Chapter 68
When we climbed onto the rooftop of the building, we saw a silver-haired elf sitting on the broken concrete rubble, looking serious and utterly absorbed in something.
I had thought it strange that the elf hadn't even poked a head out despite all the commotion below, but I guessed they were too focused.
When I got closer and looked, the elf was tapping a dead smartphone with a finger.
It looked like the battery had died after I fixed it up back then.
Guess I’ll have to charge it.
"...?"
The elf, sensing my presence, looked up, and when they spotted me, their face lit up as they trotted over.
"@&#^@!"
A clear voice like jade beads rolling on a silver tray, and nonstop chatter.
Still the same, huh. But my Elvish skills were just as bad as ever.
I could only make out exactly two words in that long sentence.
'Hello!, who?'
The first word was probably a greeting saying they were glad to see me again, and the second seemed like a question about who the bearded dwarf behind me was.
I gestured toward the dwarf standing behind me and gave a clumsy introduction.
Elvish was still difficult, and maybe the dwarf couldn't speak Elvish either, because he only nodded.
'He was cursing about knife-ears downstairs earlier, so isn't he going to brandish a hammer the moment they meet?'
I watched the dwarf's reaction, tense inside.
But the reaction I got was different from what I expected.
Far from gripping his hammer tightly, the dwarf just cleared his throat a couple of times, nodded at the elf, and then stared at the house the elf had built as if that was the only thing he cared about.
"...?"
"...What!"
When I stared at him in utter confusion, the dwarf stroked his braided beard and grumbled sheepishly.
"...No matter how much I hate those obnoxious knife-ears, I'm not such a petty dwarf that I'd pick on a young knife-ear still wet behind the ears."
"A child? This elf is young?"
"Of course. Can't you tell at a glance?"
"At a glance, of course..."
Of course, the elf looked young on the outside, but since many works describe elves as always looking young, I was skeptical about whether the elf was truly young.
Still, the dwarf saying he could tell an elf's age just by looking was a little surprising.
The dwarf clicked his tongue.
"No matter how long-lived a race is, once you've lived a few hundred years, your face naturally loses expression and you stop talking so much. Why bother making a fuss when you've already experienced everything the world has to offer? Old knife-ears are cold and taciturn, like you could prick them with a needle and not draw a single drop of blood. By contrast—"
The dwarf smiled brightly and pointed at the elf tugging on my clothes with a tilt of his chin.
The elf in front of me kept smiling as if whatever was being said was amusing, and was quite the chatterbox.
"Look at the elf. With that lively expression and all that nonstop chatter, they're bound to be no more than a brat under a hundred years old. A baby, a baby."
"Oh... not even a hundred? ...That's young?"
"Hm? Young, for a knife-ear."
In the common sense of the long-lived other races, being under a hundred would definitely count as a child.
But for humans, it was hard to call that really young...
I gave an awkward smile.
Anyway, for now, we decided to get out of here.
"Danger. Move."
"Danger..."
When I spoke in very clumsy, stiff Elvish, using every word I knew,
the elf nodded even at my awkward pronunciation, and after hesitating, only grabbed the phone, bow, and arrows before following me without any real suspicion.
It looked like the elf had grabbed the phone before the bow.
"Hmm..."
Does the elf trust humans that easily?
Or maybe it's because it's me, after all.
Because I didn't know which it was, that obedient attitude worried me too.
'To think they'd follow so obediently...'
Just looking at the elf like that, unlike the dwarf, they might have been in danger if the agents had sprung a surprise attack.
We left the building and returned to the train.
I had the elf and the dwarf sit side by side in the passenger compartment of Car 3, which had plush seats.
"Huh...! To think you'd hidden something like this! This huge thing moves? No! Don't say anything—I'll drink first and inspect it myself."
The dwarf had been unable to calm down ever since he spotted the train from far away.
The elf was also wide-eyed at the train's curious interior, and the dwarf looked like he wanted to tear the train apart on the spot, but he remembered the drink I'd promised and sat there obediently.
After I left the two of them seated and came over to the driver's cab of Car 1, Ha-seon greeted me with an unusually flushed face.
"Sowon-ssi! I was really shocked! They're really other races! Real elves and dwarves..."
Like a fan meeting a celebrity in person, Ha-seon couldn't hide her excitement, both hands covering her mouth.
Her eyes were fixed on the camera filming the passenger compartment.
Seeing figures that looked like they came out of a game or fantasy novel, she seemed a little excited too.
"It really feels like I'm watching a movie..."
"The elf was in danger, so I had them taken to safety... and since the dwarf helped us, I brought him along to treat him to a drink and keep things friendly from now on."
At my smiling reply, Ha-seon's eyes sparkled.
"Should I prepare something?"
"Huh? No... you don't have to..."
"No, I have a cooking skill. Even if it's just something light..."
She said that since it would be awkward to serve only drinks, she'd make some light snacks too.
Grateful, I looked at the oddly excited Ha-seon with a pleased smile.
Come to think of it, I had gotten a little excited when I first saw the elf's appearance too.
Maybe that's a little different?
From the ice dispenser installed beside the driver's cab of Car 1, clear round ice cubes dropped out with a clatter.
I decided to pour into that glass the liquid from the brown liquor bottle that the Constellation known as Hammer Warrior had once bizarrely fixated on.
The moment I popped the cap off, a sharp alcohol stench hit me hard enough to make my eyes sting.
"Ugh, shit... my eyes sting?"
It smelled strong like hard liquor, but I decided to trust the judgment of that Constellation with such a clear preference.
Remembering the sight of the elf picking fruit in the forest, I prepared a relatively mild, fragrant glass of wine.
This was the liquor favored by the Constellation that liked music and drink.
When I returned to the passenger compartment of Car 2 with the yellow rolled omelet Ha-seon had carefully made, dried squid I'd grabbed from the convenience store, and almonds on a plate, the two of them were each looking busy in their own way.
"No, how can this iron plate be so thin yet so sturdy? And the door just opens on its own, too..."
"..."
The elf and the dwarf were, surprisingly, not paying even the slightest attention to each other.
Both were staring in fascination at the scenery beyond the tinted windows and the train interior.
"Thank you for waiting."
At my cautious words, the dwarf's braided beard twitched.
"Ah, that... Sorry. I was just curious..."
He laughed awkwardly and returned to his seat.
And then I lowered the seat table.
I'm using it for the first time.
The elf still had plenty of room even with the table lowered, but maybe because the dwarf was so bulky...
When I lowered the table, his beard got caught and pinned the table in place. With no choice, the dwarf had to move his beard a little to the side.
I set each person's drink and snacks on the table.
"Whew, that smell...!"
The dwarf narrowed his eyes after sniffing the aroma wafting from the glass I'd brought.
The ice struck the glass with a crisp sound, but the contents inside were nothing short of a ball of fire.
The dwarf snatched the glass with his rough hand and, without hesitation, took a big gulp.
Half the glass was gone in an instant.
"Whoa! Not all at once..."
That wasn't the kind of liquor you were supposed to drink like that.
"Mmm!"
In an instant, the dwarf's face went red, and his braided beard trembled violently.
Then he immediately lifted the glass again.
Even the elf beside him was startled enough to widen their eyes.
A moment later, after draining it to the last drop, the dwarf let out a long, rough breath.
"Krrr! T-this is it! That's exactly it!"
He slammed the empty glass down on the table and shouted.
"It feels like molten metal fresh from a blast furnace is flowing down my throat! This really is...!"
He sounded moved, but honestly, that assessment didn't feel like praise.
'...Is that a compliment?'
Freshly drawn molten metal.
No matter how I thought about it, it didn't sound like he was saying it was delicious.
With moist eyes, the dwarf shook the ice left in the glass.
The elf also seemed to like the wine I'd given; after taking a sip of the purple liquid in the glass with a curious expression, they hummed happily.
Watching the two of them happily enjoy their drinks, I started thinking about our next destination.
'Where should I drop these two off?'
Taking them to the Yeouido safe zone was impossible.
That would be like walking straight into a place crawling with people like the agents from earlier, who coveted elves and dwarves and wanted to capture them.
But dropping them off in the middle of monster-infested ruins felt far too unsettling.
Then a very suitable place flashed through my mind.
"Ah, if it's there..."
A group of nine survivors had set up in a large bank near where the elf was staying.
If it was that place, which had even established a safe zone and named it Elf Town, wouldn't they welcome these two and let them stay hidden for a while?
I took out my smartphone and immediately sent a message to Elf Town, where I'd posted about the dwarf sighting earlier.
Asking whether they could protect the elf and the dwarf for a while.
Just as I sent the message and was about to take a sip of coffee instead of alcohol...
Before even a minute had passed, not even ten seconds, my smartphone started vibrating furiously.
[What? An elf?]
[Of course we can!]
Even from the text alone, the other person's surprise and delight came through perfectly.
Come to think of it, all nine of them had also stared blankly when they first saw the elf.
I'd sent that the dwarf was with us too, but there was no specific mention of the dwarf.
...A cruel reality.
After telling the two of them as well, the dwarf, apparently very satisfied with the alcohol, said we could go anywhere, and the elf also seemed interested in meeting them again.
I came over to the driver's cab of Car 1 and took hold of the lever.
And now I began moving the train toward the safe zone that would truly become Elf Town.