Pristine blue leaves, glowing a faint blue light danced in the air as it fell to the ground. The trees twisted and turned in unnatural ways but it was quite the mystifying sight. In the small clearing, surrounded by bushes stood two people.

One, a beautiful elven woman. She had pointy long ears, her wavy long hair was as blue as the ocean, that reached down to her well endowed chest. Her sky blue eyes seemed gentle yet her fierce glare made for a rich contrast to her unblemished face.

She wore a fitting green dress that had golden laced outlines at the hems that traced her hour-glass like figure. She had a leather belt that criss-crossed near her thigh that held a couple of leather pockets. In her hand was a bow and arrow.

Behind the elven woman, was a man wrapping one of his arms around her neck in a chokehold. The other arm, gripping a standard military knife pointed at her neck, ready to strike at any given moment. From how close they were, the man could smell a rosy scent mixed with a bit of sweat coming from the elven maiden.

The cold blue eyes of the man reflected the image of the elf and his military camouflage clothing did look a bit out of place in the enchanted forest, although it was dim because it was night, the glow of the leaves did provide a bit of illumination, enough for the elf to see the very strange clothes on the man.

“Why’d you attack me?” Asked Lazarus in an even but authoritative tone.

“Haahh?? You dumb oaf, have you absolutely no idea as to why!? You must be dumber than a horse!” The elf spat with veins popping in her forehead. She had subtly tried to turn her head to look at him, but Lazarus tightened his arm and applied a bit of force on the knife, digging a bit into her skin, causing a bit of blood to drip.

“Do you realize the position you’re in?” Lazarus said threateningly. The elf clenched her teeth in frustration. Knowing better than to do anything stupid, the elfin woman released a bit of the resistance she was subtly putting up.

Lazarus sighed internally. To think the very first thing that’d happen after he came out of his home was to get attacked by some random elf. Maybe this was a misunderstanding? She might’ve been in pursuit of someone and she got the wrong person. It did make sense considering Lazarus didn’t think he stole anything at all.

Still.

For a moment, Lazarus' eyes turned to the arrow.

-’That’d definitely hit me on the head if I hadn’t dodged it.’-

Knowing that this elf was willing to kill him due to some misunderstanding made his blood boil.

Lazarus gripped his knife tightly and asked,

“Well? Answer me, why’d you attack me?”

The elf raised a brow for a moment, discerning whether it was a serious question or not. Then she realized the man was serious and frowned. Of course Lazarus couldn’t see her expression because he was behind her.

“Haaaaaaahh–....” The elf let out a long exasperated sigh. “Are you perhaps seriously that dumb?”

Lazarus furrowed his brows. Did this elf really understand that with just a bit of force he could end her damn life? Maybe it'd be better to rough her up a bit.

The elf’s eyes widened when Lazarus’ arm tightened around her neck. She quickly placed a hand on his arm to resist, but then she felt a sting on the side of her neck and more red liquid dripped down and she let go. It was getting harder to breathe.

“Huk-! S-stop! T-th-the huu--...flower. It’s the flower!”

Lazarus relaxed a bit, just enough for her to breath but kept her in place. He frowned.

“Flower..? What the hell are-” He paused for a moment. “Wait. You mean that transparent flower I plucked on the ground? Is that it?”

“What else?” The elf retorted almost immediately.

“What’s the deal about that damn flower anyway?” Lazarus asked incredulously.

“What?! You think an Azalea flower is no big deal?!”

“Is that what it’s called? First of all, I didn’t know so if I just return it and replant it maybe–”

“Haaaah!?” The elf cut in with a sarcastic tone of utter disbelief. “Replant it!? You’re delusional! You damn human scum…I’ll never forgive you!”

“Can you stop fucking shouting? I can hear you just fine you damned elf.”

Veins popped on the two’s forehead and at this point Lazarus considered just ending her. Despite the burning pit he felt in his stomach, he let out a sigh trying to bleed off a bit of the anger to try and calm down.

“What’s your name?”

“Why the hell should I tell a human my name? Besides, you just got lucky. Had I been more cautious you’d be dead on the ground. Don’t think for a minute a bandit like you stands a chance against someone like me who is a top elfin warrior.” Said the elf venomously.

“Right, then I’ll just call you damned elf then. Some warrior you are.”

Hearing his insults, the elf felt something inside her snap.

The elf raised her arm, Lazarus’ eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip then–

“Release Sylphi this instant you filthy human bandit!

The two stopped. Then looked at the direction where the voice came from.

An old elven man emerged from the shadows of the forest. He was hunched down and his skin was a bit brownish. He had white ungroomed hair and he wore a simple blue robe. In his right hand that he used as sort of support was a wooden staff.

Behind him, a young elven girl popped-out giving him a glare. She also had the similar ocean blue hair as the elf that Lazarus was holding but instead of letting her hair flow freely, she instead had it tied to a ponytail. She also wore a similar green one piece dress with gold lacing but she didn’t have the mature curves as what Lazarus could only assume is her older sister.

"Village chief and Sera…" Sylphi muttered with a look of disbelief, she didn't want them to see her in a weakened state, especially her younger sister. She could only bite her lip in frustration as she muttered, " I'm...sorry.... I shouldn't have been careless... "

-’Sylphi..so that’s this bitch’s name’- Lazarus noted.

"Young man, let my granddaughter go and I can at least spare you from death." Said the village chief.

Lazarus raised a brow, and when the elvin man’s gaze went up to the trees, Lazarus also looked towards the direction. His eyes widened.

There were around 20 elven archers all aiming their arrows at him. And all of them had runic symbols glowing at the tip of their arrows. Glowing with various colours of red, green, and blue.

Lazarus realized they meant business.

-’Dammit… I focused too much on this one.’-

He thought they were alone but it was a stupid assumption in the first place. Feeling his heart quicken, Lazarus glanced back and forth between the archers above and the old elvin man in-front of him.

Lazarus smiled sarcastically, “Now that wouldn’t be very smart of me would it? Why should I let her go if you want me dead anyways?”

Of course, he wasn’t sure if their magic would penetrate his forcefield or not but it was best to be cautious and assume it would until he could prove it couldn’t. He turned his gaze to the elven woman he held for a brief moment, and seeing as she didn’t seem to want to do anything he glanced back at the old elven man.

The elven man, unperturbed by Lazarus’ sarcastic tone, smiled gently. “It would be a far better fate compared to torture, is it not?”

“No deal then.”

The old elven man shook his head in disappointment. Then snickered. “Unfortunately–”

A white light shot out from the dark. Lazarus’ eyes narrowed, his arm turned to a blur.

A loud ‘clink!’ could be heard.

The old elvin man’s eyes widened. And gasps of air could be heard from everyone as they watched the arrow that was imbued by wind and piercing magic, spin in the air and drop to the ground. Their eyes slowly turned to the man who had effortlessly deflected the shot.

Sylphi herself had planned to kick the mysterious human if the attack connected or distracted him enough, but was surprised that he was fast enough to deflect the arrow fired to his arm and get his arm back to her neck in a blink of an eye. She realized ‘-He isn’t just some no name bandit…’-

“W-what happened grandpa?” The young elven girl couldn’t help but ask. It was too fast for her to see.

The old elven man didn’t answer. He just stared with widened eyes at the strange man, before his gaze narrowed.

“Rela, return to the village at once.” The old elven man said in a strict tone.

At first, Rela wanted to protest, but when the old elven man shot her a glare that screamed ‘Now!’. She gulped and slowly retreated.

After waiting for a bit. Lazarus readied himself in case things got serious seeing as the kid was asked to leave. The old elven man looked at him.

“Human, what is your name?” He asked. Lazarus raised a brow,

“Asking for my name when you haven’t given yours? Where are your manners old man?” Lazarus said in a loud tone, irritated by their antics.

The old elven man seized-up, but he schooled his expression and shook his head. He cleared his throat before saying,

“I am Helvenstru’k Krivstine Elisteyone, but since you humans hate long names, just call me Helven. I am the village chieftain of Aruwa forest. And–” Helven glanced at the blue haired elven maiden in Lazarus grip, who bit her lip and looked down, mouthing ‘I’m sorry’. He sighed. “And the woman you’re holding hostage is my precious granddaughter. Sylphianna Krivstine Elisteyone.”

Lazarus raised a brow at having known the name of his hostage he didn’t ask for but chalked it up to weird elven customs of some sort and curtly said, “Lazarus Hargreave.”

“Hargreave..?” Helven quietly repeated to himself. The last name did sound a bit strange to him but he ignored it for now and focused on the man holding his granddaughter. Unbeknownst to him, the last name was spoken in English, a language completely unknown to a Valerian.

“At this rate, we will be at a stand-still.” Helven pointed out raising a chin and mockingly said, “Human.”

Lazarus slowly raised a brow at his words.

“True. So what do you propose, old man?” He shot back.

Helven’s brows twitched for a moment, but as he opened his mouth to speak, Lazarus spoke,

“In the first place, I was attacked for plucking a weird flower. If you'd like, I’ll just return it and be on my merry way.”

“Release my granddaughter first then I can guarantee your safety.” Helvin said flatly. The elven archers seemed to look at one another briefly, somewhat dissatisfied but ultimately focused on their target.

Lazarus thought for a moment.

Then a deep robotic voice echoed in his mind.

-=”It is highly advisable for you to cloak and leave now master.”=-

-’Not yet. At the very least, if I can get information from them. Even if it’s just general directions it’d really help a lot. Otherwise, we might keep on stumbling to places we’re not welcome.’-

-=”Understood.”=-

“Well?” Helved raised his voice to which Lazarus asked,

“Just to make sure. I let her go, and I won’t get blown to pieces?”

“I give you my word.”

Lazarus slowly released his grip.

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The moment she was free, Sylphi turned and her leg turned to a blur. The human quickly crossed his arms and blocked her kick, but still got pushed back from the sheer force.

The elven woman seemed to have expected her kick to connect and was smirking out of spite, but the moment she saw the man’s unchanging but slightly irritated expression, she felt something burn from the pit of her stomach.

“Y-you little!” Sylphi crouched and jerked her bow forward. But she stopped as a voice loudly cut-in.

“Enough!”

“But village chief-!”

“I said enough!”

Sylphi clenched her teeth but ultimately backed down and lowered her bow.

“Egoistic little elf.” Said the human with a sigh.

Sylphi seized-up and readied for an attack, but the moment she saw the human-scum snicker and pointed to her grandfather, she frowned and balled her fists at him to which the human-scum retorted with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head.

“Hey. Why’re they still pointing their arrows at me?” Asked the human.

“I did say no harm would come of you, but I never said I’d let you go.” Helven said flatly.

-’Did he really think he could get off after stealing an Azalea flower?’- Sylphi couldn’t help but wince internally, astounded at his utter stupidity.

“Hey! That wasn’t the deal!” The human protested.

“The deal was for you to let my granddaughter go and in your words I wouldn’t ‘get blown to pieces’. Never had I said I wouldn’t harm you or put an arrow to your leg if you tried to run. At the very least, I’ll make sure you’re alive”

The human’s expression twisted. Which brought a subtle glee to Sylpi as she really hated his guts.

“And I thought elves were prim and proper.” The man said, raising both of his arms in the air in surrender.

For some reason, it didn’t sit well with Sylphi that he surrendered without putting up much resistance.

Helven nodded to one of the elves in the trees and he jumped down and took out a green vine in his waist. For a moment, the human eyed the elf and turned his gaze back to Helven who explained as the elven archer forcefully brought the human’s arm behind him and began tying him up.

“Just to make sure you won’t use some dumb spells.”

“Anti-magic?” The man asked with a brow raised with a very skeptical look.

Helven nodded.

Seems like he also wasn’t familiar with the mana absorbing vine. This way, any magic he cast would get disrupted and he’d essentially be without magic.

-’That’s what you get you damn thief. Now you can’t do anything.’- Sylphi thought to herself with a snicker, and she made sure the human-scum saw her as she stood beside Helven. But instead of looking irritated, he rolled his eyes and sighed, making Sylphi feel her body heat-up from pure white hot rage.

“Take him to Aruwa tree, we’ll question him there.”

For a brief moment, Sylphi saw the man glance to his top-right corner then looked forward. Wanting to make sure that he didn’t have an accomplice, Sylphi ordered the archers.

“We only need a few of you to accompany us. The rest scatter and search for his allies if there is any. Stay vigilant.”

For a moment, the man just looked at Sylphi with confusion which Sylphi took as an attempt to hide the fact he got caught looking somewhere else and turned her back to him, walking together with her grandfather who led the way followed by an elven archer who dragged the human along with his arms tied tightly with mana absorbing vines. The others positioned themselves behind him just in case he tried anything funny.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lazarus quietly went along as they passed by many elven people who stopped and stared from above their tree houses that were interconnected via wooden rope bridges.

In the center of all the elven tree houses was a massive tree that was as thick as an apartment building with a hole in its base, and the insides looked like it was carved to make a massive room.

The table looked like it was also carved from the tree as Lazarus noticed their feet were connected to the carved wooden floor. The seats also seemed to be carved from the tree internally and Lazarus could only wonder why they never bothered to cut-it free to allow them to be movable.

Then he was forced to sit down across from the Elven village chief, Helven and to his right was the annoying blue haired elf with a body that had all the right curves and fats in all the right places. The elven archers, who displayed their muscular build and wore something like an Indian tribal cloth simply stood on guard and watched him.

“So? Why was your dagger up my granddaughter's throat?”

“She tried to kill me.”

“After you stole an Azalea flower!” Sylphi quickly interjected, slamming both of her hands on the table.

“You’re very loud, do you know that?” Lazarus asked calmly, but deep down he was getting more and more irritated by this screaming tree hugger. Helven sighed, seemingly ignoring the glare the two were giving one another and continued.

“So you stole an Azalea flower.”

“I didn’t know what it was.” Lazarus stated a matter of factly and Helven seemed to furrow his brow and stare.

“You really didn’t know? Are you perhaps telling me that you know nothing of an Azalea flower?”

-’From the way they’re asking, it feels like it’s common knowledge.’- Lazarus thought to himself and nodded to Helven’s question.

“That’s obviously a damn lie.” Sylphi huffed, crossing her arms.

“Now Sylphi. I’ve looked at humans for a long while and I can generally tell when they’re lying.” Helven gave Lazarus a long stare before continuing, “But it feels like he isn’t lying. Either he is very good at it or he genuinely doesn’t know.”

Lazarus' eyes widened. He never expected the old man to really consider his words. So it was honestly surprising.

“But then again.” Helven’s stare turned to a frown. “How can you not know when it is common knowledge? Not just to the elven people, but even to humans it is considered common knowledge. Do you honestly expect us to believe you did not know?”

Lazarus sighed. “Why keep asking if you’re not even gonna believe me?”

“Well, you had ventured deep into Elven territory and took the flower the moment the guard rotated so why else would I believe otherwise?”

-’Deep into Elven territory….and the guards were rotating the moment I got inside..?’-

It’s a bad case of coincidence. But Lazarus knew the elves wouldn’t believe that. Heck, he didn’t even know he was deep in Elven territory in the first place.

“I know you won’t believe me, but I really was just lost.”

“Lost?”

“Yeah, lost. I don’t know where the nearest human settlement is. If you happen to know, maybe point me in the right direction?”

“The nearest human village is in the opposite direction from where you came from. There should be a forked road near the forest of eternal peace.” Helven sighed, “But that doesn’t matter. You’re just going to be locked up.”

Lazarus' eyes widened. For a moment he thought they were getting somewhere because the old elven man looked like he was genuinely trying to get answers from him but now? Lazarus could feel his head throb and grow hotter.

“Lock me up?” Lazarus repeated, staring daggers at the elven village chief. “Even when I’m willing to return to flower?”

“You harmed my granddaughter.” Helven’s eyes narrowed and Sylphi covered her neck with an arm, biting her lip.

“So this is really how it goes huh?” Lazarus couldn’t help but ask sarcastically. And from beneath his table, his empty pocket suddenly bulged as he warped in an object.

“Return the flower. And perhaps I would personally vouch for your sentence to be less harsh.” Helven commanded.

Lazarus could only shake his head and snicker sarcastically, prompting the elves to give him a hateful glare. “Being detained for an honest mistake. Alright.”

“Can you stop lying already you human-scum?” Sylphi warned strictly. At this point, Lazarus has had it with this annoying elf and gave her a glare.

“Can you shut up? The adults are talking.”

“You-!” Sylphi stood up then turned to her grandfather, “Grandpa! There’s no need for a less harsh punishment when this human is clearly just lying through his teeth!” Then she turned to look at Lazarus with a gaze as if she was looking at a disgusting creature. “You humans are always so greedy, you’re really a disgusting race.”

Lazarus grinded his teeth. “You think you tree-huggers are any better when you already downright lied to me about our deal about letting me go?”

“We’re far better!” Sylphi stood tall and crossed her arms.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaa-....” Lazarus sighed in an exaggerated manner, making all the elves eye him with hate. “I’m tired of listening to your irritating voice so just get this over with and take your damn flower.”

“I do hope you understand that your lies are too convenient to be true, so in my eyes this is a fair judgment. I’m merely being amicable to you because you had let my granddaughter go without much resistance.”

“Well look at how that turned out for me.” Lazarus shot back sarcastically. Then turned to look at Sylphi. And seeing as she was already getting on his nerves, he said,

“Too bad you needed saving huh?”

“That’s it!” Slyphi quickly took the bow from her back and aimed at Lazarus. But then Helven stood-up making Sylphi clench her teeth and lower her weapon. “But grandfather…I–.. Wait.”

Helven raised a brow.

“What if–” Sylphi turned to look at Lazarus, “Have a duel with me. If you win, you get to be free but if you lose I’ll have you embarrassed in-front of our people on top of being locked-up.” she said with a snicker, hoping to rile him up.

“Are you serious?” Lazarus had contemplated the idea, but then thought better of it as it would ruin his plan and said, “I don’t have time for egoistic little girls who can’t stand the thought of losing.”

At this point, Sylpi’s face reddened with embarrassment and anger. If she was alone with him, she would’ve killed him already since the world would’ve been a better place anyway if it had one less human in it.

“Boy, I ask that you tread lightly. At this moment, I am already tempted to have you executed as well as you are riling up my granddaughter blatantly in-front of me.” Helven warned, “In any case, give us the flower or else.”

-’Finally showing his true colors huh…That’s it, I’m done with these idiots.’-

“It’s in my magic bag, in my pocket.” Lazarus said flatly and kept his gaze on the Elven woman who seemed to be ready to jump him at a moment's notice. He still had his old collection of books he had in the carriage before and had read them to learn about the world a bit and Lazarus was sure that magic bags were very different depending on how the mage made it.

Helven gestured with his chin, prompting one Elven guard to move but Sylphi raised a hand and said,

“I’ll do it.”

Helven nodded and Lazarus knew she was up to no good.

She patted his pockets and ‘carelessly’ took out the strange object, making sure Lazarus got hit in the head, making him glare at her and she could only smirk for having finally irritated him to some degree.

“Hmm..? This is…”

All the elves stopped to look.

It was a black cylindrical object with a handle and a pin.

“I bet you stole this magic bag too, seeing as you're a bandit and all.” Sylphi commented, flipping it around before turning to look at Lazarus. “Hey, how do I open this? Does it need your mana or..?”

“Will my sentence really become lighter if I tell you?” Lazarus made sure to which Helven nodded and said,

“I give you my word.”

Lazarus couldn’t help but scoff at those words. Before saying,

“It’s not mine. Like you said.”

Sylphi smiled in satisfaction, making a ‘I knew it!’ face.

“It’s my bosses. So it doesn’t need my mana signature, instead, just press the handle and pull that circular ring.”

“So you really are a bandit.” Helven noted with a frown.

Sylphi pressed on the handle and pulled the pin. Upon seeing her do this, Lazarus closed his eyes and ordered,

-’FS, disable my hearing for a moment.’-

-=”Affirmative”=- Replied a deep robotic voice.

Boom!! Suddenly a loud bang echoed in the room.

“Kyaah! ”

“Nggghh”

“Arghh!”

Sylphi as well as the others guards groaned as a blinding light and extremely loud sound caused their ears to hear ringing noises.

Lazarus seeing everyone getting blind activated his cloak and busted the door open. The guards from outside who noticed immediately ran inside, only to find their comrades lying on the ground covering their eyes.

Lazarus slipped through the people and run outside of the forest towards the path he had walked on.

“ That bastaarddd! I’ll get himm!!! ” Sylphi roared in anger as she felt helpless a second time while the old man was still laying down in the floor and covering his eyes.