Chương 144: Chapter 127. After Battle Meeting

" Holy Heal!"" I told you we're fine, Lord Matthew! You're the one with fresh blood on himself!" I healed up Ruby and Edmon... Despite their protests." I already healed myself before you guys got here. More importantly, did you learn anything about your opponents?"" I was able to unmask mine to see a Dark Elf, but he never answered any of my questions."" The same for me, Lord Drake. It's strange, Dark Elf territory doesn't start for another 5 miles East. They shouldn't have been here."

I asked them if they found anything out to see if either of them had any more information than what I found. Seems they didn't, but the fact that Edmon confirmed that the Dark Elves aren't supposed to be here tells me that something fishy is happening here. Regardless, I need to return to Emily and the elders and see what they plan to do. I don't know who's been hurt and who hasn't. We made our way to where my Barrier was still active. Emily and the rest were still there. I deactivated the Barrier finally."

What happened!?" That was the first question Emily asked when the Barrier went down." Are you okay, Matthew!?" Wendy saw the blood I had all over my body and asked the 2nd question." 1st, yes, I'm okay. 2nd... Well... Let me explain what I know so far." I then talked about the 3 figures we found and how we fought. Then about how I was able to remove the girl's mask to show a Dark Elf." But... Why? We've never run into any Dark Elves during our journey.""

Perhaps some Promethians attacked the Dark Elves of the Forest during the war?" Ruby spoke a simple thought. I waited to see if Emily or the elders knew anything about something like that happening. Before long, the 2nd old woman who didn't do a lot of speaking answered Ruby's question." No. Had we attacked them during the war, the King would've made sure everyone knew that we struck down one of the Church's enemies."" And you all are sure nobody ran in or did anything to the Elves, right?" Ruby spoke again.

I again chose to remain silent to see if anyone had anything to say. This time the other old man spoke." No, I had anyone who interacted with someone outside the group, report it to me. The only people we spoke to were other Humans." I nodded my head to the old man. Time to talk about what I found out." They weren't Dark Elves. Well, not entirely. But I'm willing to bet they all did the same thing."" What do you mean, Lord Matthew?"

Ruby seemed to have thought I went crazy, at least that's the look she had on her face." During one of our sword exchanges, I hit a necklace the girl was wearing. My sword damaged it and she changed from a Dark Elf to a regular Elf. I don't think the other 2 were Dark Elves either. If they were, why would they fight Ruby and Edmon? They're both Demons. Which, last I checked, are allies to the Dark Elves."" Why would Elves attack Humans?" Ruby seemed puzzled along with Edmon.

Emily and the rest also didn't have a clue about why this could've happened." Look, thinking about this now is probably a bad idea. There are people who're injured that need treatment. I'm nearly out of mana and I think we'll need the rest of my mana to get home." Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I felt a tug at my arm, I looked down to find Wendy." So... You're going to leave us?" She had tears forming in her eyes while she spoke.

I rubbed the top of her head." No... Well, maybe. It depends on how your leaders take what I'm about to suggest." From Wendy I look up at Emily and the elders." Here's what I'm thinking, the Humans work on the wounded, applying first aid. While you do that, I'll signal our hunting party who should be wondering where we are. I'll explain the situation and I'll bring you all with me to our town."" Lord Matthew, bringing them back will cause a huge outrage from the People of Paradise." Ruby spoke her mind.

She seemed a bit awkward as she told me that. The Humans all looked concerned. I scratch my head as I go to explain what I planned on doing." I understand there's a lot of anger towards Humans in Diablos. I also understand there's a lot of fear and anger towards Demons in Promtheia. However, there is some hope. Look at me. I'm a Human and I'm a Marquess and call Diablos my home here in Gaia. Ruby, Edmon, you guys like me, right?""

Of the Lords in my lifetime, yes, I do have the most positive feelings for you out of all of them. However, I have no idea how anyone else would react to your plan to have them stay with us. Might I suggest using the fact they're Skilled Craftsmen to your advantage? Perhaps use that while speaking to Representatives of Paradise to boost approval? Something like, you could have them teach our Craftsmen until they leave for Kuga?"" Thank you, Edmon. I think you're a great guy too.

I know we haven't met for long, but you've been beyond helpful to me. And yes, that was the first idea I thought of using. Hopefully it would be enough, if not, I have some other arguments." \" I..." I turned to Ruby since I heard her make a noise." I-I-I-I-I..... L-L-L-L-L...." Ruby was struggling to say something. Her face was getting even redder than usual. Did my Magic fail from my mana being so low?" Ruby... Are you okay? Did my Magic fail?" Ruby heard my question and exploded." No! Not at all!

It's just that!.... Well...."" Lord Drake, I think it's safe to say Miss Ruby doesn't think lesser about you because you're a Human. I suggest we start to plan what to do about the other Humans now."" Well, I think the first thing we should do is see if they actually want to give this a try." I look towards Emily and the elders again." What do you guys want to do? I assume that you need to discuss it with a few different people.

But I need to know if you actually view this as an option or not, since I don't want to waste my mana Summoning our Party if you don't want to come." It was a bit unfair to force this on them, but I don't have the ability to be too nice about this. Tomorrow, I have to go and speak with Warrick and tell him Elves have slipped into Diablos. Emily and the elders look pressured. In time, Emily spoke." I'll do it and accept the consequences later!"

While the elders were a little shocked by her decision, they appeared to go with it." Okay." After confirming it with Emily, I raised my hand to the sky and fired a Holy Bolt into the sky. There was a very loud bang after 30 seconds." The other group will arrive here shortly. I'm going to Meditate so I can have enough mana to transport everyone. Gather the injured, treat them, then bring them here."" We'll get to it then. Wendy, stay here with them." Wendy nodded and then Emily and the rest took off.

I sat down on the ground and prepared to Meditate. This trick was taught to me by Aqua. It seems that the body is more receptive to Mana Restoration while sleeping, so Mages use a sleep-like Meditation to speed up Mana Recovery during the day if it's needed. And I'd say I need it right about now. It'll take about 30% of my mana to transport everyone to the gates of Paradise. Then I need a little extra to not pass out and discuss everything with the community leaders of Paradise.

Granted, Ruby, one of the leaders, is standing right next to me and is still red as a tomato from my earlier question, but she doesn't seem to have an issue with bringing the Humans to Paradise. The hard part will be convincing Rodrick. He may have fallen in line after we showed him Warrick's signature, but he's a stickler for tradition. I could tell from his eyes when we met, he had just as much of a problem with me being in Paradise as Ruby at first. I imagine this situation won't be a pleasant one for him.

Should I use this as a chance to oust him from Paradise? Who would fight back against my decision? The Iceskins for sure... No... Why am I just assuming it would go well... Sure, the Settlers might feel like they owe me one, but that doesn't mean that they'll forsake their culture, traditions and history when it comes to Humans besides me..." Lord... Matthew..." Ruby broke my concentration while I was thinking about what to do next. She stood right next to me and was looking down as I was sitting.

She waited for my reply after saying my name." Yes, Ruby?" Press... Ruby knelt down and placed her hand on mine." I do like you, Lord Matthew!" I was surprised she was still hung up on my question from earlier." Thank you, Ruby? I like you too. You've been a great help to me these past few weeks. I don't know what I'd do without your help."

"!!!" Release! / step. step. step. / Huh? She went red again? I don't even think she heard what I said fully? Did I really surprise her? As I looked at her, she robotically stood up and walked a few feet away to start guarding me. I looked at Edmon who witnessed all of that and he just shrugged his shoulders at me. I decided to just Meditate until Sarah and Anna arrived. I already have too many things to think about right now.

I can't afford to redirect the chunk of brain power it would take to solve a mystery as well as all of these new problems that have just fallen into my lap.