Mage? Magic Engineer!

As soon as Andre spoke, Rorschach guessed who it was.

Sure enough, it was the Half-Elf with pale gold short hair—Hill, the one who seemed to melt into a single color under the sunlight.

"Long time no see," Rorschach said tentatively.

The group of Elves seeking an audience wasn’t just her. Their party was unusually composed, including Gray Elves. They had all been sitting in the reception room, but shot to their feet the moment Rorschach entered, their eyes fixed on Hill.

The Half-Elf Ranger was clearly uncomfortable in such situations, perhaps unused to the gazes of her own kind. She cleared her throat slightly before speaking. "Mm."

The two of them just stood there at the entrance to the reception room, looking at each other without a word. The atmosphere instantly froze. The older Elves behind them looked like they were about to face-palm in despair.

Fortunately, Andre came in carrying tea, which immediately gave everyone something to do. "Tea, have some tea!"

Hill took the cup, thanked him, and paused as she smelled the aroma of roots. "I haven’t had this in a long time."

"I take it your family used to drink this tea often, Miss Hill?" Rorschach recalled Deryats mentioning that her bloodline was quite impressive.

The pale gold-haired head nodded. "Yes. But my home was destroyed long ago."

"..." ’I was just making small talk, no need to kill the conversation, right?’ Rorschach almost spat out the muddy-tasting "tea." He found that Hill, who was already quiet and reserved, was now even harder to communicate with. They had much better chemistry when they were fighting side-by-side.

The next words were difficult for Hill to say. "Um... I came here today to ask for your help, Rorschach."

Rorschach raised an eyebrow. "Is this a personal request?"

"It is... no, it’s not. But it has a lot to do with me..." The more Hill spoke, the more confused Rorschach became. The Elf Elder behind her sighed deeply. "Allow me to explain."

He bowed deeply, and Rorschach hurriedly used Mage’s Hand to prop the old geezer up. ’If he throws out his back here, who’s going to be responsible?’

The Elf Elder began to explain slowly. "Great Rorschach Mage, congratulations on your promotion. Princess Hill mentioned that she had the honor of meeting you, and we were overjoyed. We have specially prepared a congratulatory gift for you."

"Don’t call me by that title out here," Hill said, clearly not wanting to accept the "Princess" moniker. That didn’t stop her from presenting the gift. "Here."

’That one word, "Here," is probably going to give the Elder a heart attack.’ Rorschach quickly took it. Hmm, it was an exquisite wooden mask, painted and inlaid with gold thread. It had a rather exotic charm.

’But then again, when did I get promoted? Isn’t this a little late?’ "This old... sir, let’s dispense with the pleasantries and speak plainly!"

Seeing Rorschach’s impatience, the Elves quickly got to the point.

It turned out the Elves had learned of the Starship project. This wasn’t surprising. Absolute secrecy had been impossible since the physical construction began, not to mention that Long Ears and Dwarf engineers had participated in building the aerospace center in Bayern.

And their request was simple: they hoped to have the Elf race sent to the Star Realm as well.

An Elder who was clearly a Gray Elf—likely from El Island—stepped forward to explain. "It is not just you, my lord, who has noticed the Mother Goddess’s recent activity. Since the upheaval in Istani, the situation for the Gray Elves has improved greatly. We are aware of this and thank you for your help behind the scenes."

"However, in our struggle against the Istani Royal Family, we discovered that many of our kin have gone astray, tapping into a terrifying power." The Gray Elf’s expression was filled with lingering fear as he recalled the events.

"To this day, we must still carefully discern whether the power our Priests pray for comes from the Deryats or from Danu and her offspring... ah, that is, the Mother Goddess and Her children..."

"We have heard that you and the other Masters are preparing for the coming disaster, and we wish to contribute as well..."

To put it bluntly, the Elves thought the human Mages were part of the "build a spaceship and bail" faction, and they were rushing to mooch a ticket.

Rorschach didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he scanned all the visiting Elves. Some looked similar to Hill, while others were clearly islanders from El Island. "I want to know, which group do you represent?"

Hill finally stepped forward to speak. "You could say we represent the entire Elf race. We are already a dwindling people, so much so that we have to force the title of Princess onto a half-breed."

The half-breed was, of course, Hill herself. She was a descendant of Silvanus, the Elf King and Forest God. Rorschach already knew this.

"I know this is a one-sided plea. What the Elves can offer you now is insignificant and not proportional to what we are asking for."

"But I am making this request for my people. My... my ancestor already abandoned His subjects. Now that I carry His blood, I can only try to atone for His sins."

’How am I supposed to help with that?’ Maybe some Elves who had served in the Royal Alliance Army had some assets in Istani, but after the Istani Royal Family’s long-term depravity, El Island had no decent industry to speak of.

So, if Rorschach agreed, it wouldn’t just be a matter of gifting them technology. He would have to build them at least one Great Starship?

’Am I building Rorschach’s Ark? No, wait, it should be a Spirit Race’s Ark. Should I make a special edition and load all your ancestral spirits into it? Hmm, your race’s Holy Land actually has similar technology...’

Just as Rorschach was wondering when he had entered the 40K World Line, Andre, who had been chugging tea the whole time, couldn’t resist sending a private message using the Communication Skill.

"Master, please don’t be blinded by the pretty Elf lady."

’This kid has no idea how to talk. We’ve always had a purely platonic comrade-in-arms relationship, and it was a brief one at that.’

"Spit it out."

"...There’s also a delegation of Dwarves asking for an audience. They probably have a similar request. I suggest you meet with the Dwarves before making a decision."

"Good point."

Seeing Rorschach sipping the muddy-tasting "tea" with his eyes closed, the Elf Elder grew anxious. "Lord Rorschach, if you could give the Elf race a chance, we would be eternally grateful. We are willing to share the knowledge passed down from our ancestors, as well as..."

The old geezer gave Hill a push. "...as well as the Princess’s personal friendship..."

’We already had a life-or-death bond, but this old codger just made it sound so cheap!’ Rorschach was already displeased seeing Hill’s embarrassed expression. Most importantly, he didn’t think the Elves had any valuable assets left to trade.

As someone who had been a materialist warrior in his past life, Rorschach never bought into the "older is stronger" cliché. His logical deduction was that if the Elves were really that amazing, they wouldn’t have fallen to their current state, getting beaten up by both Dwarves and humans, to the point where they didn’t even have a permanent home.

Even if they had something of value, it would have likely been absorbed by the Tower of Forest long ago. Whatever was left would be considered dregs in the eyes of the Ancient Sages.

With this in mind, Rorschach stood up. "The Starship project is the result of the combined efforts of the Magic Guild. Neither the technology nor the seats on the starships are for me alone to decide."

"I understand your position. Please wait while I discuss this with the other Aurora Elders. Andre, arrange for our guests to rest. Miss Hill, if you’re interested, you can have Andre show you around."

Hill let out a long breath upon hearing Rorschach’s arrangements, though it was unclear if it was out of relief or something else.

Andre himself happily accepted the task, clearly pleased that his master wasn’t being led around by the nose by the Elf Princess.

"My lord, it was the Guild that told us to find you, Lord Rorschach..." The Elf Elder, now understanding what it felt like to have the buck passed, sighed at Rorschach’s retreating back.