Starting with the defeated female knight

Book 1: Chapter 93: Dolores

Twelve great fairies and one small fairy.

This is the team configuration that appeared before the tentacles.

The Great Elf is similar to the living figurines that Grimm previously collected; they both look very humanoid. However, the clothes on its body have been replaced with light armor, and the aura it exudes seems to be more powerful than the previous ones.

Strangely, despite appearing powerful and reliable, the leader of this team was clearly the tiny, palm-sized sprite flying in the sky, with a pitifully weak aura and seemingly unreliable nature.

“My name is Dolores, and I am the ‘mother’ of these children.”

After the elves entered and settled in the 'reception area' outside Dawn City, the little green elf explained.

Unlike the human-machine great elves, Dolores was very lively. On the way here, she kept looking around and showed great interest in the distant Dawn City.

After entering the reception area, she took the initiative to speak, first introducing herself, then sitting down at the table, swinging her fair little feet, and chatting with Green in a very familiar manner.

"To be honest, before coming here, I was worried. If you were someone who couldn't communicate or had a terrible personality, then my children would probably be in trouble..."

"But although your appearance is somewhat intimidating, your unexpected kindness and compassion are a huge relief..."

"Did those children have a conflict with you before? Sigh, it's my fault too, I didn't educate them well, and I've caused you trouble..."

"What exactly happened? Didn't those children tell you? That makes things a bit complicated to explain..."

"but......"

Dolores narrowed her eyes, looked the tentacle up and down, and then smiled even more brightly than before.

"It seems you already know quite a lot, so it should be much easier for me to explain."

Previously, Green had learned some information about elves from the old pope.

To summarize, there are two types of spirits: the large spirit and the small spirit currently in front of the tentacles.

The larger elves tend to be aloof, while the smaller elves are more lively. But regardless of their type, both elves possess considerable artistic talent and could be considered natural-born art masters.

In addition to this, although men and women can reproduce together, due to their extremely low birth rate, elves have a different method of reproduction than humans in order to ensure the continuation of their race.

That is, by having the sprites plant 'seeds' on a plant called the Mother Tree, new sprites are cultivated in a way similar to bearing fruit.

This is also why Dolores calls herself the 'mother' of the great elves.

Although she looks small and cute, she is actually older than all the elves present combined.

It's just because of the Elf race that they not only look young, but also have a loud and boisterous personality like a child.

As for the purpose of that elf squad's arrival...

"It's about investigating the demonic tide and the human empire."

"As for the Demon Tide, I've been observing your surroundings on the way here, so it seems I don't need to explain further."

"As for the Empire, although I would like to say some nice things, given the environment here, I think it's better not to put on airs."

She was still smiling, dangling her small, white feet, and her wings flapping gently behind her.

"Then I'll tell you straight."

"I'm thinking of wiping out all of humanity."

"If that doesn't work, reducing the number or erasing some of their consciousness would be quite good."

She answered in a light and cheerful tone, as if they were discussing where to go on a picnic.

But the tentacles didn't get angry; they just watched her quietly.

【why? 】

"Because their thoughts are too uncontrollable."

Dolores tilted her head.

"Haven't you noticed it too? Thoughts have power, and it seems you're even trying to harness that power."

"And if you actually try it, you'll know just how difficult and dangerous thoughts can be to control."

"Furthermore, I can share with you a piece of information: among all races, the human race's 'thought' is the most active, powerful, chaotic, uncontrollable, and also the most dangerous."

"Perhaps it looks fine now, perhaps you're making good use of it here, but just a small error, just a small loss of control."

"Those originally gentle and beautiful wills will become the most ferocious existences, devouring everything."

"I don't know if humans have experienced this before, but the elves have already paid the price for it."

The little elf's expression turned serious, and it stopped flapping its wings.

His tone was more serious than ever before.

"Moreover, it came at an extremely heavy price."

She wasn't lying. Although she was superior to other races in most other aspects, human cognition, that is, the dew produced by faith, was much greater than that of other races.

This is why the ancient gods tended to seek human believers, and why the church, after losing its deities, was able to rebuild a belief system that was no less powerful than the original one in just over two hundred years.

Let alone scattered orcs, even if an ancient dragon came, it would be unimaginable.

As for the elves, although they have a longer lifespan, a longer civilization, and know many things than humans, the power generated by their 'cognition' is still far inferior to that of humans of the same level.

Not to mention that due to the difficulty in reproduction, even with the help of elves, the population has never been able to increase.

Their smaller base and lower output mean that in terms of cognition, they are not even a fraction as good as humans.

But elves also have an advantage.

That's because their long lifespan and long development period cause their mental state to change extremely slowly.

In addition, their shared pursuit of art and beauty, along with a civilization passed down for countless years, makes their output extremely stable and consistent.

And if it continues to accumulate, even if it's not dew but just water vapor, if enough accumulates, it can turn into clouds and bring down rain.

Even the elves didn't know how long that accumulation had lasted.

All I know is that one day, it suddenly started raining.

At first they are very small, then they gradually increase in number. After they fall to the ground, they are first absorbed, and then after the earth has absorbed them to its fullness, the raindrops gradually gather and become water, streams, and rivers.

Ultimately, drawn together by countless wills, they slowly converged into one place, forming a beautiful 'seed'.

Then, accompanied by a clear cry, the being that represents beauty and art descended upon the realm of the elves.

The elves at that time had not yet experienced all of that, so they were full of goodwill towards the flow of knowledge and this newborn life.

In particular, as a embodiment of the elves' faith in beauty and art, this child possesses all the best qualities.

She is beautiful, kind, and compassionate.

It possesses both the elegance and composure of the great elf and the liveliness and optimism of the little elf.

She is helpful and has great kindness toward all beings other than elves. She is extremely talented and can excel in writing, painting, and music with ease.

No one could dislike such a child, no one could fail to marvel at her abilities, and even the elven kingdom, which had never had any faith and even scoffed at the ancient god system worshipped by the humans next door, was beginning to develop something.

Unfortunately, all good things are fleeting.

The reason why elves don't like to play with other races, especially humans, is not because they look down on humans, but for a very simple reason.

That is, human lifespan is simply too short.

If it's just a chance encounter, a shared adventure, or a pleasant exchange of stories, that's fine.

But once the relationship becomes too deep, even to a point that is difficult to describe, given the slow pace of mental development in elves, it is common for them to remain entangled for decades or even centuries.

As for that child, although she was born from cognition, her lifespan was even longer than that of the elves.

The problem is that her learning ability is too strong, and her speed of change is too fast.

By the time the elves came to their senses, she had already become the best among them in almost every aspect.

Not only are they able to create their own art, but based on their learning, they are also beginning to offer their own insights and start to disagree with others.

Strictly speaking, this is not a big deal. After all, there are many different schools of art among the elves, and they often disagree, discuss, and even fight among different schools. The elves are used to this.

But that child was different.

She was just a child, with a strong learning ability, and her essence was born from the pursuit of beauty and art.

Her pursuit of beauty and art, even among elves, seemed somewhat obsessive, and she was very concerned about all kinds of 'flaws'.

At first, it wasn't noticeable as they grew, but as time went on, even the slow-witted, stone-like great elves gradually noticed something was wrong.

Even so, the elves at that time did not think it was a big problem.

After all, not to mention this child, many of them had similar experiences when they were young.

But as we grow older and realize that art and beauty don't have a single standard, and that the world can never achieve true perfection, we gradually get used to it.

Until that event happened more than a hundred years ago.

The empire had just stabilized, and Isidores' reforms were at their most critical stage.

Because of the child's abnormality, the elves gradually realized the danger of cognition and thought. After noticing the reforms on the church's side and after a series of discussions, they deployed their troops to the border of the empire.

However, because they did not have deep dealings with the Empire, they only knew that the Empire was tinkering with ideas and cognition, but they did not know the specifics of what they were doing.

Moreover, because of the sensitivity of this matter, neither the Church nor Isidores could explain it very clearly.

So both sides were in a rather awkward situation at the time.

The Empire is a xenophobic mute, and its internal affairs are a mess; it doesn't even understand the situation itself, and it has no time to pay attention to the elves.

As for the elves, although they had deployed their troops to the border of the empire, they themselves were not quite sure what they were planning to do.

If I had to put it into words, I'm worried that if humanity messes things up, it will affect them, and even all races with 'thought'.

But even if you ask the Empire, they don't know either, and just attacking directly feels too abstract.

Not to mention, because of their small population, the elves have absolutely no intention of expanding. Aside from thinking humans are too short-lived, they have no other complaints about them, nor are they interested in interfering in internal affairs. They'd rather spend their time at home researching new patterns...

Then, in this strange stalemate, a message came from behind the elves.

"He's gone mad."

The elves had no idea what exactly happened.

In any case, when the elves' army returned to their kingdom, they were met with a scene of cruelty and distortion that was beyond their comprehension.

Several mother trees were cut in half, and the materials taken from them were used to make a huge and magnificent stage.

He stood in the center of the stage, dressed in magnificent attire.

Beside them were 'actors' suspended by silk threads, their joints manipulated, like puppets.

In addition, there's a beautiful starry sky made from torn fairy wings, a vibrant apple woven from hearts and veins, and exquisite works of art crafted from peeled skin and various other materials...

Even after they returned, the artworks remained alive, some even seeming to be sending out distress signals...

Even the most resolute elves did not want to recall what happened after that.

All that is known is that after that, in order to prevent the child from reviving again, they developed a method to seal away their own minds.

They regard the pursuit of art and beauty as taboo and are extremely secretive about any 'cognition' or 'thought'.

"We have no problem with humanity, we just don't want to see certain tragedies repeat themselves."

“If they are also willing to accept ‘reform,’ then of course we would welcome them to join our ranks. But I think those who haven’t experienced this kind of thing probably find it hard to understand our good intentions.”

The little elf shrugged.

"So, sensing that something was amiss here, I sent the children to check it out."

"Thinking that if something were to happen to the Empire itself, perhaps we could take the opportunity to do something to eliminate those unstable thoughts."

"But please don't misunderstand, I have no intention of provoking conflict. If the empire declines to a certain extent and I can take care of this matter while I'm at it, I will definitely act."

"But if the empire isn't so bad that it would require my children to pay a price, I wouldn't do it."

"After all, my intention was to eliminate the threat and reduce potential harm, not to cause casualties."

"All I want is to protect my children, to let them live safely. You should understand that, right?"

The tentacles did not respond; they simply watched her silently.