Chapter 199
Incidentally, although this is fairly unimportant, humans are, in a sense, a special race.
If I were to explain why, I'd have to go all the way back to the creation of the races, but many of the races living in this world were created by the gods.
The exceptions are spirits, High Elves, giants who live above the clouds, Undying Birds, True Dragons, and the gods themselves.
The Five Ancient Races and the gods.
These six beings alone can be called the direct children of the Creator.
When creating their own races, the gods first modeled elves on High Elves.
Thus elves are the race most similar to High Elves in this world, but even so, their origins are fundamentally different.
This may not be the best analogy, but if High Elves are wooden dolls carved from wood, then elves might be unglazed clay dolls made by kneading clay into that same shape.
Next, the gods created dwarves, beings that were the exact opposite of elves.
But if I say "opposite," dwarves may seem very far removed from elves; still, if you think of them as unglazed clay dolls whose shape was changed, then dwarves would actually be closer to elves than elves are to High Elves.
Drawing on their experience creating elves and dwarves, the gods then created humans.
Humans did not possess the special sense that let elves borrow the power of spirits, nor the toughness and physical strength of dwarves, and had much shorter lifespans than either race.
I believed the gods had deliberately created humans without great powers, emphasizing their capacity for growth, so they could serve as the basis for the races they would create afterward.
In other words, they had prepared humans first as a base that each individual god could use to create whatever race they pleased, even without all the gods cooperating with one another.
Indeed, many of the races created afterward seem to have been based on humans.
Beastfolk, who bear animal traits to make up for the power humans lacked, are probably the most representative example.
Of course, beastfolk would be furious if I said such a thing.
Actually, elves, dwarves, humans, and nearly all the other races would get angry and tell me not to make fun of them.
...But, well, that was probably the truth.
In other words, the western religion's tendency to put humans on a pedestal was not entirely without basis.
Whether the humans who believe in the western religion would be pleased to hear that basis is another matter.
Let me repeat myself: humans are, in a sense, a special race.
That is probably also related to why, when it comes to half-breeds, the ones we hear about most often are children of humans and other races.
Unfortunately, as a High Elf, this is a matter of absolutely no relevance to me.
Incidentally, this is a discussion of the races classified as people; trees and beasts are another matter.
When and where trees and beasts came into being remains shrouded in mystery.
They probably existed in this world from the beginning, or perhaps, if the Creator made the world, they were born along with it as part of the world.
After concluding their first negotiations with Zieden, the elven caravan headed west for the Kingdom of Rudoria.
What was decided in those first negotiations was noninterference with the Elven Forest and the continuation of negotiations going forward.
In short, in exchange for removing the rocky hills around the royal capital, the elves had essentially forced Zieden to accept their demands unilaterally.
Of course, they had apparently also conveyed their concerns about the continent's current state and pointed out that the number of monsters in Zieden was increasing, so the substantive negotiations would probably begin from here.
Airena apparently planned to meet with the rulers of the Kingdom of Rudoria and the Republic of Vilestrika before the next round of negotiations.
...Honestly, it was all happening on too grand a scale for me to keep up.
No, if anything, the story of meeting the immortals in the Huanggu Empire and one of the True Dragons—the Golden Dragon—was much bigger.
After all, Airena nearly fainted when I told her about it.
It's just that rulers and negotiations between countries are so far removed from my life that they feel like a big deal to me.
Well, in other words, it was about how we should each do our best in our respective areas of expertise.
Though in Airena's case, I think she fainted more from worrying about me than from the scale of the subject.
She had originally been a skilled adventurer and was strongly curious about the unknown.
Besides, she had been delighted to hear that I might be able to visit the clouds above where giants lived—which sounded no less grand than the story about dragons—and perhaps even find the White Lake.
Once the caravan left Zieden behind, it entered the eastern part of the Kingdom of Rudoria.
The eastern part of the Kingdom of Rudoria was as forbidding as ever, with several new fortresses having been built.
Rudoria was clearly wary of Zieden, even while continuing to trade with the nation that had invaded the Duchy of Karkoym.
Yet even as they remained wary, the eastern nobles were moving to avoid a confrontation with Zieden.
If war broke out with Zieden, they would be the ones on the front lines.
Most were fence-sitters who believed they should assess the situation more carefully, but apparently some nobles argued that, rather than oppose Zieden, they should cooperate with it and confront the Vilestrika Republic to the south.
Conversely, if this were the southern part of the Kingdom of Rudoria, more nobles would likely advocate cooperating with the Vilestrika Republic and fighting Zieden.
Considering matters with their own territory's interests in mind before the interests of the country as a whole was not necessarily wrong for nobles.
Even if the country gained enormous benefits, what good would that do if many people in their domains died for the sake of those benefits and their lands were left devastated?
For now, the royal family was also sitting on the fence, but its sympathies were apparently closer to those of the eastern nobles.
At least, that was what Airena told me; as a result of the previous incident, the royal family held extensive direct territory in the east.
That was an important source of power supporting the current royal family.
If the east were to be ravaged by war, the royal family's power could decline dramatically.
Ah, no—more importantly, if the east, the Kingdom of Rudoria's breadbasket, were burned, many of its people would starve.
The Kingdom of Rudoria could hardly choose an option that would expose the east to danger, even if the odds were only one in ten thousand.
Just as nobles put their own lands before the country, countries put their own security before the stability of surrounding regions.
No matter whether the people of other countries suffered from war or starved, ...a government's first duty was to keep its own people from going hungry.
That was only natural.
But that did not mean it was always the best choice, however.
There was no guarantee that a fire on the other side of the river would remain there forever.
We passed through the broad grain-producing region and continued farther west.
A city I knew all too well gradually drew closer.
Yes, Worfield, the royal capital of the Kingdom of Rudoria.
A large, old, prosperous city.
There, I parted ways with everyone in the caravan who had traveled with me this far.
Of course, it was not a farewell forever.
If the elven caravan ever needed my strength, I would come running to help, no matter when.
In turn, though, I would probably have many occasions to ask them to help me as well.
I remembered the way through Worfield.
I headed straight for that place.
Climbing the stairs and passing through the gate brought me to a dojo where the faces had changed completely, but people still swung their swords as before.
But even there, I did not stop and continued toward the back.
A disciple who didn't know me came to stop me, but another grabbed him by the arm and held him back.
Ah, I know that face.
That person had aged considerably.
Still, I would leave the joy of reunion for later.
My acquaintances, their faces now lined with age, did not stop me as I passed by the dojo.
They all knew where I was headed first.
She was buried not in the cemetery where the capital's people were laid to rest, but in a family cemetery within the dojo grounds.
I stood before it, set my baggage down, and stretched.
I had finally arrived.
Somehow, the journey here had seemed very long.
Perhaps I had taken a few too many detours.
Not that those detours had been pointless.
Then I spoke to the gravestone.
"I'm home. I finally made it back."
Her grave had been carefully cleaned, and nothing had changed since the day I set out for the eastern part of the continent.
Yes, Kaeha had remained unchanged, waiting for me.