"Oh yeah, Iva. There was something I meant to ask you?"
As Xiao was about to speak, they were interrupted by footsteps nearby.
With Iva's help, Xiao gets up from the ground and locates the source of the sound.
A group of people, each wearing armor and weapon on hand, spear, bow and even a pitchfork.
At the front of the group was a familiar figure, it was the dark elf village's elder.
"Iva, stand behind me. Trouble is coming our way."
"Mm."
Following Xiao's instructions, Iva took shelter behind him. After a while, the large group of dark elves arrived before them.
"Hey there, elder! What's the big occasion?
Xiao was the first to speak, deliberately lightening the mood. However, none of them reacted to his words. Instead, they wore expressions of hatred.
"If you're here to find the ugly monsters causing trouble in your village earlier, it's gone. I don't know where it went."
At this point, an elder stepped forward from the group, his tattered robe replaced by armor.
"The ogre is indeed what we're looking for, but the person we truly seek is Ivaru."
After the elder spoke, he pointed his index finger at Iva standing behind Xiao.
"Hey, didn't you agree not to have anything to do with her anymore? Why are you coming to find her now?"
"We indeed did not agree to associate with Ivaru, and we hope she will not return to our village again. But now we know."
Accompanied by dark elves wielding bows and arrows, the elder continued, aiming at Iva's position.
"As long as she's alive, our tribe can never escape the fate of extinction!"
"Hey, calm down! Why suddenly raise your weapons? Your words have no basis at all!"
"Our village has never been attacked by such a high-level monster like the ogre before. It's obvious that Ivaru's presence poses a greater threat to the village."
("This old man! His superstition has gone out of this world! Always talking nonsense without any basis!")
Xiao cursed inwardly, nearly letting the expletives slip in his native language.
"That's just a coincidence! And if it wasn't for Iva's appearance, you would have been eaten by that orge already! If it didn't take Iva away, your village would have been attacked by it!" Xiao argued.
"A coincidence? Then why are you still protecting her? Also, we suspect your origins. You appeared with Ivaru, attracted the attack of the ogre, and with your ominous black hair, who are you really? You're abnormal from start to finish!"
"Me!?"
("This bastard! Ignoring Iva's contribution and now pointing suspicion at me!? This blaming method is too convenient!")
Xiao thought to himself that it was a waste of energy to talk some sense to these backward folks, for there's no hope for them. Arguing further would just be a waste of time.
"Alright, simply put, I'm her brother, and brothers protect their sisters. Is that normal enough?"
Xiao's answer surprised both the elder and his followers, and even Iva behind him was startled by his response, clutching his clothes tightly.
"Brother? What nonsense are you talking about? You're a human, and she's a dark elf. How can you be siblings?"
One of the dark elf men standing beside the elder steps forward, confused and angry at Xiao's reply.
"Oh my god, this is so tiring," Xiao murmured in annoyance, getting tired of even explaining anymore.
"What did you say?!"
The anger blows out as the dark elf man knots an arrow on his bow and aims at Xiao's head.
"Don't you dare!" Xiao returned the response with his sword readying, his other hand hiding, which was holding a smoke bomb.
"This human! I'll end you right away!"
The dark elf man was truly angered by Xiao's words and was about to attack.
"Please! Stop this already!" Iva shouted as she leapt out from Xiao's back, standing between him and the group of dark elves, her people.
Everyone was stunned by her action, even for Xiao, but he quickly pull her back and shielded her again from the group.
"Ivaru," the elder signaled the angry dark elf man to lower his weapon, "tell me, why did you come back to the village? Did this human force you? If so, then you should..."
Before the elder could finish, he was interrupted by Iva's firm tone.
"Xiao didn't force me. It was my fault for not bringing up the matter to him."
"Then why didn't you stop him? Didn't you agree that you couldn't come back to the village?" the elder shouted at Iva as he stepped forward, confused by her action.
Iva fell silent for a moment, then her expression became serious and confident in a way Xiao had never seen before.
"When Xiao said there was a way to cure my illness, I still had a glimmer of hope. I believed that after you heard the solution Xiao provided, you would let me return to the village."
"You're the cursed child foretold in our prophecy! Allowing you back will only bring disaster and the fate of extinction. You should understand, right? Everyone's worries, everyone's anxiety, and now you must disappear from this world to save us from our impending doom!"
("This old bastard! I'll tear off your shitty brain!")
Xiao's eyes sparkled with wrath, his hand was gripping his sword hard.
Noticing Xiao's anger, Iva reached out to stop him, then loudly declared to the crowd.
"I won't obey you!"
Iva took a step forward, her expression one of determination.
"My fate is my own, and so is my life.. No one can dictate my life anymore."
Iva took another step forward, causing the crowd to step back.
"Your future no longer concerns me. So from now on, I won't come back, because my old life died there. My new life is just beginning, so farewell to all of you who despise me, fear me, detest me and hate me. May we never meet again."
The elder and his followers retreated on their own, startled not by the fact that Iva was the cursed child, but by her unprecedented display of courage and independence.
The Iva they knew no longer existed. The girl standing before them now exuded confidence and charm, a remarkable girl whom Xiao was proud of.
("Well said, Iva! You've done more than I could have imagined, truly my proud sister!")
A sense of pride blooms in Xiao's heart by the display of Iva's courage.
"Alright, now that Iva has spoken, what... shall we do? Are we going to start fighting here? Because knowing you all, saying is pointless, might as well let the sword do the talking," Xiao slowly pulled Iva back to his side and entered into a fighting stance.
To be honest, Xiao wanted to avoid starting a fight here. His strength hasn't fully recovered and his weapons were worn out and his bombs and daggers were almost finished.
Not to mention protecting Ivaru while fighting a group of people with melee and ranged weapons did increase the difficulty to get out from here in peace.
As Xiao scanned the environment for any opportunity to improve his chances of escape, his eyes caught sight of the man-eater's severed arm. At that moment, an idea began to take shape in his mind.
"Before we start to kill each other, let me just mention it real quick."
Xiao pointed to the severed arm, which was still oozing out blood, a sight that disgusted the group of dark eleven, the elder included.
"Disgusting, right?. Well, that's the man-eater's arm."
The dark elves were shocked by Xiao's words. He put on an evil grin and began to spin his story.
"I was going to blow off its entire body to nothingness with my ultimate bomb bomb big explosive weapon, but there was still one arm remaining. I was really looking forward to see one thing got destroyed completely" Xiao express disappointed in a dramatic manner, he then continues, " but it was such a shame, you all should see how that pathetic thing got blown to pieces, all its body part burned, its blood gushes out and instantly got evaporated by the hellfire from my weapon. Ahh~ such a beautiful sight that you all had missed!"
Xiao wore the most sinister expression he could muster as he smiled, showing the others that he was a freak who loved to see things blown up.
"Back off! All of you!" The elder raises his hand and orders everyone to fall back.
"Elder!" The angry dark elf man before raising his objection. He was already dying to put some arrows into Xiao's skull.
"This guy has the power to kill an ogre single-handedly. Fighting against an adventurer like him would only disadvantage us," the elder explained. He then ordered everyone to leave the area.
"Don't come back to our village," said the elder as he prepared to leave."
"Leaving already? And here I was going to test this ultimate bomb bomb weapon of mine to you guys," Xiao continued.
"You!" the angry man pulls his bow string, almost releasing his arrow.
"Yaken!" the elder shouted.
Yaken, the angry dark elf man, cursed silently before unwillingly lowered his weapon and followed the elder. Yet his gaze never stopped giving Xiao the death stare until they were gone from the area.
Iva stood in silence as she watched her people leave.
Her eyes didn't hold any feelings of reluctance or sadness, but rather a sense of determination. She had successfully made her first major decision in life: no matter what anyone said, she would protect her own life and never again entertain thoughts of giving up.
"Hey, Iva," Xiao called up to her.
Iva looked at him, still wearing a serious expression.
Xiao smiled and petted her head, "Let's go home."
The serious expression on Iva's face instantly turned into a radiant smile as she spoke to him like a happy little girl:
"Okay!"