Return

By the time they returned to the village, it was already dawn.

Rubbing their swollen faces and sorting out their messy hair, the nobleman and his slave staggered to their tents. Fortunately, no one was awake yet. They were both prepared to receive another round of punishment from Eleen, but that didn't happen. At least they were lucky this time around. 

Despite not encountering the fury of their companions, they had to face their hosts as soon as they arrived. 

"Where have you been?"

Running to them and blocking their paths was Claus. He glanced at both of their faces, which were swollen and scratched, clearly ruthlessly clawed by an animal. A frown emerged on his face.

"Nevermind..."

It was unknown what crossed his mind.

"Come with me. The village chief wants to talk to you regarding your proposal."

Finally parting ways, Alaric walked back to their tent while Ian was dragged to the village chief's house.

Despite being somewhat worried about sending Ian alone especially when some of the elves showed clear hostility towards them, Alaric found it safe since Claus was also with them. He watched the two enter Amelia's house before going back to catch up on some sleep.

Tak

Opening the door, Ian was welcomed with a table filled with food. Amelia and her father sat beside each other, having their breakfast while conversing. The stacks of paper that Ian handed to them last night were all over the table, and the dark circles under their eyes told that they hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. 

"Ah, Sir Ian you're up early..." Amelia hesitated at completing her sentence the moment her eyes landed on the man's swollen, weary, and pale face. "Or maybe not..."

"Come serve yourself. Let's keep the important matters to when our stomachs are full!"

Nodding his head at the elder, Ian sat at a table and, after a brief scan of the represented food, attacked whatever he found around himself. He was coming back from a study session so of course he was hungry. 

"Ahem. So..." 

After the breakfast was over, Amelia cleared her throat to get the others' attention. 

"What you want from us is a safe and secured route for humans to traverse?"

"Yes."

"Why would we give you such a thing? And what would that route be used for?"

Ian put down his utensils and wiped his mouth clean. Of course, the elves would question his intentions, and sure he had to give them an honest explanation. 

"We need a route to transit resources and troops over the continent."

"Transit resources and troops?"

Under Amelia's astonished gaze, Ian got up from his seat while nodding his head. Picking up one piece of paper that had a mini-map of the continent drawn on it, he tapped at two spots with a finger. 

"The Perrenial Forset has a pretty strategic location. It connects to the oceans on one side, covers the lower portion of the continent from another side, and connects two sides of the land to each other. 

"On one side is Menaberg and the other side is Loyatou, with the northern parts being occupied by The Empire. What we want is a pathway connecting Menaberg and Loyatou, a safe route with proper regular maintenance."

He drew a line crossing the jungle and linking the two countries with his fingers. 

"And why don't you guys just travel through The Empire? They've got safe routes with proper maintenance."

Ian softly chuckled.

"I don't think they'll allow the Revolutionary Army to path their routes so easily."

"The what?"

Instantly, a deep frown emerged on the village chief's face. Her gaze sharpened as she scanned Ian up and down. 

"So you do know about The Resistance."

"We might often avoid humans, but that doesn't mean we're completely unaware of the outside news. The number of humans getting lost in this forest isn't few."

"Yeah. Good for you."

This time, it was the Elder who spoke. 

"Look, human. We might be indebted to you and still need your help, but we, in no possible way, have any intentions of getting ourselves involved in the power struggles of the human world. Elves have never and will never side with any country or group."

"Hmm..."

Ian kept nodding his head while listening to the Elder with an interested face. Once the Elder was done, a smile emerged on Ian's face, one that looked more like a smirk. 

"Is that so?"

He leaned a bit closer to the two leaders of this race, lowering his voice a tad at the same time. Seeing his reaction, the elves couldn't help but pay closer attention to his next words. 

"So the elves want to forgive the culprit behind the massacre of elementals and their race. How benevolent of you, really. Hah!"

Instantly, the air inside the room became chilly. 

"...What's that supposed to mean?"

Scoffing, Ian took a large step back. He folded his arms and began striding through the room. 

"Are elves always like this? Do you guys accept anything as long as you can live through it? You weren't even thinking of searching for the culprit behind this disaster, were you? Since you managed to survive and were saved. Haha, truly pathetic, aren't you?"

BAM

"Human!"

Ian shrugged at Amelia's enraged shout. 

"Just like you always were. Hiding inside the jungle, praying for the Evergreen's benevolence, and accepting whatever disaster comes your way. Just like how you abandoned your homes and ran away to build another village hundreds of years ago. You were planning on doing so again, yeah?"

Just when Amelia was about to retort, she closed her mouth shut. Her emerald pupils dilated as shivers ran down her back from the shock. 

"...How do you-"

"Epics of Nature, Chapter 87, The Last Arc."

"....This-"

Ian clasped his hands, closing his eyes, face flashing with a clear joy as if he was retelling an interesting tale. 

"Then the Goddess returned, enraged. Trees fell; flowers withered in her wake. Take the children and flee, she declared. Wile Moon! Renegade! Evil is looming... The end is nigh. Hence they all fled. 

"...Goddess was vanquished. Her blood spilled. Of it a new descendants begat.

"Guilty people. They abandoned theirs God. Thus The Oath was made. Protect the children of Evergreen. Never betray, never leave. Up till she reinstates."