| Project | Chapter |
Dawn Traveller - Chapter 09 - Friends of Elves
"So a long time ago, there was a Magician called Poltuka."
Whenever Yeon Woo spoke, his elementary school classmates would gather around him, and sitting on his desk, would listen intently.
"And?"
"What were the Magician's powers?"
"Hurry up and tell us, Yeon Woo!"
The girl's eyes sparkled with curiosity and wonder!
"Controlling water was his specialty. It was so great, he could make rivers flow and the sky pour rain."
"Wow, that's amazing."
Yeon Woo was already in second grade at elementary school, nine years old!
Shin Soo Yeon, the girl sitting next to him, was also engrossed in the story.
Yeon Woo, out of boredom, started telling her stories from Marka that he had heard.
He had noticed that she enjoyed immensely the tales of tyrant kings and queens, the knights and Magicians that defeated them, and adventures of fairies in the forest.
When rumors about this spread around the school, children, including Shin Soo Yeon, gathered around to listen every break time.
"Yeon Woo is the best. How can he just make up these kinds of stories on the spot?"
"He must have amazing talents as a story writer."
"What the heck, this is more fun than the movie I watched with my mom!"
"Why aren't there movies like this? This is amazing. Seriously the best."
Yeon Woo started to think that he would have no problems with money when he grew up.
Why would he want to work at an office job with this talent?
'I think I could work as a writer, writing stories about Marka!'
It was an unexpected advantage gained from living in the other world.
He was very popular in class and many girls wanted to spend a lot of time with him.
They were clearly different from Jin Sora and Lee Heejin from preschool, but to Yeon Woo, they still seemed like cute and innocent children.
'My mental age is now 15. It's an age where everybody is preparing for high school.'
His mental age was increasing to be almost twice his friends' ages.
It didn't seem like much now, but it seemed like he would soon sound like an old man in a child's body.
'This is a flaw that I should just accept.' He thought.
When he told the children stories about his time in Marka, he didn't just tell it as it was. He spiced it up a little, to make it sound more exciting.
"So, the little fairy started to cry, and Genia, who collected the crystal-clear tear drops, could become rich by selling them."
"That's amazing!"
"So she didn't get to meet a prince after all?"
The primary school girls seemed satisfied with the happy ending.
After that day, the real Genia was found to be a cruel witch. She was burnt at the stake after she was discovered capturing the fairies and abusing them, then collecting their tears and selling them. But the children didn't need to know that.
"Tell me about the child in the cave!"
"You're not going to talk about Jys today?"
Yeon Woo also told stories that he had experienced as Jys in the other world, and that was very popular too.
Exciting adventures of a fellow child in a strange new world!
He kept strictly to the truth when telling those stories, so it still had a great sense of logic and reality even though it was based on another world.
There were classmates who disapproved of Yeon Woo being popular with the girls.
"He's such a show-off."
Han Cheol Jae was a tall boy for a primary student, and had a broad and muscular stature. Children avoided befriending him because even the way he looked at them was intimidating.
Yeon Woo knew from his heart that Cheol Jae was not a bad kid.
'He's such an innocent boy.'
Grade two was a time when children started to act selfishly and deviously.
Some of the children joked around and looked close and happy in front of their parents, but inside, they were looking down on and making fun of others.
Compared to that, how innocent was Cheol Jae, hating others inwardly and outwardly?
Yeon Woo approached him during break time.
"What do you want?"
Cheol Jae had quite the deep voice, compared to other boys his age.
Of course, Yeon Woo wasn't at all intimidated by that.
He watched Nedhand destroy monsters with his axe over a thousand times, and on multiple occasions was covered in blood and viscera.
And compared to Rendal's strength, size, and power, Han Cheol Jae was truly just an adorable child.
No matter what Cheol Jae would become in the future, he was still just a neighborhood brat.
Yeon Woo decided to start the conversation.
"Let's be friends."
"I'm not interested."
"I think you'd be lonely from being alone all the time... Won't you play with me?"
"I have no thoughts of playing with you. Go away."
Cheol Jae was not a boy with an approachable personality, but the ability to read minds sometimes gave him infinite advantages.
Yeon Woo subtly changed the subject.
"I'm going to eat lunch with the class president. Do you wanna join us?"
"...!"
The class president, Song Jae Sun, was a close friend of Shin Soo Yeon.
She was a grade-A student with so many responsibilities that she handled well and even so, she was a child with a bright personality.
She was also the subject of Cheol Jae's one-sided love.
He sat behind her and was happy even when he was just watching her study.
"I... don't... want... to..."
Cheol Jae was a boy who knew how to keep his face in front of others.
'What do I do? Eating lunch with Jae Sun... it's a chance for me to say hi and have a conversation with her!'
"Don't be like that. Come on, join me!"
"I said... I don't want to..."
'Ah... Was refusing twice too much for him? Is he going to go by himself now? I should have just said no once and accepted it...'
"I don't really like sausages, so I was thinking that you could eat them for me? I didn't want to seem picky in front of the girls. I'm asking for a favour, man to man."
"Well... if that's the case... I'll help you."
Cheol Jae fell into Yeon Woo's excuse despite it making no sense whatsoever.
After all, he was still just a child.
His head was as busy as ever during class.
'What am I going to do? What do I say to Jae Sun? I mean, I should start the conversation, as I am the male wait... She knows my name, right? What if she doesn't like eating lunch with me? Hm... Didn't Mom pack me a good lunch?'
When lunchtime arrived, he nervously picked up his lunch and shyly slipped over to the group.
Jae Sun was the first to speak.
"Hey, Chul Jae. I heard you're eating lunch with us. Come, sit here."
"H- Hey... Yeah, thanks."
Chul Jae innocently blushed as he ate.
He was happy as he shared the side dishes with Jae Sun.
'Yeon Woo that guy. I unfairly judged him before. He is a good guy after all. I should be nice to him from now on.'
*
Jys, who had now entered the village of the elves, could not keep his eyes from wandering to his side.
Pale skinned and slim bodied, the female elves were unbelievable beautiful; he couldn't stop his mouth from falling agape.
'This- this is beauty on another level.'
A beauty that eclipses that of primary school girls!
It was so great that even celebrities on the television could not compare to it.
The skin, height and the ratio of the body... it was undeniable. They were a completely different species.
The dwarf Nedhand did not seem to be interested, but the very-old-and-single Hersey was looking around.
Rendal was secretly peeking at the elves too; he was a man after all.
"Jys, stop wandering around and come here please."
"Yes, mother"
Riley visited the head elf's wooden house to pay her respects and thank him for helping them.
"Welcome."
"So we meet again. You haven't changed a bit."
"To humans it might have been a long time, but to an elf such as I, it was like a mere nap. Come, sit down."
The elf offered flat boulders in the room for them to sit on.
Only Riley and Rendal took up the offer.
"How is your business, is it going well? I wish you would stop doing such a dangerous job."
"Thank you for worrying. It's going well."
Elves were not opposed to tomb raiding. They believed that everything went back to nature after death, so they did not understand why people would bury things with the dead in the first place.
Riley had even traded some treasure with the elves a few times.
"I'm curious as to why you came here unannounced."
"Haven't you heard about the raging war in the empire?"
"I heard the news from an informant recently."
The elves and the empire had agreed to a truce, but they had their fair share of conflicts in the past.
The two factions had a lot of wars in the past, so the elves were always wary of the rest of the world.
"We want to ask for permission to stay here until the war subsides."
"Friends are always welcome in our forest. You can stay for as long as you would like. I'll get others to prepare a human house for you."
"Thank you."
*
After a while, Jys finally started to pay attention to the nature around him in the forest rather than the women who occupied it.
'Elves' Forest... I guess we'll be staying here for a while.'
In the forest stood grand trees that stretched towards the sky with beautiful flowers growing amongst them, and in the beauty of it all, deer, rabbits, and other animals freely roamed the lands.
It was a rare occurrence; humans living among elves in their forest.
The passing elves that noticed the human child gave him curious second glances, but soon went on their way.
"A young human."
"A human child."
"Is he a human?"
Ignorant elves uninterested in others' cultures!
'It's peaceful and quiet here. I kind of liked the hustle and bustle of the city more, but I guess we're lucky to be able to escape the war.'
When wars started, whole towns were sometimes executed if they were accused of being traitors.
Compared to the monstrosity of that, perhaps living amongst the sounds of rustling leaves and birds tweeting wasn't so bad after all.
'There is no smithy here either, so I don't even have to have metal handling lessons with Nedhand anymore!'
It was nice for a daily chore to disappear. It was never easy to stand in front of a scorching hot fire and hammer metals all day.
To Jys' disappointment, Nedhand had managed to find a new task for him the next day.
"We sometimes come across locked doors or chests during our raids. You're probably too young to understand, but these little skills come in handy in life. Especially us dwarves like picking locks to the ladies' bat- wait no, I don't think this is a topic to be discussed with a young 'un like you. Now, it's time for you to learn this useful skill."
'The Dwarves' lock-handling skills are the best in the continent. The females in dwarf villages show off their lock-making skills by locking their homes with them, and the males show off their lock-picking skills by picking their way into those homes. Only the skilled can obtain the affection of the females.'
Hersey's beginner magic lessons also continued on.
"Since we are in the elf forest, let's learn about nature magic. Human magic is mostly leaned towards the industrious and destructive side, while elf magic consists of increasing the power of nature to undo curses and heal at the same time. The amazing thing about elf magic lies in the fact that even though it is extremely difficult to master, as you go up Circles and levels, you obtain unfathomable powers."
Types of magic differed between species.
The study of magic consisted of exploring all the different types of magic around the world, so there was a lot of 'beginner' magic to learn.
The dark elf Grona did not stop her training sessions either.
To the dark-skinned elf, the elf forest was not a comfortable place.
Dark elves in the past - because of the inter-racial conflicts and corruptions - destroyed parts of the forest, and many warriors were slain or enslaved as a result.
The mountain that the dark elves inhabited now was a heaven for criminals of all shapes and sizes.
Even though other elves' stares were not kind, Grona started her lesson on running for the sake of Jys' training.
"It's a good thing we're in the Elf Forest. Isn't it so much easier to breathe the forest's breath now? Since you're able to run faster and longer without getting tired, I'll increase the distance today."
"Huff... huff..."
A total lie!
The forest was full of obstacles that made it harder to run, such as large boulders and the dense layers of greenery.
The flowers and trees often stroke up a conversation with Jys, who had now learned to breathe with the forest.
'Hello, it's a warm morning today!'
'Careful when you're running, my roots are there. You might trip!'
Jys did not reply. No, he could not reply, because he was using up all of his energy to run.
'I'm about to die from exhaustion...'
Even though he could not avoid tree roots that were in the way, he tried his best not to step on the flowers.
"Your position is not stable; and move in a straight line! You'll ruin your body's balance if you keep going left and right like that!"
Grona started nagging at him once she saw his strange technique of running.
In her eyes, Jys was varying his speed, going left to right, and complicating their route further.
But Jys could not help it. He heard the screams of pain from the flowers and seeds below the thin layer of soil underneath his feet.
After turning to the age of 7, his struggles grew.
Now, his father Rendal was the biggest problem.
"You paid attention to Nedhand's lessons, right? Now that you have at least a little strength in your arms, and are more fit from all the running, it's time that you learn a little sword-work. Let's do it in the morning and at night."
"But I'm only seven!"
"Every man should know how to handle a sword. And after that, if we have time, you'll find it useful if you learn archery from me as well."
-
Story by Nam Hee Sung
Check out the original here: http://mm.munpia.com/?menu=novel&id=27166
Translated by Hannah Kim
Proofread by Janowicz
This chapter was released on Friday the 19th of January, 2018.
| Project | Chapter |
Other chapters in this series: