"How will he train me, if I will be watched all the time?" asked Ash after Blade had left to have some food.
"Oh don't worry Blade will find a way, his affinity like yours is unique and it helps him sneak in and out of places and do a lot of other neat things," said Derek.
"Now let's talk about something more serious, you are going someplace very important, it isn't always even I get to visit the elves, and as such we must make full use of the situation as much as we can, so you will need to gather as much intel as you can," said Derek.
"Gather intel?" he asked.
"Yes, how strong their forces look and their numbers, if you can sneak into one of their military camps, there will be plenty of documents there that can shed a light on all this," said Derek.
"I don't know, do you do this sort of stuff too? I thought you were a diplomat and not a spy" said Ash.
"Yeah well, I guess I was asking ab it too much, but you know keep your eyes and ears open, maybe make a journal of things you see or something, just be a little creative out there is all I am saying, we never know with the elves, they are an ancient race, they don't evolve as fast as we humans do, for us the biggest threat are the demons but I am sure they still wouldn't mind ruling over us if they can, they have tried it in the past," said Derek.
"They have? I didn't know there had been wars between us and the elves" said Ash.
"Well if you read that book you will find out just how nice our neighbors are, it's a lot to ask from someone to accept another culture and belief, it takes a lot of maturity, and all of us would love to think we are better than others and I am afraid the moral fabric of our world isn't as good anymore" said Derek.
"I'll keep that in mind, I should go, I have to talk to Ron before leaving," said Ash and Derek nodded and he left.
Ash had written the letter last night he wanted Ron to deliver to his home back in the valley. He missed his parents and especially Fiona, he wanted to tell her everything that had happened. He found Ron in the pantry filling up big drums of rice.
"You know you never exactly told me, what you do here? or anything really, while I have shared a lot of secrets with you" said Ash.
"Oh it's pretty boring, my uncle works in the kitchen, my dad had him get me this job here two years ago, I used to get in a lot of trouble back home, but forget about me, tell me what happened last night, Why was she sneaking in your room, did you?" asked Ron almost jumping out of his shoes in excitement.
"Calm down it's nothing like that, I haven't even known her for more than a day," said Ash.
"You were my hero before I admired Sir Derek, but even he couldn't manage to land an elf, and we are pretty similar aren't we, I mean you are a bit taller but you are from a small town, and me too, you give me hope that one day even I can" Ron went on explaining his lifelong dream of having a harem of the most beautiful women serve him.
"I can see now, how you got into trouble back home, anyway, here is the letter, how long do you think it will take for you to deliver this" asked Ash.
"We will be leaving any day now, maybe tomorrow, since Sir Derek will be leaving then too, it shouldn't take more than a couple of days, I have been taking on extra work to impress my uncle so he won't argue too much if I take a detour for a bit," said Ron.
"Thanks a lot, man, can I help you in some way" asked Ash.
"Don't worry, you made my month last night, just keep me in mind and remember if you ever need some assistance or anything I am always there" said Ron smiling.
They talked a bit more, Ash filled him in a bit more about what had happened with Aria and in Derek's office, and then he said his final goodbye. He went back to his room packed his bags and went back to Derek's office which was packed. Roren and Aria were sitting across from Derek. There were also four men, two of whom Ash had seen fighting the first day, they were dressed in full armor and looked professional, Derek was instructing them on the routes to take. Roren was also wearing his best clothes it seemed, this time both the elves had their swords at their waists which made them look much more regal and imposing. Blade was nowhere to be seen, but after Derek's talk and the feeling he got from the clocked figure, Ash glanced at the shadows in the corner and he could have sworn that they seemed to move a little.
"Ah, there he is, ready to go I hope, So Roren, I supposed you'll want to send them off, go on then, we'll be waiting here," said Derek. Aria and Roren nodded and moved out of the door. Ash was about to follow when Derek called him back.
"Troy, did you get the thing I asked you to bring from the basement?" asked Derek to one tall, blonde guy.
"Yes, here it is sir, I had it polished," said the man and handed a sword to Derek, It had a nice handle, with a simplistic beauty to it, the sheath was thick and made of good leather.
"You can't take that sword, here take this, it's not the best, but at least it has our emblem, and it also has a decent magical stone in it, so it is much better than that piece of crap," said Derek.
Ash saw a walnut-sized blue ruby embedded a the back of the hilt of the sword. The other men looked at Ash with eyes full of jealousy and contempt, they had no idea who this young boy was, who was already getting a magic sword they had trained so hard to earn and was now going to the elven kingdom.
"Thanks a lot," said Ash and bowed and left.
Roren and Aria were waiting at the front gate of the keep, talking in quiet. They didn't have any sort of horses or other means of transport with them so he wondered how the elves travelled. They saw him approach and stop talking.
"Well, good luck on your journey back princess, be careful, may the Goddess look over you," said Roren making a gesture in front of her chest which Aria reciprocated.
"Come on, we should start the trip," said Aria, she was being neutral as Roren was still within earshot.
"How are we traveling, aren't we taking horses?" he asked.
"Oh, I forgot, you humans are pretty slow on your feet and have abysmal stamina," said Aria.
"We'll be traveling through dense forest for the most part so horses won't be much use anyway, I'll try to move slowly," said Aria.
And so, after glancing at the keep one last time he ran to follow Aria, into the wilderness ahead.