I’ve Reincarnated into an Elf

“I should take care of him.”

It was Elysia’s voice.

“Take care of him now?”

“I’d like to send the body along with those kids, but the journey might not be that lenient.”

And that was true.

The World Tree’s forest was vast.

It was beyond mere vastness.

There was still a long way to go to the northern region, where the Beastmen village was estimated to be. Especially considering Eldmir and Elysia, the elves, and even more so the catkin girls, they had to adjust their pace accordingly, and it would easily take a few weeks.

Of course, it was the elven forest, so there might not be significant dangers, but still, this was the outskirts.

No one knew when and where they might encounter monsters passing through from the outside or if the sentinels from another village, like the ones who noticed the presence of the catkin with Istein earlier, might show up.

Or they might run into the orc pursuers they were worried about at first.

There might not be enough time or space to separately bury or cremate Teia’s body now.

After a brief thought, Eldmir addressed one of the still sobbing cat girls, Kelis.

“Uh, there. Should I call you Kelis?”

“…What?”

Though still in a sobbing state, her voice was clearly infused with anger.

Even though the anger was directed more at the three sentinels than at him, Eldmir couldn’t help but feel a little prickled.

“How do the beastmen handle their kin’s bodies? Bury them? Or cremate them?”

“…When the child of Kelga dies, they shed the earthly shell and become a spirit in Kelga’s embrace. The remaining body is usually burned to honor the spirit.”

Well, that makes sense.

Eldmir nodded his head vaguely and spoke to Atir.

“Burn it.”

-Of course.

It would be better for both the elves and the girls if they cremated the beastman’s body and kept the ashes in a separate container.

From the perspective of the elves and the girls alike.

After gathering the remains of the body, Elysia used her elemental magic to create a small urn and placed the ashes inside.

When she handed the sealed urn to Kelis, the girl accepted it with reddened eyes.

“…Thank you.”

It was too early for them to suppress their emotions about a loved one’s death.

He wanted to let them mourn a little longer, but they didn’t have the time for that.

However, he couldn’t just rush them, either.

“….”

Nonetheless, Eldmir still had some sensitivity left in him, even if he was a half-breed elf.

So, crying children were irksome.

It wasn’t that he hated children, but he also didn’t particularly like them. So, to Eldmir, the presence of sobbing children was nothing more or less than an annoyance.

He wanted to comfort them somehow, considering they were right next to him, but his own nature refused such actions.

He couldn’t handle this situation.

“Mother, how can we calm them down a bit…”

Eventually, he asked Elysia for help.

Somehow, I felt like I had a tendency to rely too much on my mother, Elysia, in situations like this, but I convinced myself that distinguishing what a person can and cannot do is an important task.

Elysia nodded and approached the Catkin girls.

The sobbing girls gathered around Kelis, who was holding the urn with Teia’s remains, without any sense of caution.

Elysia gently pulled them together.

“Teia upheld his beliefs as a warrior and fulfilled his mission. He must be rejoicing in having achieved his happiness by Kelga’s side. Kelis, and all of you, don’t cry. You should smile, so Teia’s spirit can be at ease and rejoice.”

I wonder if those words had an effect.

The little cat girls began to hold back their tears, clenching their faces in an effort to stifle their sobs.

Elysia smiled warmly and patted each of their heads, as if to show her approval of their efforts.

It was a motherly smile.

“To El Lyradelle, my deity and guardian of the forest, and to the parents of all elves, I wish for glory and happiness to grace the futures of you who have endured and persevered this far.”

Would she go so far as to say that?

Eldmir squinted his eyes.

This prayer wasn’t just comforting words; it was almost like Elysia was pledging her own commitment.

Literally, she was pledging her dedication to ensuring happiness and glory for these girls’ futures.

‘Normally, that might be the intention… well, for now, it’s probably just about taking care of them as best as she can until they return home.’

Eldmir, who had roughly understood, nodded to himself and approached the girls.

“Kids, if you’re ready, let’s get going. We don’t know when a situation like this might happen again.”

“…Don’t call us kids.”

Kelis retorted.

Eldmir shrugged his shoulders at her still-sobbing voice.

“Your village is to the north, right?”

“…No.”

“Huh?”

Eldmir furrowed his brows.

In his memory, there was only one beastman village to the north.

If they were heading north and not to that village, where exactly were they going?

“Um… is there another village we don’t know about to the north?”

He tried to make a reasonable guess, but Kelis lowered her head, her ears drooping.

Her expression showed that something other than Teia’s death had made her upset again.

Seeing that, Eldmir titled his head.

“Sister.”

At that moment, one of the young cat girls called out to Kelis.

She had an appearance that seemed like the second eldest, and from what I could see, she looked around 12 or 13 years old.

“I think I should tell you something… Teia had things he wanted you to believe, and that’s why. These people are those who have taken an oath. I think we can trust them.”

In my own world, I might have whispered that, but her voice was clearly heard by Elmir’s superior hearing.

Feeling somewhat eavesdropped on, Elmir turned his gaze away as if he hadn’t heard.

“Setting aside whether we believe them or not, I’m worried about whether it’s okay to let other races know about this.”

“But without their help, we won’t be able to accomplish anything.”

“…Sigh. Yeah, you’re right.”

Although Elmir had something he wanted to say to Kelis, her sister’s words made all his arguments seem insignificant.

In the end, he sighed and nodded.

Kelis made up her mind and approached Elmir.

“I’m not sure if we can trust you. Still, I’ll give it a try… After all, we have no other options left but this path.”

Elmir nodded silently without saying a word.

After observing Elysia and Elmir alternately, Kelis finally spoke.

“My name is Kelis de Kella.”

Kella.

Elmir’s eyes widened.

It was a name he had heard before.

“And, of course, all my sisters also have the name Kella.”

Ha.

Elmir was left speechless and almost lost his composure.

He barely suppressed the urge to burst into a hollow laugh and listened quietly.

“You must also know that among us, Beastmen, there are bloodlines more strongly connected to the ancient lineage than the other Beastmen. We call these special bloodlines ‘War Beasts’.”

That’s right.

As he said, during the ancient era when all races still lived together harmoniously in the “First Era1“, there were certain special bloodlines that linked back to the blood of each race’s deity.

Among Beastmen, such beings were called ‘War Beasts,’ while Elves referred to them as ‘High Elves.’

In the game, these beings were referred to as ‘Noble Bloodlines.’

“For Beastmen, the bloodlines of the ‘War Beasts’ have already thinned over time, almost disappearing entirely, with only one lineage remaining. To prevent the last remaining thread of that lineage from going extinct, the noble families and royal clans of the Kell Van made one solution, which is intermarriage among the ‘War Beasts’2. They intermarried within the ‘War Beast’ lineage to propagate it.”

Their way of thinking was truly beastly, but it proved quite effective.

Eldmir might not know much, but generally speaking, when intermarriage is mentioned, it tends to evoke a passionate response. However, he knew that it was a different story when it came to divine bloodlines.

Of course, they probably didn’t know that themselves and didn’t execute it intentionally.

It’s just a setting in the game, after all.

Anyway, that clan was quite famous within the game’s world.

Depending on the route taken, that clan occasionally became an overwhelmingly powerful force that drove the mid-to-late game’s storyline.

And the name of that clan was none other than…

“We are the result of those beings. ‘Kella’. We are the only clan within the Beastmen race composed entirely of ‘War Beasts’, and we are also part of that clan.”

Kella.

Among those who inherited the name of their deity, Kella, there were only a few of them.

Among the names used by the beastmen, those with ‘Kell’ are all revered as sacred.

“…I didn’t expect to meet descendants of Kell so soon.”

Elmir murmured to himself in a way that only he could understand, narrowing his eyes.

Usually, the fame and peak of the ‘Kella’ clan’s activity were confined to the mid-to-late game. In other words, the era after the First Race War.

For the ‘Kella’ clan, colloquially known as the descendants of Kella, to become involved in the story’s flow from the early stages was once again a story that was determined randomly among the many unique stories in ‘Omega World.’

Even if players didn’t influence the game at all and played the same way as before, it was still one of the many stories that unfolded randomly.

The path of Beastmen extinction had opened.

・・・❈・・・

-Why have you been looking so sullen lately?

It was Artir’s question.

The appearance of the raccoon spirit made of flames was always mysterious and beautiful, and it made him want to just squeeze it once for no reason.

Damn spirit.

All spirits are my enemies, enemies.

Especially Artir, even more so.

What? Half-breed Elf?

Who turned me into a Half-breed?

If you guys had just made the contract, I wouldn’t have been twisted like this.

“Damn it.”

-Why? What is it?

Artir kept pestering me with questions, sensing that something was bothering me.

I thought about ignoring him, but I realized that it would be useless to keep mumbling to myself and trying to figure it out alone.

“Descendants of Kell…, no, the Kella Clan.”

-The kids? Why would they be here?

“…They’re such a powerful clan, and if they’re real War Beasts, why would they be hiding in a place like this? They’re even being chased by mere orcs.”

The Beastmen extinction route is quite famous, even within the game.

It’s not easy to come across, but for hardcore players, it’s a story that everyone has encountered at least once. It’s a notorious branching point that boasts a high level of difficulty, to the point that it’s said to be unavoidable unless players directly play as Beastman.

Simply put, while it might be cause for celebration if an antagonistic faction disappears in order to survive the Race War, what kind of game is this? It’s none other than the notorious ‘Omega World.’

The Beastmen’s extinction is by no means, absolutely not, a situation that players would welcome.

Considering my status as an Elf and thinking about the negative impact Beastmen might have on Elves during the Race War, in the long run, the extinction of Beastmen ultimately moves me away from my ultimate goal of clearing the game.

-That makes sense. If they’re truly Kella…, in other words, War Beasts, they should have enough power and potential… but I don’t feel anything. It’s worse than that Wolfkin warrior named Teia.

That’s right.

That’s the essence of this damn story.

Looking back for a moment, my mother in this world was walking along with four cats.

I wanted to increase the speed, but if I did, those damn cats wouldn’t be able to keep up.

In the end, I had no choice but to walk this long and far road at a normal pace.

Ah, I wanted the game to be easier, but it’s tough from the beginning.

-Definitely… This is strange. If they truly are War Beasts carrying the bloodline of a deity, there’s no way they should be this weak. Is it really right to call them War Beasts?

“It must be. They’ve lost their power and are hardly different from ordinary beastmen now.”

-What? What’s that…

The bloodline of a god, simply put, signifies the continuity of a god’s power.

In other words, if there’s no god’s power, there’s no significance to the bloodline of a god or anything of the sort.

And of course, naturally, very, very naturally.

For the bloodline of a god to lose that god’s power is an extremely, highly unnatural occurrence.

It’s an utterly unbelievable event, something that should never happen.

Because it was such an unbelievable event, it drove the Beastmen into a state of panic and led them straight to extinction.

Expressed in words, it sounds too crude and ignorant, but it’s really like that.

The bloodline of a god and the power of a god were that important to the residents of this world.

Perhaps even if this event happened to other races and not just beastmen, similar incidents wouldn’t occur to the same extent.

Of course, such events don’t happen to races other than beastmen.

Unfortunate, but lucky.

“Ah… damn. I don’t know how to prevent this route.”

[Author Notes]

There have been questions about the terms El Ruel, El Rien, and El Ruhr used by the elves.

Um, well, I kept thinking I should set aside some time to explain this later, but the descriptions in the story were so vague that I just brushed past it;;

It’s my mistake, I’m sorry ㅠ

El Ruel and El Rien were the names of villages where the elves lived.

Usually, when elves use their full names, they go in the order of ‘village, occupation (Sentinel, etc.), name.’

So, when Istein introduced himself as “Istein of the Sentinels of El Rien”, our protagonist, Eldmir, being an inexperienced youth, just mentioned the village and his name and left it at that, haha.

And you’re right, if you felt like ‘son of El Ruhr’ was spewing out crude language.

That’s offensive language.

Among the highest(?) insults elves use.

As for El Ruhr’s identity… Well, I thought I’d just pass it by for now and explain it later, but looking back, it would have been better to incorporate the explanation in that scene. ㅠㅠ

Anyway, to put it simply, you can think of El Ruhr as the Lucifer of the elves.

The very first fallen elf, in other words, the Dark Elf.

To say someone is the son of that guy could, from a human perspective, be interpreted as “bastard” or “son of a bitch” and so on.

Not to the extent of blasphemy, but, well, depending on the person, it could be interpreted that way, right? ㅇㅅㅇ

These days, when someone says “bastard,” some even respond with “Our mom is a dog?!” ;;

Oh, of course, I’m not saying that, it’s just something I’ve heard, just to clarify ㅎㅎㅎ;;;;;

I was purposely holding back from describing it when the Dark Elves appeared later, planning to explain then. But it seems I didn’t consider that readers might find it frustrating.

I apologize once again.

Oh, and ‘El Luel, my God’ is not a big deal.

It’s like in StarCraft, where the Protoss race goes from: ‘Oh my god’ -> ‘Oh my Xel’naga’ -> ‘Xel’naga, my God’

You know what I mean?

Similarly, elves usually say ‘El Lyradelle, my God’, but they shorten it to ‘El Luel, my God’.

In fact, it’s just like saying OMG, but elves have their own way of shortening words or using colloquial expressions.

This is just one of those insignificant settings I made because I wanted to express it in a way that feels like elves have their own way of shortening words or using colloquial expressions, like OMG.

If you have more questions, feel free to ask!