Chapter 1: Reunion After 400 Years

"Hey, Claire, listen—this is a secret, okay…?"

I’m Claire, a still-young elven woman of 417 years.

And the young human man in front of me… if I recall, his name was Matthew? Or maybe Marsh? Something like that.

Human men tend to immediately invite me for drinks the moment they realize I’m an elf. Do they really think an elf would just jump at that sort of invitation? Honestly, they’re underestimating me.

Well, if I’m bored and in the mood, I might go along with it from time to time.

I’m immune to poison. That’s an incredibly useful trait for an adventurer. Many mushrooms and plants are poisonous, but thanks to this, I can eat things others can’t even touch. What I’m trying to say is: I can’t get drunk.

That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the taste of alcohol. Although, the kind of drinks they serve to women in bars like this one—sweet fruit wines with high alcohol content, clearly meant to get you drunk—aren’t exactly what I’d call fine liquor.

Men are all the same. Like they only know one trick: get a woman drunk so she lets her guard down, then drag her off somewhere. In my case, thanks to my poison immunity, it’s always the man who ends up passing out first. Quite unfortunate for them.

Just because I drink with someone doesn’t mean I intend to take it any further. I’ve never once gone through with anything beyond that. As proof, I’m still completely pure.

So why do I accept their invitations in the first place? Because they try their hardest to catch my interest with wild, funny stories—half lies, half truth. I enjoy listening to those.

I’ve only lived for about 400 years, but even that’s enough to find village life terribly dull. That’s why I come to the city, work as an adventurer, and make it a little more interesting by hearing tales of bravado and nonsense from men. Plus, the free food and drinks aren’t bad either.

It’s not like I’m uninterested in men… Actually, no, I’m not. But I’m not into women, either.

Elves generally have weak romantic or sexual inclinations. We don’t easily form attachments like that. There’s a reason we don’t breed rapidly like humans, with their short lives and fast cycles.

Oh, but we do have family love—just so you know.

Now and then, someone does try to force themselves on me, but people like that soon learn the hard way what my magic can do.

Anyway, enough about me. Back to the story.

"Oooh, a secret, huh? Is it interesting?"

These so-called secrets usually aren’t. They’re rarely anything special or actually secret. A letdown, most of the time. But I’m bored, so I’ll humor him.

"Hmm, interesting? I’m not sure. If you believe me, maybe it will be."

What kind of answer is that? He should at least try to say it’s interesting. Think about your audience. This is sounding dull already.

Still, I can’t judge until I hear it. And I am bored.

"So? What kind of story is it? Let’s hear it."

"Alright then, I’ll tell you. But don’t be too shocked. Claire, do you know about reincarnation from another world? Actually, that’s how I ended up in this world."

Reincarnation… from another world? What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

—Or at least, I shouldn’t have.

Yet for some reason, I do know those words.

"Huh? Reincarnation from another world?"

"Whoa! You’re the first person who didn’t just scoff when I said that. Most people shut me down right away—‘Yeah, right,’ or ‘Get outta here with that nonsense.’ So… can I go on?"

So much for it being a secret. He’s clearly told more than a few people. Not that I’m surprised.

But more importantly, I’m really curious about the rest of his story now.

"Yeah, go on."

"I used to live in a different world. I died in an accident with my best friend. But then I woke up… and found myself born into this one. Crazy, right?"

Something deep inside me stirred. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to find out. I urged him to continue.

"You’re really into this, huh? Alright. Now this part is a real secret—just for you, Claire. So, I said I was born into this world, right? You know how I know that? It’s because I still have all my memories from my previous life. And the reason I’ve been traveling… is to find my best friend. If I ended up here, then he—or she—must’ve come here too. So I left my village and became an adventurer to look for them. But no luck so far."

He did say earlier that his best friend died with him.

Searching for a best friend… For some reason, I feel like I did the same. Back when I was very young—just born, even.

"And, my name in my previous life was Kazuya Hiragi. Kind of a rare-sounding name in this world, right? ‘Kazuya’ was my first name, and ‘Hiragi’ would be what you call a last name here. Not that I was a noble or anything. So, what do you think—surprised?"

Kazuya Hiragi.

The moment I heard that name, it felt like a bolt of lightning shot through my entire body.

I know that name. No—not just “know.” That’s the name of my best friend.

Suddenly, memories came flooding back. Memories from my past life. From the time just after I was born as an elf.

Those memories filled my mind now, and I needed to confirm them. Were they real? Were they true? Or was I drunk for the first time in my life?

There was only one way to find out.

"Wait… was the country Kazuya came from called Japan? And was his best friend named Miki Hidaka?"

Kazuya’s eyes widened like a bird hit with a slingshot. Clearly, he hadn’t expected that at all. Of course he didn’t—no one else could possibly know both his country and best friend’s name. No one except that best friend.

So I wasn’t drunk. The memories really did return the moment I saw him.

"...Huh?"

"It’s been a long time, Kazuya."

Kazuya froze. Understandable—he’d spent years searching, and now, his long-lost best friend was standing right in front of him… as an elven woman.

No wonder he couldn’t believe it right away.

"EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!"

He jumped to his feet, practically shouting.

"Calm down, Kazuya. Sit."

I placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back into his seat.

"W-Wait, seriously? Miki? But… it’s only been 17 years since I reincarnated!"

"Hey, I should be the one complaining. What took you so long? I’ve been waiting for four hundred years, you know. Four hundred."

Upon hearing Kazuya's name, everything came flooding back to me.

I was reincarnated into this world as a female elf 417 years ago.

Just like Kazuya, I retained my memories from my previous life. I remember being thrilled—reincarnated into a fantasy world and becoming an actual elf, the very symbol of such worlds.

Once I was old enough to move freely within the elven village, I began searching for Kazuya, who I was sure had also been reincarnated. But he was nowhere to be found in the village.

From my perspective, with the memories and sense of time from my previous life, the elven village was mind-numbingly dull. And I had a reason to leave—I needed to find Kazuya. Spending hundreds or even thousands of years cooped up in that place was simply unthinkable.

Elves grow at a pace similar to humans until about the age of 17. After that, while we do mature slightly, we don't age. We keep our youthful bodies and are said to live for thousands of years—perhaps even forever.

In fact, no elf in my village had ever died of old age. There was an elder who was nearly 3,000 years old when I was born, but he looked just like the rest of us. To me, he was nothing more than a self-important youngster with an inflated ego.

On the day I turned 17, I packed my magic bag with spellbooks and left the village behind.

Even when I returned from time to time, no one scolded me. In elven terms, even after a hundred years, I was greeted with, “Oh? Back already?”—that’s just how different our sense of time is.

After that, I wandered the world as an adventurer, spending the next few decades searching for Kazuya—until around my 50th year. But in the end, I never found him. Eventually, I completely forgot about the past world... and about Kazuya.

All that remained was the “eccentric elf who hated boredom.”

Whenever the boredom crept in, I'd descend to the human towns and distract myself with adventuring. Then I’d return to the village and enjoy a quiet, slow life again. I repeated that cycle over and over.

This time was no different. On a whim, I arrived at some random town and was idly observing the humans at the adventurers' guild when Kazuya approached me. I was bored and had time to spare, so I let him treat me to some food and drinks without thinking much of it.

But now I know—it had to be fate.

Four hundred years may not be much for an elf, but to a human, it's an incomprehensibly long time. And yet, in the exact moment I left the village again, I ran into my best friend from a previous life. He spoke to me, and I regained all my memories.

If this isn’t fate, then what is?

It's a shame that Kazuya ended up reincarnated as a human—a short-lived species—but there's no helping that. Still, I’ll spend your life with you once more, as your friend.

It may only be a handful of decades, barely a hundred years—but it'll be a fine way to pass the time.