Here I am in some large meeting hall after we were served with some rather luxurious breakfast earlier. All of us were seated in places that were strategically allocated to us. I was surprised when I was being seated at the front. I had assumed it was due to humans having horrible eyesight compared to elves, but the Elementalist assured me that wasn't the case. He needed my insight as well, which was why he brought me here in the first place. But compared to the other guildmasters, I'm the youngest compared to all of them. What insight could I provide compared to their centuries of experience?
However… what is pissing me off right now is— where the fuck is Zen?! Why is he always late?! Now everyone is staring at me as though I knew where he went. I had knocked on his door several times before making my way here and there was no response from him. I thought he went out earlier and was fairly certain he's not in his room. Where the helldid he went though? Please don't tell me he's out there fooling around with some female elf even after one-to-one talk?! The Elementalist had already warned us about this. Zen, don't you fucking dare sully the reputation of humans any further. We're already considered as monkeys in their eyes now. Hurry your ass here, right now!
"Where— is Zen? Any idea where he is?" asked the Supreme Commander.
"I… don't know either. We had looked all over for him but couldn't find him at all. It's as though he had vanished from our city. Where else could he have gone?" the Elementalist answered with another question.
"Unless... I have a feeling I know where he went. Come with me," said the commander as he gestured for the Elementalist to follow after him.
I thought of following them, but as they were heading out the door, some commotions could be heard outside the hall. As they almost exited, they were halted in their tracks by something large blocking their way. A rather large wolf was squeezing his way in through the main door while he was biting onto something. Hang on—isn't that Zen?!
"W— what's going on, Kuchisabishii-sama? Did Zen cause you any trouble for you to carry him here?" asked the commander with a rather speechless expression.
"Not at all! I had fun, honestly speaking. This boy is certainly—interesting, to say the least. He almost had me a couple of times! Hahaha!!" laughed the dire wolf as he placed Zen on the floor.
"What happened? Did he challenge you to a duel? I'm surprised you were willing to entertain him in the first place, knowing you," asked the Elementalist.
"Not a duel, but rather a game of cat and mouse. His sneaking abilities versus my nose. I thought of entertaining him a little at first, but as it turns out, he was interesting indeed! I daresay he managed to fool me a couple of times. You elves are going to have a tough time if you make him your enemy. This boy—he is destined to be even more powerful than he is right now," he laughed loudly.
"I can vouch for that. He even managed to sneak up on me in our own turf. This future son-in-law of mine is a real troubleindeed. Wake up, Zen. It's already time for the meeting," poked the commander.
"Gah! Need to hide again! Huh? Where am I?" he asked as he realised the changes in his surroundings. I smacked my head in embarrassment.
"You're in our meeting hall. It's already morning now. I'm surprised you challenged Kuchisabishii-sama till morning. Lost track of time?" asked the commander.
"It's—already morning? Shoot, I'm so sorry. I had way too much fun training with the alpha dire wolf. Do forgive me, I'll get myself presentable as soon as possible," he quickly stood up and bowed to the commander.
"It's fine. Go wash yourself before we begin. We'll bring some food for you," the commander snapped his fingers as a member came over to guide Zen towards somewhere.
"Thank you for willing to entertain me, Kuchisabishii-sama. You really put me to work with that nose of yours," he bowed to the alpha dire wolf.
"Likewise, young one! I really had fun finding you as well. I'll be up for another round if you make it as entertaining as what you did," he laughed as he followed Zen out the door.
"Oh, don't you worry. I already have many ideas to combat that nose of yours," he chuckled before disappearing out the door.
Sigh, as much as I want to reprimand him, his unorthodox method of training is how he improves himself. And I can certainly see where he's coming from. The alpha dire wolf had an extremely sensitive nose that is effective at tracking. What better way to train your specialty when such an opportunity had presented itself? How strong will you eventually become, Zen? Even I'm curious to see how far you go.
***
*Zen's Perspective*
Damn it, what an embarrassment that I needed Kuchisabishii-sama to carry me here. I didn't even realised I was training with him until morning. Such was the excitement of the challenge. Sad to say I couldn't outwit the wolf, as his nose is just too precise in pinpointing my location, although I was lucky enough to fool him a couple of times. I'll be more prepared with some equipment the next time I challenge him.
I'm glad Noah's my future father-in-law though, otherwise I would have been punished for my actions. I was surprised they were even kind enough to allow me to munch on a rather large jikentette leg as we proceeded with the meeting plans. I'm sure there will be a lot of elves judging me, but fuck it, I'm really hungry now and I'm eating as silently as I can.
From what I've been hearing thus far, their plans are pretty solid, but there's a lot of "what ifs" involved. A lot of talk on being offensive, but so little on actually defending the city. Even John had raised his concern that we will still need an army to defend this city in the event the enemy outsmarts us. "It is pointless to fight when there's nothing to protect," he highlighted, which many of the elven members agreed. And so began the discussion about the defence of the city after much persuasion from John. I kept quiet thus far since they were deep into the conversation. That and I should finish my meat before speaking with a mouth full.
"What do you think, Zen? You've been quiet thus far, despite knowing that you're still eating," asked Noah, glancing at me and smirking a little. He must be finding it funny and intriguing for someone to actually be eating in such an important meeting.
Realising he had somehow made me the centre of attention, I quickly chewed my remaining food and swallowed as fast as I could. Good thing I didn't get choked or something. Someone was even kind enough to serve me tea as I was chewing.
"The plans are good on both offensively and defensively, thanks to the insight from John. One question though, how are you planning to track the bugs? From what I understood thus far, it was based on the assumption that you could follow the bugs in the first place. Has anyone here succeeded before?" I asked as I sipped more of the delicious tea handed to me.
"We— couldn't follow them before as they had the power of flight. But rest assured, this time, we have our winged dire wolves with us. We will be able to track them with the help of their nose and our ears," answered Noah.
"What about on foot? Couldn't you have followed after them with sound in the first place?" I asked curiously.
"These bugs—they seem to defy logic. They make any noise when flying despite using those wings. Even we are confused as to how they can avoid our ears," he sighed. Perhaps Madame Council might be right. The bugs seem to be specifically created to attack the elves and avoid their detection.
"How about… employing some sort of tracking item on them?" I asked all of them.
"You seems to be implying something, Zen. I'm all ears, if you happened to have any idea," Noah gestured for me to present it.
I rustled through my back pouch to look for the item in question. Good thing she passed it to me, and I wasn't even expecting to use it again so soon. I made sure to keep it inside an airtight glass container so that it doesn't produce too much noise when I'm carrying it around. Where is it? I swear I kept it—Ah, there it is.
"Ever used one of these before?" I lifted the small glass container before them.
A couple of them were confused as to what they were looking at. Even Noah squinted at it in confusion, while Violet and a few more female elves seemed to be chuckling. Is this bell supposed to be funny?
"Zen, dear, what you're holding is actually something that only female elves use. That bell is actually used to signal our partner at which location to meet. Each bell actually plays a different frequency that only our ears can identify. It's actually a rather rare item now, but we certainly used one before, isn't that right, darling?" Violet poked her elbow against Noah as he coughed.
"Uh— pardon me for not knowing its intended usage, but this very bell is the reason as to how I tracked the beast monsters back to their hideout. With the help of your daughter, of course, who was instrumental in its success. Rest assured, I only used this for tracking purposes," I answered firmly.
"Reverse hideplay? We should try that out, honey," chuckled Violet.
"Ehem, so, what you're trying to say is that using this bell was a success for tracking down the beast. Violet, do you trust your future son-in-law's idea of using the bell for tracking?" asked Noah.
"It's a sound plan for sure, it's a good alternative over tracking them using our wolves. It's more subtle and allows us to follow the bugs without alerting them. I actually like his idea more," she giggled.
"Alright then, let us form a small team to track the bugs on foot. Violet, you take charge of that since you vouched for him. Let's have a little test, Zen's idea over mine, which one is better?" he smirked at Violet, who suddenly frowned at his sudden suggestion.
Uh— did he just turn this into some competition? I just gave my insight on what I did previously to track the beast. And I have Violet as our leader? Oh gosh, is there going to be more flirting from her throughout the journey? I'm so glad that Lily doesn't take after her; otherwise, I'm not sure if I can take it.
***
"I swear that husband of mine is so unpredictable," complained Violet as she followed us as soon as the meeting had ended.
We found it strange that she decided to follow us when we would only be departing tomorrow. Why is she following us in the first place? To find someone to complain to?
"Uh, Violet? Any particular reason as to why you're tagging along with us? We were just planning to stroll around and do some sightseeing," I asked her.
"Is that the right way to ask your future mother-in-law? Oh, I just thought we could bond together since we're in the same group tomorrow. You know you want to~" smirked Violet as I turned my gaze to John, asking for help.
"Uh, I just remembered that I have something to do," answered John as he tried to run away, but I grabbed his arm tightly before he could escape. There was no way he could escape with my high agility.
"Don't you dare, John. You owe me a lot, and now is a good time to repay one of those favours by not leaving me alone with her," I whispered as I grabbed his collar.
"Okay, okay, I'll keep you company," he smiled awkwardly.
"C'mon boys, I'll show you around. Just give a holler if you find something interesting," she chuckled at our interaction and walked ahead.
We followed after her as she guided us around the elven city. I guess she had taken upon herself to guide us around the city as we only have today to enjoy ourselves here. How kind of her. I must have thought too badly of her due to all her flirting, but she is Lily's mother after all and I would have to bond with her in the future. I'm certain Lily's kindness has to come from somewhere, and I doubt it's from her father.
"Whatcha thinking about, future son-in-law?" asked Violet as she grabbed my arm intimately.
Oh gosh, this is not good for my heart whatsoever!
"N— nothing, just thinking how peaceful this place is. A shame that I can't bring Rose or my child here to visit," I sighed.
"Well, if you're able to boost your reputation from this war with the bugs, they might be kind enough to grant you unrestricted access. It all depends on your role in this war. Knowing you, you're going to be at the brunt of it. You areborn for greatness after all, Zen. Just like your father," she smiled as she stared directly into my eyes.
Thump
"I—thank you. You're too kind. Let's see what else this place has to offer. Lead the way," I gestured for her to guide us, which she obliged to do so happily.
W— what the hell was that? Don't you dare, don't you fucking dare! This is her mum, dammit!! Control yourself, you fool. You're just getting confused because she looks similar to Lily.
As we followed after her, we came upon a marketplace where the elves were happily doing business out in the open. This area was covered in soft grass that was completely comfortable to step on or even sleep on. It looked as though these were mostly small businesses that were looking to sell their specialties. I stood in a side store that was offering to draw cute things or portraits. Emiley and Daidas's inks, eh? Pretty cute name for a store.
"Anything tickles your fancy?" asked the elven male. He looked like an emotional boy with that orange hat of his.
"Yeah, how fast can you draw a female elf?" I asked him.
"Female, eh? Emiley would be more suitable for this. Hey Em, get over here," shouted the male elf.
"What's up? Please don't tell me it's about cute stuff again. You're totally qualified to draw it," she squinted at him.
"What? No! This gentleman here wishes to get a drawing of a female elf. You're way better at drawing girls than I am," he explained to her.
"Oh, c'mon. You're not that bad at it. Is there anyone in particular you want drawn?" asked the female elf.
"Her, actually, but with some minor differences," I pointed my thumb towards my back where Violet was chatting with another woman.
"V—Violet?! Oh no, you take the lead, Em. I can't handle her non-stop flirting," shouted the male elf as he scoured to hide.
"What do you mean?! She's not that bad!" she retaliated, but the male elf ignored her.
"So, uh, are you willing to draw her?" I asked awkwardly.
"Sigh, I'll do it. Not the first time someone asked me to draw her when she's such a beauty. You said earlier that you wanted some alterations on Violet's image. Are you referring to her daughter?" she asked.
"Y— yes. How did you know?" I asked her.
"I think everyone knows. You're pretty well known, and it's no secret that you had decided to marry her. Doubt you would want a picture of her mum in your bedroom, right?" she smirked at me.
"Of course not. Do you take Western currency instead? I don't have any EVCs on me, sadly," I asked her.
"Hmm—it's a bit of a hassle to get it exchanged, but I guess I'll give you a pass," she sighed.
"Great, much appreciated. I would like to have an image of her sitting on a chair inside a house, looking out a window. Would that be possible?" I asked and placed a gold coin on the table.
"W— what?! How detailed do you want the picture to be for you to give me a gold coin?! It's going to take days before I can fulfil your detailed request," she asked with her mouth agape.
"Just do your best within a couple of hours. I'm not asking for details down to her skin pores. Consider this a reward for willing to partake in my request," I smiled at her and proceeded to ask Violet to take a seat.
She stared at me curiously but somehow obliged my request. I decided to let both of them do what is necessary as I left them alone and continued to stroll around the marketplace with John.
***
"Is that your way of shooing her away? Sneaky," asked John.
"Yes, and no. I kind of want to give them a picture of Lily since it sounded as though they have no idea when she'll be able to come back here. There's not much to change from Violet since she's a carbon copy of her daughter, minus the emerald hair tips and glasses," I explained.
"How kind of you, Zen. Not even married, but already giving gifts to your future parents-in-law," he chuckled.
"Oh, har har. I'm sure you did what you could to suck up to yours as well. Besides, I got lucky with Rose since she had lost her parents, so Noah and Violet are practically the only "parents" that I'll ever have," I sighed.
"Yeah, I certainly sucked up to them. Sadly, they still don't like me, though. I didn't even dare to visit them since Daffodil isn't here with me. Who knows what they'll do to me if I were to meet with them alone," he made a dry laugh.
"Sigh, getting married isn't easy, eh? Guess I lucked out with Rose somehow," I patted his shoulder.
"Tell me about it. Why would anyone want to marry twice is beyond me. There's so much hassle, especially when it comes to parents," he sighed.
"Oh, get off my back, John. If you're in my shoes, you'll marry both of them too. Sigh, let's check back on Violet. We've been gone for a while now," I told him.
***
"Oh, there he is! Zen, dear! Over here!" shouted Violet.
I hurried over to her and was surprised that the painting was already completed. Surprisingly detailed despite only a couple of hours having passed. Turns out the elven male was forced to help out with the painting as well to quicken the process. I am glad though, the painting is really good and was exactly what I wanted. An exact copy of Lily, minus her gauntlets, of course.
"Thank you so much. This is exactly what I wanted," I bowed to them.
"You gave us a gold coin, what do you expect? Of course, we have to do our very best," she wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"And I appreciate that. Thank you, once again. If I were to return here, I'll gladly commission you for another," I smiled to both of them with another bow, which they responded in kind.
"Let's get back to our rooms. It's getting late now," I gestured for Violet to lead the way.
"Are you going to hang it in your bedroom? Won't your current wife be jealous of it?" asked Violet.
"Actually, this is for you and Noah. You won't know when Lily will be able to return here, so I thought of getting something for you to remember her by. This is how she looked now, and I can attest to that. I promise I'll do my best to help her in any way possible so that she can come back here," I handed the painting to her.
"Zen—this is such a thoughtful gift. I love it, and I'm sure my husband will appreciate it too. You are such a good person. I'm getting jealous that Lily will be having such a good husband. Thank you, Zen," she gave me a peck on my cheek.
Thump thump
"You boys know how to get back from here, right? It's just straight from here. I'll need to make dinner soon. Jaa Neh~" she winked at us and skipped happily away while hugging the painting.
John stared at me as I clutched my chest. He seems to know what's going on with me.
"You do realise that's her mum, right?" asked John as he curled his lips.
"I know, John. I know," I told him as I rubbed my forehead and sighed. Fuck my life.