A very normal elf

"Where were you?" he spoke in an interrogative tone, reminiscent of how a parent would ask where their kid had gone after coming home late.

Indeed, this was a similar case.

When Jeffrey was busy butchering some lizards, Lily was nowhere to be found. This was concerning. He had been too caught up in killing the lizards that he didn't even realise where his little bird had gone.

But as soon as the beasts imploded their ranks, and killed themselves, Lily finally showed up.

"So, where were you?" Jeffrey repeated. Lily had a hurt look as she tried to explain something. Though from what Jeffrey could gather from Lily flapping her wings around was that she went off to eat? Or something.

Jeffrey being a perfectly normal human being simply could not comprehend the meaning behind the motions and gestures performed by Lily, the supposed crow.

Seeming fed up with Jeffrey's lack of understanding, Lily started to fly away.

Gods damn it.

Calling Lily back didn't seem to be working so he could only chase after her.

It seemed he would need to give her some discipline after this. But how does one discipline a bird? Sigh, chickens were always so obedient, why couldn't she be like her flightless cousins?

…

"Looks like you can't expect much from damned, retarded lizards can you?"

"Indeed,"

Two figures spoke, each of them clad in green as they hid amongst forest shrubbery. One of them seemed to be casting a spell, as they eyed the space in front of them as if watching some sort of event unfold.

For the most part, they kept silent, making small talk every now and then.

"That's an interesting bird don't you think?"

"Indeed,"

Well, it was more that one of them would bring up topics and the other would give a perfunctory response.

"I mean, you haven't seen a white crow before, have you?"

"Indeed,"

"Sigh, let's leave, there isn't much else to do here, right?"

"Indeed,"

"Hmm, it seems like one of the scouts is coming over here,"

"In- wait, what?"

…

Oh shite.

Standing in front of two tall green people. This was fairly odd, he had never seen these kinds before. They most certainly, had to be counterparts to the green midgets.

Feeling the air around them, Jeffrey could sense the two most certainly weren't human. He had honed this skill over the years and was rather useful for sensing other beings in the surrounding.

Wait, wait. If they were the counterparts to the green midgets then perhaps, they were non-hostile and friendly. Yeah, no.

Jumping out of the way of an arrow shot at him, he noticed that it was laced with various essence magicks. It seemed that they wanted to kill him, considering how the arrow peirced through a pretty thick tree and kept going.

Meanwhile, Lily was perched up on a branch whilst looking pleased with herself.

Stupid bird! Couldn't she see, she just led him into a trap?

Sigh, where did he go wrong?

Nonetheless, the best course of action was to…

flee!

Yup, there was no way Jeffrey could take the two on. That arrow shredded a forest tree! His fleshy body couldn't tank that, whilst also fighting another with some pretty funny looking blades. The blades didn't seem practical, but it was a two versus one. And these guys seemed way more dangerous than midgets.

Immediately turning and running away, this left the elves stunned for a moment.

Didn't he come here to fight us?

"Well, we can't let him get away now can we?"

"Indeed,"

"Yeah, if he does, he'll definitely expose our involvement,"

With that, the two gave chase, firing arrows and slinging spells.

Well, there was actually no need to chase after Jeffrey. For one, everyone already basically knew the elves were behind this conspiracy, and two, chasing would only reveal themselves and possibly be ganged up on.

The two probably thought they were being sneaky or something. Just because you can hide from lizards doesn't mean you can do the same to civilised humans!

Anyhow, as Jeffrey bolted out of the forest, his teammates were not far away. Having followed him, due to seeing Lily abruptly fly away. What considerate teammates.

Ducking under an arrow that would have undoubtedly pierced his cranium, he fled to relative safety. If the tall greenies had a modicum of intelligence, they shouldn't give chase, at risk of being put in a highly disadvantaged situation with little gains.

But no.

Rushing out of the forest wielding a curved double blade in each hand, one of the elves started to make a show of crossing them around their body, whilst the other stayed back at the forest line and fired arrows.

"Jeffrey, uhmm, who are they?" Bryoni asked as he readied his sword, it was obvious that the two were enemies. And despite having a clue of their identity, he asked Jeffrey to be sure.

"I would like to know as well,"

By now, the double blade elf had already approached them and with flashy swordplay immediately suppressed the three. Kelli stood further away and tried to deal with the other archer.

Crossing blades with the elf, they held their own as they fought a three against one, but they were slowly losing their ground. The only reason they were able to suppress them a moment ago was because of their unusual, overly fancy swordplay which caught the trio off guard.

However, after seeing the basic patterns the swordplay consisted of, it was simple to counter and fight back.

This conflict did not go unnoticed, after all. They were fighting in an open field.

Seeing the green figures confirmed everyone's suspicions, it was the elves after all. But then again, it was basically an open secret at this point.

Calling over his subordinates, they all rushed over to reinforce Jeffrey and his team. Although the elves might run away after seeing reinforcements, it wasn't necessary to kill or capture the elves.

Arriving at the scene, it was currently an even stalemate. With covering fire, the elf sword wielder kept their ground, however, this was the tipping point. Supported by Adalyn's team in the rear, Karl assailed the archer in the back.

Immediately grabbing their attention, this allowing Jeffrey to topple the stalemate and incapacitate the elf. Seeing the situation go awry, the eleven archer immediately fled.

What a heartless fiend. To instantly abandon his comrade like that. Karl felt his opinion on the elves go lower.