This was the first time that Alonn killed an animal on his own. He never had to do that kind of thing before.

In the schools of the elf republic children learn to respect all living beings, be it a ant or snake. This is the main reason for the republic to export meat to the whole known world, the elves have unique knowledge in raising animals that has been passed down from generation to generation.

The elden forest is a great place for raising cattle since it can be said that the leaves of the ancient trees are the best food for herbivores. Moreover the florest floor is always full of grass even without much sunlight. The elves learned to do the best use of this.

'Life... can be both bitter and sweet,' Alonn thought as he wiped his hand with a cloth, the wolf's blood was still warm.

'I need to get used to it. The world is changing rapidly and in order for me to defend myself I will have to strengthen my conviction,' Alonn thought with a firm look.

"Cough... Blackie, are you all right?" Ugly Bull aproached with a strange look.

"Don't worry. It's not like I will feel bad for killing in self-defense," Alonn said.

"...It's not this. Didn't your hand got hurt?" Ugly Bull asked.

"No," Alonn answered while looking forward, he increased his walking speed.

"..." Ugly Bull watched Alonn walk away in silence.

After the expedition proceeded non-stop for several hours with everyone tense for fear of the spiritual beast attacking, the dawn finally came.

"Attention, bastards! We will stop to rest at the top of the hill ahead, do not lose your focus before setting up basic defenses around," the dwarf king shouted so that everyone could hear.

"By the gods! I lost count of how many wolves attacked my team and how many times I was almost bitten by snakes," a dwarf shouted.

"By the gods! I can finally drink some Rok!", another shouted.

While everyone was happy with the rest, Alonn was in a dark mood. After all, he was attacked by a dozen different wolves during the night.

"Heavenly hell, how can you have such a bad luck! "Ugly Ox said when he saw the wolves blood all over Alonn's body.

"The other wolves must have smelled the fallen comrades and wanted to take revenge," Elon said with a frown.

"That is the reason why it is not wise to kill without a weapon, you will simply be impregnated with the blood of enemies," Ugly Bull said while massaging his beard.

"..." Alonn was silent but decided that he should buy a weapon next time he participate in something like this.

After reaching the top of the hill, everyone started to set up some defenses with wood skewers and traps, just to defend against wild beasts attacks.

"Hey, blackie. Are you hungry? I managed to catch two rabbits on the way, let's roast them over a bonfire." Ugly Bull said with a smile and two flayed rabbits in his hands.

Alonn was about to refuse but realized the sincere look of the dwarf. It sincerely surprised him a bit.

"Un... Okay." Alonn nodded, he thought it wouldn't be polite to refuse such a well-intentioned invitation.

"Good, come with me. The bow elf and the U'Ox are already eating over there." The dwarf laughed and took Alonn to the others.

"Hey blackie! Do you want some wolf meat? It tastes really good!" Ugly Ox said with a full mouth. He was sitting in front of the bonfire with a roasted wolf leg in his right hand.

Alonn inconsistently nodded.

"I don't recommend it, some kinds of meat have bad effect when eaten by elves. And wolf meat can cause severe diarrhea to us." Elon said with a piece of bread in his right hand and a cup of Rok in the left.

"Bah! Do you really think you can say something like this when you are drinking Rok on such a dangerous mission?" Ugly Ox sneered.

"Are you going to stay standing?" Ugly Bull said to Alonn, he was already sitting with two wood skewers in his hands. The rabbits were attached to the skewers.

"Take one and put on the side of the bonfire, it will slowly roast." Ugly said as handed one of the rabbits to Alonn.

"Oh. Thanks!" Alonn thanked him and sat down next to the others. He placed the skewer with the rabbit near the fire and firmed it with some stones.

"Hey, you did well on the way here! Despite being a rookie the wolves had no chance against you!" Ugly Ox said and burped.

"...I was just lucky." Alonn sincerely said. He is aware that if he hadn't luckily acquired the cultivation method he would still be a simple smith.

"It's good to be humble. Although you have an abnormal strength, experience is what divides life and death in an extensive battle." Elon said with a somewhat proud look.

"Hah! You're just saying that because you're envious of his strength." Ugly Ox sneered.

"Shut up." Elon said and kicked the dwarf's wolf leg.

"You damn! Has courage then come duel! That leg was the best part of the wolf!" Ugly Ox shouted as he swinged his great axe.

"You guys, can't you be more self-possessed? We need to show how an adventurer should behave on missions, the rookies need to learn." Ugly Bull said with a serene look as he massaged his beard. His expression was similar to that of the sages.

"You!" Both Elon and Ugly Ox were irritated by Ugly Bull's cocky attitude.

"Cough Cough. Guys, can't you speak a bit more quietly? The others seem to be somewhat annoyed." Alonn said with a bitter look. The other warriors of the expedition seemed to be looking at them very intensely.

"Hah! They just want some of the bowie's Rok." Ugly Ox sneered.

"Hmph!" Elon didn't seem to disagree but then shouted "Who the fuck is bowie!? You fucking dwarf!"

"Do you have problems with dwarves?"

"Maybe! Especially when it's someone stupid like you!"

"Hey you damn elf, do you want a fight!?" a random dwarf shouted.

"What are you doing in our kingdom if you don't like us?"

"Get down on your knees and show off all the Rok you have and maybe I'll spare your life!" a random young master shouted.

"Shut up!" Suddenly a loud voice made everyone quiet, it was the voice of the dwarf king.

"What the heck are you bastards shouting for!? Don't you know that it may attract some strange wild beasts!?" thw dwarf king shouted with a very loud voice.

"You are the only bas-" a dwarf was about to rebuke the king when a war hammer almost crushed his head, stopping just inches away from him.

"If I hear any of you again I will personally execute the damn! The reason will be for the putting the entire expedition at risk!" the king shouted with a yet loud voice. After that he walked alway with large and loud strides.

'Why the the dwarves still have a king? They don't seems to respect him at all. And he always needs to act like this for the other dwarves to obey.' Alonn thought with twisted lips. The dwarf culture is really strange.

"Damn, I really want to take down that guy. He is this cocky just because he is the king." a dwarf murmured but everyone near him could hear.

"I also want to be king." another said.

'Damn! This is beyond culture! How can royal family still exist?' Alonn thought shocked.

"Tsk, one day I will take that stone crown for myself." Ugly Bull murmured.

'You too!?' Alonn looked at the dwarf, he always thought he was a bit reasonable dwarf, but it seems he was wrong.

"Hey Blackie, your rabbit is going to turn into you if you don't spin the skewer a bit." Ugly Ox said while putting another piece of wolf meat to roast.

"Ah!" Alonn reacted and spun the skewer a bit.

"Say Blackie, what did you do before coming to this barren land?" Ugly Bull asked.

"Well, i thought I already said it to you. I was a smith."

"Oh, it's true. I almost forgot." Ugly Ox said as he looked to his great axe.

"But before being a smith? What kind of person were you? Did you go through some kind of hellish training to get all that strength?" Ugly Bull asked with narrowed eyes.

At this point, Elon intervened and said "What the hell, can't you stop meddling in others lives?"

"Shut up bowie, I bet you are also curious." Ugly Ox said.

"It's okay. It's not like my past was special or hellish. I had normal childhood and school life. When I reached adolescence, I excelled in the art of blacksmithing and one of my teachers was my personal tutor for a long time. When I turned twenty and reached maturity, I was offered a job at the Smithy Fortress, and I took it. Well, this is basically my life." Alonn said slowly and with a distant look, he was looking to the clouds.

"Oh. Didn't you have a girlfriend?" Elon asked.

"What the heck! What kind of question is this?" Ugly Bull said angrily.

"Yeah, don't tell me you are into guys?" Ugly Ox said with a disgusted look.

"You fuckers!" Elon was furious.

"Hahaha, it's not like I care about this kind of question. I actually had a girlfriend for a brief period of time." Alonn said with a smile.

The dwarves immediately became curious and asked "What was she like?"

"Well, she was a human." Alonn said with a bitter smile.

"A human! Fuck, how did your parents agree?" Elon asked. He knows very well that this kind of thing is not well accepted in the republic.

"My parents didn't seem to care." Alonn said and shrugged.

"How did she dumped you?" Ugly Ox asked.

Alonn almost laughed at the question. Honestly this was the first time that he talked this kind of thing with other people, he never had many friends and most elves don't like to talk about themselves too much... Although most like gossip about others.

Take Elon's expression as an example, the elf looked at Alonn obviously curious and with his pointy ears a bit red.

"Honestly, I don't know what happened, she just disappeared." Alonn said with a strange smile.

"Anyway, it has been a long time since then. I was just a teen. If I was to meet her again I would probably just talk normally." Alonn stopped talking about himself and took a piece of meat from the rabbit that was already roasted to eat.

"Don't worry blackie. I bet someone out there will come to like you someday." Ugly Ox said with a sigh.

"Yeah! Women are just too complicated, most of them just want money or a big dick and the rest have a lot of requirements about their mate's appearance." Ugly Bull said with an indistinct tear in his left eye.

"You guys look like idiots, this must be the reason for them to refuse you." Elon mocked.

"You bastard! And what about you? I bet no one wants to be your girlfriend too!" Ugly Ox said with clenched teeth.

"Hah! You fools, I have a wife!" Elon said with a proud look.

"Hah!? Bowie has a wife!?" the dwarves jumped from their places. In fact, a few eavesdropping dwarves who were listening in secret also jumped in surprise, as if they didn't expect it.

'Don't tell me, are all dwarves like this? How their species still survive?' Alonn thought while eating.

"Poor beings, you probably will never know what is the sensation to wake up with a beautiful woman by your side." Elonn said with blush and cocky voice.

"By the gods! How can he have a wife and we can't?" the dwarf duo said with hands above their chests, their envy was making them have dark facial expressions.

"Cough Cough. If women of your race just want money or a big dick, does that mean you have a short dick?" Alonn asked with a strange smile, he never thought that one day he would make such a lowly joke with others.

"Pu~Hahhahaha" Elon started to laugh with tears and the dwarves got silent, but their fists are clenched so hard the sound seemed like a rock being smashed.

"Damn boy, I never thought you are good with words." Ugly Bull said with a angry and helpless voice

"Moreover, you don't have the right to mock us! We at least had sex in a brothel with sexy and cozy prostitutes." Ugly Ox sneered.

"Oh, I bet you also got a sickness there, it's no wonder no woman wants you." Elon said as he pointed at the dwarves crotch.

"Bastard!"

"I really want elf meat now!"

Alonn smiled as he enjoyed, this was the first time in his life that he felt so comfortable with people almost unknown to him.

He knows it was meant to be a dangerous misson, but it wasn't that bad.

"Hey Blackie! Do you want to know why Bowie came with us?" Ugly bull said with a ferocious smile.

"You! You swore!" Elonn said and threw a bone that he was gnawing at the dwarf, but Ugly Ox intercepted it.

"Hahahahahah! Listen Bowie, dwarves don't need to fullfil any kind of swearing when this involves elves!"