After all, elves in stories were usually supposed to be very beautiful, often with traits like elegance as well. But reality…
"Why is the gap between reality and the stories so huge? The village is all broken and rundown, with zero aesthetic sense. These guys are basically dream crushers, aren't they?"
While complaining about his shattered dreams, he scanned his surroundings, and amid the crowd he noticed a small elf. She even seemed to be the strongest one among them.
That elf had a graceful figure. Her smooth silver hair cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall, shimmering with a soft, mysterious, moonlit glow.
Her delicate, long ears hinted at extraordinary spirituality and elegance. Her emerald-green eyes were deep and bright, unforgettable at a glance.
Although her height was only around one and a half meters, she possessed an indescribable petite charm. Every movement she made was full of liveliness and cuteness, naturally stirring feelings of affection in those who saw her.
Alright, fine. That was just his imagination, a beautified image based on how elves were described in stories.
In reality, that elf did have waist-length silver hair, long ears, and emerald eyes, but she was ridiculously small and completely flat-chested.
Her only real merit was probably that she looked fairly cute... but she was a shorty. He wasn't into lolis, so once again, it didn't match his expectations at all.
Just as he was feeling secretly depressed, that elf seemed to notice his gaze and took the initiative to walk over, frowning.
"Who are you? Why are you sighing while looking at me?"
"Just a passerby," As he spoke, he couldn't help sighing again, "I just thought of something sad. Please don't mind it. I'm a good person, after all."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
"Really a good person? Your aura is a bit strange, and... the killing intent is very obvious," The young elf pointed at his face and bluntly asked, "You're actually a fugitive, right?"
"Do I look like that kind of person?"
"I don't know. Probably?"
"I'm actually a general of a kingdom."
"Then why did you come here?"
"Actually, I defected."
"Defected?", The elf girl's eyes widened slightly in surprise, "So you really are a fugitive? But why?"
"Because I want to learn magic."
"You want to learn magic? You look pretty strong among humans, don't you? Though I haven't seen many humans."
"You look strong too. Can you teach me magic?"
Even though she was clearly not as strong as the two people he had met before, she was still a long-lived elf, so she should have some unique magic. As he spoke, Ash took out two gold coins and held them out.
"Consider this payment? Is that okay?"
"....", The girl glanced at the money in his hand, then slowly shook her head, "We don't use money here."
"Then that's troublesome."
"But you can trade with prey instead."
"Oh, hunting is my specialty," He smiled, then reached out his hand to the girl, "My name is Ash. And you are?"
"Frieren."
"Then I'll be in your care from now on, Miss Frieren."
"Mm."
Frieren nodded coolly, then walked off toward a stone house on her own, clearly not intending to chat with him any further.
Though it was a little disappointing, he didn't really mind. He was just a bit troubled about what he should do next.
But Frieren stopped after taking a few steps and looked back at him.
"What are you standing there for?"
"Uh... I was wondering what I should be doing right now."
"Come here."
"?"
"Edna's house has been empty for a while. She shouldn't be coming back before you die, so you can borrow it for now," Frieren raised her hand and pointed at a building covered in vines.
"That's a pretty extreme way of putting it, but how long is 'a while'?"
"Over thirty years, I guess?"
"That really is a while."
Like someone casually saying they stepped out for ten days or half a month. Ash couldn't help clicking his tongue, but after looking around, he still asked, "By the way, you guys should be pretty free, right? Why don't you repair these houses a bit?"
"They'll just break again after a while. It's too much trouble. As long as they don't leak when it rains, isn't that fine?"
"How long is 'after a while'? Ah! Never mind. I can probably guess."
He pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to organize his thoughts.
Even though he himself was now a long-lived being, he still couldn't quite adapt to the elves' unique sense of time. But no matter what, he had temporarily settled down in this elven village, hospitable or not.
Since in this world elves were considered humans in a broad sense, and sometimes even referred to themselves as humans, they didn't really have any xenophobic feelings toward humans.
Their long lifespans combined with their study of magic made this village quite different from the human village he had first encountered. It seemed unexpectedly well-off. Though maybe that was saying too much. They could just barely eat their fill.
But living deep in the mountains like this, there was no way to get any good food.
"Still, I really didn't expect elves to be this good at grilling."
"Because we're bored," Frieren answered without thinking, her usual unmotivated look making the answer perfectly reasonable, yet also filling him with the urge to complain.
His hesitant expression made Frieren raise an eyebrow unconsciously.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking that it'd be nice if I could adapt to this place sooner."
"There's no point in adapting. You'll leave soon anyway."
"Is that so?"
"Everyone who comes here is like that. I've heard no one stays more than a hundred years."
"That means they died, right?"
"Ah! I guess so?", Frieren spoke in a somewhat emotionless tone, staring at the flames as she muttered to herself, "Human lifespans are really short. They die of old age before you even get used to them."
"I mean... just how slow to warm up are you?"
"What does 'slow to warm up' mean?"
"Slow to warm up is.... never mind," Feeling that the human concept of slow to warm up didn't quite match hers, Ash simply ended the pointless topic and changed the subject, "Anyway, can I ask? When are you planning to teach me magic?"
"After resting for a while."
"Let me confirm first. How long is 'a while' to you?"
"Thirty years?", Frieren didn't think much about it and casually gave a time that felt about right, "In thirty years, you should have adapted to this village, and then we can properly start learning, right?"
"Are you serious?", He asked in disbelief, while Frieren looked genuinely puzzled.
"Why would I lie?"
".What do I do? I suddenly really want to hit someone."
"Huh? Do you have violent tendencies?", Frieren instinctively moved away from him, even regretting arranging a place for him to stay.
Her obvious wariness made him press a hand to his forehead, forcibly suppressing the boiling emotions inside him, barely restraining himself from flicking her forehead.
"That's not it! What's strange is you! Normally speaking! In thirty years, I could finish learning C language from beginner to the grave!"
"What kind of language is that? It sounds strange."
"....."
He couldn't explain what C language was anyway. For the moment, he was completely at a loss for words, just covering his face as he started to get a headache over future conversations and life in this village.
Even though he was also a long-lived being now, for the time being, he really still couldn't get used to this vastly different sense of time.
But since he was already here, leaving just like that felt unsatisfying. So while eating, he forcibly made an agreement that they would start learning magic tomorrow.
.
.
.
The next day, when the agreed time arrived.
Planning to have Frieren teach him magic, but unable to find her, he went straight to Frieren's small house. When he opened the door, he saw...
"What is this?"
The silver-haired elf's lower half was still on the bed, but her upper body had fallen off it, her cheek pressed against the floor. She was literally supporting half her body with her face. Just looking at it made his own face ache in sympathy.
Stunned for a moment, he still crouched down beside Frieren and poked her cheek.
"Wake up already, Frieren. The sun's already up."
"..."
"Hey."
"..."
"Are you dead?"
Frieren gave absolutely no response, which made his head ache. He curled his fingers and flicked her long ear.
However.... there was still no reaction.
"You won't wake up even like this? Then I guess there's no choice," After thinking for a moment, Ash directly grabbed her ankle and lifted her up.
This elf of unknown age, with a body that looked just like a shorty's, was lifted upside down entirely.
Under the pull of gravity, her pure white skirt flipped over, revealing a pair of plain white panties as simple as her clothing.
"I've wondered before why this era even has underwear. No, wait, shouldn't I be wondering why this elf still isn't reacting even after her underwear is showing? Are all elves like this?"
Staring at that unadorned, solid-colored fabric, he felt no sense of eroticism at all, only a growing headache.
No matter how he shook her, the elf still didn't move at all, making him seriously start to doubt whether there was something wrong with the elven race.
Just as he said that, a speechless voice came from the side.
"No, it's just that Frieren simply likes sleeping in."
"That's 'simply'? This is the first time I've ever seen someone this lazy," He turned his head and saw an elf girl dressed plainly but wearing a dark cloak, looking more mature than Frieren, standing at the doorway.
"First time seeing a human, newbie?", The girl looked at him curiously.
"Pretty much. My name's Ash. And you?"
"Milliarde. Nice to meet you."
"Is that so? Your name's kind of long. Can I just call you Milli?"
"It's not that long, is it? Your name's the short one."
"By the way, can you use magic?"
"Huh? Isn't that a bit of a sudden topic change?"
"I think it's fine."
"But before that...", Milli tilted her head and looked at Frieren, who was still hanging upside down by the ankle in his hand, eyes shut tight, and couldn't help asking, "Shouldn't you put Frieren down first? Her face is already turning red."
"It's already red. Normally she should've woken up by now, right?"
"She's awake. She just doesn't want to get up."
"Why? Her underwear's already showing."
As he spoke, he continued shaking the upside-down girl in his hand, like a rabbit he'd casually picked up.
Milli pointed out the problem with a blank expression, "She's never left this place, so she's a bit slow in that regard. And to us, you're not much different from a three-year-old child."
"So troublesome... what a strange person."
"Indeed, by human standards, she might be a bit strange," Milli glanced at Frieren in his hand, then quickly looked back at his face, "But by human standards, aren't your actions a bit strange too?"
"By the way, can you use magic?"
"We're back to that again?"
"Because that's important."
"You really are interesting."
"Can you stop dodging the question?"
"Mm.... anyway, put her down first, okay?"
[T/N: I have started doing another fanfic— "Frieren: A Journey of the Demon King". It is a quite relaxing and humorous read, give it a go. Have a great read~]