The Traveler: Martial Druid

Chapter 10

"Okay"

After some thinking, Katsuo decided to accept her proposal. He had to because this was the arrangement of the goddess. He didn't know what her plans were but at least he knew that she didn't hold any ill will against him, but most importantly he wanted to have a family again. So what if his family in this world were not humans? He didn't mind.

"Then from now on your name is Kazama Um'rael"

Aranel said as if it was a matter of course.

"No no no, you have a misunderstanding. In my world, we say the last name first so it should be Katsuo Um'rael"

"Is that so? Anyway, now that this matter is settled, let's get along well from now on son"

"Ugh, can't you just call me by my name?"

"No, you have to get used to it S-O-N"

Seeing him bothered by her address Aranel teased him even further by emphasizing it.

"When do we start training in mana?"

"Look at this kid, trying to run before he could even walk. We first start by teaching babies how to speak elven but you should have that covered since you have that skill or whatchamacallit. Then we should start by teaching you how to read and write?"

"What?"

"You have never written or read anything in this world right? So we don't even know if it even works for reading but you definitely have to learn how to write"

Then Aranel waved her hand and a weathered book appeared in her hands. She threw it towards Katsuo who deftly caught it.

"Try reading it, let's see if you can do it."

"Uhm, okay..."

Katsuo dejectedly opened the cover of the ancient book but to his dismay, he couldn't read anything that was written inside.

"So your skill doesn't work for reading, then we don't even need to try writing as it obviously won't work. Okay, from now on we will study for 10 hours a day on your literature skills. 2 hours of elven, orcish, dwarvish, luiric and common each."

"Wait I understand elven and common are probably necessary but do I really need to learn the other languages?"

Katsuo asked in despair. Even back home English was his worst subject and now he was expected to learn five different languages? This was worse than torture to him.

"Of course, you are a member of my family so you have to be able to speak all of these languages."

"Can I take back my decision?"

"No, we, the members of the Um'rael family never take no for an answer. You better carve it into your head sonny. After all, you are one of us now"

He was aware that Aranel only said it jokingly but the words 'one of us' warmed his heart. He finally had a home in this world.

"Okay, so first I train my language skills. Then I learn druidcraft?"

"You think you can get away with only studying? Before I explain to you what else you need to learn let me ask you a question. How were elves perceived back in your own world?"

"Well, in my world there were no elves. There were only humans. But we could see elves in books. In those books, elves were described as nature-loving, long-lived species who were proficient in magic and bows. Oh, they were also vegetarians!" 

"Vegetarians? What's that?"

Aranel asked curiously. She was intrigued by a world that didn't have any elves. She wondered how they viewed them back there.

"Someone who doesn't eat meat"

*Thump*

Aranel had punched the ground.

"What kind of thrashy nonsense is that? Elves? Vegetarian? If we are anything in fact we are meatatarian. How can someone who loves nature dare to harm it by eating flora and fruits? It is only right that we are eating those pesky animals that dare harm the vegetation"

"Huh?"

Katsuo didn't know how many times he was surprised by Aranel today but this was certainly the biggest surprise he was given. Elves that only ate meat?

"Wait, weren't you eating an apple when we met?"

"I am not saying we only eat meat but elves definitely prefer meat over fruits as for vegetables they are a no go"

"This-"

He didn't know how to answer her. After all, the elves in his world were only created by the imagination of some guy so of course there would be differences.

"Also bows? Why would we use things like bows when we possess the greatest vitality that rivals dragons in this land? If you are an elf of course you have to use cold weapons. When our body itself is a weapon why would we just cover behind by using arrows?"

It was another blow to Katsuo's perception of elves.

"*Inhale* Okay, okay, stop speaking. I shouldn't expect anything from an other worlder like you. However there was one thing you got right, we are a long-lived species. How long do you think an elf lives?"

"I don't know... thousands of years?"

Since most of his answers turned out to be wrong, Katsuo hesitated before answering this time.

"You might be right"

"What do you mean by might?"

"Because there hadn't been a single elf that lived till the end of their life span. Most scholars consider us immortals. Of course, we can still die from unnatural causes like sickness or battle but there hasn't been a single elf that died of old age. If you couple that with our vitality that lets us heal from any wound as long as it's not fatal we might be the strongest race to ever exist, maybe even stronger than the mythical dragons themselves"

"Wait, but I remember the goddess telling me the world was conquered by the humans and there was only a single non-human country. If you were that strong how could humans even dream of owning the continent?"

"Tch, tch, she is still the same as always. It seems like she omitted some vital information. One, the Coalition of Azra is the second biggest country in the world AND that's only because those crackpot wizards discovered a whole new continent and claimed it as their own. Before the Arcane Empire of Melmit was founded, the coalition was the biggest country on the continent and humans had only settled on places we didn't want to go to, this also ties into the second reason. Population, elves don't have the greatest fertility in the world so it's no surprise that an elf might be older than 300 and still not have a single kid. Discounting half-elves that is. So since we don't have the necessary population to rule the land we just didn't conquer it. Oh, this also includes the other races. I am speaking like Elves are the rulers of Azra but it is essentially an alliance of the four non-human races. Though elves are the ones that are dealing with the administration since that is our forte. In case you are curious, Dwarves are responsible for logistics and craftsmanship, Halflings are responsible for farming and diplomacy and lastly, Orcs are responsible for military and manual labour. Together we form a perfect division of labor and efficiency no human country can ever hope to achieve. That is the reason why we are the strongest."

"This-" made so much sense. But Katsuo left those words unsaid.

Honestly, seeing their enemy he was actually even impressed by the humans of this world. After all, despite elves' and possibly other species' superiority they were the race with the most land in the world. It was just that they were under different kingdoms. At least that was what he had assumed. Didn't she say Melmit had a whole continent to themselves?

It made sense too.

If you can't beat them why even bother fighting? You can just go away and find a new land to live in. It was a genius idea! No wonder it was the wizards that had come up with it. Despite how obvious it seemed, a normal person wouldn't think like that. 

"Then why did you guys founded a country together with the other races?"

This time it was Aranel's turn to look annoyed.

"Because elves themselves, no, not a single race in the world can stand against humans"

"Huh? What do you mean? You just described to me that your race might be the strongest race to ever exist so how could humans even stand up to you?"

"Okay little one, pop quiz time. Assume every race has a speciality, which they do, for elves it would be our vitality and eternal life, for dwarves it would be their dextrous hands and ability to craft, for orcs it would be their monstrous bodies and as for halflings, well, they are the luckiest beings to ever exist so no need to question that. Then what about humans? What do you think your speciality is?"

Katsuo felt like his commonsense and Aranel's might be different but he didn't interrupt her. Still, he wanted to know. What would separate humans from other races?

"Their fertility?"

"No, if we are talking about fertility orcs have way more fertility than humans but they still weren't the ones who posed a threat to elves but humans. Think carefully, son."

Right, orcs had way more population than humans. They weren't the minions of evil in the games for nothing, they were a lot and they were also expendable.

"Our intelligence?"

Aranel looked at him like she was looking at the town idiot. Right, how could humans be smarter than the immortal elves?

"Okay, I don't know. Why did humans pose a threat to elves?"

"Because of your adaptability"

"What do you mean?"

"Humans are the only race that can crossbreed with every other race in this world. Humans also possess a short lifespan. But despite that in a short amount of time, they can learn knowledge that took some elves decades to amass or get strong enough to rival even the strongest of the orcs. Basically, humans as a race are thrash BUT amongst that countless thrash, there appears one or two strong warriors that can lead their race in times of peril and that potential scared us. If we, elves and other non-human races, had just watched from the side without doing anything. Eventually, humans would have destroyed our kingdoms, ravaged our homes, and destroyed our tribes. This was already a certainty since humans are the greediest race in the world. After the Dark War, when the whole world saw the potential of humans it wasn't hard for non-human races to come to terms with that and band together. Thanks to that we were not erased from the annals of history like the dragons."

Even though he didn't know some of the events Aranel talked about, Katsuo couldn't refute Aranel because that was the fate of all the non-human races he had seen in popular media. They would either have to submit to humans or become their allies otherwise they would be enslaved.