I got this done early so I'm posting it now since I won't be available this weekend anyway.

Part Seven

The following morning after Daunte spoke with Leknaat, he woke up early hoping to get more answers to his questions. But not from Leknaat.

"The Resurrection Rune?" Jeane asked, peeking her head out from underneath the front counter.

"Yes," Daunte said, nodding. "I was wondering if you could give me some more information about it. Like the spells the rune comes with."

"Oh, that's easy." Jeane slowly stood up and brushed herself off. "Sometimes the spell levels can vary per rune—or year, even—but lately the four levels of the Resurrection Rune are like this: Yell, Scolding, Scream, and Charm Arrow."

"I-I see," Daunte said. "And which one of those spells actually revives the dead?"

"Oh, just Yell," Jeane said. "But Scream restores your entire party to full health."

Daunte looked down at his right hand. "I'm afraid I don't have much information on your Rune of Restoration," Jeane said apologetically. "Now is there anything else you need, Lord Daunte?"

"No, thank you," Daunte said. He turned on his heel to leave and came face-to-face with a long line of soldiers. "Wow, you're busy this morning Jeane."

"I'm always busy," Jeane said cheerfully.

Daunte squeezed his way out of the Rune shop, but paused next to the second floor hallway window. "What the—"

As the Rune shop was located in the northwest building, he could see the southwest building due south. He rubbed at his eyes and blinked, but what he saw didn't change. Is…Is that smoke?

Daunte raced down the stairs and left the northwest building. He noted that none of the soldiers loitering around seemed alarmed by the smoke coming from the southwest building, but he still raced over there. As he got closer he noted that the smoke itself was clear and he couldn't smell fire, but he still ran over to the building. "Is everything all right?" he asked Bohai.

"I believe so," the fisherman answered. "I saw some stranger go in there talking about something called an onsen or something."

Onsen?! Daunte burst through the door and immediately skidded to a stop. his jaw dropped at the sight before him. When he had last seen the first floor of the southwest building, it had been in a state of great disrepair. Extremely hazardous to walk through. He had honestly been surprised that the building was still standing.

Now the first floor looked very different. The debris was gone. Much of the floor was gone too, replaced with two sunken bathtubs side by side. Both tubs were roughly 10 meters wide and 20 meters long and both were filled with water so hot that the steam filled the room.

So it wasn't smoke. It was steam!

"Oh!" There was a clamor from the northwest part of the room and and man in his late twenties emerged. His bronze complexion was glowing and his hair jet black and in a ponytail. His eyes were dark and he wore a light blue peshtemal robe top and white shorts. "I am so sorry, young man! The baths are not ready yet, I still have to put up the divider walls!"

"Who are you?" Daunte asked him. "And what exactly are you doing?"

"Oh, I built an onsen! Or a bathhouse," the man said nonchalantly. "Did you know you have a reserve of hot water underneath this building? I could feel it in the floor! This is the perfect place for an onsen!"

"But who are you?" Daunte asked. "And why did you start building here without coming to see me first?"

"Oh—you're Lord Daunte?!" the man exclaimed. He immediately grabbed Daunte's hands in his. "What an honor to meet you! My name is Pamukkale, and I wanted to share the therapeutic joy of a bathhouse with your Army! Please accept my apologies for not coming to see you, but when I found this building a few hours ago I just HAD to get started on this immediately!"

"Y…You did all of this in just a couple of hours?" Daunte couldn't hide the amazement from his voice.

Pamukkale nodded enthusiastically. "It's not ready, I have to divide the men and women's baths with a wall, and then put up privacy walls around the bathtubs themselves. But at the pace I'm going I should have the baths open by tomorrow."

"I…thank you," Daunte said. "For doing this for the Army. If you can run a safe bathhouse, or onsen, then I'm glad to have you here." And I have a place for that Knight Statue now, he added silently.

"Then I'm glad to be here," Pamukkale said positively. "I'll talk to you later!" Then he disappeared towards the back of the first floor.

I don't remember if we have a bathhouse here when Mom was leader. Arin and I probably wouldn't have been allowed in there anyways.

Daunte looked towards the stairs and then the ceiling. I wonder if Mooney is awake.

Mooney was indeed awake, and Mihr was in there buying figurines. "Good morning, Lord Daunte!" Mooney called from the counter. Mihr snapped a quick salute. "I just restocked the cases!"

Daunte looked around the room and then at the front. "Mihr, have you finished your purchase?"

"Yes," Mihr said. "Mooney offered me a commission because of the amount of money I spent in here, so I asked him to carve an emblem of my hometown, the Warrior's Village."

"Wow, that looks amazing!" Daunte said as he admired the craftsmanship. "You do customized requests, Mooney?"

"I do so for longtime customers who have spent at least 500,000 Potch in my store," Mooney said. "So in Nagarea, that would be 5,00,000 bits."

Daunte looked around the room again, contemplating for a brief moment, before looking back at Mooney. "I don't think I've bought the figurines that are out yet. How much would it cost to buy all the figurines on display right now?"

"190,000 bits," Mooney answered without hesitation, smiling. "You want to buy out the current stock, then?"

"Yes," Daunte said, pulling out his money. "I'll take them all. The 50 from the five wars cases, and the 5 in the specials case."

"You came at a good time," Mihr mused as Mooney hurried to open the cases. "He just put Flik and Viktor in the specials case, and those figurines go the fastest."

"Which ones are Flik and Viktor?" Daunte asked as Mooney returned to his side with the figurines from the specials case.

"This is the Dunan Unification War Flik," Mooney said, holding up the figurine in question. "And this is the Gate Rune War Viktor." He set them on the counter and moved to the Gate Rune War case first.

Daunte picked up the Flik figurine in one hand and the Viktor figurine in the other. They were both wielding swords in different fighting stances, but Viktor looked more relaxed than Flik. He even wore a smile.

These two are the most popular figurines Mooney is currently selling, and I finally have them.

"Here are the Gate Rune War Stars," Mooney grunted, carefully depositing the figurines on the countertop. "Now I'll get the Dunan Unification War figurines."

"Would you like some help?" Mihr offered.

"Yes, could you get the figurines from the Second Fire Bringer War case?"

"Wait," Daunte said, looking up. "You said this Flik was from the Unification War, and this Viktor was from the Gate Rune War?"

"Oh yes," Mooney said over his shoulder. "Both Flik and Viktor fought in both the Gate Rune War and the Dunan Unification War. They were each Stars of Destiny in both wars."

"D-Do they have separate figurines for each war?"

"Of course they do. There's a three year time difference between the two wars. Both Flik and Viktor changed considerably during that times."

"So…in order to have a complete set for each war, I would have to repurchase different figurines for the same person?"

"Yes," Mooney responded calmly as he deposited the figurines onto the counter. Mihr followed suit.

"Ah…okay," Daunte said, looking down at the figurines again. "I will…keep that in mind."

I'll definitely need to keep the figurines on separate platforms so that there's no confusion between the wars.

Daunte made his monumental purchase of 55 figurines and with Mihr's help he headed up to the third floor to place the figurine on each platform. Daunte carried two wars and the specials figurines, and Mihr carried three wars. In the figurine room Daunte started with the specials case. "Gate Rune War Viktor. Dunan Unification War Flik. Gate Rune War Lepant. Falenan Civil War Luserina. And Islands Federation War Schtolteheim."

Daunte then moved to the Gate Rune War platform. "Warren, Clive, Fuma, Crowley, Kirk, Onil, Tesla, Morgan, Fu Su Lu, and Gen."

Mihr set up figurines at the Dunan Unification War platform. "Jess, Tenkou, Alex, Vincent, Tony, Nina, Tuta, Gabocha, Gijimu, and Oulan."

Daunte had the Second Fire Bringer War while Mihr had the Islands Federation War and the Falenan Civil War. "Lady Chris," Daunte said, setting her down. "And it looks like I got all of the Zexan Knights as well; Salome, Percival, Leo, Borus, Roland, and Louis. As well as Hallec, Sarah, and Watari."

"Lilen, Sigurd, Chadli, Aldo, Lo Hak, Mitsuba, Gunter, Pablo, Nataly, and—Viki," Mihr said with mild surprise.

"Oh, Caesar did say she participated in that war," Daunte said, coming to Mihr's side to help him. He took five figurines to put on the Falenan Civil War platform. "I guess then she'll have a figurine on every platform. Belcoot, Volga, Sharmista, Urda, and Babbage."

"Shinro, Roog, Josephine, Subala, and Mohsen," Mihr finished. "We appear to be done."

Daunte sighed as he looked around the room. "Well, I still have a long way to go to complete any of these sets. Thank you, Mihr."

"It wasn't a problem," Mihr said. "Just carrying some figurines up a flight of stairs." He paused before adding, "Are we getting a bathhouse downstairs?"

"It looks like we are," Daunte confirmed.

"That's nice."

"Oh WOW!" Arin raced into the room, followed by Ichirou. "Brother did you buy all of these?!"

"I did," Daunte said. "Have fun but be careful with them."

"I will, thank you!"

"Look at this one," Ichirou said, picking up the figurine of Nakula. "Why does he look so angry?"

"Oboro may know," Daunte said a little too quickly.

Ichirou made a face. "I can't ask Oboro though! He left with Shou a few days ago!"

"Left?" Daunte's brow lifted. "Did they say where they were going?"

"I think they said they were going home."

"'Home'?"

"What do you mean there's no figurines left?!" came the shout from downstairs.

"Oh yes, Lord Daunte bought them all!" Mooney replied enthusiastically.

"Oh. Okay." the reply was quite tepid.

"Fifteen percent?"

"That's right, Bax. Our generous Lord Daunte gave the entire Army a 15% raise. Traveling to the Northern Continent was a wise choice after all."

"I should have thrown in money too, Sanji. Urgh, why didn't I throw in lottery money?!"

"Because you spent it all on alcohol, Gertrude."

"Oh."

"'Home'?" Caesar asked. They were in the war room with precisely 100,000 bits on the back table.

"That's what Ichirou said," Daunte said. "Have you heard anything about this?"

"Oh, I can answer that," Georg said as he came into the room. "Pardon the intrusion. Oboro and Shou went back to Falena to see Shou's parents, Shigure and Sagiri."

"Oh, okay," Daunte said, nodding. "That's perfectly fine. I won't stop anyone if they want to leave and visit their families. But I'll speak to Oboro when he comes back to have him inform me the next time he wants to take a trip."

"That's nice of you, my Lord. And generous and fair." Georg looked at the money on the back table. "Ah, speaking of generous, is that for the poor group in the south?"

"Yes," Daunte said. "I'm going to deliver this money to them and then go look for River of the Nagarean Elves. I'm hoping that both groups will accept my help."

"If they don't accept right away, don't lose hope," Caesar said. "They just may need some persuasion."

"If you ask repeatedly in different occasions then they should give in eventually," Georg added. He turned towards the door. "I'll let myself out, but if you want to take me on this trip with you I'm available."

Daunte looked at Caesar when Georg closed the doors behind. "It's amazing how his presence can put me at ease."

"It's his years of experience in combat and his status as a folk hero on the Northern Continent," Caesar explained. "But unfortuntately, his reputation on the Southern Continent is not so kid…"

"I'll speak to Surya later about it. Maybe we can petition Queen Lymsleia to pardon him, or withdraw the warrent for his arrest? The others did say that the warrent may still be around due to an oversight…"

"That is true, but thankfully that is not something that we immediately need to worry about. For now, let's focus on your quests regarding Lorik Varra and the Nagarean elves."

Daunte nodded. "We faced powerful foes down in the south. The only reason we kept our lives last time was because Yuber was in the party…"

"Is he still grounded?" Caesar asked. "Maybe he—"

Daunte felt the familiar whoosh of air behind him, and he turned to face Yuber. "Yuber, you're always standing outside this room. The door is available to you to use instead of teleporting."

"If you want me to go on this trip with you then say so," Yuber responded. "I will fight to quench my thirst for death. I will not fight to defend you."

"…Okay then," Daunte said slowly. Patience, Daunte. You won't be able to change Yuber without Pesmerga, and the "red" and "white" in Piccolo's vision. "I would be happy to have you with us."

"Tell me the destination and I will go there myself," Yuber said. "I do not need the assistance of that teleporter downstairs."

"Down—Viki?" Daunte's brow furrowed. "Look, show her some respect okay? She's a valuable asset to this Army and you fought alongside her in battle. You're not going by yourself, you're going to travel with the group. And Viki will teleport you. Got it?"

"Her powers are uncontrollable and chaotic," Yuber shot back. "Subjecting myself to such magic is asinine when I have the power to teleport myself."

"Hey, I thought you loved chaos!" Caesar chimed in cheerfully. Yuber snarled at him.

"It will be fine," Daunte said. "You can come with me and kill as many monsters as you want. Just monsters, though!" He emphasized.

"I heard you the first time," Yuber said, and quickly teleported away.

"Have you told him about Pesmerga yet?" Caesar asked.

"…No," Daunte admitted. "But I will tell him, I promise."

"No worries. Who else would you like in your party?"

"Well, Georg volunteered so I'll ask for him. Silvano too as I'm hoping to meet with the elves. "And the other two…" Daunte floundered for a moment. "How about Surya and Mokuren? I haven't traveled with Surya for awhile."

"Sounds good. I'll summon everyone here and then you can be on your way."

The group assembled in less than ten minutes, sans Yuber. They had made sure to visit Gusoku for upgraded armor and Cairoh for healing items. Daunte himself had a couple of escape scrolls in his satchel "Yuber wants to come with us so we'll meet up with him shortly," Daunte said.

"C-Can I say what an honor it is to be fighting alongside you?" Surya asked Georg excitedly. "My father said you're one of the best swordsmen he's ever met!"

"That's great praise from the Prince," Georg said warmly.

"I'm looking forward to going with all of you today as well," Silvano said. "But we should be careful in the Forest. The monsters are very dangerous there and the elves are not welcoming."

"I won't let anything happen to the Prince!" Mokuren declared, brandishing her naginata.

"Before we go to the Forest, I would like to see Lorik Varra and give him this money," Daunte said, going to the back table and starting to bag the 100,000 bits. "This trip might take some time since I don't know where the elves are in the Forest, but with any luck they won't be hostile towards us."

"Where's that grumpy knight?" Georg said, looking around.

"You'll probably see him before leaving," Caesar said. "All of you be careful. I hope you bring back good news."

Daunte and his group took the elevator down to the first floor. Daunte was startled to find Yuber as they descended the stairs. He was standing directly in front of Viki, staring at her almost unblinkingly. "L-Lord Daunte!" Viki squeaked when the group approached.

"Yuber, what are you doing?" Daunte asked.

"You're insisting on using this girl to teleport us," he said coldly. "As you already picked me for your party I was waiting for you to come down so we can get going."

Daunte pulled Viki off to the side. "Are you all right? He wasn't rude to you, was he?" he spoke in a soft voice.

"N-No, he just scared me," Viki said shakily. "I was standing there minding my own business, then he suddenly teleported right in front of me. He didn't say anything, just stood there and stared at me until you came down."

He immediately teleported down here and waited for us? But that was ten minutes ago! He just stood there and glared at Viki in silence for ten minutes?!

Daunte rubbed a hand over his face and sighed painfully. "I'm sorry for that," he said. He led Viki back to her spot in front of the mirror and he saw Yuber glaring at him. D-Did he hear us? He flushed in embarrassment but didn't say anything to Yuber. "Viki, I want to go to Lorik Varra's settlement."

"Okay!" Viki cheered, nodding. "Everyone, come close together!"

Daunte said her nose twitching and his pulse spiked. "Vi—"

"Here we—AH-CHOO!"

Daunte and his group was enveloped in light. One moment he was standing in the main building of HQ. The next he was surrounded by thick trees, his legs hooked over a large tree branch as he swung dangerously back and forth like a pendulum.

"Daunte!" Surya's voice sounded far away. Daunte blinked and realized that he was quite high up in a tree. He could see Surya, Mokuren, Silvano, and Georg below him. But they were approximately 15 meters below him!

Daunte gasped throatily and flinched, and at that moment his legs unhooked from the tree.

Surya and the group screamed below him as he began to fall, but just as quickly something snagged Daunte's right ankle and halted his plunge. Daunte felt dizzy and nauseas from being upside down, and he slowly looked up to see what it was that had saved him.

Yuber was standing on the branch, holding him with one hand by his hand. The Black Knight looked sadistically smug. "You were saying?"

"Ah, Viki did it again," Georg laughed softly. "It doesn't happen often, but sometimes she can teleport us to odd places."

"It happens more than once," Yuber said. Having proven Daunte wrong he was in surprisingly good spirits.

Silvano rubbed his hand along the bark of the tree Daunte nearly fell from. Then he looked at their surroundings. "There's no mistaking it. The trees and the air feel the same. This is Eryn mi Hui."

Daunte remembered that Eryn mi Hui was the name that River had given to East Forest. "So Viki teleported us to some part of the Forest?" he mused aloud. "Since we're here now, we should try to find the elves first before going to Lorik Varra with the money."

"This place feels dangerous," Surya said.

"That's because it is," Silvano replied grimly.

"Don't worry Prince, I shall protect you!" Mokuren cheered, pumping a fist.

Georg coughed loudly, but it almost sounded like a laugh. Daunte looked at him with concern but he waved his hand. "I'm fine. Just having a little deja vu…"

"We're at an area of the forest we haven't transversed before," Silvano said. "We'll have to figure out which way is south—"

"South is that way," Yuber said, pointing in the appropriate direction.

"I wish I knew where the elves were," Daunte said solemnly. "But for the time being we should follow south so that we don't get further lost. Yuber—"

"I will take the lead," Yuber said. "But not in your defense."

Daunte tried not to roll his eyes. "Tha—"

"Oh, take a look at this!" Georg said, pointing. Daunte looked and saw five treasure chests framing the other side of the clearing.

"Right," Daunte said, nodding. He went over to the center chest, while Georg, Silvano, Surya, and Mokuren checked the other chests. He opened it and his nose wrinkled at the musty smell that floated up to him. He reluctantly reached into the box and pulled out an armor set that felt furry under his hands. "W…What?"

"That's Mole Armor," Georg told him. "It's part of the Mole set. It stinks but it's an effective armor set."

"…Okay," Daunte said, tucking it into his satchel.

"Windows set 01," Surya said, hoisting up the box. "Esther uses these, doesn't she?"

"She does," Daunte said, nodding. "I imagine she'll be happy to receive that."

"Oh, what's this?" Silvano pulled out a thin rectangular object from his chest. "It looks like a painting but in terrible shape."

"I'll have Gizli appraise that," Daunte said.

"I have money," Mokuren said, pulling out a bag. "50,000 bits. But with our lottery winnings…"

"Any amount of money towards our cause is good," Surya said.

"I have a really thick book," Georg said, grunting as he lifted a large hardcover book out of his chest. "Blaise should appreciate this."

"I'll give that to him when we get back," Daunte said. "When I last checked he was still organizing the library on the second floor of the southeast building. Maybe he'll get it done around the same time the bathhouse will be done?"

"Oh, we're getting a bathhouse?!" Mokuren exclaimed.

"A Poison Moth is heading in our direction," Yuber announced nonchalantly, looking towards the top of the trees. "I hope you all packed antidotes. Poison Moths are very powerful and highly toxic. You will die if it poisons you."

"I've fought plenty of Poison Moths before," Georg sighed, unsheathing his sword.

"We'll be okay," Daunte said, jumping to his feet and hurrying towards Yuber.

"You all would be best to stay behind me," Yuber said, brandishing his swords. "I can take care of this myself. If you get poisoned then it's your own fault."

"Gee, thanks," Surya said sarcastically as the tree shook. Seconds later a giant Poison Moth burst into the clearing but Yuber raised his swords. "Raging Blow."

The powerful spell from the Thunder Rune struck the Poison Moth, but the monster didn't even break stride as it dove towards them.

"Wow," Surya said quietly. "I see your point about this Forest."

Yuber wasn't fazed by the no-sell from the Poison Moth. He launched himself from the ground and jumped into the sky towards the monster. He swung his arms back and then quickly swung them forward when the Poison Moth was directly in front of him. The Moth dipped back, as though looking to sting Yuber with its stinger, but in a flash its head left its shoulders from the slices of the two swords. Yuber slammed into the body of the Moth as it plummeted to the ground, stabbing into its abdomen all the way down to the hilts of his swords.

"…Right," Georg said in awe. "I'm still amazed he's ever been defeated."

Yuber stood up from the fallen beast and casually walked over to them. He wasn't even sweating. "Are you finished cowering?"

"Don't call us cowards when you told us to get behind you," Daunte admonished him. "But thank you for dealing with—that."

Yuber grunted and sheathed his swords. "That was effortless of you," Georg said. "But we are best to be on our guard if Poison Moths are just random encounter enemies."

Daunte nodded. "Stay together everyone and keep alert."

Daunte and his group traveled for five hours fighting with very little pause before they saw the light of a campfire peeking out through the trees. The clearing that they came from had a brush so thick they spent a considerable amount of time trying to cross. Once they did and made it to a dirt path, Daunte turn to look the way they came. To his shock he saw a cluster of thick trees and brush. He tried to separate them with his hands but was unable to.

Well, it's good we grabbed everything from those chests because we can't go back that way. I can't imagine we'll be able to get back to that clearing without Viki teleporting us to it. Or if Yuber feels like going to it…

At the five hour mark most of them were exhausted from the travel and had used most of their healing items. While Daunte appreciated the skill he learned, he was contemplating using one of the escape scrolls to get them out of the Forest when Yuber announced, "Those elves are ahead of us."

"Oh!" Mokuren cried out, pointing. "That's a campfire, isn't it?"

"Let's hurry then before more monsters show up," Silvano said. "But expect them to be hostile towards us."

"Elves are frequently hostile to anyone other than fellow elves," Georg said. "No offense, Silvano."

"None taken. It is the truth after all…"

Daunte and the group carefully navigated the trees and into the clearing with the campfire. Four small huts surrounded the campfire, and a female elf was tending to the fire. Daunte approached her carefully. "Excuse me," he said softly.

The female elf looked up, and immediately screamed when she saw Daunte. "HUMANS!"

The door flaps to all four of the huts burst open, and the remaining seven Elves of Nagarea took fighting stances in front of Daunte's group. River was at the front wielding his valeri alongside Clover, the rage and hatred in his expression making Daunte's stomach squirm in discomfort. "Filthy human!" He snarled through clenched teeth. "How dare you come back to this Forest?! You are not welcome here!"

"I'm here to see you," Daunte said, keeping his voice calm. He took off his tekko and let his weapons drop to the ground as he raised his bare hands. "I told you before, I want to help you—"

"And I told you that we do NOT want anything from you!" River roared. "I let you leave Eryn mi Hui alive last time because you saved us, but I warned you that we would attack if you came back!"

"I remember," Daunte said. He heard his allies shift behind him but he waved them off as he slowly approached the elves. "I'm sorry for what has happened to you. I do want to help all of you. I would be honored to fight alongside—"

"No!" River shrieked, and he launched his valeri. The blows from the dual weapons stunned Daunte, and the group screamed in shock and rage when he fell to his knees.

"Daunte!" Surya and Mokuren were at his side but Daunte saw the dark blur in front of him and he screamed, "Yuber, STOP!"

Yuber stopped centimeters from River, his swords drawn. The elves brandished their weapons threateningly at him, but all of them looked scared. Yuber casually looked at Daunte over his shoulder. "You disarmed yourself voluntarily and he attacked you. My actions are an act of self-defense."

H—He moved to defend me? Even after telling me that he wouldn't defend me?!

Daunte was strangely moved by Yuber's action but he shook his head as Surya and Mokuren helped him stand up. "I…It's all right, Yuber. Please stand down."

Yuber frowned deeply and promptly sheathed his swords. Georg however moved forward though, his expression harsh and his own sword drawn. "I hope you realize what you have done," he told River in a grave tone. "You just attacked our Lord Commander without provocation, and when he came to you in peace to help you. We as his subordinates are well within our rights to engage you in combat to avenge this action."

Daunte saw the realization dawn on River's face, but he did not stand down. He moved to stand in front of Clover, but Clover ducked out from behind him. "Please, wait!" she tossed her own weapon on the ground. "We are not seeking conflict! We just want to be left alone! Can't you leave us alone?!"

"Georg," Daunte said softly. Georg looked at him, and after a long moment he sheathed his own sword.

"If I may," Silvano said, stepping forward and in front of Daunte. "It's not wise for us to leave you here alone. You have make a nice encampment, and I can smell from the fire that you have scents to repel monsters. But I can also see from your complexions and appearances that none of you are eating properly. I do not see any prey you have caught from hunts hanging up or cooking over this fire. When was the last time any of you ate?"

The elves casted their eyes downward and Daunte knew it then. I get it. I understand now. River didn't attack me out of a desire to fight me. They're desperate. They're starving.

"W-What do you all like to eat?" Daunte said suddenly.

"What?" River asked.

"Give me five minutes. I'll bring you back food, hot meals for you all to eat." Daunte looked at Yuber. "I'll go and see Yasaka. Could you go and see May for fresh vegetables?"

"I'm not an errand boy," Yuber said sharply.

"Just do me this favor," Daunte said.

Yuber scoffed loudly, but disappeared. Less than three seconds later he was back holding a sack. "Potatoes." he promptly dumped them onto the ground.

Four elves scrambled to collect the potatoes and Daunte looked at River. "D-Do you eat fish?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" River asked sharply.

"You will stop disrespecting our Commander right this minute!" Surya snapped. "Especially after he's doing you a favor after you attacked him!"

"We love fish," Clover interjected.

Daunte nodded. "Good. I'll be right back."

He used the Blinking Mirror to quickly return to HQ. He ran over to Yasaka's restaurant and asked him if he could make a pot of chankonabe. Thankfully the Army chef knew how to make the hearty stew and Daunte ran to meet with Bohai. "D-Do you have any fish? I'll pay you for them!" He shoved a bag of 5,000 bits into Bohai's hands.

"Um, yes!" Bohai sputtered. "But this is too much mon—"

"Never mind that, please give me the fish!"

Daunte hauled eight mackerel freshly caught earlier and a huge pot of chankonabe up the stairs to meet Viki, along with a bag of extra bowls. "O-Oh, Lord Daunte!" she squeaked. "I'm so sorry! I—"

"It's fine, I'm not mad," Daunte told her. "Just please put your noseplugs on before teleporting me to the elf village!"

"O-Oh, you found another elf village?"

Daunte found out through Viki that the Elven settlement was called Estel. Luckily she didn't sneeze again when she teleported him. His allies and the elves were more or less at a standoff when he returned. "H…Here!" He dropped the pot next to the campfire. "This is chankonabe! There's enough to feed all of you! And here!" he produced the mackerel. "Bohai just caught these today! These are yours too!"

The elves looked stunned by his gifts and examined them cautiously. River looked particularly stunned, and a little distraught. "W…What are you doing?" He demanded quietly. "Why are you helping us?"

Daunte smiled at him. "Because it's the right thing to do."

"You can get more food like this if you join us," Mokuren pointed out. "And you'll be fighting against the government that tried to kill you all."

River shook his head and looked away, his jaw locked. He looked deeply conflicted, and Daunte almost felt bad for pressing the issue. Before he could say anything though, Clover moved to stand in front of him. "Healing Wind."

The spell washed over Daunte, and the aches caused from River's attacks and the fight with the monsters quickly faded. "Thank you," she said quietly, not meeting his eyes. "River told me how…you helped save me. I didn't thank you before. And I'm sorry that w-we attacked you. But—"

"Look," Daunte interjected, looking between River, Clover, and the other elves. "If you don't trust us, then you don't trust us. But I do want to help you. I hope that I've shown that to you today."

River didn't say anything. "Now that I've found you all, I will be back to check on you from time to time. And if you need food, clothes, or anything else I will give that to you."

"You're only trying to bribe our favor into fighting for you," River snapped back.

Daunte wanted to lie and say that it wasn't true, but he knew that he owed River the full truth. "I'm not going to lie to you. I do want to recruit all of you. But I won't ever do conscription. I'll come and help you and I will ask you every time I come if you want to join me. If you say no, I won't force you back to my HQ. I want people to serve in the Liberation Army because they want to, not because they're forced to."

He looked at his allies. "I think we've done enough. I'll use an escape scroll so we can get out of here and head south."

"Hey," River said suddenly.

"What is it?"

"What is your name?"

"It's Daunte."

"What is it about you that inspires grown adults to follow the orders of a boy?"

Daunte bristled very slightly but he didn't allow it to show. "If it interests you so much, you can come back to my headquarters and ask my allies."

River shook his head. "No."

"All right, let's go," Georg said, clapping his hands. "It's starting to get late."

Daunte nodded and looked at the elves. "I'll see you again."

"I hope you," one muttered audibly.

"My goodness," Mokuren said heatedly. "Even after Lord Daunte gave them food they still treated us terribly!"

"Their ways will not immediately change," Silvano said. "When you hold onto years worth of hate, it will not be easily shaken from your heart."

"This place is quite interesting," Georg said softly, looking at the Red Tundra around them. "I've never seen ground naturally the color of blood before."

"This is unnatural," Yuber said coldly.

"I'll take your word for it." Georg looked at Daunte. "Maybe you could consider looking into this phenomena later?"

Daunte nodded. "Later, perhaps."

"Is that the settlement?" Surya asked, pointing ahead.

"It is," Daunte said. "They fled here after their hamlet was destroyed by Sloan Faakhir."

"Is that the bastard who threw Farrin off that scaffold?" Surya asked darkly.

Daunte frowned. "The same."

Lorik Varra was in the center of the camp surrounded by his people. Tala was of course at his side but Daunte's throat hurt when he saw the states of the people. Oh no. They look worse than the elves do! W-What happened to the food and water we gave them?!"

"I know—" Lorik began, but stopped as he saw Daunte's group approach. "L—Lord Daunte?"

The people quickly turned to face them. Daunte saw Zander still greet him with a glare but he kept his eyes on Lorik as he approached. "Lord Lorik, what has happened?"

"We were attacked last night," Lorik said grimly. "Wolves. No one was killed but all of our food is gone. We were just having a meeting—"

"Say no more," Daunte said, raising his hand. "All of you are coming with us and that's final."

"Really?" Tala said challengingly, but murmurs of relief broke out amongst Lorik's people.

"I'm not going to ask you to rejoin the Liberation Army," Daunte said. "But I'm not going to allow all of you to rot out here. Here—" He pulled out his bag of bits for Lorik and handed it to the man. "100,000 bits. You can count it. Use that to build homes. You can do it in the outskirts of our headquarters."

"100,000 bits?!" Lorik exclaimed. He swiftly opened the bag, but his jerking motions caused bits to spill out and cascade onto the ground like a waterfall.

Shrieks of shock rose amongst Lorik's people, and many started crying. Lorik and Tala quickly swept down to pick up the money, and Zander joined them. He looked up at Daunte with wide eyes. "W—You're giving us all of this money?!"

"Yes," Daunte said bluntly. "Get yourselves out of this place and into a more stable location to live. Like outside the HQ."

"B-But even with this money, how can we possibly buy the materials needed to build a new town?! I-I'm a wanted man! The Theocracy wants my people killed!"

"You'll be fine," Daunte told him. "Go to Farna or Kõrkus to get your supplies. If I can walk into towns across Nagarea without issue, I don't see why you can't as well."

"Wait, YOU have gone into towns without problem?" Tala asked incredulously. "How?! You're the leader of the Liberation Army! No one has recognized you?!"

"No, because humans are stupid," Yuber answered for Daunte.

"Just get yourselves out of here and rebuild your lives properly," Daunte said. "Use that money to get the materials to build yourselves some houses. The Liberation Army will help you."

"I…" Tears filled Lorik's eyes. He looked frantically between the bag of money and Daunte with a gaping mouth. "I-I…I'm at a loss for words. This money, it…" He shook his head. "Thank you, my Lord. Thank you so much!"

"Why?" Zander burst out. He was unable to hold back his tears. "Why are you helping us?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Daunte said. He looked at the people around him. "Quickly, go and gather your possessions. I'll use the Blinking Mirror to get us back to HQ. Then tomorrow, I'll take you to Kõrkus to get materials for your new homes."

Zander looked at the bag for a long moment before looking back at Daunte. He sniffled loudly and wiped at his nose. "…Thank you."

Lorik scrubbed at his face with his sleeve as he stood. "H-How shameful. A grown man such as myself crying. I am in your debt, Lord Dautne."

"No, you're not," Daunte insisted. "Now let's go before more monsters come—"

"They're here," Yuber said bluntly, pointing to the herd of boars charging towards them.

"Oh brother," Daunte sighed.

"Here's the latest damage report," Adalgiso said, placing the document on the desk in front of Sloan. He tactfully placed it over the hole Sloan had made. "The Cabinet of High Clerics has signed a resolution to send us money. But—"

Sloan snatched up the document and held it up. A scary smile rose to his lips and Adalgiso took a careful step back. "They are only pledging 250,000 bits."

"…Yes," Adalgiso agreed. "Which will not be enough to fix the—"

"But they will double the contribution if we set out with our marching orders in less than a week."

Adalgiso gaped at him in shock. "S-Sheikh. Did I hear that correctly? The High Clerics will grant us more money to rebuild our Garrison only if we complete this mission?"

"That's exactly it." He tossed the document onto the desk and stood. "Get the soldiers ready to march."

"S-Sheikh, I must protest this!" Adalgiso exclaimed. "We are not ready to march! We still have injured soldiers here! And do you remember what I told you about morale? Well since the armory collapsed morale has gotten even worse! Our soldiers are not in the right frame of mind to march!"

Sloan snapped his teeth and glared at him. "Whoever isn't ready to march will be executed by me for cowardice. That includes you, Adalgiso."

Adalgiso wasn't scared by the threat. He swallowed hard and forced himself to be meet Sloan's unstable gaze. "…I think you should know by now that the threat of death doesn't scare me," he said quietly.

Sloan and Adalgiso stared each other down for a long moment of silence. It was Sloan who broke and looked away. "You have your orders. Now go and make yourself useful and tell those useless morons to get ready to march. You're dismissed."

"As you wish, my Lord." Adalgiso saluted and then excused himself from Sloan's office. He looked down the corridor to make sure there were no other soldiers around and clasped a fist to his chest. "…What do I do?"

After a moment he shook his head and took his leave. This is wrong, but there is nothing I can do. He is Sheikh, and I owe him everything.

Estel means "trust" or "hope" in Elvish.