I Became a 10,000-year-old Elf

The strong shockwave’s gust untied the cape’s string, causing it to fly away. Her long silver hair fluttered, and her characteristic long, pointed ears popped out from between her hair strands.

It was hard to even keep her eyes open, but she didn’t close her large red eyes, merely squinting as she quietly looked at the hand stretched out right in front of her face.

A large hand covered in fur and claws, trembling as if it was longing for something desperately but couldn’t reach it.

Even at this moment, that hand was twitching, trying somehow to reach her. As if it could touch her if it just stretched a little more.

With a body that no longer moved, it let out a groan, trying to reach the elf girl right in front of it.

“Why?”

She chuckled as she looked at the creature, its entire body pinned down by sharp stone spears that had sprung from the ground.

The intense killing intent and desperation simultaneously felt in those eyes that showed not a hint of reason. In other words, it was the most genuine instinct, and Isilia didn’t understand the reason.

She could only look at the result before her eyes and guess.

“You… you… elf…”

Patrick, who had barely gotten up holding his sword, recognized Isilia’s identity and stammered with his mouth wide open, as if his jaw might drop.

Of course, she had no time to pay attention to Patrick right now.

“Do you want me to do something for you?”

Ignoring Patrick and even Lina, who was standing behind not knowing what to do, Isilia slowly reached out her hand. And when those slender fingers met the trembling werewolf’s hand…

“Ugh?!”

She gritted her teeth and opened her eyes wide at the intense repulsion that crackled. It was a reaction similar to when she purified the negative power embedded in artifacts with her own power.

“This can’t be…”

Patrick collapsed on the spot, seeing that sight.

The power of the werewolf, corrupted by the curse and rampaging, was being purified and pushed back from the part that touched her. At least a miracle that had been sought for thousands of years, but that no one had been able to achieve, was happening right before their eyes.

‘Damn it, is this all I can do right now?’

But it was impossible for Isilia to completely purify the werewolf with her current power.

At best, only half of its arm had returned from being a werewolf with black fur to having the blue-green fur of an ordinary wolf beastkin.

“It’s… it’s dead. Its breath has stopped. How did you do that?”

Patrick, misunderstanding what she had done, muttered blankly.

The werewolf’s arm fell with a thud, having died from the shock to its body that it could no longer withstand. As Isilia’s face hardened and she removed the stone spears, the lifeless body collapsed to the ground.

‘Is this what you were hoping for? Is that why you came running to me so desperately? To kill me, and at the same time to be saved by me.’

Isilia quietly approached the werewolf’s corpse and noticed that the corners of its mouth were slightly turned up.

* * *

“Am I dreaming? No, but this can’t be unless it’s a dream…”

“Stop making a fuss and get up? Other people are approaching. Let’s leave before then.”

I picked up the cape again and put it on, then clicked my tongue as I looked at Patrick muttering on the ground.

I never expected to reveal my identity to him in this way. Being an elf might not be a problem, but the werewolf’s curse being purified by my power was a different matter.

“What exactly are you? No, what are you?”

“You seem quite curious. Can you handle it?”

I smirked as I looked down at him asking about my identity. Ethan was still regretting it even now, I wonder how he would react.

“I want to know.”

“…”

Surprisingly, Patrick bowed his head to me without a moment’s hesitation, prostrating himself on the ground. I was so dumbfounded that I was at a loss for words.

Come to think of it, unlike Ethan, who was a businessman and an organization executive, he was an adventurer who had lived his whole life adventuring. Their personalities were bound to be different.

“Get up for now.”

There was no time to explain everything to him here and now.

We hurriedly packed our things and tried to leave.

“Ah, we’re too late.”

But in the end, the others were faster. Before we could leave, a group of people arrived at the scene in a hurry.

Although they were quite far away, those who appeared on the slope had already seen us.

“Wait! Hold on!”

What seemed to be several adventurer parties united slid down the slope one after another. One of them even rolled down, apparently having lost their footing.

Unfortunately, their companions paid no attention to the person who had tumbled down like that.

“Even the city guard?!”

Even the city guard appeared a step late. As the guard captain holding a shotgun came down the slope at the front, the adventurers were already surrounding us and murmuring while looking at the werewolf’s corpse on the ground.

“This mad wolf broke through the encirclement and fled. Not a few died or were injured in the process!”

“Don’t tell me, you… just three… no, two of you caught this monster?!”

The excited group just shouted their own words. I couldn’t step forward here as I was hiding my identity, and Lina was already on the verge of tears from experiencing too much.

“Everyone, step back. We nearly died and we’re exhausted.”

“Patrick?! Have you started being active again?”

At least Patrick stepped forward smartly and started acting. Moreover, there was even an adventurer who recognized him, making the situation easier to handle than expected.

“We just came to hunt Rakes, but yes, we did catch it. It was a close call. If it hadn’t been tired and injured, we might have been the ones taken down instead.”

“That beastkin swordswoman is a newbie, but Patrick is at that level?”

“No way. That guy just has a long career but nothing special. Then is that newbie really amazing?”

Although Patrick explained calmly, things didn’t settle down easily. Some adventurers, perhaps excited, whispered loudly enough to be heard, focusing their gazes on Lina who was standing awkwardly.

“Alright, everyone, let’s talk later. Anyway, it’s true that the werewolf has been caught, so let’s clean up first.”

It was then that the guard captain intervened. The guard captain, openly holding what was clearly a shotgun, had a very pleased expression.

It seemed he was very happy that this situation had been resolved so quickly.

“You, your name is Patrick, right? Even though it was weakened from breaking through the encirclement, the credit for catching the one we let escape is very significant. If you come to the city hall, you’ll be able to receive quite a substantial reward from the mayor.”

“I’ll be sure to visit. Thank you for your hard work as well, city guard.”

“Of course. Well then everyone, let’s go back, tend to the injured, mourn the victims, and then have a celebratory drink!”

As Patrick responded neatly, the guard captain, in an even better mood, laughed heartily and pointed towards the city.

It was already evening time, with the sun setting.

While many still looked at us with questioning eyes, we also returned to the city as nonchalantly as possible.

‘I didn’t want fame to come rushing in like this.’

It was an ambiguous result in many ways. Not only had what was meant to be a kind of game for my training grown bigger, but the fact that there were more than one or two secrets continuing from the mythical era also weighed on my mind.

While restoring artifacts was one thing, the fact that even a curse considered a calamity could be broken by my hand was not something to be taken lightly.

“I might have to move out of Ethan’s house.”

I whispered to Lina. I thought it was about time to leave his house, having freeloaded enough.

“That’s a very good idea. It’s a bit dangerous to be associated with you in the open.”

“You seem happier than I expected. But I’m taking Lina with me.”

When I told Ethan about this after returning home, he nodded with a big grin. He seemed to have completely forgotten about catching the intruders thanks to me.

“Of course, Lina will have to receive a separate salary once she’s paid off her debt.”

“You’ll be the one paying that, right?”

“?”

Of course, my saying I’d leave Ethan’s house didn’t mean I was cutting all ties with him. I’m not crazy enough to abandon this honey pot.

“You’ll still have to pay for the artifacts I restore. Surely a businessman like you isn’t planning to take it all for yourself?”

“Ugh… That’s fine. From now on, find a good hotel and rest comfortably there.”

I tried provoking him once, but it seemed he was satisfied just to have me out of his sight. Considering how afraid he was of me, it wasn’t really a strange reaction.

“Don’t worry, I’ll visit often.”

Feeling a bit annoyed, I declared that this wasn’t the end.

While he despaired and became gloomy at my words about visiting often, I had Lina pack our belongings. According to Ethan, there were hotels in the city for long-term guests like adventurers.

Moreover, since his organization had shares in that hotel, it was a good place to keep in touch with Ethan.

“I won’t be able to see Lina in her maid outfit there anymore.”

One regrettable point was that I couldn’t have Lina serve as a maid outside anymore. Another reason to visit here more often had arisen.