[Choose a name for that nameless little flower]
[Did you know that although the devil is scary, if you can know its true name, you can defeat it]
[The real name is related to the soul]
【If there is no name——】
"Indeed, it's something only I can do."
It was a quiet afternoon.
"What an embarrassing mother, I am." Lying on the other person's lap, she murmured with her eyes closed comfortably.
"I'm like a child who hasn't grown up. I just cry when things happen, and I just blame others for what I should do."
"After all, this is your first time, there's nothing you can do about it." She helped her comb her hair and said in a very gentle voice.
"That's just looking for excuses."
"Whether it is the responsibilities that one should bear or the consequences of doing something, one always uses one's ignorance of the method and one's ignorance as a reason and excuse to escape, instead of looking directly at them."
"After all, you haven't grown up yet." She still helped her comb her hair with a gentle voice.
"It's up to you to say this, I can't refute it." Miss Elf smiled lightly.
"..." A gust of wind blew over, and something white was swaying gently in the air.
"It's a dandelion."
"It's the season too."
"Yes." She still combed her hair.
"To be honest, I never told him."
"I actually prefer dandelions to sunflowers."
————
[Call her by her real name]
————
It has been burdened with responsibilities since birth, and exists only to satisfy this responsibility. What kind of life this is is probably impossible for humans to understand.
That short-lived race possesses treasures that the elves lack, and that the elves are forbidden to touch. Passionate and free-spirited. These are emotions and thoughts that most elves find difficult to understand throughout their lives, because compared to this long lifespan, no matter what kind of spark of enthusiasm they once were, they are just a flash in the pan.
"Long-lived species are often emotionally indifferent. Otherwise, how could they withstand thousands of years of loneliness?"
Elves are beings who live in harmony with nature. This concept often appeared in records related to elves when humans first had writing.
But very few humans truly understand the meaning of this statement.
Lawful, quiet, undisturbed.
Through thousands of years of vicissitudes, they have stood quietly in this world and witnessed many human civilizations from prosperity to destruction.
Nothing lasts forever.
As long as new things are born, they will inevitably become corrupt in the following days and eventually usher in destruction.
The young and lovable newborn will become as skinny and old as a candle in the wind after a few decades. And this short time is just a blink of an eye for the elves. If they establish a relationship with such a human being, if they fall in love with such a human being, then even if there are no accidents, they will watch the person they love grow old.
This kind of thing is probably the most cruel torture in the world.
————
[This is a deposit of hope. 】
————
Tribesmen who travel rarely come back.
Is it because the rapid changes in the human world have made them lost and unable to find their way back home? Or is it that repeated experiences of loss have made their souls numb and unable to be passionate about anything anymore?
Elves are the watchers of the world.
If dwarves and gnomes are good at creation, humans and orcs are good at conquest and pioneering.
The elves, whose lifespan and magical abilities rank first among the five tribes, are perfectly suitable to serve as bystanders of the vicissitudes of the world.
Live in harmony with all things, neither creating nor pioneering. Nothing has changed for tens of millions of years, it is just inheriting and maintaining the current things.
This is the life of elves, the life that elves should live.
If new things will suffer corruption, then don’t create new things, only retain and maintain those things that will last forever. Over time, a tradition was born.
If contact with an outsider race will only lead to an unforgettable and painful separation, then just stay on your laurels and avoid contact.
Just like the cognitive confusion circle set up outside the village where he lives to prevent outsiders from invading, what exists between the elves and other races is a strange circle with strong repulsion - people inside can't get out. No one from outside can come in either.
And this circle has been reinforced by generations of elves and has become unbreakable.
That's their tradition, that's what they should keep forever.
For example, the common sunflowers on the East Coast just bloom quietly in places where the sun shines from generation to generation——
This is the life of an elf, the life that Horno should live.
But that doesn't mean she likes it.
If you think about it carefully, maybe before meeting him, the rebellion deep in your heart was already brewing.
Every time the seasons changed in the village where he grew up, when the dandelion season arrived, Horno would always put aside everything and just stare at those soft white flowers dancing with the monsoon wind.
Before meeting him, one hundred and seventy-three spring and autumn years, days and nights, were spent in this small place.
It’s not that life in the village is not beautiful, it’s almost like a Taoyuan Township that only appears in human fantasy.
She also understood the fact that she could not leave, but this still could not stop Horno from thinking at that time:
"If I could, like this dandelion -"
"If you ride the wind, you can go anywhere——"
Elves are not supposed to desire freedom.
Elves are not supposed to know freedom.
"You noticed this." Miss Elf said softly to the man who was combing her hair.
"The so-called experience, now that I think about it, you just want me to see it clearly."
"For us, everything in the human world is so fragile and dirty. It is full of interests and all kinds of intrigues. Although life is short, we do not cherish the things around us, but just indulge our greed in order to satisfy our desires. They even do not hesitate to persecute their own kind.”
"You want me to recognize the filthiness of the outside world so that I can lose confidence in it all and stay safe, don't you?"
"Yes." Her voice was still gentle: "But things are unpredictable."
"There is such a saying in the human world. Have you heard of it?" Horno closed his eyes and continued.
"Children who have been blind since birth are happy. They will not lose their confidence in living just because they cannot see the various beauties in the world."
"Children who have been deaf since birth are also happy. They will not lose any sense of joy just because they cannot hear the singing of the wind and the birds."
"A child who has been alone since birth is also happy, because he does not understand the meaning of loneliness."
“Their misfortune begins with the harm caused by those around them who deceive themselves and others in the name of sympathy.”
“The moment they realize that they are different and do not have what others have, their once happy world falls apart and nothing remains.”
"Just like us." The comb in her hand stopped and she closed her eyes.
"Yes." Horno said softly.
"I know nothing about the outside world, and because I don't know love, I don't feel the pain of loss."
"If everything is going to be lost sooner or later, then it would be better if we never met."
————
[The hope I have placed has been something I have been thinking about since then]
————
"I think the ancestors of the elves must have set such rules because of their thinking. Keep to yourself, live in harmony, and do not communicate with foreign races."
"And this matter evolved and evolved, and I don't know when it became a heavy tradition and an iron rule that everyone must abide by."
"Mistiti."
"Humans call our settlement a 'village', but in the Elvish language, Misti should mean."
"Cradle, swaddling."
"To you, it's more like a birdcage." Her hand that stopped combing her hair started moving again, gently and skillfully.
“The cradle surrounds our being.”
"But you can't live in a cradle all your life."
"You've grown up."
"...I've been through a lot, and it's time to grow up."
"Being a mother for the first time, I don't know what to do."
"Actually, they are just excuses."
"How to do this kind of thing is clear from the moment the child is born. What a mother should be like and what she should do." She stopped combing her hair, and Horno also stopped. She got up.
"The moment I held that new little life in my arms, I already knew very clearly what I should do."
"The outside world, all these, human emotions are too intense, too gorgeous, and too short-lived for us."
"This unparalleled adventure, all of this, everything outside that we are isolated from and actively reject."
"They taught me so much, so much, too many to count."
"But the most important thing is what I should do as a mother and the responsibilities I should bear."
"This is something no one else can teach."
"It's up to you." Horno stood up and showed a smile as bright as a sunflower to her who was still sitting.
"Taught me that," she said.
"Mother."
The elf woman raised her face, reached out her hand, and brushed her golden side hair.
"You've grown up."
"Yes, and I'm a mother too."
————
【The name I have been thinking about for a long time】
————
Horno stretched out her hand, and at some point, a petite girl beside her took her hand.
【"Istima"】
"Call Grandma, Istima." Horno smiled softly, and the little girl bowed very reservedly and politely.
Her short pointed ears and short shoulder-length hair sparkled in the sun, and her eyes and face, which were exactly the same as Horno's, shone with a purity that could not be compared with anything.
[It’s the name of a flower I saw during my travels]
"The dandelion sways in the wind, not without purpose. What it wants to find is a place where it can take root."
[I hope you can grow up healthily and happily like it]
"The sunflower cannot be as free as it is, but as long as there is sunshine, one day it will bloom all over the wilderness."
[I'm sorry for not telling you all this earlier, and I'm sorry that I can only call you a witch all the time. 】
"I don't."
"We are back." Horno tilted his head, obviously smiling, but tears fell from the corners of his eyes.
"Well, welcome home."
————
————
The howling wind came from far, far away.
The clear sky sprinkled the scattered woods.
There was a rustling sound, and a squirrel dug at the unrecognizable ground, trying to find the fruit it had buried a few months ago.
"Tap tap tap -" A burst of movement suddenly sounded from the other side. It raised its head alertly, staring at the direction of the sound with its big round black eyes, sniffing its nose, and then heard another sound. Time flew by quickly.
"Ha-hu-"
The breath exhaled from his mouth is no longer white.
The person who came was a girl with white hair, wearing only a close-fitting adventurer's shirt, and carrying two swords, one long and one short.
"..." She approached silently, the distance between her steps getting longer and longer, and the frequency getting slower and slower.
Then he stopped and put down a sunflower with his leather-gloved hand.
Not withered, but fresh, with morning dew on the sunflowers.
"Tap, tap, tap -" The sound of heavier footsteps sounded, and someone else came over.
"It's really a blessing to her that it didn't turn into a life-or-death struggle."
"If the situation really gets out of control, there's not much we can do."
"The way to bind with your real name... This is really something that no one else can do except her."
"Have a good trip, my little but strong mother." The voice of "Hu--" sounded, as if a very strong and powerful person also dropped a sunflower: "I thought it would take at least a week to find it. Only then can we find it, but I didn’t expect it to grow tenaciously in the ruins of the nearby elf village.”
"Yeah, to use Camilo's words, it seems to be protected by some leftover magical energy. It's a shame that such a situation can survive."
"Who knows—life may be surprisingly tenacious."
"...Or maybe, there is something guarding me in the dark."
"That doesn't sound like a joke coming from a paladin like you."
"It's nothing... it feels real."
"Is this really the end of this matter?"
"Otherwise, Filippo? Look at this big pit in front of you."
"Under the influence of the collapse and reversal magic circle, nothing is left."
"There's no real sense...what did we do in the end."
"I was a fine person two days ago, but now, there is nothing left."
"Is it really over?"
"Is she really gone?"
"I don't have any real feelings - ugh -" "Mira!"
"She just did what she should do. This is her atonement. At least this death is honorable."
"What are you talking about-" "Filippo, calm down, Adolphus, shut up too!"
"There is such a thing as death."
"How can it have anything to do with glory or atonement?"
"Isn't this just cold, empty, and lonely, just opening a hole in the hearts of those who are still alive?"
"I'm fine, honestly."
"Let's go." Henry reached out and touched Mira's little head.
"Let's go."
"Let's go."
