Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"Father called us. He told us to be there at the dining room by 8." The stunning lady in front of me said as she hopped and skipped towards me.

"But dear sister, the sun is still up there, eagerly glaring at us." My lips intricately moved as I heard a small chuckle escape my lips.

Ah, this felt so freaky. Rather than me feeling like I was watching a movie, it felt more like being trapped in a lucid dream or something. It felt so wrong to not be able to move my own body... Well, it wasn't exactly 'mine', now that I thought about it.

While I was feeding and giving water to the cow, I noticed that my arms were way thicker and more muscular than usual, even though my muscles were already pretty defined compared to most ladies in their twenties. Not only that, but I could see strands of silky golden hair that flowed with the wind as my body twirled.

But, if I really was inside his body, then...

Oh gosh, what should I do if he were to go to pee!?

"Yes, big brother Ioriell. It is indeed a beautiful sunny day," she giggled, and now I understood why Firiell's father fell for her melodious laugh, "and that's why Father thought you might enjoy yourself too much and lose track of time again, like usual."

"Haha! There's always something to do under the sun! Nature never ceases to give." I, or rather, Ioriell said while laughing happily.

"As expected of you, big brother," she reciprocated his laugh, "oh, right! Would you fancy some rye cookies? I'm planning to make some!" She said as she brought her palms together in delight.

"Absolutely! Your desserts are the best!" Ioriell said with a grin, or at least, I felt my lips pulling themselves upwards.

"Okay. I'll bring them to you after I finish baking them," she nodded, "I shall be making some for big brother Erenduill, too. He seems so busy training and studying these days..."

"Of course he is, Edelweiss. Big brother is going to take over the throne someday," Ioriell explained while patting his little sister's head, "it's still a long time until Father steps down, though. But, I understand that he wants to prepare as much as possible. Even so, he should take care of his health more, that little perfectionist."

"Uh-huh! That's why I thought some cookies might help, since big brother Erenduill often neglects his supper!" Edelweiss nodded profusely, her cheeks tinted pink and her smile reached her eyes.

"You're too kind to us, Edelweiss." Ioriell let out a small chuckle.

"Isn't it the other way around, though? Both of you have always let me have my way~" Edelweiss teased Ioriell with a little pinch on his cheek. Our cheek. Yep, positively hurt. I still retained my full senses, apparently.

"Haha! That's true. If only you're not my dear sister, I wouldn't have let you get together with that man." Ioriell teased her back, also pinching her soft cheeks. Gosh, she needed to drop her skincare routine for us peasants.

"You said that just because you don't know him that well yet~ He's a gentle, kind, and compassionate man, you know! Unlike you who's only nice to us elves!" She pouted as she defended the man that I presumed to be Firiell's father.

Yyyyeah, girl, you might want to take that statement back.

"What's wrong with prioritizing our kind?" Ioriell sulked.

"Nature loves every living being, and gives to every living being," Edelweiss said with her soft, soothing voice, "I want to learn to do that, too. I believe that if we were to discriminate among species, it will only bring ruin to everyone."

"That is true. However, not every species would agree to that," Ioriell smiled, but I could feel that this smile was weak, forced, even, "and the one who concedes first, the one who trusts first, will be the one who falls first."

Edelweiss returned his weak smile with her own, brighter one, "but if no one wants to be the first one to trust, there won't be any change, right?"

Ioriell paused for a second, before finally sighing and pinching both of her cheeks softly, "your positivity is so hard to beat, you know that?"

"Hehe~ You know that's exactly why you love me. Both of you are too gloomy." Edelweiss giggled, not even trying to remove Ioriell's hands from her cheeks.

"I'm not gloomy," Ioriell huffed, but then smiled affectionately, "now, run along. Your dear human must be waiting for you over at the lake." After finishing his sentence, I could feel my--our hands lifting up to gently usher her along.

"Geez, big brother. Stop calling him 'human', he has a name, you know?" Edelweiss pouted as she turned around and walked away from me--us. Ah, this was confusing!

"Sure, sure. I'll call him by his name when I want to." Ioriell waved his hand and walked back towards the clueless cow that was busy grazing.

"Meanie~" Edelweiss gave us one last tease before walking away with little happy hops.

After Edelweiss left, my body continued to move by itself, doing various routines. From feeding and brushing the cows and horses, milking the cows, shearing the sheep, to picking fruits from the forest. What was this, a crossover episode?

"There, there, Annie. The weather today is splendid, isn't it? Are you enjoying our stroll?" Ioriell said as he stroked the light brown horse that he brought with us on our fruit-picking journey into the forest. He didn't ride it, though. He just brought it along for some reason.

The horse neighed in delight and rubbed its nose against Ioriell's cheek, which earned it a giggle from this body's owner.

"Haha! I see that you're having fun! Me too, Annie, me too." Ioriell responded with a chirpy tone.

As Ioriell continued to speak with his horse that was called 'Annie' in a way you would normally talk to your friend, I took the time to carefully piece together my information. Uh, let's see...

First, this must either be me going schizophrenic, or some kind of effect caused by the crest. Hopefully it was the latter. That damn elf king, he must've purposely hidden this from us.

Second, according to the timeline, it seemed that we were still quite far away from the day of the 'massacre'. If what Firiell and those elves said was true, then it should happen sometime after the elves let the humans in, right? But from the exchange that happened between Ioriell and Edelweiss earlier, it seemed like Firiell's boyfriend hadn't been accepted by the locals yet.

Third, well, Firiell's mother sure was beautiful.

"Annie, come here," Ioriell's voice snapped me out of my deep thought, "lend me your back, will you? Let's get some of that red follberry up there."

'Neighhh!'

My body tapped Annie's side twice, before mounting its back. After standing on its back, which was dangerous, by the way, my hand extended towards the tree branch that was bearing some scarlet, shiny round fruits.

'Tap!'

"There we go." Ioriell smiled as he jumped down from her back.

'Neighh~'

"Thank you for your help, Annie!" Ioriell patted her mane, "although this isn't much, but at least we can bring something for the villagers."

Ioriell smiled weakly before stuffing the fruits he had just picked into a neatly woven bag that was hung around the horse's body.

"Huff..." He sighed as he wiped the sweats that were starting to form on his forehead, "maybe we should take it easy on the foraging. I feel like nature needs some rest."

'Neighh.'

"Aww, you think so, too? Well, the plants have been producing less and less lately, but at the same time, I'm confused on what I should do to help our villagers," Ioriell chuckled, "I guess I just have to do my best to serve the villagers! After all, my brother is also working hard every second to get stronger. I should be doing what I do best, too!"

Huh. So that angry elf prince was once a hopeful, hardworking young man. Oh poor young Ioriell, if only you knew what would happen...

"Alright, Annie! The sky's orange now, you know what that means," Ioriell said as he tapped the horse's side twice, "let's walk home and share what we found."

'Neighhh~' The horse purred happily while it walked alongside Ioriell.

As expected, they cared a lot about nature, from the animals to the plants. It was as if they saw nature as a person, as an equal. Instead of bringing the horse as a mode of transportation, he brought it here as a friend who just happened to help by carrying the loots. And instead of blindly plucking fruits, berries, and leaves, he took into consideration the amount he took, and did not forget to re-plant some seeds.

...If only us humans would care just half as much as them. Well, I shouldn't be the one talking, since I also contributed a lot to destroying nature.

We walked for a while without much talking. Instead, my head sometimes moved from left to right, up and down, and my gaze flew wherever the sunlight touched. Occasionally, my body would take a deep, satisfying breath filled with the smell of fresh grass mixed with the sweet smell of flowers.

I could get used to this. Appreciating nature sure felt good, and peaceful.

"Big brotheeeerrrr~!"

A feminine, chirpy voice caught my attention as my head followed the direction of the voice to find two people standing near the village's gate. One of them had distinctive, long, flowy yellow hair, and she was ecstatically waving at us.

The other one, however, the one who was standing right next to Edelweiss, was a new figure that I saw for the first time.

A tall, well-built man wearing a combat suit with a neat, ginger ponytail, was smiling at us.