Several years had passed since our visit to Rorona’s village. Since returning to the forest, our days had been filled with meetings with various individuals: residents of the forest, Selene and her family, and even the royal family of Gald. We still saw Elnea from time to time as well. Amid the hustle and bustle, time slipped away unnoticed, and I suddenly found myself over one hundred years old.
Today, we had invited Elnea and Althea for tea. To my surprise, they arrived with somber expressions on their faces.
“Chise,” Elnea said by way of greeting. “Something quite troublesome has happened.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“You look really worried,” Teto commented. “You should eat something yummy to feel better! Here, have some acorn coffee and cheesecake!”
Our guests took a bite of the treats Teto had served them and instantly seemed to feel better.
“A wave of youngsters has appeared out of nowhere, demanding to leave the forest,” Elnea explained when she was done with her snack.
“Isn’t that...normal?” I asked, puzzled.
She shook her head. “Normally around a dozen or so individuals petition to leave every few years. But, this time, over a hundred of them are claiming to want to venture beyond the forest’s borders all at once! That is completely abnormal!” she exclaimed.
My eyes shot wide open. When she put it like that, it sounded like quite a crisis.
“Do you have any idea why?” I asked.
“This,” Elnea said dejectedly as she held out a book and a bunch of crumpled pieces of paper to me over the table.
I instantly recognized the book: it was The Legend of the Heroes.
“It’s the book you were reading, Lady Witch!” Teto exclaimed.
“As for the pieces of paper, there’s a poster, an illustration, and a newspaper, huh?” I noted, inspecting them one by one.
“The book is an adventuring novel that is popular among the young folk, and the pieces of paper are what the traveling merchants use to cushion their cargo,” Elnea explained.
As it turned out, the introduction of novels like The Legend of the Heroes into the elves’ forest had prompted some sort of craze for human culture among the younger generations, and the imagery on the merchants’ packing material had only exacerbated this infatuation. The poster advertised a theater play, its exuberant design and vibrant color scheme immediately catching the eye, while the illustration showed a street lined with stone and brick houses, which was unlike anything one might find in the elves’ forest. As for the newspaper, it was an old thing from a town I had never heard of. It looked as if the person who’d composed it had tried using every square micron of each individual sheet, to the point where it was almost comical. It reminded me of the Edo period, when people used ukiyo-e instead of wrapping paper to cushion the wares they exported to the West, especially pottery and the like.
To the elves, who had always lived in their tranquil settlements, human culture must’ve seemed incredibly exciting.
As a sidenote, The Legend of Heroes was particularly popular in our forest as well, especially among children. All of the books I had bought or found during my travels were stored in the mansion’s library, and anyone could come and borrow them at any time. The children loved to play pretend and play-fight with sticks as if they were the heroes in such books. Some families even went as far as to order their own copies. Just like the teenagers in Elnea’s forest, these children would most likely grow up with an interest in the outside world.
“I see... This is the result of Miss Althea’s proselytizing, huh?”
“I couldn’t have worded it better myself,” Elnea said, nodding gravely. “And the current situation is no laughing matter.”
Her bitter expression stood out drastically from the pleasant smile she usually wore. She was directly concerned by the matter at hand; I could imagine it weighed heavily on her mind.
As for Althea—whose actions had played no small part in the current situation—she looked noticeably paler than usual. “I had no idea introducing a mere work of fiction to the forest would cause such a commotion,” she muttered, bowing her head to Elnea and apologizing.
Elnea’s expression soured further; it must not have been the first time Althea had apologized for her role in the matter. Knowing Elnea, she must’ve been thoroughly tired of it by now.
She gave us a rundown of the situation; the elven teenagers who wanted to leave the forest had gathered somewhere in the forest to prepare for their departure, and the adults were desperately trying to hold them back—achieving little besides steadily aggravating these would-be tourists. If things kept on this path, it was only a matter of time before the young elves got fed up and left for good. For the time being, they refused to leave the makeshift bases they had built for themselves. It seemed that there were several similar groups all around the forest, some counting members in the single digits, while others had a larger following.
“So they’ve basically run away from home, huh? Typical teenager stuff,” I noted.
“That sounds like a lot of fun!” Teto chirped beside me, her eyes sparkling.
“If we do not find a solution, our forest is doomed!” Elnea exclaimed.
I wish I could say she was exaggerating, but deep down, I knew she was probably right. In my previous life, it was common to hear about villages slowly losing their population as young people migrated to Tokyo. Even in this world, I had heard about many villages vanishing off the map, as there was no one left to work in them after all of the youngsters had moved to bigger towns.
Personally, I wanted to encourage these young elves to travel and see more of the world, but I didn’t approve of them running away from home and rebelling against their families.
“Who is the fool responsible for mass-producing books on paper anyway?!” Elnea said, fuming. “Had books remained exclusive luxuries, this situation would never have unfolded into such chaos!”
I jolted in surprise at her words. “Th-That’s, um...” I stammered.
“Yes, Chise?” Elnea interrupted me. “Do you know who is responsible for this debacle?”
“Um, well, I’m sure that the person who developed the manufacturing method for paper didn’t...” My eyes darted around nervously as I debated whether or not to tell Elnea that I was the “fool” in question. Unfortunately, Teto didn’t leave me a choice.
“It’s Lady Witch!” she declared proudly.
I immediately buried my face in my hands.
“Is that so?” Elnea said, her voice low as she shot me a glare so intense it made me want to apologize immediately. “So it is your fault that this chaos has ensued, Chise.”
“I suppose it is,” I said in a strangled voice. “I’m the one who invented paper, after all. I’ll help you deal with the situation in your forest to the best of my ability.”
A smirk curled on Elnea’s lips. “Is that so? I am pleased to hear that. However, Chise, if I were you, I would stop being so overweeningly kind to everyone. You might fall victim to unsavory individuals in the future.” She cackled, the death glare she had shot me earlier already a distant memory.
Althea shot me an apologetic look, and it hit me.
“Hold on a minute. Did I just get played?” I asked between gritted teeth, bringing a hand to my forehead in exasperation.
“Is something wrong, Lady Witch?” Teto said innocently, her head tilted to the side.