After he went to cover Maya with a sheet, Alz laid back on the field again, staring at the darkness above with empty eyes. After several minutes, he shot a quick glance at Maya and sighed before closing his eyelid once again, returning to sleep.

As with always, time flew by with both elves asleep, feeling as though only an instant passed when their eyelids opened again.

Maya let out a short moan as she twisted her body slightly, her eyelids trembling slightly. Her eyelids slowly started lifting, looking around her with a dazed expression. Memories from the previous day began to flow into her mind as she took in the surrounding scenery, her mind finally awake.

She immediately tried to rise, but her actions suddenly paused when she lifted her head, catching sight of the blankets draped over her body. A wide smile formed on her lips as she saw this, feeling a warm feeling rising in her heart.

She didn't recall using a blanket before she slept and the odds of a random blanket covering her on its own were non-existent, so there was only one possibility remaining.

She looked towards her side with gentle eyes but saw that the elf who was supposed to be there was already missing from his spot.

Looking at this, she suddenly revealed a look of panic as she remembered what she wanted to do, hurriedly sitting up from her horizontal position. However, before she could do anything else, his voice travelled into her ear, dashing the hopes of her plan.

"Oh, you're awake. I placed some food and water at the fireplace." Alz was doing some light stretches by the side when he saw Maya sitting up, greeting her.

"Why did he wake up so early!"

Maya complained lightly in her mind, revealed a look of dejection as she looked towards the fireplace. As Alz as said, there was a plate with edible plants and berries on it and a small wooden cup beside it, probably filled with water.

The food and water were naturally taken from his supply in the hut, so it wasn't too much trouble for Alz. However, she had initially planned on waking up earlier to prepare these, hoping to increase the chances of him agreeing to teach her, but it clearly didn't go too well.

She soon recovered from her disappointment, knowing that there was nothing she could do about it. She stood up and headed over to the hut to wash up before moving over to the fireplace for her meal.

"Since you're done, I think it's about time for you to go back." Alz said coldly right after Maya finished her meal, causing her to freeze in place. Moisture began to gather in her eyes as she turned to Alz with a gaze of sadness and anger.

She she gritted her fists tightly with reddening eyes as she tried to think of ways to convince him, but nothing came to mind as her anger began started being replaced by a feeling of powerlessness that ran through her body.

"Fine!... I'll leave." she barely managed to squeeze those words out from her lips as she stood up and started walking briskly towards the exit she was familiar with.

Yet, her expression became more stubborn with each step she took, her pace continuing to slow down the further she moved. A distance she would usually cover in a minute ended up taking five and she eventually found herself before the trees at the corner of the field.

Suddenly, a look of determination flashed across her face and she stopped in her tracks, turning back towards Alz. She slammed her knees to the ground with such force that there was thud, her voice echoing briefly across the field, "Please, teach me how to fight!"

"Haa... she still asked after all..."

Alz let out a sigh inwardly, looking towards the kneeling Maya with mixed emotions. He had already expected something like this to happen, but a part of him still hoped she would just leave without turning back.

After considering deeply about it last night, he ultimately decided to give her chance, a chance that she had just taken. If she had just left without saying anything, he would never bring this matter up again, but if she asked again, he would help her, and she did.

"Come by the second marking on the third days."

Maya's head slowly titled to the side, her expression unchanging from before. Her reaction was as though Alz had spoken in a foreign language, causing her brain to stall.

It took a few more moments before she finally reacted, her eyes rapidly widening with excitement and disbelief. She hastily raised her head and looked ahead, catching sight of Alz looking at her with a slightly troubled smile, raising her excitement to a peak.

"Yes!! I definitely won't be late!" she replied enthusiastically, bowing deeply towards Alz before placing her right shoulder with her left hand, saluting him with the formal salute of the Hostia tribe.

After doing these actions, she immediately fled into the trees as though she was afraid Alz might change his mind. This rapid change in pace painted a vastly different scene from just moments ago, as though it were two completely different elves.

Alz shook his head with a light smile as he saw this, carrying on with his daily training routine. The dust settled, and everything returned to normal, with Alz heading to the library after his training as he often did.

The next day, Maya reported back to the field excitedly, arriving for her scheduled first lesson with Alz. As this was the first session, Alz assigned her some simple tests to evaluate her physical condition, pleasantly surprised by her performance.

What she lacked in strength, she made up for in agility, possessing nimble reflexes beyond most of the warriors he knew. As he observed her completing these basic tasks, his eyes started to light with anticipation as he realised that this could be an opportunity for him as well.

He hadn't expected to gain anything out of this when he initially agreed, primarily agreeing because he was moved by her determination and plight in addition to the help she had given. As a result, he ended up overlooking this, only seeing it now.

Despite having wooden dummies to practice on, these were ultimately just inanimate objects and Alz found that they no longer helped him much at his current level of proficiency, a problem he had been fretting about in the recent months, that is until today.

"This could work!"

After a short break, Alz decided to jump into the teaching her right away, feeling fired up from his newfound motivation. At the start, he tried to demonstrate the motions and explain the theory to her, but like with the crossbow before, it didn't seem like it was helping much.

Seeing this, he sighed and decided to go for the practical approach, thus drawing the curtains on Maya's hellish training sessions which made her mildly regret her decision.

---

The Next Day.

"Maya's not coming?" Kai looked toward Alz and asked,

"It's not my fault...She was the one who wanted me to teach..."

"I d-don't know... M-Maybe she's not feeling well...?" Alz stuttered slightly, averting his eyes as he answered.

Meanwhile, on one of the beds at the Hostia tribe's bunk.

"Alz!! Just you wait!"

Maya was lying on the bed with her body in an awkward position, with hints of indignance and of fear in her expression as she recalled the traumatic experience yesterday as she was tossed around like an object left and right by Alz.

---

Two months went by in a flash, marking the eighth month since Alz's arrival at the capital. The past two months might have been a short time to many, but it was an important turning point for one particular elf, Maya.

Perhaps fuelled by the desire to defeat him among other reasons, she began to improve at a rapid pace under Alz's bull---tutelage, often heading over to Alz's training field to vent her frustrations on training dummies whenever she had time.

As the days passed and Maya steadily got stronger, Alz eventually started to struggle slightly when facing her. However, he was not at all dejected by this as this only brought him joy, finally having a proper sparring partner to refine his techniques with.

Thus far, the only sparring partner he had who could even keep up with him was Polon, who Alz believed that he only won against because Polon was still getting used to his movements, knowing that given time Polon would definitely be able to defeat him in close-quarters combat easily.

Even then, whether Polon would actually be a better sparring partner than Maya was up in the air. After all, Maya fought with technique like him, not strength, allowing him to better see the flaws in execution much more easily when they sparred.

She was even weaker than him in physical strength, but he found that her talent for battle was superior to his and perhaps even a match for Polon's, capable of surpassing him in time even with the handicap.

Of course, this was something for the future as she still continued to get pummelled every single time she faced off against Alz, oblivious to his high evaluation of her combat potential.

Training aside, ever since the incident at the bunk, Alz had been keeping wary of his surroundings as he knew that Cruz wouldn't let go of that incident so easily, but to his surprise, nothing seemed to happen.

Yet, this finding did little to lower his guard, as he knew from Cruz's grudgeful eyes that this matter was far from over, that it was not a matter of if, but a matter of when.

Today was a fourth day, Alz only rest day of the week. Alz was feeling refreshed from having just woken up and was carefreely thinking of which story to tell by later when he suddenly heard footsteps from the forest, lifting an eyebrow in suspicion.

It was still early and not anywhere close to the time Kai would arrive. It also definitely wasn't Maya as he accidentally got a little too excited yesterday and went ... slightly overboard, so she should still be recuperating from muscle strains.

Alz slightly tensed his muscles as he laid in wait, but quickly relaxed as he saw the figure, waving to him lightly. Kleiz's eyes visibly lit up when he saw Alz sitting by the fireplace, returning a smile and waving back as he jogged over.

"Hey Kleiz, what is it?" Alz asked, knowing that he wouldn't specially come here at this hour just to visit.

"Hey, the captain is calling you." Kleiz panted lightly before replying Alz with a wide grin on his face.

"It's finally here!"

"Let's go!" Alz instantly replied with unconcealed joy in his voice, jumping on his feet and running into the trees as he spoke.

His heart started pounding furiously with excitement coursing through his body. He was starting to feel a little worried about it as he had expected the captain to call for him earlier, but now these worries naturally faded away.

"Wait up." Kleiz called out with helplessness on his face, chasing after Alz's back that was rapidly shrinking in his vision.

---

Meanwhile, slightly over an hour before this, there were nine elves gathered in a room at the southern guardhouse, all of them dressed in the guard attire. Two of the elves stood at the front while the rest lined up order in front of them in attention, as though waiting for orders.

One of the two at the front was the elf famed for his notoriety in the guardhouse, Cruz Custos. The other eight however, were unfamiliar faces that had never been seen here before, with one of them visibly of a higher status than the other from the position he stood.

The eight of them had extremely stout figures and exuded a strong sense of confidence, each of them appearing to be seasoned fighters that were more than a match for most guards here.

In fact, this was probably not false, as they were elites that had come out on top of many harsh training sessions and proven their worth in battle, earning the right to join their current squad.

Suddenly, two light knocks were heard at the door, causing the two at the front to look towards the door while the others remained completely still in attention.

"Enter." the man standing beside Cruz was the one who spoke, granting permission to the elf who was knocking.

Moments later, an elf carefully entered from the door, bowing deeply towards Cruz first before saluting towards the other elf at the front, holding his left arm horizontally over his chest.

"Leader, the southern captain has just sent someone to call for the target." he reported seriously, remaining in salute the entire time.

"Good job, at ease." a light flickered in the leader's eyes as he replied with a light nod.

Seeing this, the elf dropped his hand down and walked over to stand together with the seven of his companions.

*Thud*. A dull sound spread across the room as Cruz slammed his fist strongly against the wall.

"It's time to make you pay!"

A cold glint flashed in his eyes while his lips curled into a thin smile, recalling that young face from two months ago.

His expression gave off a sinister air as it reflected the intense fury in his heart, shining with the light of anticipation at what was coming. With a snicker, he moved his feet and started heading towards the door, exiting the room without leaving a single word.

The 'leader' standing next to him frowned with slight displeasure but quickly shook his head and commanded in a stern voice, "Move out!"

After giving the command, the leader hurriedly chased after Cruz while his eight subordinates followed behind in a well-trained and orderly manner, demonstrating the high level of discipline within the group.

---

Alz body muscles tensed slightly as he looked at the door before him, recalling the incident that happened here when they first arrived eight months ago. He took several deep breaths to calm himself down, his gaze sharpening with each breath he took.

Several moments later, a strong light of anticipation shone through his eyes, reflecting the emotions in his heart. This was going to be one of the most important events since his arrival here, and he was not going to mess it up.

Alz knocked on the door.

"Come in." a voice came from beyond the door, a voice he hadn't heard in the past eight months.