This is the story of a magician and an elf girl.

"Teacher Doris..."

"...What are you waiting for...Hurry up and give me the final blow."

"...I...I have something else to say..."

"If I don't take action now, I will have no chance... I have no regrets about losing to you... I don't intend to beg for mercy from you at the very end. If I still have one finger left to play the string, I will definitely stand up and kill you - go ahead, there is no need to show mercy!"

"Teacher Doris..."

"You even have mercy on a dying beast! Wake up, Linna! This world is cruel! In the end, you are the only one who gets hurt! If you were strong enough, I would choose to trust you! Trust the person you trust! Listen to what he said to you! It is because of your powerlessness! Your innocence! I had unnecessary doubts! That's why I made the wrong choice! That's why you couldn't save that person! It's the same now! You still haven't given up your innocence! You still haven't learned a lesson from your failure! This arrogance and stupidity will only make you lose more! Do you understand?!"

"..."

Doris's advice was correct - if Linnae was not a powerless little girl, but a powerful elf, Doris would use her vision as a benchmark to measure whether the identity of the magician was worthy of the elves' trust.

Precisely because her martial arts are not worthy of reference and reliance, the possibility of being exploited increases, and suspicion and doubts continue to arise. It can be said that the disadvantages brought by the "naive" attitude towards things outweigh its own advantages. It is a "fantasy" that is not worthy of existing in reality.

"Then... Teacher Doris, do you know... how that person... sees you... do you know?"

"..."

But Linna knew that person didn't think so.

"Brother... don't you hate Teacher Doris? She did such a cruel thing to you... why are you still..."

"...Hmm...well, the past is past...what's wrong with letting it go..."

"...Don't fool me...Brother, you always treat me like a fool...You don't really think that way, right?"

"Hmm... I can't really hide it from you...?"

Linna knew that he was not a heartless person. As long as he was still a human being, he would feel "hatred" towards those who had hurt him. This was a natural behavior.

"...your senior... how should I put it... too conservative, too stubborn in his thinking, like a child who dares not eat any red fruit after eating a poisoned apple, doesn't know how to adapt, and once he recognizes the essence of something, he can only regard it as a fact forever."

"...But...that's the truth...isn't it?"

"Yesterday's weather was sunny, and today's weather might be rainy, but in fact today it is cloudy. Do you think this prediction has any factual basis?"

"Uh... this is probably due to the weather..."

"The same thing can be explained by the same principle. People's thoughts are ultimately based on the information they can get in reality. Once there is a little change, people will shirk responsibility and leave it to God or the environment to deal with. In fact, everything is like this. The so-called definition is nothing more than a "label" that people set for a certain possibility. Who knows that there is actually another possibility in this world?"

"……oh……"

"Humans are the only intelligent beings in the world, but they are not omnipotent. They are afraid of the "unknown" and all the existences that they cannot recognize. I think this is a shortcoming of humans as intelligent beings, but also an advantage. Because after knowing why it is unknown, people will try to understand it, not escape. Although sometimes they will retreat and fail, sometimes they will get something and taste the sweetness, and want to share this achievement with others. This kind of behavior - I call it "adventure."

"Taking a risk...?"

At that time, Linnae didn't know that the adventure he knew was exactly the spirit of challenge that people lack today.

Once you encounter hardship, you will no longer want to try. Once you feel that it is not working, don’t go on. No one has ever succeeded, so why should you make yourself suffer?

This way of thinking is prevalent in today's age because puppets have taken away people's willingness to take risks.

If you take a wrong step, you will definitely die. This is not an adventure that adventurers should try.

The era of true adventure ended when John was called a magician.

"At that time... I failed. I risked my life to save you, but I couldn't save her."

"Then...how can it be your fault, brother..."

"No... it's my fault... If I could be as innocent as a little girl passing by at that time... as carefree and harmless... why would she shoot an arrow at me?"

"this……"

"If I could take off this leather armor that I wear to protect myself... and my terrifying image... and stop protecting myself, and show myself to be an honest and trustworthy person - everything would be different..."

"..."

So, the man and the girl embarked on an adventurous journey.

In order to find Dorothy and to make up for his past mistakes, the man lost his life on the journey - and never blamed Dorothy for her past mistakes.

"...He never said it was your fault, Teacher Doris...Brother always...always blames himself...thinks that things turned out this way because he didn't do things perfectly...He never threw the responsibility onto others...If he were still alive...he would definitely forgive you, Teacher Doris..."

"..."

The girl said something that she had never expected. Unable to believe the fact, Doris felt her vision suddenly become blurred, and she felt liquid flowing through the corners of her eyes.

"...So...no matter what happens...I don't hate you, teacher. Even if those things happened in the past, I will not give up my innocent attitude - because that is me, that is my innocence, and it is because of it that I saved that person and everyone else."

"..."

The result described by Doris is, after all, just one of the results.

Linnay's innocence touched the magician's conscience, and that indirectly saved the lives of the elves of the entire tribe.

Because her innocence regained that man's trust, because her flawless innocence did not contain any lies, because she rushed into the dangerous forest holding the tattered black robe.

After struggling again and again, worrying again and again, the elf girl who suffered so much grievance and pain finally got the reward she deserved.

"Teacher Doris is just scared... In fact, everyone can trust others... It's just that everyone will feel uneasy... So please be brave... Teacher Doris should be a braver senior than me."

What if Doris had not let go of the bowstring and shot through the magician's helping hand to the elf girl, but had chosen to believe the girl's words, what would have been the ending?

If she had worked together with the magician to fight against Tiger Hedgehog at that time, what kind of relationship would they have now?

If I could trust others again and no longer be bound by common sense... surely... there would be a different future...

“You…really…have gotten stronger…and more reliable…Rinna…”

"How...how could it be...I am also..."

“I’m sorry… for not trusting you… Linna… Teacher… I’m really… a… big fool… If… I had discovered it earlier… maybe we wouldn’t have to say goodbye like this… right…”

Linnai, who had just realized that she was about to leave this world, could not help but return to her previous weak state. She reached out her hand to touch Doris's cheek, and began to feel reluctant to let her go - but what she had to do had already been done, and the rest... could only be left to her...

"No... No... Teacher is just trying to protect me... Teacher..."

"...Be careful... Linna... The demon...is targeting... that... magician... Once... she gets... it... we...will all...be...finished..."

"Mr. Doris, the magician... what did you want to say just now... Teacher... Teacher..."

Doris, who could only laugh at herself in the end, breathed her last and passed away in Linnay's arms. Her body turned into tear-like light particles, and the touch and body temperature left in her hands also disappeared.

This is the final fate of the dark elves. Elves who have lost their faith will not be recognized by the goddess, and cannot go to heaven or hell. They will stay in the world and wait for the opportunity to start over as human beings again.

"...Hey...Elf, I'm sorry, although it's a very bad time...but I feel it's necessary to go over there..."

"..."

"That's... Miss Linnae, there are survivors! We should still have time!"

"!"

Where there is loss, there must be gain. The fur buried in the sand came into the sight of the three people, and the signs of life flashed through their twitching fingertips.