IRE Chapter 3

“Anyway, do you know where they came from and where they’re going?”

“Roughly. They’re probably moving from the south to the north.”

From the south to the north. It was a suitable expression, but that was the elves’ way of speaking, and in the first place, there weren’t many other things to say in this forest besides that expression.

Frowning, as he groped for memories from his previous life that had faded and were now almost impossible to recall, Eldmir felt the outline starting to take shape. Seeing the images shown by the forest’s memories, he became certain.

“These guys, I think they’re a defeated army.”

“Why do you think that?”

In response to her question, Eldmir answered in a casual tone,

“If you go straight down south from the forest, don’t they have one of their territories there?”

Eldmir’s village is located on the outskirts of a vast forest with the World Tree at its center.

It’s so far on the outskirts that the area where Eldmir’s village is located is sometimes treated as a separate forest from the World Tree’s forest. Anyway, that’s the kind of place it is, so there’s more interaction with other neighboring villages than with the central village.

In short, they’re countryside villages.

Anyway, while interacting with those villages, Eldmir could see that they had different tendencies from the elves he usually knew.

It was belligerence.

“That place, weren’t they stripped… no, invaded by our kin and are now fleeing?”

-Huh?

Eldmir’s village is located relatively inward among the outskirts of the forest, so while there are separate villages that clash with forces from outside the forest, Eldmir’s village continues to live in safety.

To put it figuratively, it’s more of a rear area than the front lines, and among the front lines, it has the feeling of being in the back.

Still, as a village located on the front lines, Eldmir’s village also has a somewhat belligerent tendency and frequent battles with other races and invaders, but not to the extent of the front lines.

The important thing is that the World Tree’s forest is surprisingly popular among other races besides elves, and it’s a golden area even for savage and uncivilized races like beastmen, werewolves, and orcs.

In fact, when Eldmir played as a werewolf and an orc in his previous life, he had received quests to recapture the World Tree.

By the way, he had succeeded in that quest after twists and turns using a slightly cowardly method.

Anyway, because of that, the outskirt villages have a strong sense of being combat groups to prevent invasions from external forces rather than ordinary villages, and they often show quite belligerent behavior for elves, probably influenced by frequent battles.

How belligerent are they? There are often cases where they actively invade and annihilate external forces first.

In my previous life, I had played as an orc in a village near the World Tree region, and there were times when I experienced several dead ends from the beginning due to elven invasions.

“Well, it’s obvious. Didn’t you say they’re moving carefully so as not to provoke us? That’s not politeness, it’s because they’re scared.”

-Oho, that makes sense.

“I see. It’s not a path they’re passing through, but a path they’re fleeing…”

Esiria, who had shown a contemplative expression for a moment, soon nodded her head.

“Then we should hunt them down.”

“…What?”

Startled by his mother’s unexpectedly brutal words, Eldmir was taken aback.

“Our kin let them go, right? Even if the villages are different, their duty is also our duty. Then we should clean up after them.”

“Uh… What about the words of respecting other races you said just a moment ago…”

“They are already beings who have been attacked by our race. There must be a reason why our kin did that.”

Even his mother, who had always been warm and gentle, was still a sentinel.

For the safety of the village and the forest, she openly displayed that hidden side of hers without reservation.

“And you said those beings are not forest races, right? Then there’s no need to respect them either.”

For a race that values harmony, they seem to have a strong dichotomous tendency.

Swallowing that impression inwardly, Eldmir cautiously said,

“Should I go with you?”

Even so, Eldmir couldn’t send his mother, a person, to the battlefield alone. At his words, Esiria showed a warm smile.

“It’s a process you don’t need yet. Go back to the village and stay there.”

“Uh…”

Taken aback by the unexpectedly resolute attitude, Eldmir received support from an unexpected ally.

-What’s wrong with that? Eldmir will soon have his coming-of-age ceremony anyway, so it’s okay for him to experience this kind of thing in advance, right? He’s not a child anymore.

At this, Esiria looked at her contractor.

“Atir.”

The racoon spirit, Atir, continued,

-And even though he lacks experience, his skills are unmatched in the village, so what’s there to worry about? A defeated army that has already been defeated by our kin and is fleeing? Do you really think they’ll be a threat to Eldmir?

“Hmm.”

Seeing Esiria pondering, Eldmir looked at Atir with a surprised expression.

Then Atir raised one eyebrow and mouthed,

‘Take good care of her, my contractor.’

Aha, so that’s your ulterior motive.

Eldmir twisted his lips and glared at Atir, then mouthed back,

‘I don’t need you to tell me that.’

She’s my mother, so of course I’ll take care of her.

-Oh, but there’s still something I’m curious about.

In the midst of their staring contest, Atir suddenly spoke as if he had thought of something.

-Why are they fleeing to the north? They were originally from the south. Then they should flee further down, so why are they coming up toward us?

“There are orcs down there.”

-That makes even less sense.

Atir tilted his head.

-After being invaded by elves, they’re scared of orcs when fleeing and coming toward the elves’ forest? Isn’t this like fearing potential invaders more than the invaders right in front of them?

It was a rather sharp point, but Eldmir simply said,

“Elves kill their enemies cleanly, but orcs enslave them. Usually, they’re used as slaves for odd jobs, but in the worst case, they’re used as sex slaves or just as playthings before being killed. There were plenty of reasons for them to choose the north.”

By the way, it’s the same for the east and west.

-…I see.

Of course, other races besides orcs also use other races as slaves. However, cases where slaves are used as blatantly as orcs are rare, so when Eldmir played as an orc, he had a hard time adapting to this point.

By the way, ‘Omega World’ was rated for ages 19 and up.

-They valued dignity over survival.

“Probably.”

What’s the point of surviving as a slave? You can’t even say you lived in that case.

Moreover, the other party is orcs. It might be more merciful to kill them cleanly.

At that moment, Esiria, who had been watching the conversation between Eldmir and Atir, spoke,

“Okay. Atir’s words also make sense.”

Oh, does that mean…

Esiria said to Eldmir, who was pleased,

“El, if a dangerous situation arises, you must return to the village immediately. Understood?”

“Of course.”

If things go wrong, run away.

Eldmir engraved it deeply in his heart.

Such a situation probably won’t occur, but if he prioritizes Esiria’s safety, it’s a code of conduct he naturally needs to keep in mind.

Reassured by Eldmir’s willing promise, Esiria said with a gentle smile,

“Do you want to try tracking them?”

“If you don’t mind.”

Just as Eldmir’s archery was the strongest in the village, his tracking skills were also unmatched by any elf in the village.

Simply putting aside his martial prowess, his skills as a sentinel of the village were unrivaled except for spirit arts.

It’s generally impossible for a young elf who hasn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony to surpass the skills of those who have lived for hundreds of years, but all of that is explained by the potential of the character named Eldmir that he had set in his previous life.

All potential at the highest.

As a side note, although Eldmir was rejected by spirits for unknown reasons, in fact, his potential for spirit arts was also at the highest level.

If he hadn’t been rejected, he might have been recommended as the next hero who would bring the Spirit King back to the mortal world.

Anyway, putting that aside, Eldmir possessed truly mythical talent in several fields, including his archery skills, due to his potential being at the highest in all abilities plus racial bonus points.

Perhaps the fact that he recently unlocked the power of ‘Forest’s Blessing’, which Atir had mentioned was a privilege only for High Elves, was also due to this.

Even in a state where his status window hadn’t been opened because he hadn’t had his coming-of-age ceremony yet, he was already at this level, so even Eldmir himself was looking forward to what kind of job he would obtain.

He runs his hand across the ground as if feeling it, tracing the traces of the beastmen. The footprints were barely left. All the traces were faint and too unclear to recognize. Nevertheless, they were sufficient information for Eldmir.

He sharpens all his senses except taste, including sight, touch, hearing, and smell. The essence of the tracking skills he learned from the village teacher and senior sentinel was being demonstrated by Eldmir.

“These guys, it seems they deliberately took off their shoes to avoid leaving traces. The shape of the footprints is clearly visible. Hmm… judging by the shape, feline? Seems to be cat people. Oh, there’s a dog here too. Four cats and one dog? What a combination. Hmm, as Mother said, they’re going from south to north. But if they were avoiding orcs, they could have gone east… Ah, they have fellow tribesmen in the north too, right.”

As Eldmir muttered while tracing the traces, Atir made an absurd expression.

-How do you know all that?

Eldmir answered without taking his eyes off and remaining focused.

“Yeah.”

At that answer, Atir approached slyly and whispered,

-Hey, tell me honestly. You’re saying that while looking at the forest’s memories, right?

“Forest’s memories? I could do this much without even peeking at that kind of thing.”

-…You’re probably the only elf in the whole world who uses the term ‘peeking’ to refer to the Forest’s Blessing, you rebel.

Atir muttered as if it was absurd.

-El Lydarell is also capricious. Why would he bestow the glory of the forest upon such a rebellious guy…

It’s all thanks to the maximum potential I set in my previous life.

Eldmir held back his laughter, wanting to say that but refraining.

Having roughly finished his assessment, Eldmir straightened his bent body.

“I found them. If we run, we can catch up to them in an hour or two, right?”

“As expected of my son. Well done.”

“Haha.”

He laughed awkwardly at the praise that came out warmly and indulgently.

It’s embarrassing, but he didn’t like the fact that he still felt awkward about the warm love emanating from it.

Even though he thought it was about time he adapted to his new family, whenever he thought about his previous life, it wasn’t easy. He could only believe that time would solve it and continue living.

After running for a while, Eldmir asked as if he had just remembered,

“By the way, what did they do to make our kin invade them?”

Elves don’t leave the forest unless they have to.

Even though their belligerence has increased after living through an era resembling the Warring States period for a long time, elves are fundamentally gentle in nature.

They don’t refuse to fight, but it’s extremely rare for them to actively seek out fights.

The moment his thoughts reached that point, Eldmir’s expression naturally hardened.

“Ah.”

Then, of course, it must be one of those extremely rare cases.

Come to think of it, it was a simple matter.

“I guess they touched something they shouldn’t have, right?”

Elves also have a few things that are like a racial taboo, and the most representative of them is the children of their kin.

Even if it wasn’t that, it would be something that violated a taboo of a similar level.

As his thoughts reached that point, his mind was dyed white with anger.

He gritted his teeth.

“Should we increase our speed?”

“…Yes. Let’s do that.”

Esiria also seemed to have had the same thought, as her expression hardened.

Their speed as they dashed through the forest had long surpassed the category of humans.

No matter how much they are a race blessed by the forest, maintaining this speed for a long time is a daunting task even for them as elves.

However, even if their breathing became rough, they ran steadfastly without letting out a single groan.

How long had they been running like that? It was when Esiria’s stamina had also reached its limit.

“Mother, there they are.”

“Haa… So we’ve arrived?”

They stopped running and started to catch their breath. Their stamina was already at the bottom before the hunt, but that stamina would soon be replenished as the forest’s energy invigorated them.

“Yes. I can sense their presence.”