The half-elf girl asked for help as she held on to me tightly in fear.
I had to figure out how to get out of here while these elves had their weapons drawn towards us.
"Hey- why are you guys so willing to kill this girl?"
The elves all looked at each other.
"We don't answer to those who are going to die." The elves then began to chant spells and were prepared to fight.
"Damn it, so I've got no choice, huh." I faced towards to the girl.
"You might want to hold on tight."
"Huh?"
Before she had any time to react, I grabbed her hand and immediately dashed into the woods while holding onto the girl to lose the hostile group of elves.
"HEY! DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!"
I activated my skill Adrenaline, and with that, I was moving pretty fast into the woods, running in different directions while avoiding colliding into the trees.
I was making distance as I could barely hear the elves' voices we just ran away from. After a couple of steps, I slowed down for a bit to take a break.
I looked back at the girl, and she looked pretty shook up from the sudden getaway.
"I-I kept thinking we were going to r-run into trees..." she said shakily.
"Heh, sorry for scaring you, but it was unavoidable," I said.
The girl went silent. Almost as if she wanted to say something to me but couldn't get the words out of her mouth.
She took a deep breath and finally spoke.
"U-um... why are you going this far... to help me like this? I-I mean... I'm a half-elf..." she said with a shaky tone.
I stared at her when asked her question. I was more confused at first that I didn't give her an answer for a moment.
"Does it matter?" I answered.
She looked up at me with a surprised expression.
"Huh?"
"Does it matter if you're a half-elf? I would've helped you regardless of your race. You ask pretty weird questions."
"B-but don't elves detest half-elves? Don't they look down on them as inferior?"
"It doesn't matter to me what they think. Not once have I thought of someone as inferior to me by their race. Although you're an oddball."
The girl looked speechless. She stood up with a flustered look on her face.
"I have to treat those wounds of yours. I can't have you getting more hurt while we get out of here."
I reached into one of my bags that I was carrying medicine and other types of healing equipment. I pulled out a potion while I treated her wounds.
"That should do it. Well, you should be able to walk from here now."
"Eh? U-um..."
"Now that the other group of elves doesn't seem to know where we are, I'm sure you're able to make it out of this forest and go back to where you came from."
"N-no, uh-"
I began to pick up my equipment and walk the other way to leave the forest before I was interrupted all of a sudden.
"Wait!" The girl called out towards me as I just began to leave.
"Huh? What is it? Do you need help going back to where you're from?"
"It's just...t-thing is..." the girl hesitated for a moment until she finally was able to speak what was on her mind.
"I-I don't have anywhere to go!"
"Huh? Hold on, seriously? Oh wait- now that I think about it, I haven't asked why those elves were chasing you. My bad."
"N-no, it's fine..."
I let out a sigh.
"Well, I haven't introduced myself now, have I? My name is Colin."
"Colin... that's an odd name." She let out a giggle.
"Hey! It isn't that weird!" I said with an irritated look.
"Hehe, I'm sorry."
The girl began to take off the worn-out cloak, which revealed her appearance clearly.
It revealed her long silky rose gold hair, a rugged outfit that looks like it used to be very expensive clothing, although it still defined her petite yet curvy body.
She had the appearance of a fairy with her pink and yellow eyes.
It made me flustered for a moment.
"It's very nice to meet you, Colin. My name is Celia Yelstina."
"Celia... that's a weirder name than mine."
She pouted.
"H-Hey! I apologized..."
"Haha, I'm just messing with you."
"Your odd for an elf..."
After we had laughs for a bit, she began to explain her situation.
"So, I might as well explain to you why those elves were chasing after me and why I don't have a place to go to..."
She trembled for a bit.
"It might be a long story, huh."
She nodded.
"You might've been busy, so... I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I have all day."
"Oh...ok."
I walked her near a tree and sat her down.
"Well... I was a princess in an elven forest before it fell..."
"Huh- a princess?" I was shocked that a princess half-elf like her was being chased down by other elves to be killed.
"Yeah... I say I'm a princess, but... the whole kingdom never knew what I looked like. Elves had no idea that a half-elf girl like me was ruling them. The guards and other servants had helped each other keep my identity a secret. Although I never knew the reason until one day, I overheard one of the conversations the guards were having with the servants..."
As I was listening to Celia talk about her situation, she looked increasingly sad and scared as she continued. I didn't know how to comfort her as she kept on talking about what happened.
"I heard that the guards and servants were talking about how all the elves wanted to meet their princess for the first time since they all wanted to know what I looked like and that some elves were considering their sons to marry into the family. But they couldn't allow that since I was a half-elf. I never understand why being a half-elf was such a problem that I had to be kept hidden. Curiosity got the best of me, so one day, I decided to sneak outside my home without the guards and servants, nothing me. I foolishly thought that all the other elves would be excited to see their princess for the first time. But their reactions were filled with hatred and horror. They couldn't believe that a half-elf like me was ruling over them. I was too scared and confused and why they reacted this way. Not too long after, they began to riot. It caused so much destruction to the elven forest I lived in. I tried to run away from all the chaos until the group of elves we had to run away from decided to hunt me down and kill me. As I looked back, I realized I could never go back to the home I once knew. I was all alone..."
It took me a while to process everything she had told me. This girl had no place to go after her kingdom's downfall, and she's just stranded with elves hunting her down.
"So you don't have any place to go?"
She nodded her head.
"Fine."
"Huh?"
"Why don't you come to live at my place? My goddess will have no problems taking you in."
"W-wait, are you being serious? Are you willing to take in a half-elf girl like me?"
"As I said before, I don't care what race you are or where you are from. If you have no place to go, we'll gladly take you in. Princess Celia, hehe."
She began to hold back tears after I told her all of that. She proceeded to give me a vicious hug right after while releasing all her tears.
"O-ok, can you at least... let me breathe?"
"Heh, I'm sorry-" she said as she wiped her tears.
"Well, just follow me back home. I'm pretty much done with my assignment for the day."
"Ok!"
As we were about to head out from the forest. We heard rustling noises and then voices.
"I FOUND THEM! GET THEM!" It was the group of elves that I thought I had lost.
"Ah, crap..."