Chapter 114. Happy Human Noises
Helion watched in confusion as more and more elves gathered around him while muttering incomprehensible words to each other.
That’s when he realized those elves might’ve used a different language.
But just because he noticed it didn’t mean he could do anything about it. So, while the elves gathered around, Helion merely listened with a polite smile on his face.
“So… Should we just send him to the city, like what Elder Elisa announced on the internet? If so, who should go with him? The distance to the city is quite far. Furthermore, the team might encounter rogue magical beasts or even demons.” A voice can be heard, and the elves fell into silence while looking at each other.
Finally, an elf started speaking, “I can’t go, I need to take care of the field.”
A female elf also told her reason, “I can’t do it. The drama I am watching is already close to completion. I must be constantly ready to immediately download it once the drama gets released to the internet.”
After several elves shirked, a slightly muscular elf came forward. “Alright, stop with your nonsense. If no one wants to go, then I’ll go to the city. Anyway, it’s also too dangerous for any of you to travel the road alone. You bunch are too weak.”
Although being called weak, none of the elves seems to mind. Instead, all of them breathed in relief. Some even patted the slightly muscular elf while praising him, “As expected of the chief guard of our village, you’re so responsible!”
Hearing the praises, the chief guard’s face wrinkled as if he were eating a lemon.
Once the praising crowd stopped, the chief guard finally moved toward Helion.
***
Helion, who had been forgotten for a while, finally saw the elves in front of him stop discussing with each other.
From among the crowd, Helion saw a muscular elf come out of the crowd.
Although he called the elf muscular, that’s just relative to the other elves who look androgynous and skinny as a twig.
When the elf stood in front of him, Helion saw the elf start gesticulating. The elf pointed at himself before pointing at Helion. Then, the elf pointed in a direction far away before grabbing Helion’s arm.
Helion was initially surprised by the sudden contact. But he soon recalled the elf’s gesture and realized something, ‘Does he want me to follow him and travel there?’
He actually didn't want to go anywhere and wanted to borrow a house for a short rest. But he decided that hearing more details isn't all that bad. So, Helion gestured to the male elf.
Helion first pointed at the distance while trying his best to mimic a confused look. He even tried every body language that showed confusion, like tilting his head and shrugging.
Luckily, the elf seemed to understand his question.
Helion saw the male elf point at the ground and the surrounding village building before placing both of his palms extremely close to each other. The elf then pointed into the distance and opened his arms wide.
Helion thought a moment before gesturing several times to make sure he interpreted it correctly, to which the elf nodded as a response.
‘So, he’s going to take me to a larger place than the village. Is it a city then? To think there’s also a civilization beyond the mountain range.’ Helion thought in amazement while following the elf.
Still, Helion felt his back and knees had ached badly after a long time of living in the wilderness. He gestured to borrow a house to rest for a few days, to which the elves nodded in response.
Although the house in the village isn’t equipped with a soft bed like he’s used to in the Temple, it’s still better than sleeping in the wilderness, where sharp gravel might scrape his back or cause back pain for several days.
Both of them soon left the villages and entered the seemingly endless forest. During his journey, Helion saw the elf easily climb a tree to rest every night. Meanwhile, he must force his old bones to sleep on the uneven ground, which made his back pain return.
After traveling for slightly more than two weeks, Helion could finally see a city with a massive tree in the center.
Seeing the magnificent city with a city wall made of plants, Helion gasped for a moment.
He knew there were nature elements blessed who could control plants, but creating such a massive wall out of plants would require an enormous number of them and a great deal of time. Besides, nature element blessed were quite rare, and it was far more practical to assign them to tend the fields instead.
Basically, Helion felt the cost-effectiveness ratio was far worse than simply using earth element blessed to build a stone wall.
But then he recalled the strange forest where the trees bore an unusually large number of fruits. ‘Perhaps there’s a special reason. Maybe the power of nature element blessed is strengthened in this forest?’
Helion followed the muscular elf, lost in thought. Soon, they entered the city and took in the scene before them.
The colorful signs showing advertisements for products, movies, songs, and other things immediately captured Helion’s attention.
After moving his eyes from the colorful signs, Helion finally saw that most of the people around him had long ears and were especially beautiful. The only exception is a few burly short people who can occasionally be seen. ‘So, the villager isn’t an isolated case! The people beyond the mountain range are actually either extremely beautiful or short.’
Helion stood in place while looking around in curiosity until he felt someone tugging at his arm.
Turning his attention toward the muscular elf, Helion saw him point at the massive tree in the center of the city.
‘Does he want me to walk toward that tree?’ Helion thought as he followed after the elf while looking around the city with curiosity.
Soon, he arrived at a building close to the city’s center.
Helion followed the muscular elf into the building, where he saw many people busily writing on papers or moving their fingers while staring at a glowing plant that showed unknown words.
He patiently waited together with the muscular elf while observing everyone around him.
The wait didn’t last long. He soon saw someone arriving and talked with the muscular elf who accompanied him.
Once they’re done talking, Helion sees the elf seriously stare at his ears before looking at his face a few times while occasionally nodding.
After muttering something Helion didn’t understand, the recently arrived elf left once more. Seeing the muscular elf who brought him hasn’t brought him to another place, Helion patiently waited together.
Soon, the elf who had been gone for quite some time returned with two others. A man and an elderly woman.
***
Ghiana felt old and close to dying, especially whenever she became absorbed in research only to find her body giving out halfway through. It made her anxious—not because she feared death, but because she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Elisa alone. That was why she had been spending most of her time preparing things for Elisa to use after she was gone.
Although she couldn’t research the plants connected to the internet for now, Ghiana had recently found a way to bypass that limitation to a certain extent.
Instead of researching until it bore fruit, she realized that writing possible hypotheses related to the internet plant should be alright. This way, when the time promised by the creator god arrived, the elves could have several research directions to further advance the internet.
While she has just finished studying a new type of plant, Ghiana saw two male elves entering her laboratory.
She wasn’t familiar with one of the male elves, but she recognized the other. He was the governor who had taken the position after Noel retired.
Standing up, she greeted the elf, “Good afternoon. How may I help you?”
“Good afternoon, I hope I didn't disturb you.” The governor immediately replied to Ghiana's greeting. Then, without much nonsense, he immediately reported, “As elder Ghiana and elder Elisa wished, I am here to report that a person my subordinate suspected to be a human has just arrived and is waiting in the government office.”
Ghiana paused, “Really?”
“We’re still unsure, but there’s a pretty high chance the other party is indeed a human.” The governor explained, “My subordinate said the person is too tall to be a dwarf. His ear is also shorter than ours, without any trace of injuries that show his ear has been cut. A villager who accompanied him also said he didn’t speak our language.”
Ghiana nodded, “Can you bring me to him?”
“Gladly,” The governor and his subordinate lead Ghiana to the government building and soon see the human they mentioned.
Ghiana saw the human and greeted him in human language, “Hello.”
Some time ago, Ghiana already learned some human language from the books that Lacius gave and from a short conversation with Lacius. Although most of the books Lacius gave have been translated into the elven language, there’s also a book in the human language that she used to learn the language.
Although she felt her pronunciation might be a bit awkward, it should be enough for a basic conversation.
As expected, the person in front of her immediately became excited. “You can speak my language?!”
Ghiana nodded, “A little.”
The person in front of her soon calmed down and introduced himself, “Pleased to meet you. My name is Helion Gadden.”
Helion gave a slight bow as he introduced himself. From observing the people around him, he sensed that the elderly woman before him held an exceptionally high status. To avoid causing any trouble, he made sure to greet her with proper respect.
After the greeting, he saw the old woman smile, “Pleased to meet you too. You can call me Ghiana or elder Ghiana, just like how the other elves called me.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t understand one of the words you just said. What does Elves mean?”
Looking at Helion’s confused expression, Ghiana replied, “It’s the name of our races. Just like you’re called human, our races are called elf.”
“Other races? You mean, you’re from another race? So, there are other intelligent races in this world?!” Helion felt that today’s surprise was never-ending. But the greatest surprise hasn’t arrived yet.
After hearing Helion’s words, Ghiana replied, “Hasn’t that weird guy with a god complex told the humans about other races?”
“Who?” Once the question left his mouth, Helion felt a bad feeling.
“It’s a guy who loves to act mysterious. He called himself the god of alchemy.”
“We have had some exchanges with him before. I thought he would’ve shared news about the existence of other races just like how we shared about the humans on the internet…” Although Ghiana kept on speaking, Helion’s mind was mostly blank.
All he could think was, ‘Even this far away isn’t safe from the god of alchemy.’
Ghiana noticed Helion’s expression darken as he fell into thought. She initially intended to have someone escort him to an empty room to rest, but before she could say anything, Helion spoke again. “When was the last time the god of alchemy visited?” he asked.
Ghiana rubbed her chin, “I think it’s at least 150 years ago? Or 170 years ago? A long time has passed since I met him, so I couldn’t remember the exact date anymore.”
Helion looked at Ghiana with surprise, ‘So, both the woman in front of me and the god of alchemy are at least 150 years old?!’
While he’s trying to guess Ghiana’s real age, Helion sees her motioning to the elf that Helion first met upon entering the building. Then, she turned toward Helion, “You look tired, I’ve someone to prepare a room for you to rest.”
In response to Ghiana’s kind gesture, Helion quickly calculated whether to stay or not. Especially since the god of alchemy has once visited this place.
Recalling how the woman before him had casually referred to the god of alchemy as someone with a god complex, Helion felt certain they were at least not on the enemy’s side.
“Thank you very much for your hospitality.” Helion bowed slightly.
Ghiana merely nodded and left with the governor. Leaving behind the governor’s subordinate to lead Helion to his room.
Before Ghiana left, Helion said, "May I be presumptuous and ask for a favor?”
“Hmm?” Ghiana turned her head to look at Helion.
“Can you teach me the language used by elves?”
Ghiana narrowed her eyes to observe Helion. It’s not until a minute later that she nods her head. “Alright. I shall send someone to guide you to my laboratory tomorrow. You should rest for today, you look incredibly exhausted.”
“Thank you.” Helion nodded and bowed to the muscular elf who had guided him to the city, before following another elf to his guest room.