The elves, with frightening synchronicity, lowered their heads half bowing. They did not move for five seconds. Then they extended their right hands each unwilling to look up or open their eyes. One by one, starting with Ulirivaka, they mvoed forward with palms up waiting for Alastair place his own palm down on their own. Only then did they move to stand behind him. 

The process felt otherworldy to say the least. And more importantly, Alastair felt the mana in thck waves cover the entire room so much, he felt like he was suffocating for a moment. 

In the end, Alastair led them out of the cave and asked them to wait for him. He had to clean out that room and, most importantly, take the land dragon eggs. Ulirikava followed him inside even though Alastair had asked him to stay. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

Together they covered the eggs with the clothe under them, each made specifically to incubate the eggs. Ulirivaka almost had a heart attack when Jacob almost dropped the black one. He wasnt allowed near them again as he was forced to go wait with the other elves outside. 

Ulirivaka lowered his head when he saw Alastair looking at him. “Siviv, give me three days. With all the valuables we had within the caravan and those...redistributed from the fat human’s horde, I can create masks to hide our identity except from the most powerful figures on the planet. The old hag that followed me here is specialized in the less...noble dispositions. Assassinations and hidden identity mainly.” 

Alastair nodded. He needed a few days to get a grip on how much he had gotten from the caves. Not including the fifty warhorses, that made his heart twinge the most, everything else could be sold or auctioned off for countless currency. He was sure the amount was more than the Golden Tide had requisitioned from decades of battle and war. 

He had also given one of the rings to Ulirikava. Kendo had screamed in righteous fury. He had been furious and swore that the elves couldn’t be trusted. They could have faked their oaths like their predecessors before them, that almost started a brawl as a few hot-headed and younger elves couldn’t sit silent to those words. 

But Alastair knew they couldn’t break their oath. He had visual proof of their sincerity.

System ~

Sworn Oaths ~

Ulirivaka Sivindis

Jivka Kidivir

Havveni Sivindis

…

…

…

And so the list continued. All twenty seven names had shown up. Their oath was real and recognized by the system as truthful and without deception. They might seem bitter, but being bitter was a much better proposition then being dead. 

On the third day, Ulirivaka and an even wrinklier female elf came to him each holding fifteen masks. They were all extremely plain and completely black. Just a shaped nose and eyeholes were the only thing of distinction on them. Of course that was excluding the the black mana that flitted about on the edges of each one. 

When the two put theirs on in front of him, Alastair couldn’t help but have his mouth drop and eyes widen. They disappeared, completely from his sense. If he didnt see them standing before them, he would not have believed they were actually there. Closing his eyes, he tried hard to find even a trace of them, he almost panicked when he noticed nothing. 

Then he noticed a tightly woven ball of darkness so small and insignificant he had looked over it multiple times during his thorough scan. Each one represented a mask and hovered in the air where the mask would be. He let out a breath as he felt the butterflies in his stomach disappear. He could find them and wouldn’t have to live in supreme paranoia hoping he wouldn’t be assassinated at any moment.

The two elves were clearly surprised Alastair found them. Even they couldn’t detect anything other than the connection wearers of this set of thirty had with each other. They looked at one another and promised themselves to never underestimate Alastair again. Even in the most insignificant of things.  

In the end, for Alastair, the meeting ended up on an extremely high note. He wouldn’t have to worry about the elves identity as they crossed towards his village. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be bothered by the political big wigs. Just a few accolades, smiles, hugs, and a few words on a podium. That’s it.

And then it crashed on him. He couldn’t help but curse, which left Kendo and Jacob startled. They rushed to see what had happened. 

Alastair was the only survivor of the Golden Tide. One of the four greatest armies in the Empire. He knew it to be true that the emperor himself would see him. Then he would be expected to lead the Golden Tide on their next mission.

Worse of all, he would be expected to play nice with all the important people of the empire. Including the other three armies and their leadership. Without a doubt, with it would come the politics he despised with all his soul. It would be forced down his throat whether he liked it or not. 

That dream of living a peaceful and quiet life all but shattered as he finally allowed himself time to think deeply about it.