According to the maps, it shouldn’t take us more than a day or two to reach the vicinity of Ghilerie’s settlement. She’s already starting to recognize some parts of the terrain here and there. It would be weird if she didn’t. She has lived around here for quite some time, even if she actively avoided unnecessarily getting in touch with Humans.

If she manages to stumble on a track leading to the place where she was captured, we plan to visit it first to check if that was just an unlucky encounter with some bandits or if there’s something bigger going on. There’s always the possibility that she wasn’t the only one kidnapped. Or that these people started doing it actively after that unfortunate day.

Ghilerie and Teffith take the front and lead us forward. Most of the time, we travel by the roads but stray away once in a while to let our Elf friend examine the surroundings. The atmosphere in our party is quite good. That’s in huge part thanks to Marcia and her very social nature. It’s been a fun ride so far. I thought it would be much worse.

We’ll see about the journey back. I better get in touch with Cornelia and have her ask Ross if there’s something we could possibly do for him while we make the returning trip. It should be nice to have some kind of objective in mind.

From what I know, thanks to the mental exchanges with my wives and other girls, the business is doing fine. More than just fine. It’s starting to get more and more recognition. Elea said they even had some guests that have travelled to Evaneheim to check Utopia out.

That certainly gives us hope. After we deal with the charmed women and the whole situation caused by Jericho’s son, we need to step up our game a little bit and gradually start pushing more of our agenda onto the public. I will have to talk with Ross about what he can do. I already have a few ideas.

As for the research itself, it’s progressing decently well. Jericho kept his promise and took care of our lab in a flash. Dhosk told me it required two underground chambers to set up so they had to get rid of one of the walls. It was worth it, from what she said.

The Court Alchemist is leading the project from his own mansion while they support him and exchange their findings and notes. He often sends them various samples with detailed descriptions about everything so they can pitch in with their own comments here and there.

I think that’s pretty smart. He is clearly the better alchemist there—not taking away anything from the ladies at our home, full respect to them—so doing things like this instead of just trying to ‘work together’ at the same level makes it much more effective. I’m kind of sad I’m not there to witness our team tackling the task.

Additionally, this research aimed at producing a cure brings us quite some information about me. Specifically, on the special liquid that has been left in the care of Jericho and the girls. What it means is that they have pretty much scientifically confirmed it to be extremely nutritious, possessing regenerative qualities, expiring at a much, much slower rate, and I don’t even have to mention the potency. There will be an extensive and detailed report on my swimmers waiting for me back at home when we finally return.

I guess I should have expected that. Especially since Cornelia had quickly picked up on it and pretty much forced Jericho to spare some time and effort to research as much about it as he can. Which clearly wasn’t that hard to achieve with the man already willing to do everything to achieve results.

Elise contacted me a handful of times too. Mostly to mention how she is doing and how her very mature accountant friend is feeling at her new job. From what she told me, Ria was super quick to fit in. I’m not even surprised she befriended Elea in a flash. It honestly feels like something I should have anticipated.

And she’s as much of a workaholic freak as Elisa made of her. Cornelia can’t stop raining praises at our new accountant every time we have a little chat through our connection. They pretty much gave Ria free reins over that part of our business after the few first days.

She supposedly not only organized everything in a week but also spotted plenty of little mistakes that, after getting fixed, improved quite a few things for us in the dealings with the governmental bodies. 

It all sounds like I’ll have to come up with some kind of a bonus for her at this rate since, as I have heard, she has been rejecting anything Cornelia tries throwing at her for so much insane effort.

According to Elise, this doesn’t even compare to how much work and how many responsibilities Ria had at her previous workplace. She says that her friend is going so far because of how nice it feels to be working at our residence. And because they can now host their friendly drinking nights pretty much at their workplace if Elise is not on shift.

It took Cornelia and Elea a few days to convince Ria that our alcohol supply is not just on display or for the customers and guests, but after she finally accepted it, that’s where things took off. 

Ria seems to be a sucker for a good drink and that’s clearly something I have noticed during our first meeting. Her rate of consumption spiked a little after she stopped holding herself back, but the amount of effort she puts into her work most likely out of appreciation pretty much matched it.

We do have quite a few nice deals on alcohol so I’m not that worried about our supply. Besides, how much can two women drink every other night, if they even host their lady-meetings so often? As long as both Elise and Ria are happy, then everything is great. And we are surely saving tons of money thanks to the latter’s help.

Anyway, things are going well back at home and that’s all that matters. I’ve also heard that there are no issues at the Beastkin Community under Evaneheim. Astrea went to check it out alone since I’m away. People have adapted decently and it’s slowly improving. 

She did have to kick some idiot’s ass who had challenged her but that was someone freshly taken under their wing so he knew nothing about Astrea’s strength. Thanks to the elders and other Community's leaders, the rules were kept and he had to wait for one of us to show up before trying to take over. Seems like things should be safe down there.

But, back to the actual present, we are currently taking a rest after a day of travelling. Hecate already looks way better than she did a few days ago. She’s still as silent and protective as ever, but her movements and overall bearing have gotten a tad livelier.

And that’s why I have decided to see if she would be against a light spar with me. I can sense her faint hesitation after I ask but she agrees with a tiny nod. Since I don’t want to hurt her spider legs by accident, the sword I shape with my artifact has blunt edges.

I invite our new spider companion to show me what she can do and Hecate barrages me with fierce stabs and swipes of all her six onyx spears. She has gotten much faster after recovering enough and each strike packs quite a punch.

If it was only these, I would be doing decently fending off her attacks and defending myself, slowly getting more fighting experience from our little trip and slowly getting more used to my boosted performance in general. But, besides stabs, jabs, and cuts, Hecate has something else to utilize.

While a few of her black legs are making her opponent busy, she can use her humanoid hands and the free spikes to weave her almost invisible thread however she wants. And she is damn smart with it. 

I’ve lost count of how many times she has put down tripwires and other traps during our mock battle, pushing me straight into them with her attacks and movements. It honestly feels like a cheat. 

You can see her hands and spider legs doing these weird motions but you usually can’t spot exactly what is happening. Even with my quite sharp sight and senses, I have a hard time noticing the extremely thin thread. 

Additionally, she can use it to defend herself too, tying it to two or more spider legs and catching an attack onto the unnoticeable net. You think you are finally going to land a hit on the agile spidergirl but your sword suddenly stops mid-air and you realize it was a trap all along.

Somehow, I have gained a powerful warrior and an ally. I can’t imagine what she could be like after getting more experience fighting humanoid opponents and receiving some actual training and guidance from some of our experts back at home. She’s already one hell of a deadly spider.

I kind of wanted to reward Hecate a little for agreeing to my request by showering her in pats and cuddles overnight, but a few of the girls have a different idea on how to spend most of it. Seemingly unbothered by the noise and the show, she obediently sits on the side and observes as Marcia and Ghilerie tackle me together.

The former was trying to sneak into my tent when she walked into the latter. Our Elf friend wanted to spend some more time together now that we are not that far from her home and also decided to pay me a visit.

This has led to the current predicament of me doing my best to reassure Ghilerie a little, who has gotten a little anxious and uncertain. She has clearly grown to like our company at least a little bit, and I can tell she feels grateful for my help and what we have done for her, but her strong sense of responsibility towards her settlement is more than just apparent.

I don’t want her to hesitate after coming this far. I haven’t been sure how much fucking her brains out would help in that, but she’s gotten partially past these worries during our intense lovemaking. Albeit a little hazy, I can tell she’s listening to my comforting words about her following her duty without worrying too much about me. It certainly won’t be the last time the two of us meet.

As for Marcia, all she wants, and the reason behind her coming here, is anal. Nothing more elaborate, just her craving for a cock in the backdoor. Surprisingly, Kamil is not a fan of that and she doesn’t like guilt-tripping him into doing it for her. You learn something new each day. Although, I could have lived without that knowledge.

In the morning, the lively redhead wakes us all up with a shout, fortunately, not from my tent but her own lodging since she has returned to her bedroll after her ass couldn’t take any more drilling. It seems that she has finally advanced. 

It was a matter of time, honestly. They all should be pretty close now and she got a few injections on our journey. It would have been great if it was another double advancement but it’s not that easy to jump from four to five, either for me or Ghilerie.

Marcia unlocks a few new abilities, which again sound like dances and artistic moves to match her Class, and gets a small passive boost to endurance. I wonder what’s the reason behind that, heh.

I can tell that the guys are at least slightly jealous of her but there’s nothing I can do for them, unfortunately. I do get how it looks, though, and how it can be a little demoralizing. First Shino and now Marcia. It only leaves Natalie untouched by the growth-enhancing serum. Otherwise, all the girls would have taken them over now. They shouldn’t be that far from Tier 3, anyhow.

After the celebration dies down a little, we make our way further into the wilds. According to Ghilerie, we should be close to the general area now. She should have no problems finding her way back from this point if we would like to leave but everyone insists on helping her out as far as we can, bringing a warm smile to her lips.

Teffith strategically resigns from leading the group with Ghilerie and somehow orchestrates things in a way making me end up in pair with our Elf friend at the very front. We traverse through the forest with Ghilerie spotting little details known to her, chatting casually now and then.

“We are on a good track,” she says at some point. “I’m pretty sure the hidden markings should be appearing from now on.”

“How do we spot them, then?” I ask, glancing her way.

“I’m not sure if any of you will be able to tell, but some of the trees are different from the others. It’s hard to explain to the members of another race. We, Wood Elves, just kind of can tell. Those trees are often where the hints are left so it’s easier to find for our own people.”

I rub my chin while nodding. “I see. I guess we won’t be able to help much. We could still try, though. Anything you could say about this difference? Perhaps explain how it feels if it’s too difficult?”

She scrunches her face a tiny bit while clearly trying to figure out how to put things into words.

“Well… When I’m looking at trees, it’s kind of like I’m looking at people. I can discern their mood by just looking at the bark and the tree in general, just like you can notice the same thing by looking at someone’s face or body. The trees holding the markings give off a sleepy, tired aura. I don’t know what else to say.”

“I wonder if part of the greenies back on Earth are secretly Wood Elves, heh,” Marcia comments with a smirk.

“Greenies?” Ghilerie glances back at her curiously.

“Environmental Activists. Our realm has organizations and people who try to protect nature and spread awareness about how humanity's progress is hurting it more and more. There have been individuals or groups claiming they can feel the trees or even speak to them. Most are branded as insane since our world is pretty bland, with nothing magical in it," I answer.

“I haven’t heard of Humans being able to imitate our special sense without using magic but who knows.” She shrugs.

“Maybe there have been Elves living on Earth a long, long time ago and some people still are able to activate something from their ancestry. Wouldn’t that be cool, Sensei?” Shino muses with sparkling eyes

“The only way to check that would be to return first.” Marcia chuckles. “Wait. If we will actually be able to return, do you think we could keep our Classes and abilities?”

Everyone glances between themselves, suddenly pondering over this little thought from the energetic redhead. Then, all of the gazes land on me. I can guess why.

I shrug my shoulders. “Don’t you think that would be a tad OP? If there’s no secret society of superhumans that keeps the secret part a secret from the common folk then just one of us would technically be able to overthrow countries at the end of this journey, more or less. But, if you really want to know, I can ask the person in charge.”

Marcia whines a little. “That would suck. I’ve already gotten used to this and don’t know if I can go back to being… normal. And I would certainly miss the new endurance boost.”

Kamil scoffs at her. “You haven’t even seen how much it changes. You got it like a few hours ago.”

She grins at him and slides her arm under his elbow. “Do you want to help me check it out? I wouldn’t mind getting to understand it better as soon as possible.”

He rolls his eyes at her but lets Marcia stay by his side. I’m kinda glad things haven't gotten sour between them, or worse. Still, how much she teases and picks on Kamil makes me very, very anxious every time. Each of her remarks always feels like it’s going to be just the one to take it a little bit too far. But, I guess that’s just my point of view as an outsider. I don’t know him as well as she does.

“Anyway,” I try to bring the conversation back onto its tracks, “regarding the tired trees, would that one over there match the description?” I ask, pointing at a seemingly random tree around twenty meters ahead.

Ghilerie finds it with her eyes after a few seconds and stops. Her brows rise and she turns her surprised face to me.

“How?”

I spread my arms to the sides. “It just feels sleepy to me when I look at it.”

She stares at me dumbfounded but it’s not like there’s anything else I can say. It’s just like she explained. The tree just feels sleepy. No idea if it’s the bark, branches, leaves, or whatever else, but I do understand what she meant earlier.

Shino giggles behind us. “Don’t forget that Sensei is quite special.”

The gears in Ghilerie’s head turn visibly for a moment before she cocks her head back in realization. “Right. I completely forgot about that. I guess you are like my really distant ancestor, aren’t you?”

I chuckle at that and we move closer to the tree I pointed out. Ghilerie uses some kind of a spell and a glowing mark appears on the bark.

“Looks like one of the hunters responsible for resupplying these with mana has forgotten about this sigil. A week or two more and it would have faded. Fortunately, it’s still working.”

She somehow reads the direction from the glowing pattern and starts leading us with a confident step. We quickly find the next marked trees thanks to the two of us working together in spotting the tired ones. For some reason, the sigils are as drained as the previous ones, making Ghilerie slightly uneasy.

“Maybe they changed the rotation period after you have been captured,” Paul suggests.

“It’s possible. There weren’t that many hunters in our settlement so I can see that being the case if they are all busy with something or their numbers fell due to some special circumstances. It’s not exactly an easy and risk-free profession,” Ghilerie responds.

I plop a hand on her golden hair and ruffle through it a bit. “No point worrying about things now. Let’s just get there and see for ourselves what’s the real reason.”

She nods and we resume walking. After around twenty minutes, I spot something. Just like the sleepy trees, there are now ones seemingly… shy and timid in front of us.

“Looks like you noticed these as well,” Ghilerie says, glancing at me. “Wards have been placed on the cautious trees, which surround the vicinity of the settlement. The barrier is almost unnoticeable, but when someone uninvited crosses it, they will feel lost and want to quickly back away. An illusion is applied just a few meters ahead of them to hide it from sight, but… the wards are weak. I can almost spot shimmers in the veil.”

“Clearly.” I glance around. “Let’s go in together, just in case. Would that be fine?”

“Of course. If anything, I will take the blame on myself. Thank you.”

We pass the line of shy trees and walk through an invisible and immaterial barrier that ripples like water during the motion. Just after stepping through it, a wooden palisade, many houses, gazebos, and bridges enter our vision at around one hundred meters ahead.

Ghilerie sighs heavily, releasing the air trapped in her lungs from holding her breath. There’s no clear smoke, fire, or damage visible from our position. The village doesn’t look like ruins either. I’m sure that’s a huge relief to our Elf comrade.

Without further ado, Ghilerie brings us closer and leads us toward one of the main gates. But, after we turn a corner around the palisade, reaching the gatehouse, she freezes. The huge ornate wooden doors are heavily damaged. And, most importantly, they are open wide.

Ghilerie breaks out of her daze and rushes forward without waiting for us. I jump after her and the rest of the group doesn’t stay idle for too long either. We run into the silent settlement while looking around. Not a single person enters our sight.

I catch up to Ghilerie first, who stops in the centre of a small plaza, next to a well. Many wooden houses and structures show signs of battle with a monstrous enemy. Cuts, claws, and other damage are visible over plenty of wooden boards. It’s possible to spot already dried-up blood here and there.

“No… This can’t be…” she whispers to herself as her eyes jump around in distress.

“Sensei…” Shino’s tense voice reaches my ears from behind.

“I know!” 

I throw myself forward, crossing the remaining distance between Ghilerie and me in a flash. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I switch our positions to shield her from the huge shadowy cat which has jumped out of the well straight at her back.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t crash into us and I look behind. Hecate is standing between us and the well, with the misty creature impaled on all six of her spider legs, hanging from them in the air and quickly dissipating.

“Abyssals!” Paul shouts from ahead. “Get into the formation!”

I quickly drag Ghilerie back to the others while she gets out of her stupor. Hecate follows us closely and I nod at her as thanks. She nods back and we regroup with everyone.

Various purplish, shadowy creatures surface on the roofs of the wooden structures and come out from hiding behind buildings and corners. The majority resemble beasts of feline and canine species, perhaps a half or so bigger than the common animals of this kind. There are quite a few of them.

Hell breaks loose almost instantly. Everyone knows what their job is and gets straight to it. 

Natalie drops down to the ground immediately, bringing out her buffs by using her acoustic guitar to play a few quick tunes. She has truly mastered it, being able to swiftly juggle between the different pieces of music.

Shino has already disappeared off to somewhere, most likely decimating the Abyssals on her own while abusing her broken Shadow Step and other abilities. I don’t need to worry too much about her. She’s pretty much the strongest one here.

I order Teffith to stay close to Ghilerie and the others while bringing Hecate and Marcia slightly forward. She and Kamil should be enough to protect our backline while the three of us take a more offensive approach, just in front of them.

Paul doesn’t waste a second and skewers the rushing demonic beasts with plenty of arrows from above, firing off various abilities that clearly multiply his projectiles after reaching a certain altitude. With those active, he tries to snipe the further enemies off the roofs and ramparts.

With the fierce spidergirl by my side, I shape my artifact weapon into the sword whip form due to the overwhelming number of opponents around us and we dive into the fight. 

I get to witness how pretty much every single spider leg of hers works separately, almost like they all have a mind of their own. She stabs and swipes in all directions while keeping relatively close to me. With just her efforts, the Abyssals have it almost impossible to reach us.

But, it’s not like I’m just idling and watching the show. Whatever she doesn’t manage to down with her sharp spikes, I finish off with the sword whip, in either of the forms. I can confidently keep up with their movements as well as she can. Fortunately, these seem to be just grunts and nothing else.

“There’s a chieftain!” Natalie shouts from somewhere behind the two of us and I peek at her.

A bigger enemy has shown up. Bipedal and as tall as a single-story house, something resembling a werecreature steps into the battlefield. Well, I guess it’s close to some race of pure-blood Beastkin in this world but much more beefed up. Anyway, let’s just say it’s an oversized werewolf.

It releases a loud howl and charges at the group in the centre of the formation. Marcia shows up in front of it with a melodic step and tries to stop it by landing a few good slashes at its right leg but it ignores her completely and keeps rushing forward like a big and heavy locomotive. Its wounds are healing at an insane rate.

I remove a few more of these four-legged creatures from existence to not overburden Hecate too much and quickly prepare to shove my retracted sword into the ground. But, before I can do that, a flash of light catches my attention.

Kamil bitchslaps the running werewolf with his shield covered by a golden radiance and sends it flying to the side, crashing into one of the wooden houses as a loud song of a gong resonates through the air.

“Stay put, you fucking mutt!” he trash-talks the enemy a moment later.

Marcia chuckles while reaching him. “That’s my boy! Show it who is the real alpha here!”

I shake my head with a smile and refocus on my side. I don’t think there’s a need for me to steal the spotlight there. I’m already far ahead due to my unusual way of growing stronger so it’s better to leave the battle experience to them as much as possible. 

A few Flaming Javelins pass by my side and hit the Abyssals trying to leap onto me and Hecate. Glancing back, I see Natalie giving me thumbs up. She has switched from support to offence for now. I nod at her and get back to the little dance with my charming and deadly partner while observing the battlefield attentively.

The grunts don’t really pose a threat to the two of us, and with our performance on this side, Shino can easily cover the other one by herself. She barely shows up from time to time and only the poof of killed enemies announce her presence when she mutilates some poor kitty or pup out of nowhere.

That leaves the big guy to Marcia, Kamil, Paul and Natalie. Teffith stays close to the bard and archer, prioritizing their safety as per my orders, intercepting a stray enemy occasionally.

Of course, we can’t forget about Ghilerie, who after recollecting herself, started raining death at every purple-furred entity in her sight with a newfound passion. She doesn’t have any flashy spells like Paul but she’s clearly more skilled with the bow than him.

The sheer speed and power with which she launches her arrows are incredible, and I don’t even have to mention accuracy. I bet she hasn’t missed even once. The number of intentional collaterals is crazy high too. She’s angry. Very angry.

Our party of Heroes fights against the big werewolf with more than decent coordination, but the monstrosity regenerates faster than all of them can wound it together. Its attacks aren’t super elaborate and consist mostly of chomps, swipes, slashes and such, but it packs a punch and is quite nimble for its size.

“Fuck! We won’t be able to take it down like this!” Kamil yells while shielding Marcia from a powerful backhand.

“You girls have fought a chieftain!” Paul shouts, looking at Natalie. “How do we deal with it?”

“I don’t know! Shino was the only one able to wound it!” she replies.

I behead another panther or something close to it and turn my head towards them. “They are weak to Holy and Light! Just let Kamil nuke that—”

A crack filled with darkness appears in the air above the monster with a seeping abyss filling it. Shino suddenly flies out of it with her demonic Dark Mode on, holding her katana with both hands and aiming the tip downwards. The black blade leaves a trail of equally dark flames behind it.

She crashes into the werewolf from behind, pinning it to the ground, and explodes in ebony fire, swirling in a sphere that completely envelops the two. It rotates ominously for around five seconds before dissipating, revealing our samurai girl with her sword shoved deep into the dirt and no trace of the Abyssal. She’s panting roughly.

“Or do that…” I smile wryly.

The other monsters seem to lose their motivation to fight and start to flee. Many of the retreating beasts don’t make it too far, though. They run into countless invisible wires Hecate has set around the battlefield as we fought and either mutilate themselves or end up entangled in them, serving themselves to us on a silver platter. Our archers decimate the other ones. Not many should have run away.

I quickly jog to Shino and kneel in front of her. She gives me a pretty but strained smile and lets go of the katana’s hilt, knowing that I will catch her. She sighs heavily.

“Even with all your stats, Sensei, this black fire is a little bit too draining, hahaha.”

I chuckle while bringing her to my lap. “I would be surprised if it wasn’t. You left nothing of that sucker.”

She giggles and glances up at me. Not minding if the others are looking at us, I lift her chin up a little and join our lips in a tame, loving kiss, casting Rejuvenate on her at the same time. Shino sighs contentedly into my mouth as we gently make out for her to recover.

I break the kiss first and stare at her slightly flushed face. Shino’s eyes skip past me for a brief moment and I turn around. Ghilerie is standing further back while looking around the empty village. Her hand is gripping the bow so hard it causes the skin on her hand to turn almost white.

Shino brings my face to the front again with her petite fingers. “Go to her.”

I nod and stand up after softly setting my lovely girlfriend on the ground. Ghilerie doesn’t even notice my presence until I gently place a hand over her shoulder, making her jump slightly.

She turns her face to me and shows a forced smile. “Thank you for—”

“Shhh,” I shush her down and move my palms to her tensed fists.

Ghilerie notices the state of her fingers and relaxes her grip a little. We stare at each other in silence for a few long seconds. She’s the one to break it first again, with a determined expression.

“I talked a little about you with Teffith. When we were sitting in that slave merchant’s office, you joked that you already have the destiny to save the world from destruction. Your mission is to stop these abominations once and for all, right? Then, I want to join—”

“Hey, come look at these.” Paul’s shout interrupts Ghilerie and we both glance his way. “It seems like someone dragged quite a few crates or other heavy stuff that way.”

She jumps forward, yanking her hand out of my grasp as a result. I quickly follow her. The others gather up soon too. Everyone agrees that the traces on the ground match what Paul has deduced and we start following them immediately.

Of course, Ghilerie rushes ahead of everyone, but I can’t blame her. We haven’t been wounded too much so we have no issue following her quick pace. Just to make sure though, I carry Shino in my arms so that she can rest a little longer after that stunt.

Ten minutes of running later, we reach the bottom of a rocky cliff. The trail led us to a dead end. The drag marks disappear when the earth switches into stone. Their direction seems to be pointing straight at the rock formation in front of us, but whoever was pulling these, could have turned either left or right after reaching this point to eliminate the traces.

Before anyone asks which direction we should go, the wall in front of us ripples and gradually changes opacity until it fades completely, revealing an entrance to a natural cavern. Two people armed with spears and bows walk out of it.

“Ghilerie? Is that you?” the Elf man with long dark brown hair asks.

“Vezir! You are alive!”

Ghilerie lunges at him and hugs the man. He chuckles and accepts the embrace, hugging her back. The other man, with shoulder-long black hair, eyes us up suspiciously.

“Why are you with these Humans?” he asks.

“Don’t be rude to them, Achiel. The silver-haired one saved my life and the rest are his friends.” She steps away from Vezir and looks between the two elves. “Why are you here? What about the others? Is everyone okay?” She barrages them with questions.

Achiel looks away while Vezir shows a sad expression. The initial rush of happiness from finding her brethren fades a little after seeing their reactions and Ghilerie sighs heavily, knowing well that the answer won’t be a reason for joy.

“I don’t mind explaining everything if you don’t mind getting inside. We are at risk of being discovered if you remain standing in the entrance like this.” A woman’s voice arrives from behind the two sentries and another person walks into the light.

“Elder!”

Ghilerie struts to her and falls onto one knee. The woman of exquisite, mature beauty with waist-long dark green hair and similarly green eyes chuckles softly.

“Stop these pointless rituals, child. This is not the time to follow empty courtesies.”

Our Elf companion stands up and nods. “Yes. Of course. Let’s quickly get out of sight.” She looks back at us and then again faces the woman. “Can my friends enter too?”

The man named Achiel opens his mouth, most likely to protest, but the Elder stops him by raising her hand.

“Of course. We are in no position to reject any kind of help. I can tell they are strong and just the presence of such individuals means a lot. They can’t be bad if it’s you who calls them friends.”

Ghilerie answers with a warm smile and gestures at us. We quickly step through the entrance so that the illusion or whatever it is can be activated again. She pulls me with her after I let Shino down and I end up walking beside her and the Elder.

“Answering your first question, dear child, we are here because we are hiding, taking refuge. Considering the direction you came from, I assume you know why,” the woman starts speaking.

“Abyssals. They attacked the settlement,” Ghilerie answers with a note of anger.

“Indeed. Our people fought bravely, but you know that our community is not made of fighters but gatherers and artisans. We retreated before the losses became too great, making it to this cave.”

As she finishes, we walk into a spacious natural hall and immediately spot plenty of people loitering around the lit-up torches. A picture-perfect refugee camp with bedrolls, firepits, and folks huddled together in rags, clearly without a proper amount of nutrition and other necessities.

“It’s been over a month already. Our bravest hunters risked their lives to procure a few crates of supplies two weeks ago, but we are again starting to run low. We have been waiting for the Abyssals to go away, but the scouts still report their presence in our old settlement. We can’t go back until they are gone.” She sighs wistfully.

“The Abyssals occupying our home are dead. They ambushed us the moment we walked into the settlement. We have killed their leader and the lesser monsters have scattered,” Ghilerie informs the Elder.

The woman glances at her with slightly raised eyebrows. “That’s… a very promising piece of news. But, I’m afraid that’s not all of them. You must have defeated a small squad waiting for our return. We might be able to bring more supplies but I don’t think we can go back with them still around. Especially since there was more than one commander.”

Ghilerie lightly bites on her lower lip. She has most likely thought we have dealt with the majority of them. After a moment of silence, her gaze falls on me, and her eyes widen a little as if she has just remembered my person.

She turns to look at me with a slightly anxious expression. “Alastair, I—”

I put a hand on her shoulder and smile. “It’s my destiny, right?”

A dazzling smile answers me back and Ghilerie launches herself at me, pressing her lips into mine. I catch her in my arms and let the golden-haired elf delicately join our mouths together as the Elder’s brows rise even higher.