#82
Elven Kingdom (2)
“The situation has been relayed to the various races of the Enamel Continent, including the dwarves of Titania.”
“Since they’ve had no direct involvement until now, their reactions are lukewarm, but this time truly is no ordinary matter. We’ll need to instill a greater sense of vigilance.”
“If he can cross through space as he pleases, that means no one knows when the Immortal King might appear on the Enamel Continent. We must prepare accordingly.”
This was the only building directly connected to the World Tree—the conference room of the royal castle of the Elven Kingdom.
Naturally, the faces gathered at this meeting, into which not just anyone could enter, were all dazzling in their own right.
Not only the queen and the other high elves, but the central figures who oversaw each field and led the nation were assembled in one place.
“We have requested the relevant information from the Order for now. Aside from what Lord Rapori learned, we know absolutely nothing about the Immortal King of this generation.”
They were in the midst of devising countermeasures for the incident that had just occurred.
All the previous Immortal Kings had stirred up trouble on the Ion Continent, so the nonhuman races, including the elves, had suffered no particular damage beyond the losses among the reinforcements they had dispatched.
In both cases, the Immortal Kings had fallen before they could even cross the sea, and thus had not been able to exert much influence on the mainland of the Enamel Continent.
But the Immortal King of this generation had shown an extraordinary side from the very beginning, putting them on edge.
If he could ignore spatial restrictions and intrude into the Great Temple of the Holy Land, then it meant he could leap over the seas between continents whenever he pleased.
Before Rapori moved to the Enamel Continent, he had transmitted information about him to the Elven Kingdom in advance, allowing them to begin preparations quickly.
They sent warnings to neighboring nations, raised their level of alert by several stages, and dispatched regular patrols to each region to detect black mana.
“Phew... At a time when we should be holding a festival for the birth of a new high elf, what is all this?”
Once the important discussions were over and they had a moment to catch their breath, the attendees began to voice their complaints one by one.
Of course, a festival of several days had been planned in the capital after Cecily awakened, but because of preparations against the Immortal King, both its duration and scale had no choice but to be greatly reduced.
Originally, it had been intended as a grand event on a national scale, so the gap was considerable.
“Even so, it is great fortune that Lady Cecily appeared at this time. Both I and Her Majesty were nearing the time to retire, were we not?”
“That is true. I had already been worrying over it quite a bit, but this has eased one of my concerns.”
At Rapori’s gentle words, the elven queen seated at the head of the table nodded.
Among high elves, the throne was decided through consultation among themselves, and the term lasted until retirement, so she too had remained in that position for a very long time.
“Come to think of it, Lord Rapori, did you not bring another person with potential from the Ion Continent? Rumors have already spread that he received a branch from the World Tree during the eye-opening ceremony.”
“Haha, he was extraordinary from our very first meeting. I could feel that the World Tree was taking an interest in him. It seems my eye was not mistaken after all.”
When the queen brought up Harris, Rapori smiled in satisfaction.
“His talent is outstanding as well, and his growth is so fast it leaves one speechless. I believe there is a very high chance that he will obtain the qualifications.”
Another promising talent who had come to him of his own accord right after Cecily was saved—Harris.
Rapori brought him to the Elven Kingdom and enrolled him in Drasha Academy, the kingdom’s finest educational institution.
He hoped Harris would receive the best education and obtain the qualifications of a high elf.
‘I think he and Shapiron will form a good connection. Their situations are similar, too.’
High elves were not originally hereditary, yet she had been born with aptitude, just like him.
It was truly a blessed birth.
‘If the two of them become close, it will be beneficial to both of them.’
For that reason, he had deliberately arranged for Harris to receive education together with her.
He had no doubt that the kind child would take good care of Harris.
Thinking of his lovely only daughter, whom he had gained late in life, Rapori wore a gentle smile.
***
It was lunchtime at Drasha Academy.
The wind was pleasantly cool, and Harris was leaning beneath a large tree, chewing on a sandwich while watching the elves’ street performance.
“Hmph. Why don’t you try acquiring some refinement? How long do you intend to behave so crudely, like a mercenary?”
Shapiron suddenly approached, picked a fight with him, and, without even waiting for his reply, turned sharply and walked away with haughty steps.
‘...Did she come all the way here just to say that one thing?’
Still leaning leisurely against the tree, Harris watched her back as he munched down his sandwich.
‘So that woman is that uncle’s daughter...’
Rapori had sky-blue hair and deep blue irises, so there were indeed parts of her that resembled him.
‘They said that once you become a high elf, you use the surname “Granwood.” And since elves are a matriarchal society, “Sylvesti” must be her mother’s surname.’
He suddenly recalled the gentle expression Rapori had worn the last time he saw him, smiling happily as he thought of his family.
Then, over that image, the figure of the fastidious young lady looking at him with a slightly frowning face slowly overlapped.
‘Mm... It’s hard to associate her with that good-natured uncle.’
He had not been here long, but he could tell that everyone found her difficult because of that arrogant, overbearing, noble-like side of hers, full of elitism.
Of course, there were those who followed her, but no matter how he looked at it, they did not seem like friends on equal footing.
‘That’s just how people are wherever you go. I guess elves are no different. But she’s especially sensitive when it comes to me.’
From what he had observed over the past few days, she merely put up walls around herself and looked down on others loftily; she did not really go out of her way to pick fights with anyone.
Except Harris himself.
‘At most, she’s just being snippy like a child. If I get needlessly involved, it’ll become a pain, so let’s ignore her. That uncle is my patron right now, too.’
On top of that, he had asked Rapori to process the branch of the World Tree he had received as a gift, so it would not be good to cause unnecessary conflict with that young lady.
“Ah... The weather’s nice...”
Bright sunlight, cool shade beneath the tree, and a refreshing breeze.
Sinking into drowsiness, Harris quietly closed his eyes and enjoyed the sound of the elves singing in the distance.
In truth, the biggest reason was that lately, everything had become troublesome to him.
After entering the World Tree’s sphere of influence and gaining “Natural Affinity,” and the more he continued training it, Harris’s body gradually became soaked in comfort.
‘I can forcibly move my body whenever I want, but it feels like leaving it like this is more advantageous for increasing affinity. It also seems to help stabilize my mind and body somehow.’
Was this what it meant to become one with nature?
Expressing unity of self and object with his entire body, Harris did not move an inch from that spot until lunchtime ended.
“...It feels healing.”
Thoughts of Shapiron Sylvesti had long since vanished.
After all, there was no reason for them to become entangled separately, and as long as he maintained distance like this, nothing would be a problem.
***
‘That’s what I thought.’
Harris stared blankly at Shapiron, who stood before him.
She, too, was glaring at him with a slight frown.
The reason they had ended up facing each other like this was because of the spirit arts class at Drasha Academy.
Before he could even think, “Huh?” the professor seemed to deliberately place them in the same group.
“All right, everyone has been grouped. Then, since we also have a transfer student, shall we go over it again as a review? You all already know this well, but communion with spirits is extremely important. And once you enter the advanced course...”
Communion with spirits, beings of great nature, was an essential element for spirit masters.
And among elves, there was a very effective secret art related to it that had been passed down through the generations...
That was dance and song.
‘No wonder I’ve seen so many people performing all over the streets since coming to the Elven Kingdom.’
Elves, who were loved by nature by the very fact of their existence, could harmonize with spirits through each movement of their bodies and the resonance of their voices alone.
The same was true of the sound of instruments they played themselves.
It was truly a privilege and secret art possessed only by elves, something spirit masters of other races could not even dream of.
“This method also has the effect of preventing one from becoming lazy due to excessive immersion in nature. Well, usually even if one becomes immersed, it only results in becoming a little idle, but isn’t it still better to be diligent?”
As the professor’s lecture continued, Harris immediately realized that this was not someone else’s problem.
There was no need to think deeply about it; it was simply his own story.
‘But I don’t think I’ve only become a little idle.’
Even now, he was only moving his body forcibly by allocating part of his mind to it; if he took his attention off for even a moment, he would immediately slump limply on the spot.
When that happened, he would fall into an extreme state of tranquility and peace would come to his heart, which did help relieve stress quite a bit, but...
‘It had been bothering me a little, to be sure. So that was a side effect of excessive immersion.’
He was beside the World Tree, which could be called the source of natural power, and “Child of the World Tree,” “Spirit Arts,” and “Natural Affinity,” all the skills Harris possessed, were involved with affinity.
On top of that, there was the high elf’s bracelet he had received from Rapori.
Thanks to that, the lightning spirit “Watt” had recently become low-grade, and the fire spirit “Kali” and wind spirit “Pascal,” whom he had contracted a few days ago, were also on the verge of evolution.
Considering how long he had been learning spirit arts, it was an absurd growth rate.
“As it happens, a festival for the new high elf, Lady Cecily, will be held soon, yes? On that day, stages will be set up all throughout the capital...”
The professor trailed off, looking around at the students listening attentively, and gave a mischievous smile.
“We have prepared a stage just for Drasha Academy. It’s located fairly close to the center, so perhaps Lady Cecily herself may even see it.”
In an instant, the area grew noisy with the students’ murmuring.
“Now then, each group should work together and create a stage of your own. I will evaluate how much communion you can draw out with the spirits by watching your performances that day.”
And so the lecture ended, and time was set aside for those in the same group to exchange opinions.
Aside from Shapiron, there were two more elves in Harris’s group.
“Wow! I’m in the same group as Miss Shapiron and Harris! How lucky to be with famous people. I’m Timer Coffin. Nice to meet you!”
“......”
They were an energetic man with an expression that somehow made him seem lacking in tact, and a timid woman who only watched for cues and cautiously bowed her head.
“I look forward to working with you. I’m very flustered that we suddenly have group work, but I’ll do my best not to be a burden.”
Harris greeted them as gently as he could.
He had certainly heard of the notorious reputation of group assignments before, but to think he himself would end up being the hole in the group...
There was less than a week left before the actual performance, so for him, a transfer student with no preparation whatsoever, the situation was quite daunting.
However, it seemed the one most troubled was Shapiron, who had ended up in the same group as him.
“Why... with this rootless former mercenary... Why? Why?”
She muttered repeatedly with her brow furrowed, then soon closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Phew... Since it’s come to this, there’s nothing we can do. So, you. Do you have any dance or song you can perform? Anything at all is fine.”
Her tone implied she was asking out of courtesy, since of course he would have none.
Her arrogantly downward gaze contained not a shred of expectation.
Well, it was only natural. He had not even been learning spirit arts for long, and on top of that, he had supposedly been working as a mercenary until now.
At her words, the gazes of the other group members also turned toward him.
Though they did not say it outright, they must have been worried inwardly as well.
“Nothing at all? We can adjust the rest to fit you.”
‘...When she picks at me this openly, it actually makes me want to push back.’
Of course, he had not learned their dances or songs, so doing one right away would be impossible.
He had seen them a few times on the streets, but they were not all the same, either.
‘But does it necessarily have to be traditional elven song and dance?’
To begin with, this was not some fixed ritual, but resonance using racial traits.
Then, as long as he could harmonize with the spirits, did the genre really matter all that much?
“Hmm... There is a song people used to enjoy singing back in my hometown...”
Lightly clearing his throat, he spoke cautiously.
For all he looked like this, back in his school days he had played a bit of guitar and had a record of being told that he sang fairly well.
‘And if Harris’s voice as an elf is added to that?’
Most importantly, he was a man who had never once scored below 80 on a karaoke machine.