ch68.5

Pallas was born the fifth son among the High Elves created by his mother, the World Tree El-Prigion.

The mission bestowed upon him by his mother was valor.

His duty was to protect the other Elves so they could fulfill their own missions.

Befitting this mission, Pallas was born more warlike and stronger than other High Elves or Elves.

Within the vast forest that was his mother’s domain, the land of the Elves, now known as the Elven Road, was initially just a part of the forest.

The Elves received life and power from their mother, but they were born naked and vulnerable, making the forest a harsh environment for them.

Therefore, it was almost instinctive for Pallas to step forward.

Pallas was the first to venture out, followed by several strong and courageous Elves, exploring the forests and gathering resources necessary for survival.

With the exploration of the forest entrusted to Pallas, the other Elves began to find and perform tasks necessary for the whole.

And after some time, a High Elf followed Pallas and the Elves.

Araya.

The youngest child, the last born among the High Elves.

An child who had not received any clear mission from her mother.

Pallas felt pity for Araya.

Compared to the other High Elf siblings, the youngest, Araya, seemed somehow unstable.

High Elves were born with an innate understanding of the world’s laws, yet the youngest child showed signs of confusion, even struggling to grasp her own gender.

Moreover, compared not only to the High Elves but also to other Elves, the youngest was born immature.

His mother said it was intentional, but Pallas knew that even though his mother was a divine being, she was not a god, and he did not believe that everything she did was necessarily right.

It was not strange that Pallas, who had an instinct to protect the Elves, felt compassion for such a child.

Still, she was alright when she was with her other siblings, making makeshift clothes and tools with Saraswati.

But sometimes, she would sit in strange postures and not move, or start making odd movements in the air, which inevitably caused worry in his heart.

‘…Is Araya developing slowly?’

Such things did not happen to other Elves, but among creatures in nature, there were often animals born immature and slow to develop.

Moreover, he didn’t know what the problem was, but her behavior was very different from that of other female Elves, and rather similar to that of male Elves.

‘…She was confused about her gender from the beginning…’

And from one day, she started to follow him into the dangerous forest, shaking her short limbs, and he scolded her severely, but she was stubborn and didn’t listen well.

Even if he left her with his other siblings, she somehow managed to follow them into the forest.

At that time, there were beasts and transcendental beings in the forest that Pallas could not handle, so he felt frustrated by Araya’s immature behavior.

Beasts instinctively knew that Elves were not good prey, so they didn’t attack easily, and transcendental beings could communicate, so unless they were extremely violent, they didn’t bother the Elves.

But there were always exceptions, and those exceptions were always dangerous.

In the end, he couldn’t stop Araya from following them, but all the Elves with Pallas were friendly to Araya, so they tried to avoid dangerous opponents as much as possible and searched while protecting Araya.

And eventually, as things continued, it was inevitable that they would encounter what they feared.

Eventually, when they encountered a dangerous beast, Pallas and the Elves tried to draw the beast’s attention to protect Araya from getting hurt, but Araya stepped forward.

Everyone was horrified by the sight, but what was surprising was what happened next.

The beast, which only Pallas, the most powerful fighter among the Elves, could handle, let out a yelp after being hit by Araya’s fist.

For a moment, all the Elves present stared blankly at it, but Pallas, who regained his senses the fastest, lent a hand, and the beast was quickly subdued.

From then on, everything changed.

Araya discovered how to use ki and began to efficiently use it with body movements, and martial arts began to spread among the Elves.

The Elves who learned the martial arts that Araya taught with such care began to take over the forest at a much faster rate than before.

Watching this, Pallas, with his immature mind at the time, could not see it in a positive light.

In fact, he had subconsciously thought of her as someone beneath him, someone he had to protect, but the youngest was actually far more powerful than him.

How could he not be ashamed?

Moreover, unlike himself, who only stepped forward to protect, that child was making the Elves stronger and able to protect themselves, essentially safeguarding the Elves.

He felt like even his mission had been taken away.

And that too, by the hand of his youngest sibling, whom he thought he had to protect.

Out of resentment, he challenged her to a fight several times, embarrassingly.

At first, it was somewhat of a match, but as time went on, it became no match at all.

Perhaps because she saw the face of her childish older brother, unable to accept even the results, harden.

Araya, who had been watching him carefully, began to let him win at some point.

How could he not notice that Araya was going easy on him?

That action caused the inferiority complex that had been building up to explode, and he poured out his anger on Araya.

You little runt. How dare you pity me. He spewed out words he couldn’t even bring himself to repeat.

The youngest, who was actually much stronger than himself, the strongest of the Elves.

Emotions of fear and hurt flashed across the face of that strong youngest sibling.

Seeing that face, he came to his senses and realized the atrocities he had committed, but he couldn’t even apologize.

Even during that awkward relationship, the youngest only watched his every move and followed him around whenever he searched the forest.

Unlike the other Elves, Pallas did not learn martial arts from Araya.

It was because of his pride, a childish emotion in retrospect.

It was only natural that Pallas, who had been the best of the Elves, began to be slowly overtaken by other Forest Keeper Elves.

Pallas knew this, so he became increasingly irritable, and Araya became even more cautious.

In his mind at the time, it was true that he felt a base satisfaction in Araya being so careful of his every word.

Pallas, driven by inferiority, was tormenting the child he had once wanted to protect with his own hands.

But eventually, such a relationship was bound to end somehow.

It happened on the fourth day after the Elves were born from their mother’s hand.

A wild god in the form of a wolf.

Fenrir and the Elves clashed.

“You stay out of this. This is not something you need to worry about.”

If he couldn’t even fulfill this mission to protect the Elves, he felt like he would be deemed useless.

He intentionally excluded Araya from this fight.

Then Pallas took the lead and fought.

Because that was his mission.

He rushed in without thinking, to prove that he was not a useless being.

But the opponent was a being who had reigned like a tyrant in this vast forest for a long time.

Even though he was a superior race called High Elf, Pallas, who was only 4 years old, was not an opponent he could handle.

Pallas and the Elves fought bravely, but they all suffered serious injuries and lost consciousness. The claws of the wolf, which rose as huge as a tree, covered Pallas, who was standing last.

When he sensed his end, a shadow appeared between Fenrir and himself.

The figure surprisingly deflected Fenrir’s claws, but her body faltered for a moment, as if she hadn’t completely deflected them.

After that, Pallas lost consciousness, so he didn’t really remember properly.

And when he woke up, he saw Fenrir’s huge corpse and Araya, who had a terrible wound that ran through the center of her body, so severe that it was strange she wasn’t split in half.

Araya, with her life almost gone, looked at him as he approached and barely opened her blood-streaked mouth.

“Are… you… okay?”

“Why… why did you go this far…”

“Be… cause… fa… mi… ly.”

Even as she was dying, she smiled faintly and said that the reason she risked her life was because of family.

His youngest sibling had always been like that.

She craved attention and love from family and others.

Even though she had become stronger on the outside with martial arts, she was still a precarious child, just like in the old days.

“Ah… ah… ah…!”

Only then did Pallas deeply realize what he had been doing all along.

And that because of his base inferiority and pride, the sister he was supposed to protect was dying.

After that, he held Araya and ran with all his might.

Because her injuries were severe, he tried to minimize the vibrations and shocks transmitted to Araya.

Ironically, his footsteps were very similar to the footsteps that Araya had shown him with a smile, telling him to try to follow.

But it was not surprising. He had practiced it hundreds, thousands of times.

He arrived at the village where the Elves were gathered and ran towards his mother.

No one but his mother could heal such a wound, not Atira, not Saraswati, not Anat.

Only his mother’s miracle could do it.

He held out Araya’s dying body in front of his mother and cried out.

He doesn’t actually remember what he said.

The only thing he remembered was his siblings expressing their anger at him for bringing Araya to this state.

Everyone knew that Pallas had been mean to Araya, embarrassingly.

Fortunately, his mother showed mercy and healed Araya.

After that, he didn’t really talk to Araya much.

What changed was the martial arts that he had not learned directly from Araya, but had indirectly realized himself through sparring with other Elves.

And challenging Araya to a sparring match on a regular basis.

Other than that, Pallas himself solved all the problems that Araya caused.

He also did not inform Araya of any work that was necessary for the Elves but dangerous, and he took the initiative to solve it himself.

But Araya eventually left.

To understand the ominous energy coming from the east and what the external situation was like.

Araya, the most outstanding Forest Keeper among the Elves, was going to find out for herself.

6 years after realizing his own foolishness.

Even though it was originally his job to do, Araya ended up taking on that role.

Even knowing the outcome, he wanted to bear the weight instead, so he asked her for a sparring match for the last time, but the result did not change.

Araya, who left him with her last words, always spoke of the future that he could not see or think of, and left, asking him to prepare.

“Make sure you come back with all your limbs intact. I’m going to beat you up then.”

Actually, he wanted to tell her to come back safe and sound.

When he thought of Araya out of his sight, he kept thinking of Araya’s terrible appearance next to Fenrir’s corpse.

But, because of the unforgivable mistake that he could not erase, he thought that he was not worthy of receiving this child’s love.

“Take care.”

Nevertheless, Araya smiled as if she knew everything and said goodbye before disappearing.

After Araya left the forest, Pallas devoted himself to training.

Because he was incompetent, he hurt Araya and made her bear the heavy burden that he should have borne.

That’s what he thought, so he trained and trained again.

Seven years passed. Though he could never match her innate talent, Pallas worked tirelessly, earning a reputation as the strongest Elf, capable of defeating ten Forest Keepers simultaneously.

Checking on Araya through the news she sent, it seemed she was doing well, despite a terrible misunderstanding along the way.

Just as he found solace in that, he was summoned by his mother, along with a pale-faced Saraswati.

His mother had rarely called for him directly, and summoning all the High Elves was unheard of.

A small unease sprouted in Pallas’s heart, and it became reality with the news his mother delivered.

Araya had gone missing.

That was the gist of his mother’s words.

Upon hearing them, he felt an immediate urge to rush out and search for Araya.

However, he had learned thirteen years ago that acting on emotion wouldn’t improve the outcome.

Under Demis’s leadership, he, Saraswati, and Anat headed to the human cities.

The news they received upon arrival was even more devastating.

Araya had fought a being of equal standing to their mother, a Gal Dragon, and then contact was lost.

‘…This was originally my role.’

Once again, she had taken his place and suffered this consequence.

Despite his strength gained through years of training, everything felt futile.

If he couldn’t protect her, what was the point of becoming stronger?

If he had the chance, he would never let her go outside again.

Still, unlike him, Saraswati, who always made the right choices, examined the toys made by humans and suggested they wait until spring.

He wanted to get angry, but he silently followed her decision, looking into Saraswati’s eyes, which were as furious as his own.

At least, unlike his still-immature self, Saraswati’s choices had never been wrong.

His own emotions didn’t matter.

Only the method with the higher probability of saving Araya was important.

He endured until spring.

Pallas felt the rage cracking his mind, tempered by long training, at the sudden situation.

“…What?”

“Um… Pallas? I don’t know what you heard, but calm down a little first.”

When spring arrived and the human king left for the south, Araya suddenly appeared at the great temple where they were staying, as if replacing him.

The Araya he hadn’t seen in a long time had no trace of the clothes Atira had made for her, and she wore flamboyant clothes the same color as the Elves’ hair. She seemed surprised to find them, but awkwardly waved and smiled.

And beside her stood a lanky, unfamiliar Elf with an indifferent expression.

An Elf exuding a tremendous energy he had never felt in his seventeen years.

Pallas instinctively felt a surge of displeasure.

What was this deer-bone-head?

He strode towards the deer-bone-head, and Araya flinched and backed away, but the deer-bone-head indifferently watched her retreat.

“Who are you?”

“You are mine. I told you not to leave my side.”

“…Huh?”

Seeing him try to pull Araya, who was trying to back away despite his presence, into his arms, Pallas felt a string snap in his head.

“You… what the hell are you doing?”

“Show respect to this one. Vermin. This body is Gal Dragon. If you weren’t Araya’s kin, you would be a corpse by now.”

Gal Dragon? He seemed to have heard that name recently, but what kind of crazy… bastard… was he?

At the name, not only him but also Saraswati and Anat stared at the deer-bone-head.

Gal Dragon. The winged lizard bastard, some Elder Loa or whatever, that Araya had fought.

His appearance was different from what he had heard, but that wasn’t really important.

Murderous intent surged from his chest like an explosion.

“…What?”

“Um… Pallas? I don’t know what you heard, but calm down a little first.”

Araya’s words, awkwardly trying to dissuade him, only deepened Pallas’s anger and gloom.