In the hall on the ground floor of the tower, Maka, surrounded by elves, sat at a round table that was not too big, drank sweet spring water, and ate shortbread baked by the elves. Not bad.
It can be seen from these elves with strong autonomy that their race naturally likes to work, which has subtle similarities with modern house elves.
In ancient times, elves had many types of good or evil depending on their bloodline branches. The ancestors of house elves were once called "brown elves" in Scotland and other places because they often wore a set of brown tattered clothes.
Unlike most other branches of their race that are quite naughty and like to play pranks, brown elves prefer to observe every move of humans. And they will live in harmony with people who are friendly to them.
If they can sense kindness from you, then they might help you with housework, repairs on the house, etc. At the same time, they are very curious and will always take advantage of the opportunity of more contact to secretly stare at you.
It's just that the brown elf doesn't like the reward.
If you try to give them something in return because you appreciate their help, they will immediately take it as an insult and leave your home forever. If something gets more serious, it might even start causing trouble in your daily life.
It can be seen that the reason why house elves now have such strange personality traits may have a lot to do with this.
While Maka was enjoying this slightly leisurely afternoon tea, she was also pushing the topic bit by bit, intentionally or unintentionally.
The elf elder Lark gave him a very stable feeling. From Maka's understanding of them, he knew that this stability was very difficult for an elf.
But thanks to this stability, he was able to carry on the conversation smoothly using an ancient language that was not very fluent.
From Lark's mouth, Maka learned about the origins of some of the ancestors of their elves and Rowena Ravenclaw.
In fact, their ancestors had been living on this island long before Rowena found this island in the center of the Mediterranean Sea.
It is said that there were two families of ancient wizards living far away from human habitation on the island at that time. Their ancestors would often help these two small families with odd jobs according to their tempers, and occasionally get some milk from the kitchens of those two families. drink.
Later, the descendants of these two wizarding families gradually stopped coming back, and the older generation of wizards also passed away, leaving the ancestors of the elves alone again.
Until one day, a young girl appeared on the island and built a hut with magic. That rather simple hut was the original appearance of the current wizard tower.
The elves didn't care where the girl came from, and the girl didn't care that she had such a group of noisy neighbors. A delicate balance slowly formed between these two different races.
Since then, life has become ordinary and leisurely again.
At that time, wizards had not yet established a highly comprehensive magic school like today. Regarding the inheritance of magic, parents still taught it to their children, or hired other wizards to become apprentices.
Rowena, who was still a young girl, didn't know where he got the wizarding inheritance. The elves only knew that he often hid in the house and studied various magics alone until...
"... Later, a young human man encountered a storm at sea and was pushed onto the beach by the waves while holding a wooden board."
Hearing what Lao Lak said, Macadang even thought of the old notes he found on the desk in a certain room when he last came here.
Behind the daily notebook used to record magical biological experiments, he also wrote many essays about daily life. He remembered that from a certain day, there was an additional name in the essay above, and more and more names were mentioned as he went on.
"Is that young man's name 'Youn'?"
Maka took out the notebook from her waist and quickly found the name.
"Ah! Yes..." Lao Lak said softly, "My grandma once told me that story. Human love is very beautiful."
He paused, but then recalled: "Well... I remember it was called... Ewan Ravenclaw?"
"Is it really Ravenclaw?" Maka murmured.
According to records, Rowena Ravenclaw had never been married in her life, but she did have a girl named Helena with the same surname as Ravenclaw. Because of this, many scholars speculate that Rowena may have had a short marriage long ago.
At the moment, Maka has inadvertently confirmed this long-standing conjecture... although it doesn't seem to be of much use.
"That man was a helmsman on a long voyage, and Rowena Mila was very interested in sailing on the sea. Later, the two of them went to sea together..." Old Luck said leisurely, "It wasn't until many years later that Rowena Mila A person comes back once and takes a lot of things with him... "
The elf Lark kept telling the story of that year, while Maka was thinking about Rowena's origins.
For Maka, it is obviously necessary to know Rowena's life. It's just that so much time has passed, it's not easy to figure it out.
Although he had some speculation in his mind, it was quite difficult to confirm it. After thinking about it for a while, Maka returned her attention to the conversation with the elf Lark.
It didn't take long for the topic to gradually come to the main topic of his trip.
"... Compatriots from the outside world?" The elf elder frowned slightly, "It would turn out like this, which surprised Lao Lak... However, each of our ethnic groups, and even each individual, is independent. This is why The rules set by our ancestors cannot be broken casually."
At this point, he shook his head slightly.
"Although I feel very sympathetic to the experiences of my fellow tribesmen outside, since the choice was made due to defeat, then the agreement is an agreement, and the elf will never break the agreement unilaterally."
"...Maybe it's not an agreement, but just forced?" Maka asked curiously, "Why are you so sure?"
If Lark had reacted very violently to the living conditions of his compatriots outside, he would not have allowed the word "forced" to appear here, which would not be of any benefit to the purpose of his trip.
But now, the elf Lark has not shown any indignation at the tragic experience of his own race, which makes Maka have to rework the original plan.
"We, the elf clan, no matter which branch we are, are loyal to the agreement." Lao Lak's old voice sounded very serious at this time, "If we are unwilling to make the agreement, it is useless to force us to force it. We would rather Return your soul to nature again, and you will not suffer humiliation under any coercion."
"Lao Lak doesn't know what the war was like back then, but Lao Lak is sure that there must be a clear and clear agreement in the end."
Judging from what the elf Lark said, there may be other more complicated reasons behind that ancient war with few records.
"...promise...?" Maka frowned and thought, "Then what kind of agreement do you think should be formed at the end of that ancient war?"
"I don't know about this, Old Lak," the elf elder shook his head and said slowly, "But in this world, there must be at least one compatriot who still retains the original agreement in his heart."
The expression on his wrinkled face is sincere and natural, and his long big ears twitch slightly, as if he is praying for some kind of faith that is difficult for Maka to understand.
"... Unlike you humans, we, the elf clan, have 'promises' engraved in our souls." Lark said seriously, "Every unfulfilled promise will be passed down from generation to generation in the blood of the person who made it. Until the day comes when the agreement is fulfilled.”
"Then... why did you make the agreement?"
As soon as Maka asked this question, she received a confused stare from Old Luck for a while.
"'For what'?" He said strangely, as if he didn't understand what Maka was saying, "Does there have to be a corresponding reason before we can make an agreement?"
Okay! It turns out that you don’t even need a reason to make an agreement with someone? This huge difference in basic concepts made Maka not know how to answer the call.
"Oh, maybe there's something wrong with my statement -" Maka changed her subject, "I mean, under what circumstances would you make an agreement with someone?"
"It doesn't matter," Lao Lak said matter-of-factly, "As long as we want to make an agreement, it doesn't matter what the situation is."
"Uh..." Maka blinked and said suddenly, "Then, I-"
"I will not make an agreement with you," Lao Lak instantly interrupted Maka's words, and said calmly with a surprised expression on his face, "Because I feel in you that you want to take advantage of me. intention."
"ah?"
Maka immediately raised her eyebrows and blinked depressedly.
He really wanted to take advantage of the situation and propose a so-called "promise without reason" to test it out, but he never thought that before he could say anything, the other party rejected it extremely decisively.
"I never heard that elves have such innate abilities?" Maka secretly said in her heart, "I thought they were a bit stupid, but it seems that they still have enough capital to support their stupidity."
Of course, he is very aware of his Occlumency skills, and among wizards, he is basically not afraid of being peeked into his heart. But the elf in front of him could still feel his own thoughts.
Even if it was probably just an unclear sensory talent, it was enough to surprise Maka.
"Okay!" Maka, who suffered a small loss for no reason, shrugged, "In that case, forget it... Even if we don't make a promise, we can still be friends!"
When his plan failed, another idea suddenly came to his mind.