CH464 Elven Party II

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"I apologise for my party member's behaviour," the middle-aged elf said. He shot a reproachful glance at his companion before turning back to Udara with an apologetic smile. "As you can see, he is still immature and has yet to learn when to think before he speaks."

Udara did not respond.

Instead, she turned her gaze to Alex, clearly indicating that the decision was his to make.

The middle-aged elf caught the gesture immediately.

A man well-versed in the ways of the world, he shifted his attention fully to Alex, recognising him as the true leader.

Alex stared at him coldly.

However, a subtle tug on his sleeve made him pause. Eleanor's fingers tightened briefly, grounding him.

His crimson pupils faded back to their usual ruby-red as he exhaled slowly. He raised a hand, signalling for his party to stand down.

Then he motioned for Aylora to return to her companions.

The Night Elf hesitated, visibly reluctant to leave Eleanor's side.

Only when the middle-aged elf gave her a firm look did she move, albeit grudgingly, to rejoin her party.

"Thank you," the elf said sincerely.

Alex crossed his arms. "Who are you people?" he asked. "And why did you have your party member stalking us?"

The middle-aged elf hesitated.

His gaze flicked to Eleanor… then Udara… then finally swept across the rest of the expedition party.

He quickly realised this was a situation he couldn't talk his way out of.

"You are already familiar with Aylora," he began. "The Dark Elf is Darias Darkoak." He gestured toward the man who had nearly caused a disaster. Then he motioned to the final member of their group. "This is Naena Fogheart."

The woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties, silently gave a polite curtsy.

The elf then placed a hand over his chest. "I am Yerion Sunbow."

"We are members of our town's Lightfinders," Yerion continued. "When we noticed the beast corpses left behind by your party, I assumed you had no interest in them. So, I decided to follow your trail and harvest what you left behind."

He paused, then added carefully, "I believed you wouldn't mind."

"If that was all you did, I wouldn't have," Alex replied flatly. "But I don't appreciate being tracked and spied by unknown people."

"That wasn't our intention to spy on yo—"

"It doesn't matter what your intention was," Alex cut in. "What matters is how your actions can be perceived."

His gaze sharpened.

"You seem experienced. I'm sure you understand what I'm saying. If this were another party, this encounter could have ended very differently."

"I… do," Yerion admitted after a brief pause.

Alex turned his head slightly and looked at Eleanor.

"How do you want to handle this?" he asked.

Eleanor was momentarily surprised by the question.

Then she caught Alex's subtle wink and the slight nudge of his chin toward the elves.

Her eyes flicked to Yerion's companions, who were all watching her intently. In that instant, she understood exactly what Alex was doing.

She stepped away from his side and moved forward, positioning herself to their sides, but equal distance from both parties—symbolically neutral.

"We need to be fair to both sides," she said calmly, addressing both Alex and Yerion.

She turned first to Yerion.

"The reason our party left the beast corpses behind wasn't because they lacked value, but because we didn't have the means to transport everything. We chose quality over quantity." Her tone remained even. "It's one thing if you stumbled upon the remains by chance. It's another to deliberately trail us to continuously profit from our efforts."

Yerion's expression tightened with visible shame as her words struck their mark.

Then Eleanor turned to Alex.

"That said, you also can't deny that we left those corpses to the elements and scavengers. One could argue that, by doing so, we relinquished our claim over them." She paused briefly. "As for following us, it's clear they had no malicious intent—aside from a measure of greed, of course."

Alex nodded, appearing reluctant but conceding the point.

Eleanor continued, "So here's a proposal for both sides to consider."

"A… proposal?" Yerion asked, caught off guard.

"A trade," Eleanor replied.

She elaborated, "In exchange for allowing your party to follow behind us and gain first rights to whatever beasts we kill—after we extract what we need—we'll sell you the remaining corpses at twenty percent of market value."

She looked between them. "Is that acceptable?"

"We're here to hunt beasts anyway," Alex commented casually. "If we can earn something on the side, I'm sure my people won't mind having guests tagging along."

Eleanor turned back to Yerion.

The elf did a quick calculation in his head.

The Lightfinders operated with discretionary funds provided by the settlements they represented. They had recently received a fresh allocation, and compared to the risks involved in active hunting, this deal was… generous.

'Besides,' Yerion thought grimly, 'we could never gather as many usable corpses as they can.'

"I accept," he said firmly.

"Excellent," Alex replied. "Then you may follow behind our party until we establish camp."

With that, he turned away and rejoined his companions, who had just finished extracting the valuable parts from the Dune Croc.

Though Alex's words could have been interpreted as dismissive, Yerion showed no displeasure.

There was another reason he hadn't hesitated to accept.

If Alex decided to act against them, his party of four wouldn't last a minute against a force of over twenty.

He wasn't foolish enough to test that possibility.

"Come," Eleanor said gently, beckoning to Aylora. "Why don't you tell me more about yourselves?"

The night elf glanced quickly at the middle-aged elf.

Yerion met her eyes for a brief moment before giving a small nod. He had no intention of rejecting the bridge between their two parties—especially not when they were a High Elf.

Udara remained beside Eleanor. Her eyes never strayed far from the elven party, lingering a moment longer on the dark elf, Drais, who looked as though he had far more to say but was wisely keeping silent.

"The Silver Tongue strikes again," Zora remarked quietly with a knowing smile. "Nicely played—acting the villain so Eleanor could play peacemaker."

She glanced sideways at Alex. "What now? Are we planning to target this world's elven empire by starting with a weak, naïve scouting party?"

"Weak?" Alex replied thoughtfully. "Maybe. But naïve? I doubt it."

He nodded subtly toward Yerion. "That one's sharp, and experienced too. And that woman—Naena, was it? The quiet one. There's something about her."

Zora raised an eyebrow.

"Eyeing another woman, are we, Alex Fury?"

"What? No—that's not—" Alex started, then stopped when he saw the glint in her eyes. "…Haha. Very funny."

"It is," Zora said, smiling. Then her expression softened into something more serious. "I see what you mean, though. It's like all sound disappears around her."

"Want me to keep an eye on her?" She asked.

"Not particularly," Alex replied. "There's no reason to pry into their secrets unless we have to. I'm just planting a seed—a contingency."

He paused, gaze drifting briefly.

"Celahan is our objective, but putting all our eggs in one basket would be foolish."

"Understood," Zora said, nodding.

"I'm going to check on Mogal," Alex added.

He walked over to the towering barbarian, who had just fashioned one of the Dune Croc's claws into a crude necklace.

"No breakthrough in rank, I hear," Alex said.

"Not in rank," Mogal replied, touching the claw at his neck. "But I broke through in comprehension."

Alex nodded approvingly.

"That's good. Comprehension matters more in the long run."

"Rank breakthroughs help once," Mogal said. "Comprehension helps forever."

"Exactly." Alex smiled.

"Boss!" Kavakan suddenly strode up, grinning broadly. "I'm going next."

"Are you sure?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "You don't even know what we'll run into."

"My babies are hungry," Kavakan said, patting the axes at his sides. "They crave blood. Doesn't matter what it is—my babies will cut it."

Alex sighed. "Alright. Very well. We'll see what the nest throws at us next."

"Thanks, boss!" Kavakan said, already turning away.

Alex shook his head wryly as the weretiger departed.

Then his gaze drifted back to the elves standing with Eleanor and Udara.

His eyes grew distant—as if looking far beyond the present battlefield, toward a future only he could see.

What that vision held…

Only he knew.

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