Elves and Dwarves (3)

It will soon be a year since I returned from the Fodor Empire.

Thanks to the dwarves' trade caravans carrying the letters, I've exchanged several letters with Airena.

As expected—or perhaps as always—she told me she would spare no effort in helping me, which was very reassuring.

But even with Airena's cooperation, there were still many difficult hurdles to clear before trade between the dwarves and elves could become a reality.

For example, neither Airena nor I had the actual authority to mobilize the forest elves.

As a High Elf, I had enough authority for the elves to act when I asked them to.

But I mustn't mistake that for having the power to order them around.

In the past, when all the elves withdrew from the forests of the Kingdom of Rudoria, they had a compelling reason to do so for the sake of the elven race.

That was why, once they accepted my request, the elves had willingly acted on it.

But this time, it was nothing more than my personal wish.

There was no reason for the elves to obey me if doing so meant swallowing their ancestors' hatred of dwarves.

If my words alone could make the elves' hatred of dwarves disappear, I would have gotten rid of their prejudice against half-elves long before this.

The same applied to Airena. Humans recognized her as the representative of the elves living in the Kingdom of Rudoria, so when it came to trade with humans, she could probably make unilateral decisions about small-scale matters.

Airena had built up enough of a track record that no one would object.

However, if the trading partners were dwarves, that would exceed her remit, and the other elves would never follow her.

...There was a way to give authority real power.

I could take over Airena's position, assume a role in external affairs, use a High Elf's authority to gradually expand that sphere, and ultimately bring every elf in the Kingdom of Rudoria under my influence.

Then no one would object to anything I did.

In other words, all I had to do was become king of the elves.

But I wanted absolutely no part of that.

I found no appeal whatsoever in ruling over others and having them defer to me.

No, if anything, I hated people bowing to me, because all I could see was one aspect of a person—in concrete terms, the top of their head.

I wanted to face someone and speak to them directly first, and if they piqued my interest, observe them from the side or behind as well.

That was precisely why Airena served as the elves' representative.

Of course, having Airena serve as representative also made negotiations with the Kingdom of Rudoria easier.

As I spent my days racking my brain over one thing and another, the letter I received from Airena that day contained something intriguing.

Airena wanted to visit the dwarven nation with several people: elves who could assist her in her current role or were expected to take over after she stepped down, adventurers, and a few eccentrics who lived away from the forest.

Her intention was to see the dwarves for herself and judge their good and bad qualities, rather than rely solely on what she had heard from me, and to show the dwarves that there were elves besides me who wished to be friendly with them.

I see. Elves who worked as adventurers would naturally be interested in the high-quality weapons and armor the dwarves made.

They would also be relatively receptive to the dwarves' combative nature.

If they could form even a few friendly relationships, they might be able to use those connections as a wedge and gradually widen the circle.

As more people became involved, momentum would build and ripple outward.

If the waves spread successfully, then even if the entire forest was out of the question, there was surely a chance that some of the forests would agree to trade.

But one thing I thought about Airena's proposal was that—ah, as I'd expected—she was beginning to prepare to leave the Kingdom of Rudoria.

The reason was that the two humans important to Airena, Cleias and Maltena, would eventually reach the end of their lives from old age. I didn't know whether that would be ten or twenty years from now, but it could no longer be all that far away.

I didn't know whether Airena intended to see them through their final moments or would rather not witness them, but either way, she probably wouldn't remain in the Kingdom of Rudoria afterward.

That was why she was already preparing an elf to succeed her and letting them build up a track record of their own.

This matter was probably part of that preparation too.

Well, then, I'd get things ready to welcome them here and trust Airena to choose the right people and handle the rest.

Naturally, I was worried about bringing dwarves and elves together, but if she said she would do it, I had no choice but to trust her.

After all, I had relied on Airena so much, and she understood me and acted on my behalf to such an extent that if I couldn't trust her, I had to wonder whom else I could trust.

If I hadn't met Airena that day, my life outside the forest would have turned out completely differently.

If that had happened, then at the very least, the person I was now would not exist.

Therefore, trusting her was not so different from trusting the person I am now.

First, the number of people... let's see, five.

Then I'd have Azvardo prepare entry permits to the dwarven nation for six people, including Airena.

After that came preparations and groundwork for their welcome.

The days ahead would probably be busy.

After all, it was unprecedented for the dwarven nation to accept so many elves.

Surely everyone would be extremely surprised.

Then again, my being here in this country was itself part of a series of unprecedented events—or perhaps I was still in the middle of one.