The elves of Springwood were grateful to us for saving them. Despite the immense collateral damage that resulted from the clash between Sigmund Krieg and Ricowen, the elves didn't begrudge the black swordsman. Instead, they were expressing their gratitude.
Unlike some entitled people, they were fully aware that their enclave would have been completely destroyed if it weren't for Sigmund. They had seen what Ricowen was capable of, and even if the crimson spearman hadn't intervened, they would have been overrun by the stampede of Giga Rexes and the packs of Velocity Raptors. The fact that Ricowen showed up later, even reinforcing those theropod type spirit beasts with more prehistoric type monsters was evidence that even if they somehow repelled the first wave, they would have drowned under the fangs, claws and shells of the second wave. And tentacles too.
"You should rest here," one of the elves said, bowing his head deeply. "We can't ever repay you for what you have done for us today, but at the very least, we can offer you some hospitality and a place to rest before you continue with your journey."
After the fierce battle, it was now approaching sunset. I didn't think the skirmish would take so long, but time flew faster than I thought when we were having fun. Nonetheless, he was right. We were exhausted after the fight, and though I had sent my summoned spirit beasts back to my dungeon for a rest, I couldn't say the same for Myria and the rest. Morten looked dead on his feet, Eliza was heaving, and the fairy sisters were leaning against each other. Myria had managed to find a stump where she could sit on and catch her breath.
As skilled and powerful as they were, they were only human (well, Sylvie and Silvia were fairies, and Eliza was an elf, but that's beside the point). They couldn't keep fighting infinitely. Even Sigmund looked weary from his battle, his usually stoic expression cracking a few times as he sighed tiredly.
Despite his own exhaustion, he displayed concern for the elves.
"How about your own casualties? And I might have accidentally destroyed a few of your homes."
"Don't worry about it. We're already enacting repairs." The elf grinned and gestured to his brethren, who were casting large scale spells to restore the demolished wooden huts and houses that had been caught up in the fighting. Their wood element magic was really a great help in this situation, though I couldn't say the same for the casualties they had suffered.
Unlike the time in Murkwood, where the elves there had ample preparation to fight against the Crunchy Crocodiles, and I had summoned my spirit beasts in time to bear the brunt of the battle, the elves here had already lost many of their warriors and mages earlier before we arrived. And even after I had reinforced them with my spirit beast army, a few more fell while they rallied to assist me. The Giga Rexes and other prehistoric type spirit beasts were far stronger and more dangerous than the Crunchy Crocodiles. In fact, even the lower ranked Velocity Raptors proved to be a deadlier foe because of their keen intelligence and flawless pack coordination.
I could only watch silently as the elven corpses were placed to a side, with white clothes or shrouds covering them. It wasn't just elves. A few of their saurian allies had fallen in battle too, and they were herded away by the Iguana Dinos, Thunder Lizards and other spirit beasts. Most of them simply went back to the forest that had grown all over the branch of the World Tree. Now that I thought about it, when I saw Yggdrasil from afar, I had thought there were leaves all over the gigantic branch, but now that I was seeing the branch up close, I saw that much of the leaves were actually trees gathered together and seemingly merging into clumps of leaves that gave the illusion of a much larger leaf.
To think the branch was huge enough to accommodate spirit beasts as large as the Titan Lizards and Thunder Lizards. The elf caught the direction of my gaze and grinned, spreading his hands while standing against an amazing background of saurian spirit beasts returning to their natural habitat to graze or drink from a lake set within the island-sized branch.
"Welcome to Springwood."
"It has been a long while, Hammond," Eliza said, approaching him and gripping his hands. Both elves exchanged pleasantries before turning back to us.
"Once again, we would like to thank you for saving Springwood," Hammond repeated. "Please make use of our amenities and rest to recoup your energies. I understand that you are currently undertaking a mission to save our enclaves, and we will provide whatever assistance we can. Don't worry about the damage. We are perfectly capable of repairing everything with magic, so your accommodations have already been erected."
"Yay!" Silvia cheered, throwing up her hand. "I can't wait! I need a good night's sleep to recover all the mana I spent today!"
"Hey, Silvia!" Sylvie snapped. "Don't be rude!"
"Not at all," Hammond assured her. "I think she raises a good point."
"What can we do about the dead?" Sigmund asked softly. Hammond shook his head.
"We will conduct a mass burial and a funeral for them in a few days' time to honor their noble sacrifices. You don't have to feel guilty. You did your best to help us, and we are grateful for that. Whatever losses we suffered are because of our own…decisions and failings."
"I apologize for my rude behavior from before." Eliza approached Sigmund directly and bowed deeply. "I…just couldn't bring myself to trust humans, but I have firsthand seen how much effort you put into helping us. Protecting my fellow elves and fighting so hard to save Springwood. By being hostile, I dishonored you and brought shame to my elf tribe, even though we were the ones who requested help from you humans. From now on, I will believe in you as well."
"Don't worry about it," Sigmund said with a shake of his head. "I am aware of the enmity between elves and humans, and most of your mistrust and hostility are not misplaced. I have witnessed firsthand the atrocities wrought upon humans, and the height of their greed." He paused and closed his blue eyes, as if recalling a terrible memory. "My fellow guild members are not immune to such sinful temptations as well. They often allow their ambitions to override their ethics."
Somehow, I wasn't surprised.
As the damage was greater to Springwood, and they had lost more elves during the battle, we didn't have any celebratory banquet or feast to honor our presence. We didn't ask for any, either. Instead, we did our best to stay out of the elves' way while they tried to get everything in order. Eliza too had gone out to help out wherever she could, but since this involved the elves' dead, they were insistent that we didn't have to help. I had the feeling that they felt that we would only interfere with their burial ceremonies, and since we weren't familiar with their customs, it was best not to pry.
Morten agreed. "Yeah, leave it to them. The best thing we can do now is to stay out of their way and let them deal with their own affairs. We don't want to accidentally offend them."
"Yeah," Sylvie said seriously. "Elves tend to be sensitive about these things."
"Eh…" Silvia clasped her hands behind her head and sulked. "They are so uptight. They really need to learn how to relax."
"Everyone has different beliefs and value systems," Myria explained patiently. "Elves are more attuned to nature than other species. I believe fairies have a higher affinity with mana, rather than nature itself, so your view on the world will be fundamentally different. Humans too will also have a different perspective. I don't think it's wrong to try and exploit resources, but the issue is to do it in moderation. The moment you let your greed get out of hand is when things go awry."
"Yeah." I wasn't enthusiastic about getting into a philosophical debate, so I decided to change the subject. Instead, I turned to Sigmund Krieg, who was silent the whole time. He spent the night sitting by the window and staring outside thoughtfully. "Um, Sigmund, are you alright?"
"Yeah." He smiled. "I appreciate your concern, but today was a little exhausting. Don't worry, I'm not about to go to sleep anytime soon, and I enjoy listening to your conversation, so don't feel like you need to keep quiet on my account."
"Ah, sure." I felt that he said that to ensure I didn't apologize, so I decided not to. "But do you mind if I ask you questions?"
"Go ahead." Sigmund glanced at me curiously. "I'm not sure I'll necessarily have any answers, though."
"Do you know who that demonic mage, Ricowen, is? It seems like this isn't the first time you've met him."
"Actually, it is. But you are right about one thing. It's not the first time I've encountered demons." Sigmund paused for a moment before sighing. "One of the reasons why I'm participating in this mission is also to hunt down demons. Truth be told, they have been running rampant all around Europe recently. A few of the major atrocities have been caused by them, such as the massacre in the Vatican."
"The one where over a hundred priests and hundreds of believers were killed?" Morten gasped, horrified. Sigmund nodded.
"Yes. The culprits are without a doubt a demonic organization pledged to bring forth one of the greater demons into this world. The spilling of so much blood is one of the appalling rituals they engage in to corrupt the esoteric energies of this world and weaken the barrier between this dimension and…hell."
"Hell?" Myria repeated, raising an eyebrow. Sigmund sighed.
"For a lack of a better word. As you know, the manifestation of spirit beasts began when an interdimensional rift opened up between our world and their dimension, and their spiritual qi or mana began seeping into our world and infusing the environment. Spirit beasts began migrating here, bringing along their own exotic energies to further spread into this world. But demons…they are different. They come from a separate but parallel dimension to that of spirit beasts. One more malevolent and infinitely cruel. A dimension of…pure chaos. One that thrives on suffering and the pain of others. One, as Ricowen said earlier, where its denizens have to fight for every scrap of resources, yet at the same time possess boundless greed and voracious ambition, the never-ending desire to devour other dimensions and resources. To grow and keep reaching for a pinnacle that can never be obtained."
"Are there four gods in that dimension of chaos?" I asked dryly. Sigmund blinked and shrugged.
"I don't know. I don't think anybody knows truly what lies in that dimension. It's not as if any of us humans or anybody in the spirit world have ventured inside and returned. Any who try would have their sanity blasted apart in an instant."
Not surprising. I couldn't imagine what a dimension that prospered on the suffering and pain of others would be like, and I doubted my sanity would survive more than a millisecond in such a hellish place.
"Back to your question, well, if you felt as if that wasn't the first time I met Ricowen, that's probably because I was chasing another demonic mage. I didn't expect to meet Ricowen here, but his presence confirms one thing." His expression turned even more solemn than I thought possible. "There is more than one demonic mage involved in this mess regarding Yggdrasil. My target is similar in strength to Ricowen, though Ricowen is arguably stronger by a considerable margin. That said, she's also Earth ranked and should not be underestimated. Nonetheless, even if it's just the two of them involved in this farce, that already makes this mission a lot more difficult and dangerous than I anticipated."
"And that's assuming they're the only demonic mages participating," Morten said, his complexion ashen.
"What do we do?" Sylvie asked, glancing at me anxiously, even as she held her sister's hand. For once, Silvia was subdued, her usually bubbly nature suppressed by the tense atmosphere. Myria looked down, biting her lip. She was committed to this venture, but she was under no illusions as to the enormity of the task. The fairy sisters, on the other hand, looked frightened for the first time, but when I turned to Sylvie, I could see that she trusted me and would follow me wherever. Her sister probably too, though Silvia was following Sylvie's lead.
Morten chewed on his lip and put on a brave front. Even without us, he had already made his decision, which was why he was here. If we were absent, he would likely be leading another party from Divine Path University, or perhaps from somewhere else in Hua Xia. Eliza, who wasn't here right now, was an elf, so needless to say, she was involved in this whether she liked it or not.
I smiled and shook my head. "We didn't come all this way to give up. The elves need our help and put out a request, and thus we shall answer. Let's do it."
"All right." Sylvie nodded.
"We're with you all the way," Myria agreed.
"If big sis says yes, then I'll accompany you guys." Silvia clenched her fists and forced a grin.
Morten heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you are in for the long haul. Of all the parties from Hua Xia I served as a liaison with, you seem to be the most reliable so far."
"Thanks. I'm not sure if I am as dependable as you make me out to be, but I'll do my best. Um, it's probably better to wait until we actually succeed before you thank us, though."
"Still, I'm glad that you'll be continuing. Most of the parties tend to give up the moment they run into an Earth ranked opponent."
"Hmph." I smirked. "I actually look forward to fighting Ricowen again. Next time, the battle will be very different."
Sigmund simply nodded silently and returned to staring out of the window. I wondered what it was he was looking at. Maybe his demonic mage target?
Whatever the reason, I was glad we had him on our side for the adversities to come.