"Hah! Ho! Oh! Yah!..."
Si Sheng had walked the path Taro described to get to the training fields and it wasn't long until he arrived. As he neared, he could hear the sound of someone training at the field.
As he peered out from the shade of the building and the blinding sun faded, Si Sheng saw an elf doing, what he could only describe as, martial arts training; although, the stances and forms looked weird. If he were to describe it, it looked like someone was flowing, like a jellyfish floating through water but a rushing river at the same time. It was aesthetic as a dance and as disorienting as seeing double. It really messed with Si Sheng's senses watching this elf. Who wouldn't be confused if they found a rock they thought was solid was actually soft and spongy?
Si Sheng approached the area, where only the one person was training. When Taro said this was an unused field, she wasn't lying. Despite being so wide and clear, no one seemed to utilize this area, for some reason. While it was on the outskirts of the campus, Si Sheng didn't think people would be so unwilling to walk a few extra minutes for a quieter and more open area.
Entering through the gate to the training field, Si Sheng kept watching the elf train. It was the kind of feeling where you saw something so weird you couldn't not look at it.
The elf whipping sweat around seemed to notice Si Sheng's approach and stopped his movements and looked over at him.
For a moment, the two locked eyes. The eyes of the elf felt deep and resolute, like that of a warrior who'd fought on numerous battlefields.
Though, this staring contest only lasted for the briefest of moments. The elf, without making so much as a sound, seemed to leap through space and arrive before Si Sheng. It was like the elf used a shukuchi technique to arrive before Si Sheng. To this, Si Sheng's eyes widened considerably. He didn't know what method the elf used exactly, but it felt similar to his Blink skill, except stronger, given the distance covered in the short leap.
With this millisecond thought over, Si Sheng refocused on the elf in front of him, to which his eyes widened further and his heart rate elevated.
In front of him was a flying fist, splitting the air, coming straight at him!
'What is this crazy person thinking??!? People don't normally greet one another by throwing hands!'
Si Sheng's somewhat panicked thoughts went up to there as he quickly blinked out of the way just before the fist slammed through the air where he used to be.
Looking back, Si Sheng could see a slight shock in the elf's eyes. It was probably brought on by the combination between Si Sheng dodging his fist and him using Blink. The skill most definitely wasn't common, since teleportation, or a mimic of it, was probably a unique thing.
Nevertheless, the elf recovered quickly and turned to face Si Sheng once again.
From there, another awkwardly long stare down took place. The tension between the two built up until a breaking point. Sweat dripped down the glistening body of the elf as his predator-like eyes hounded Si Sheng. Si Sheng, not wanting this situation to continue, spoke first.
"What the hell are you doing? You some kind of battle maniac?"
The elf looked at Si Sheng as if he had recovered his wits and suddenly spoke with a harsh and suspicious glare. His voice was deep and commanding, like a general commanding his troops.
"Why are you in Elven territory? The deal is still in place, so why are you here?"
A calm and serious voice flowed out, but sharp piercing eyes looked on. The words that departed the elf's lips slightly shocked Si Sheng. The elf was implying that he knew about humans and the deal made as a result of the past war. Si Sheng could only answer honestly; anything else would become something more troublesome.
"I'm not from the Fujin Empire and have no affiliation with any group of humans in this world. The Elders should say something soon if you're worried. Also, how do you know about humans? I thought the elves were ignorant of their existence."
"In this world...?"
The elf murmured to himself after he heard Si Sheng's answer. The words that shocked the elf the most weren't about Si Sheng not being from the Fujin Empire or him having something to do with the Elders, but the fact that he used the specific wordage "in this world," implying that he was not from this world. Not only that, he completely disregarded Si Sheng's questioning as if by that point he had gone deaf.
The elf's eyes sharpened even further after reading the implications from Si Sheng's words.
"If you're not from this world, are you a summoned hero? If so, then consider your time here short."
'So fierce... so annoying.'
With a clear of his throat, Si Sheng clarified the elf's suspicions.
"I am not a hero. I was sent here by that bipolar bitch who killed me. It's not like I wanted to be sent here either exactly, but I'm stuck with it."
"I see. By 'bipolar bitch,' who are you referring to?"
"Who else? The goddess."
"Mm. Well, which one?"
"...I don't know."
An awkward silence pervaded after that. The fact that he didn't even know what the goddess's identity had never really crossed his mind. If anything, he wanted to forget about the goddess entirely, but providence proved to not allow him to.
"Hahahaha, I see, you don't know. Well, what can we do then? Hahahahah... As if."
The elf, after suddenly bursting out laughing and shrugging in defeat, seemingly sounding really understanding, turned ice-cold. It felt like someone who went into a sauna only to get ice water dumped on them upon exiting.
A split-second after the icy elf spoke, he arrived centimeters away from Si Sheng, using that shukuchi technique again.
'And here I thought I was gonna be able to experiment with mana zones and traces.'
Shifting his body to the left, Si Sheng dodged the elf's punch once again, using his excellent senses, while complaining to himself. He could only inwardly sigh as nothing was getting resolved and his time was being wasted.
"Why did Taro suggest I go here when this crazy was here...?"
Si Sheng mumbled his frustrations under his breath. However, the elf, having naturally good hearing, caught Si Sheng's words.
"How do you know Taro?!"
"??"
Si Sheng was confused as to why this elf was suddenly being aggressive in his speech when he mentioned Taro. The first thing that came to mind was an admirer or a friend; it didn't really matter what the relationship was to Si Sheng, though.
"Answer me!!"
Si Sheng's thought happened to be for a moment too long and the elf, seemingly twitching out of his skin, demanded he answer with haste.
"She's the one who guided me here. To this training field, as well as Ljosalfheim."
"!!"
The elf's rage-filled face eased up after hearing the answer and was mixed with surprise and shock. Although, he didn't seem too happy, even when he heard the answer.
"...If you know Taro, and she's the one who guided you here... you can't be a bad person. I'm sorry for suddenly engaging you; it was my mistake."
The elf, after hearing that Taro was Si Sheng's guide, softened up and understood that Si Sheng didn't mean any harm. He even went so far as to apologize while bowing. In all honesty, Si Sheng was surprised. He'd never expect this elf had such reverie for Taro, to the point where he'd be pacified by the mere mention of her name.
"It's fine, I just want to go experiment. But before that, how do know about humans?"
"..."
The slightly shocked elf stood there, still in his bowing position, as Si Sheng's forgiveness came as a bolt out of nowhere. Not only was it a completely casual and disinterested response, but it was also for something that could have gravely injured or, worse, killed Si Sheng. Thinking he had to set things right, the elf looked up into Si Sheng's eyes and asked him:
"I'd like to introduce myself, if I may."
'What a pain...'
"Sure, go ahead, if that will help you answer the question as soon as possible."
After getting Si Sheng's approval to introduce himself, the elf stood up straight and began speaking in a refined and confident voice.
"My name is Bralvi Welfmire. I am also known as this country's First Prince. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
As he said this, he took a courteous bow to Si Sheng. After raising himself up again, Si Sheng could've sworn that one could see sparkles gleaming around Bralvi's beaming expression.
'I guess I'll introduce myself too.'
"My name's Si Sheng, I'm gonna be a student at the First Institution in a week or so. Pleased to make your acquaintance, as well."
Si Sheng, giving a rather casual introduction, stuck his hand out and shook hands with Bralvi as a sign of "people who have introduced themselves to one another." Not wanting to wait any longer, Si Sheng asked Bralvi to get to the point.
"Now, can you explain yourself?"
"Ah, yes. As you know, I am the First Prince of Alfheim and my father, Fenulis Turlun Welfmire, is the current king. As such, I am privy to certain information that even the Dukes don't have knowledge of."
"I see. And your father told you about humans?"
"Yes... he did. Those bastards... they are truly vile beings. I don't mean you are, my apologies if I insulted you, but the humans of the Fujin Empire are dastardly people."
"No offense, humans can be pretty crappy. But, by the people of Fujin, what do you mean?"
"I'm sure you know about the deal that was made some 400 years ago, well, because of that, we've been completely shut out from the outside world all this time, and the Fujin Empire makes sure we can't sneak out either."
"By that you mean you're surrounded?"
"In short, yes. The location of Alfheim is in a sort of peninsular area. The Fujin Empire is to our east and the ocean is to every other direction. Additionally, during the war, the Fujin Empire claimed the waters off our shores before the deal could be made, thus completely isolating us. But, it wasn't like we were isolated to begin with, that's why we never took the action of claiming our coasts seriously."
"Would you further elaborate? I'm interested."
"Yes. Then..."
Bralvi continued with his story. It was about the war that happened that caused the current state of isolation all those years ago.
As he described, in the beginning, Alfheim wasn't isolated, on the surface. There was formal trade between the nations and the waters that the empire captured weren't strictly controlled, allowing for the flow of exports and imports. However, that was because of the hero of the time.
In the war, which he said was later named the Pointless Conquest by the elves, the Fujin Empire, their ally at the time, had sprung a surprise invasion.
In the beginning, the elves had an overwhelming advantage. However, when the empire became pressured by impending defeat, they summoned a hero. The hero was powerful enough to turn the tide of war into a stalemate, where it stayed for many years.
During those years, it seemed peaceful on the surface as humans and elves exchanged with one another without a mind to the ongoing war. However, that changed completely when the empire enacted a covert operation to pull the war to their side.
The operation succeeded, in the end. The goal was to fundamentally weaken the elves, which was accomplished by assassination, or what Bralvi described as a massacre. They planted seemingly normal people in positions where they were close to a few noble lineages and higher-ups in Alfheim and sprung their plan at the right time, ending up massacring three of the thirteen noble lineages and numerous high-ranking positions in the government, military, and other sectors.
The operation was a massive blow, not only to Alfheim but the Elven race as a whole. Thousands of elves were killed, and many more displaced. The government was basically gone, except for the remaining noble lineages, and most of the other sectors and corporations in Alfheim were hit. With the country in disarray, the elves were in no state to put up an adequate resistance. They lost the war in the end. However, the summoned hero was benevolent and took pity on the elves. It was mainly due to his attraction to the elves' beauty that made the hero take pity on them.
The hero negotiated terms with the elves to keep autonomy, going against the Fujin Emperor's will. Despite the opposition, no one could do anything about it since the hero wielded such power. Thanks to that, in the beginning, the elves seemed to live normally, only with stricter control on entry into the land of Fujin.
But, after the hero passed away, Fujin completely disregarded his will and constricted Alfheim. Neither side could outright declare war due to Alfheim's restructuring of the government and strengthened facilities. But Fujin was in a position to control Alfheim. They made it so Alfheim had no influence as a country and cut them off from the world through strict border control.
The first thing that happened was that trade by land was prohibited, no elves were allowed into Fujin. If the elves tried to cross, they would either be hunted down and killed, or taken as slaves. Then, the captured waters were occupied and locked off, entirely restricting outside access. The elves were helpless to the occupation of the water due to their lack of a navy. This was the main reason for the current isolation. You would think a country that had roughly 75 percent of its border as the ocean would have a sizeable navy, but the elves didn't as they preferred to stay on land and would rarely set foot even on the beach. Even strategically, they didn't since they thought a situation like this would never occur. It was too late to start since if they tried to build a ship, the Fujin Navy would raid it and destroy the facility.
Seeing as neither side could openly act, as the same stalemate situation would occur with a hero summoning, evening the playing field. Alfheim could only remain in isolation and forget about the outside world, while the outside world did the same.
Most elves at current didn't know about humans, as they were simply too young, despite their long lives. Most of the elves alive at the time were in their 100s-200s, far too young to know about what happened 200-300 years before their birth. A lot of the elders were killed in the war and only the council and a few others remembered that time, unfortunately, as elves naturally forgot about humans after hundreds of years had passed. Additionally, books on these subjects were highly regulated by the nobles and ended up in the noble lineages' hands as time passed, strictly cutting off information about humans and the past war. This led to most elves being taught Elven supremacy and believing they were the pinnacle of the world since they didn't know the world. They effectively became a big fish in a small pond.
As for the reason why Bralvi knew about humans, it was through his father. If he was going to be the crowned prince in the future, then he'd need to know about Fujin and the history of Alfheim, as well as the current state of affairs, so he was taught about these subjects.
With that:
"I see. That's pretty interesting. So, the Fujin Empire, even now, continues to box Alfheim in?"
"Yes, that is right."
"Interesting..."
Si Sheng absorbed the story about the war and thought it was quite unfortunate that Alfheim was in such a situation. However, it had nothing to do with him as of then, so he couldn't offer them anything more than his sympathies.
"Alright... Well, see ya. I'm gonna go experiment now."
"Eh...?"
After hearing the lengthy story about the war, Si Sheng simply gathered the information and left, leaving the prince quite stunned. Not only had Si Sheng casually brushed off the fact that Bralvi was a prince of Alfheim, possibly becoming the crowned prince, but he even remained indifferent on the outside to the history of the war. Or, at least, indifferent to engaging in an actual conversation about the war. It was like Si Sheng had just read an interesting article about some random fact and just thought, "ain't that neat?"
Walking over to a section of the field far enough away from the prince, Si Sheng got down to business and started testing what he learned in the lecture with mana.
Meanwhile, the still blankly staring prince watched as Si Sheng got as far away from him as possible and started doing something by himself.
'He didn't even care that I'm a prince? And he didn't even respond to my story about the war... Usually, a person would say something, right?... Well, there are those types of people out there too, huh?'
The prince, only ever having received praise and attention, was shocked by Si Sheng's seemingly cold attitude towards him. In all fairness, it's not like one was required to be all buddy-buddy with the prince, but it was almost expected that people would be. To have someone shrug him off so easily was fairly refreshing for the prince and actually drove him to like Si Sheng even more than he initially did after they acquainted themselves. Perhaps he had "those" tendencies.
However, Si Sheng was none-the-wiser to the prince's growing inner feelings towards him. He only cared about the experiment he was about to do.