Chapter 443 – Prohibition and Taboo (8)
A few days have passed since the day the elves were rescued from the border of the dimension in the Geumyeok and Evolving Forest.
Fortunately, we were rescued in time, so no one’s life was in danger…
Even though their lives were not at risk, there were many problems with the rescued elves.
First…
Cylinders with various mechanical devices attached to them.
As Justitia confirmed, this was a device that forced the elves inside to grow.
The curse of aging, artificially created creatures… Magic designated to be used only on homunculi, growth acceleration magic, and a magic circle that accelerates the flow of time.
The device that went against nature and providence and deviated from reason was the identity of those cylinders.
Of course… The elves who were forced to ‘mature’ within it were also bound to have many problems with their bodies.
Everything requires a price… A maxim that applies to both wizards and shamans.
It was the law of this world that in order to achieve something, a certain price was needed.
Even if it is not what they wanted, there is a price to pay.
As a result, it was found that the estimated lifespan of the rescued elves was less than one-tenth of the original elves who lived close to a thousand years… A lifespan similar to that of humans.
Even that was only because Hoaran and Carmina worked hard and corrected the broken balance… If it hadn’t been for that, he wouldn’t have lived for less than 10 years.
Due to the influence of being forced to mature, and the influence of curses, magic, and witchcraft used as a means…
This was because all kinds of strain was placed on the body itself.
Because it was no different from the act of drawing on the ‘future’ by consuming a large amount of vitality, also known as the source of energy.
There was something else that Justitia discovered as a result of examining the bodies of the elves.
“All elves are sisters.”
The elves are cackling and laughing among the werehoneybees who are walking around and taking care of the children.
All of those elves were ‘blood sisters.’
Each mother was different, but the father was the same… Sisters.
Besides that… I was able to find out that these children were created to be born only as women by messing with their genes.
Other than that…
“Bah, bah…”
I looked at the elf who was crawling in front of me.
On the outside, she was a girl a little shorter than Xiao… In terms of an elf, she was originally an elf who looked like she was 50 or 60 years old.
However, the behavior shown by such an elf…
“Bah!”
It did not look like an elf of that age at all, and was the same as that of a child who had just been born.
Okay.
Right.
Most of the elves we rescued were actually children who had just been born… Less than a year at most.
Unlike Werehoney Bee, a race that matures prematurely, elves were a race that took as long to mature physically and mentally as their lifespan.
Even after maturing like that, the remaining time is long enough to be eternal compared to humans, so it is not very noticeable.
For elves, the nearly 100 years since they were born were a time to grow up, protected and loved by someone.
But even by elf standards, no, not by elf standards, but by human standards…
It was said that these children, who were born less than a year ago, were practically like newborn babies.
Their bodies… Are all bigger than my daughters, but their minds are worse than my daughters, not even half of their lives yet.
Those were the elves we saved.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it was all like that.
…Because in the case of some children, it was at the level of a child.
Over there, the children in the corner who said they liked it while eating the snacks brought by the Wearhoney Bees – just by looking at their appearance, they were adults… That is, such was the case with the children who were adult elves.
Those children were the children who had ’emergence’ written on the cylinder.
Like other children, they were just born… But they seemed to have grown up ‘a little earlier’ than other children.
Those were the children who were in charge of taking care of children in a facility that only had young children.
…After listening to the story, it seems that there were ‘sisters’ and ‘brothers’ several times before, and that they were taking care of the children after the older sisters and brothers left.
And… In the end, it seemed like he went into the cylinder with everyone else.
As it was, he was abandoned and left to die along with other children.
“…Bar?”
Perhaps because my expression got worse, I saw that the expression on the elf’s face in front of me also turned into a tearful one.
No, no.
In this case, rather than it being because my expression got worse, it was more like I was pretending not to know myself.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
I have lived more than half of my life as the eldest brother and eldest brother in an orphanage, and although my career is short compared to that, I am also a father to children.
Although, in the case of my children, they grew up very quickly and I didn’t see them often, I didn’t do anything for them myself, but I was able to tell what this child who approached me wanted.
“Tskcha.”
She put her hand between the child’s shoulders and hugged him.
The face of the smiling child in my arms, who was holding me, was so flawless and bright that it did not match her appearance.
So, I was sad.
Sad, I hummed to her.
“Kyaaa, kyaaaaa-“
I hummed a song I often sang to my younger siblings when I was young.
Everything, everything will be fine.
Maybe not now, but someday.
“You are the king.”
After playing with the children for a while, number 6974 approached me and held out her hand.
“Has it already been so long?”
“Yes… It’s time to put the kids to bed.”
“Okay.”
These children were in poor health in many ways.
Compared to their rapidly growing bodies, their minds were immature, resulting in disharmony… These children were still very confused.
But, in the end, they are children.
Children grow well when they sleep well.
Although they were big, they were still children in spirit, so I had to put them to sleep often, and it seemed like it was already nap time.
The child who refused to leave me was taken away and given to No. 6974.
At first, number 6974 had a hard time because the elves were brought in and passed on to hundreds of children who were just as big in body but had the same mind as newborns.
Werehoneybee and elf looked the same when they were babies, so I quickly got used to it.
“I’m sorry. “Because the work keeps increasing.”
“No, I’m glad we can help.”
“Um… Okay.”
No. 6974, who struggles and struggles, or pulls her cheeks… She looks like nothing more than a girl, but she does what she does like a newborn, and even in the midst of all that, she calmly says that.
Is this a pro?
I didn’t think there was any way to rub it after changing my younger siblings’ diapers.
“…Well, anyway. “I’ll take care of the kids.”
Whatever it was, they were children who had been saved.
I don’t know what I’ll do later… At least while I was here, I planned to take responsibility and raise him properly.
I had no intention of letting the abandoned children, who had been neglected and dying inside the cylinder, be abandoned once again.
“Please leave it to me.”
With his cheek still being pulled, I left behind No. 6974, who was bowing his head, and headed home.
“It looks like you went there today too.”
“Yes, well…”
“Are the children healthy?”
“Right now, it looks like no one is sick.”
The problem with children is not simply that their life expectancy has been reduced by one-tenth.
Naturally, I was also very unwell.
This was because they were simply maturing, and they lacked immunity that should have been developed as they grew naturally, and other things that should have been developed through eating.
To solve this, I diluted Ariad’s sap… I added Wearhoneybee’s royal jelly to the kids’ food.
Since the body itself had grown abnormally, the problem could not be solved even by pouring the elixir on it.
…Well, it still doesn’t solve the problem, but the effect is sufficient and there have been no children suffering from minor illnesses.
Anyway, Hoa-ran nods his head at my words.
“That’s a good thing.”
After saying that, Hoaran looked at me again and opened his mouth.
“…Hanzo, while you were there, new information about those children came in.”
The boundary of the dimension within Geumyeok that rescued the children.
He was probably referring to information about the dead elves who knew the coordinates of that place in the first place.
If you get involved more deeply, a trace will remain.
It was clear that it would be a hassle in many ways, so last time I only found out the loose coordinates, but I didn’t know anything else.
As things turned out like this, I decided to seek additional information, but it seems I only found out this time.
And, looking at Hoaran’s expression, I got a rough idea of what the newly discovered information was like.
“Is everyone inside?”
“Everyone was waiting for you to come.”
He nodded his head at Ho Aran’s words and opened his mouth.
“Then, come on in.”
