CHAPTER 444: A SWORD DANCER AND HIS PARTNER (1/2)

In contrast, an ordinary Elf’s lifespan is a lot longer. A healthy Elf could expect to live past 500, with stronger members of their clan enjoying an even longer lifespan.

In terms of a normal human’s lifespan, an average human spends a significant portion of his life growing up, taking at least sixteen years to mature from infanthood to adulthood. Most children have their marriage arranged before their sixteenth birthday so as not to waste any time at all.

The Elves, being a long-lived race, actually did not require as long of a development phase as one would think. Up to twelve years of age, an Elf develops at the same age as a normal human being. It is from twelve onwards that an Elf experiences significantly reduced development.

A normal human could be considered mature at sixteen, while an Elf would only be considered matured at forty.

This disparity in development speeds has a major impact on each race’s development as a whole.

Using the same comparison of a human versus an Elf, a human at the age of sixteen could already be a fully fledged member of the army. The Elf, on the other hand, would have barely started puberty. The Elf’s mental age would roughly be that of a twelve year old’s as well. Such a slow development could be considered a fatal weakness in their race.

Perhaps that is why an Elf’s development speed is much faster at the start; in order to adapt to the lifespans of the other short lived races in this world.

Assuming, of course, that Elves really took as long as I hypothesised to mature.

—- From | Elves and Humans: Their Developmental Stages |

Once a pair of gladiators were put into the ring, they were like crickets put into a box, neither was allowed to leave until a winner was decided.

There were many, many more variations and combinations, but there was a certain specialised occupation unique to the Elves, these were the dual sword wielding Warriors known as Sword Dancers.

Sword Dancer as an occupation had existed since the ancient times. Given that, it wasn’t at all surprising that the Dark Elves still preserved this occupation after the schism that created the Wood Elves and the Dark Elves. If there had to be a difference between the two factions of Elves, it was that Dark Elven Sword Dancers were mostly beautiful females. Sword Dancers mostly took on non-combat roles, only performing their sword dance during special occasions to please the gods. It was believed that the gods above would bestow their blessings if they found the dance to their liking. Because of this, Sword Dancers had traditionally been considered a non-combat occupation.

In light of all that, it was strange to ever see a male Sword Dancer, especially in a matriarchal society like the Dark Elves… Perhaps that Dark Elf down there is from a special background?

Yet even as my mind began to consider all the possible explanations for this phenomenon, the fight had started.

It was the human female who made the first move. She raised her shield to her front and pointed her longsword forward: the typical starting stance of a sword and shield fighter.

Being a very balanced style of fighting, this combination of shield and sword was also the style of choice for a lot of fighters thanks to the lack of an obvious weakness.

In contrast, the Sword Dancer’s dual sword style was a highly aggressive, highly mobile style. Its defences were lacking, but that was made up for by its swift sword strikes.

Unless there was an obvious gap in power between the two, the Sword Dancer should be the one who had the advantage.

Yet a Sword Dancer’s attacks had to be flashy and intricate, seeing as their main purpose was to please the gods. Their combat strength might have been high, but they were also restricted by their occupational need to be flashy.