Published: September 4, 2025
Satou here. There’s a phrase, “beautiful but unfortunate,” and honestly, I feel more affection for such women than for perfect beauties. Although, back in my original world, they only existed on TV or the internet.
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The venue for the Elf Elder Council, where Mia’s father took me, was deep within the Forest of Boruenan, in the World Tree Sector.
We arrived here via teleportation through a “fairy ring,” similar to how I traveled from the surface city to the underground street. Mia’s father was so taciturn that I couldn’t understand much, but I guess this sector can only be accessed by teleportation.
Of course, when entering this sector, I performed a “full map exploration,” but perhaps because it’s a different block, the map didn’t show the upper layers beyond a certain point in the World Tree, nor the lowest level. Maybe the system resists “full map exploration” here.
From what I could tell, this World Tree Sector is nearly five kilometers deep underground. I don’t recall the crust’s thickness, but it must be quite deep. The size I measured is just the area containing structures—the World Tree’s roots extend much deeper and spread wider laterally than the entire Forest of Boruenan. Yesterday, the place where Mia’s home was located is about 10 kilometers away from the World Tree Sector. It felt quite close, but that was probably an illusion caused by the absurd size of the World Tree.
Putting that aside, there are many elves in this World Tree Sector.
Surprisingly, there are tens of thousands—ten times as many as on the surface. However, almost all of them seem to be in a “sleeping” state. Compared to surface elves, they are relatively higher level and older. Some younger elves near a thousand years old exist, but most are over ten thousand years old. Still, despite their longevity, no elf exceeds level 50.
I wanted to ask Mia’s father about the sleeping elves’ condition, but he’d probably snap, “How do you know that?” so I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
Now, our awaited High Elves number only eight. Moreover, seven of them seem to be “sleeping” like the others. The High Elves' levels range between 50 and 70. It’s strange, given their extraordinary longevity.
Only one High Elf is awake, residing in the back room of the Elder Council chambers.
While I was checking the World Tree Sector like this, we arrived at our destination.
The floating board we were on just moments ago sank into the ground and disappeared. The door ahead was an octagonal wood-grain door, each side about three meters. The corridor until now had resin flooring, but this door seemed to be made of a different material.
When Mia’s father stepped forward, the door opened automatically—splitting into two halves to the left and right. Just behind it was another door, split into upper and lower halves, opening vertically.
Beyond was a straight corridor about twenty meters long, ending in a door of the same structure as before—like an airlock.
“Satou.”
Damn, I got distracted by the automatic door’s mechanism.
Mia’s father, already inside, called me, so I quickened my pace toward him.
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“Satou of the Shiga Kingdom, we thank you for your aid.”
“Satou of the Shiga Kingdom, we will never forget your kindness in saving the infant from the hands of the evil magician.”
“Satou of the Shiga Kingdom, we wish to reward you for bringing the child back from such a distant place.”
“Satou of the Shiga Kingdom, well done—”
This was a spacious auditorium seating over a thousand people.
About twenty dignitaries of the Elder Council sat in the front row.
Each one expressed thanks for bringing Mia back, but I wondered why everyone started by saying “Satou of the Shiga Kingdom.” Is this a formal way of speaking? They were speaking in Elvish, as they understood I could speak the language.
These elders looked almost as youthful as Mia’s father.
But their eyes were different.
They had the look of ancient, aged turtle eyes—not calm, but a near emotionless silence. Their gaze was so steady and unmoving it almost made me drowsy. These are indeed people who have lived thousands of years. I’d love to become friends and hear old stories.