I Became a Cub in the Elven Kingdom

Teach a class of Little Fairies?

In more than three thousand years of life, Danlov had never even considered such a thing.

Now that the opportunity had presented itself, should he teach them?

The answer was yes.

He wanted to see how human students differed from Little Fairies.

It would be an interesting experience.

And so, early that morning in the library of the Elven Kingdom, four Little Fairies sat neatly in a row with their hands obediently folded on the table. Their bright eyes blinked as they stared at Danlov standing before them.

In his mind, Shu Li covered the wickedly grinning Ilio, who had made this suggestion, in imaginary spikes until he resembled a hedgehog.

Angel, Disio, and Budno were sighing inwardly as well.

They had thought they would be able to spend several more days playing in the Elven Kingdom. Who could have known that the devious Ilio would ruin everything? Beneath the table, their feet scraped restlessly against the floor.

Danlov possessed exceptionally keen senses and could see every tiny movement the young Fairies made. He smiled.

“There’s no need to be nervous. Make yourselves comfortable. If you have any questions, simply raise your hand and ask. As long as I know the answer, I’ll explain it to you.”

The four Little Fairies relaxed slightly. They stopped frowning as though crushed beneath the weight of some bitter grudge.

Danlov regarded them kindly. “Who would like to ask the first question?”

The four Little Fairies looked at one another and silently communicated with their eyes. In the end, Shu Li, as their leader, raised his hand first.

“Danlov, could you tell us about your experiences in the Human World?”

The Fairies and Elves sometimes told the Little Fairies amusing stories about their travels across the continent. Everyone’s encounters were different, and every story was fascinating. The Little Fairies always listened with great interest.

However, after hearing those stories, Shu Li noticed something they all had in common: the Fairies and Elves observed everything on the continent from an outsider’s perspective.

Even when disguised as humans, they could never truly integrate into human society.

They belonged to different peoples, came from different cultures, and felt no sense of belonging there. They could not share the humans’ experiences or emotions.

Danlov, however, had grown up in the Elven Kingdom. Going to the Human World had been a return to his own people, so his perspective was certain to be different.

Shu Li was not a Fairy in the purest sense. His soul belonged to a human from another world. If he wanted to become a true hero, he had to broaden his view to encompass the entire continent and learn about all its peoples.

“My story?” Danlov was somewhat surprised. He had not expected the Little Fairy to make such a request. Still, he was more than willing to share his experiences with them.

“Do the rest of you want to hear it too?” Danlov asked the other three Little Fairies.

“Yes, yes!” The three Little Fairies nodded furiously.

They loved hearing about the outside world. These stories would give them valuable experience for when they began traveling across the continent as adults.

“Very well. I’ll begin with how I first came to the Elven Kingdom...”

Before Danlov could continue, he stared in surprise as all four young Fairies simultaneously took notebooks and quills from their storage rings, looking fully prepared to take notes.

Shu Li opened his notebook to the newest page and positioned his quill. After waiting for quite some time without hearing Danlov continue, he raised his head in confusion.

Go on. Keep talking. We’ve already taken out our notebooks and quills.

Ever since they had learned to enlarge themselves, the Little Fairies had begun keeping items suited to their larger forms.

Whenever an Elf happened to be in the mood to tell stories, they would sit down, listen, and record everything.

At every such gathering, Kumandi always took the greatest number of notes and wrote everything down in the most detail.

With the Little Fairies’ pale-green eyes fixed expectantly upon him, Danlov laughed inwardly.

Only moments ago, he had wondered how human students differed from Little Fairies. The lesson had not even formally begun, yet he had already discovered the answer.

Human students listened to his stories with nothing but their ears. Once they heard them, that was the end of it. They were nothing like the four young Fairies before him, who not only listened but also took out quills and paper to record everything.

Taking notes was an excellent habit.

Spoken words were easily forgotten. Once written down, however, they could be reviewed repeatedly, allowing the reader to extract useful lessons and apply what they had learned.

“Ahem.”

Danlov cleared his throat and began his story under the Little Fairies’ expectant gazes.

“You should already know that my parents abandoned me when I was young and left me in the Faerie Forest. At the time, war had broken out in the Dalia Empire. The people suffered terribly, and countless civilians died in battle or perished from hunger and cold...”

His family’s village lay near the Sesis Mountains. When the flames of war reached the small village, large numbers of villagers fled into the mountains.

Danlov had been five or six years old at the time, old enough to remember what happened.

His parents hid in the mountains with their three children for more than a month. With food running out, they could no longer support them all. In their anguish, they rendered Danlov unconscious and abandoned him in the Faerie Forest.

He was not the first human child to be left there.

Many villagers had already done the same before his parents.

However, the Faerie Forest was not a place that allowed people to enter at will. Every abandoned child would miraculously leave the forest and return to the mountains in search of their parents.

The mountains were dangerous, however, and many of those children met tragic deaths.

When young Danlov awoke in the forest, he neither panicked nor cried out. Instead, he relied on his own two legs and walked deeper into the forest.

He became the only human child ever to pass through the forest mist. By sheer coincidence, he also encountered the Elven King while he was patrolling the forest, and Danlov’s destiny changed forever.

“That’s so sad...” Budno murmured.

“Yes. Being a human child is terrible,” Disio agreed. How frightened and heartbroken must an abandoned child feel upon awakening in an unfamiliar place?

“Why are there always so many wars in the Human World?” Angel asked. “Wouldn’t it be better if everyone lived together peacefully?”

“Conflicting interests are the main cause of war,” Shu Li replied, drawing upon what he had learned in his previous life. “Other causes include conflict between peoples, territorial disputes, competition for resources, and even the ambitions and desires of those in power.”

Danlov looked at the blond young Fairy in considerable surprise.

Compared with the other three Little Fairies, Sperien’s thinking appeared far more mature. He had actually grasped the true nature of war.

Could the things he had seen and heard during his visit to the Human World with Ilio five years ago have given him a deeper understanding?

If so, his powers of comprehension were astonishing.

“That’s right. The gods created humans, but also gave them ambition and desire. Conflict has continued without end since ancient times. Human history is a history of war,” Danlov said. “Nevertheless, many humans continue striving to achieve peace.”

“What happened next?” the impatient Disio asked. “Did you stay in the Elven Kingdom after that?”

“Actually, when I met the Elven King, he offered me two choices.” Danlov raised his head slightly, sinking into his memories. “He could send me out of the Faerie Forest and return me to my parents, or I could remain in the Elven Kingdom and study magic.”

At the time, he had not even known that the man seated upon the unicorn was the Elven King, the Son of Light.

Only when the stranger addressed him in the Continental Common Language did he gradually recover from his daze and understand the two choices he had been given.

Without the slightest hesitation, he chose the latter.

If he left the Faerie Forest, he would die. Magic, meanwhile, was something he had always dreamed of possessing. Once he learned it, he would have the power to protect himself.

“Is protecting yourself your only reason?” the Elven King asked.

Young Danlov lowered his head and thought. Then he raised his bright blue eyes and declared firmly, “I want to protect more people!”

“Do you not resent the family who abandoned you?” the Elven King asked.

The light in his eyes dimmed. Slowly, he shook his head.

“If losing me means my brother and sister can survive, then... let me go.”

“Even if you die?”

“Yes. Even if I die...”

The Elven King studied him for a long time before asking, “Human child, what is your name?”

“Danlov... Danlov Girard.”

The Elven King dismounted from the unicorn and extended a hand to him. After a moment’s hesitation, Danlov carefully placed his filthy hand into the Elven King’s immaculate one.

The Elven King closed his hand around Danlov’s and spoke gently.

“I hope you will remain true to your conviction in the future.”

“My conviction?” Danlov tilted his head.

“To protect more people.”

The Elven King lifted him onto the unicorn. They flew into the sky, heading toward paradise.

Yes, to young Danlov, the Elven Kingdom was paradise.

There, he saw magnificent buildings, beautiful scenery, and elegant, noble Elves. Everything felt like a dream, too wondrous to be real.

Although a human could not help feeling out of place in the Elven Kingdom, Danlov possessed a burning desire to grow stronger. No matter how difficult, bitter, or exhausting his studies became, he persevered.

From an ordinary child who knew nothing, he gradually became a mage capable of commanding light and water.

Shu Li wrote extremely quickly. His Elven script was elegant and orderly as he recorded Danlov’s story in meticulous detail.

He felt that the Elven King’s decision to adopt Danlov had not been mere chance.

The mist surrounding the outer reaches of the Faerie Forest was incredibly powerful. It could repel even a Saint Mage.

Danlov had been only five or six years old when he was abandoned, an innocent and naive child.

Logically, the mist should not have affected him. The magic within it should have guided him out of the Faerie Forest. Yet somehow, he had passed through the mist and entered the depths of the forest.

That alone proved he was different.

Perhaps it was precisely because he was special that the Elven King allowed him to study magic in the Elven Kingdom.

Danlov lived up to those expectations. After completing his studies, he entered the Human World to fulfill his promise.

To protect more people.

Through his own power, he gained authority over the Central Court. He purged its corruption, elevated its standing across the continent, established a magic academy, and trained countless outstanding mages. He also expanded the Magic Association into every nation, city, and town on the continent, discovering more people with magical talent.

The rise of the Central Court effectively kept the various nations in check. The continent had not experienced a large-scale war in a very long time.

In a sense, Shu Li thought, the Elven King had cultivated an ambassador for peace.

Having humans resolve their own conflicts was simply brilliant.

Furthermore, once the forces of darkness returned to the continent, Danlov could use his position as an undisputed leader to rally humanity. They could follow the Elven King into battle and resist the darkness together.

Shu Li marveled inwardly.

The king truly is the king. His foresight is extraordinary. Long ago, he began cultivating an exceptional leader for humanity.

“It took me six hundred years to advance from Mage Apprentice to Saint Mage.” Danlov raised his right hand and saluted in a particular direction. “I am grateful to the king and the Elves for their care and guidance.”

“That’s amazing!” the Little Fairies exclaimed.

According to their Fairy teachers, magic became increasingly difficult for humans to master at higher ranks. Most could progress no further after becoming Archmages.

Danlov had overcome every obstacle and broken through those limits. The Elven Kingdom’s abundant resources had helped, but his own perseverance and talent were equally important.

However, in the Elven Kingdom, where Saint Mages and Mage Sovereigns could be found everywhere, taking six hundred years to become a Saint Mage was hardly considered impressive.

That was why Danlov was not merely free of arrogance but even somewhat insecure about his accomplishment.

“After becoming a Saint Mage, I bade farewell to the Elven King and left for the Human World...”

Danlov had finally reached the important part. The Little Fairies immediately perked up and listened eagerly to the rest of his story.

Under the gaze of four pairs of shining eyes, Danlov coughed awkwardly.

When he first returned to the Human World, one mishap followed another, resulting in quite a few embarrassing incidents.

He was already so old, yet now he had to recount the most humiliating episodes of his past.

For example, when he entered his first village and saw ordinary humans, he had been deeply moved. He stood by the river watching the women wash clothes, searching the distant corners of his memory for some trace of his mother.

Unfortunately, he watched for far too long.

The villagers mistook him for a pervert. As the women screamed, the men chased him away with clubs.

He could not explain himself no matter what he said. In the end, he helplessly cast a spell on himself and teleported away.

Shu Li and his three friends listened in stunned disbelief.

“Huh? They thought you were a pervert?”

“Humans chased you away?”

“That’s awful—”

“It’s also a tiny bit funny.”

Danlov’s aged face flushed red. He picked up the cup on the table and took several sips of tea to hide his embarrassment.