Chapter 52: The Hardship of the Elves

[You have obtained Small Area: Birds.]

Birds was a decent Small Area. Not only was it advantageous for players to explore other regions, which was commonly known as reconnaissance among the players, but had two Blessings associated with the Small Area. Those Blessings were Intelligence of a Crow and Wisdom of an Owl; both were well known Blessings for increasing Intelligence.

‘But it would be a waste to bless characters who have already been blessed.’

Therefore, the Blessings would be applied to the next generations.

‘I should replace Toxic Resistance with Intelligence of a Crow for the Lizardmen, and replace Vitality with Wisdom of an Owl for the Humans.’

.

Sung-Woon then checked Solongos’s Small Area. He knew Solongos had Small Area: Rock, so he had expected to get that, but he was surprised. What he got instead was Small Area: Swamp.

‘Swamp? …I won’t say it’s useless, but its utility is lacking.’

It was possible that Solongos had obtained the Minor Small Area from a Fiend. Seeing how Solongos dominated the Centaurs and wandered around the wilderness, it was highly likely that the Small Area: Swamp was of little use to him. However, Small Areas that seemed useless at the moment had the potential to become useful in the later half of the game as players expanded their range of activity.

‘Next is…’

Sung-Woon first looked toward the west. Through his locust swarm, he had found out that a great fight had broken out in the central region of the continent. While he was not sure if he had learned all there was to learn, he knew it was a fight where five players were divided into three factions. They fought on the borders of their territories and occupied empty lands in the continent behind each others’ backs.

‘Some of them will probably come this way.’

But until then, Sung-Woon planned to leave them be. It was a good situation for him that they were fighting each other and getting exhausted. Moreover, Sung-Woon was an outsider. If he intervened and got unlucky, it was possible that the other players would band together to fight against him.

Sung-Woon then turned to look at the northern coast. While there weren’t any other species in the northern part of the peninsula where Sung-Woon was in control, Solongos and Lim Chun-Sik’s situation was different.

Sung-Woon’s Black-Scaled Lizardmen had either destroyed or chased away all the other tribes so the northern part of the peninsula was the Black-Scaled Lizardmen’s. However, Solongos and Lim Chun-Sik had either subjugated or enslaved the NPC tribes, so it would take some time for the northern coast to be cleaned up.

‘But it doesn’t matter since the majority of them are groups of Goblins anyway.’

Sung-Woon turned to the east this time. There was a short mountain range, beyond which was the eastern coast of the continent. There were likely some NPC tribes, but it wasn’t a location where players could settle down.

‘Rather than crossing the mountain range from this side, it would be better to sail into the ocean with ships and occupy the coastline. That would be the job for merchants and adventurers. There may be some Ancient Ruins, but they’re not so important at the moment.’

The important thing in the beginning was the size of land. As Earth’s history had shown, when certain countries established themselves in a certain region, they would usually remain there unless a big event occurred. The end of the game’s early stages was before things turned into a bigger war, when the borders were roughly defined. After that, dramatic expansion was difficult to achieve unless there was a war.

Lastly, Sung-Woon turned to look at to the south.

The northern part of the peninsula was now Sung-Woon’s land. While he had sent Lakrak to fight in Automation, the wilderness and the northern coast where the remaining Black-Scaled Tribe members had settled continued to be cultivated.

However, the southern part of the peninsula wasn’t completely unexplored. Sung-Woon’s species had not reached the location yet, but insect creations had. He knew that there were a few NPC tribes and that their level of development was low, but Sung-Woon also knew that Lakrak’s presence would be required in order to conquer them without trouble.

‘There’s no need to pay much attention to the east or the west, and the north and south need to be dealt with at the same time, but Lakrak can’t exist in both places at once.’

Sung-Woon thought about what to do and found another solution.

“This is why team play is needed.”

On the other end of the video chat, Eldar blankly asked, “What did you say?”

“Nothing,” replied Sung-Woon.

“I have a bad feeling…”

“You’re mistaken.”

***

Sung-Woon sent the Elves back north. This decision was met with backlash since they had just adapted to their new area, but there was not much they could do in front of the Lizardmen’s spears. Despite the initial outcry, many of the Elves had not forgotten their hometown so, in the end, they calmly headed north.

However, the area where the Elves used to live was currently occupied by the Lizardmen. Some of the Lizardmen settlers had migrated here from the northern part of the peninsula. These Lizardmen had come to find the fertile land that God had promised them. The village where the Elves had lived was actually a village at the bottom of the river, where two big mountains blocked the cold air, so the climate was warmer compared to other regions at the same latitude.

There was an inevitable clash between the Lizardmen and Elves. While the god of the Lizardmen had shown them Miracles and protected them from disasters, however, there was no response from the god of the Elves. The Elves had no choice but to go further north, and they eventually settled down at the edge of the northern coast. The Elves were not weak against the cold, but it was a land with long winters.

Rather than developing agricultural technology, the Ogres had chosen to enslave Goblins or develop civilization and gain things from other species. Given the circumstances, though, the Elves had no choice but to claim new land. And there were a lot of disrupters. Goblins, who used to be slaves, were unhappy with the newly settled Elf tribes, and though there weren’t many, there were also Ogre vagrants who had lost their groups. These Ogres were especially dangerous. The Blessings they had already received would not disappear with their god, so these Ogres still had high Intelligence.

The Elves prayed to their God, Eldar, and asked why they should suffer like they were. But unfortunately, Eldar did no have a good answer for them. Eldar had been greedy and made the Elves attack Automation, but there was no telling whether this situation was the result of going against Sung-Woon’s will. And after Sung-Woon counterattacked and defeated Lim Chun-Sik and Solongos, he’d sent the Elves further north; it wasn’t that Sung-Woon held a grudge, but he simply did not want to consume the energy of his own tribes to reclaim and cultivate land.

Eldar thought that if their believers found out their own god was being coerced by another god, they would lose all their Faith points and become a stone statue. However, as a god, they could not respond to their believers when they prayed to them. According to Sung-Woon’s next actions, Eldar gave a divine message to their priest. Leonar, who was chosen as the new chief and priest for the Green Eye Tribe, received the divine message in front of the altar. It said that a precious existence was coming from the south to help the Elves.

Leonar told the rest of the Elves the news. Soon, the Elf scouting party returned and announced the news.

“A group of Humans are coming?”

Leonar remembered that the formal tribal chief had attacked the Human tribe and made the Elf tribe miserable, but he chose to trust God’s words.

‘Hasadian was an arrogant idiot. There’s no way the Dancing Shadow God would have ordered such a reckless attack. He got our warriors killed with his greed. I won’t follow in his footsteps.’

Even though the Elves did not have much at the moment, Leonar prepared a proper welcome for the Humans. And just as they finished preparing, the Humans arrived on horseback.

Leonar recognized the one who had dismounted right away. They had met before.

“Lord…of Automation?”

“Oh…who are you again? No. I’ve met you before. I can remember. Just give me a second. Leonar. Leonar, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Leonar awkwardly smiled.

Hwee-Kyung remembered Leonar, whom she had met a few years ago at Automation’s marketplace. It wasn’t too long ago, but they were meeting in a very different place under very different circumstances.

“You’ve gotten thinner since the last time, haven’t you? I would ask if everything is going well, but I’ve heard the news and learned a few things about your people, so let’s skip that part. Ah, just to let you know, I’ve been doing well. There have been many merchants who wanted to come all the way here, but once they found out the trade route was blocked, they ended up trading at Automation and left. They probably would’ve undergone some losses… Sorry. I’ve been talking too much about myself, haven’t I?”

“No, that’s okay. Why don’t you come in first?”

“Sure. It’s cold out here. Hold on. Let me get my friend.”

As Hwee-Kyung turned around, Leonar’s gaze followed. Now that he took a better look, there was a Cockatoo among the group. And of course, the one getting off the Cockatoo was a Lizardman rather than a Human. A small shriek broke out among the Elves at the sight of the Lizardman covered in black scales, so Leonar hurriedly waved his hand to quiet them.

The Lizardman said, “I’m sorry, Elf, but I must check to make sure there aren’t any assassins in the hut.”

“Of course, Lizardman.”

The Lizardman entered the hut and looked around.

“My name is Sairan Muel. You can call me Sairan.”

“Alright, Sairan.”

Leonar was worried that the Lizardman named Sairan had looked displeased because he disliked Elves. However, when Sairan’s expression relaxed at the warmth of the hut, Leonar realized he had just been cold.

Leonar looked at Hwee-Kyung, who was drinking tea. Her horns were fully grown now, so they looked heavy from the side. They branched off and curled upwards, like they were propping up the sky.

Leonar carefully asked, “What brings you here?”

“What brings us here, I don’t know. Elves believe in God too, right?”

Leonar felt his heart racing at the mentioning of God.

“Yes. We believe in the Dancing Shadow God. And you, Hwee-Kyung, and Sairan, believe in the Blue Insect God.”

“Yes. I actually don’t know much about God and faith, but I sometimes get what others call…a divine message, I think it is?”

“A divine message?”

“Yes, yes. God doesn’t say anything exactly, but God gives me a vague message to do something or tells me there’s something over there, and if I go, there would be something that’s worth money and such.”

To Leonar, Hwee-Kyung seemed too secular, but he still felt a bond between them as someone who received divine messages himself.

“So have you come all the way here because of a divine message?”

“Well, pretty much so.”

“What about the specific details…?”

“Don’t you think divine messages depend on how one interprets them? There might be a misunderstanding, so let’s move on from the details.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Anyways, the important thing is that our Blue Insect God helps those who are weak, alienated, and abandoned.”

“Yes, yes…”

Leonar looked around wondering if he should talk back saying that their god was the one who had made them live in this hut, but it did not seem like a good idea. And putting aside what her God’s will was, the Human in front of him was saying she would help him.

“So you mean help as in…?”

“I brought weapons, farming tools, and grain seeds that apparently grow well in cold weather.”

The grain seeds of courtesy came from Hwee-Kyung’s pocket. It was what the Elves needed. Things would have been different if the Elves had come straight from their original village, but all the Elves had right now were seeds from the northern region of the peninsula which were weak against the cold. If they were lucky, they could expect harvest in the upcoming fall, but the Elves would likely die with the crops if they were unlucky.

Pleased, Leonar perked up at the sight of the seeds.

“Thank you so…”

“I’ll give them to you with a discount.”

“...What?”

At Leonar’s abrupt question, Hwee-Kyung clearly replied, “Since the Elves are in difficult conditions, I’ll sell them to you at a lower price.”