During the time when Che Lan returned, Iyas organized the Hunting Team to continue the hunt in her stead.
Yang Yu seized this opportunity to show off a bit, but his heroic figure was completely ignored by the elves.
The elves did not want to approach Yang Yu and only got close to Iyas, Hake, and Bai Jin, expressing their concern and inquiring whether Yang Yu had done anything excessive to them.
Iyas desperately explained that humans were not as terrifying as they imagined, and then began to tell the elves about her adventures in the Human World.
One or two elves showed a slight interest in Yang Yu, but when they tried to approach him, other elves held them by the shoulders and shook their heads.
The elves who tried to approach Yang Yu all shrank back.
Knowing the deep prejudice elves held against humans, Yang Yu did not take the initiative to get closer, as he did not want to annoy them.
He just listed some questions and quietly handed them to Iyas to gather some desired information.
At the same time, Yang Yu quietly found Bai Jin, whispered some instructions in her ear, and mentioned that if the elves extended their hatred to them because they had been with humans, she could unhesitatingly put all the blame on him.
Bai Jin hesitated, feeling that Yang Yu should not actively take on those blames.
Yet Yang Yu, casually digging in his ear with his right pinky, said indifferently, "Humans, these creatures have already formed a stereotype in the minds of elves.
To try to change this stereotype in the short term is completely thankless, so it’s better to conform to it.
We won’t be staying in this village for long, and the elves have no desire to go out and see the world, which makes things easier.
As for the blames, I’ve offended quite a few people along the way, and if they want to curse me, they can wait their turn, after those who arrived first.
Bai Jin, remember that as our strength grows, our reputation will also increase, and the actions we take will be increasingly exposed to the public eye, definitely attracting countless judgments.
Caring too much about those evaluations can shake what one believes and hinder one’s ability to act well.
We are not glittering Gold Coins, unable to make everyone like us; I think just being liked by ourselves and those we care about is enough."
After finishing, Yang Yu yawned, set up a charcoal fire, roasted the unclaimed prey, ate with Lotcar, and also shared some with Bai Jin and other elves.
As night fell, Yang Yu sat by the campfire, chatting with Lotcar and pulled out a notebook, flipping through past records to ensure he hadn’t missed any important clues.
This was one of the habits Yang Yu had developed related to game strategies.
To Yang Yu, failure was not scary; what was scary was the fear of failure itself.
There are many conditions for BAD END in the game, such as death or being imprisoned and losing personal freedom, all of which could lead to a BAD END.
As long as one does not reach BAD END, an appropriate failure is acceptable.
The bigger the stage, the more uncontrollable factors there are, making it even less likely to grasp the whole situation completely.
Yang Yu glanced at Lotcar, who was gnawing on a bone next to him. At rest, he could revert to a Beastman’s form but still chose to present himself as a giant Silver Wolf, saying it was more familiar to them and could be considered a form of training.
Many of Lotcar’s actions exceeded Yang Yu’s expectations, and so did the actions of others, often beyond their own anticipations.
Every NPC here had their own thoughts, and who knew if they might suddenly get a wild idea, summon a few hundred people, and chase after themselves with a 40-meter long machete.
Perhaps, it was more appropriate to see them all as living humans.
The night passed without words.
After sleeping on the spot for one night, in the early morning, Che Lan stepped into the morning light and returned to the Hunting Team to announce the results of the trip.
"Her Majesty, the Queen, is willing to meet you," she declared, "including you, the human."
The elves of the Hunting Team all showed surprised expressions, then began whispering among themselves.
Yang Yu simply smiled in response,
"That really is an honor."
With little further communication, Yang Yu and the others followed the successful Che Lan towards Luoyu City, where the Elf Queen resided.
Luoyu City was essentially the capital of the Elf Clan.
Prosperous trees shaded the sun, with elves either building cottages at the base of trees, living directly in the hollows beneath the trees, or, under the premise of not harming the tree’s life, hollowing out half of a tree to construct rooms within.
Between the different large trees, elves would build wooden ladders to connect each tree to one another.
Although Luoyu City housed nearly one-third of the elf population, it still didn’t feel like a big city; instead, the extremely natural way of life gave the impression of a slightly larger mountain village.
At the outskirts of Luoyu City, temporary villages gave the area a bit of liveliness.
The elves living in these outer villages chatted and laughed with each other, until Yang Yu and his group arrived, and the joyful laughter on people’s faces abruptly stopped.
When an elf stopped his work and stared intently at Yang Yu riding Lotcar over, other elves also paused their tasks and looked towards Yang Yu.
Many here were seeing a human for the first time. They were first surprised, then incredulous, and slowly, all of their gazes hardened, filled more or less with negative emotions.
Despite Yang Yu not being responsible for whatever had happened, the elves’ hatred had still spread to Yang Yu simply because he was also human.
Due to these piercing gazes, the Hunting Team following not far behind Yang Yu distanced themselves, leaving Yang Yu more exposed to these stares.
"That is a quite realistic reaction."
Sighing, Yang Yu observed all the elves looking at them, wary of someone throwing a stone, while also checking out the level attributes of the elves here.
Most of the elves here had extremely poor attributes, not much more powerful than Iyas who Yang Yu had met not long ago.
Occasionally, a few solemn and dignified elves could be seen, their levels and the others creating a significant gap—the lowest being LV83 with an average attribute over 600, undoubtedly, they were members of the Queen’s Personal Guard.
This wasn’t a guess by Yang Yu but rather because it was exactly written so on other people’s panels.
A few members of the Personal Guard came over, and Che Lan presented a letter personally written by the Queen. The members of the Personal Guard did not trouble Yang Yu and allowed them to enter deeper into Luoyu City.
To avoid causing unnecessary disturbances, two members of the Personal Guard, one on each side, flanked Yang Yu and the others, dispelling the onlookers and escorting them towards the Palace where the Elf Queen resided.