I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

63 – 63. An elf who raised a witch

Alfred and Arcel took Stella to a deep forest he had never seen before.

Surely, Alfred said he was going to see his maternal grandmother, Shion, but it seemed unlikely that people would live in a place like this.

A place that seems to be isolated from the world because it is a remote place.

It feels like you are isolating yourself from the world.

“This is the house where my mother and I used to live.”

A few minutes to walk like that.

After passing through a deep valley, a slightly open space appears.

“This is the house you lived in?”

I saw an old cabin in front of me.

It doesn’t look like people have lived there for quite a while, but just looking at the scenery, it was quite romantic.

In a small valley in the forest, clean spring water gushes next to it, and a large tree covers the roof as if to block rain and snow.

For some reason, this place feels oddly familiar.

“…This cabin was built the way the elves did, right?”

Stella said that this hut was built in the way of elves.

“My maternal grandmother is an elf.”

A house built with a large tree as its central pillar.

Originally, it was the method of elves to make shelters by using empty spaces in trees, but there are very few trees of that size and their efficiency is quite low.

So this is what I made while maintaining the traditional culture as much as possible.

It is a method of cultivating a living tree as a pillar and praying for the well-being of the family and the elves.

“So they probably built this cumbersome house.”

“What the hell do you think of elven traditions?!”

“The traditions of the dwarves are often passed down from thousands of years ago, so it’s just an old culture.”

“…”

“You can’t honestly refute, can you?”

Stella fell silent at Alfred’s answer.

Even though many things have been improved, the culture of the elves is still outdated.

Furthermore, according to Stella’s memory, the elves did not change much until the time when their hometown was on fire.

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The elves who were stained with black spots and harmed themselves even attacked their own kind.

They weren’t rebels, they were just people who needed healing.

-Rebellion! The tribe of leaves rebelled!-

At the time, most of the chieftains who ruled the elven society wanted to annihilate them.

Those who were born in the same land and grew up drinking the same air and water are like family.

“I think he lived here with his mother…”

Arsel went inside the cabin and looked inside.

It was an ordinary cabin.

An old bed, a stove with leftover firewood, a table with small flower pots and a bookshelf with many books.

There were also dolls that looked handmade.

It’s a rag doll made of cloth and cotton, but I could feel that a lot of effort was put into it.

There was no sign of using magic.

“…It’s a small but warm place.”

Compared to the name of the witch of ash, it felt simple.

Because in most cases, when it comes to a witch’s house, you expect something a little more amazing.

But this is just an ordinary cabin.

But it was very nostalgic, and Arcel smiled strangely.

Somehow, I also felt nostalgic.

“Looking back now, I don’t understand. Why did a person who can create mountains with magic live in such a small cabin?”

Alfred said as he entered the cabin.

Compared to Arcel, who only feels friendly in this place, Alfred seems to treat it like a nuisance.

Although it is old, it seems that they are constantly paying attention to it because it has been kept clean.

Is it a place full of memories in its own way?

“Perhaps your mother also wanted to live a normal life. It’s quite painful to not be treated as a human being by the same human being.”

“For that kind of thing, you have gone too far out of the human realm, especially the way you educate your children.”

“Looking at you, you must have had a bit of a strict education.”

“Don’t say that, I get really nervous about cliffs. Instead, I realized that there is no other way to educate people than to throw them off a cliff.”

“I heard that some animals intentionally drop their young off a cliff and raise only those who come up. Maybe she just wanted to grow strong?”

“Because they are raised like that, they are called beasts, and if they are going to drop them, they throw them at the end of the cliff…”

Alfred’s voice is a bit lower than usual when he talks about his mother.

She can’t help but miss her dead mother no matter how much Alfred.

Alfred’s mother, the witch of embers, died of illness at a young age when Alfred was unable to move on his own, she said.

That was also the decisive reason why Alfred was kidnapped by the Demon King.

“By the way, the fact that your maternal grandmother is an elf… Is that really saying that your mother is also an elf?”

“I can’t, if I did, I would have drained all the elf blood that flows in my body? Her mother was a human adopted by an elf. As much as she was called a witch, she is not an ordinary genealogy.”

“…A witch?”

Stella arrives late and looks somewhat surprised to hear that Alfred’s mother is a witch.

Arcel and Clen knew, but Stella didn’t seem to know until just now.

“Ashes, ash witches?! What, it’s an old story I heard before I was even born!”

That’s why she’s not just another witch, she’s the Witch of Embers, notorious among elves.

Stella uses Arcel as a wall to keep her distance from Alfred.

It’s a natural reaction to say that an already dangerous guy has a mother as dangerous as himself.

“So, what did you come here to do after all? I don’t think I came here just to have a memory trip.”

I try to pretend to be calm, but I still talk with Arcel as a breakwater.

“Keep quiet, goblin. Why are your ears long, but your patience short? Become at least half of those useless ears.”

Alfred sighed and took out a white cloth from the bookshelf.

A mysterious cloth with a maze-like pattern engraved on it.

In addition, they pick a leaf from the outside, wrap it in a cloth, and put it in the stove.

Flame!

After that, when the stove was lit, the door of the cabin opened by itself, and the outside looked different from before, so Arcel and Stella looked around with surprised eyes.

A blank white hallway.

Outside the hut, it was the only thing that stretched out endlessly.

It seems that the whole cabin was moved to another space using magic, or only the entrance of the cabin was opened to that place.

“…Couldn’t it be a passage to the underworld?”

But it seems like the road to heaven, so I’m afraid to enter it.

Stella, as well as Arcel, were still in the cabin and couldn’t come out.

The air is hot and even blows an unknown wind, so it is suitable for arousing people’s fear.

If I go out there, maybe I won’t be able to come back forever…

The fear of the unknown was always present everywhere.

“What are you doing when you don’t go out? You don’t have to be so scared.”

At that moment, Alfred grabbed Arcel by the shoulder with one hand and pushed Stella away with the other hand.

The two of them hesitated to enter, and ended up going outside the cabin.

“What are you doing all of a sudden?! You thought your liver would fall off!”

“That’s a shame.”

“Alfred… Does your grandmother live in a place like this?”

“Her grandmother’s tastes are so eccentric that I would stick out her tongue, so please understand. Originally, the older you get, the more you lose normal thinking.”

“You goby-like bastard, why do only gem-like words come out of that mouth?”

“What is this voice?”

Then the voice of Zion was heard.

“She is a dwarf just like you, but at the same time she is my maternal grandmother. Why is my grandmother a dwarf…”

“But I don’t see your maternal grandmother.”

“I’ll come out on my own, it seems like you broke in on your own before and played a bit of a joke.”

I look around, but I can’t see Shion, which is strange.

Stella went down the hallway to find Shion.

Thump!

“What?”

But this time she bumped her body into empty air and landed on her butt backwards, and Stella looked around in bewilderment.

“What, where did you hit it?”

“Why do you have good eyes but can’t notice the wall so close to you?

“That’s another fight-“

“Wait a minute, Stella.”

Arcel moved to Stella’s side and held out her hand.

At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to grab anything, but I felt a strange tactile sensation in my hand.

“…Was this fake?”

“Fake? Oh, if so!”

Stella extends her hand in the same way as if she finally realized it.

As I pushed hard with Arcel, the hallway that seemed to stretch out endlessly began to fall backwards.

The expression that the hallway collapses backwards is awkward.

However, the scenery that unfolded soon after explained the situation roughly as to what had happened.

Koo-ung!

The hallway really collapsed.

“Welcome, little ones, did you like the prank I prepared for you?”

The voice of Zion is heard.

If there is a difference from a little while ago, is it that now you have revealed not only your voice but also your appearance?

As if Shion welcomed the three, she greeted them with a smile.

“Was it just a model?”

It was a simple fake.

The endless white corridor that aroused a strange fear of the unknown was only made to look like that by carving a picture on a wooden board.

Stella blinked her eyes somewhat dumbfounded.

“Judging by the look on his face, he seems to have eaten quite well.”

Shion put her hands behind her back and smiled.

On the contrary, Stella just stared at Shion without saying anything.

“Elves have eyes that see through even well-crafted magical illusions, but they are often fooled by primitive tricks like this.”

“It’s a grandma-like prank. If it were me, I would have prepared something like a bubbling cauldron at her feet as a prank.”

“What you are saying is really boiling water.”

“Yeah, but is that even a problem?”

“We never decided to call that a joke.”

“It’s just a joke to me.”

“Why don’t you decorate the floor with windows?”

“That’s nice too, but when there’s a corpse, bugs are attracted to it. It won’t be easy to solve that.”

“Then, how about laying down magic water that melts even the bones?”

“Let’s try the experiment on her grandmother first. If it works for her grandmother, I’m sure other people will pass it too.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re in perfect shape for such an experiment, so why don’t you try it yourself?”

A conversation between two people who seem to be far away from their minds.

“…Are those two doing that every time they meet?”

Arsel said as he supported Stella, who had sunk down.

“?”

But there was another strange thing there, and even when Arcel tried to get Stella up, she sat down again as if her legs had lost strength.

“Why is that, Stella?”

“…High elf, childlike appearance, red eyes.”

Stella kept muttering her strange words to herself.

Arcel was worried about Stella suddenly acting like that, but he tried to understand because he honestly reacted the same way at first.

“Besides, if you’re an elf who adopted a witch…”

“Stella?”

However, the reason Stella was shocked was a little deeper.

“I can’t believe that elf is-“

That also has to do with the entire elven race.

“Ah, your baby is welcome too. It’s a strange feeling to see you and my grandchildren. My grandson hates elves extremely, but he’s still alive.”

Shion looked at Stella and smiled.

“Suddenly, what is that? It’s strangely ominous that her grandmother is in a strange mood.”

Alfred frowned at Shion.

“Anyway, since the family is here after a long time, you should at least show off your skills. Is there anything the children want to eat?”

“I want to eat at least my grandmother’s spine. I made her come this way on purpose.”

“My grandson has a picky diet since he was little, so I understand.”

The more Alfred did, the more Shion smiled.

“Are you okay, Stella?”

“…Yes, for now.”

On the contrary, Stella couldn’t help but laugh.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen Stella do that…’

Arcello had no way of knowing why Stella was the way she was.