These Demons Do it for Free-Chapter 70

It’s easy to think in terms of a caste system.

Just as the royalty weren’t at the top of the first caste, the priests were. Similarly, the elves placed the High Elves, who performed the roles of priests in their social hierarchy, at the top, while the actual rulers were in the second caste.

“The World Tree is a god on earth. However, it couldn’t directly bestow its powers upon all elves. Thus, the High Elves were born.”

The envoy of the World Tree.

The mediator of power.

Children of the gods.

The High Elves had many epithets or nicknames following them.

That was because the power given to them was immense.

They were priests, the high priests who revered the World Tree, and the apostles representing the World Tree’s will.

Thus, the elves felt the presence of the World Tree through the High Elves and received fragments of its power.

“But then, with the death of the World Tree, the High Elves also became extinct.”

High Elves do not simply come into being through reproduction.

Even if both parents are High Elves, without the anointing of the World Tree, one cannot become a High Elf.

Such individuals would become the social leaders responsible for the elves' second caste, who handle the actual politics and core military forces.

Of course, even so, they were still but a shadow of the High Elves, and as those who did not receive the grace of the absolute god known as the World Tree, they had to bow their heads to the words of the High Elves.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

“That’s possible? Leif, you were born after the World Tree died.”

“That’s true. Can one become a High Elf without the World Tree? This might be a sensitive topic, but I’m a half-elf.”

While I don’t know much about High Elves, it feels unlikely that a non-pureblood High Elf exists.

“Also, there are many aspects of Leif's statement that remain unexplained.”

Who is the mother who entrusted Leif to the elven village?

If Leif truly is a High Elf, why did Elowen recognize her, yet the elves in her village did not?

Leif revealed everything without hiding anything.

“My mother was a human.”

“Ah, so that’s it.”

Ray’s habitual rudeness was triggered again.

No matter what, that’s quite a blunt way to put it.

However, Leif seemed unconcerned as she calmly continued her story.

“Both of my parents were foragers. They probably met in this city.”

Imagining the faces of parents she could barely recall, Leif sank into the connection remaining in her flowing blood.

That connection transcended a simple, conceptual bloodline.

“I can feel it. The traces left by my father and those engraved by my mother.”

“…Huh?”

That must have been too difficult a phrase for a sixteen-year-old child.

With Ray tilting her head in confusion, I decided to teach her as an adult.

“Even if the memories of meeting them are faint, Leif knows how deep the love bestowed upon her by her parents is, simply through her birth.”

“Oh, is that how it is? As expected of elves, you have a talent for speaking in difficult terms.”

“...That’s not it.”

Oh no.

Avoiding Ray’s piercing glare, I turned my head and quickly shot a look at Leif to continue her explanation.

“My father was a High Elf.”

Leif continued her explanation.

One of the epithets mentioned earlier for High Elves.

The envoy of the World Tree.

It was not a metaphor, but a precise description.

High Elves are imbued with the powers of the World Tree.

Even after the World Tree died, the powers implanted in other bodies survived along with the new lives they rooted in.

A High Elf is essentially a sapling.

A true child of the World Tree that has been grafted with the roots of the World Tree.

That is the essence of a High Elf.

However, while the elves were unable to find a way to pass that on as the High Elves gradually died out, the High Elves were thought to have become extinct.

Except for one.

One individual, who had poured all of their life into the prosperity of their race in the depths of the unfathomable mystery.

“My parents were the ones who found a way to do it. They found a way to graft the saplings of the World Tree into half-elves.”

“Maybe it was possible because they were half-elves. Other elves had failed due to their obsession with pureblood.”

The elves must have utilized all kinds of means to preserve the High Elves.

Yet they failed, while Leif's parents succeeded because they had moved beyond the rigid perspective that High Elves must be purebloods.

If the gods had died and the world had changed, then the mindset of those living in that changed world should have also changed.

“Is that why you only mentioned your mother and not your father? If he had grafted the saplings, he wouldn’t be in a normal state.”

“…Maybe.”

Leif somewhat reluctantly agreed with Ray’s remark.

Leif, who bore the sapling, could roughly envision the future without it.

This time, Ray also sensed the heavy meaning behind that brief answer.

A solemn silence followed, and unable to bear that atmosphere, Ray raised her voice.

“Ahhh—! I feel like I’m the most ordinary one here.”

“Ordinary? Who’s ordinary?”

“Me.”

“Right. That’s you.”

Pointing at me with wide, sparkling eyes, Ray declared that it was her.

“You’re a user of lost spatial magic.”

Ray’s finger shifted to Leif.

“The last High Elf, with a side of half-elf.”

And finally, Ray pointed at herself.

“I’m just a beastman.”

So, who’s ordinary?

“...That’s true, but if you’re a lion beastman, you’re royalty among beastmen.”

“There’s no kingdom of beastmen, Roman.”

Didn’t you know?

With that face, I really want to smack her hard, Ray.

“The rarest one is indeed true.”

“Well, that’s true. But compared to the half-High Elf or the user of spatial magic, I’m just a commoner.”

“Still, you inherited a remarkable Blood Awakening, two at that!”

Worried that Ray might be feeling some relative deprivation or inferiority, Leif tentatively tried to reassure her.

But I know.

Ray isn’t thinking that at all.

Rather, she’s likely trying to break the solemn atmosphere with a bit of self-deprecating humor.

Seeing this, I realize Ray has a surprisingly mature side to her as well.

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

…Looking at her face soften, maybe not.

“If you don’t open your mouth, you could give off a cool, chic vibe like a lion beastman, but once you start talking, you turn into a kid.”

I interjected as I heard Leif showering praise on Ray’s face.

“Then, is that all of Leif's story?”

“Um… no. There’s one last thing.”

“One last thing?”

“Yeah.”

Now that I think about it, there’s one secret Leif has yet to reveal.

“Training.”

“That’s right.”

Ray, who had gone to the Frontier through Arthur’s connections, and I, who had knocked on the doors of the Telema Academy with the common ground of being demon magicians.

But Leif had been receiving training individually and had yet to mention from whom.

“I want to meet them once before heading back to the Abyss. All of us.”

Before the search expedition on the second layer, which is set for three days from now.

An additional destination to go to had emerged.

§

Golden Wisdom.

The alchemy that was initiated to create gold.

In a world that underwent a great transformation due to the disappearance of gods and the emergence of the Abyss, the current headquarters of alchemy, where a new system of alchemy was structured and a vast tower of knowledge was erected.

That place, which traces its origins back to Cordelia Wollstoncraft, the first expedition member, is one of the most powerful organizations influencing Res Remen today.

Having classified alchemists as a sub-class of magicians and separating them into a distinct realm, unlike the various schools that arose among magicians, alchemists have maintained their stronghold under an absolute leader.

Of course, many traitors have emerged who left the Golden Wisdom to establish their own factions or even allied with magicians to reintegrate alchemy into the sub-category of magic, but nonetheless, the stronghold of Golden Wisdom remains steadfast.

First and foremost, it was wealthy.

The metals, leathers, gems, and other materials used in the equipment of foragers.

All materials have been touched by Golden Wisdom.

Here, the term “materials” does not include the shabby items that novices or regulars use.

The enormous budget is used for research, almost entirely excluding minimum operational costs, so no matter how much I meddled with Golden Wisdom, in front of the relentless financial clout of their straightforward budget, it was merely a flimsy existence before a storm.

At the upper levels of the Golden Wisdom, often referred to as the Golden Branch Castle, resembling the shape of a tree branch, someone was divining.

In alchemy, observing celestial bodies is also an important matter.

Thus, alchemists have a fair understanding of astrology.

The woman reading the oracle's results let out a sound of expectation.

“Are guests coming?”

Kiara Miknogna.

The leader of one of the eight factions within Golden Wisdom.

And, secretly, the one who had given Leif Yusglimt her training.