The Elves Worship Me (1)

""……Huh?""

The elves who encountered me froze.

Some had their mouths open so wide that they wouldn't have noticed even if a fly flew in.

I was much the same.

"Wow…."

'They really are pretty.'

How should I put it? Every single one looked celebrity-level.

It felt like this was what you'd get if you gathered only the visual members of idol groups.

Even their voices were sweet.

What a waste, having such faces and such awful personalities….

-Freeze.

'Wait, personalities?'

My admiration for their looks lasted only a moment.

A sudden sense of incongruity swept over me.

The elves before me were far too quiet.

'Shouldn't they be cursing me out by now?'

Those elves spewed discriminatory abuse the moment they encountered someone.

Every Awakener had said the same thing.

And yet these beautiful men and women before me?

They were just standing there with their mouths hanging open.

Some were even drooling.

It was alluring in its own way, but still.

'Why are they acting like this toward me…? Could it be?'

Just as I was about to fall into thought,

an epiphany flashed through my mind.

-Ding.

[World Tree's Sword (Legendary)]

Made from a branch of World Tree Yggdrasil…

'Is it because of the wooden sword?'

A Legendary-grade wooden sword for elemental attacks.

They said this was made from the World Tree.

And the World Tree?

The very being the fifth-tier elves sought out at every opportunity.

If they'd recognized my sword, it would be natural for them to freeze in shock.

'…No, that's not all.'

Of course, this didn't explain everything strange about the situation.

Even if I was one of their kind, I was still an outsider.

Here I was using the "Your mother, the World Tree, was amazing" line, and they were just standing there?

Unless they had an NTR fetish, that made no sense.

-Glance.

'…They don't, right?'

But, hmm. Why were their faces turning red?

Their thighs were even fidgeting as if they were genuinely aroused.

Could they really be aroused?

Did you guys like that sort of thing?

'If so, you're practically sword freaks.'

A little horrified, I examined the elves.

First, clearing Tier 41 was what mattered.

I used Dragon Eyes to check their levels.

'Their average level is around 200. No wonder the other Awakeners can't beat them…. '

"……Huh?"

And then I…

realized something belatedly.

Their gazes were fixed not on the wooden sword…

but on my face.

"Why are you staring so intently at a human—no, an elf's face?"

"What's with that voice?"

"Huh?"

"World Tree, have mercy! I've never seen a man this handsome in my life, and his voice is great too?"

"Pardon?"

What were they talking about?

Me? Handsome? Great voice?

"Dohwa, did I mess up the transformation?"

"Kyaeung…?"

On a hunch, I looked at Dohwa.

Dohwa gave me a confident shake of the head.

Hmm, it wasn't a problem with Shapeshifter.

Were they reacting like this after seeing my bare face and hearing my voice?

'…What is this?'

Seriously, what was going on?

* * *

It took me quite a while to figure out what was going on.

"By the way, what do you think of this wooden sword?"

"Do you carve wood and carry it around? What an elf-like sword!"

"But wouldn't it be difficult to protect yourself with a sword like that? There are plenty who would target that face of yours, so if you don't mind, you could use my sword…."

"Hmm."

'They don't even recognize their own mother.'

It wasn't because of the wooden sword, at least,

-Tap tap.

"This is our village… Visitor?"

"What's that?"

"Ah, that is a statue carved in the likeness of the World Tree's avatar. She was the most beautiful female elf in history."

After receiving the elves' lavish hospitality, I arrived at the center of the village.

I looked up at a statue nearly three times my height.

"This is the most beautiful beauty…?"

'She looks similar?'

At a glance, she looked just as beautiful, but

'No, she's a little different.'

My Dragon Eyes doggedly found the one flaw in her beauty.

The elves I'd seen on the way all had such cookie-cutter faces—or rather, they were all so handsome and beautiful that it was hard to tell them apart.

But I could still distinguish this one a little.

She wasn't ugly by any means, but she had a certain individuality.

It felt as if God had created a perfect face, then deliberately added a spoonful of humanity.

-Murmur murmur.

"Who is that…?"

"An intruder… no, they say he's a visitor."

"The one from the prophecy?! Such a handsome elf!?"

"As expected of the World Tree. She really has an eye for people."

Voices reached me from all around.

They were the conversations of the elves who had gathered to look at me.

Thanks to them, I realized the truth.

'Are they considered handsome the farther they deviate from average?'

The elves were all beautiful men and women.

In other words, they all looked more or less alike.

In modern times, someone who could dominate the entertainment industry with their looks was just an ordinary village elf #1 here.

When beauty is no longer rare, it can no longer be a standard of beauty.

That was why their aesthetic sense had become twisted.

They considered even slightly unusual features handsome or beautiful.

That seemed to be why I was being treated as the most handsome man in history here.

"How can his facial features be so uninhibited…!!"

"Even his nose is so blunt!"

"And his eyes are a little, how should I put it? It's hard to explain!"

"""He's handsome!!!"""

…But, hmm, the more I listened, the more it started to sound like something else.

Could they actually be mocking me in reverse?

Could this be some new way of messing with people invented by this vile race?

I couldn't help but have these reasonable suspicions.

'I do have something to confirm, so why not ask?'

"Excuse me. Am I really that handsome?"

I turned around and asked them.

Even saying it made me break out in goosebumps because it sounded so narcissistic.

But the response I got was?

"Yes, yes!! You're so handsome!!!"

"Maybe 'unreal' is the word? You don't seem like an elf of this world…."

Ryu Hwi-min, recognized by the Elf Recognition Association.

"It may be rude to ask, but don't I look similar to those humans?"

"Not at all!! How could those dumb monkeys and high-class elves possibly be alike!!"

"Still, just judging by appearance…."

"Animals have eyes, noses, and mouths too, you know?"

"Hmm."

On top of that, I roughly understood why the other Awakeners had been treated like dirt.

These guys were fucking racists.

They discriminated based on race, so they didn't even treat humans as people.

'Well, I don't see Dohwa as a woman either, so I can understand it.'

Squeeze—

I hugged Dohwa tight.

In my head, I consoled myself with, 'At least I don't hate them.'

-Twitch twitch.

"Kyaeung~."

Dohwa seemed happy too, twitching those ears, so I probably wasn't treating her wrongly like those bastards did.

A little reassured, I continued walking.

-Step.

"What is this prophecy, anyway?"

First, I should hear the explanation.

I'd already memorized it from walkthrough posts and YouTube videos, but they wouldn't let me pass until I heard the whole thing anyway.

"Ah, yes! In the distant past…."

"I'm a little short on time, so keep it as brief as possible."

But listening to all of that would take at least three hours.

I shamelessly ordered an abridged explanation.

It was the sort of thing other bus drivers had tried and been beaten with clubs for, but

"Yes, y-yes!! I'll explain it within three minutes!!"

"Thank you."

"…Eek♡ He thanked me♡"

"……."

An elf named Sherry blushed at my words.

The other female elves glared at Sherry enviously, while the male elves gazed at me with envy.

Thanks to that, it was difficult to keep my expression under control.

'What has my life been up until now…?'

Did handsome men normally live like this?

I spent my life doing manual labor, getting pointed at and told that this was what happened when you didn't study.

It felt a little unfair.

"V-Visitor? Did I perhaps do something to make you uncomfortable?"

"No. Just explain it."

"Yes!! There was a prophecy…."

Perhaps she noticed that my expression had soured, because the elf began rattling off the explanation.

Maybe it was because I'd told her to hurry.

She spat out the words at almost a rapper's speed.

Of course, I didn't mind.

'I already know.'

The Fifth Tier's storyline was simple.

One day, a being from another world would come to the forest.

The elves had to help him prevent a future calamity.

If you did what they told you to do according to the prophecy, you cleared the Fifth Tier.

You had to suffer in all sorts of ways because of their awful personalities and the level gap, but still.

-Smile.

"Thank you. You saved me some time."

I thanked her out of habit.

The response I got was very different from what I was used to.

-Sway.

"H-hyaa, hyaaah…."

Thud.

An elf suddenly collapsed.

The way they were holding their forehead as they did so…

Hmm, how should I put it?

Weren't they just like the women who fainted at the sight of the Heavenly Demon?

'To them, I must be the one and only insanely handsome man, so I understand, but…. '

"Good grief."

I sighed and looked around.

I wondered if there was an elf who could lay them down somewhere since they'd fainted.

Amazingly, there wasn't.

"Look how unfazed he is."

"Of course. How many times must he have seen something like that in his life?"

"True, that makes sense."

…Don't agree with that, you idiots.

It's only because you were making such a fuss that I wasn't particularly impressed in the first place.

"Ahem, shouldn't we lay them down somewhere?"

I was exasperated inside for a moment, but

I spoke up to deal with the situation first.

"Huh? …Oh, you just came from another world, so you don't know?"

"This place is filled with the World Tree's energy, so even if they look like that, they'll be more comfortable here than anywhere else in the world."

The elves told me to leave them where they were.

Hmm, what a cold species.

Just like Yulukas.

'There's no point in trying to be sweet. Should I just leave?'

"Then let's go. You said I had to meet the Lord?"

-Step.

I started walking again.

The gathered group of elves immediately flanked me and began trailing along behind me.

Normally, I should have been showered with every kind of personal insult.

But I got none of that.

"Excuse me, if you don't mind, could I draw a picture of you, Visitor?"

"I don't want to. That's a violation of my right to my own likeness."

"W-when this is over, perhaps we could have a meal together!"

"Sorry, I just ate."

"Even your decisiveness is so cool!!"

"Good grief."

Of course, it only looked peaceful from the outside. In reality, I was nearly driven insane by how unfair it was.

So this was how handsome men lived?

I hope you all get reduced to three centimeters, seriously.

'It's not really my place to say this after receiving such cheat-level Traits, but… oh.'

"Excuse me?"

After cursing them internally for a while,

we finally arrived at our destination.

It was an exceedingly ordinary wooden building.

It looked shabby for the home of the Elf Lord.

"Yes. Ah, I'll open the door for you!"

Meanwhile, a female elf came hurrying over.

She opened the wooden door.

She was so desperate to earn even one more point that she actually lost points instead.

'Just how handsome do I look to make her act like that…?'

"……."

Of course, I didn't say anything.

There was no reason to lower their favorable opinion of me for nothing…

Creak—

Someone came out as soon as the door opened.

-Ding.

[Elf Lord Jimenez]

Level: 312

"I wondered what the commotion was, but I can see it was justified. You have quite extraordinary looks."

"Oh."

Level 312, huh.

In Egen Tower, where Awakeners maxed out at Level 151, the Lord was a transcendent existence.

Of course, the enhanced boss I killed on Tier 2 was still stronger, but that was beside the point.

"But why have you arrived already? It would take half a day just to discuss the prophecy."

"Um, you said you were short on time, so… Sherry explained it quickly…."

"Where is Sherry?"

"Sherry fainted after seeing that gentleman's smile."

"Ah, where has the dignity of elves gone? Even if your looks seem sculpted by the World Tree herself, you must maintain your composure."

Meanwhile, the Lord sternly scolded the other elves.

It was so satisfying that he had scratched an itch I couldn't reach.

Right, having all the elves act like man-crazy fools was pretty gross.

I liked the Lord a lot.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord. My name is Ryu Hwi-min."

I quickly stepped forward.

Unlike the other elves, there wasn't a trace of fuss in the Lord's gaze as he looked at me.

I figured we could have a conversation.

-Pose.

"So, what do we need to do?"

"Keng!!"

With the wooden sword resting on my shoulder,

I struck a stylish pose alongside Dohwa…

and at that very moment, I realized.

-Freeze.

"Th-that, th-that, th-that… what is that?"

"…Hmm?"

"World Tree, have mercy!!!!! Just who are you!!!!?"

"……."

I'd been pleased that the Lord wasn't making a fuss.

But the Lord was the most excitable one of them all.