I Became My Healer Elf Character - Chapter 48

Chapter 48: The Elven Elders
Hikari narrowed her eyes. “Is this fact significant?”

The elderly elf sighed and coughed into his hand. “Now is not the best time, Lady Elder. Let us first conduct business. Tonight I will explain some things after the other guests leave. That is if you are willing to stay.”

“Of course,” Hikari said, gesturing to Kurayami in the chair next to her. “However, she will stay no matter what. If it can be shared with me, it can be shared with her.”

Yasmine looked over Kurayami, pausing at her horns. “This is acceptable. Maybe this is also part of the twists of fate.”

Though Hikari gave him an odd look, she didn’t ask. Instead, she looked at Salazar whose eyes were squinted. The red man breathed through his mouth, looking on the verge of passing out.

“Will this guy be okay?”

Yasmine chuckled. “Don’t worry, Lady Elder. This happens every time. For those not in tune with the spirits, this drug has psychedelic effects. In less than an hour he’ll be like he was before. Even faster if we feed him some of our vegetable stew…Say, would you and your group accompany us for a small feast?”

///

20 minutes later they sat at a large table placed on the forest ground. Rays of light flickered on the wood. The sun had reached its zenith. As for the rest of the merchant group, they were still offloading much of the elves’ materials. Some of which were the vibrant purple crystals from Kamir. It seemed that Salazar had acquired wares for the elves from all over.

Silken clothing made from the spiders of the depths were given out. Hearing the story, Hikari felt like she never wanted to meet these spiders. They lived in the western islands, clinging to the shallow depths of the water. Their threads were hard and water proof. It was said that their threads were strung enough to take off a grown man’s head.

Other materials included the ones from Salazar’s homeland. There was the hard leather skin of the giant worms, but there was also the chitin of desert insects. Hikari was amazed at all of the bounties that could be found in the desert. Underground was more rich in resources than the dunes above.

Hikari stared down at the vegetable stew. In it contained ingredients she’d never seen before. The base was magical leaves from a shrub that grew further in the forest. These leaves were turned into a veggie stock, giving a rejuvenating effect. There were small black balls inside about the size of a grape, and they grew from a bush local to this forest.

Though it was a veggie soup, Hikari found that the taste was slightly sweet. She expected the textures of the wild plants to end up soft and overly chewy, but they were just right. She couldn’t say it appeared to be the most appetizing dish she ate, but in terms of taste, she thought it was fine.

Noticing her perplexed expression, Yasmine spoke up. “It’s not as good as the sweets served for the other elders. I hope you will forgive us. If we had more time, we could have prepared food from deeper in the forest.”

Hikari shook her head and waved him off. “No, no, it’s fine. There’s no need to be so worried about me.”

Kurayami pushed her bowl away. “Master, I can’t eat this.”

Hikari’s mouth twitched, but she nodded. “I will give you some meat later.”

“Will it be your personal meat, Master?”

Hikari pinched Kurayami’s thigh and glared at her. “You are truly insufferable.”

The elves and the party around the table broke out into laughter. The lunch ended up being a vibrant one, but all good things must end. Salazar had delivered on his promise to the guild, and so did Hikari.

After the lunch, the two of them faced each other at the edge of the village. Salazar gave Hikari a smile and a pat on the shoulder. “Well, we will need to be off now. Are you sure you won’t accompany us back to Amalin?”

Hikari shook her head. “No, I already fulfilled my promise with the guild. Besides, it’s not like I was needed on this journey anyway. We didn’t run into a single group of bandits. Not even a dragon.”

“Please don’t say such scary things. Had we run into a dragon, I am not even sure if your help would have been enough.” Salazar sighed as his men called for him. “I will deliver on the promise of books. If you ever get back to Amalin, I hope that the chess scene will be ready for you.”

Hikari gave him a smug grin. “As if anyone from that Amelia-loving town could compete with me.”

“Hahaha, alright then, Miss Hikari,” Salazar said and turned around. “Until next time.” He waved.

Hikari waved back at him. “Until next time.”

The elf felt a tap on her shoulder at that time.

“Master, that chief said he will speak whenever you are ready.”

///

Elves are the oldest native humanoids of this world. It’s believed that the Elderwood Capital is the largest and eldest settlement of elves. Deep within the trenches and roots of the most enormous tree in the world, a sprawling city spreads out for miles.

Reigning at the top of the citizens, there exists a Council of Elders. Each one of them is older than anyone could even estimate. Several of the Elders speak of times before there were human settlers, and each elder is equipped with their own title. Among them, there are several ranks.

From the lowest ranked to the highest it goes, [Elder of Saplings], [Elder of Sprouts], [Elder of Trees], [Elder of the Elderwood], and [Divine Elder]. If you equate them to human rankings, the sapling elders would be like a baron. They would wield a small territory of their own and manage several people. The sprouts, will manage an even bigger territory like a marquess. The trees would be like a Duke or general, and there would usually be only one or two of these. The [Elder of the Elderwood] would be like a king of elves, who ruled over their largest city.

Finally, the [Divine Elder], these were worshiped as deities. There was a big difference between them. For one, each [Divine Elder] came with their own title and prestige. Not only that, but to be one of them, you didn’t have to be an elf necessarily.

The Spirit of the Elderwood—Lady Saisho—was considered among their ranks. There were a few spirits among them. And gods themselves were also considered this rank.

Elves held vastly different beliefs than the humans of the world. They did not worship one god strictly, but they paid respects to many gods. However, there was an elven goddess that most of the people did praise. Lituna was the patron goddess of the elves.

Though there was nothing forbidding them from worshiping other divine figures. Most of them didn’t worship in the traditional sense. They paid their respects, and one of the ways of doing that was communing with the spirits. Spirits of divinity aligned with order were abundant in the elven forest.

By making wishes to the spirits, the elves would be heard. Whether that was granted or not depended on many factors involved with the individual. The Elders had great affinity for spirits because they were usually more disciplined and had lived long enough to understand the spirits better. They could understand the whispers of the world.

If Hikari truly was a [Divine Elder] than that would mean that she was likely an Elder of Light. Yet, that didn’t seem to be right in her mind. Yes, she did use light element and faith magic, but the term was too limiting. Of course, her subordinates had kept using the term [Hope], yet she couldn’t be certain of that either.

The only thing she was certain of was that she wasn’t certain of anything. Hikari couldn’t even tell herself honestly whether her last life had been a lie. Or maybe she had never even played a game called [Gensuba]. No, that’s not right. That game must exist. The memories of me being a normal girl can’t be faked.

She pondered what she should do as she finished listening to the chief speak. It was likely she’d have to visit her domain. However, she didn’t want to do that immediately. Before that, she wanted to meet with the elven goddess and the Spirit of the Elderwood. Hikari felt like going to her domain first would be putting the cart before the horse. Also, she wasn’t entirely sure she could make it back. She believed it would be as easy as a snap of a finger, but what if she was wrong? That would create its own complications.

“And that’s why they called you a [Divine Elder]. It was also my guess. No, now I am certain, Lady Elder.” Yasmine took a puff of his pipe before finishing. “What do you plan to do now?”

Hikari sighed and noticed the sun dipping below the treeline. “For now, I wish to adjourn for the night. In the morning, I would like to travel to the capital.”

“I see…Do you need guidance?”

“No.”