The Aftermath of The Meeting

NEW VATHRIA MAP: https://imgur.com/a/ax0MHYT

"Hey, Merith!" A Knight who was wearing the official uniform but out of his armor called out to an elf who was running on a field. The knight himself was also running.

"Vincent...we aren't...supposed.... to talk while.... we're training," Merith replied with a tired voice as she was running.

"Haha relax...the instructor is far away from us." Vincent pointed at the knight instructor across the field.

It had been three months since the agreement of mutual cooperation with the elves. It was spring when the Vathrians arrived in this world, now it's already summer. Since then, the elves had been sending their best warriors to conduct joint training with the Vathrian knights. Vathrian's best scholars and professors were also invited to the elven tribe's settlement to study their culture and also find knowledge about this world. There were other forms of cooperation that are happening between the two parties.

"Your people are....crazy...stronger...than normal humans....hah....hah....how come you aren't tired?... We have run for almost fifty laps now..."Merith was having a hard time responding to Vincent.

"Oh, this? This is nothing compared to the training we had back when we were recruited. For our final exam, we had to undergo a triathlon of long-distance, sprinting and swimming in a distance that could cover the entire kingdom. It was insane...." Vincent's face darkened up remembering the hellish training.

This time, Merith couldn't even reply back as she was gasping for air.

Vincent noticed her silence and spoke. "Ah...we trained that hard because of the existence of the evil forces. Since their arrival, our training was ramped up to the maximum in order to create the strongest and most elite military force the world had ever seen....even that wasn't enough." Vincent's face showed a sad smile.

"ONE LAP TO GO!" From across the field, the instructor shouted.

"You hear that? We're close! Hold on!" Vincent sprinted ahead of Merith. She wasn't alone, all the elves behind here were on the verge of collapse. In fact, some already did.

--

"Hah...Hah...Hah...I want to die..." Merith collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. The rest of the elves did the same. The Vathrian knights were also sweating buckets but they controlled their breathing very well.

"You made it, Merith!" Vincent said while looking down at her.

"I did...." Merith replied with a weak voice.

"Hey, you two!" The instructed pointed at Vincent and Merith.

"Y-yes?" Vincent responded while having a nervous face.

"Did you not think I would not notice you two talking? GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE AND GIVE ME 50, MAGGOTS!" The instructor bellowed their scary punishment.

The knights who saw this snickered.

"FUCK!" Vincent and Merith shouted at the same time.

"What's that? That's an extra 20 for cursing and there'll be more where that comes from if you don't come here RIGHT NOW!" The instructor ordered.

This time, Vincent and Merith did not object and did the push-ups right away as they were scared of the instructor adding more to their punishment.

--

"So...that was hell. And you train like this every week?" Merith was walking with Vincent. They finished their training and had free time for the rest of the day. They left the training field located inside the forest and now they were heading back to the Vathrian territory.

"To this day," Vincent replied while smiling.

"The treatments of the instructor towards the knights...I thought you were a royal knight?" Merith looked at Vincent with a puzzled look.

Vincent also had a confused look in his face after hearing Merith's question. "We are, though?"

"Really? The surrounding kingdoms usually have royal knights as well but they're usually noble children. We know that their training is definitely not as tough as yours...and certainly, their instructors would not want to offend them in any way." Merith replied.

"I'm sure you know by now that the nobility system has already been abolished in the past history of our kingdom due to a rebellion occurring. Now, all the government power is centralized to the castle. We still have a social system based on merits but the only bloodline-based status remaining is with the royal family." Vincent explained.

"I know...it's just so hard to wrap my head around your kingdom....it is so utterly different than the human kingdoms we are familiar with in this world. I think some of the dwarven kingdoms in the far east follow a similar system to yours but still...." Merith replied while frowning in thought.

"Oh? Dwarves also exist, here?" Vincent asked.

"Yes...a lot of races exist in this world but the major powers belong to the humans, demi-humans, and demons, but many of them are in different continents. This continent houses mostly human kingdoms. Well....in ancient times we had a great elven kingdom as well until the humans invaded us." Merith responded.

"I see..." Vincent simply said.

The two continued their conversation as they walk before finally arriving in the town surrounding the castle. The place was now truly fit to be called a small town.

Merith was smiling while looking at the bustling activities of the citizens who were building new houses and working. "It's amazing how much development your people had in three months." She said.

"It's also largely thanks to you elves, you know. If not for you giving us knowledge about the building materials used in this world, we would not discover it and built our town this fast." Vincent replied with a smile.

The town surrounding the castle was truly developing at a rapid rate in the past few months. The old wooden buildings and settlements still stand but the people were now in the process of constructing buildings made out of materials that were informed by the elves. The material did not involve the stacking of stones on top of one another or bricks, but rather an elastic material called 'Dae' that could be shaped according to the builder's needs.

"This is a material only known to us elves, even the dwarves haven't discovered it yet....that said, we usually construct simple houses out of it but....your people's architecture...." Merith was amazed at the sheer artistry of the buildings. She has not seen anything like it in this world.

"It's a style called 'minimalism' or 'modernism' by a famous architect in our previous world. It's a style that emphasizes utility and simplicity so it's not that hard to build, only to design. But I agree it does look beautiful." Vincent explained.

Merith gazed at the dichotomy between the castle's architecture and the town's architecture. "Hmm.. but why is the castle so similar with the style of this world? After seeing your castle, I thought your buildings would look the same as the ones we see in the human kingdoms."

"That's because the castle is a historical and ancient building from our ancestors so we have not altered it in any way for conservation purposes. The rest of our towns look similar to the buildings here. We were quite an advanced magical kingdom you know. You've seen the armors of our knights, yes?" Vincent asked.

"Yes! The armor of your General is especially striking. The black armor combined with the pulsing golden lines surrounding it...looks incredibly intimidating." Merith recalled the first meeting with General Tobias.

"Exactly. That's one of our inventions. Our armor is not only engraved with magical runes, but they are also fitted with state-of-the-art magical technology that has many features in it." Vincent explained while smiling.

"Then the kingdoms in this world are still behind in technology, huh.....but even by your advanced standard...it wasn't enough to defeat the evil forces?" Merith gazed at Vincent.

Vincent stayed silent with a sad face. Merith noticed this and became flustered. "Aah! I did not mean to...." She was feeling guilty after making him remember again.

Suddenly, a group of local children grabbed the legs of Merith.

"It's an elven woman! She's so beautiful!" A girl said while looking at her friends.

"Hey! Come play with us!" A boy said.

"Yea yea! play play!" A toddler who was following the children also spoke.

Vincent suddenly grabbed Merith away from the children towards him. "Sorry kids, I will be borrowing older sister elf for a while," Vincent said to the kids.

Vincent's sudden action startled Merith. Vincent was an awkward guy when he met her but as she got close to him, he has become bolder and bolder.

"Not fair! You're monopolizing the elf!" The girl complained.

"Hey! Give her back!" The boy protested.

Vincent crouched down and picked up the legs of Merith with one hand while his other hand rested on her neck, essentially princess-carrying her.

"See you later, kids!" Vincent started running while carrying Merith. The kids behind them gave chase but they could not catch up with the speed of a knight.

Merith suddenly started blushing. She was already in her 70s which meant it was already about time she searched for a partner. She would have never considered a human before but now...

Vincent looked down to her while running and smiled. "Let's grab dinner."