“Ugh… Tha-thank you…”
After Keti took out the candy, the little Elf girl’s attitude clearly softened at first. Actually… looking at the candy in Keti’s hand, she was already starting to drool.
Wait, is the food in this Elf Village usually that bad? To think a child would be this starved for a piece of candy—is that really okay?
Still, looking at her like this, there was hope in lowering the little thing’s guard! Even though Keti still didn’t understand why the girl was so repulsed by her…
“I’m really not a bad person…” The Silver-Haired Girl took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward.
“So, you really don’t need to be so wary of me, okay? Heh—!”
“Wuu…”
Just as the little girl’s eyes began to sparkle because of the candy, and she was about to speak properly with Keti, the Silver-Haired Girl suddenly moved with lightning speed and pinched the little Elf girl’s cheeks.
“So, hup! Take us to the Temple, please~!”
“Waaaaah—! Just as I thought, people from the outside are all bad guys, uwaaaa—!”
Eh?!
Keti stood there in a daze, stunned as the little girl, who had been leaning in, suddenly turned around and ran back, entering a complete “untouchable” mode of fear.
Specifically, she stood there trembling uncontrollably, muttering under her breath, “I’m… I’m going to die. I was touched by someone from the outside. Lord Azu is going to hate me now…”
Uh.
Lord Azu?
Keti rubbed her chin, wondering who this so-called Lord Azu was when suddenly… a figure slowly walked out from behind the little girl.
Ah, uh…
How should she describe this? Keti herself didn’t really know what to say. The silhouette of the woman walking toward them caused the girl’s thoughts to go blank in an instant.
Cold, intellectual, and carrying an undeniable pressure that made one feel inexplicably unable to resist. Yet, there was a playful smile on her face that seemed gentle but made Keti feel a sense of dread.
This person with long green hair was…
“Sylvia?!”
Wait, no matter how you looked at her, there was no way this person was Sylvia.
Lynn, standing to the side, rolled his eyes at the girl next to him. He felt… it was a bit embarrassing to be with the Cat right now.
However, after a moment, he immediately snapped back to his senses, his gaze turning wary as he stared at the woman in front of them.
“Ha… Lord Azu, so you’ve come? Celthina… Hmph, this is truly unexpected. To think I’d run into you here. I remember… didn’t you say you had some private matters to attend to today?”
Hiss—
For some reason, Keti could hear a hint of irritation in her Enemy’s voice.
This… what was going on?!
The Silver-Haired Girl’s brain immediately went into overdrive. If you were to ask to what extent, it was like suddenly switching from standby sleep mode to full power!
Oh… her whole body, her whole body was heating up! To prevent this heat from affecting her thinking and to avoid a drop in processing speed, she even mentally employed water-cooling technology!
Though, it seems the water from below can’t be transported up there?!
Cough, cough.
Anyway, what was the situation?
Carefully analyzing what her Enemy just said, it seemed there was a lot of information to unpack.
First of all, her Enemy seemed to call the woman in front of them Lord Azu as well.
That meant this woman was the person the little Elf girl mentioned… the one who would cause a lot of trouble for anyone she hated.
With such a status, plus the title of Lord Azu, hmm…
Could it be that the woman in front of them held a leader-like position in this Elf Village?
And since this village could be considered the home of all Elves, that meant…
This woman was the leader of the Elf Race?!
Something like an ancestral status—it was probably something like that!
Hiss…
That would be incredible. Keti had heard—actually, she didn’t even need to hear it, she could tell just by looking at Sylvia—that the Elf Race was a terrifyingly strong, perhaps even horrifyingly powerful race.
Actually…
Keti had once asked Sylvia about it. Because the girl who wore the eye patch seemed incredibly strong, and her Magic Talent was S-rank.
Alice and Layla, who were A-rank, were actually quite envious deep down, let alone Keti who was D-rank.
The Silver-Haired Girl thought that their Hero Party was already considered among the strongest of the Adventurer teams…
Of course, excluding Keti herself.
So, Sylvia, who seemed so powerful even within this team, must surely be among the strongest group within the Elf Race as well.
After all… haha, look, Sylvia’s Gift was already S-rank. That was the highest level of talent; it was impossible for anyone to surpass it.
An S-rank Talent was absolutely a terrifying existence for the future, someone that powerful people would be desperate to recruit.
Because of this, Keti had been considering whether she should be nicer to Sylvia. That way, if the Miss Elf became successful later on, she might help Keti out.
Hehehe.
Despite having such slightly selfish thoughts, Sylvia had gone from being silent and withdrawn to gradually… talking about everything with her. Sometimes, her face would even turn a bit red.
Keti thought that her question would lead to the usual happy and pleasant atmosphere—at least enough to make this silent girl’s poker face break into a smile. However…
“Sylvia, you’re so strong! You must be one of the best back in your hometown! So… don’t be shy, you should smile more~”
After she said those words…
A look of fear suddenly appeared on Sylvia’s face.
Then…
She let out a twisted smile and stared at Keti as if she had gone mad, shouting:
“I… I’m a failure, hahaha… I’m sorry, Keti. Within the Elf Race… actually…”
“I’m the worst…”
No, no, no, that shouldn’t be possible, right?
Keti still couldn’t forget what happened that night. Sylvia had acted like she was insane, throwing things around. That was the first time they had seen the Green-Haired Elf Miss lose control.
It took a lot of effort to finally get her to calm down, and then…
The next day, Sylvia said nothing… No, it was more like she had complete Memory Manipulation; she didn’t remember that incident happening at all.
Keti didn’t dare mention it again.