Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 109: An Unexpected Visitor

Was he apologizing for letting this elf in unannounced? Or for the fact that the elf had launched into inappropriate comments the moment he entered?

Or maybe he was apologizing for the string of extremely uncomfortable and invasive questions the elf had just been directing at Leonide under the guise of "academic interest"?

Or perhaps, most recently, for the fact that the elf had shifted his interest to Damien, suggesting with unsettling confidence that Damien looked "open to it"?

Whatever the reason, Sebas didn’t need to apologize personally. Damien thought it would be much more fitting for this elf to be on his knees groveling.

The elf, who had his arm draped casually over Damien’s shoulder, called out cheerfully, waving at Sebas. "Oh, Sebas, my boy! Has it been a while, huh? Have you been keeping well? What’s this—did you shrink a bit?"

Meanwhile, Leonide, standing next to Damien, was doing his utmost to restrain Damien from punching the elf.

"It’s been about forty years since we last met directly, Teacher," Sebas replied, entering the room and, without a hint of hesitation, grabbed the elf by the collar and tossed him onto the opposite sofa. The elf landed lightly with a soft thud and reclined without a care.

"I truly cannot thank you enough, Teacher, for coming on such short notice," Sebas said, bowing deeply to the elf who now lay sprawled across the sofa.

Damien wasn’t sure what to make of Sebas’s treatment—whether it was rough or respectful.

"You called in a favor to bring me here, so of course I’d come running," the elf replied easily. "But forty years, has it been? No wonder the little squirt I remember has grown up."

"Master, I was already a grown man forty years ago," Sebas replied, his voice a touch dry. "And yes, as you suggested, I’ve indeed ’shrunk’ since then. I’d wonder if senility has finally caught up with you?"

"Oh? Was that so?" the elf said, scratching his head. "Ah well, you were a pretty humorless kid anyway."

"...You damn old man," Sebas muttered under his breath.

Damien blinked—he’d never heard Sebas speak like this before.

"Wait... this guy is Sebas’s teacher?" Damien asked.

"Indeed, Sir Damien," Sebas replied smoothly, nodding. "This gentleman is both my Teacher and the magic tutor of Master Theo as well."

Damien’s eyes widened. "So... he taught both you and Theo magic?"

"Correct," Sebas confirmed. "However, my Teacher here has a strong aversion to human society. He preferred to conduct Master Theo’s lessons through indirect means."

Damien tilted his head, puzzled. "Indirectly? How does that even work?"

"Through letters," Sebas clarified, his tone resigned.

So this elf had even the power to insist on his own terms with a marquis’ family. Though he looked young enough to pass as a teenager, he’d hinted earlier that he was six hundred years old. Perhaps elves in this world also had extraordinarily long lives.

"So then... just how old is he? He did say something about being six hundred, but is that actually true?"

Sebas thought about it for a moment. "Yes... I believe that age sounds about right," he said, considering.

Damien was stunned. Seriously?

"Hey now, don’t look at me like I’m some kind of monster," the elf said, noticing Damien’s stare. "Our kind—the elven race—lives several dozen times longer than common races like humans or centaurs. In human years, you could consider me barely out of childhood."

Damien tried to wrap his head around that. If elven lifespans were fifty times longer, then six hundred years old would be roughly twelve in human years. At forty times, it’d be fifteen, and at thirty, maybe twenty. Thinking about it that way, it kind of fit his youthful appearance. Maybe it wasn’t fair to think of him as some kind of monster after all.

Sebas let out a short, ironic laugh. "Teacher, you must be joking. Other long-lived races do experience proportional delays in their mental development, but elves only live longer; your minds mature no differently than ours. Whatever you may look like, we can hardly comprehend the psyche of a six-hundred-year-old being."

So... a monster after all?

"Well, for all it’s worth, back home I’m still treated like a kid," the elf said with a shrug. "Some of the elders in the village are thousands of years old, so I’m just a child to them. Just a... well, still a virgin," he mumbled, trailing off.

Damien couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of warmth at the honesty in that confession. Even at six hundred, it seemed like some things mattered just as much.

Still, after thousands of years... he could hardly imagine how such beings even thought.

Sebas, nodding to himself, spoke up again, "It’s said that elves have no true concept of lifespan—that they do not die of old age, only from external causes like illness or injury. Supposedly, the oldest among them, known as the Ancient One, has lived over ten thousand years. Some even say he’s been around since the world itself was created. But when researchers found they couldn’t communicate with him at all due to vast differences in perception, they were utterly devastated."

So there was someone that ancient... though "someone" seemed like an inadequate word for it.

"Oh, that’s old news by now," the elf interrupted. "The oldest elder finally passed away not too long ago. So yes, we do, in fact, have lifespans."

"What?!" Sebas exclaimed, completely taken aback. "Has anyone outside the elven race—any kingdom at all—been informed of this?"

Damien blinked, surprised. It was the first time he’d seen Sebas so flustered.

The elf chuckled dismissively. "I doubt it. I haven’t told anyone, and I doubt anyone else has either. It’s not exactly the kind of thing we’d casually bring up—’Oh, by the way, our oldest elder finally kicked the bucket.’"

"Well," Sebas replied dryly, "your people do tend to keep a very low profile." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Exactly. And that’s why I’m still a virgin," the elf added with a small pout.