Chapter 25: Just Greatly

It wasn’t going to be easy, I thought.

But I never imagined it would be this hard.

“Ugh!!”

Elenia praised me.

Not in a bad way, but in a good one.

She said that what took her decades to achieve, I had reached in just a few years.

She said that with this level of skill, I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.

Even her teacher, Sir Noah, or the one they called the Sword Demon, acknowledged me.

He would never admit it himself, but he didn’t stop or dissuade me.

Instead, he encouraged me to be bolder, openly pushing me forward.

He probably thought that someone like me could handle anything.

So, I was confident.

I even dismissed the spirits, thinking that nothing was impossible if I just put my strength into it.

All I had to do was string the bow and draw it.

If I was prepared to die for it, I could do it, right?

‘Damn it. Did it really have to require magic and spirit arts?’

It wouldn’t budge.

No matter how much strength I put into it, no matter how hard I gritted my teeth and strained.

Even someone like me, with poor mana sensitivity, could feel it.

The immense mana lingering around the bowstring.

So this was why they said the bowstring had to be strung with magic.

It was like trying to apply physical force to something that defied the laws of physics.

Even if I managed to string it, that wasn’t the end.

How was I supposed to draw it?

If stringing it was this hard, how was I supposed to draw it?

Was it even possible?

Was this really something that could be done?

“…Ha.”

What an idiot.

To think I wavered for a moment.

Did I really act so recklessly without knowing it would be like this?

I knew it would be hard.

I knew it was a crazy challenge against the impossible.

That’s why I ran away, why I worked so hard to engrave the essence of martial arts into my body, and why I ventured into the human world.

This isn’t about whether I can do it or not.

It’s about the fact that I have to do it.

That’s the only conclusion that matters.

Why have I spent all this time?

Why am I standing here now?

Everything is for the elves.

To make the elves great once again.

“Ugh!!”

My muscles feel like they’re tearing, my bones like they’re breaking.

My arms feel like they’re going to fall off.

But I endure.

I hold on.

No, I ignore it.

I ignore it completely and focus only on what I need to do.

To make the elves great again.

For that, this little hardship doesn’t even register.

I pour more strength into it.

I don’t care about mana or anything else.

I’ll shatter that nonsense about how it’s impossible without magic.

I’m planning to change the entire elf race anyway.

How could I not change this one little thing?

“Kaaaah!!”

If I were doing this for my own personal glory, I wouldn’t have come this far.

I would have just used my uniqueness as a weapon and lived in the human world.

I wouldn’t have had to listen to my own people calling me a disgrace or worse.

Creeeak!

The bowstring lets out an ominous sound.

I’m worried that something might snap—whether it’s the bowstring or my arm.

But I don’t stop.

Even as my whole body trembles, even as I resist the mana, I manage to string it.

“Wha—what?!”

“What… what am I seeing right now?”

What are you seeing?

You’re seeing an elf stringing a bow without magic.

You think using physical strength is beneath you?

Then just lie down and live like a corpse for the rest of your life.

You call yourselves the forest clan, but it’s like we’ve become trees.

Even trees grow toward the sunlight.

What the hell have we elves been doing?

Thunk!

“Gasp! Huff!”

I did it.

Damn it.

I strung the bow.

Without magic, without anything but my own strength.

My arm feels like it’s going to fall off.

My muscles are screaming, and my bones feel like they’re howling.

Looking down at my trembling hand, I worry if I’ll even be able to draw the bow.

If stringing it was this hard, how much harder will it be to draw it?

“Tyreal!”

I turned my head and saw my parents standing there.

I don’t know when they arrived.

They’ve been nagging me for over 30 years, but this time was different.

Their faces were filled with nothing but worry and concern for their child.

They could have been angry at me for running away with just a letter, but there was no trace of that.

Seeing them like that made me even more determined to finish what I started.

It’s not too late.

The derogatory term “Ganf” is spreading, and we elves brought it upon ourselves.

But we can change it.

It’s not completely buried, and the misunderstandings aren’t irreversible.

I gripped the bow and took a deep breath.

With my still-trembling arm, I slowly tried to draw the string.

To be precise, I was struggling to draw it.

It wasn’t budging at all.

‘What the hell… how is it not moving even a little?’

I knew from my past life that archers weren’t just about agility but pure strength.

But this, damn it.

This is too much.

I’ve never neglected physical training, so why is this happening?

“Tyreal!!”

Something dripped from my lips.

Was it saliva, or blood?

As my mind began to blur, I heard Seril’s booming voice from behind.

“Snap out of it, you idiot! Don’t forget what you set out to do!”

Did you really have to call me an idiot at a time like this?

…No, you’re right.

Seril saw through me.

No matter how you look at it, I’m an idiot.

What else could I be?

And it’s not geniuses who change the world—it’s idiots.

Idiots who focus on one thing and never let go.

Don’t forget.

As Seril said, remember what you’re trying to achieve.

“Uaaaah!!”

I strained my arm so hard that not just my shoulder, but my entire body twisted.

It wasn’t just about arm strength.

I had to pour everything I had into it.

Without magic, without spirit arts.

Only with my own strength.

For the will to change something.

……Damn it.

My body feels strange.

My joints are twisting, and my muscles feel like they’re tearing.

My body is screaming.

Please, let me live, stop this madness.

But I don’t stop.

I can’t stop.

And I have no intention of stopping.

How can I turn back now?

Someone who’s run this far has to go all the way.

‘Fine. Let’s see who wins.’

It’s do or die.

No, no.

Even if I die, I’ll do it.

All of this is for the elves.

Not for the Ganf, but for the elves.

Only for the elves!

Creeeak!

The bowstring, which seemed immovable, slowly began to draw.

It’s working.

I can do it.

This is just the beginning.

I will do this.

I could feel the bowstring moving, slowly, through my hand, my arm, my entire body.

I took another deep breath, ready to squeeze out every last ounce of strength, when suddenly—

“Ugh!”

My body tilted backward, and I fell flat on my back.

I must have put too much strength into it, and my legs gave out.

I quickly got up to try drawing the bow again.

“…What?”

But it was gone.

No matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find the bow.

Just a moment ago, I was holding it in my hand, trying to draw the string.

I looked around, but there was no sign of the bow.

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

The surroundings had changed.

The fellow elves who had been looking at me with mocking eyes.

My parents, with their worried faces.

And Seril, who had been shouting my name from behind, urging me to keep going.

‘They’re all gone? Wait, where am I?’

It’s white.

A space of pure nothingness, completely blank.

It’s like I’m the only splash of paint on a blank canvas.

I was panicking, not knowing what to do in this bizarre landscape, when—

“It’s you.”

I looked ahead, and there sat one of my fellow elves.

I don’t know when they appeared.

“It’s you.”

I turned around, and there stood some strange being whose identity I couldn’t discern.

“…Who are you?”

I couldn’t understand this situation.

Why was I here?

But I had a feeling.

A feeling that these two beings could give me the answers.

So I cautiously asked, and the elf in front of me suddenly smiled.

“Why are you going this far?”

“Huh?”

“Everyone has chosen I’m asking.”

They wouldn’t welcome it.

You’d face a lot of opposition.

You could just live like everyone else.

Why take such a difficult path?

I don’t know who they are.

I don’t know why they’re asking.

But I had to answer.

I wanted to.

This was something I needed to say to myself, too.

“To make the elves great again.”

“To make the elves great again. So they’re not great now, is that it?”

“Noble, but not noble. Beautiful, but not beautiful. That’s the reality of the elves today.”

Then a question came from behind.

“If the forest clan considers themselves noble and beautiful, isn’t that enough? My children also love the forest clan and treat them with special kindness. It’s something other races find difficult. And yet, you say they’re not great?”

“How you define yourself is up to you, but the evaluation comes from others. Even if I say I’m great, if others don’t see me as great, then am I really great?”

“…The one who sent my children home is saying that. I can trust you, then.”

The mysterious being behind me nodded and then disappeared like smoke.

As if it wasn’t part of this world.

As if it was something that couldn’t be touched by physical force.

“Unfortunately, I can’t help you. Not everyone shares your will.”

Again, the elf in front of me approached and continued.

“But I’ll cheer for you. At least I know your intentions are true.”

What do you mean, I wanted to ask, but the words never left my mouth.

Because, against my will, I fell flat on my back again.

“Ugh!”

The only difference was that the surroundings were exactly as I remembered them.

The shocked faces of my fellow elves.

Seril, covering her mouth, not knowing what to do.

And the bow in my hand.

The solid feel of it.

“…Ah.”

It didn’t take long to realize what had happened.

The bow of the Mother Forest in my hand—its string was broken, dangling limply.