“Who is it?”

”It’s Bruto, Lady Rita.”

“Come on in.”

The drus in front of me was tall and had a very strong built. The iron spear he carried around was heavy. I would know. And he carried it like it was nothing.

“Lady Rita, I was ordered by the rest of the Elder Council to bring you to them.”

“And the matter?”

“Those two trespassers that your daughter brought.”

“And them being trespassers is what they called them or what you are calling?”

“Both, Lady Rita. If it was up to me, I would behead the human this instant.”

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, I got hold of the knife Rita had on the table and positioned myself in front of the bed Yurem was resting. I can’t possibly flee with him in the condition he is in but I am sure no one is going to harm him as long as I stand.

“And as one of the elders, I won’t allow such thing as you can imagine.”

“But Lady Rita…”

“Enough.” With a stare strong enough to make me lose strength and such a cold tone that created an absurd amount of pressure, Rita simply walked towards the bed Yurem was resting. “What has this boy done? He doesn’t even want to be in this world, why should he be killed for being dragged into a conflict that didn’t even concern him in the first place?”

“How do you know that?”

I spoke out loud without even thinking about it.

“It’s not a matter of knowing. Tell me, dear Soleil, would you be happy if you perhaps got snatched away from your life and got sent to a different world where everyone expects you to do something so immeasurable such as defeat something as evil as the spawns?”

“No… but…”

“No matter how bad his life was, didn’t he said he wanted to go back?”

“Yeah. He did.”

“In any case, humans shouldn’t enter here. Never. It is against the rules and if the rest of the people know, chaos could emerge.”

“And that’s why the people aren’t aware. So what’s the problem here? You are very particular about this thing. It is as you are quite upset because I rejected to give you permission to marry my daughter.”

“Mom, please.”

In the other corner of the room, still hugged to her knees, Thalia spoke.

So they do have issues like this.

“When is the meeting?”

“In a couple of hours.”

“Then until then, I shall stay here taking care of both my patients.”

“What? But Lady Rita, you -”

“Enough.”

With a wet cloth, she started wiping Yurem’s face. He was sweating profusely and clenching his fists enough to blood start dripping from them. She quickly held his hand, cleansed the cuts that his fingernails created.

“I don’t want to interrupt but…”

“He is simply having a nightmare.”

“I see.”

The only time I saw him sleep, the same thing happened. The irregular breathing, the clenching of his fists, moving from left to right. The only thing that stopped him from moving at all was the vines that Rita created.

“His body is healing quite fast. For a boy this age, he sure is tough. More than I expected. He will wake up in a couple of days, worry not.”

Vines rose from her body and implanted themselves on top of Yurem. Several light particles appeared on top of his body as if mana was entering his body.

“Are you sure you should expand so much mana on him? He’s just a human.”

“Bruto, can you be quiet for a moment? I don’t want to be rude but you are an annoyance.”

Grunting in annoyance, the large drud sat at the other armchair that was available leaving only me and Rita next to Yurem. He was still restless. The clenching of his fists stopped momentarily. Only his eyes shut tight and his head moving from left to right as in a timed manner left.

“You two look like good friends.”

The raspy voice from Thalia snapped me back to reality.

“We are not. I am none other than his slave.”

“Doesn’t seem like that to me.”

“Why do you say that?”

“A slave, let alone an elf, would turn around the chance to get rid of someone who was not worthy of his company. Or am I wrong? Yet, you stood by him and even denied my help unless he was involved.”

“He saved me. It is only fair I retribute.”

“Elves are really proud, aren’t they?”

What are you talking about? It is only fair. He saved me. He fought for me. He tried to help me all this time. It is only fair I save him as well. Is it not? We are not friends and we will never be. He is nothing more than a human.

I keep thinking about what Rita said. Every race has dangerous members. Yes, that is indeed correct. Black elves, for example, are the complete opposite of us. They sell themselves as mercenaries, they slaughter, take in slaves, abuse laws, kill people for that sole pleasure. Gorgons slay their own kin for territory and EXP. Amazonesses are known for having camps just for battle royales. But humans? They manage to top all of that.

“Would you be happy if you got snatched away, huh?”

He came here from another world and asked to fight for the sake of a world that is not his. He was accused of a crime he did not commit. And even though he has a slave, he did not even mistreat me once. So why am I so wary of him? Are we what you could call friends? Colleagues? Partners? Why is my mind in such a haze? Why is this bothering me?

“If you fight for each other and not each other and at the end of the day you can share a warm meal and a laugh, that’s what most would consider a friend. That’s what I think, at least.”

“Sharing a meal and fighting for each other, huh?”

Is that really… okay? Yeah, we protected each other, we shared meals, we laughed. I laughed at least. He only smiled a little. Like he was reminiscing about something. What was that he reminisced about? What was on his mind? Why did I never ask even though he always did when I acted the same way? Was he actually concerned? Does he actually care? He knew perfectly who and what type of person I was and yet he treated me the same since the beginning. Why?

The flow of questions kept flowing in and in. I despise the part in me that simply wants a right or wrong, yes or no type of answer. Before I even noticed, my hands that were fidgeting were holding his. I never even noticed grabbing his right hand. Why or how did it happen?

“Is everything alright?”

“Huh?”

Snapping back to reality, I noticed Thalia staring at me. Her eyes were beautiful and you could immediately tell that they were kind. I am good at telling when someone is lying. I heard Yurem say something like language is divided into three types. The words you speak, the tone of your voice, and your body language. And while I did not understand fully the mathematics that he said, he was indeed right.

While Thalia was scared, she was actually really concerned about me. Rita was serious and was honest on the matter that she actually wants to help us. And Bruto has some killer intent towards Yurem but from the looks of it, he is also scared of Rita. And truth be told, it is really understandable. The dryad is indeed scary.

“Mother, will I really…”

“Most likely, yes.”

Tears started dwelling on Thalia’s eyes. The atmosphere got heavy. One could assume that this meeting that the elders were having involved her in some sort. And perhaps it also means we are involved in the same matter.

“Is it because of us?”

I had to ask. We could not afford to be giving problems to other people and I am absolutely sure if Yurem finds out that he was the cause of trouble for someone who helped him, he would likely do everything in his power to help that person out.

“It is. But do not fret. We will handle it accordingly.”

Rita was certain that everything was going to end up well. But personally, I was not so sure. I owe Thalia. We owe Thalia. And it really is not fair to let the poor dryad suffer from something we caused.

“Is there anything we can help… I can help with?”

As soon as those words left my mouth, I felt a slight twitch in my left hand. And another. And another.

“There it is. Finally.”

Hearing that, I immediately turned to Yurem, seeing him moving his pupils however not opening his eyes. Until he slowly did.

“Huuuuh, my head.”