[Chapter 24 Half-Elf]
After a “sumptuous” dinner, Addis gave his bedroom to Laura, and he and David just made do in the living room for the night.
As a hunter, there are still some advantages in the family. For example, Addis has a lot of animal furs at home. These are all flawed furs, mainly because the fur color is messy or the pattern is not good-looking. They can’t be sold at a high price and are not easy to sell. They are usually piled there.
For excellent hunters, there is no need to worry about not having warm clothes and bedding in winter. Although these furs are not good-looking, they have no defects in keeping warm.
At this time, Addis and David made a bed on the floor with various furs and lay on it to rest with their eyes closed.
The civilians in this world don’t have too many entertainment activities at night. Basically, once it gets dark, the entire outer city falls into silence, and only the inner city will light up many lights.
As an old hunter from the civilian class, Addis has developed the habit of going to bed and getting up early for many years. David was originally like this, but with the “rapid changes” of Winter Village, his work and rest time has changed a little, and he hasn’t rested so early for a while.
“Close your eyes and feel the Holy Light!”
If he stood up and put on a prayer posture, he would easily become a big light bulb, which would be too conspicuous. David thought it would be better to ponder some theoretical knowledge of the way of Holy Light.
He didn’t know how long it had been, but David suddenly found that the snoring beside him stopped, and then there was the sound of getting up.
If it was a normal nighttime wake-up, it would not alert David. He noticed that after getting up, Addis was walking towards him quietly.
He opened his eyes and happened to look at Addis. Seeing that the other party raised his finger to make a gesture of silence, David nodded, then stood up gently and followed Addis out of the house. After
closing the door, Addis said in a low voice: “Come with me for a walk.”
“At this time?” David smiled and looked around. There was no light or sound in the scattered houses around. Even in the inner city of Iron Tree Castle, there were not many lights at this time – the terrain of the inner city was slightly higher.
David knew that Addis had something to tell him secretly, and his words were just a joke. Addis also knew this, so he didn’t respond to him or say anything, but just motioned David to follow.
Addis’s residence was located in the outermost area of Iron Tree Castle. There were not many houses in this area, and after a few steps, he was basically out of Iron Tree Castle.
“It’s far enough.”
David looked at the surrounding environment. Going forward was a forest located south of the Iron Tree Forest. Although this forest also had high-quality wood such as iron trees, it was more of other species of trees. It was partially connected to the Iron Tree Forest, and it was much less dangerous for human hunters and woodcutters.
Addis stopped and looked around a few times. He felt that it was almost far enough, and then looked at David with a very serious expression: “Is Laura Crawford a noble?”
“Ah? This…” David didn’t expect Addis to ask about this first sentence: “It seems so!”
Thinking carefully about Laura’s personal information, he remembered that in the old version of the setting, the Crawford family was a serious English earl.
He was not clear about the character settings of the new version. He only knew that the Crawford family was a big family and seemed to have a title, but he could not remember the specific situation, and he had not asked Laura about this.
“Don’t tell me you can’t see it?” Addis shook his hand in dissatisfaction, as if he wanted to say something but finally held back. He hesitated for a long time and finally said: “You shouldn’t bring her to me… But this noble lady didn’t dislike the environment here…”
David looked at Addis with an unhappy face and guessed what made the old hunter uneasy: “Is it because of Alfie? Who is this child?”
Addis did not answer, still struggling with something.
David suddenly said: “If that child really has a special identity, then it would be more dangerous to continue staying in Iron Tree Castle, right? Have you ever considered taking him away from here?”
“Leave? Where can I go?” After answering instinctively, Addis was suddenly stunned.
In the old hunter’s mind, he was born and raised in Iron Tree Castle. He was most familiar with this place and the surrounding environment. If he left, he would not know where to go? At the same time, he didn’t know if he could continue to be an excellent hunter in another place when he was already old.
Less than two seconds after he said that, Addis realized that David wanted him to settle in his village.
This seemed to be a good choice, but he finally shook his head: “Alfie’s situation is a bit special, and going to your place may not be a good choice.”
“So, what’s going on with Alfie?” David didn’t like this kind of guessing conversation. If you have any difficulties, can’t you just say it out? Although he understood that Addis might think it was useless to say it out, Addis didn’t know David’s situation well enough, and his judgment was not accurate. Maybe David could really solve it? “It can’t be a wanted criminal with serious crimes, right?”
“Maybe a wanted criminal is better.”
“…”
David didn’t expect Addis to say this. Thinking about Alfie’s slender figure, fair skin that didn’t fit in with the civilian area, and outstanding appearance: “Could that child be the child of someone with a special identity?”
Addis finally gave the answer: “That child is a half-elf.”
“Half-elf?”
David suspected that the child was an illegitimate child of a noble family and was sent to Addis for some reason, but he didn’t think about the elf aspect.
After all, the relationship between humans and elves in Iron Tree Castle was really bad…
Because of this bad relationship, David understood why Addis reacted like this: “Why did you think of adopting a half-elf?”
Half-elves are a mixture of humans and elves. In the environment of Iron Tree Castle, half-elves are not rare, because elves have always been the most sought-after slave race among the nobles. Half-elves in Iron Tree Castle are basically born under such circumstances.
These human-elf hybrids are destined to a dark and miserable life from the day they are born, and neither humans nor elves regard half-elves as “their own people.”
In the eyes of the humans in Iron Tree Castle, half-elves are just a group of low-level slaves. Even the laziest and poorest homeless people in the outer city are nobler than them. The only advantage is that their appearance is not inferior to that of elves, which makes half-elves a hot commodity in the slave market.
In the eyes of the elves, these half-elves have been born with original sin. In the eyes of extreme elves, they even symbolize the shame of the elves. They will kill them when they see them; milder ones will also drive these half-elves away, so half-elves almost have no homes of their own. Perhaps for this group, the best ending is to be bought back by a slightly milder noble!
“Alfie is…” David was very puzzled. How did Addis meet Alfie? Why did he keep him by his side? Could this child be Addis’s child? I didn’t expect this old guy to have such ability? He quietly took down a female elf? Is this the real reason why Addis has never started a family?
David’s thoughts gradually drifted away, and the expression on his face perfectly betrayed his own thoughts. Addis didn’t have to spend much time to guess what this kid was thinking.
“You, like before, can’t hide your thoughts on your face!” Addis had suspected more than once that he was blind when he decided to adopt David. The boy’s contempt and disdain for the people and things around him made him worry that he would not live to adulthood and die on the street because he offended the dignitaries in the city. It was precisely
because of this concern that he did not stop David when he said he wanted to join the pioneering team.
In Addis’s opinion, it was too dangerous for David to stay in this city where many nobles lived. It would be better for him to go out and try his luck. After seeing the cruelty of real life, this arrogant boy might understand something. Even if the inexplicable idea of looking down on everything still existed, he should know how to hide it. After
all the calculations, he never expected that David would become the leader of the pioneering team and successfully build a village and return to Iron Tree Castle.
When Iron Tree Castle and the Kingdom of Tilan officially recognized the village, David’s identity as the village chief was confirmed, and he had initially gotten rid of the shackles of his civilian status.
Sighing that things are unpredictable, Addis briefly explained Alfie’s situation: “Don’t overthink it. That child has nothing to do with me. I just picked him up from the forest.”
“Picked him up…”
It’s not that David thought this was outrageous. It was common for elf slaves to escape or be rescued and return to their tribe. It was also understandable that they found themselves pregnant and gave birth to half-elf children after returning. Considering the attitude of elves towards half-elves, it was not surprising to throw him away.
But how did Addis pick him up? And Alfie was not young. If he was going to be thrown away as a baby, he should have been thrown away, right? Would he raise him until he grew up before abandoning him?
“Even if you’re making up a lie to fool me, could you please pay more attention and make it more reliable?”
In response to David’s complaints, Addis finally sighed and told the truth: “In fact, it was his mother who entrusted Alfie to me. His mother can return to her fellow tribesmen in the Iron Forest, but the child cannot go with her…”
“So you decided to adopt this child?” This sounded strange, and David couldn’t help but wonder if this old man had a deeper plan: “Why did Alfie’s mother entrust the child to you?”
“The elf who rescued Alfie and his mother is my friend.”
(End of this chapter)