Chapter 168: Ah, You're Saying You Couldn't Eat It Because It Wasn't There (4)Painfolt Artran explained in detail the story of how elves came to avoid meat and live on a vegetarian diet.
"I see. I never would've expected that."
From Jinseo's standpoint, since he had grown up with preconceived notions about elves from novels, movies, and games, it was hard for him to imagine meat-eating elves.
But the reason the elves ended up eating only vegetables was so clear and straightforward that Jinseo immediately understood Painfolt Artran's explanation.
"That said, it's not like they only want meat. It seems they like both vegetarian and meat dishes, so don't prepare too heavily skewed to one side. More precisely, the young elves prefer meat, while the older ones prefer vegetarian food."
"Do the older elves hate meat itself?"
"After spending time with them, it seemed like they all still had the desire for meat. But since they haven't been able to encounter meat for such a long time, among the long-lived elves, it seems they've come to not welcome meat all that much."
"I think I understand what you mean."
When you keep yearning for something you can't obtain no matter what you do, eventually you end up making reasons to give up—even to the point of forcing a justification. And it's not rare for the reason you create to become dislike or hatred.
The saying "Those grapes are sour anyway" was the classic example.
"Then I'll need to show the elves what properly good meat tastes like. First, I'll buy top-grade Korean beef in bulk by cut and load it into Interspatial Storage."
Top-grade Korean beef, which delivered the best flavor even with nothing more than grilling, was the safest and most reliable choice.
You didn't even need to wrap it—just dip it in sesame oil with salt, and it was good. And if you wanted a stronger punch, you could add a little grated wasabi.
"Next…"
"Boss, you're not planning to leave out samgyeopsal, right?"
"Of course it has to be included. You can't say you ate meat if you leave that out."
At Jason's sharp point, Jinseo chose pork belly as the second meat candidate to show the elves.
It might rank below Korean beef in prestige, but if you had to pick the best meat for wraps, pork belly had to be the number one choice.
Put scallion salad, garlic, and ssamjang on a piece of well-grilled pork belly, wrap it in lettuce or perilla leaf, and put it in your mouth—heaven unfolded inside.
And additionally, when you eat pork belly in wraps, it starts to feel like you're eating more vegetables than meat, so Jinseo judged that it would have enough appeal even for elderly elves who preferred vegetarian food.
"After that, bulgogi, and… we can't leave out chicken either. I should add ordinary barbecue to the menu we'll present as well. Dwarf-made sausage tastes best grilled as barbecue. By the way, did the elves ask for anything besides meat dishes?"
"That will be enough. As for bunsik, just serving the menus you've already shown before will be more than enough for the elves—too much, even. Then I'll modify the magic pendants we distributed before so they can understand Elven as well."
Painfolt Artran put the last remaining strawberry from the basket into his mouth and stood up.
"Dean, did you find any clue about your younger sibling?"
There was only one reason Painfolt Artran had visited three different continents where other races lived.
To find the whereabouts of his younger sibling, whom everyone believed was dead.
"This time too, they mistook me for my younger sibling when they first saw me, so it's certain my younger sibling also visited the elves' continent. Unfortunately, they said he stayed briefly ten years ago and left, but… we'll have to look into it further."
"Are you alright?"
"If we learn more, we'll be able to determine whether he's truly alive or dead, and if he's alive, where he is. Even if he's dead, if we can at least learn where he died, then what I've done until now won't be entirely meaningless."
Painfolt Artran lightly patted Jinseo's shoulder, reassuring him.
Sunlight filtering in through densely grown leaves.
Bird-shaped spirits perched on branches, looking down at the allied delegation.
Deer spirits and squirrel spirits peeking out from between the underbrush, watching the outsiders.
And towering through the forest and up toward the sky, the gigantic World Tree that had given birth to countless spirits.
The forest, filled with beauty and mystery, was a space that matched the image of "elves" Jinseo already knew.
And yet it did not feel clichéd.
Because a forest of elves you could actually see and feel with your own two eyes was bound to be on a completely different level from backgrounds rendered in CGI in movies or games.
More than anything, just thinking that he would meet elves in person—one of the iconic other races of fantasy worlds alongside dwarves—made Jinseo's heart race for the first time in a while.
"Ah… so this is the elves' continent from the legends…"
Replacing Aston Hamilton, who had unavoidably been unable to join this trip due to wedding preparations, Paulo—now participating as an assistant of the Mobile Cooking Facility—found everything that entered his eyes nothing but wondrous.
"Truly… Jinseo, you're saying the elves will eat the bunsik you and I made?"
"The two who came here first said the elves liked the bunsik they showed them quite a bit, so probably."
"To be able to present my cooking on the land of another race for the first time in my life! As a cook, there's nothing more fulfilling than this."
Paulo, who had forgotten all regrets about not being able to go to the Crudian Continent where centaurs lived, reached his right hand toward a bird spirit floating in the air.
When the bird spirit perched on his palm without any hesitation, he beamed.
"Thanks to you, Mr. Jinseo, I've even come to the elves' continent. I can hardly believe it."
Malcolm, captain of the Raven Mercenary Group and assigned to escort the allied delegation, was just as unable to hide his excitement as Paulo.
"Come to think of it, Malcolm, it's your first time on another continent too, right?"
"Yes. For the past fifteen days, waiting for today really had me on edge."
Today, fifteen days after Painfolt Artran and Geshtain returned to the Francia Continent, the allied delegation—made up of humans, dwarves, and centaurs—arrived on the Keinua Continent.
"Still, there really are a lot of spirits. Maybe that's why Nero and Owl seem to like it too."
Jinseo smiled lightly while watching Nero and Owl fly through the air together with the other spirits.
"They're late again. This is the one thing I really don't like, but it can't be helped. They're a race that has lived through countless ages."
Painfolt Artran, participating as the delegation's representative, sat on a stump when the elves who were supposed to come greet them did not arrive.
Even knowing that for elves, being an hour late was similar to being one second late from a human perspective, he still could not help clicking his tongue.
"Tsk, tsk. Late again. Those pointy-eared bastards seriously don't know how to keep time."
Geshtain, who had already been to Keinua once, complained about the elves' excessively leisurely sense of time.
"Sir Geshtain, please don't use that word in front of elves."
"Alright, alright."
Jinseo had once casually mentioned, in front of dwarves, the term used online to derogate elves. After that, it became the word dwarves used to refer to elves.
Jinseo had tried to stop them several times, but the dwarves would not budge, insisting it rolled right off the tongue.
"Still, they came a bit early today. Not even an hour late, after all. Still, I really don't like it."
"Dwarves and elves really don't get along, for some reason."
"No, even if they live long, they're too lazy. And by age, Charlotte has lived far longer than elves—have you ever seen her not keep a time promise?"
"That's true."
"Anyway, I wish they'd move a little quicker. Watching them sometimes makes my insides boil. Young elves are somewhat better, but old pointy-eared ones are like that."
Geshtain pointed at the elves rushing over from the east and plopped down beside Painfolt Artran.
"Sir Painfolt, we apologize for being late."
"Enough. I'm used to you elves' sense of time by now."
Painfolt Artran spoke casually to the elf scouts he had already met before.
Elves themselves knew well that their race was exceptionally long-lived compared to others, so when dealing with other races, they considered not the raw number of years lived, but what age that would correspond to by elf standards.
Painfolt Artran, who would be about seven hundred by elf standards, was more than old enough to be elder-class in elf society, so the elf scouts treated him with respect.
"The Elder is coming with the others, so please wait a little longer. But…"
"Wow, elves! They're elves!"
"Those ears sticking up are impressive. And those bows the elves are carrying—doesn't it look like there isn't even a bit of metal in them? Or is it just me?"
"Just like Mr. Jinseo said—they're all handsome men and beautiful women?"
To get a good look at elves for the first time in their lives, the allied delegation crowded around the elf scouts.
The elf scouts had no choice but to stand there awkwardly and receive the other races' gazes all at once.
"Uh…"
But Jinseo was staring at the elves in a different sense.
Their faces were exactly as he had imagined—handsome men and beautiful women that looked like they had been carved straight from statues.
Except, the arm muscles that could not be hidden by their short-sleeved tops were far too far from the slender builds he had imagined.
"Sir Painfolt. About the elves who came to greet us—why are their bodies so… well-built?"
"Is it bad if they're well-built? Are elves originally a sickly race?"
"No, it's not that… It's just very different from what I know. I thought there were a lot of slender builds."
"Even to you other races, do muscular bodies still seem like that? They are immature bodies, so it is embarrassing."
Listening beside Jinseo and Painfolt Artran, shadows crossed the elves' faces.
"Huh? Immature? What do you mean?"
"You other races may not know. You see…"
On the elves' continent, Keinua, mana overflowed, so in elf society, using magic had become routine.
Unlike other races where mages were few, among elves it was the ones who could not use magic who were the minority, treated as immature.
However, because elves lived so long, by the standards of other races, the age at which elves learned magic was quite late.
"Only after I turned one hundred did I begin to understand magic little by little."
"Can't you learn it before then?"
"Well… it doesn't go well. When it comes to magic in particular, my head doesn't work. I'm one hundred fifteen now, but I still only understand basic concepts. Once I pass two hundred, I'll probably be able to use magic properly."
"…"
Face of an elf, body full of muscle.
But even if only regarding magic, intellect that fell below expectations for their age.
Having learned the hidden truth of elves, Jinseo fell silent.
"So until we properly learn magic, we have to move purely by using our bodies. Of course, once we properly learn magic, there's no need to rely on physical strength, and we can solve almost everything with magic."
"We also have to draw the bow purely with physical strength like this. But building our bodies to shoot properly is so hard. It's already been ninety years of forcibly growing muscles just to shoot a bow, and I want to stop doing this right now and shoot with magic."
"…So, the meaning is that doing things without magic, purely with physical movement, is because you're still immature as an elf?"
"Yes, that's right. In Korea where you live, Mr. Jinseo, do they consider muscles shameful?"
"Not at all. It's the opposite. In Korea, and across the continent where I live, muscles are a symbol of health and envy. Especially for men, it's something people admire."
Face of an elf, but a muscular body?
There was no way they wouldn't be popular, regardless of age or gender.
"Th-that's so?"
When the elves reacted like they couldn't believe it, Jinseo played a video saved on his smartphone of muscular men lifting weights at a gym.
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