After Elnea and Althea had left, the two of them still pondering what treasures their forest could boast about, Teto and I started preparing to keep watch over the elven teens. When we were done, we passed through the transfer gate that led to Elnea’s palace and met up with Althea.
“I was awaiting your arrival, Miss Chise, Miss Teto. Let me take you to Lady Elnea.”
We followed her to the garden adjoining the royal palace and were met with the sight of several elves already gathered there. These must’ve been the people Elnea had enlisted to talk to the kids; most of them looked like they were adventurers or merchants. Elnea had opened a passageway to the spirit corridor, and everyone was entering one by one as she supervised the operation.
“I’ll never get tired of seeing Lady Elnea’s spirit corridor,” Althea muttered in awe.
“Is Miss Elnea’s special in any way?” I inquired.
She nodded. “Normally, the spirit corridor is just a shortcut the spirits can use to teleport to another destination, but Miss Elnea can connect it to multiple places simultaneously. It has helped us many times in the past, mostly to defend the forest against raids by organizing hit-and-run attacks,” Althea explained.
The spirit corridor was truly something else; one could anticipate the elves using it, yet remaining clueless about their exact location or timing made it impossible to evade their attacks. The spirits acted as Elnea’s eyes and ears, revealing the enemies’ locations to her. She would then use the spirit corridor to deploy her elite troops in swift surgical strikes, exploiting the element of surprise to gain momentum or to split up the enemy army and crush them one by one.
“That’s amazing,” Teto said, impressed.
Meanwhile, the only thought that went through my head was that I definitely didn’t want to make an enemy of the elves.
We passed the time by chatting about the spirit corridor; before long, it was our turn.
“Oh, Chise! You came,” Elnea said when she saw us. “I shall connect the spirit corridor to a spot near Rorona’s village right away. I am counting on you.”
“I know,” I said.
“Let’s go!” Teto chirped.
The two of us entered the spirit corridor and followed the path until we arrived somewhere in the middle of the forest.
“The teens supposedly have their base somewhere around here,” I muttered, looking around.
“Lady Witch, Teto can sense people this way!” Teto said, and we headed towards the destination she was pointing to.
After a few minutes, we spotted a fenced-off area with a couple of tree houses nestled high in the towering boughs.
“It’s a bit like a secret base, huh?” I noted, looking up at the tree houses with curiosity.
“It looks like a lot of fun!” Teto exclaimed.
It looked like these tree houses were work sheds of some denomination. The surrounding area was well maintained, with no trees or bushes in the way, and there were faint traces of blood on the ground. I surmised that this place was used by hunters to butcher their wild game, all while offering emergency accommodations for anyone needing somewhere to rest or stay overnight.
A group of adult elves was gathered near the fence.
“Quit your nonsense and come back to the village!”
“Human towns are dangerous. Wake up from your stupid daydreaming; you’re not going there on our watch!”
“You’ve all been poisoned by that stupid book! You can’t even catch prey; what makes you think you can become adventurers?!”
“Your mom and little brothers miss you! Come back!”
I quickly put together that they were adults from Rorona’s village and the surrounding settlements. They were trying to convince the young elves to come back home, to no avail.
“Shut up! I’m going to a human town, and you can’t stop me!” one of the teens said, poking his head from the tree house.
“‘Human towns are dangerous’? What century do you live in? Besides, I wanna be a craftsman, so why should I stay in this tiny village? I’d much rather live in a big town and have lots of customers!”
“I’m more than good enough to become an adventurer! I want to travel the world!”
“Mom and my brothers miss me? You’re just saying that to guilt-trip me into staying! I deserve some me time too! Ugh, this village sucks, I hate it here!”
The teens simply wouldn’t listen to them. They went back and forth a few times but ultimately reached a stalemate. As the adults reluctantly gave up for the day and started for home, they spotted us.
“Miss Witch? What are you doing here?” one of them asked.
“Miss Elnea asked us to try convincing the kids to come home,” I said.
The adults looked a bit embarrassed.
“Sorry for the unsightly display,” a stubborn-looking elven man grumbled, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “We should’ve dragged them back home by the scruff of the neck. Now even Lady Elnea’s getting involved.”
“If you had done that, they might’ve run away out of sheer defiance,” I said. “We’ll take our time talking them down and make sure they all return home safely.”
The adult elves from Rorona’s village all bowed their heads to us, and so did the ones from the other settlements.
“Please do. We’re leaving them in your care.”
I nodded and let my gaze wander to the tree houses.
“Still, I was surprised to see those tree houses in the middle of the forest,” I commented.
It was just a bit too convenient.
“It looks like they must’ve been really hard to build!” Teto added.
On hearing our words, the adult elves started laughing.
“These used to be our hangout spots when we were younger,” one of them said.
“The hunters use them to rest whenever they need a break, so we try to keep them tidy, but the kids have taken over.”
Small smiles had curled on the adult elves’ lips as they reminisced about their youth. Back when they were teenagers themselves, they must’ve gotten up to all sorts of shenanigans, just like their kids now. I didn’t blame the kids for being kids; my only issue with their little rebellion was that getting what they wanted could potentially put them in danger.