A few days after our discussion with Phealos, Liefe’s guildmaster, we were informed that a letter addressed to us had arrived at the guild. When we next visited the guild, Phealos himself came to deliver it to us. With the letter in hand, we returned to our caravan to read it away from prying eyes.
The first part of the letter concerned Fauzard and his contractor. The sender expressed their joy at Fauzard’s release, and then, as requested, proceeded to recount what had happened to his contractor after Fauzard was abducted.
“So he truly has passed away,” Fauzard commented in a somber voice when I read that part out loud.
“But it says that his son has a daughter who’s still alive,” I pointed out.
“They’re waiting for you! Teto’s glad!”
The letter revealed that Fauzard’s contractor had managed to escape to safety during the war. He had more than enough time to witness his son’s growth, and he’d even welcomed a granddaughter into the world before passing away peacefully in old age. According to the sender, Fauzard’s contractor had told his family about him before his passing, and his granddaughter was eager to meet Fauzard and share memories of her grandfather with him. The letter concluded with a message to Teto and me.
“We will soon send an escort to Liefe to guide Lord Fauzard back to the forest. We would also like to personally thank the master of the Witch of Creation’s Forest and her companion for saving him. It would be our pleasure to have them visit our forest as well.”
“Oooh, Lady Witch! We’ve been invited to the elves’ forest! We get to go!” Teto cheered candidly.
I, on the other hand, had a sour look on my face as I read those last lines.
“Lady Witch? Is something wrong? You don’t want to go?” Teto asked.
“I do want to go, and I’m glad they’ve invited us. But I didn’t expect them to know our true identities.”
We had revealed our identities to Phealos, but I hadn’t expected the elves to do their research as well. The sender of this letter had addressed me as “master of the Witch of Creation’s Forest.” This meant that they were interested in me not for my adventuring prowess, but for my achievements as the Witch of Creation.
“Does that mean I’ll have to entertain some elven big shot?” I muttered with a groan.
But I quickly shook my head and focused on the important part instead: we were invited to the elves’ forest. That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I truly couldn’t believe how lucky we had gotten.
“Let’s look at things positively and make the most of this opportunity by learning everything we can while in the elves’ forest,” I said.
The elves’ forest housed the only other World Tree on this continent, as well as all sorts of mythical beasts who were under the elves’ protection. It overall seemed to be quite similar to my forest, so I was certain there must have been a ton of things for me to learn there. The political part was a bit of a pain, but I decided to just discuss all of the specifics with Beretta before going there.
And so that’s what I did for the next few days, all while clearing random quests here and there.
Finally, two weeks after we received the letter, the guide from the elves’ great forest arrived in Liefe. We had received a letter informing us of where and when to meet them beforehand; we headed to the shop that Phealos had pointed out to us.
“Looks like we’re here,” I said.
“It doesn’t look like a shop.”
The building we had stopped in front of didn’t have a sign indicating what it was, but judging by the number of rooms, it seemed to be an old inn that had been remodeled. There were only elves coming in and out of the building, which made me wonder if it was a place exclusive to elves who came to Liefe for business so that they’d have a safe place to stay.
“Our guide is supposedly waiting for us here,” I said, looking up at the building.
“Teto is sooo excited to go to the elves’ forest!”
“Let us hurry and head inside,” Fauzard urged us from inside the lantern.
The smell of fine wood greeted us as we stepped into the inn. A woman was waiting for us in the entrance hall. She had silver hair, ice-blue eyes, and dark skin, and was dressed in masculine clothes. Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be a dark elf.
She flashed us a reassuring smile.
“Lord Fauzard, I have come to escort you back to the great forest,” she said.
“Thank you,” Fauzard communicated telepathically to all of us. “I apologize for my current appearance. I have exhausted my powers; I must rest in the lantern until my strength is restored.”
“I understand,” she said before turning towards me. “I will hold the lantern, if that is all right with you.”
I nodded and handed it off.
“Thank you. It is an honor to meet you, Witch of Creation and her guardian. I am Althea. I serve as an aide to Her Majesty, the queen of the elves. Our Eltar Forest Kingdom extends its warmest welcome to you both,” she said with a pleasant smile.