"Now then, as my lady's spokesperson, allow me to introduce ourselves. Due to his anxiety, Lothar shivered a bit as sweat beads trailed down his neck in front of the tall elf standing imposingly in front of him. "My name is Elora Aeleth. My lady's full name is Millana Qindove."
"… M-my name is Lothar Edwin." Lothar chuckled sheepishly, his right hand scratching his head slightly. "Although, could I ask what you two beautiful elves are doing in this place? I've seen monsters roaming here, and almost got made into a snack by one, so forgive me for asking such a sensitive topic."
Going into full formal mode, as his parents taught him to be with strangers, Lothar uttered out his words line-by-line with grace, not unlike a human noble would. This got the two elves wary of their new encounter, and Elora landed her hand on the hilt of her sword without being obvious.
"Well, we're just gathering some plants for our village a few days' walk from here." Elora narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the suspicious human for any kind of movement that may prove harmful to her or her liege. Her enchanted blade may be able to detect the initial intentions of a person, humans or demihumans alike, but that didn't remove the possibility of them changing their tune in the thick of it.
And the way he talked reminded them of some humans who were kind at the beginning but betrayed them at the end. Of course, they were now six feet below the ground, but that was something not to be shared with the human in front of them.
"… Oh…" Lothar deflated at the mention of a settlement a few days' trek away from here. He was a simple college student that was reliant on technology to get him around places. Realizing that to reach a place full of people would take more than a day's worth of walking scared him. 'Just toughen it up, big boy. You survived when a typhoon hit your area and you had to walk for 16 hours straight to reach your home. You can survive walking for more than a day with rests in between…'
"That said, you said you were lost earlier. Can you tell me how you got here?" Lothar flinched at that question. Noticing the movement, Elora focused on Lothar, her hand subtly grasping the handle of her blade in case the human in front of her proved harmful. "Care to explain how you got lost?"
On the inside, Lothar was panicking. He expected the question to come, but there wasn't enough time to come up with a plausible answer.
Not that he could come up with one, seeing that he'd been here for only a few hours before encountering these two elves.
There just wasn't enough time to think of one, and he didn't expect to find sentient beings so soon.
"Well… I… Uh…" Now panicking, Lothar was quickly going over his thoughts to try and find a plausible excuse as to why he was in this forest. As time went on, however, the two elves' suspicions continued to grow, and both of them were now on high alert.
Lothar, noticing his precarious position, quickly came up with an excuse that was not that far from the truth.
"I don't know! I just woke up here one second away from my house!" Yelling out the words, he felt the familiar cold steel once again touching his neck, the sharp blade not causing any bleeding like earlier.
Some pressure? Yes. Bleeding? No.
'If it wasn't for my skill, I would probably be bleeding all over the ground now…' Thanking his skill once more to the high heavens, Lothar stiffened up as the blade pressured his throat. The two elves scrutinized the human for any sort of action, but found none, only his hands raised in the air as they refused to move.
"... I would have struck you down right there if it hadn't been for my enchanted blade." Elora slowly retracted her blade as Lothar's neck once again felt free from the pressure placed on his throat. "However, you give me as much as one reason, I will put you down like an animal. Is that clear?"
"C-crystal, ma'am." Elora sheathed her sword and Lothar relaxed. Millana, who was observing from nearby, pushed past Elora and stood in front of Lothar with an expressionless face. Lothar, having no idea what was about to happen, stiffened in anxiousness as the little elf girl gazed into his eyes.
She then turned around and looked at Elora, giving her a nod while she did so.
"Human shows no sign of lying. I think he is safe to bring along." Millana, being the responsible one, gave her input to Elora, who was conflicted on whether or not to follow her charge's request or not to ensure that they returned safe and without complications. "Also, we should probably bring him along. We need all the manpower we need right now if we want to survive…"
Elora winced at the facts sent straight into her face while Lothar was observing the two interact with each other, a metaphorical question mark hanging over his head.
"… Very well, Lady Millana. You know what's best for our tribe. As such, I shall follow your orders." Elora bowed before the tiny elf girl, and glared at Lothar afterwards. "Lothar, you can follow us, or brave the unknowns within the forest. It's your choice, but I suggest the former. You do not want to know what lives here."
"… O-okay…" Truth be told, Lothar wasn't worried about his well-being, but that didn't mean he wasn't scared of the unknown monsters living within the forest. It's like an insect, well, the non-poisonous ones at least. A person knows it can't kill them, but they stay the hell away from them anyway.
"Good. Now, help us with packing up our things. If you want to follow us, at least help us so we can move quicker." Nodding at the logic behind the words, Lothar followed the two elves as they headed back to the campsite.
'… At least I won't be lonely anymore… Just look for the silver-lining in all things…' Lothar stayed optimistic as he grabbed the recently washed pot standing next to the doused campfire, then hauled it to the bag where Elora told him to dump everything she told him to get.
Looking at the bag, he stared skeptically at Elora for a few moments, but her glare proved enough of a deterrent to stop the action and just go with the flow. Imagine his surprise when the pot went into the hole and the bag didn't even bulge from the medium pot stuffed within.
"Magic." Elora said, and Lothar decided that he also wanted to learn magic. Maybe when they get to their village and when they're not trying to survive in the dangerous forest.