Konn first took a tiny bit of the soup Grum had prepared and after tasting it for a while, took a larger portion and started gulping. But he was stopped by the elves via a stick that pushed his head backwards and so Konn had to look at the elves in his group and spoke:

- It is good. So good. Augh, I haven’t eaten something so good in my LIFE! – As he kept munching away all the contents inside his wooden bowl, it suddenly got taken away from his hands – HEY! I’m eating that! – Konn cried, but as soon as he saw who took it immediately quieted down and murmured – You can take it Sir Elbian.

And so Elbian took the plate, made one of his allies check for anything fishy, just in case, and then started eating himself. Quickly finishing what was left on the bowl, he directed it towards Grum and said:

- Give me more.

Grum didn’t really want to play with fire, but he still had to stay in character, so he carefully picked his next words.

- When I was your age, we used to use manners to ask for stuff – Grum replied, while filling six bowls, one for each of the members of Elbian’s team and one for himself – it is saddening to see how bad the new generations have come out to be.

This comment was, of course, heard by the younger adventurers and they weren’t ok with it.

- Watch what you say old man – said one of them, while another commented that he was just a crazy old fool.

- You better keep cooking for us if you want to live – Elbian warned, with his cursed sword a mere 5 centimeters from Grum’s neck.

Grum was prepared for this and actually, even if Elbian stabbed him, he wouldn’t die nor be cursed, because he already was a doll being controlled by himself further away in another one of his bases.

- Sure, but at least I want to know what we’re going to do. After all I’m just an old man and barely have strength to fight anymore – Grum lied, while making his doll act frail and easy to defeat, so that the group wouldn’t worry about him telling someone else, as he would easily be killed before he got further than 100 meters from them.

Elbian and his group still thought about it for a while and afterwards decided to tell him but only the basics.

- You see, my uncle found out that there was a group of scientists doing experiments inside this forest but now all buildings are empty. But the traps are still working, so before we can loot their artifacts and knowledge, we need to go through some security measures installed by this group.

I’m not the first to try to loot them, some servants went here before, but only three out of twenty survived, so I, as a more experienced adventurer, was sent here by my uncle so that I can get these resources for us. OH, and if you tell anyone, you’re dead.

Grum didn’t know what they were talking about, because when he had explored before setting up any bases, he saw that no building had ever been built there or that at least nothing remained, not even the smallest magical anomaly. That is also one of the reasons why he remained there to build, because no one would go searching there…

But not that he thought about it a bit more, he had had some invaders in his bases and if he counted everyone it had been around 25 people, from which six survived. Could 20 of them have been of Elbian’s group? It was likely, but he still couldn’t be sure. Some way or another he’d have to find out and if they were looking to get some information from him, they’d be in a world of pain. With this thought in mind Grum decided to leave the matter aside for now and focus on improving the relationship between him and the group, as that way they’d trust him more.

It was quite obvious that they didn’t trust him at all, as not only was his doll being guarded by two of them, as soon as he made his doll “fall asleep” it was put under a spell that would make its senses less sensitive and feel more tired. Luckily this spell didn’t travel through magical connections.

Meanwhile, inside the library

My sister woke me up as soon as she got awake, I’m sure. Not only was she still below the cover, but everything else in the room looked the same. Why couldn’t she let me sleep a bit more? I thought to myself, stretching myself to help fasten the process. Suddenly my sister got on her feet, blowing the warm cover off my body and shouted

- Brother its time you teach me! Only I taught you yesterday, but now its your turn! Teach me! Teach me! Teachme! TEACHME! TEACHME! – She kept screaming on while I tried to both cover my ears and myself at the same time.

But then she sat above me, grabbed both my arms and immobilized me with her whole body, making me finally give in and tell her to give me some time to prepare. And so she did, immediately getting off me, grabbing a chair to sit on and started observing my every move.

I didn’t really like being observed, but I knew that she wouldn’t stop until I had taught her. Therefore, I quickly prepared myself, grabbing a few books with images in them, so that “the great Arabelle” didn’t need to imagine everything I taught her… Also, because I couldn’t show her through my body like she did.

- First of all, I won’t teach you about Arabelle for now, at least not until you teach me some more and we have a serious talk about important matters. – I wanted to warn her about what to share with Grum and what to keep for themselves - What you taught me yesterday was interesting for sure, but I don’t believe that it is equal to what I’d give you if I taught you everything, I learned that has to do with Arabelle.

- Bu- - my sister started to protest, but I stopped her before she could even begin.

- And even if I were to tell you only information about Arabelle and nothing else, then you wouldn’t really understand what I’m talking about ¡, meaning that I would have not only wasted my, but also your time.

My sister took a little bit of time to process what I had just said and then simply nodded in form of acceptation, so I started my lecture about the Romperrien Empire, I had managed to read the first six books of the series and had already read all of its growth and started to read about its collapse. But for this presentation I’d start from the origins of this Empire which aren’t well documented.

The only information available is a myth about a tree of life which started “birthing” elves and so a city-fort was founded around this magical plant. It no longer exists, nor any physical evidence of it. However, this city quickly grew in population, supposedly because the tree kept creating more and more elves.

As such, this town population grew to quickly in comparison to its size, having three main consequences. First of all, a division between the elves started being created, which basically divided the ones that could afford housing and the ones who couldn’t. Secondly, the technology in many aspects, but specifically in most scientific fields that had to do with population, such as farming, housing, building, medicine and others that would help the population to survive and thrive.

But the last consequence showed that this didn’t work or at least not well enough, because it showed great amounts of population leaving the now city and starting their own settlements, which over time separated from the tree and naturally grew on their own but kept some ties to the place they originated from, though it was mostly economical.

However, at some point in time, when the tree no longer existed, someone in the original settlement decided to form a government to keep things organized and as a consequence a debate about the migrating elves began. Most people agreed that one of two things had to be done with them. Either they were included in their government, somehow, or they had to have a government of their own.

Surprising the elves from the newly formed government many other cities already had some sort of functioning governing structure. After a few years of negotiating between many elves the six original countries were formed, most of them formed by city states, but the one lead by the city where the tree used to be in had actually attracted, in some way or another, a few other nearby settlements to join them directly, having to directly follow to their commands.

And then there was peace. For a few months, at least.