As soon as Lawrence arrived at the academy, he was greeted by the elves, who had been the subject of much talk and controversy.
Rumors had it that the elves had changed, but it was hard to believe that so easily.
First, the area where Lawrence lived was quite remote, so news from the outside didn’t reach him often.
Second, well, it was those damn pointy-eared bastards.
The so-called “Kanphs” were just too infamous.
It was already well-known that they looked down on humans and mocked them at every opportunity.
Beyond that, they were said to treat humans carelessly, not just with mental and verbal abuse.
There were even stories of humans suffering physical violence, resulting in injuries both minor and severe.
And though rare, there were cases where humans had lost their lives at the hands of elves.
The opposite had happened too—elves being harmed by humans.
But that was always seen as blood revenge or justified retaliation.
The arrogance of the elves was so notorious that even in Lawrence’s backwater village, the term “Kanf” was thrown around.
He had heard rumors that there were elves at the academy, but he didn’t believe it.
At best, he thought they might be even more insufferable than the noble students.
But here Lawrence was, alongside those very elves.
The race he once considered Kanfs.
“How about it? Doesn’t flower arranging seem much more impressive now?”
They were in the middle of arranging flowers brought from the garden.
“Ah, yes… It definitely feels different……..”
What on earth is going on?
Why am I doing this with Kanfs—no, elves?
These elves are weird too.
Why are they acting like this toward humans, whom they supposedly despise?
And they claim to love nature so much, saying they never handle it carelessly.
But flower arranging?
Does that even make sense?
I’ve never heard of such a thing!
But Lawrence’s real shock was just beginning.
An elf, noticing it was lunchtime, offered to guide her cute human junior to the dining hall.
When she grabbed his hand, Lawrence’s face turned bright red.
Alright, he admitted it.
No matter how much hostility he harbored toward elves, no matter how much he called them Kanfs.
As a man, it was only natural to blush when such an impossibly beautiful woman approached him.
This was just a biological reaction, wasn’t it?
‘Wait, hold on. More importantly!’
Lawrence suddenly remembered something and tried to stop the elf senior who was leading him.
Elves were notorious vegetarians. A race that only ate greens, half-crazed.
He couldn’t believe how they could go hundreds of years without eating meat or fish.
Lawrence himself was a fervent carnivore, so when he heard about their diet, he was horrified.
But now, a vegetarian was dragging a carnivore to the dining hall.
This was bound to end in some unpleasant outcome.
The elf who was smiling now might suddenly turn and look at him with disdain.
So he quickly tried to stop her, saying he wasn’t hungry.
Unfortunately, Lawrence hadn’t been eating well during his journey.
He had been saving every penny for his student life, so it was only natural.
As soon as it was time, his stomach growled, “Feed me, you damn owner!”
Grrr!-
‘Oh no.’
It wasn’t too loud.
If you weren’t paying attention, you might not have heard it.
But Lawrence had forgotten one thing: an elf’s hearing was several times better than a human’s.
“Look at this. The human junior is hungry too. Let’s hurry to the dining hall!”
“No, I’m fine! Please!!”
Forcing a vegetarian diet on someone who needs meat at least once every two days is a disaster!
This is bad.
This is exactly why I shouldn’t hang out with elves!
What am I supposed to do now!
Screaming internally, Lawrence eventually found himself sitting in the academy dining hall.
Shortly after, the meal he encountered was, of course, a spread of greens…
“Eat up. Oh, and by the way, the fruits there are specially sent from our Great Forest.”
A meadow—no, of course, there were greens and fruits, but there was also meat.
What’s going on?
Lawrence glanced to the side and was shocked again.
The elf’s tray had a similar menu, but with a bit more meat on his own plate.
In contrast, the elf’s tray had only a small portion of meat.
‘The portion is quite small, but… still, this is unbelievable. An elf eating meat? Does that even make sense?!’
For a moment, he wondered if it was some kind of trick.
But that thought vanished as soon as he saw the elf eating during the meal.
“…”
An elf, eating meat.
My god.
What is happening?
The perverted race that never ate meat.
The Kanfs who didn’t eat meat and were all the more sinister for it.
He remembered the merchants who traveled the empire spouting such nonsense.
But the elf sitting right next to him was directly contradicting that!
“Human junior? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Ah, well…”
“What? Is it strange to see an elf eating meat?”
He couldn’t bring himself to say yes, but his expression said it all.
As Lawrence gave an awkward smile, the elf senior picked at her greens and spoke.
“This isn’t the Great Forest, is it? It’s the human world. The Empire. The Academy. There’s no reason to strictly adhere to the ways of the Great Forest here. Tyreal once said that when you enter a new world, it’s only natural to follow its ways.”
Tyreal?
Who’s that?
He didn’t know the details, but it felt like a very important figure.
After all, for a moment, the elf’s face was filled with a sense of trust.
“And honestly, at first, it made me nauseous, but after enduring it, I found it tolerable. I started to understand why humans are so obsessed with this thing called meat.”
“Understand, you say…”
Understanding.
A word so distant from elves.
If they could do that, why didn’t they do it sooner?
Why now?
Thinking that, Lawrence began to eat as the elf instructed.
If nothing else, he was definitely hungry.
*
A few days later, Lawrence came to a stark realization.
The world he knew had completely changed three years ago.
This was the Imperial Academy.
An ivory tower built on Imperial land, not the Great Forest.
Naturally, there were far more human students than elves.
And those human students—people like him—were interacting with the elves like this:
“My magic lecture score is on the edge. Can you help me? Please. Save me.”
“Ack, human classmate! I don’t mind teaching you, but no matter how much I explain, if you don’t review, there’s nothing I can do!”
“The scope is too broad! Honestly, I’m asking you to explain one thing, but you’re explaining ten! It’s not a review problem, you know?!”
“No, no! To understand this one, you need to look at ten first! That’s the order we learned in the forest!”
A human student who had just turned twenty and an elf student who was at least twice that age.
But here, they were bound not by age but by their year, by the shared experience of learning something together.
And that bond created a natural camaraderie.
…Alright.
That much I can understand.
An elf teaching magic.
Sure, that’s possible.
But what’s that? Isn’t that the training ground?
Why is there an elf in the middle?
“This is bad. You’re fast, but you’re just clumsy.”
“Grr! I’ve been sitting at a desk studying magic for decades, so my body’s stiff! Just give me a bit more time, and I’ll do much better than you!”
“Alright, keep at it. Because of you, the rest of us are going to get the lowest scores.”
“Hey! Stop embarrassing the elves and do your best!”
Four humans and two elves.
It seemed like they were grouped together for a test.
Even if four did well, one failing would drag the whole group down.
Here, there was no distinction between elf and human.
Like it or not, they had to move forward together.
Humans wanted to show their greatness to the elves.
Elves didn’t want to be humiliated by humans.
‘How, how could things change so much in just a few years?’
Sitting on a bench, staring blankly at the scene.
“How is it?”
A familiar voice came from beside him.
“You are…”
“We meet again.”
It was the person who had accompanied him to the academy not long ago.
He had received a lot of help and favors from them during the journey.
“So. How is it?”
“What do you mean…”
“Elves and humans. Humans and elves. There are still awkward parts, things that need to be fixed, and subtle discomfort here and there. But still, taking a step back to observe each other.”
“…”
After a moment of thought, Lawrence answered the question like this.
“I’m not sure.”
“Hmm.”
“I mean, it’s not a negative thing. It’s just, well… what I mean is…”
“No, thank you for being honest. That’s actually better.”
A sudden breeze blew back the hood the other was wearing.
Pointed ears were revealed, and Lawrence finally realized the other was an elf.
“Ah, ahh!”
“I’ll look forward to hearing a different answer later.”
Don’t forget the bribe I gave you.
The elf smiled, got up from the bench, and disappeared somewhere.