We reached the cave elves took refuge in under two hours. The wargs’ speed was amazing – an excellent mean of transportation as well as warfare, though I would witness that later. I knew they were fast but riding one of them made me feel how fast they really were. Considering how much heavier an orc is compared to me, I also knew that the wargs goblins and I were riding were much slower than they could be with us on their backs. Feeling my hair dance in the wind as it enveloped me in a velocity I have not experienced before, I thought of getting used to this feeling. Indeed, maybe I should ride Thunder as frequently as possible.

The cave entrance was wide – at least wider than the cave the goblins found. There were many elves sitting around the entrance. There were also many elderly-looking ones, and a few children. Lthrok previously told me that elves have long life spans, and do not reproduce as fast as goblins. This being said, because I have not seen any goblins get pregnant so far, I do not really enjoy the advantage to comprehend such comparison here. Regardless, for those who have not been called into this world without a mysterious gate opened by an amnesiac human, but for those who are born into this world through more natural, and ways that are deemed to be more normal, presence of children was the inescapable fact everyone got accustomed to. Even the two orc villages had many children. Regardless, it was also obvious that the elder to adult ratio in this group of elves was pretty high. Although Lthrok told me that elves do not look old but can easily carry the wisdom of centuries, most of these elves looked as if they had one foot in the grave.

The elves had dark brown skin and sharper ears than goblins. They looked malnourished and troubled, as even those idling around had serious complexion as if they were deeply thinking about a life-changing subject. Whatever they were chewing on, I assumed it was something troublesome enough to make them look older than they really were. It was clear from the first glance that they either ran away from something dangerous or were just at the lowest class of poverty. They had clothes that were torn out, and besides a pile of plants and herbs they gathered near the cave entrance, they seemed to have left no belongings outside the cave.

As the report suggested, I assumed that there were many other elves inside the cave. The cave entrance was wide indeed, but its shades completely blocked our view from taking a glance inside from this distance. I decided to close in and communicate with the elves, but I was unsure whether they would put on a defensive stance the moment they see 21 warg riders of Harren, all of which were monsters. We were hiding underneath the trees at the edge of the forest that met the open area in front to the cave. With Thunder, it would only take 30 seconds for me to reach the entrance at full speed. Another issue was language, though I was frankly not very concerned about it at the moment. I was able to speak the common monster language. And although these elves were not monsters and probably did not speak the common monster language, I suspected I would suddenly start speaking whatever language they spoke in without even noticing in a matter of minutes, just like what happened with the orcs. It took much longer for me to communicate clearly with goblins than orcs– I thought. Maybe my ability to learn languages improves exponentially.

Intercepting my thought process was an elf voice, screaming in a language I did not understand. But, when I tilted my head to spot the screaming elf, I saw him point his finger at us to warn the others. I bet this was not a good sign.

I shot a glance at the rides standing beside me. “Walk towards them, but do not run.” is what I meant with my eyes. And, it seemed like they got the gist of it.

Elves indeed took a defensive stance against us by gathering near the cave entrance and pulling out their weapons, most of which were rusty, cracked, and broken. I did not feel any pity towards them, nor their poverty. They were still courageous enough to stand in front of a group of monsters slowly closing the distance on their fierce wargs, despite the unfortunate physical state they were in. Soon, some other elves came out of the cave to join the rest. I was not sure if there were any other elves left in the cave, but there were at least 300 elves outside. By a sheer number comparison, we would stand no chance in a fight – but, in a fight, you need to compare more than numbers. They had rocks and sticks, couple of them had rusty spears and swords. None of them had any projectile weapon, assuming that they would not want to throw away their spears that easily. Well, even if they did, what good would it do? They only had couple.

Either way, I did not come to fight. I jumped off Thunder and walked towards the elves. For some reason, though, I felt a hostility against me which was almost as strong as the hostility they directed towards the orcs and goblins behind me.

“We come in peace.” I declared. Our intentions were out there, in the clear.

“?” Elves started yelling as if they were trying to scare me away. Is this some sort of a battle cry?

“We come in peace. You do not need to worry.” I repeated.

The elves seemed to be confused but still held tight to their weapon. They were inching towards each other, probably to be able to defend themselves better in case of an attack. Or, maybe, due to fear

Wait… Which language I spoke in? Shit. I wish we all spoke the same language.

The magic in me suddenly starting gushing, and its container was not strong enough to resist. Without even me realizing what happened, magic exhaustion engulfed my bones.

“I ask again, what do you want!?” An elf yelled at me.

“We want peace.” I rolled it out my mouth without second thinking.

Wait- did I just understand this elf?