Alz felt a hard slam on his back, nearly causing him to fall forwards. The pain drew him out from his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. He instinctively turned to send a glare behind, but quickly swallowed his words back down.

When he looked back, all eyes were focused on him, from Colt, Maya and everyone in the expedition. He released a dry laugh and backed off a few steps with an awkward smile on his face.

There was relief painted over all of them, from finally being free of the thorny atmosphere that filled the office earlier.

"Kid, my heart nearly stopped just now." an elf said while patting his chest, to which many others nodded along in agreement.

Suddenly, one of the elves started laughing, setting off a chain of laughter that erupted in the group, catching Alz by surprise. The laughter went on for tens of seconds before Kleiz walked up to Alz and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Alz, that was some guts, good job!" Kleiz raised a thumb towards Alz with a wide grin on his face.

The elf who passed the scroll to the captain also moved up and ruffled his hair lightly with a gentle smile as he spoke, "Alz, you're a great warrior and we all know that. Don't let their words get to you, we will always stand behind your back."

"Yeah! Go throw a few of them around if they still don't learn." another elf followed up,

"We'll visit you often, so don't worry about feeling lonely." the ex-messenger elf who discussed with Alz on the forests along the way also added on.

A female elf also went up and held Alz gently in her arms, patting the stunned Alz softly on his head with a doting gaze. The kind treatment caused tears to drip from the corners of his eyes, completely unprepared to receive the warmth that was being shown to him.

He hadn't informed anyone of his arrangements beforehand and was feeling some guilt for making them go through that. Additionally, he was extremely grateful towards the group for standing up for him earlier, making him feel worse about it.

However, he had also not expected that raising his request would cause such a stir, so he did not mention it to the others. He also held some concerns that they might stop him, but these were evidently unnecessary from the scene before him.

Alz had mentally prepared himself to receive some blame for his thoughtless actions earlier, but there was none of that. Instead, the words were overflowing with warmth that landed directly on the tender parts of his heart.

In their eyes, Alz was still very young. He had earned the awe and respect from many of them with his talents along the way. Some of them even felt a sense of pride at being from the same tribe as him.

The group was currently most concerned about how the earlier affairs affected Alz, afraid that he might be affected from the negative comments directed at him, causing his confidence to take a blow he couldn't recover from.

"I will get it done for sure."

Alz's wiped his tears off with his fingers and steeled his gaze, his motivation rising anew.

"Thank you everyone. I'm fine, I'm really fine. Sorry for the trouble." Alz said as he broke free from the arms around him, bowing towards the group.

"Haha, don't worry about it. We're sure you have your reasons for bringing that up there. Just make sure you tell us where you will be staying so we can visit." the elf who passed the scroll over said which a chuckle, dismissing the issue entirely.

"So, where will you be staying?" Colt found this to be a good moment and interjected into the conversation, asking the question that everyone was curious about.

He had been assigned with the duty to help them settle in and would have to account for their status to report back to the captain at a later time. He was only surprised earlier at the situation Alz raised his request, but not at the actual request itself.

After all, there were many elves who returned to their tribes and elves from previous batches of their tribe present here too, such as themselves. The chieftain might have arranged a guardian for him before setting off, which would also make sense with his age.

This was what many of them thought after they calmed down, but Alz's next reply immediately blew away this conjecture, causing them to wonder what he was thinking exactly.

"I... don't know yet. Where... are we allowed to stay? There doesn't need to be any buildings there. All I want is a wide-open space that I can freely use. Is there anywhere around like that?" Alz replied his question with one of his own, his tone filled with uncertainty.

Colt first looked at Alz with surprise, but his eyebrows soon creased in thought.

"This...I'll have to check, but it should be fine as long as it is within the 'barrier'." Colt murmured softly, his voice also sounding slightly uncertain.

"Barrier? Do you mean the thorns around the city?" Alz asked curiously at the unfamiliar term that somehow had an oddly familiar ring to it, even though he was certain he had never heard the term before.

"Yeah, that's how it is called. It's rumoured to have existed since before the founding of our capital, but nobody knows why. Anyways, if that's the case, why don't I show all of you around first, maybe you'll find somewhere suitable along the way." Colt answered Alz and continued with a suggestion.

Nobody in the group rejected to this proposal and Colt began to bring the group around, first introducing them to the different parts of the guardhouse. As he spoke, the elves' faces were slowly coloured in shock, learning of the differences between the capital and their tribe.

The guardhouse was extremely well equipped, to the point where the elves were feeling uncertain if it should even be called a guardhouse. Colt first brought them back to the area they passed through earlier, the 'Lounge' where drinks and light snacks were served.

They then briefly stopped by the dining hall where Colt explained the timings for meals, the types of food served and the like before moving on. There was a total of four entrances to the guardhouse, one on each side of the rectangular building.

The bunks were located at the left and right wings, located at the two sides of the building. There were also two training fields of the same size, with one of them located by front entrance which they entered by.

On top of that, there was a stage constructed for sparring matches between the warriors, a recreational field where they had equipment for sports and games, a concept foreign to the elves from the Calla tribe.

Last but not least, there was an equipment store where the guards could collect and replenish their equipment, as it was ultimately still a guardhouse. Many elves found themselves becoming dizzy just by trying to remember various rooms while Colt looked on with a knowing smile.

After they were done with the guardhouse, Colt began to lead the group outside, where he would introduce them to the other amenities around while Alz kept his eye out for somewhere suitable to build his place.

Amidst everything, a sparkling pair of grass-coloured eyes constantly peeked at Alz from beside Colt, with a gaze that was brimming with curiosity and a hint of envy.

She had been training for a long time, to gain skills that were worthy of being acknowledged by the tribe. This was something she had been striving towards for many years, yet she constantly faced setbacks along the way, such as the bullying incident earlier today.

Yet, here, there was an elf who had already earned that despite looking to be around her age. She had been observing them entire time.

She had seen, the respectful gazes that the other warriors directed towards that young elf, eyes that acknowledged him as one of them, unlike those that were usually directed towards her.

She had heard, the words they used when they supported him, strong words that told of their respect and confidence in his skills, words that she had never heard.

She was envious, but she was also curious, at how that young elf with feminine features managed to command such respect from his comrades that they would stake their tribe's name on it, hence she carefully observed.