Creating a map was a task that couldn't be finished in a day or two.
Especially for Draven, who was thinking of leisurely travelling around the continent, as soon as night came, he returned to his own palace after he wandered around the human kingdoms nearest to the ancient forest where he first woke up.
The next day, he spent his morning working on the map with the information he collected the previous day.
As he dipped his quill in ink, he could not help but think his day was unusually calm and boring. The reason was obvious—his only personal servant was not present. No one was talking nonsense and complaining about everything.
Though other servants were serving their king in Erlos' absence, no one dared to make a sound, as if they wanted him to think they didn't exist. Erlos was the only one bold enough to behave the way he wanted in front of the King.
Erlos–-in his absence, the palace seemed dead quiet.
'Has he not returned yet? If he uses his powers right, he should be back by now.'
Draven thought and closed his eyes to focus. For some people with a special aura on their body, Draven could sense their presence at will, as long as he met them once. It was especially easy for him to find unique existences like Erlos, the only remaining High Elf bloodline in this continent. In the first place, Ronan was not far from the palace and it made it easy for him to find his servant.
Guessing that the young elf was in his home in Ronan city, he felt relieved that Erlos didn't disappoint him. As expected, he managed to return in time by using his powers.
As he confirmed Erlos' return, he found his thoughts wandering to a particular person in that city.
'Is that thing with Leeora?'
Leeora was someone he had known for centuries, thus, her presence was one of the most familiar to him. When he spread his awareness to cover her surroundings, he could not feel anyone near her. However, knowing Leeora, she would place that girl on her side since the girl is an outsider.
Frown lines appeared on his forehead as this human continued to remain a mystery for him.
Draven opened his eyes and his anger diverted to the obvious target. 'That Erlos, how dare he not come straight to the palace to report to me?'
The next moment, he disappeared from his study, leaving his work on the map half-done.
------
Meanwhile, in Ronan, Leeora finally convinced the human girl to roam the city with her, but this time Leeora didn't help her get down the tree.
"Remember what I told you about tree spirits?" the elf smiled with a gentle expression. "You can try communicating with this tree on your own. Touch its bark and talk to it with your heart. I will be waiting for you below."
Before she could react, she saw Leeora tapping the staff in her hands on the floor and a number of branches from the tree moved and carried her towards the ground near the base of the tree. The female elf looked up from below with a smile, as if she believed that the human girl would no doubt succeed.
The human girl gulped nervously.
Slowly, she touched the bark of the tree and closed her eyes. The wood felt especially warm and ticklish to touch, and for some odd reason, she felt like she could hear the tree spirit calmly breathing.
She didn't know what to say, so she decided to be direct. 'Can you help me go down, Tree Spirit?'
Swish!
Her eyes snapped open at the sound. In response to her request, several soft vines wrapped around her body and carefully lifted her. When the human girl was on the ground with the help of the tree spirit, there was a proud smile on her lips, as if she had achieved something really great.
"You are a quick learner," Leeora praised her. "You did well, child."
All of a sudden, their attention was caught by the sound of a door opening. The human girl looked up and found the noise coming from the tree house next to Leeora's home.
A beautiful silver-haired elf jumped from his tree towards Leeora's tree. Even with his fast speed and clean appearance, the human girl recognized him as the poor elf from earlier.
"Remember that young man from earlier? That is Erlos," Leeora informed her as she didn't know that the human girl could see him clearly. "Though he works in the palace, he often returns to his house. You will see him often as we are neighbours. That rascal is a bit of a lazy glutton, so it is normal for him to go to my home from time to time to freeload food."
The human girl blinked but didn't react to the elf's words. She seemed more interested in the tree spirit who helped her go down and patted the trunk of the tree as if she was saying something to it.
"Elder Leeora? Do you have time to spare?"
Just then, a young female elf who looked to be around the same age as the human girl approached Leeora.