"Not only in the academy, but also at the trial, and even the troops that have been harassing our tribe for a long time, most of them are female elves."
"You’ve noticed it, haven't you? The reason really isn't complicated; it’s because there are too few males.”
"How many can there be? I feel like I haven't seen a male elf yet.”
"In this academy, there are about 500 students, and only a dozen or so are males. As they are not in the same grade and college as you, you hardly see them. And there is not even a single male teacher. In fact, the gender ratio of the entire country of Sedian is seriously unbalanced. Now even our army has to be dominated by female soldiers.”
"How did this happen?" I was greatly surprised.
"The main reason is the Abyss War. You should also know that at that time, the demons and orcs under the command of the devil almost swept the entire continent. In order to fight against the devil, the countries of humans, dwarfs, and elves formed an alliance. Our Sedian was also invaded. The war was so brutal that almost all of the young male elves died in the war. Towards the end of the war, we even had to send female elves and underage male elves into the battlefield.”
“But… Madam, that war… it’s already been several decades ago.”
It's understandable that war resulted in a sharp reduction in the population of young men of a certain generation. But after all, so many years have passed. Our tribe was almost exterminated by the devil for pursuing independence in that war. However, at least three generations have passed now, and the population has been largely restored.
"Have you forgotten the greatest characteristic of us elves?"
"Hmm…Longevity?" I vaguely sensed what she was about to say.
"Right, we live very long lives, but correspondingly, it takes a long time for us to grow up. It takes a full 150 years for an elf to grow from birth to adulthood. Even for dwarfs who live relatively longer lives, it takes only 50 years to become an adult. The war is a matter of several generations ago for you short-lived races, but for us, it's still an issue of this generation. Not to mention, the birth rate of elves is very low. It will take another ten years for the next generation with a balanced gender ratio to reach the age to enter such a prestigious institution."
"Why didn't you foresee this earlier? You only sent female elves when you had no choice but to send underage male elves into the battlefield?” I was puzzled. "Unlike other races, female elves are just as capable in battle as males. There's no need to insist on having an all-male army. If sufficient forces were committed at the beginning, casualties could have been greatly reduced.”
"Indeed, elves are not a race that relies heavily on physical combat. Both males and females possess talents in archery and magic. But the reason we didn't send female soldiers at the forefront… think carefully about today's experience, you should be able to guess now.”
I thought for a moment, then my cheeks twitched involuntarily: "Can it be because in the Demon King’s army…”
Loran spread her hands towards me: "Yes, because the main force of the Demon King's army was orcs.”
"…" The answer rendered me speechless.
So, these elves insisted on sending males to the battlefield until almost all the males of a generation were wiped out because they feared women on the battlefield would be humiliated by orcs?
How utterly stupid!
