"River, you shameless bastard! How dare you peek at me while I was bathing?!"
An angry feminine voice echoed throughout the small wooden house, followed almost immediately by the sound of something heavy scraping against the floor.
River barely had enough time to open his eyes before a wooden stool came flying toward his face.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
He instinctively threw himself sideways, narrowly avoiding the stool as it smashed against the wall behind him.
Several wooden splinters scattered across the floor, and the impact was loud enough to make him wonder whether the entire house had shaken.
Unfortunately, his attempt to escape wasn't particularly graceful.
His shoulder struck the edge of the bed, sending a sharp pain through his arm, and before he could recover from the unexpected attack, he noticed that the woman standing across from him was already reaching for another stool.
"Wait! Wait a damn minute!" River shouted, hurriedly raising both hands in surrender. "Can't we talk about this like civilized people? What the hell did I even do?!"
"Civilized people don't sneak into women's bathing areas, you disgusting pervert!"
River stared at the furious woman standing before him, his confusion momentarily forgotten as he took in her appearance.
She was beautiful.
No, calling her beautiful would have been an understatement.
Long silver hair cascaded down her back, with several damp strands clinging to her slender neck and shoulders.
Her emerald-green eyes were unusually bright, and her delicate facial features possessed an almost otherworldly elegance that River had only ever seen in fantasy illustrations.
A loose white robe covered her graceful figure, although the way she had carelessly tied it suggested that she had dressed in a hurry. Most striking of all were the two long, pointed ears protruding through her silver hair.
Wait a minute… Pointed ears?
River blinked several times, wondering whether he was still dreaming.
The last thing he remembered was lying on his apartment bed after spending the entire night playing a fantasy role-playing game.
He had been exhausted after working overtime, and sometime around three in the morning, he had finally decided to get some sleep.
Yet somehow, he was now sitting inside an unfamiliar wooden house while a ridiculously beautiful woman with pointed ears threatened to beat him to death with furniture.
What the hell happened while I was sleeping?
"Are you even listening to me?!"
The woman's furious voice interrupted his thoughts, and River quickly returned his attention to her face.
"Of course I am. You were saying something about bathing, right?"
For a moment, the woman simply stared at him as though she couldn't believe what she had just heard. Her emerald eyes widened slightly before narrowing into a murderous glare, and River immediately realized that his response had been a terrible mistake.
"YOU REALLY ARE INCORRIGIBLE!"
She hurled the second stool toward him without another moment of hesitation.
Fortunately, River had been expecting another attack. He ducked beneath the flying furniture and scrambled toward the opposite side of the bed, putting as much distance between himself and the furious woman as possible.
"Are you trying to kill me?!" he demanded, glancing nervously at the broken furniture scattered across the floor. "I don't even know what you're talking about!"
"Perhaps getting hit in the head will finally knock some sense into that empty skull of yours!"
River opened his mouth to defend himself, but before he could utter another word, an intense headache suddenly struck him.
"Argh!"
He staggered backward, clutching his head as an overwhelming flood of unfamiliar memories surged through his mind. The pain was so sudden and severe that his legs nearly gave way beneath him, forcing him to grab the edge of the bed for support.
Images flashed through his consciousness in rapid succession.
An enormous forest filled with towering ancient trees, their branches stretching so high that they almost concealed the sky.
Beautiful wooden houses built around massive trunks, connected by suspended bridges and winding staircases. Floating magical crystals illuminated the pathways, while elegant men and women with pointed ears moved through the settlement.
There were memories of magical lessons, archery training, village festivals, and countless humiliating failures.
And then there were the women.
Beautiful elven women, to be precise.
River watched in disbelief as one memory after another revealed the ridiculous behavior of the body's previous owner.
What the hell… This guy actually proposed to the village chief's daughter seven times?
He could hardly believe what he was seeing.
And she rejected him every single time?
Unfortunately, that was only the beginning.
The original owner had apparently spent most of his adolescence pursuing practically every attractive woman in the village, regardless of whether they showed any interest in him.
He had attempted to impress female adventurers with exaggerated stories about his nonexistent combat achievements, written terrible love poems to noblewomen visiting the settlement, and once challenged a talented young elf to an archery competition simply because the young man's fiancée had complimented his appearance.
Naturally, he had lost that competition so badly that the entire village had laughed about it for weeks.
Good grief. What kind of hopeless bastard did I reincarnate as?
River groaned inwardly as the final pieces of information settled into place.
His name was River Silverleaf, a nineteen-year-old wood elf living in a small settlement on the outskirts of the Evergreen Forest.
The settlement belonged to the Elven Kingdom of Sylvaria, one of the most powerful elven nations on the continent of Eldoria.
Unfortunately, despite being born into a race renowned for its extraordinary magical abilities, River possessed practically no talent whatsoever.
His magical affinity was abysmal, his physical strength was below average, and even children several years younger than him could outperform him during basic archery training.
To make matters worse, his terrible reputation had made him something of a local embarrassment.
The villagers knew him as a shameless troublemaker who spent more time chasing women than improving himself.
And judging by the furious woman standing before him, the previous River had finally taken his ridiculous behavior too far.
"River?"
A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts, and he slowly raised his head.
The silver-haired woman was watching him with a mixture of suspicion and concern. Although she still appeared angry, her expression had softened slightly after seeing him clutch his head in obvious pain.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly so quiet?"
River rubbed his forehead, trying to ignore the lingering discomfort as he examined the memories associated with her.
Her name was Elarap.
She was a twenty-four-year-old High Elf who worked as one of the village's magic instructors, and she had been responsible for supervising River's magical education for several years.
More importantly, she had been a close friend of his late mother.
After River's mother passed away, Elara had occasionally visited him, brought him food, and attempted to help him improve his magical abilities despite his miserable aptitude.
Unfortunately, the original River had apparently interpreted her kindness as romantic interest.
Seriously? Even the woman who's practically been looking after you since your mother died?
River couldn't help feeling embarrassed on behalf of the body's previous owner.
Still, he had to admit that Elara was extraordinarily attractive.
Her silver hair shimmered beneath the sunlight streaming through the window, while her emerald eyes possessed an almost mesmerizing quality.
Even her angry expression seemed strangely beautiful, although River suspected that complimenting her appearance right now would probably earn him another piece of furniture to the face.
"River, I'm talking to you!"
"Ah, sorry." He straightened his posture and gave her an apologetic smile. "I was just thinking about how unfortunate my life has become."
Elara blinked, clearly not expecting that response.
"What?"
"Nothing important." River waved dismissively before glancing at the broken furniture scattered across the floor. "Anyway, could you stop throwing things at me? I'm pretty sure you've already made your point."
Elara narrowed her emerald eyes, studying him as though she were trying to determine whether he had finally lost his mind.
For some reason, the young man before her seemed slightly different from the shameless idiot she had known for years.
Usually, whenever she confronted him about his inappropriate behavior, he would either offer some absurd excuse or attempt to flatter her until she became too exhausted to continue arguing.
Today, however, he appeared strangely calm.
That alone was enough to make her suspicious.
"You're not going to deny what you did?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
River considered the question for a moment.
Technically, he hadn't done anything wrong. The previous owner of this body had been responsible for the incident, and River had only arrived afterward.
Unfortunately, explaining that he had reincarnated from another world would probably make him sound completely insane.
Besides, judging by Elara's expression, she wasn't particularly interested in hearing excuses.
"Would you believe me if I said I've become a completely different person?" he asked with a faint smile.
"No," Elara replied immediately, without even bothering to consider his words.
"Not even a little?"
"Absolutely not. I've known you long enough to recognize when you're trying to escape responsibility, River, and I'm not falling for another one of your ridiculous excuses."
River sighed, although he couldn't really blame her for being suspicious. If the memories he had inherited were accurate, the previous River had probably exhausted every possible excuse known to elven civilization.
"Well, at least you're honest." He scratched the back of his head before continuing, "Look, I'm not going to argue with you. Whatever happened yesterday, I promise it won't happen again."
Elara stared at him for several seconds.
"You're serious?"
"Completely. From now on, I'll be a respectable young elf who minds his own business and stays out of trouble."
Rather than looking relieved, Elara appeared even more suspicious.
"Somehow, hearing you say that makes me even more worried."
"Wow. You really have no faith in me, do you?"
"Would you have faith in someone who has promised to change at least twenty times in the past year?"
River opened his mouth, intending to defend himself, but quickly closed it again when another embarrassing memory surfaced.
Twenty times? Damn, this guy really was hopeless.
Elara watched his expression change and released a tired sigh.
"Honestly, River, I don't understand what happened to you. Your mother was such a wonderful woman, and she always believed you would grow into someone respectable. Yet all you seem interested in doing is chasing women and embarrassing yourself."
Her voice had lost much of its earlier anger, replaced by a weariness that made River feel unexpectedly uncomfortable.
"You're nineteen now. You're not a child anymore, and I can't keep protecting you whenever you do something foolish. One day, you're going to offend someone who won't be satisfied with simply scolding you."
River fell silent.
Although he had only recently inherited this body's memories, he could tell that Elara genuinely cared about his well-being.
She wasn't simply angry because of yesterday's incident.
She was disappointed.
And judging by the way she looked at him, that disappointment had been building for years.
"Alright, Elara. I understand," River replied, his tone becoming more serious. "I won't cause you any more trouble."
Elara studied him carefully, seemingly searching for some indication that he was being dishonest.
Eventually, she shook her head.
"I suppose we'll see about that."
She turned toward the door, but after taking several steps, she suddenly stopped and glanced over her shoulder.
"One more thing. Tomorrow is the annual Talent Awakening Ceremony, and every elf who has reached nineteen is required to attend. I know you've been avoiding the subject, but you can't keep running away from your future."
River raised an eyebrow.
"Talent Awakening Ceremony?"
Elara frowned.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten about that too."
"Of course not." River quickly shook his head. "I was just making sure you remembered."
She stared at him with an expression of complete disbelief.
"Sometimes, I genuinely wonder how your brain works."
River chuckled awkwardly, deciding that remaining silent would probably be the safest response.
Elara sighed once more before continuing.
"Even if your chances of awakening a decent talent are low, you should still attend. The ceremony is an important part of every elf's life, and there are opportunities available even for those who don't possess exceptional magical abilities."
Her expression softened slightly as she looked at him.
"Your mother would have wanted you to at least try."
River felt a strange sensation in his chest upon hearing those words.
The original owner's memories contained several fragments of his mother, including the gentle smile she had worn whenever she encouraged him to practice his magic.
Although those memories weren't truly his, the emotions attached to them felt surprisingly real.
"I'll be there," River promised.
Elara nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer.
"Good. The ceremony begins shortly after sunrise, so don't stay awake all night doing something ridiculous. And please, for once in your life, try not to embarrass yourself in front of the kingdom's representatives."
With that final warning, she opened the door and stepped outside.