383 You remember me? [1]

Elven tear.

Some might call it a miracle drug. The item was something that the elves were highly famous for. It could practically heal all diseases regardless of their seriousness. 

It could even bring back someone from the brink of death. That was how effective the elven tears were.

But of course, just like the name suggested, it could only be created by the elves, and even then, it wasn't like they could easily make them. 

In fact, it was quite hard for them to make. Perhaps in the past, back when they still had the world tree at their disposal, creating miraculous elixirs like the elven tears might have been easy. But that was then, and this was now.

Times had changed, and each elven tear was incredibly valuable. 

So valuable that it had created great havoc in the human domain once upon a time when someone managed to get their hands on one elven tear and decided to sell it. 

At that time, it was sold to an anonymous bidder for a tremendous price of 2 billion U.

"I need it."

Sitting on his bed, Hein leaned forward and rested both of his arms on his legs.

'I need to get that elixir at all cost.'

A determined looked flashed across his handsome face as his fists clenched tightly.

Remembering the troubles his father had gone through while he was injured while trying to provide for both him and his siblings, an inexplicable feeling arose within Hein, prompting him to clench his fists even more tightly.

"According to what Ren said, the top ten winners will have the possibility of requesting any reward."

The prize didn't necessarily have to be the elven tears. There were many other items that were more valuable than the tears up for grabs for the winners, but for Hein, the tears were priceless. 

He couldn't care less for the other prizes.

'Can I do it?'

Worry flashed across his eyes as he thought about the upcoming tournament.

He knew his limits, and he knew that he wasn't strong enough to be first. If Ren participated, he may as well kiss the chances of getting first place goodbye.

But tenth?

'I have to do it.'

After all the training that he had done in Henlour, Hein had confidence in his abilities. He no longer thought that the others were as scary as he once thought. 

"Hm?"

Blinking a couple of times, Hein suddenly turned his head towards the right side of the room. 

"Oh no."

Standing up from his bed, he rushed towards a particular wooden desk where a shield rested on top. A small black smudge appeared by the side of the shield.

"How did you get dirty again?"

Taking out a handkerchief from his dimensional space, Hein wiped the small smudge that was on top of his shield.

This clean freak attitude was something that he had developed back in Henlour when he was scolded by Malvil for not being careful enough with his shield.

'If I ever see a smudge on that shield, I will not give you a shield! Treat it as if it's your most prized possession! It's fine if it breaks from fighting a lot, but if you show me just how much you don't care about your shield, why should you bother asking to have one made for you?'

Those words deeply resonated with Hein, who understood the intent behind Malvil's words. 

As such, from that point on, Hein literally did as Malvil said and treated his shield as though it was his baby.

And just like now, whenever the shield got dirty, Hein would immediately stop whatever he was doing and clean the shield.

His behavior annoyed Ava quite a bit as she would look at him the same way Angelica would look at Ren. 

But Hein just couldn't help himself. 

"There's another one over here."

Leaning his head to the side, Hein wiped another part of the shield. 

***

"Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not. I called my own dad a creep."

Realization dawned on Emma after Kevin revealed to her the possibility of her father being present. 

"You never know. That could also not be your father."

"What do you mean?"

Emma's head snapped upwards, prompting Kevin to raise both hands to try to calm her down. 

"Calm down, all I'm saying is that they may have not been the group where your father came from. But, I wasn't lying when I said that there were a couple of humans from the dwarven domain."

"…Okay."

Lowering her head, Emma thought of something before mumbling softly.

"I don't understand."

Staring at Emma from the opposite side, Kevin didn't say anything.

He could tell what she was trying to say. If that was her father, why didn't he greet her and instead just look at her from afar? 

Kevin already had an idea as to why, but it wasn't like he could share it with her. 

It'd just increase her worries.

Lifting his head and staring at the tranquil, blue sky, Kevin's eyes closed.

'Since they're here, he should also be here. Emma did say that her father was in a group…'

And if he was part of the group, he must be aware of the fact that everyone was here.

Since he had not revealed himself yet, it meant that he was planning something. As such, after thinking for a bit, Kevin decided to let him be for now.

Of course, only for now. If the opportunity presented itself, he was definitely going to give Ren quite the beating. 

'I wonder just how much stronger you've become ever since the last time we saw each other…'

Thinking along those lines, Kevin's lips curled upward.

"What are you thinking about?"

Snapping him out of his thoughts was Emma who had recovered somewhat from the news of her father's appearance.

Opening his eyes, Kevin shook his head.

"Nothing to worry about."

With a smile on his face, he extended his hand in Emma's direction. 

"Now, what do you say we go tour the place?"

Lowering his head and checking his watch, Kevin continued.

"We've got a couple of hours before the sun sets."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Extending her hand and grabbing Kevin's, Emma slowly sat up straight. 

***

It took a while to calm Waylan down, but once we managed to get back to our residences, his previous rage had pretty much calmed down.

Sitting on an oversized wooden chair, in a beautiful green garden that overlooked the entirety of the city from above, I took a deep breath of the fresh air.

'This is nice.'

Compared to Henlour where the air was stuffy, the air here was incredibly fresh. It helped me relax a lot.

"Say, you saw a couple of your friends. Why didn't you go greet them?"

Seated next to me was Waylan who also gazed into the distance with a serene look. 

"Unlike me, you didn't need to hold back from seeing them."

Turning his head, Waylan crossed his legs.

"Why are you holding yourself back from seeing them?"

"I'm not."

Placing a hand over my face and removing the mask off of it, I locked my gaze into the distance. 

"It's not that I don't want to meet them, it's that I couldn't at that moment."

"Couldn't?"

"Mhm."

I really did want to go meet them. I really did.

There was just one problem. 

Aaron.

He was in the group. 

When I saw him, I was surprisingly calm. I had originally expected to see myself going crazy at the sight of him but, surprisingly, I was able to remain cool-headed. 

However, I was not sure if the same could be said for the next time I would see him.

Of course, if there was one thing I was sure about, it was the fact that the anger inside of my heart had still not disappeared.

I was calmer, but at the same time, the feelings of revenge had never died down.

Had I shown myself back then, Aaron would've most likely been shocked, and he would either prepare some sort of scheme to try to kill me again or become wary of me who had come back from the dead.

If that happened, doing anything to him would become that much harder. 

I couldn't allow that to happen. 

"I'm not sure about the details, but I don't think it's fair for you to keep your friends in the dark."

Waylan had a sagely look on the side. HIs look closely resembled Douglas's.

'Was he so lonely without Emma that he started to become more like Douglas?'

Placing both of my hands on the armrest of the chair, I propped my body up.

"Don't worry about it, I'm planning on meeting them in a couple of days. I just have to take care of one thing before I can meet them."

That problem was of course Aaron.

He needed to die.

For my sake, he needed to die. 

"Where are you going right now?"

"I'm gonna go back to my room to get some proper rest."

"Planning on doing anything else one of these days?"

"Like stalk the others?"

Looks like I hit the nail on the head. The moment I said those words, a difficult look appeared on Waylan's face before he turned his head to the side and pretended to have not said anything.

"…"

"Yeah, I'm good."

Shaking my head, I headed back to my room. There were a couple of things I needed to get done in these few days before the ceremony would begin.

***

Issanor, unknown location. 

Step— Step—

The sound of light footsteps echoed throughout a small room. Deep and robust roots embedded themselves by the side of the room, and an elegant figure slowly walked in.

With long and pure silver hair that cascaded down her smooth back, the elegant figure had pointed ears and an otherworldly face. Her looks were similar to that of a goddess.

She was the current elven queen of the elves on earth, Maylin Xiltris. 

Not much was known about her except for the fact that she was quite young and had a pure elven bloodline, making her a terrifying existence. 

The queen's feet soon came to a sudden halt. 

Opposite her was a small wooden capsule, about the size of a car. Enshrouded by small roots and leaves, a tiny opening appeared inside of the capsule.

Placing her small delicate hand over the capsule, the queen leaned her forward slightly.

Peeking through the small gap of the capsule, a beautiful face appeared in the elven queen's vision. Its beauty did not lose to the queen.

But there was something different between her and the queen. She didn't have silver or blonde hair, a distinctive features elves had. Rather, she had silky black hair that extended all the way down her back.

In fact, her ears were not pointy either, but rather curved. Just like a human.

As the queen leaned forward, her silver hair slowly fell in front of her. Raising her hand, she brushed her hair behind her ear.

A subtle silence followed after, as the queen stared at the woman behind the capsule for a good minute.

"…They have arrived."

An airy and melodious voice echoed through the room as the queen finally opened her mouth, looking at the face behind the capsule while uttering those words.

A melancholic look appeared on the queen's face as she looked at the woman inside of the capsule. 

"I owe you my life. Without you, I would've never have made it as far as I have now…"

Following her words, silence once again descended on the room.

There was a visible struggle on the queen's face as she looked at the sleeping woman. It was clear that whoever the woman behind the capsule was, she held a great important place in her heart.

Closing her eyes, the queen let out a long breath.

"I will definitely fulfill your request."