The two elves exploded from their seats. They whirled to face him. One had two scimitars drawn and the other had a narrow stick pointed at Saul. “What do you want?” The one with the scimitars demanded. His body seemed tense. Saul could see his muscles, faint though they were, bulging under his tension. Like a snake, coiled up and ready to strike. The tip of the stick that the other elf - a woman - held was glowing faintly. The faintest hint of burning wood filled the air. Her expression was cold as ice and deadly calm.

The male elf was a handsome creature. His features were elegant, but masculine. He had on armor that was reminiscent of the guard uniform he'd seen on many other elves. Made from a silvery material that almost seemed to warp the light, it was either very light, or the elves were stronger than they seemed. It wrapped his entire form in metal that didn't seem to hinder movement at all. His entire body radiated a cool confidence. He gave the impression that he would cut an enemy down without a second thought. 'I wouldn't fare well against him.'

The woman was stunning. She wore a circlet that held platinum hair back from her eyes. Her ears lay flush against her hair, points extending a fair distance from their origin. Her every move spoke of extreme grace. wore a dress that clung to her figure. It didn't appear tight enough to compress, but rather enough to allow free movement. Her figure revealed by that fabric was lithe yet curvaceous. It was a tasteful dress despite how tight it was.

Saul realized his vision had lingered on her form too long. He raised his hands over his head with a slight red tinge on his cheeks. He looked up to the two of them as he addressed them, his gaze sweeping over her knowing smile. “An elf from Efnelion sent me here under a false premise. He blamed your leadership for the conflict between your villages. That-” He paused for a moment, “Based on your conversation, I don’t believe their claims. I’d like to help your two villages find peace once more by getting to the bottom of everything.”

The two exchanged a look. The smell of smoke vanished from the room and the light at the tip of the stick faded out of existence. The one holding the scimitar asked, “What do you think, Ara?” Doubt flickered across her face.

“I’m not sure, Llewil. We have been having issues with them. It would be nice to get to the bottom of everything.” A short pause. “Someone needs to figure out what’s happening to all those travelers from the gate too.” Saul remained quiet. He didn’t move a muscle or so much as breathe too heavily while they were discussing the matter. “Llewil, we should consider having an adventurer look into things. If he goes back and says he resolved things here he might be able to find out what their plans are.”

Saul nodded. “Those were my thoughts as well. I need to find out what’s going on with the people coming from the gates. More and more humans are going to be coming through the gates, and if something is happening to them, I’d like to help put a stop to it. This place is dangerous enough as is.”

The elves took their time considering his offer. The female - Ara - moved first. She placed her stick back into a loop on her outfit. Saul drew in a deep breath and let it out. His gaze moved to Llewil with close attention to his posture. ‘Still tense. Come on… Relax.’ The lead scimitar began to drop. ‘Good.’ Saul slowly dropped his hands as the male elf relaxed. Finally, he let them rest in their scabbards and spoke to Saul, “I don’t think it’s bad to send you back to investigate. I also don’t think you are powerful enough to do what needs to be done.”

Suddenly Saul felt as though the elf was looking through him completely. The elf spoke with a hint of mockery evident, “Level 9? That won’t do at all. Most elves don’t conform to the level system, but I’d say our most powerful warriors would be around level 15.”

Saul didn’t take offense to that. The difference was likely huge. Idly, his fingers stroked through his beard. “I wouldn’t be alone. I have a wizard I’m allied with currently who is around my strength level. I also have an animal companion who can help me in combat. He’s on the balcony.” He stepped aside so they could see Basi. “Do you think that would be sufficient?”

Llewil turned his gaze to Basi. Saul could see the elf’s eyes as they swept over his companion, a strange glint flashing in them before he turned to Ara and shook his head. The elf maiden considered his words. Her gaze flitted over to Llewil and saw the shake, then back to Saul. “You are too weak, even in a group. If you were able to increase your strength by some degree - Even a level or two - Or to improve your skills considerably, then you may be able to accomplish something.” She fell silent. Saul shifted his weight from foot to the other.

“I’ll avoid conflict with them, then. I’ll figure out what’s going on and report back to you. You can send in whoever you wa-” Ara cut him off quickly.

“I’m afraid that won’t do. What we can do is give you a few days to work on your strength. There is an area nearby that is usually rife with monsters. We send our recruits there to train. If you take advantage of that area, you should be able to close the gap somewhat and give us more confidence in your ability to handle things.” Llewil opened his mouth as if to argue, but a raised hand from Ara cut him off. “We’ll do it.”

Ara smiled. “As a ranger, you no doubt have some skills that are in line with our areas of expertise. I’m willing to offer you an opportunity to train with some of our weapons masters over the next few days as well. As you have no doubt realized it is possible to have skills far above your level that can bridge that gap. You would be wise to take advantage of that fact.”

He bowed before them, low enough that his torso was parallel to the ground. “I would be happy to take advantage of your hospitality. The wizard I know uses some form of destructive magic, but he appears to have a low mana capacity. Hopefully you will be able to assist him as well. I should contact him.”

Ara tilted her head to the side suddenly. Her left ear twitched and a knowing smile spread across her lips. “No need. It appears he was detected by one of our guards and is being brought here now.” Her eyebrows raised as she spoke to him. Teasing.

“Ah… Well, we didn’t know where to go to get the information, so…” He shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m sure.” She responded. “I’m sure we can figure something out to help him increase his mana capacity.”

Before long, the door opened and Ishan’s profile filled the doorway. Saul raised his hand in greeting. “They caught you, eh?” The wizard’s lips curved upward in a slight grin before he was shoved into the room by two guards. One of the guards was female, the other male. Both had flawless features, but across those lovely features stern clouds had settled.

Llewil turned his gaze on Ishan. That same glint from before flashed in his eyes as he looked over the wizard. He turned to Ara with one eyebrow raised and leaned over to whisper something unintelligible into her ear. Ara’s eyebrows rose as surprise flashed across her face before she took an appraising glance at Ishan.

“So, here’s the deal. They have agreed that someone should go and investigate the events of Efnelion.” Ishan nodded and made to speak. Saul held up a hand and watched as the words died in his ally’s mouth. He continued, “They don’t think that we’re strong enough for it, so they’ve agreed to let us train at some site where they train a lot of their soldiers. It should give us a pretty good boost in our power.”

The wizard’s eyebrows rose higher and higher as Saul spoke. When he was finished, a smile graced the man’s lips. “Sounds good if you ask me. When do we get started?” He and Saul turned to look at the two elves.

Llewil spoke up at that point, “I think it best if you rest tonight. Tomorrow morning, I will take the two of you out to the training grounds.”

He didn’t wait for their agreement before he turned and moved to the door. Saul could see hints of impatience in his posture. When the two of them didn’t jump to follow him immediately, Saul watched him turn back with an expectant look before departing. “Good evening, lady Ara.” Saul bowed to the elf maiden and hurried after Llewil with Ishan and Basi hot on his heels.

Somewhere along the way, Llewil gathered one of the guards that had brought Ishan to them. He took them to a room that was surprising at first glance. The room had vines running along the walls that were a variety of different colors. Two absolutely massive wood-loving mushrooms seemed to be growing from the wall and atop those fungi were two mattresses with blankets and pillows. The room was sparsely furnished. “You’ll be staying in here. You can take breakfast in the morning and then we’ll be on our way. I’ll bring something for your companion to sleep on.”

Saul claimed the bed closest to the window. ‘It will be nice to take a shower and get cleaned up. I don’t think I’ve had a chance to get properly clean in… Well, too long.’ He stood by the bed and removed his leather breastplate. The well-made armor came off easily. He felt a small amount of strength leave his body, seemingly correlated with the stat-boosting item coming off.

Next he slipped out of his undershirt, the cool air in the building feeling nice on his skin. He thought about stripping out of his pants, but the thought of being clad in only boxers in front of Ishan was something he wasn’t totally comfortable with. He kicked off his shoes and tucked them beneath his bed. When Llewil came back with a soft looking piece of bedding for Basi, Saul raised a hand to get his attention.

“Would you happen to have something I can wear at night? And perhaps a place I can take a bath and wash my stuff? I’m not used to the dirt of an adventurer’s life.” The elf made a face but nodded and gestured for Saul to follow him.

Ishan spoke up, “I'll take some clothes as well, please.” Gathering his things he followed Llewil quickly.

He led the two of them to a door not far from their own. He opened the door and a wall of steam flowed out from within. He waved his hands towards the room. “I’ll have night clothes brought here for you. Someone will be by shortly to collect your clothing and equipment for cleaning. The guard will bring you back to your room when you’re done. Goodnight.” With that, he left.

Saul stepped into the room and drew a breath. The air tasted clean and moist and it was heavy as it flowed into his lungs. Through the heavy steam, two tubs seemed to appear as if out of nowhere. A large paper screen separated the two effectively.

Saul moved over to his tub and stripped out of his leather pants, the tight and padded garment coming off surprisingly easily. ‘Did he enchant the armor to be easy to remove? I always thought leather was a pain to get off.’ He set all of his items in a small bundle by his tub. He quickly removed his boxers and tossed them onto the top of the pile then slipped into the water.

The water wasn’t hot enough to scald, but it left his skin pink as he laid back and relaxed. A soft sigh escaped his lips, total satisfaction as his body was practically weightless. The heat worked its magic on his tense muscles, undoing knots that he didn’t even know he had. To describe the bath in a word: Bliss. A brush and a bar of soap were sitting on a stool next to the tub. From across the screen similar sighs of pleasure could be heard, as well as the occasional splash.

After soaking and letting his aches fade away, he reached up to untie his hair and let it fall down around his shoulders. Dark and long, it didn’t show dirt but it desperately needed cleaning just like the rest of him. After some quick work with the brush and a liberal application of soap, his skin was pink and his body felt spotless. ‘No dirt or soap left over in this water… Must be magic.’ He washed his hair tie in the water as well.

When he was ready to get out, he turned to see that a folded robe had somehow made its way onto the stool. He unfolded the robe and slipped his arm in, still wet. It was as if his arm hadn’t had any moisture on it at all. Both the fabric and his arm were dried. His eyebrows raised. ‘Who needs technology when you have magic?’ He stood and slipped the robe on. He felt his body drying instantly.

His clothes were gone, off to the cleaners. “I’m going to the room. Good night, Ishan.”

He called across the screen. “Night.”

Saul was escorted back to the room by the guard, who then returned to wait for Ishan. He moved over to take a seat on his bed and the soft padding of Basi’s feet on the ground let him know his companion wanted some affection. “We’ve got quite a good opportunity here, boy. We’re nice and clean.” He wrinkled his nose as he wrapped his arms around the lizard and put his nose close to his scaly skin, “Well, one of us is. We’ve got gracious hosts who will help us get stronger, and that will help us as we approach level 5. It’s starting to look like I’ll really make it out of here.” He gave the lizard a gentle squeeze and released him.

“Now, I’m going to get some sleep.” He swung his legs up onto the bed and rolled onto the mattress. It felt like he was laying on a cloud. He yanked the blanket up to fall over him and was asleep before it even finished falling to touch his skin.