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Time has briefly turned back, it’s the third morning.

Before joining the Elves, we headed straight to the Blacksmith first. An Uncle had told us it would take at least two days, so I had gone the day before out of hope, but he asked for just one more day, so here I was again, exactly 24 hours later.

“Uncle, are you alive~?”

Not seeing him inside the shop, I called out loudly. Then, from behind the counter, the Uncle emerged. It seemed he had been hammering away until just now, as the heat escaping from the door was palpable.

“…Huh. It’s you.”

“I came right on time. What happened?”

“I don’t know what monster’s material this is, but it’s so tough that it took a bit longer to make.”

Despite the Uncle’s grumbling, he wore a refreshed expression. Simultaneously, two leather sheaths and two daggers wrapped in cloth appeared on the counter.

“Check it out.”

With the Uncle’s confident words, Luna picked up one of the daggers and removed the cloth. The blade, unlike before, gleamed with a distinct green hue, and the wave pattern across the surface was impressive.

While Luna was testing the grip and sharpness of the blade beside me, I held the remaining dagger. Naturally, an information window popped up in front of me.

◈ Item Information

Name: None

Rank: A

Description: A dagger made by the Empire’s blacksmith, Smith. Features the shell of a marine monster, the Green Iron Turtle. Known for its durability and beauty.

So that’s why it’s showing as ‘None’ for a name. I don’t know what a Green Iron Turtle is, but if it has an A-ranking, I can guess it’s at least an A-rank monster.

“What do you think?”

“…It’s amazing.”

Yeah, it looks that way. With the tail and ears swaying restlessly, it seems it’s quite satisfying. Now that we’ve got a weapon, Luna should surely be useful for the upcoming World Tree event. I finalized the payment to the Uncle as he took the coins I handed him.

“So, when do you plan on changing your weapon?”

“I’m actually planning to head out today to gather some materials.”

“You know you need at least B-rank materials to use it, right?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring back rare materials that I’ve never even touched before.”

I’m going to bring back a piece of the arm of a being who might as well be a god.

“Hehehe…”

“…?”

*

After leaving the Blacksmith, we set out from the Empire toward the location I had previously heard from the Elves. There, the Elves who had arrived first were waiting for us.

“You arrived early?”

“We need to prepare… y’know.”

The way she spoke to me was haughty, but her ears remained green as ever.

Was it the first night? One of the mischievous Elves secretly went out and had her ears fixed, and I had to catch her, leading to an argument. Who does she think she is getting her ears fixed alone? I won’t let the mischievous one become an ear-fixer again while I’m still around.

“What preparation?”

“Teleportation.”

As she spoke, I saw two of her henchmen drawing something on the ground behind her. It looked like a magic circle, similar to the teleportation magic circle I saw back at the Academy.

‘So this was how they got here, using teleportation.’

Then again, if they were to travel by cart, they would need to cover a long distance. There’s no way Elves, who don’t leave the forest, would travel by cart for over a month.

“When will it be finished?”

“It’ll take about 10 minutes.”

“You said there wasn’t any time, and yet you’re so relaxed now?”

Clearly, they had been making excuses saying they had no time to chat with me and that the fate of the world hung in the balance, yet today they’re so laid back.

“Because not everyone has arrived yet.”

“Not everyone has arrived?”

Is there anyone else coming? Who on earth is still not here when the gathering time has passed? See! This is why being nice gets you nowhere. Why mention that someone else is here now? If I knew there was someone else, I’d have just woken up from my nap!

I started to get angry, and just as my fury was about to explode, three Elves and a party were approaching from afar, perfectly timed.

The leading male Elf, who seemed to be the commander, glanced at the female Elf behind him, and his eyes widened as if they were lanterns. Out of breath, he sprinted over, asking what had happened.

“Evangeline…? What happened to your ears?!”

“…It’s nothing serious.”

“Considering you’re a Great Warrior, that looks pretty serious!”

It had been three days since they last saw each other, and it looked like they had a lot to say, so we gave them some space. And that’s when I spotted something in my field of vision.

“Hey, why are you here?!”

“That’s what I want to ask you.”

The guy who had been captured by the imperial family days ago was standing right in front of me, looking all proud as usual, with the heroine hanging behind him as usual.

“An alleged thief and terrorist is strolling around without a care in the world. Such a dangerous world we live in.”

“I-I’m not the criminal! It’s identity theft!”

Yeah, I know. Because I did that.

“Why are you involved again?!”

“Don’t know.”

To be honest, I have no idea either. Is this another trap like the Designated Request? Or is it some kind of insurance? Like a college applicant probing everywhere, preparing for a fallback in case someone rejects them? But in this case, they had threatened to cut off my limbs if I didn’t comply. No matter how I think about it, I just don’t get it.

“By the way… if you’re here, Riche must be around too, huh?”

As I spoke, the Toilet’s eyes darted to the side, and soon I caught a glimpse of Riche, who was chatting with Tia. Looks like she still hasn’t gotten over her last breakup despite being so harshly treated. Sticking around like that, it’s no wonder her favorability rating plummeted.

Just as the Toilet was about to head towards Riche, the first Elf spoke to us.

“The preparations for departure are complete.”

“Really? Oh dear, it’s unfortunate, isn’t it~?”

“…Why now of all times?”

And so, we teleported toward Alvheim, standing on top of a massive magic circle.

*

The Elves were panting right after teleporting. Even though six Elves had activated the teleportation, they appeared exhausted. That’s how you know how terrible the efficiency of the teleportation is. At the same time, I was reminded again of just how amazing Lucia is for being able to keep using it alone.

But the place we teleported to was right in the middle of the forest. While we were in a hurry, why teleport to such a place instead of right in the village center? I shot a look at her.

“Hey. You said we were teleporting.”

“Um… because of the barrier from Yggdrasil, we cannot teleport close to Alvheim.”

“That’s useless.”

“…”

Anyway, it meant we had to get walking from here. It was absurd that we were forced to walk after using the teleportation.

Still, since the journey looked like it would be boring, I looked around to see if there was anything to see. But what could there be to see in the forest? Perhaps because of the barrier, not even a breeze flowed through the woods. There were no Goblins, the usual forest dwellers, nor wild boars or squirrels in sight; it seems only the people would make getting lost difficult.

After walking through the forest for 20 minutes, the leading Elves abruptly stopped at some invisible boundary.

“Everyone, please hold hands. From here, you must stay connected with us to enter.”

At the Elf’s command, I grabbed the hands of the female Elf, while the Toilet held the male Elf’s hand, with our free hands grabbing onto each other’s.

Suddenly, things that hadn’t been visible just moments ago appeared before us. The forest, which had been green from the beginning, became even brighter, and soon a village came into view.

In the distance, a giant tree could be seen, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out it was the World Tree, the holy tree worshipped by the Elves. It was massive, to say the least. Big enough to reach into the clouds. With a tree that size, it should have been visible wherever you looked in the forest, but perhaps the barrier was keeping us from seeing it.

“Wow…”

Yui gasped in awe. Although Luna and Riche didn’t make any sounds, they were likely filled with admiration internally. The buildings here were constructed in a way that you couldn’t see in the human lands—built atop trees. Alvheim itself wasn’t something anyone could just stroll into. It felt surreal to see things I had only viewed in game graphics come to life.

“Great Warrior Evangeline and Great Warrior Palun, we greet you!”

As we walked toward the entrance while exploring the village, the Elves on guard saluted us.

“Is everything alright?”

“Nothing happened!”

“Where is he now?”

“He went out this morning to investigate the seal and hasn’t returned yet!”

“Sigh… once again. I told him not to train too close to the seal. Understood.”

The Elf called Palun sighed as if tired. He must be the famed Weapon Master. I was curious about what he looked like, but unfortunately, it seems he’s not in the village right now.

“What about the humans behind you…?”

At that moment, one of the guards raised a question as he looked us over closely. He was particularly fixated on me, so I shot him a glare as if to say, “What are you staring at?” It seems he understood the human curse words because he grimaced at me. Elves and Humans may look different, but they’re essentially the same, so what’s with the curious stares?

“That’s the human of whom Yggdrasil spoke.”

“Those guys…?”

“We are on our way to meet Yggdrasil now.”

“Understood. I’ll take care of the mission recon procedures.”

After the short exchange, we followed the Elves into the village. As we entered, I noticed other Elves for the first time, and their gazes were fixated on us. Elves couldn’t be found anywhere else, but here, they seemed to be everywhere I looked, and every single one had a beautiful face, making it quite a feast for the eyes.

Following the lead Elf, we arrived at the massive tree we had seen at the entrance. Here stood the World Tree. Next to the World Tree, there was a round staircase that spiraled up, and the Elf in front warned us.

“You are outsiders, but since Great Yggdrasil has personally invited you, we will not impose any formalities. However, please be mindful of your words and actions to avoid being disrespectful.”

Unfortunately, I had come today precisely with the intention of causing a bit of disrespect. Ignoring that, I climbed the stairs for quite some time in silence until I reached a point where the staircase ended, at the base of a 3-meter tall door. It appeared to be an internally built structure within the World Tree.

“Is the place for meeting the divinity built from the flesh of the god?”

As I muttered to myself, they seemed to have good ears, for they replied back.

“This was personally made by Great Yggdrasil.”

“Oh… really?”

For a moment, thoughts like self-harm, masochism, and schizophrenia crossed my mind but were quickly dismissed. It probably wouldn’t be an issue since they made it from their own flesh.

‘Then I won’t be lectured for snapping off a few branches later.’

As I pondered what to take, two Elves kneeling before the door spoke up.

“Great Warriors Evangeline and Palun, we have returned with the human from our mission. We seek audience with the great Yggdrasil for reporting.”

And then came a moment of silence. Not long after, the two Elves sprang up and pulled the doors wide open. Even though a response could be heard coming from inside, nothing was said. It seemed that a god could act so whimsically—having that thought, I stepped inside right behind the Elves.

[Welcome, outsiders.]

A voice echoed within my head.

 

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