TLDWAE 22

Chapter 22

She mocked herself for having done something so inefficient.

“-Do you like it?”

“Wow, the fingers! Just like mom’s!”

“-A human child’s body, I see.”

Transformed by magic, Alice and Andion looked no more than toddlers, around four years old.

The age when she had lost Eddy. And with hair the same golden color as Eddy’s, as if the sunlight itself had melted into it. She couldn’t possibly let them go outside like this.

In this country, blond hair was a symbol of royalty, and those red eyes… they looked like a child’s own…

“Alice, why are your eyes…? They’re blue. Ah, sapphire.”

Karia groaned, holding her forehead. The precious sapphire Alice wore around her neck had melted into the magic, coloring her eyes a beautiful blue before disappearing.

But Karia masked her discomfort with a deep sigh. After all, the children were overjoyed with their new bodies.

“Thank you, Master. I will use this body for you until it breaks.”

“I will use it!”

“Ugh!”

At that moment, not far away, something fell from a garden tree with a loud thud accompanied by a scream.

“Ma, ma, ma… magician!”

It pointed at Karia, stammering and floundering over words.

White skin that seemed to glow, features extremely handsome by human standards, rough clothing woven from tree branches, a lean physique.

Karia frowned and stared at the man whose pale face had gone even paler.

She didn’t know his name, but she knew what he was.

“-A big-eared guy, isn’t he?”

Only elves in this world had ears that large.

The Red Wise of the Apple Tree clan, the first time in his 99-year elf life, faced a trial. Still an immature elf not yet of age, he had been born in a prosperous and peaceful forest, never facing danger. And now… a magician? A magician! What on earth was happening?

“So, how many big-eared guys actually live in this forest?”

“I am a wise and proud elf of my clan! Do you think I’d betray my companions to a cruel magician’s threats?!”

“-Andion.”

“Yes, Master.”

At the magician’s command, his subordinate shook Red Wise, tied to the tree like a pendulum. Though small and cute in appearance, he was as strong as an ox, fully aware of how to make someone dizzy when shaken.

Red saw the little elf in front of him as something monstrous, enough to make a demon cry. As his vision swayed, he recalled everything that had led him here, like fleeting images in a flash.

‘It was magic!’

The elves laughed uproariously at Red Wise’s words. His clan had been blessed by the oldest apple tree in the forest, revered for wisdom.

Red was the youngest among them, still inexperienced compared to his siblings. He had fallen during a hunting trip because he had misfired an arrow—but the reason, he claimed, was seeing a massive golden magical mist in the distance. No one believed such an absurd story.

‘Red, mistakes aren’t bad. Everyone starts clumsy. Sure, few elves remain clumsy at the brink of adulthood—but you don’t need to cover it with lies. Even if you fail, we’ll share the prey.’

‘I’m telling the truth! There was a huge surge of mana from the “Ruined Wizard’s Castle”!’

‘Big trees bloom flowers, apparently. Red kid, how many times have I told you? Magicians went extinct 500 years ago. Instead of stubbornly arguing, help gather today’s fruit.’

Indeed, the magicians, greatest enemies of the elves, had disappeared long ago. Whether because humans united the continent and abandoned magic, or because the magicians’ destructive ways caused nature to withdraw its blessings, the truth no longer mattered. For elves with long lifespans, stories of magicians became exaggerated tales of the past.

After magicians vanished, elves nurtured the forest, keeping humans out. Over the centuries, their numbers grew, clans split, and now they lived peacefully, maintaining friendly relations.

Now, to hear that a magician had reappeared? Not even as a joke.

‘Damn it, calling an elf not yet of age a “kid”!’

Unlike others, Red Wise, furious at being mocked and treated like a liar, was different.

Young and ambitious, he determined to prove his claim, heading to the “Ruined Wizard’s Castle,” avoided even by other elves. The castle had belonged to the most powerful wizard long ago, known for a cruel nature and a gruesome end. Rumor said something unseen still guarded the place, and no elf dared approach the ivy-clad ruins.

Red, as a child, had only glimpsed the castle from afar during a courage test. He had never entered—until now.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Strangely, the once-ruined castle now appeared pristine. Wild plants were gone, rust and flaws in the iron gate disappeared. Red knew instantly: magic. It had to be magic; otherwise, old would not become new.

He sneaked into the garden through a crack in the open gate. Normally, Andion would have caught him, but he was distracted by Karia near a small window and didn’t notice the intruder.

Red blended into the foliage, hiding his presence. Admitting it, he was a little scared to enter alone.

He waited for proof. And when the entrance opened, Karia appeared.

‘A… human?’

He thought she might be from another elf tribe—but her ears were strange. A human woman with rounded ears! Straight out of a fairy tale!

She waved her hands through the air, creating impossible harmony.

Magic had activated, and seeing it for the first time, Red could only fall back in awe. It was a force that defied nature itself.

That fleeting moment of error led to his capture.

“I’d rather die with honor than endure this humiliation! Kill me, you cruel magician!”

The wise Red Wise resolved never to bow to a magician’s threats. He loved his kin and upheld order, taught over 99 years by his parents and siblings never to yield in what he believed was right.

But Karia couldn’t care less about his resolve.

“Why is it that even after 800 years, the big-eared guys’ script never changes? Magicians are evil, they’re cruel and vile, and these guys are righteous and virtuous. They invade territories under the guise of ‘nature,’ shooting arrows near their own clans. Always so self-centered, these vague creatures—plants or animals, I can’t tell.”

“Indeed, Master.”

Karia sneered at Red’s futile struggle. She mocked him using words and logic he had never heard.

After much torture—pinching, prodding, shaking—Karia and Andion finally let Red down from the tree.

“Seeing as your companions haven’t appeared, you must have come alone. Not even of age, sent as a scout? Lost your way, kid?”

“Don’t call me a kid!”

“You have a loud voice.”

Karia pondered the blue elf. He didn’t seem to intend attacking, but if she let him live, who knew the consequences? But if she permanently silenced him, a full-scale war with the elves might ensue.

Clearly, there were more foolish elves wandering the forest, and Karia didn’t have time to deal with all of them.

“Master, give an order. What should we do with him?”

“Well—”

“Kill him! Kill him! He won’t tell us where his clan lives or how many siblings there are!”

“They live in clans. If companions are siblings, probably 10–16 per group. Other tree-dwelling groups in multiple generations too. Judging by your red hair, you’re from the apple tree clan?”

“How… how do you know?!”

Karia frowned at Red’s transparent reaction. No need for subtlety. Elves, comfortable and safe in the forest with no natural predators, had grown weak. Long ago, a fool like this wouldn’t have survived to adulthood.