Reinhardt nodded, studying the girl carefully.
Similarly, the elf nad Lirae was also observing Reinhardt. Well, more than observing, it was more like trying to maintain eye contact without faltering.
GULP... Gathering her courage, she uttered the words that were in her throat.
"W-Why are you searching for a royal bloodline elf?"
The words ca out in a rush, as though Lirae feared that if she hesitated even a second longer, she would lose the courage to ask.
???
For a mont, silence settled.
Reinhardt didn’t answer imdiately. His eyes continued to study her, in an attempt to uncover information through posture and subtle gestures.
"Do you know one?"
Lirae stiffened, her hands clenched into fists reflexively.
"I-I... asked first." Though she quickly tried to hide it.
Desperation, fear, and sothing more... Reinhardt folded his arms and leaned back slightly, his expression unreadable. His mind was calculating, trying to piece everything together.
When interrogating the demi-human races of this village, he had strictly instructed Zerina and Elina to keep his motives and plans a secret.
The reason for doing so was because if his plans were to be revealed to the wrong ears, there was a chance it would reach the demons.
If word of the World Tree’s revival, the Origin Seed, or High Elf Priestess got out, they would no doubt do everything in their power to get in his way.
Although he wasn’t worried about the demons coming after him, he had to be careful of them foiling his plans, especially when he had yet to secure the last part to carry out his plans.
The fate of the High Elf Priestess was already unknown. If the demons intervened, it might put her life in danger. He wanted to avoid that scenario at all costs.
After all, there was only a single High Elf with the potential of becoming a Priestess remaining in this world.
This matter could not leak.
Yet the way the elf girl confronted him spoke of sothing else, perhaps a long buried truth.
Reinhardt made his decision.
"I am searching for a survivor of the Elfenheim royal bloodline. Soone who may be a High Elf."
At that declaration, Lirae’s breath hitched, and her pupils contracted sharply.
All of this was captured by Reinhardt.
"You don’t need to know my reason. Just know that whoever she is, wherever she is, I will find and protect her no matter what. With my life on the line if necessary."
Lirae stared at his eyes, and seeing that they held no falsehood or deception, her emotions beca a complex ss. She couldn’t understand why this human would go so far as to say all that for a demi-human.
Didn’t all humans hate demi-humans?
Didn’t they all see them as nothing more than objects?
Why? Lirae, a young elf, was less than fifty years old. In elven age, she was just an adolescent child.
What’s more, living her life in Rune, she had only seen the evil and wicked side of the humans. As such, it was no wonder that her perception of the humans was warped.
Hearing Reinhardt boldly proclaim that he would save the elf he was searching for while walking along with demi-humans by his side deeply perplexed her.
Lirae opened and closed her mouth, as if sothing heavy was pressing down on her lungs. Her eyes, which should be clear and mirthless, were burdened with guilt and pain.
"If..." Slowly, she opened her mouth and asked with every ounce of her strength. "If that person really exists, would you truly protect her? Even if it ant going against your own people?"
Zerina and Elina by the side, furrowed their brows. From the words of the elf girl, they could tell that she knew sothing.
Sothing that she hadn’t revealed before when they questioned her.
Reinhardt, standing in his place, t her gaze without flinching.
"Yes, I swear it on my na."
There was no hesitation, no embellishnt. Just a simple, unshakable answer.
For several long seconds, Lirae said nothing. Then, finally, her shoulders sagged, as if a burden she had carried for years had begun to crack.
She began crying and sobbing.
"Sniff, sniff. P-Please save Cecilia."
The three looked at each other, astonishnt evident in their eyes.
Finally, a clue.
Elina hurried forward and held the crying child.
"I beg of you, mister, please save Cecilia."
Reinhardt stepped forward and offered his handkerchief to her.
"Speak clearly."
Elina used the handkerchief to wipe Lirae’s tears and soothe the child.
A short while later, when her sobbing ca to a stop, she began telling her story.
"My parents and I lived in hiding, constantly moving from one place to another. Although it was difficult, we sohow managed to make it work. My parents always said that humans were dangerous. I didn’t understand it back then"...
"I only knew that whenever we saw human settlents in the distance, fear would fill their eyes. Then one day, they found us. A group of humans, ard and mounted. They were ruthless and didn’t listen to any reason. They only saw us as prey, slaves to be captured"...
"My parents told to run. No matter what I heard... no matter what I saw, I had to keep running."
Lirae’s body trembled, recalling those painful mories.
Elina, beside her, held the child close as if she could sympathize with her.
Just like her parents told her, Lirae ran and ran and ran. Before she knew it, she was inside a forest, lost and hungry. The trauma from losing her parents and the exhaustion overwheld her.
To make matters worse, she was surrounded by a pack of monsters. Weak and hurt, she was ready to accept her fate.
However...
"And when I thought I was going to die, I t her."
Lirae’s eyes, which were bleak and gloomy up until now, shone with a faint gleam.
"A girl few years older than . Platinum-gold hair that glowed like moonlight and eyes as blue as polished gems. We might both be elves, but even I could tell that she was special"...
"She descended from the canopy like a free spirit and defeated the monsters. One mont I was staring into a monster’s jaws, and the next, the creature was split apart by a flash of silver light"...
"That was my first eting with Cecilia."
Reinhardt calmly listened by the side; the vague feeling of uneasiness he had all this ti grew heavier by the minute.
Lirae continued.
After saving her, Cecilia did not ask where she ca from, she just held her hand, told her she was safe, and fed her dried fruit.
Then, after learning Lirae’s story, Cecilia even cried for her. Afterwards, she even took her to her ho.
A cabin built deep inside the forest, atop a large tree and hidden in layers of leaves and natural camouflage.
Cecilia lived there with her parents, far from human lands, protecting the forest and living their days in quiet.
Lirae was quickly accepted into that family, and slowly with ti, the wounds in her heart began to heal.
Ti passed.
She and Cecilia trained together.
Learned to hunt, learned to survive and learned to laugh again.
But perhaps even fate was determined to make the lives of the demi-humans miserable.
A few years later, when Cecilia and Lirae had beco capable hunters, they ventured deeper into the forest searching for rare herbs and honing their skills as hunters.
That was when they saw a human being chased by monsters.
The situation was clear; if nothing was done, the human would die.
Cecilia didn’t hesitate, she rushed in without a second thought. Her arrows shot through the monsters like streaks of starlight.
Lirae, after a mont of indecisiveness, also joined in, and together they drove off the pack of monsters.
Thanks to their intervention, the human survived.
The man knelt before them, bowing deeply, thanking them again and again, and introduced himself as an adventurer from the Kingdom of Rune, sent on a commission to find a rare dicinal herb.
Cecilia, curious about the outside world, offered to help the human while asking him questions.
For an elf who had lived all her life inside the forest, the outside world must have seed like a world full of mysteries and wonder.
She kept on asking questions, and the man answered freely.
Having narrated so far, Lirae’s eyes lost their gleam once again. As it turns out, a few days later, their ho was under attack.
One night, as the two were returning from their usual exploration, they could tell that sothing was wrong.
The air slled tallic, and the sky in the distance was bathed in a crimson light.
To their shock, when they arrived at their ho hastily, it was already half destroyed and burning.
The scene unfolded like a nightmare. Their only safe haven, the place they could call ho, lay in ruins. Blood, broken wood, trampled leaves, and human tracks, many, too many of them.
Cecilia cried and rushed inside the burning ho.
Lirae followed suit.
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