"He's a prophet!"
Amelia announced as soon as the man left, firm and confident.
"There is no other way!" She scanned her father and fiance's faces, "A prophet, an oracle, an apostle, or whatever of that sort!"
Bang Bang Bang
Amelia couldn't contain her feelings at all. As soon as the human stepped out of the house, she began banging her fists on the table. She could still feel goosebumps all over her body. The voice of that human kept echoing in her mind, giving her shivers one more time.
BOMM
The poor wooden thing was about to fall apart.
"Hmm... That might be true... But who is Emma-"
BANG
BOOOOMMMM
The table shattered to pieces.
"W-We must hurry to heed his words!"
Amelia shot up to her feet, whirled on her heels, then rushed to the door while dragging Claus with her.
"Let's go. We shall gather the elders and inform them all before signing this contract. Also, gain their approval to head to the treasury. So much work to do, so much stuff to take care of!"
"Wait, are we really accepting his offer?"
BAANG
Grasping the boy by the collar and slapping him against the wall outside of the house, Amelia moved closer to his face and stared at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Are we accepting it or not? Is there any other choice? Didn't you see it? That guy knows everything! Gah, creepy! It's dangerous! He'd freaking dangerous!"
Shivers ran down both of their back remembering the horrors they went through just a few minutes ago. Thinking back, there really was no other way for him to know about all that stuff if he didn't have some sort of secrets up to his sleeve. He was either a prophet as Amelia said, or someone close to the embodiment of true evil.
Claus nodded his head in complete agreement.
"Yeah, let's hurry up and do whatever he wants."
None wanted to offend such a person one bit.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-Master, why did you scare them so much...?
"Huammmm..."
Ian yawned as he strolled back to the tent. He looked relaxed, despite being tired, and a smile was plastered across his face.
-Why not? It was so funny. Didn't you see Claus' face? He looked scared shit! He was about to cry!
"Pffft!"
Being reminded of that time, Ian couldn't hold his chuckle anymore.
Poor man!
-...Evil!
Lior tapped his head a few times as if punishing him, but the beating was too soft and gentle to be called a punishment. This caused Ian to giggle even more.
Before they arrived at the tent, the wolf pup, lying atop its master's head, dragged its body closer to Ian's face. He pulled the hood up with a paw and peeked at the man's hair.
It was dark blue. A little bit lighter in color compared to before, but still dark blue.
He heaved a sigh of relief.
-What are you doing...
Instantly, the child's gaze shifted from the hair to Ian's eyes. Seeing his upside-down reflection in the man's blue pupils, Lior chortled.
-Looking at the most adorable creature in the world~
Poff- A paw pressed against Ian's cheek.
-And guess what? This human left such a cute child alone at night for hours. Sigh!
-...Lior, I already apologized multiple times.
-Nuh-uh! I'm still mad.
No hints of anger could be traced on his face. Despite that fact, Ian continued to discuss the topic in a serious tone.
-I had no choice. Couldn't just ignore such a flow of mana and leave it be, could I? Also, I got to gain something out of this so it's okay... I hope? If sir Lior forgives this master?
-Nay! Master tricked Alaric. Master is really evil!
-Sigh, whatever.
Pulling away the entrance and entering the tent, Ian noticed his group gathering to eat breakfast, still drowsy. Chuckling, Ian too walked up to the ground, ready to have another round of breakfast.
. . . . . .. . .. . . . . .
It didn't take long for the village chief's response to arrive.
A set of items, some samples of medical herbs, a box of rings, and a signed contract.
Looking at the two thin silver rings represented to him, Ian couldn't help but smile. They were items that could restore Aether to some extent. With them, he didn't need to worry about being out of Aether for a while. Of course, he currently didn't have any extra Aether to store in them.
"There used to be five of them as a complete set, but three broke in the previous attacks because they were used to supplement the shields. We sincerely apolozive. As per your request, the primary work will start once the current problems are solved. We'll complete the task as soon as possible."
Listening to Claus recount in the most polite tone possible, Ian nodded his head, discarding the shocked glares he was receiving from both his companions and the elves.
Why was an elf treating this human so respectfully? He was kneeling down even! And all his requests were accepted?
Once Claus was done explaining, Ian, who had a calm expression up till then, raised one of his folded hands as if gesturing him to stop.
"There is one last thing."
Instantly, both Claus and Amelia tensed up. This was while the other elders were showing signs of annoyance at how arrogant and greedy this human was. After remembering how serious the village chief had been moments ago in the meeting and seeing her expression at the moment, the other elders barely managed to stop themselves from confronting the greedy human.
"Yes, what might that be?"
"We need an envoy."
"An envoy?"
Taking the papers and flipping through them, Ian pointed at the name writing at the end of the long explanations.
"You've only signed an agreement with me. Elves need to send someone to negotiate with the true benefactors of this contract. And no, I can't do that in your stead since you guys will be the ones dealing with those people from now on, so an initial understanding is necessary."
The one who would ultimately use this pathway and need the elves' cooperation was Rosalyn, The Boss of The Resistance. Ian had nothing to do with them. The contract they signed was an agreement between himself and the village chief, which was presented to brief them on the terms and make them mentally prepared for what was to come. Ian couldn't use this as proof of their agreement in front of The Resistance since he wasn't even an official member of the army, let alone someone with a position high enough to use a contract signed by him for them
"An envoy..."
Amelia touched her chin, eyes narrowed, deep in thought. Before her mind could form a plan, though, Ian represented a suggestion.
"Why not give Claus some authority and send him with me since you are going to expel him from the village anyway?"
"Huh?" "What?"
Ian barely held himself back from bursting into laughter. It was so funny to watch them gasp at his every word.
"Anyway, let's head to the World Tree and get things over with."