BXBX NOVEL Chapter 5 – The Elf (1)
Chapter 5 – The Elf (1)
Chapter 5 – The Elf (1)
He still had no idea what had happened.
When he woke up, he found himself in a snowy wasteland, transformed into a barbarian.
There was no time to figure out why.
The biting cold turned his breath into frost.
It was impossible to even warm his body up, let alone farm.
Even when he lit a fire, it would go out in an instant.
The bitter cold that froze everything was the very embodiment of harshness.
That wasn’t all.
All that existed here were endlessly powerful and terrifying monsters.
Things out of nightmares lunged at him, trying to kill and devour him.
The only thing that mattered was survival.
He didn’t have the luxury to care about anything else.
He fought desperately to survive.
He killed monsters, skinned them, and wrapped their hides around his body.
He gulped down their warm blood before it froze.
He led his tribe and wandered all over the place.
Only when a certain degree of stability was achieved did he finally have the time to look around.
Humans who occasionally came from outside informed him of the existence of a world beyond the snowfield.
And then he realized.
He had arrived in the fantasy world he had always longed for.
That the outside of this terrible snowfield was a world of fantasy.
He wanted to run out there right away.
But he couldn’t.
This damn snowfield had a powerful constraint.
He couldn’t leave the snowfield until he solved that constraint.
So, he did his best.
The fantasy he had always longed for was just beyond that.
He had enough motivation.
He went beyond mere survival and began to move in earnest.
He trampled on monsters and solved the constraints one by one.
In the process, time passed that easily surpassed his original life.
In the midst of life and struggle, the past was not important at all.
For an ordinary person, it would have been time to forget their memories of their previous life and live as a barbarian of the snowfield.
But Ketal was different.
He focused on his one goal: to travel the fantasy world.
Even though time had passed enough for him to forget himself, he never lost sight of that goal.
And finally, just then.
After overcoming all those trials and tribulations.
“I’m here.”
The barbarian Ketal set foot on the green grass.
* * *
How long has it been since he’s seen grass?
He felt like he was going to cry with emotion.
Ketal took a deep breath.
“Phew!”
The smell of a radius of several kilometers filled his lungs and lungs.
The fragrant smell of grass.
The smell of animals.
The smell of the river.
All things that he couldn’t smell in the snowfield.
Ketal chuckled.
“Good. Very good.”
Ketal reached out and touched a nearby leaf.
The rough texture of the leaves felt good on his hands.
“Haha.”
He was so happy he thought he might go crazy.
Ketal grabbed a handful of grass that was carelessly spread nearby and stuffed it into his mouth.
The common sense that most wild grasses were poisonous crossed his mind, but he didn’t care.
Even the spiders contaminating the millennium ice couldn’t poison him.
The defense mechanisms of ordinary plants couldn’t affect his body.
Ketal chewed on the grass.
Bitter.
It tasted terribly bad.
But he was delighted.
“Hehehehe.”
He continued to laugh while digging the dirt beneath the tree.
With every movement of his hand, the soil flowed out like sand.
Ketal continued to chew on the tree roots.
If someone saw him, he would look like a madman, but he didn’t care.
Ketal chuckled to himself.
“Good. Very good.”
He had finally escaped this damned wilderness.
He always wanted to get out.
But the damned system blocked his path.
“This cursed window.”
Ketal looked at the empty space with a disgusted face.
There, a system window appeared.
[784th quest completed.]
[Reward distribution completed.]
[Conditions fulfilled.]
[You can leave the wilderness.]
Because of that damned quest, he couldn’t leave the wilderness.
Whenever he tried, some strange force blocked him.
But that was over now.
He had cleared all the conditions.
He had succeeded in escaping the wilderness.
“What a damned place! Let’s never see each other again!”
Ketal energetically raised his middle finger towards the snowy mountain.
“Hahaha.”
The laughter didn’t stop.
He knew from sporadic conversations with outsiders looking for the wilderness.
This was a fantasy world.
It was the fantasy world he had dreamed of, but thought he would never reach.
Thanks to that fact, he could find the motivation to keep going.
Now, despite being far from a boy, he felt excited like one.
Even though the starting point was seriously messed up, he had survived somehow.
Now, he would enjoy this world.
There were countless things he wanted to do.
Swords and magic.
Dragons and elves.
He would enjoy the essence of fantasy.
If it weren’t for that desire, he would have died a long time ago.
That inner self was a hell that couldn’t survive on mere survival instincts.
Ketal leisurely moved his steps.
He could explore forests like this in an instant, but this extraordinarily enjoyable walk was pleasant.
And he kept walking.
But even after a long walk, the forest didn’t end.
“How far do I have to go?”
He could move leisurely now that he had gained freedom, but his desire to meet people quickly was strong.
Eventually, he gave up his leisurely walk and expanded his senses.
Many things begin to be felt.
The rustling of leaves.
Living, breathing wild animals.
Fish flicking their fins in the stream.
And the sounds of countless human-sized footsteps.
“Oh.”
There was a place where the footsteps were gathering.
It must be the village.
Ketal’s face flushed with excitement.
“Can I finally see a civilized village?”
His companions were ignorant brutes who made do with sleeping in the snow without proper shelter.
When he talked about the need for shelter, they just blinked their eyes and didn’t understand.
That’s how much he longed for a systematically designed human village.
What would be a good first greeting?
Should he say hello?
Or should he ask what kind of world this is, in the traditional way?
Whatever it was, he would treat them with respect.
He walked forward with anticipation.
* * *
Whoosh!
A hemispherical tent was formed in the blue forest.
The elves lowered their hands with relieved faces as the tent was tightly closed without a single gap.
“It’s done, Elder.”
“Yes, good work.”
The wrinkled elf smiled with satisfaction and shouted.
“Everyone! This is our new home!”
“Waaaaah!”
Numerous elves cheered.
Some were even shedding tears of joy.
After fleeing and evading the slave hunters, they had finally arrived here.
To the extreme wilderness untouched by human hands.
“Everyone, unpack your belongings and make your homes!”
“Yes!”
The elves moved briskly.
They started building houses by weaving branches together.
The Elder watched the scene with satisfaction.
Then a young elf approached and asked cautiously.
“Um… Elder.”
“Yes?”
“Is this really safe?”
“It is safe.”
The Elder said with a confident face.
“This is the extreme wilderness. Humans cannot come here. Haven’t I checked many times that there are no signs of humans?”
“Yes, I know that too. But…”
The wilderness where humans do not go.
There was a reason for that.
“Isn’t the snowfield nearby?”
The Elder realized what the young elf was worried about and chuckled.
“Are you worried that the monsters of the snowfield might come out?”
“It’s close, it’s too close.”
The white snowfield.
A place in the center of the continent where all the terrible and powerful things in the world gather.
Their new home was only a few hours’ walk from the snowfield.
The young elf was afraid of that.
But the Elder just shook his head as if to say not to worry.
“No problem. There have been no stories of anything coming out of the wilderness for thousands of years. Besides, didn’t we put up the tents just in case?”
The tents that obscured their presence and made them look like an ordinary forest.
After several months of designing with the ancient elf’s magic they had barely found, they finally made them.
As long as these tents were there, outsiders couldn’t approach them.
“And even if the monsters from the wilderness come, there’s no problem. We have the queen with us.”
“Ah…”
Finally, relief dawned on the young elf’s face.
Their rightful queen, who had appeared after hundreds of years.
A formidable figure engraved in elven history.
“That’s right. She’s protecting us.”
“Yes. Even the monsters from the wilderness won’t be able to reach our queen. So don’t worry.”
The elder spoke with confidence.
* * *
Ketal tilted his head.
“It feels like I tore something.”
Did he touch something?
He wasn’t sure.
It felt like something had touched him, though.
If his senses were confused by it, he didn’t need to worry about it.
Ketal casually switched his focus.
Moving towards where he felt a presence, Ketal soon saw a figure.
Instinctively, Ketal suppressed his presence.
Concealing one’s presence when encountering something.
It was a behavior close to instinct that had been ingrained in him since the wilderness.
Ketal’s pupils widened as he confirmed the figure.
‘An elf?’
The pointed ears caught Ketal’s eyes first.
The presence resembled a human, but it wasn’t human.
Pointed ears.
Distinct features sharp enough to be called beautiful even for a child.
Lightly dressed in cloth.
It was an elf.
“Ah…”
Unknowingly, Ketal let out a sigh.
One of the first races that came to mind in a fantasy world.
He hadn’t expected to encounter an elf so soon.
The elf child, whether lost or not, was wandering through the forest with a fearful expression.
His pointed ears perked up like a rabbit’s.
“Oh, wow…”
A real elf.
Not something seen in books or illustrations, but a real elf.
He felt like he might cry with emotion.
No, tears actually welled up in his eyes.
“I did well to survive…”
Just this one encounter felt like a reward for all the hardship he had endured.
The elf continued to move, unaware of him, and Ketal gradually approached.
“Huh?”
When they were within reach, the elf seemed to sense something strange and looked around with his ears perked up.
Then, his gaze fell on Ketal.
Unknowingly, Ketal tensed.
The first meeting.
He cautiously raised his hand.
“…Hello?”
“…”
The elf stared blankly at him, looking up at him as if his neck would break.
“Ah…”
Then, his eyes rolled back.
“Heh.”
Ketal instinctively caught the collapsing elf child.
“Hmm.”
Ketal scratched his cheek.
He was quite large in stature.
The child could only reach his knees at best.
Such a presence suddenly looking down at him would surely astonish the child to the point of fainting.
“What a shame.”
It was their first meeting, yet they couldn’t have a proper conversation.
Ketal embraced the child.
Since it had come to this, he decided to take the child to the village.
It might not be a bad idea after all.
He could be seen as a benefactor for bringing the unconscious child.
Although it varied in myths, elves were generally known as a peaceful race corresponding to order.
Unless they showed hostile behavior first, they were treated with kindness.
So, perhaps they might receive hospitality.
Elven hospitality.
What would that feel like?
He was very much looking forward to it.
With cheerful steps, Ketal headed towards where he felt several signs of life.