I Need to Change the Plan. (1)
Erenes had always been a bit different from the other elves since she was a child.
She was born with an exceptional talent for spirit magic and combat.
When she learned one thing, she grasped ten, and even without being taught, she could invent her own combat techniques.
It was unusual for an elf to be talented in battle. After all, combat only had meaning if one fought someone and won.
That was the kind of talent least suited to an elf.
She was also full of curiosity. Whenever she got the chance, she would secretly seek out elves returning from the city to hear stories about the outside world.
'The forest is too boring. Yesterday is the same as today. Nothing ever changes. But the human world is new every day.'
As time went on, Erenes accumulated more knowledge about the outside world. And the more she learned, the greater her longing for it became.
The Grand Chieftain and the elders watched her with concern. There had been other elves before who longed too strongly for the human world—and ended up hurt because of it.
—I'm all grown up now! I can be the one who speaks with the voice of the forest!
At some point, Erenes began to plead to go out into the world herself.
Naturally, the elders didn't grant permission. In their eyes, Erenes was not ready to leave the forest.
Though she didn't show it outwardly, inside, Erenes was filled with disappointment at their continued refusal.
'Why not me? Even people weaker than me went to the city! I'm strong! I'm stronger than Lord Cylan!'
Ranking by strength wasn't part of elven nature. But Erenes was thinking in a way completely not an elf-like.
With no other option, she wandered the forest daily, honing her spirit magic and training in combat. It was her only joy.
Then came news of an intruder. She wanted to join the pursuit party, but for some reason, she was denied.
Boiling with frustration, she went outside the village alone to train. That's when she encountered the intruder.
A human—someone from the outside world she'd longed to see. Erenes immediately wanted to keep this human to herself.
'This isn't my fault. It's the Grand Chieftain and the elders' fault for not letting me go out. I've got so many questions I want to ask this human.'
Just like that, she rationalized her actions, putting her personal curiosity and desires before her duty as an elf.
Of course, Erenes knew that humans were notorious liars. She didn't fully believe Ghislain's words.
'I'll pretend to believe him for now and catch him off guard. If I coax him gently, I'll get to the truth. He is interesting, after all.'
She planned to deceive Ghislain and keep an eye on him. For now, she had something she wanted to do with him.
Naturally, Ghislain picked up on her true intentions through the brief expressions and tones she showed.
'Tsk, tsk, that's way too obvious.'
At her current level, Erenes couldn't fool Ghislain. She simply lacked the experience.
Still, it was a bit surprising that Erenes could show such a charming side.
'Well, kids are like that.'
Ghislain himself had been a handful in his youth. Erenes, too, had her many sides.
'Hmm, come to think of it....'
In the future, she would come to possess the dignity and nobility worthy of being called the Grand Chieftain of the elves. But sometimes, she'd still show a slyness that didn't quite fit.
Until now, Ghislain had thought that personality came from the war against the Demon Realm. But seeing her now, that didn't seem to be the case.
'…Maybe she was just born that way.'
Whenever he looked at Erenes, he understood why elves were called a noble race. Yet there were also moments when she didn't seem elf at all.
That dissonance likely came from her true nature.
In the future, she would be trained enough to hide that nature, but for now, it was only natural that she lacked such discipline.
'Well, this works. While she's still naïve, I'll try to get some intel out of her.'
Ghislain was a skilled enough operator to extract information from the most mundane conversations. He decided to use this opportunity to build a closer relationship with Erenes.
But soon, Ghislain would realize just how arrogant that thought had been.
"I told the elders so many times, but they just kept refusing! So I thought I'd sneak out in secret... Hey, are you listening to me?"
"Uh? Oh, yeah, I'm listening."
"Is it from running around so much? Why do you look so tired?"
Ghislain's face was already haggard. And there was a good reason for it.
'Sh-she's an incredible chatterbox.'
Erenes, excited beyond measure, chatted nonstop. At first, Ghislain had responded with polite nods and reactions, but eventually, he was so exhausted that he could only nod silently.
Even Ghislain—hardened by Belinda's nagging and Claude's nonsense—couldn't hold up against Erenes' chatter.
—Sis... just kill me already...…
—Master, please, shut her up right now. Do something about that mouth. I don't care about elf personal lives anymore.
Even Astion and Dark were so worn out that they forcibly shut down their own consciousness.
When Erenes saw Ghislain's tired expression, she pouted and snapped at him.
"What? You're bored with my story?"
"No, it's just... I think I've been a little too focused on staying alert."
"Hmph, I told you I'd take care of that. You don't have to worry."
And in fact, Erenes hid Ghislain very well.
She sent out spirits to signal that the area was clear, and if any elf approached out of suspicion, she hid Ghislain and lied for him.
All the elves believed her words without even a hint of doubt. The solidarity of the elves was truly something to behold.
That these elves would become such scumbags in the future—he still couldn't believe it, even seeing it firsthand.
Seeing her speak with such confidence, Ghislain nodded with a pale face.
"Y-yeah. I'll trust you. So, where was I again?"
"So, our problem is how closed off we elves are. We don't communicate with humans properly, we stop anyone from leaving freely. That's why, even after hundreds of years, nothing changes. That's why I…"
Erenes continued on and on about how dull, boring, and joyless the elven life was. She clearly had a lot bottled up.
How much time had passed? After pouring out everything in her heart, Erenes finally looked brighter and said,
"Sorry, I talked too much, didn't I? I never get to say these things to anyone around here. Still, I feel so much better now that I've said it out loud. Thanks for listening."
Erenes smiled shyly, a bit embarrassed. Seeing that, Ghislain also let out a small laugh.
Whatever else might be going on, that expression she was showing now—that was genuine.
To be suspicious of someone as an intruder, and yet act like a close friend in an instant.
Though sly for an elf, Erenes still had the pure heart typical of her kind.
"Ah, now it's your turn. What did you do in the outside world?"
At last, it was his turn. Ghislain grinned slyly.
As a mercenary, he'd heard countless bizarre tales and had experienced no small number of outrageous events himself.
Even a naïve elf who longed for the outside world—Ghislain was confident he could easily charm her.
"Not to brag, but I've done quite a variety of things."
Ghislain began to share his past experiences, embellishing them just a little. As the story went on, Erenes's eyes sparkled brighter and brighter.
For someone who had spent her entire life in the forest, Ghislain's tales were more stimulating and refreshing than any kind of game.
"Really? So what happened next?"
"You actually did that?"
"Wow, you're amazing!"
"I want to try being a mercenary too! It sounds so free!"
Erenes listened in awe multiple times to Ghislain's stories.
When the listener reacts enthusiastically, the speaker naturally enjoys telling the tale more. Ghislain smirked deliberately, putting on a boastful face.
"That's right, I'm that impressive. That's how I was able to receive the revelation. But you know…"
Ghislain casually continued the conversation, slipping in a question that had been on his mind.
"My abilities don't seem to work very well here. Even when I hide, the elves somehow find me. You found me too, right? How do you do that?"
"Oh, that? How we know is…"
Erenes started to speak but then suddenly bit her lip tightly. Then she smiled bashfully again and said,
"It's a secret. We're not close enough to be sharing secrets just yet, are we?"
'Sigh… She was like this even back then. She never shares the important stuff.'
Ghislain clicked his tongue. It seemed he wouldn't be learning how they detected him anytime soon.
The northern forest was still quite a distance away. As they traveled, the two continued talking without pause.
"All elves are equal. We only have a representative. But in the human world, you have social ranks, right?"
"Yeah."
"The coolest human is supposed to be a prince on a white horse."
Ghislain paused in thought. He wasn't sure how to explain this to someone with such limited knowledge of the human world.
That kind of thing only existed in fairy tales.
"A prince on a white horse… well, there's someone like that… Alpoi, maybe…"
"Hmm? Is Alpoi a prince?"
"Not exactly…"
There was one person who could be described as prince-like.
Not right now, but someone who would be reborn as a prince in the future.
"You'll meet someone like that soon. There's this cool guy named Yulian. He's more impressive than most princes."
"Really? I really want to meet him. Ah, I want to get out to the outside world soon. I want to enjoy all those adventures I've only heard about in stories."
Erenes wore an eager expression. Not yet knowing the ugliness of the human world, she only imagined it as a fairy tale filled with beauty and wonder.
Ghislain smiled bitterly. He now understood why the older elves were so particular about education.
'Erenes must have been educated too.'
Perhaps it was simply elven nature. Though not without caution, she still chose to believe in dreams more than reality.
Still, thanks to that, Ghislain grew closer to Erenes faster than expected. After all, it was only natural after all this conversation.
Though her wariness of humans hadn't vanished, the awkwardness from before had definitely faded.
As they neared the northern forest, Erenes's expression subtly hardened. Ghislain noticed and asked,
"I only heard there was some kind of problem in the northern forest. What exactly is going on?"
Erenes paused, deep in thought. She seemed unsure how much she should say.
After a moment, she seemed to make up her mind and began walking slowly again as she spoke.
"We're almost there. You'll see the northern forest soon. But to give you a brief explanation… there was a war."
"A war?"
"Do humans not know? Up in the high mountains of the northern lands live the fierce and rugged orcs—those of the Red Fang Tribe. We've been fighting them constantly."
"Huh… So you were fighting the orcs. We humans don't really know much about the lands around the elven forests."
The elven forests and the surrounding areas were all considered neutral territory. That meant humans couldn't expand their territory there.
If a human city was built too close to an elven settlement, interaction between humans and elves would naturally increase. That's why the elves only allowed one trade city beyond the forest.
Everywhere else remained untouched wilderness, free from human influence.
'Which is why this era has more monsters than mine.'
Aside from the elven forests, there were many places where the kingdom's influence didn't reach, teeming with monsters. The lords focused only on defending their own territories.
That's why the most common mercenary requests were monster subjugation and escort missions to protect against monster attacks.
When Ghislain admitted he didn't know much, Erenes continued her explanation.
"We don't fight every day. It's more like every few years, those bastards invade again. They're after the richness of our forest."
"So the northern forest was invaded by them?"
"Yeah, it's the closest forest to them, after all. Of course, we drove them off as always. In the forest, we're unbeatable."
Erenes said this with a proud expression.
Elves didn't deny emotions themselves; they simply kept their guard up against human greed, selfishness, and unrestrained emotions. Naturally, elves felt a full range of emotions too.
In fact, their pride and arrogance in their own race was often stronger than that of other races.
Wise elves knew how to control those emotions, but Erenes hadn't reached that level of discipline yet.
She soon scowled in anger, grinding her teeth.
"But those vile creatures completely ruined our forest. Maybe they were frustrated they couldn't conquer it, so this time they did something filthy."
"What… did they set fire to it or something?"
"Fire? That's no big deal. We can put out fires easily, no matter how many they start."
"Then what?"
Erenes turned a chilling gaze toward Ghislain and said,
"They made a deal with human dark mages."
Ghislain slowly looked around. Suddenly, the surroundings seemed distorted—he must have crossed the boundary of the forest.
And what he saw…
The forest had melted and rotted away. Everything was decaying.
[You can buy paid chapters or support me on any platform below:
☕ Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/punisher87
💎 Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/reaper87
🔥 Patreon: patreon.com/Punisher87translation
📘 Payhip Store: payhip.com/revengerscans
For latest Updates VisitOfficial Website: https://revengernovel.com/
Choose the platform that works best for your country. Thank you for your support!]