The Half-Elf

Gorn arrived in a hurry with thirty of his personal guards. They could hardly believe their eyes—the enemy had actually hidden so many munitions right under their noses!

“...Twenty dwarven cannons,” Gorn finally spoke, his voice carrying a trace of lingering fear. “Three hundred barrels of gunpowder, and standard equipment for three regiments.”

“These munitions...” Gorn turned to look at Leopold. “Are you sure you want to give them to me?”

Leopold stood in the shadows not far away with his arms crossed, while Isabella stood quietly by his side.

“It would be too wasteful to blow them up,” Leopold said nonchalantly. “The Greystone Alliance's legion commander told me these things were going to be shipped to the front-line outposts tomorrow. Rather than letting them become shells fired at you, they might as well become inventory in your warehouse.”

“I understand, Lord Black Dragon.” Gorn bowed deeply to Leopold. “Everyone, listen up! Act according to the emergency transport procedures I taught you before. The first squad will handle the cannons, the second squad will handle the gunpowder, and the third squad will handle the swords and armor.”

“Do not make any unnecessary noise during transport, and do not leave any traces behind. If anyone asks, say these are wartime reserves cleared from the North District ruins.”

The thirty guards didn't waste a single word and quickly dispersed.

Leopold stood by and watched for a while, gaining a deeper understanding of Gorn. This young goblin patriarch was far better at seizing opportunities than his grandfather.

“Mr. Leopold,” Gorn walked over to his side and lowered his voice. “I will transfer these munitions to a backup warehouse on the west side of the royal capital overnight. Only I and a few of my trusted confidants know of that location.”

“Very well,” Leopold nodded. “Also, one more thing—Krag, the Third Legion Commander of the Greystone Alliance, helped us today. If you have the chance to control the Greystone Alliance's territory in the future, you can keep him in your service.”

Gorn raised his eyebrows slightly, but he didn't press for details, merely nodding solemnly. “I will keep that in mind.”

Leopold clapped the dust off his hands and walked out of the cave, with Isabella following behind him.

“Leo, you seem to trust Gorn quite a bit.”

“I wouldn't call it trust,” Leopold exhaled. “But he is a smart man. Smart people know what they need, and they know who they should cooperate with.”

He turned and walked back the way they came. “Let's go back to the castle. I still have more important things to do.”

“That magic book?”

“Yes.”

By the time Leopold returned to the castle, the sky had already grown dark. He pushed open the door to the parlor, walked straight to the fireplace, pulled the thick volume of 《Introduction to Basic Magic》 from his breast pocket, and placed it on his lap.

Isabella also quietly followed him in, gently closed the door, and sat down on a nearby chair.

“Which page do you plan to start reading from?” She tilted her head.

Leopold flipped to the first page, stared at the page full of Elvish script for ten seconds, and then closed the book expressionlessly.

“Has the tutor been brought here?”

“I asked the manager of the old castle, and it seems they have been brought over,” Isabella pondered.

Leopold raised his head, his gaze shifting away from the book cover. “They're already here? That fast?”

“Gorn sent people to look for them overnight,” Isabella stood up and glanced out the window. “Supposedly, it's a half-elf.”

“A half-elf?”

“It seems to be a cross between an elf and a human,” Isabella's face was also full of confusion. “I really didn't expect the elves, who are the Second Race, to actually produce offspring with humans, who are the Seventh Race...”

Just as I thought! Leopold lowered his head. He had thought humans were extinct in this world. After all, as the very bottom of the world's races, humans were actually on the same level as goblins here...

Leopold closed the book, rested it on his knees, and lightly tapped the cover with his finger. “...When will he arrive?”

“They said this evening. Counting the time, it should be soon.”

Before her voice could fade, a knock sounded on the parlor door.

“Come in,” Leopold stood up.

The door was pushed open, and a slender youth walked in. He looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a thin frame, wearing a faded gray robe with a simple hemp rope tied around his waist.

“H-Hello. I am Oliver Iris. Patriarch Gorn sent me!” His voice carried a hint of nervousness.

Leopold sized up the youth in front of him. A half-elf—a mixed-blood of human and elf, occupying an awkward position in this world.

“Please come in,” Leopold nodded to him. “I am Leopold. That is Isabella.”

Oliver stepped into the parlor cautiously. He sat down on a low stool by the fireplace, his hands folded neatly over his knees.

“Um...” He hesitated. “Patriarch Gorn said you want to learn Elvish?”

“Yes.” Leopold handed over the volume of 《Introduction to Basic Magic》. “I can't read the script used in this book.”

Oliver took the book, looked down to flip through a few pages, his fingertips gently brushing across the yellowed pages.

“...This is Ancient Elvish from the late First Era.” He raised his head, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes. “It is much more complex than modern Elvish. Generally, only upperclassmen in magic academies would encounter texts of this level.”

“Can you read it?” Leopold asked.

Oliver nodded, then added with a bit of embarrassment, “My father is an elf, so I've known Ancient Elvish since I was a child. My father taught me.”

Leopold nodded, not pressing further. He could sense the half-elf youth's sensitivity regarding his background.

“Then I will trouble you,” Leopold sat back in his chair. “I need to reach a level where I can read and understand this book, as quickly as possible.”

Oliver opened the book, his eyes quickly scanning the contents of the first page. His eyes lit up slightly.

“...The content of this book actually isn't very deep. Although it's written in Ancient Elvish, the sentence structure isn't complex. It's mainly basic theory regarding mana perception.”

“If you're willing, we can start with the alphabet and basic grammar. With two hours a day, you should be able to read independently in about half a year.”

“Half a year?” Leopold frowned. “That's too long. We don't have that much time.”

Oliver blanked for a moment, then raised his head to look at him. “...Then how long do you hope it will take?”

“Seven days.”

Oliver blinked his light gray eyes, looking somewhat incredulous.

“Mr. Leopold, are you saying you want to master a completely foreign language within seven days and use it to read late First Era Ancient Elvish magic literature?”

Oliver practically shoved his face right in front of Leopold's, causing Leopold to lean back involuntarily.

“Y-Yes... Is that too rushed? Then maybe we can push it back...”

“There is absolutely no problem! Mr. Leopold, I deeply understand your urgency!”

Eh?

Excitedly, he scooted his stool forward, almost pressing himself right up to Leopold.

“Seven days is indeed very rushed, but it is not impossible. The differences between Ancient Elvish and modern Elvish lie mainly in vocabulary and grammatical structure, and the book you want to read just happens to be an introductory textbook!”

“Which means the repetition rate of sentence patterns is very high. If we adopt immersive teaching—meaning at least twelve hours of high-intensity training every day—theoretically, you can reach a basic reading level within seven days!”

He spoke very quickly, his speaking speed nearly doubling compared to before. His hands gestured in the air as if outlining an invisible syllabus.

“...Of course, the premise is that you have enough perseverance. I plan to schedule it like this—” He pulled a roll of parchment from his chest pocket and unrolled it, revealing dense, scribbled notes covering the surface.

Leopold was already dumbfounded, but Oliver kept talking endlessly, tapping the syllabus on the parchment with his fingertip, moving down line by line.

“...On the first day, we will study the vowel system and basic consonant mutations in the morning, and do simple vocabulary memorization training in the afternoon. On the second day, we will start touching upon verb conjugations, combined with short sentence translation exercises. On the third day—”

“Wait a minute,” Leopold raised his hand, interrupting Oliver's borderline-manic speaking speed. “Did you just say at least twelve hours a day?”

Oliver stopped gesturing and nodded seriously. “If we don't reach this intensity, it's simply impossible to complete basic reading training within seven days. This is based on my—ah, sorry, did I speak too fast?”

He shrunk his neck back in embarrassment, the excitement that had just flared up in his gray eyes dimming slightly.

Leopold took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then opened them.

“...We'll do as you say.”

Oliver's eyes lit up again. “Really?”

“Really.” Leopold stood up, walked to the fireplace, and held his hands toward the flames. “I don't have time to learn slowly. Half a year is too long. Although seven days is rushed, I can endure it.”

Oliver also stood up, carefully folded the parchment, and tucked it back into his breast pocket. “Since you say so, we will start first thing tomorrow morning.”

“No,” Leopold shook his head. “We start tonight.