The last time Lynch met him, he had already experienced the Great Druid’s eccentric personality. Anything unrelated to Heather, the Druid would never pay attention to. He would stand quietly aside, stroking a staff made from a branch burned during wartime, his mind filled with thoughts of his elf companions; but once it was related to Heather, even if a single blade of grass turned yellow, he would perk up and personally go to inspect it. Heather seemed to be his everything; that was his life and honor, his source of power to live eternally.
Behind him were some ancient elves, sages of this place, who had endured countless trials and tribulations. Even an eternal race inevitably suffers the erosion of time. All the elves present, except for the Empress herself, had simultaneously developed wrinkles.
However, in the eyes of outsiders, these wrinkles did not convey the slightest sense of old age; instead, they seemed to be born from long years of toil, symbolizing wisdom, filled with memories.
"Greetings, rulers of the elves." Lynch stood at the center of the great hall, saluting the hosts of the place. "Thank you for your generous hospitality."
"For a friend, no hospitality could be too much, for friendship itself is a boundless sea," said the Elf Queen. "Moreover, to us, your identity is not merely that of a friend." Fresh chapters posted on novel※fire.net
Lynch smiled and nodded. "Yes, I am not only a friend of the elves but also a servant of friends. If the Heather elves have any commands, I will do my best."
"The residents of Heather thank you for your generosity, Sir Mage." Nosta’s deep voice resonated. The injury he sustained in battle rendered his vocal cords unable to sing melodious tunes, instead making him sound like rolling thunder from afar when speaking. "It is my second honor to welcome you."
After searching in his pocket for a while, Lynch took out the item given to him by the Brass Dragon. "Your Excellency, Great Druid, this is an item entrusted to me by a creature I encountered on land, and he asked me to deliver it to you." With that, the black stone floated slowly toward the Great Druid.
Seeing the object, Nosta hurriedly took two steps forward, carefully receiving the stone from mid-air, then wrapped it in thick cloth from his waist, finally breathing a sigh of relief. All the elves present gasped upon seeing the stone, and Anna beside Lynch covered her mouth in surprise, afraid that her voice might distract the mage, causing the stone to fall and be damaged.
Only the Elf Queen maintained a smile, as if she already knew everything that was happening.
Lynch couldn’t understand what was happening, as nothing in his memory seemed capable of making the elves this cautious. He had used his Eye of Insight countless times to observe the stone and had also used spells to analyze it. Apart from knowing it was extremely ancient, there was nothing particularly noteworthy.
"Thank you very much, young mage," said the Great Druid with a smile. All elves knew Nosta was a serious leader, whose smile only appeared in the happiest of moments, a rare sight even in decades.
"Lynch, you’ve helped us a great deal. In a way, you have saved Heather," said the Empress. "This stone is the only seed left by the Holy Tree, which can only be preserved under a complete and undamaged hard shell. Some betrayers attempted to uncover the secrets of Heather’s Holy Tree and stole this seed. Thank you for returning this important item to the hands of the elves."
"It’s nothing," replied Lynch. He now understood why he couldn’t figure out the stone’s secret. Trying to study a plant seed using methods for analyzing magic items and not getting results would indeed be strange. "Your Excellency, Great Druid, that Brass Dragon will only return after some time, and he asked me to wait here all along."
"That old dragon remains playful, unchanged even after a millennium," said Nosta. "Since he has said so, please stay with us a while longer. Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I must immediately return this seed to its place."
With that, the Great Druid nodded farewell to those present and left the Holy Temple briskly but hurriedly.