As Alz probed deeper into the situation of the forest, more realisations dawned on him as he finally began to understand how the capital functioned and part the others played outside the South.

Ever since he arrived, Alz had always found it strange that the capital called for warriors from the South, a doubt that had only deepened in the months he had been staying in the capital.

After all, unlike in the South that was always at a lack of capable warriors no matter when it was, the situation here could have been said to be the complete opposite with the serene peacefulness that stretched across the entire capital.

The duties of the guards here felt like they were just customary rites, greatly differing from the patrols back at the South where every single one of them had to put their necks on the line to scout for the potential dangers to the tribe.

The general atmosphere among the guards here was also light and carefree, free from the heavy tensions where every member of the tribe had to live with the realisation that the next moment could be their last as they struggled to live to the next day.

In fact, Alz was hardly the only one who carried these doubts, as he knew that many of the warriors also thought the same. Although they refrained from mentioning it openly, Alz knew that many of the tribe's warriors didn't hold much regard for the duties here, with himself included as well.

While this could be seen in most of them, it came through the strongest in the older warriors whose eyes concealed a tinge of helplessness and desire to return deep whenever they spoke of the old days in the tribe.

That said, all of them still made sure to carry out all of their assigned duties properly without fail, ensuring that the reputation of the tribe would not be tarnished in their hands.

After all, the Southern tribes are always on the receiving end of much aid from the capital in times of need, aid that the capital had never failed to deliver even once. Just based on this alone, all of them were willing to give their all for the capital, not daring to take things too lightly.

Although, with the incident from yesterday, Alz's days in the capital could no longer be considered peaceful any further. However, this didn't affect Alz's perception of the matter, as hardly anything could be considered normal about that incident.

He only recognised the importance of the patrol duties when he read about a matter closely related to the revelation of the wolves, records of foreign invasions in the past, not by any faction in the forest, but by aggressors who hailed from beyond.

There were many other scrolls in the archives that covered these invasions in greater detail that Alz hadn't gotten a chance to look at yet, but a quick glance at the colossal losses they suffered alone shook him to the core, drastically changing his view on the guard duties here.

While the elves in the South had to live with the constant threat of wolves by the side, the capital held the heavy responsibility of preparing a strong force to meet with any foreign invasions in the event that one came, leading to the existing covenant among the elves.

In the pact, the South currently had it the lightest since the start of the wolves' aggression, only needing to send a total of four hundred elves with half of them being combatants in a twenty-year cycle, rotating among the many tribes living in the South each time.

This was usually split among four of the Southern tribes, as with each one shouldering a quarter of the quota when they sent their elves over to stay for thirty years in accordance to the agreement, after which the elves were free to choose for themselves, whether to stay or to return.

Of course, while this was light compared to the other three groups, it was still a heavy burden for the Southern tribes who had a constant dearth of combatants, perhaps affecting them the most out of the four.

The palace also understood their struggles and wasn't too hard on them either, occasionally making concessions such as the one granted by the Queen to the Calla tribe in recent times even before her rule, allowing them to better cope with issue.

However, they didn't hold back on the other regions with the Western and Eastern tribes required to train and send in one elf for every six they had while the Northern tribe had to send in one for every five in their population, with six of ten of these elves being strong males.

Also, although these three regions went by the same twenty-year cycle dictated at the formation of the covenant, the elves they sent in were required to stay for a minimum period of fifty years instead before they were given the option to leave.

Even with the difficulty of reproduction among their race remaining, the prosperity of the forests outside the South still led to much greater populations in each of these regions with the North in the lead, adding up to large numbers of elves being sent in to the capital each cycle.

These elves might have been lacking compared to the battle-hardened warriors sent from the South, but their additional numbers made up for this with much room to spare.

This was how it had always been since the covenant, with the palace not encountering any huge issues. The elves in charge of the various tribes also understood that this was something that concerned the safety of all the residents of the forest and regularly sent in the elves without a fuss.

This in turn also led to a huge difference in scale between the four guardhouses of the capital, with the Northern guardhouse being the largest of the four and the Southern guardhouse, the smallest while the Western and Eastern guardhouses were comparable in number.

All four guardhouses ran similarly to the Southern guardhouse, having a captain assigned by the palace with guards and staff primarily comprising of members from the corresponding tribes in their directions, padded with a group of Northern elves to bolster the numbers.

This was the system they had in place, with the guardhouses regularly dispatching patrols to detect any signs while the capital built up its strength to prepare for any incidents such as another invasion should it ever happen again, at least that was how it was supposed to be.

Ever since the sudden departure of the Elven King, the reigning Norther Chieftain began to show his appetite for power, baring his fangs towards the capital as he slowly began to corner the palace.

Shortly after the Queen was appointed to the throne, the Northern Chieftain immediately delegated a second captain to the Northern guardhouse in the name of aiding the current captain assigned by the palace in his duties.

At the same time, he also began to send more Northern elves over to the other guardhouses to increase his influence across the capital.

Thankfully, despite taking control of the largest Northern guardhouse, the Western and Eastern guardhouses were of considerable scale themselves and the Northern elves couldn't gain complete control over them.

The situation at the South had also been precarious with even the captain needing to watch his step with even move, but the capital didn't seem to have responded to the Northern Chieftain's moves to Alz's dismay.

The current situation could have been said to be anything but fine, with the conditions looking to be extremely unfavourable for the palace.

Adding what he just read to the words by Cruz when he 'tried' to invite him to the North yesterday, the credibility of behind his words immediately skyrocketed to the point where he could no longer doubt it, understanding that he was probably speaking the truth.

Ordinarily, this matter wouldn't have concerned him at all, especially now when he had already gotten his hands on the information he needed.

However, a sliver of worry still sneaked its way into his heart as the face of that golden-haired elf appeared in his mind. Resting motionlessly on the bed, Alz's lips slowly began to curl into a bitter smile as he noticed this, unconsciously letting out a sigh.

The moment she appeared in her thoughts, more images from the past began to flash across his mind, of the figure whom always watched him with sparkling eyes by the side, of the weird questions she would ask occasionally that seemed to be completely random... and of the moment his world was filled with a radiant brilliance he mistook as the Sun from his books then.

Mysteriously, the worries that cluttered his mind began vanishing into thin air after she appeared, allowing Alz to finally begin feeling his eyelids becoming heavier as his mind began to wander off, to a temporary retreat free of worries.