"Sorry for the clutter, I wasn't expecting guests," you invite the elves into your home, hoping to learn more about them.

The leader of the group, Leronil, surveys the room and is surprised by how ordinary it looks.

"I-is this a trick..?" he says to you with suspicion in his eyes.

"If it were a trick, you're a fool to have come here in the first place."

"We have no choice but to go along with you, lest we forfeit our lives."

"Hey now... are you really making this out to be a hostage situation?"

You turn to the fireplace and use your Ignis spell to heat the cast-iron kettle hanging off the chimney crane. Inside the large pot is a reddish stew, and you use a wooden ladle to stir it.

Your friend descends from upstairs to check on the noise below, and he is surprised to see the congregation of elves behind you. Yet at the same time, he is used to your inscrutable courses of action.

The dark-haired green-eyed elves give the animal the side eye but pay closer attention to you. Something about your aura agitates them.

You seek to defuse this tension by preparing a meal for them. You scoop up some stew and pour it into a bowl.

"Anyone hungry?" you offer the dish in your hand. Nobody is willing to eat though.

"You think we'd accept food from your hand, Garden Beast? It could be poisoned for all we know!"

"Why would I resort to poisoning you when I could simply wipe you out in an instant..?"

"Maybe you look to control our minds with hallucinogenic ingredients!"

"And what would I gain from enthralling a band of weaklings?"

Every doubt he has you swiftly shut down. And out of the blue, Celia, the stern woman, steps up and shatters the heavy atmosphere.

"I'll try the food," she boldly says.

"Celia?!" the leader naturally opposes this brash decision. "What in Gaia's name are you thinking?"

"If we don't get this over with, our people will continue to suffer. We should play along with the Garden Beast's demands, and if we die doing so, then at least our people will know not to take the monster lightly. That is our duty as the Elderwood Scouts."

She begrudgingly rips the bowl out of your hand and takes a whiff.

"It doesn't smell of poison at least..."

"The deadliest thing in that stew is the fresh tomatoes I used," you flippantly remark. "They're absolutely killer."

"Do not taunt me Garden Beast. If I do end up coughing up blood, I ask that you spare my comrades."

"Celia..." Leronil bites his lips, frustrated by his powerlessness.

The woman brings the bowl to her lips and hesitates, before downing the whole dish in a single gulp.

Suddenly, her eyes widen.

"Celia, are you alright?!" the boy Fidri worriedly inquires.

"This is..." Celia staggers back.

"Curse you monster! I'll have your head—!"

"Delicious!"

The elves all stare at her, astonished by her words.

"What the heck is this?! It's so good!" the woman licks the dish clean.

"It's crushed tomatoes, chopped onions, bay leaves, and carrot slices simmered in water for about an hour. It's a standard stew I make for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

"Are you sure?! There's something extra here I can't quite put my finger on..."

You chuckle and scratch your cheek. In truth, this simple recipe was elevated by a talent of yours.

Talent: Master Chef

Description: Every dish you create is guaranteed to be of 5-star quality. Any unpleasant flavor is removed and replaced with pure deliciousness.

"Would you like seconds?" you hold up a stew-filled ladle and smile.

"Yeah, g-gladly..!"

Leronil and Fidri look at one another, unsure of how to proceed.

"I-I'm also hungry..!" Anya speaks up from behind the two men. They are mortified by their fellow member's willingness to be fed by the enemy.

You chuckle and warmly tell her, "Well, there's plenty to go around!"

The girl gleefully skips over and grabs a bowl of stew, leaving her comrades behind. With no reason to resist, they follow suit, and before you know it, you have four guests over for lunch.

You set out a bowl for your Mystfox friend and sit on the stool.

"A-ah... would you settle for sitting on the ground? I don't have any other seat beside this." you play the part of an embarrassed host swimmingly.

All of the elves are busy cramming down bowls of stew though, and they wordlessly sit on the floorboards with their legs crossed.

As they graciously accept your hospitality, you take to opening Darius' book and comparing its images with the scene in front of you.

The illustrations would depict them as barbaric and animalistic, bearing fangs sharper than needles and lacking the intelligence for proper communication.

The drawings made them look no different than the slimes and wolves you had to fend off frequently.

Instead, their aggression is not without purpose, driven by desperation rather than primal instinct. They care for one another, no different than Darius' people do, and their laughs and banter mimic the interactions you'd see from humans in the book.

As you are deep in thought, the leader approaches you with an empty bowl and a solemn expression.

"O-oh, sorry, did you want more?" you kindly make sure.

"Why spare us after we made an attempt on your life?" Leronil asks with sincerity.

The whole room falls silent, and the elves direct their attention to you.

"I'm not a fan of bullying little girls..." you rivet your gaze on the young Anya and grin at her.

"Even then," the old man starts, "there's no reason for you to take us in..."

You, in turn, show him the illustrations of the elves.

"Is that..?" Leronil glides his hand across the page.

"Decades ago, a human gave me this book. It delves into the wonders of human civilization. And it portrays the other races as monstrous beings, no different than the forest creatures."

"W-why that's simply untrue..!"

You incline your head in agreement.

"I'll be blunt, had you pulled that aggressive stunt on me years ago, I would have shown no mercy against you."

Leronil gulps and his legs tremble ever so slightly.

"But seeing as you're able to speak, I'm willing to overlook your little transgression against me. I have a personal interest in other people, so I'd like to learn more about the elves than this book represents." you gently close the book and put it away.

"M-more about our people eh..?" Leronil glances over at his team, seeking their approval.

He is understandably reluctant to blab about his tribe to a potential force of nature. Celia however, nods along to your request.

"What's the harm in that?" she reasons to her leader. "As long as you're not mindlessly divulging tribe secrets, you should be able to talk about our culture to some extent."

"You're not wrong but..." Leronil strokes his beard and casts his gaze to the ground.

You jump to your feet and continue stirring the pot as he thinks over his decision. With keen insight alone, you can tell they're malnourished. Their cheeks are sunken and their waists are significantly smaller than yours.

Their features may differ from yours, but you can empathize with these elves.

"By the way," you add, "I can help with your food problem if you'd like."

The leader is shocked and he mouths, "How did you know?"

"That book has a page on poverty and starvation. And your appearances fit the bill. Why else would you want farmland, if not to solve a food crisis?"

He does not know what to say in response. Everything you said hit the mark.

"If you know that... can't you hand over your land to save our people?!" Fidri raises his voice.

"Fidri, what are you doing?!" Celia scolds the boy.

"I'm sorry Celia, but I can't sit by and eat my fill as thousands of our people starve! If the Garden Beast is so powerful, why can't she solve the famine that's sweeping through our village?!"

You twirl on your feet and face the band of elves. Without much thought, you nonchalantly say, "Oh, I can do that."

And a lengthy lull follows, interrupted by a collective, "Eh?" from the elves.

"I don't really eat the food I harvest, I either use the surplus of fruits and veggies to make more seeds or feed it to the Mystfox."

"W-w-what?" the leader almost faints upon hearing your proposition.

"I don't have the means of transporting the food, but if you'd like, I can give you all of tomorrow's harvest."

"Tomorrow's harvest?! But it's the middle of the year!"

"Hm? Monster fertilizer makes it so crops take only three days to fully grow."

The elves huddle together and murmur amongst themselves before Leronil comes back with a reply.

"What's the catch... Garden Beast?"

"Catch..? Oh, you mean what I want in return?"

You ruminate for a little bit before coming up with the perfect answer.

"Tell me about your culture. And what it means to be a Creation of Gaia. And also..." you elatedly ask for something you haven't thought of in decades, "I want you to teach me skills I don't know yet!"

And this accord was reached over an empty bowl of tomato stew.