Chapter 5 – Going to Lose Weight

“Here is…”

Looking around, I immediately let out a sigh of relief.

It is in front of the guardian’s house.

Right before returning to the original world, the place where I was.

This proves that upon re-entry, you return to the place where you were last.

I thought what if I fell into the middle of the forest again… It seems that the worst has been avoided.

All that’s left is… All you have to do is reset the mainspring and make sure it makes an emergency return.

If it gets to that point, it proves that you can freely go back and forth between the two sides.

That was the moment I was about to activate the switch on the clock.

Rattle!

The gate of the Guardian’s house opened and an elf jumped out.

It was Aricia.

“Huh…”

Standing in front of her door, I bumped into her.

Fortunately, thanks to the weight difference, I didn’t fall.

“Are you okay?”

I grabbed her staggering shoulders and supported her from falling.

However, her condition was a little strange.

“Black…”
“?”

… Are you crying

I was taken aback for a moment, but then I realized that the crying wasn’t my fault.

Seeing that her eyes were swollen, she must have been crying for a long time.

It certainly wouldn’t have been like this an hour ago.

Alicia wiped away her tears and finally looked up at my face.

“Suddenly… You… How long ago…?”
“…Lately?”

I felt a strange sense of incongruity in Alicia’s tone.

It’s as if he treats me like someone I’ve met in a very long time.

What?

What happened in just an hour?

At that time, Alicia cried out while clinging to me as if she had suddenly remembered something.

“Everything, you…! You said you were definitely human, right?”
“Uh… Yes. That’s right.”
“Then… Please save Allen!”
“Yes?”

What is this again? You want to save Allen?

At that time, another elf appeared in the Guardian’s house.

“As expected… You’re back.”

She was none other than the elf with purple hair who called me master an hour ago and hugged me.

Aricia looked back at her with her tears in her eyes.

“Guardian…”

Indeed… Was that woman a guardian?

He said he was the oldest in the village, so I was imagining something like an elderly grandfather… I wish I could have been such a beauty

Well, since it’s common for elves to be younger and live longer than humans, there’s nothing particularly strange about it.

However, unlike before, I couldn’t find anything like the affectionate look in her now when she called me her master and hugged me.

Rather, the expression clearly wary of me.

She opened her mouth with her eyes calmly sunken.

“I heard the story from Alicia, Mr. Lee Seon-woo. I am Rosamia, the guardian of this village. If it’s okay with you, can I talk to you?”
“…”

His tone was polite, but his voice contained a firmness that was hard to refuse.

I had no choice but to nod my head and reply.

“…Yes. I see.”

***

The Guardian, Rosamia’s house, if I had to express it, felt like a single wooden villa.

One living room and several rooms. There were also stairs leading to the second floor.

It’s cozy and looks good… I’d say there’s nothing special about it.

At this point, it made me wonder if the lifestyles of humans and elves were just the same.

“Sit over here.”
“Yes.”

Rosa Mia led me to a room that looked like a drawing room, and then she brought me refreshments.

Is it the fruit you saw before?

When the peel is cut, the inside looks nothing different from an apple.

I’m curious about the taste, but I can’t easily go to the food I’m seeing for the first time.

Rosamia said as I was just staring at her like that.

“It’s not poisoned, so don’t worry.”
“Oh, it’s not like that… It’s the first fruit I’ve ever seen, so it’s amazing.”
“It’s the first fruit I’ve ever seen… I see.”

At my words, I felt Rosamia’s eyes dig deeper into me.

It is said that she is an elf who has lived for over a hundred years… Certainly, the atmosphere is completely different from when dealing with Aricia.

It was to the point of doubting whether she was really the same person as the woman who had called me her master and held me only an hour ago.

“Did you say you were Seonwoo Lee?”
“Yes.”
“You said you were human.”
“…That’s right.”
“…”

She keeps staring at my face.

Naturally, this side avoids the gaze.

Still, if a beauty like this is staring at you, you might not hate it so much.

Just as she was thinking such wild thoughts, Rosa Mia’s mouth opened again.

“But… You’re not a human from this world.”
“!”

I looked back at her in surprise.

“What now…”

Just now… Didn’t you say ‘this side of the world’?

I guess that means…

“You don’t have to be so surprised. I’m probably the only one here who can recognize you.”
“…”

Her eyes turned into eyes that somehow seemed to be looking into the distance.

“Actually… I once knew someone with a name similar to yours.”
“A similar name?”
“Yes. And he… Wasn’t from here either. That’s why I know.”
“Ah… Then, the fact that you called me master a while ago…”
“Heeep?”

Suddenly, Rosa Mia started to hiccup as her face turned red.

The weight she had been holding onto in her was gone in an instant.

“T-Forget about that time. The smell is too similar, so stop…”
“…I see.”

Anyway, the smell is similar, huh?

Isn’t that a bit odd?

No matter how much she came from the same world as a human, she wouldn’t all smell the same.

Rosa Mia cleared her throat a few times, then she spoke again in a heavy voice.

“But I was just mistaken. In the first place, since he died a hundred years ago… There’s no way he’ll reappear.”

A hundred years ago… It’s a time I can’t even imagine.

I’m still envious To think that such an elf of extreme beauty already had someone called master.

Are you from the same world?

Even though it happened a hundred years ago, I am envious and jealous.

What was he doing

I am very curious about your name.

Come to think of it, didn’t I say that my name was similar?

Out of curiosity, I asked the man’s name.

“The names were Yeon-woo Lee. Yeon-woo Lee and Sun-woo Lee. Similar? Both names are strange.”
“…Lee Yeon-woo?”

Yeonwoo Lee?

I was speechless in my absurd mind.

“Why is that? Do you know someone?”
“…”

That’s all you know

Because Lee Yeon-woo is none other than my father’s name.

No… Maybe it’s just a coincidence

The name Lee Yeon-woo isn’t uncommon, and there’s a good chance it’s someone with the same name.

Besides, didn’t you say it was over a hundred years ago?

Can never be a father

But…

This antique watch itself is none other than my father’s keepsake.

Is this really a coincidence?

“Could you tell me at least roughly what that person named Lee Yeon-woo looked like?”
“Um… Wait a minute.”

Rosa Mia left the room and after a while she returned with a piece of paper.

The paper was none other than a photograph.

Very old and faded, but… Certainly the stuff of the world I lived in.

And in the picture, with a cute elf girl with purple hair…

There was a picture of my father.

“Under…”

And it was only then that I realized the identity of the strange sense of incongruity I had been feeling before.

***

“So you’re saying I first came here not an hour ago, but a full day ago.”
“Yes. At least in our time it is.”

I did the math in my head.

By my standards, only about an hour had passed since I returned to the original world and returned to this place.

If that one hour is 15 days here… In other words, does a day in my world become a year here?

… That’s a huge difference.

If so, it also explains why the father’s photo is from more than a hundred years ago.

Even if a hundred years pass here, it’s only about three or four months in our world.

In other words, the man in the picture must be my father.

When I said that fact, Rosamia unexpectedly showed an expression of understanding.

“That’s right. That’s why they smelled similar. Their appearance… If you look closely, they look alike.”
“Haha…”

Except for being an obese pig, he must have looked like him. Still the same bloodline.

By the way… If so, does that mean that the person she called her master was none other than her father?

Seeing that she welcomed me back then, she must have been very kind.

Anyone could tell just by looking at the photo that the two looked friendly.

If it had been a simple master-slave relationship, they wouldn’t have been embraced like that.

… As a son, I was almost neglected.

“…Lee Seon-woo?”
“Ah… Nothing.”

Did he sense that my mood had changed a little?

I quickly resumed the conversation with a nonchalant expression.

“Then Rosamia-san must know about this item.”
“That…”

When I showed the antique watch I was wearing on my wrist, Rosa Mia immediately nodded and said,

“Yes. I’m sure the owner was wearing the same one.”
“Then do you know how to use this object?”
“No, up to that point… But my master said that. As long as I keep wearing it, the flow of time in both worlds will not be out of sync.”
“Ah…”

It was like that.

Come to think of it, when I returned to my original world, I immediately released the watch as an experiment.

Was that why the flow of time was distorted?

From now on, I think I will have to keep wearing it even after returning to the original world.

At that time, Rosamia suddenly changed her expression and called me.

“Then, Seonwoo Lee… I believe that you are the son of the master, and now I will tell you the main point.”
“Yes?”

Suddenly, to the point… What are you talking about?

However, I was soon taken aback by Rosamia’s behavior.

Suddenly she knelt down on her floor and bent her back towards me.

“Please, Mr. Lee Seon-woo. Please save my son, Allen… No, save our elves.”

“…”

Come to think of it, Alicia said something similar earlier.

I’ve heard the name Allen a few times already… Was she her son?

I don’t know the details, but it seems that he is in critical condition due to some disease.

But even if you suddenly ask for help… I don’t have the jaw to have that ability.

I’m not any kind of doctor.

Besides, what does it mean to ask to save the elves?

Doesn’t the size of the story suddenly expand too much?

However, Rosamia’s next words made me understand the meaning.

“So… That Allen is the only male elf in this town right now?”
“…That’s right.”

Maybe that’s why there were only female elves in the village?

That only man, too, now his life is on the line.

Whether it’s a human or an elf, the fact that procreation is possible only when a man and a woman are together shouldn’t be different.

In other words… If things go on like this, the elves could become extinct.

So, is saving Allen the same as saving the elves?

But another question arises.

Why is there only one male elf in the first place? Is there any particular reason why the sex ratio is so unbalanced?

“It’s… Because of the curse.”
“Curse?”
“Yes. A hundred years ago… The terrible curse placed on us by the humans here… Is still haunting us.”

Curse… He said something out of the blue, but since he had already confirmed the existence of magic, it wouldn’t be too strange to say that there was such a thing as a curse.

Rosa Mia calmly began to tell the story of her past.

The terrible evil that the humans of this now extinct world had done to the elves.