As I stepped outside the thick forest, I could suddenly see the wide blue sky as if the world itself had changed.
Since the sun was bright, I covered my eyes with my hand and slightly squinted due to the light. Maybe because my action felt somewhat funny, the handsome young man that took the request with me slightly loosened his cheeks.
Thought it was just that, his smile also suddenly felt as bright as the shining sun.
So this is what an actual handsome man is like, I sighed inside my mind. I wonder if this was jealousy I felt.
But still, even though his gender was the same, I still felt that he looked beautiful.
“Thanks for guiding me around the forest. If something happens, I’ll be counting on you again.”(renji)
“I’m just happy to have found a human that also treats forests preciously as well.”
On his flowing golden hair was a plain circlet with a jade embedded in the centre.
Every time the wind blew slightly, his golden hair flew around and it felt as if my whole vision had been covered with gold.
Blonde hair and blue eyes. A well-featured appearance and tall height. Wearing green clothes from head to toe, he also wore a deep wooden coloured mantle to help him slip into the forest.
And above all, the most striking feature were his pointed ears.
Elf. The protectors of the forest, as called by the country of Spirits. An Elf, who supposedly hate humans, was standing in front of me and smiling.
Even though he’s a guy, his smile still slightly raised my heartbeat. Even though I’m normal and like only women.
“Treating forests preciously or whatever, I don’t really know about that. I simply want to avoid damaging the area in my own way.”(renji)
“That alone is enough. Humans and Dwarves, cut down forests more than required but you are different.”
“Well, I wonder. I don’t think my any different from a normal human though.”(renji)
Saying that, I shrugged my shoulders.
Elves hate humans. That was common sense in society. Even I think it’s like that. And in fact, we never really had any kind of conversation even after taking the request at first.
There are many theories as to why Elves hate humans but I think it’s because humans cut down a lot of trees.
Even if they don’t cut trees there were many vast plains. Considering Imnesia’s population, there’d be no problem in finding places to live.
But even then, humans would cut down forests and expand their own territory.
Animals are chased out of their homes, the ecosystem collapses, and the resentment gives birth to monsters.
Cleared away forests become turned into distorted territories of monsters. The maddened forests become a living place for monsters. These habitats of monsters further invite more monsters and the weak monsters become prey to the stronger ones. And this leads to the birth of an even more powerful monster.
That’s the complaint Elves have been giving. That it was the humans and the Dwarves that were giving birth to more and more monsters.
The excuse from humans was that trees/wood is a necessary ingredient in building houses, is used as a fuel and is also required in making daily necessities like furniture etc.
Though iron manufacturing was pretty high levelled here, it still needed fire to be made use of which comes from wood. After all, there are no scientific fuels in this different world.
Wood was something that was absolutely needed in the daily life of humans.
Both sides’ opinion could be said to correct. That’s why, even now Elves and Humans maintained a certain distance between them.
That gap was not something I could fill up, and neither do I feel like doing something like that. Humans and Elves. Restoring and mending relationships between different races was the job of the royalty.
“But well, it’d be nice if they could at least individually get along sometimes.”(renji)
“Well I wonder about that. Even I am not really friendly with humans after all.”
“That’s fine.”
There’s a skill to getting along with someone.
What should one do to get someone you hate to work with you? There may be no correct answer to that but you can’t say that every method is wrong either.
In my case, I think I try to make the other person interested in the individual called Yamada Renji as a single person. The only reason why Elves and Humans hate each other is because they simply don’t try to understand each other, I think.
And true enough, I barely know anything about this elf beside me. I only know what I’ve read in books and what I’ve heard from other people.
Elves are called as the people of the forest and treasure nature above all.
But the truth might not be exactly what the books say. But to be called as the people of the forest, it’s clear that they hold much more interest and love for forests than humans do.
For example, the way of walking in the forest. I don’t know which way is correct but I at least try to be careful to not step on roots or greenery.
I try to focus on walking on bare ground or weeds as much as I can.