Of course, even Alz himself didn't know how much of what he said was the truth, as this was all based on his own conjecture. There could be many other reasons behind this and he might have just been wrong from the start, and even if it were true, there would be many more questions.

However, he didn't bother reading too much beyond as this was the least of his concerns now. After all, regardless of the intent of the person who planted this field, it was already in the past and wouldn't affect him now.

Maya's expression finally lightened up, walking pass Alz into the golden field.

"Sorry... it's just, this place is very important to me." Maya said with her back turned toward Alz. A sad smile graced her face as she looked at the flowers, overcome by a wave of nostalgia.

"I haven't been here for a long time, but the flowers still look as beautiful as I remembered." Maya said in a lonely voice.

Her back looked extremely frail at this moment, like she would collapse and drown in the field of flowers at any moment.

"Did you know? I actually found this place because I got lost, but my dad managed to find me after searching." she chuckled slightly, but it did little to hide the heavy emotions behind her words.

"This became my favourite place, He used to bring me here all the time... but I already haven't been here for a long time." Maya turned around and staring toward Alz with a tearful smile, missing the days when her father was still around.

"I've been giving my all in the trainings, but everyone still treats me like a child. No matter how much I try, nobody acknowledges me." she said in a despondent tone as the smile on her face became more tragic.

"I have seen it, you're different from me. Your tribe believes in you and treats you like one of them." she said with envy in her voice.

"Please, tell me, what am I doing wrong? How can I become more like you? How can I earn the respect of the others?" she pleaded in a strained voice that was tinged with desperation, staring at Alz with hopeful eyes, hoping he would be able to provide her with an answer.

Maya had already done everything she could think of, but nothing seemed to work. Anxiety was starting to get the better of her as she remained at a complete loss for what to do, when he suddenly showed up, an elf her age who had earned the trust of his tribe.

"So, this was it"

Alz had been wondering why she was telling him all this, but now he knew. He was confused at the start as they had just met yesterday and didn't have any deep ties, but this was the reason behind.

Alz looked back at her silently, unsure of what to say. He knew that she was expecting something from him, but he would have to betray her expectations.

Ever since his return to the village, he hadn't really cared much about the opinions of others. He merely did everything he felt was necessary and things had simply fallen in place naturally.

It could have been the strength he exhibited, the intellect he had shown, or something else entirely, but he never bothered to find out. He had a goal to work towards and that was enough for him, he wouldn't let these unnecessary thoughts clout his mind.

He also didn't know about her situation and was unwilling to get involved. While he held heartfelt gratitude towards her for showing him here, that was the extent of it. If it were a simple favour, he wouldn't have done it without hassle, but this went far beyond that.

After some thinking, he sighed and said with a bitter smile, "I don't know the answer to that, but you seem to be too rushing too much, maybe that's where the problem lies."

This was the best piece of advice he had to offer, but Maya merely looked down in disappointment, clearly unmoved by his words. This was nothing new to her, having been told that multiple times, but that was not the answer she was seeking.

Alz sighed lightly and walked away, starting to scout the area. Since he had already decided to build his new place here, there were many things that needed to be done and the top of that list was deciding where exactly to build what.

After scouting the area for about half an hour, he finally returned to the initial area with a satisfied smile. Upon his return, the first thing that he saw was Maya laying flat on the ground. He quickly approached her when he saw this, letting out a breath of relief when he looked closer.

She was breathing lightly as she lay, sleeping soundly on the field. There were several hints of dried tear marks around her eyes but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her.

After confirming that she was fine, Alz hesitated slightly before moving a distance away and sitting with his back towards her. Next, he took out a notebook and a piece of charcoal from his bag and flipped to an empty page with an expression of focus.

He was currently sketching a map, a habit he had formed in the recent years. He was confident in his memory, but he didn't want to spend too much effort keeping track every location, which was the point of the map.

As he was drawing the map, he also sent occasional glances behind him, making sure that Maya was still asleep. Ideally, he wanted to wait until Maya had left before doing this, but she was soundly asleep and showed no signs of waking soon.

He also wanted to draw this while everything was fresh in his mind, so he could start planning the full layout of his structures properly, as the perspective provided by the map would be a great aid for doing that.

Two hours went by silently, with Alz sketching his map and Maya asleep behind him in the field of golden flowers. Alz was already done with his map and was currently staring at it while the layout of everything slowly took shape in his mind.

Suddenly, his ears twitched and he immediately returned his notebook to his bag before turning around. Indeed, when he looked back, he saw a dazed Maya sleepily rubbing her eyes, having just awoken from her nap.

"Good Morning." Alz walked up and greeted her.

Maya was startled by the oncoming voice, jolting her head in his direction. When she saw Alz, she first revealed a look of wariness, but it slowly vanished as she began to recall what had happened.

"Sorry for just now." Maya blushed slightly and looked away, having recalled everything that had happened earlier.

As she reflected on it now, she realised that many of her actions earlier were too rash which made her feel embarrassed belatedly. After all, what she had done earlier was far from normal, especially with someone she had just met yesterday.

She was just swept up by her emotions from her pent-up stress and the memories from visiting this place again, causing her to vent all her frustrations on Alz, something she now felt slightly bad for.

Despite that, Alz looked at her with puzzlement. He didn't feel like she had done anything that required an apology, so he was unsure of what she was apologising for. However, he quickly shoved that to the back of the mind, not bothering to think about it.

"Are you feeling better?" Alz asked in a concerned voice.

"Yeah, thanks for watching after me. How long was I sleeping for?" Maya replied as she stretched her body.

"About one marking passed." Alz thought about it for a moment and shot a quick glance at the sky to confirm his estimate before replying.

Maya nodded her head and slowly stood up, casually sweeping off the dirt that had gotten on her clothes.

"Shall we go back?" she asked as she started to walk towards the way they had came from, fully expecting Alz to follow.

However, the words that entered her ears caused her to halt footsteps, turning around and starting at Alz with a stunned looked that contained doubt at what she had just heard.

"I'm going to be staying here." these were the words that had left his lips, the words that had just entered her ears.

"You're what!?" she asked in return, with clear disbelief contained in her voice as she stared at Alz with her wide meadow-coloured eyes.