Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

"You can say that we have been neglecting the elves as we haven't talked much about them. As such, today's lecture would be focused solely on them," Elysia's voice echoed around the room as the students listened closely to her words.

"First, is there somebody that knows something about their physical appearance?"

Seeing that nobody had raised their hands, the chairwoman sighed as she began,

"The easiest way to spot an elf is by their ears… is what some of you may think," Elysia spoke as she pointed to one of her ears.

"I hope that most of you at least know that elves have longer and pointier ears than us humans… but if you think that you will spot an elf that way, you are mistaken."

Elysia moved her finger from her ear to her hair,

"Remember, nearly all elves, regardless of gender, have long hair, which allows them to easily conceal their ears if they choose. As a result, it becomes difficult to tell whether you're looking at an elf or a human, even without them using magic to disguise their ears as ordinary."

"So how is the best way to tell them apart?" Zaroth spoke up, his voice echoing around the room.

He was the only one bold enough to ask questions during Elysia's lectures. This was an opportunity he was going to take—if he showed that he wasn't scared of asking questions, he would surely appear mature, no?

A small smile appeared on Elysia's face before she explained further, "The face, or more accurately, their skin."

"Their skin?" Zaroth raised an eyebrow as he muttered.

Seeing the confused faces on the students, Elysia brought her finger to her cheek.

"All of you, do the same."

Following the command, they did. The chairwoman began to drag her finger across her cheek, and so did the students.

"What did you feel?" she asked.

"... bumps?" After hesitating for a moment, Zaroth called out. While his skin was relatively smooth, there were small bumps that made his skin uneven.

"That is right. One thing that differentiates us from the elves is our skin. While a human's skin, no matter how smooth, will always have small bumps, an elf's skin is the epitome of perfection. If you drag your finger on their skin, it would be like glass—perfect with no imperfections. This is something that is much harder to mask with magic, so the best way to spot an elf is by examining their skin."

Seeing that Zaroth had raised a hand, Elysia permitted him to speak.

"So there isn't a human that has skin as smooth as an elf's?"

Elysia nodded, "Yes, it is simply in our biology. Our skin will always have imperfections unlike the elves."

Zaroth's eyes suddenly narrowed as he sensed a chance—could he finally tease her?

"But your skin looks perfect to me, and you're a human, not an elf."

Elysia raised an eyebrow at his statement, "This is called makeup, Zaroth. In the morning without it, I don't look that way."

Funnily enough, since Zaroth was sitting in the front and the other students were sitting so far away, if he wished to, he could whisper something that only he and Elysia would be able to hear.

And, of course, he made use of that opportunity.

"Frankly, I don't believe you. I guess I will have to wait for the moment when I can see your face right after waking up."

At his words, Zack coughed awkwardly, while Roran massaged his forehead as his head began to hurt. Meanwhile, Lily's gaze was shifting between Zaroth and Elysia, utterly captivated by the way Zaroth was so forward with flirting with her.

With a sigh, Elysia turned toward the white desk, not paying attention to Zaroth's advances. She probably didn't want to scold him in front of the whole class.

"Next is the way they use magic," the chairwoman approached the white desk and drew a weird-looking symbol—one that Zaroth had never seen.

"Does anybody know what this is?"

Judging by the silence in the room, it seemed that nobody had an idea.

"This is one of the primary ways elves use magic—runes."

Zaroth's interest was immediately piqued. This was something he had heard of but didn't know much about, as there were sadly no books on the topic in the library.

"Not much is known about them, but the little information we know about them is enough to categorize them as a very powerful tool."

Shifting her gaze to the students, she spoke, "Do you remember how you were teleported to the forest when the hunting competition took place? This was only possible with the work of the runes."

Feeling his heart rate increase, Zaroth's eyes began to shine. How couldn't they? If a rune was capable of such incredible magic, then he would want to learn how to use them.

"If it is something so powerful, why aren't we learning it? This is probably what you are asking yourself, am I right?" Elysia seemed to be able to guess Zaroth's thought pattern perfectly.

"It's because we humans can't use them. Or at least, to my knowledge, there has never been a human who could use them. It is a secret that is kept strictly among the elves, meaning that if we want to establish more of the teleporting circles in our empire, then we would have to pay a hefty amount to one of the elf kingdoms."

'I guess we humans aren't on good terms with them too… figures,' Zaroth thought.

Realizing that if he wanted to learn more about these runes, he would need to speak with an elf for an explanation, it seemed one more mission had been added to his list.

Glancing at the clock and seeing that they didn't have much time left, Elysia sped up.

"What else differentiates us from the elves? They don't receive blessings from the gods like we do. They live much longer and don't physically age, no matter how old they are. So, an elf who looks young could actually be several hundred years old."

'Wait, this doesn't make sense,' Zaroth thought as he interrupted Elysia.

"But if that is the case, shouldn't it mean that there are so many of them that they could overrun us if they wanted?"

Elysia couldn't help but smile, seeing that Zaroth had finally asked a sensible question.

"If you think like a human, it doesn't make sense, indeed. But there's something fundamentally different that sets us apart from the elves."

She pointed to her heart as she continued,

"We humans are lucky to live to a hundred years old, and most of these years, we have already aged, unable to do much. While the elves do not have that problem. Death is so far away from them that they do not feel the need to rush their stages in life, meaning that they have a low sex drive and take a long time to reproduce." Discover exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire

"So… they are just lazy?" Zaroth couldn't help but ask.

Elysia scoffed at his words, "Yes, if you look at it that way. If elves felt the constant fear of death that humans do, perhaps things would be different."

"...Then what would happen if they made it their goal to conquer more continents?" He asked.

Elysia's eyes seemed to darken even more than usual.

"Frankly, in that case, humanity wouldn't stand a chance against them."