I Became a 10,000-year-old Elf

“This is it. This is one of the precious artifacts from the mythical era. I obtained it from the black market.”

“I can’t even tell what it is.”

What I proposed to Ethan was about the secrets of this world, which had completely changed from the world I lived in, as we conversed.

I smirked as I held what he had brought me. This thing, smaller than my palm, was something made of metal… or so I presumed.

Discolored black and twisted, it was hard for even me to tell what it was. However, one thing was certain even to my eyes.

This definitely didn’t become like this due to natural causes.

“As I said, almost no artifacts from the mythical era remain, and the few that have barely survived mostly have tremendous value because of that. For some reason, the artifacts from that era are destroyed and deteriorated by a substance that the well-educated call ‘dark mana’, leaving almost nothing behind. As if trying to erase that era.”

“Dark mana, you say?”

Hearing Ethan’s serious explanation, I snorted at the cringeworthy naming. Certainly, the car license plate I had pulled out from the ground was severely deteriorated similar to this, though to a different degree.

‘It’s one of the calamities foretold by the tower. The Great Apocalypse. Did the Earth really get corrupted and perish because we failed to conquer the tower?’

However, I knew why this was happening. It was one of the five apocalypses spread through those climbing the tower. If we failed to conquer the tower, a force that negates everything would erase all traces of the failures.

That message, conveyed by the people climbing the tower, was enough to make many people live in apocalyptic beliefs.

But there was one blind spot. The calamity foretold by the tower could only be activated when not a single person with the qualification to challenge remained.

Although other climbers might have all failed, died, or been thrown out of the tower, and the current neo-humans might be their descendants.

Here I am, a climber who had just barely finished the tutorial, alive and breathing. I didn’t fail in the tower.

That damned tower collapsed before me and unilaterally kicked me out, that’s all.

“I thought it might be, but it really is a lighter. A tool used to make fire.”

“H-How is this possible… It’s said that an enormous amount of high-purity mana is needed to erase dark mana…”

The corroded and deteriorated lighter in my hand started to regain its original form, as if purifying something dirty. In reality, the power I possessed pushed away the negating force dwelling in the lighter.

Ethan stammered in shock as he saw the shiny silver oil lighter.

From what I hear, the power and money required to restore such deteriorated artifacts are enormous.

“This seems like it could be a way to make a living. Do whatever you want with it, sell it or keep it.”

“Is, is that really enough for you?”

“In exchange, you have to provide everything I want. Don’t worry too much. There probably won’t be any excessive demands.”

I tossed the lighter to Ethan, and he, terrified it might fall to the floor, hurriedly caught it and held it preciously in his hand.

It’s funny how he’s so anxious over such a trivial object. No matter how I look at it, the golden bracelet he’s wearing now seems more expensive.

“I won’t do many. It’s not easy to do, either.”

Although I instantly restored the artifact using my special ability, it wasn’t free. I consumed a considerable amount of power to drive away the negating force.

This much power could be used to dig a deep well using earth spirits. It definitely wasn’t enough to use recklessly.

‘To begin with, the power I have now is too little. I needed more power anyway.’

My goal is ultimately to gain power that can secure safety, and to buy time to gain that power. I plan to spend time investigating this world along the way, but I didn’t want to waste time working unnecessarily just to earn money.

The things Ethan provides will surely help me diligently in that regard.

Maybe as I do various things like this, I’ll eventually find a new reason to live.

“Nice house. I’ll use the second floor? And your maids were pretty, give me one too. If you don’t want to keep attending to me yourself.”

“…Understood.”

After that, I continued to make demands to Ethan without hesitation. Since I paid a price in my own way, Ethan answered that he understood, albeit with a sour expression.

The feeling of having everything I say come true isn’t bad, actually.

It was a life I couldn’t even imagine, but I was sure of this. From now on, I’ll try everything I want to do.

Right now, I’m in a state with no responsibilities or anything. Even though I feel considerable emptiness because of it, in other words, it could be said that I’ve gained complete freedom.

I, who have escaped from the past and the tower, am free. It means I have the opportunity to walk my own unpredictable path, liberated from the shackles of fate and karma.

* * *

‘Perhaps I’ve become entangled with a calamity I should never have been involved with?’

When he came down to the first floor, Ethan looked at the silver lighter he was holding with his palm open.

As expected, her power was indeed enormous and great. In a way he couldn’t even imagine, she restored the deteriorated artifact to its original state more easily than flipping a palm.

A 10,000-year-old elf from the mythical era. Recalling those red eyes, Ethan, getting goosebumps, unconsciously rubbed his arm.

‘But it seems clear she intends to use me. If I just get along moderately, I might gain benefits beyond imagination!’

He was an executive of the organization and at the same time a businessman plotting how to embezzle more tribute money. Even if it was a double-edged sword, he was prepared to grasp and wield it willingly.

Moreover, this was no ordinary sword. It might be a magic sword that could cut this world. Thinking so, Ethan bit his lip with a determined expression.

“Selene.”

“Yes, master.”

“The maid we’re currently training… Lina, was it? Assign her to the guest upstairs, not to me.”

He called the young woman who was his personal maid and head maid, and gave instructions. Her eyes widened at this.

The new maid who came to the mansion was one he had brought in and trained with effort, intending to take her for himself.

“It can’t be helped. Isn’t she the only completely pure maid in the mansion right now? If we’re going to present something anyway, it’s better to do it as flawlessly as possible. Elves value purity, so it will probably be effective.”

‘Right?’

He had doubts even as he gave the instructions, but he shook his head forcefully. He assumed that even a 10,000-year-old elf would be no different from current elves, because an elf is an elf.

For such a being, appearance or gender wouldn’t matter at all.

Ethan sent the carefully selected maid up to the second floor, having made thorough preparations to score points.

“Lina, it’s the master’s order. From now on, you must serve another person in the mansion.”

“Who do you mean…?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure either. Only the master has talked with that person.”

In the maids’ room in the annex of the mansion. Selene, who had received Ethan’s order, went there and conveyed Ethan’s command to the black-bobbed woman waiting with a tense face.

Her amber eyes, still showing traces of youth, widened at the unexpected order. At the same time, the cat ears on top of her head also moved.

“A, a guest?”

The woman called Lina asked with fearful eyes. It was a common practice to assign a maid to an honored guest.

It was natural for Lina, who had no experience yet, to be anxious, as it was an established course for a maid assigned in this way to provide night service as well.

“They might be a guest, or they might not be…”

Selene didn’t bother to mention what she had seen. Honestly, it was strange enough that her master had picked up a fatally beautiful elf girl, but it was even more incomprehensible that he was trying to treat that girl with utmost hospitality.

“Th-Then what is that person’s name?”

“The master told me that.”

As a result, Lina, growing increasingly anxious, desperately asked for the guest’s name as if it were her last resort.

“Isilia.”

One of the old words meaning progenitor. However, even if it’s an old word, to one who lived through not just ancient times but myth itself, it would be like novelty itself.

Lina nodded unconsciously upon hearing that name.

More than the meaning of the name, she was relieved by the fact that it was a woman’s name.

“Isi… Lady Isilia. I…”

But that sense of relief ended up completely shattered when she went up to the second floor and saw the person directly.

Because there stood a girl who seemed to be from another world, bathed in the pouring moonlight in front of the balcony.

“What’s this? Why are you dressed so stuffily? The others looked pretty decent.”

The girl turned her head and looked at Lina with a smirk.

Although Ethan had taken special care to dress her in a modest maid uniform with long sleeves and skirt to minimize skin exposure, the girl seemed displeased with it.