way the sacred tree will burn with ordinary fire!”

Silnia felt the world spinning.

The divine tree is the center of elven society.

The representative of the god of the forest, the main god of the elves, and the temple itself.
In other words, the burning of the sacred tree is equivalent to saying that the elven society has lost its connection with the forest god.

And since it doesn’t react to ordinary fire at all, a fire from a divine tree can be said to be an event caused by magic or spirits.

In other words, it is an incident close to intentional arson.

Compared to humans, there were not many elves who could be calm in a situation like this, even though there were many elves who had a much milder and calmer personality.

Elven society is rather conservative, so this situation could cause extreme anger.

“Everyone be quiet!”

The old man, Silnia’s grandfather and the highest priest in this forest, did not break a single drop of cold sweat.

He questioned Silnia with a stern face.

“Sylnia! Can you use the fire spirit?”

“Grandfather! I can’t do something like this…”

“Call me priest! And only answer questions!”

Silnia shrugged her shoulders.

“Right, priest. You can use fire spirits.”

“Summon the spirit you summoned yesterday.”

Lips dry in a stern atmosphere.
Feeling that she wanted to summon a water spirit rather than fire, Silnia called a spirit she knew.

And she felt embarrassed in the non-response.
I tried again, but the fire spirit didn’t react at all.

She called other fire spirits just in case, but there was no response at all.
As if all the fire spirits in the area had disappeared.

“Why not summon him?”

“Ugh, I’m not responding.”

As soon as Silnia could speak, rage poured from the elves who seemed to be her age.

“It is a lie!”

“Sylnia often summoned fire spirits!”

“I did that on purpose to pretend I didn’t know that!”

She never thought of me as a friend, but she thought of me as her neighbor though.
Silnia felt her heart shrink at the rage pouring from the faces she knew.

She tried to excuse herself somehow, but she is the only elf dealing with fire spirits in this forest.
The more Silnia opened her mouth, the more her anger only increased.

Eventually, the High Priestess declared Silnia her culprit.

“I can’t find another reasonable culprit. It’s an obvious arson case, and the only person who can do that is Silnia.”

“Grandpa… No, priest!”

“Having recognized Silnia as the culprit, she now deals with the punishment.”

Silnia’s grandfather walked straight ahead to the huge pile of ashes.
He held up a staff made from the branches of the yew tree, the sacred tree of this forest, to prevent the others from speaking.

And he said it preemptively.

“I will order Silnia to make an atonement trip!”

There was silence for a moment.
A punishment that even elves, who live three times longer than humans, do not often suffer.

Since permanent banishment or the death penalty were more familiar punishments, the elves around them didn’t seem to be able to open their mouths easily to the unfamiliarity.

Taking advantage of that strange silence, the highest priest continued his words.

“Sylnia cannot return unless she suffers an achievement worthy of being forgiven for her sins or a price commensurate with her sins.”

Like other elves, Silnia struggled to find information about the atonement trip.

A punishment equivalent to permanent banishment.
There is also an evaluation that it is more cruel to leave vain hope.

Even if he finally returned after fulfilling the ambiguous conditions, the elf had already changed as he tumbled into human society.
It is to become an existence that cannot live in the elven society.

However, the position of elves who are not protected in human society is also obvious.

No matter how you think about it, it’s a harsh punishment.

“Priest! Too harsh…”

“I’d rather not kill you!”

Silnia shut her mouth in horror.

“Or permanent banishment is fine!”

Harsh shouts erupt from her uncle or aunt, who were her neighbors.
There is no one to support

Silnia wept as she heard the accusation and punishment of her good on the day that poured from all sides of her.

Why did this happen?

She was obviously just drinking and relaxing.

She then met an elf she thought was an outsider.
He was a dark-haired man with a peculiar awkwardness and displeasure.

She doesn’t remember exactly what conversation she had with him, but I think she was probably referring to her parents on this side.

She laughed that she would have died on the battlefield at will, but she was very angry when she saw him.
So she pounced…

She doesn’t remember anything after that.
Could it be that the elf did something?

“Priest! There was another elf with me yesterday!”

Silnia’s grandfather, the highest priest, narrowed his brows.

“Why are you saying that now? It has already been determined that you are the culprit.”

“But really! A dark-haired elf…”

The old elf twitched his eyes.
He said in a serious voice.

“Sylnia. Elves don’t have dark hair.”

“Yes?”

“The black-haired elf is a creature that comes out of mythology.”

“But obviously the ears and the face are elves…”

Right away, a word came out from the side not to talk nonsense.

“Yesterday Silnia was drinking and she was talking to herself into the air! I was drunk and saw nothing!”

Public opinion only gets tougher.
Now, the authority of Silnia’s grandfather, the highest priest, has deteriorated into a situation where it is not easily accepted.

Is it because I don’t usually behave very well?

There was no one on Silnia’s side.
As her parents, who always gave her her love, were no longer there, her grandfather was the only one on her side who was in front of her ashes.

No, he can’t be completely on Silnia’s side either.
As the most prestigious person in her village, it was difficult to defend Silnia beyond a certain level.

Even more so, isn’t the sacred tree, the source of its authority, burned?
It’s because people roll their eyes at the culprit, and after his head cools down, he may be held accountable as the final officer.

Silnia trembled, thinking that she had fallen into a great trap.

“Stop!”

At that moment, the High Priest slammed her staff into the ground and slashed.

“I disagree with you, and I disagree with you!”

The old man, who exerted enough force to make the blood vessels in his temples protrude, fervently vomited out his words.

“We will have to ask God for his will at this moment!”

“How can I ask a question to God when the sacred tree is on fire!”

The screams of the elves poured out.
Fear and dissatisfaction at the burning of the torch welled up among them once more.

An appearance devoid of the gentleness and composure of an elf.
It didn’t look much different from the human corps that came to the forest in the past.

Did I say that all mankind was once a single species?

Silnia looked back at her grandfather, thinking maybe she was right.

The highest priest was silent, receiving the cries of the crowd.
It is a face that feels both aloof and complex emotions at the same time.

Silnia looked at her grandfather and her shoulders drooped.
She said that if she tried to live, people might be more angry.

At least she might spark the only family she has left.

“Priest, just as people want…”

Silnia’s grandfather looked away from Silnia and her crowd.
Fully turned around, he raised his feet over the ashes.

The smell of burning flesh was as strong as he had placed his feet there, where the heat was still coming out.

Soon Silnia and some of her elders came running.

“Priest!”

“Grandfather!”

“I’m on my way to ask God for a doctor!”

He pushed Silnia’s chest with his staff and climbed her ash mound.
Continually flying sparks stuck to his clothes, leaving holes in them.

The ashes stuck to the yew staff that was part of this pile of ashes and turned black.

Climbing to the top of the ash hill in a mess, he put his staff there.
Even though he exhaled heavily, the high priest shouted in a clear voice.

“God will answer! What opinion agrees with Him!”

An intense burst of light erupted from the staff, enveloping the crowds surrounding the ashes and clearings.
Silnia tried to find her grandfather in that intense miracle.

“Grandfather!”

But it was impossible to see him in the midst of miracles with the naked eye.
She wept in the light that seemed to blind her.

* * *

A bag containing the biscuits my grandfather used to bake in the morning.
A longbow and arrows made of yew.
A change of clothes and shoes.

Finally, an elf woman.
She went on a journey of atonement in a simple outfit.

In the clearing where it was raining, Silnia was still showered with raindrops, and she stood in front of a huge newly grown sapling on the ashes.

In front of the sapling, a disfigured old man was breathing lightly.
People tried to remove him from the tree, but he was firmly entangled in the roots and could not be freed.

There was a cruel price to pay for summoning the miracle of God with an old body.
Perhaps it was a punishment from God for not keeping the divine tree properly.

What is certain, however, is that the god of the forest kept the supreme priest alive for a while, and through his mouth made Silnia go on her journey of atonement.

“Preparation… Are you done?”

“Yes.”

“Then leave.”

“How do elves live apart from the forest?”

The old man who looked like Silnia smiled.

“If you can’t live, come back. Is that what an atonement trip is like?”

“Grandfather.”

Silnia shook her shoulders, unable to wipe the raindrops down her face.

“Can I come back here? Besides, no one comes back…”

The old man, paused by the approaching death, stretched out his hand.
Holding her hand, Silnia felt that she didn’t know why the rain was pouring so intensely on her face.

“You can definitely go back to the forest. And I’m sure there will be lots of precious people.”

She wanted to say that she loved her, or that she could not survive by praying to God.

But she didn’t dare say that because the old man didn’t want it.

“Are you saying to make a connection with humans? Will that be?”

“I don’t know that. But God help me. So that you can go back to the forest and get a family…”

Her grandfather’s voice gradually faded.
Silnia tried to speak her words impatiently, but she realized he was about to say something and shut her mouth.

“Don’t forget the forest, and make a precious family. And don’t forget that your charm is honesty that is not like an elf…”

“Grandfather?”

“I love you, Sylnia.”

“… Me too.”

The conversation between her granddaughter and her grandfather ended there.
There was probably a lot more to talk about, but the time allowed for him ended there.

Silnia walked out of the woods, catching the glances around her.

People who hate themselves.
But the forest to return.

Because that’s where her own family lived.
Her grandfather told her to go back to the forest, so she will come back.

I don’t know if it’s been a few years.

* * *

Of course, life in human society was not easy.
As proof, Silnia, who had been caught robbing her money and was hanging out by her campfire.

“What about this elf?”

“Well?”

“Po, was it violent?”

Karine shrugged her shoulders and looked at Potty and Hernan.

“The rule of thumb is to hand it over to the security forces. However, I saw earlier that you know how to handle spirits and shoot arrows well, right?”

“Is your arm okay?”

Hernán examined Carine’s arm.
Carine patted her arm and said.

“It was just brushed off. I think it’s over before El hits her in the head two years quicker and gets hit by more arrows.”

While Karine was talking, Potty poked Silnia around her to see if there were any further injuries.
Hernan also looked at it and asked a question.

“Anyway, Carine, do you think it’s useful?”

“Huh. Just as it happened, all the spirit lovers and archers we were originally trying to save went missing.”

Bizarrely, both disappeared while drinking.
Originally, I tried to fill it with reliable veteran soldiers.

Hernan clicked his tongue and looked at the elf who had just appeared.

Elves are natural spirits and excellent archers.
It is obviously suitable for replacing the personnel originally sought.

“So I’d like to talk to you and hire you?”

When Carine heard that there was nothing wrong with Potty, she hinted at Hernán.
Hernan nodded his head, thinking that there were many options that didn’t seem like options during his adventure.

“We are not in a position to cover things up. Let’s ask him once he wakes up.”

That was the moment when the recruitment of new members of the warrior party was decided.