"There really is no need to show off like that" Eroll spoke to his horse, knowing he would get no reply.

Eroll's eyes narrowed under his helmet when he spotted a lone, well dressed man standing in the center of the road.

They were well in the middle of a deep forest, this is the last place a man like that should be.

He stood, arms politely crossed behind his back, a small smile on his face.

The colors on his outfit identified him as someone with high standings in the Royal military, and with so many medals proudly presented.

Eroll stopped his horse a few feet from the man, staring down at him.

"Good evening, sir Eroll. A nice day for a ride, yes?"

"Indeed, and so it becomes curious as to why you are impeding mine"

"Here is the only place I believed I could meet you without any unsavory interruptions"

"I could think of a few better places, a man such as yourself risks sullying his uniform in a place like this" Eroll was not unaware of the situation, this was a trap of some sort. "Along with your men, hiding in the brushes with weapons drawn"

The small smile turned into a small frown.

"I had a feeling you were not unaware"

The man snapped his fingers, several knights surrounded him.

"May I ask why?"

"You were contracted by the King to find a Demon, slay it, and bring it back to him. You instead brought it to someone else, directly violating the contract"

"That is true, but not only did the Elves offer me much more than the King, their people suffered much worse than yours"

"That matters not, you still directly violated a Royal contract, which makes you, a criminal"

"I see" Eroll dismounted his horse, and sent her away. "I hope you understand that it is not my intention to spend any amount of time in a prison cell"

"You are mistaken, sir Eroll, you won't be spending any time in a cell" the man pulled out a scroll. "This warrant for your arrest also gives you an immediate appointment with the hangman's noose"

"I don't see how that would sound better"

"It doesn't matter how it sounds to you, all that matters is that you will hang for disrespecting the King"

"I do not wish to kill any innocent men here today or any day, nor do I wish to die"

"You-"

"Gah!"

Everyone stopped as one of the men surrounding him was suddenly dragged into the brush, followed by another on the other side.

"Ambush! Ready your-agh!"

One by one the knights were dragged off into the forest, until only Eroll and the man remained.

"It appears other forces are at play here, you may want to escape now while you can"

"Mark my words, you will hang"

After he was gone, the bushes rustled, the Dryads from before stepped out.

"I suppose I have you two to thank for that, though it was less than ideal"

"You owe us a favor, darling~"

"I suppose I do, but I must return home for now. I am a criminal"

XXXXXX

"Ah, sir Eroll! Welcome back. Have you forgotten something?"

"No, I need some help"

"From…us?"

"Yes, I need a place stay, as my home is no longer safe for me"

"Oh dear, what happened?"

"The Demon I slayed for you was the one I was originally hired by the King to find. Bringing the head to you has labeled me as a criminal"

"I am-"

"Do not apologize, I do not regret helping you"

"The least we could do is help you in return, you are free to stay here as long as you like"

"Thank you"

"My people are still grateful for what you've done, I have no doubt that anyone will be happy to let you stay with them"

"I do not wish to be a burden-"

"Nonsense, you won't be a burden at all. Things here work differently from large kingdoms" the Lord Elf gestured to the Elves around. "There is no price on anything, we share all that we have, there is no crime, no greed, no corruption. We are all just grateful to be alive"

"A perfect system…"

"L-lord Sha?"

The two looked over at a small Elf girl, she looked at him with a bit of fear.

"Lia, are you ok?"

"Y-yes, I wanted to thank him…for saving my father"

"Lia! There you are"

The Elf he saved from the Succubus, and this girl is his daughter.

"Oh, sir Eroll, thank you again, for saving me"

"Ah! That gives me an idea" the Lord spoke out.

The Lord explained the issue, and they were happy to let him stay with them.

"As long as I am staying here, this settlement will be under my protection"

"I am very thankful to hear that, if you have any issues, please come to me"

"I will remember that"

XXXXXXXX

"We have reasons to believe that a criminal is hiding somewhere in this settlement"

"If there is someone dangerous in my settlement, I would be the first to know"

"I know you know who we are referring to, dangerous or not he is still a criminal and is sentenced to be hanged"

"I own this land, I have scrolls that say this land is mine to do as I please, and, in no form, is anyone else able to decide what happens here" the Elf Lord spoke while gesturing to several scrolls in a display. "That means your Kingdom has no authority within these walls, and you are certainly not going to arrest anyone unless I give you permission"

"We are willing to pay any price you name"

"I value my people over any sort of currency, and that man is one of my people, Elf or not"

"I-"

"No more discussion, you are to leave my settlement immediately"

"…or what?"

"Or I order my new guardsman to escort you out"

"Guardsman?"

"Aye, this settlement is under my protection" Eroll spoke as he stepped out of the shadows from behind the Elf Lord.

The commanding officer who stopped him in the road stared at him with controlled anger, his men behind him took a step or two back.

"Hear me, Eroll Stag, you will hang, and I'll be the one to pull the lever"

The King's men left, leaving the Lord and Eroll alone.

"I fear they may try to find ways of breaking your control of this land"

"If they do, and somehow succeed, I will have to bring us all back to the Elven forest fortress, they will see it as an act of treachery and declare war"

"A war between Elves and humans would break down order…it may cause the war between monsters and humans to restart"

"Exactly, and I pray it doesn't come to that"

"It…may have been a mistake to seek refuge here"

"Nonsense, you will always be welcome here"

"I do not wish for your people to be harmed because of me"

"I won't-"

"Lord Sha!" An Elf entered the room. "There is a Dark Elf at the gate"

"A Dark Elf?"

"Yes, she is requesting to speak to you"

"Let her in, I will speak to her"

"Yes, my Lord"

The Elf left, leaving Eroll with a question.

"It sounds like these Dark Elves are troublesome by the tone"

"We have a treaty settled between our races, deciding that tolerating each other would be better than fighting to extinction"

The door opened again, revealing a female Elf with dark skin.

She was much different than the other female Elves he's seen here.

While the females here were skinny and wear robes and dresses, this Dark Elf was more robust in certain areas and wore armor.

Not a full set like himself, but around the chest and waist area, exposing a lot of flesh.

She also had a battle axe strapped to her back, a heavy two handed one.

"You must be the Lord of this settlement, I am-…well, hello there, big boy~"

The Lord stepped between Eroll and the Dark Elf.

"Yes, I am, and I'm very busy. Please tell me why you are here" he spoke, his usual kindness replaced with a more harsh front.

The Dark Elf huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine, I am here because my Queen ordered me to give you this" the Dark Elf pulled out a scroll and held it out.

The Lord took it and unfurled it, beginning to read.

His position directly in front of Eroll gave him the chance to read it as well, but the Knight knew it would be rude to intrude in matters not of his own care.

After a few minutes, the Lord rolled it up and placed it on his desk.

"Very well…I will accept, and I'll send a message by dove to your Queen" the Lord sat down at his desk and picked up a quill and blank scroll. "I will explain where you will be staying in a moment"

The Elf Lord looked at Eroll, dipping his quill in ink.

"Sir Eroll, I have a new assignment for you, if you will accept"

"Whatever it may be, I will see that it is done"

"Wonderful" he glanced at the Dark Elf. "Our guest here will be staying here as a start to a new agreement between our races, if it isn't too much trouble, would you mind…keeping an eye on her?"

"Not at all"

"Good, there is a vacant home on the east side of the settlement, you and our guest will be staying there"

"I have a name, you know"

"Well please, tell us your name"

"My name is Shel"

"It is nice to have you here, I hope you have a nice time"

XXXXX

"You will tell me now if there is any secret plan to harm the people of this settlement" Eroll spoke to the Elf while holding her by the neck against the wall with a single hand, well off the ground.

"There are none"

"How am I to know you aren't lying?"

"If there were any plans of that sort, I would be trying to warn my people of you. You are clearly a guardian of this settlement"

"I suppose that is true, but I will not be fooled so easily. I will be watching you" Eroll placed her back on her feet, turning and walking over to a table.

"You are a very strong Human"

"God has blessed me with this power"

"Either way, any child you produce would grow up just as strong. Any race would thrive with that kind of strength"

Eroll heard the Elf walk up behind him.

"My race…we are slowly dying out" her voice was low and sounded sad. "Our Queen intends to bring all Elves together, to save us. She believes that plan may fail, and if it does…we will go extinct"

Eroll stayed silent.

"But…there may still be hope for us, if you help us…"

Eroll knew where this was going, it was clear.

He felt the Elf press against his back. "Please…ravage me…fill me with your seed…you can do whatever you want with my body as long as you impregnate me…"

"The fate of your race is not of my concern, the only reason you still live is because I was not ordered to kill you"

"Would you really kill me if the Lord of this settlement told you to?"

"Without hesitation"

XXXXXXX

"You called for me?"

"Yes, I am going to be meeting with the Queen of the Dark Elves in a location far from here. We are allowed to bring one person with us"

"You wish for me to accompany you?"

"If it isn't too much trouble"

"No, I would be happy to go along"

"Good, a horse and carriage is being prepared for us"

"If it is not an issue, I will be riding along side on my own horse"

"If it is what you want, you may"

XXXX

"A beautiful horse you have, I've never seen one so large"

"No simple horse can hold me, this one was enhanced by magic"

"I thought as such, her coat shines like pearls"

"A true Knight is nothing without a horse, clean and healthy. I'd sooner throw myself in the mud than let her get dirtied"

The rest of the ride was quiet, Eroll noticed several monsters along the way.

None of them moved to attack or even get close, he suspected it was only because of himself.

They soon came upon a large tent in a clearing, a wagon off to the side.

"This is it"

They entered the tent, the Elf Lord going before himself.

"Ah, you have come" the Queen spoke, wearing just as little clothing and armor as Shel. Though it was more extravagant.

She was taller than all the other Elves he's seen, almost as tall as himself.

"And you've brought a very interesting guest" her red eyes locked onto him with a feral, lustful hunger. "You're not an elf, but a human…"

"He is allied with me for reasons not of your concern, Rah'Shel"

"Of course, and what of my daughter, Sha'Lath?"

"She is right where I left her, last I saw"

Eroll silently took in this information, that Dark Elf was the Queen's daughter.

"She better be, or you won't be a Lord of anything when I'm finished"

"We don't resort to violence or cruel acts at the slightest inconvenience"

"That is one of the reasons you are all weak"

"Strength matters not in a place of harmony and peace"

"Hmh…peace? Peace is a false hope, it is a lie told by 'leaders' who have lost the will to fight" the Queen stood up from her makeshift throne. "I plan to band all Elves together, to grow our strength, and once we have it. I will declare war on all other races"

"You!-ah?" The Elf Lord was stopped when Eroll placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back, then stepped forward.

The Queen had been standing over the Lord, now Eroll stood over her.

"You plan to start a war to kill off everyone?"

"Not everyone, just all other monsters, we Elves are the superior ones. We will of course keep you humans around, we will enslave them and use them to breed more Elves"

"It is people like you that poison the reputations of other monsters. Ones like you, and your ideals will fail"

"You, you are strong, blessed with power. With your genes in our ranks, we will easily accomplish our goal"

"I will not be used as a tool for war, or create the means to wage it"

"Don't look at it that way, dear. See it as helping a species come back from the edge of extinction"

"The fate of your people matters not to me"

"Does this body not please you, darling? Am I not attractive enough for you?"

"I have no interest in your body, I can not be tempted so easily"

"What would it take to agree to impregnate me?"

"There is no such price"

"Is that so? What if I decide to take you forcefully?"

"I will not be taken so easily, you can not beat me in a fight"

"Your physical and magical resistance are very high, you posses high strength and skill with a blade…it would take an army of Dragons to subdue you, but not without heavy losses, and you wouldn't stay down for long"

"I suggest you leave, do not send any more of your people, do not attempt to harm the people I protect"

The Queen began to laugh.

"Those people you protect, I'm sure my daughter has slaughtered most of them by now"

The Elf Lord began to chuckle at that. "I don't think she can do much without her head"

"What?"

Eroll held up the head of the Queen's daughter.

"Her treachery could not be hidden from me" he dropped the head at her feet and crushed it under his metal boots "I can sense evil intent, it was not hidden well"

"You bastard! You killed my daughter!?"

"You planned to use her to slaughter my people, just as I predicted. You Dark Elves are easy to read"

"I'll kill you a-gak!?"

Eroll grabbed the Queen by the neck and lifted her up, causing her to drop her weapons.

"If you value life, you will listen well, aye?"

"Ghg…grrrg!"

"Any Dark Elves caught by me in or around the settlement will die, do you understand?"

Eroll loosened his grip enough for her to speak.

"I'll find a way to capture you…and when I do, you will be my personal toy. And I'll destroy that settlement"

"Wrong answer"

Eroll swung around and threw the Queen through the tent, crashing into her wagon after ripping through the tent.

"Pray that we do not cross paths again" Eroll stepped out of the tent.

XXXX

"I apologize, I don't usually lose control of my anger like that…"

"Everything went according to plan, we must be careful, and I must reinforce these walls. Wood will no longer suffice"