After resting up for the night, we left the town.
It was the two high elf girls who led me out of town, saying that they would bring me to the Verdant Forest.
But the way that they kept arguing with each other really didn’t inspire any confidence.
It seemed like they didn’t know exactly where they were going.
At the same time, it really seemed like they were letting something guide them. Only I really couldn’t see anything other than this stick that they took out from time to time.
But I didn’t ask anything since I already knew what this stick was.
It was a branch from the Tree of Life.
The Verdant Forest was named that because of the lush green colour that this forest had. As for how it was able to have this lush green colour to it, it was all because of the Tree of Life that was at the center of it.
The Tree of Life was something that the elves were famous for.
It was even said that the elves were a race that was born from the Tree of Life itself.
That was why the Tree of Life was the most important thing to the elves and the reason why they gathered around it. Namely, the high elves that were the progenitor of elves and the ones that were filled with the most nature energy.
Though they had this stick, it really didn’t seem like they knew how to use it.
So seeing them swing it around really made it hard for me to hide the bitter smile that crept onto my face.
The two of them were swinging the stick around as if they were expecting it to do something.
What they should have done was use the nature energy that they possessed as high elves to incite the branch. That would have created a resonance with the Tree of Life that this branch belonged to, turning it in the direction of it to lead them there.
"They really don’t know anything, do they?"
I couldn’t help wondering what I could say to convince them to hand me the branch to use it properly.
What I didn’t expect was that they would hand it to me on their own.
"Can you take a look at this and see what’s wrong with it?"
The two of them suddenly turned around and asked me this.
I couldn’t help being caught off guard hearing this before looking at them with a strange look.
However, it didn’t seem like the two of them had any hesitation in their eyes as they held the stick up for me to take. It seemed like they were just waiting for me to take it as if it was a natural thing.
"Are they really this trusting?" I couldn’t help thinking to myself.
But Nimue’s words made me rethink this.
"Are you not going to take it?"
"The two of them are just naive."
These two high elf girls clearly had never been out in the wide world before, so they were too trusting to people that they opened themselves to.
While it wasn’t as if I was a complete bad guy, it didn’t mean that I was a good guy either since I was just using the two of them.
When I saw them , I couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty.
Only I didn’t get the chance to take the branch in the end.
"I knew that you must have gotten delayed some way or another."
All three of us were surprised to hear this before I slowly pulled out my bow.
However, I didn’t get the chance to pull it out as the two high elf girls came over to stop me.
After stopping me, they just shook their heads at me as if they were telling me that it was fine before looking around as if they were looking for the source of the voice.
But when they didn’t find it, Nimue said, "Elder Rohice, is it fun hiding like that? We were in quite a bit of trouble just now."
Rania gave a nod without actually saying anything.
After a moment of silence, there was a rustle that came from the trees before a figure appeared in front of us. The moment that this figure appeared, I could feel a trace of danger.
But at the same time, I felt the same feeling that I felt when I met these two high elf girls.
It was clear that he felt the same with the way that he looked at me.
He only looked at me for a few seconds before saying to Nimue with a bitter smile, "None of us expected this either. It should have been a safe route as far as we were concerned since we’ve already used it many times. As for why I didn’t come to help you, it’s because we’re supposed to let you take this journey on your own to develop your own abilities. If we knew that this was going to happen, then we would have sent someone much sooner."
Only after appeasing the two high elf girls did he turn back to look at me with the same smile, but the bitterness that had been in the smile disappeared.
He narrowed his eyes to look at me before saying, "I never expected you to encounter someone ."
"He’s a friend." The two high elf girls suddenly moved in front of me as if they wanted to protect me.
But I wasn’t worried at all.
Since I was able to sense that familiar feeling from this Elder Rohice, it was only natural that he would sense that familiar feeling from me.
With a smile on his face, Elder Rohice shook his head before saying, "There’s no need to be worried, why would I harm one of our own? I’m just surprised that there are those that are still wandering out in the world . It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one like him."
Then looking at me with that same smile, he said, "We always welcome one of our own."