Chapter 127 – Parent of the Elves (Part 4)

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Elbridge was not the only one who took an interest in Jean and Bella.

Rombel was originally the type not to pay much attention to others, but Marcus and Sonya were quite nosey.

As soon as Jean and Bella left, Marcus and Sonya opened their mouths.

“Jean and Bella… there was something deeply meaningful about them.”

“Indeed. What with those faint, sorrowful looks of theirs…”

Among them, Sonya’s reaction was particularly passionate.

Unlike Marcus, who was busy learning this and that squeezed in among the reserve Sentinels, Sonya had nothing to do and was bored.

“For one thing, it doesn’t seem like a normal relationship. Thinking back, those two have always moved together.”

Hearing Marcus’s speculation, Sonya chided him.

“Well, that’s because Jean and Bella are husband and wife.”

“Husband and wife?”

“You didn’t know? Jean and Bella live in the same house.”

“…How on earth would I know where their house is? By the way, Sonya, how do you know that?”

“I know because I tailed them.”

At Sonya’s bold remark, not only Elbridge and Marcus, but even Rombel, who had been minding his own business, was horrified.

Tailing a Sentinel. Has Sonya finally lost her mind?

But Sonya was unabashed.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t get caught.”

“Well, that’s a relief… wait, no, it’s not! What in the world were you thinking when you did that?”

“Jean is cool, you know. Aside from being handsome, even though he seems to act recklessly, there’s that melancholy expression he occasionally shows, and that dreamy atmosphere…”

Simply put, it meant she had stalked Jean.

By now, based on what Elbridge’s party had observed so far, Sonya was quite particular about the appearance of the opposite sex. Perhaps because she was of noble birth, her standards were rather high.

And people with high standards like Sonya shared one common trait: on the very rare occasions when they found someone who met their standard, they became extremely active.

Hearing of Sonya’s secret misdeeds, the companions were seized with fear.

The fear that this journey, which they had gathered for with their respective goals, might end in a crime of passion.

Marcus and Rombel earnestly threw in a word each.

“Sonya. If you get caught by Lady Bella doing that, you might get stabbed. No, you definitely will.”

“I’ve never heard rumors of a Sentinel killing a human. But it seems you might become the first, Sonya.”

Yet Sonya remained unabashed.

“It’s fine. I didn’t pry around brainlessly. I was just chatting with the elves and occasionally slipping in a question here and there.”

It appeared she hadn’t just tailed them, but had also pried out all sorts of information. Marcus felt dizzy.

If nothing else, Sonya’s initiative was certainly worthy of respect.

“So what did you find out through that?”

“It seems no one knows how old Jean and Bella are. I haven’t asked every single elf, but… the atmosphere is like that. You could say it’s an atmosphere where no one really questions it.”

“Why would that be?”

“Elves don’t seem to care much about age like humans do. Probably because they have long lifespans and maintain a youthful appearance almost all their lives. Besides, I think it’s even more so because Jean and Bella have been living since too long ago. Just as no one wonders when a mountain or a river was created.”

Marcus let out a sigh of relief.

Rather, he was glad Sonya hadn’t found out anything.

“So there was no real harvest.”

However, Sonya took that reaction as a mere ‘for now’.

“Not for now, yes.”

“…Yet?”

“There is one elf who is likely to know about Jean and Bella. Orion, the third Sentinel.”

The three men, excluding Sonya, thought: ‘Surely she isn’t planning to go to Orion and pry about Jean and Bella, is she?’

Yet ominous predictions always have a way of coming true.

“I should take this opportunity to ask Orion.”

“Will he answer easily?”

“I have my ways.”

However, that way was something that completely transcended the companions’ imagination.

“I’m thinking of using a honey trap on Orion this time.”

Since it was a statement that sounded not just surprising but outright bizarre, both Marcus and Rombel were left completely dumbfounded.

It was an undeniable fact that Sonya was reasonably beautiful. However, that was only among humans; if the competition was an elf, it was a completely different story.

“You’ve finally lost your mind. True, there have been a lot of shocking events lately.”

“Sonya. Surely you haven’t failed to see the female elves? If Orion leaves those elves aside and chooses you, it wouldn’t be because of a honey trap, but because of some bizarre preference.”

Rombel and Marcus delivered a brutal assessment.

Elbridge also quietly nodded to express his agreement.

But Sonya responded with a snort.

“Just you wait. I’ll show you what kind of woman I am.”

*

Three days later, the sun rose from the west.

Which meant that Sonya was witnessed sitting completely alone with Orion. Furthermore, Orion’s expression was quite bright.

“…”

Seeing that sight, Elbridge’s companions fell into confusion.

“…What is the world coming to.”

“I’ll guarantee you, Sonya is going to act smug the moment she gets back.”

True to their expectations, the confidence of Sonya, who returned to the cabin, pierced the heavens.

“The most important thing in a honey trap isn’t pretty looks. Confidence, atmosphere, and a way of speaking that reads the other person’s heart are more important. And I am a woman whose inner self is far more beautiful than her outer appearance.”

Elbridge inwardly suspected Sonya. Could she have mobilized some magical means to pull off a deceptive trick?

Sonya proudly continued her story.

“The most important thing this time was the way of speaking. A way of speaking that wraps around the other person’s wounds. Poor Orion was actually harboring an inferiority complex about his appearance.”

Marcus doubted his own ears.

“…He harbored what?”

“It seems he has a lot of bad memories related to his appearance. He devoted himself to training to overcome his inferiority complex, and as a result, he became a Sentinel.”

Marcus recalled Orion’s appearance.

The slender physique characteristic of elves, toned muscles built from long training, dark eyebrows, and a sharp jawline. There was absolutely nothing lacking in terms of appearance.

Just how high were the elves’ standards? Marcus felt a sense of frustration and deprivation at the same time. Were these greedy elves trying to snatch away even ugliness?

Elbridge advised.

“Sonya. Be careful not to play with a Sentinel’s pure heart and buy yourself a grudge.”

“It’s fine. It’s just a ticklish stage that won’t go as far as romance. Orion also knows very well that I am in a position where I have to leave. Anyway, talking all day, I got to find out quite a few things. It seems Jean and Bella shared a lot of their stories with Orion.”

“After all, they are fellow Sentinels. It would be easier to open up their hearts, and the time they spent together must have been long.”

“Exactly. Where should I begin… Right. Let’s start with the old tale of Jean and Bella.”

Sonya coughed dryly once or twice and then began speaking.

“Jean and Bella weren’t originally from the Forest of Thorns.”

“Then?”

“To be a bit more precise, when Jean and Bella were young, the Forest of Thorns didn’t even exist.”

Elbridge gazed at the trees outside the cabin. Giant trees rising straight up as if to touch the heavens.

If it was a time when these trees didn’t exist, just how far in the past would that be?

“Elves usually settle and live in forests, but they say Jean and Bella were highly curious, so they wandered the whole world together, taking everything in.”

“Must have been a comfortable era.”

“It seems it wasn’t. Because they say they traveled while avoiding the gaze of the gods and risking their lives. They were extraordinary elves even in those days.”

“Avoiding the gaze of the gods…?”

Unlike Marcus, who was bewildered, Elbridge understood roughly what era that story belonged to.

Not long ago, when the people of Solenion fell into a strange dream.

It was the era that the black cat—that is, the God of Naps and Gentle Breezes—had told them about.

The time when the heavenly gods regarded the existences of the earth as insects, before the council system was introduced to the heavens.

‘Just how old are they?’

But thinking about it, it wasn’t strange for them to be that old.

The mixed-blood elf Niseras, whom they had met in the south in the past, remembered the time when the Goddess of the Rusty Shield was a human. Which meant he was older than the Goddess of the Rusty Shield.

That Niseras had said, ‘Elves older than me are rare.’

Jean and Bella would be included in those ‘rare elves’ Niseras had mentioned.

Niseras, who was older than the Goddess of the Rusty Shield.

Jean and Bella, who were far older than Niseras.

If so, it wasn’t strange even if Jean and Bella had lived since such a remote past.

“They say Jean and Bella had a daughter while traveling the whole world. But the daughter’s body was weak.”

He had never heard any talk of Jean and Bella having a child.

However, it was probably an unimportant story. In all likelihood, she would have died of age by now.

However, Elbridge felt a tickling sensation somewhere. It felt as if he was missing something.

“Did the daughter die at a young age?”

At Marcus’s guess, Sonya shook her head.

“No. If it were something like that, I wouldn’t have brought it up. And it seems the daughter’s body wasn’t so weak to that extent.”

“They could have just gone to a temple, made a huge offering, and had her treated.”

Sonya clicked her tongue.

“She said there was no such thing as a temple in those days. Nor was there any deity who treated sick people.”

“…Just how long ago was this?”

“Just listen. Anyway, it was an era where if you fell sick, you just had to die, but Jean and Bella couldn’t leave their daughter to die. So, after pondering, the two of them came up with an idea. If having a weak body was the problem, what if they had their daughter shed her physical body?”

“How?”

Sonya pointed upward with her finger.

It wasn’t pointing at the roof.

The high sky beyond the roof.

In other words, the heavens.

When he heard up to that point, there was a memory that rose in Elbridge’s mind.

The words Jean had spoken a few days ago.

‘I don’t respect the Goddess of Thorns.’

‘But I love the Goddess of Thorns more than anyone.’

Now, he felt he understood the meaning.

Sonya continued her story.

“Jean and Bella wandered the world, extending their daughter’s life little by little by all sorts of methods. In order to find a way to catch the Chief God’s eye.”

By that point, not only Elbridge but also Marcus and Rombel could vaguely guess the rest of the story.

“Like ordinary elves, Bella and Jean in those days didn’t know how to fight. However, they naturally learned how to fight while wandering the world for a long time. They roamed every corner of the continent, and went even beyond the sea. They met uncountable people and got entangled in countless incidents.”

In the remote past, Jean and Bella volunteered to walk a path of thorns for their daughter’s sake.

“And in the end, they caught the Chief God’s eye.”

Hundreds of years passed, and from the blood they spilled, sprouts broke out, trees grew, and bore fruit.

“When the opportunity of ascension was granted to Jean and Bella, they begged the Chief God. To let their daughter enter the heavens in their stead.”

The parent of the elves handed that fruit to their beloved child,

“The Chief God accepted that request. That was how the Goddess of Thorns was born.”

The child, who received the fruit grown from their parents’ blood and lives, wished to return that parental love.

“Upon ascending to the heavens, the Goddess of Thorns returned the opportunity to enjoy a new life to Jean and Bella, who had dedicated their entire lives to her.”

That was none other than the authority of long lifespan, and the reason why the parent of the elves is still alive to this day.

However, Jean and Bella did not fully accept even that reward.

For the parental love a parent bestows upon their child is larger and heavier than the filial love the child offers back.

Looking at it that way, Jean and Bella still protect the pure white sacred tree, which is like the very embodiment of their daughter.

It was only after that that the forest grew around the sacred tree.

“That’s the story of what happened. It is probably true. Since it’s the story Orion told me.”

With those words as the last, Elbridge’s companions each fell into deep thought.

However, not long after, Elbridge’s ears perked up.

“I hear footsteps. Someone is coming this way.”

Briefly after, someone knocked on the door. *Knock, knock.*

Elbridge stood up and opened the door. Orion was standing there.

“What is it?”

All kinds of thoughts crossed his mind. Surely, Orion wasn’t planning to propose to Sonya or anything.

Or, had Sonya been caught relaying Orion’s story?

But whether it was a misfortune or a blessing, this time Elbridge’s guess missed the mark.

Orion spoke.

“The Goddess of Thorns says she has a favor to ask of you all.”