Chapter 101: Evernight Woods

The moment he came out of the mayor's estate, Tristan was surprised to see the sight outside it. The female elf had brought upon her an army, which was currently standing and filling the street.

There were more than 50 elves in their full attire - silver armor and various kinds of weapons on them. Moreover, all of them were riding on top of a horse who also wore the same-looking silver armor. Each of them was emanating a strong aura that Tristan could faintly feel from where he was.

Tristan swiftly scanned one of them, out of curiosity.

[Elf - Male]

[Battle power 72]

[Spirit force 113]

Tristan could not help but click his tongue in astonishment. Then, he proceeded to scan everyone on that squad.

When the results appeared, Tristan was surprised to see that each of them had the strength of an Orc Champion, and that didn't include their spirit force in the equation. 

With force such as this, Tristan would not have to worry about travelling across the Chaotic Plains as he could trot around freely, charging through thousands of orcs and barbarians alike.

These elven soldiers were on such a different level that no wonder they were so respected by the humans.

While Tristan was wondering how the elf queen could manage to groom such a force, he shifted his attention to the female elf. When he saw the result of the scan, his eyes couldn't help but widen slightly.

[Serene - Elf - Female]

[Battle power 105]

[Spirit force 262]

She had strength similar to that of a Kingsblade member. Still, she had a very impressive number nonetheless.

When they came out and spotted these people, Serene immediately gave her order and those elven soldiers swiftly followed the instruction with impressive discipline. They quickly arranged themself as they moved simultaneously in precise synchronization.

"Please lead the way, my Lady. I will be right behind you." said Tristan courteously.

Serene was seen nodding her head and reacted to Tristan's words somewhat positively.

Captain Raika looked at this spectacle with a confused expression on her face. 

She swore that the Vanyar Elf, the Valkyrie, was furious towards Tristan for some unknown reason just minutes ago. But at the moment, the two people were showing friendly attitudes towards each other, which really baffled her. 

The speed of turnaround was simply too fast!

Therefore, the female captain immediately became worried because she suspected that Tristan had already controlled the female elf. Even so, she was not sure if she should confront him about it as there was really no way to tell if it was true or not. And in the event that she was wrong, the consequences of offending a Vanyar Elf was something she could not bear.

Before Raika could make up her mind, Serene brought her out of the contemplation as she said loudly, "March!"

The elven soldiers swiftly rode through the streets of Falkreath City, with Serene in the lead. The entourage darted out of the city into the wilderness, heading toward their destination.

After half a day of riding, the group finally reached the outskirts of Evergreen Forest. Due to the terrain where trees and bushes were everywhere, they were forced to slow down as the horses couldn't possibly gallop through the woods.

Tristan was told that it would take them another full day to traverse the forest as their speed had slowed to half of their initial speed. Upon hearing that, his thoughts couldn't help but wander to that flying ship again.

Halfway through the journey in the woods, the group stopped as the night had arrived. They quickly split up, going and doing the necessary tasks as they swiftly set up a camp in an open space they found.

Tristan then discovered that these elves strangely did not eat meat. When the camp was set up, they quickly took several types of bread before proceeding to eat it. The breads' appearance were different from what Tristan had seen on Earth, but he somehow instinctively knew they were bread.

Unexpectedly, Serene approached Tristan and gave him one. It was a triangle-shaped bread, wrapped upon a leaf. An aromatic scent diffused out from it, causing Tristan to involuntarily gulp.

When he asked her what it was, Serene told him it was Lembas. As it turned out, this bread was the staple food of these elven soldiers because one mouthful was enough to fulfill the daily nutritional needs.

Such an efficient race, these elves. They look cool but boring as hell.

Tristan tried to inquire about elves from Serene, with the intention to get more knowledge about this race, and also in order to regain her trust.

Even though Tristan had tried really hard to give a good impression to the female elf - unfortunately it seemed she still held a grudge against him.

***

The sun had risen on the horizon as another day had passed.

The group immediately continued their journey south as the first chirp of the day resounded. They were going far down south, heading deeper into Evergreen Forest. 

The deeper they went, the harder for them to see the blue sky above them because it was almost completely covered by the thick leaves of the towering trees around them.

When the group couldn't see the sky again, that meant they had already reached the deepest area of Evergreen Forest, the core of it, the area that was known as Evernight Woods.

With his heightened sense, Tristan could see and hear multiple unique plants and weird looking creatures as they went deeper into the woods.

Until suddenly, the group abruptly stopped their horses. One of the elven soldiers came from the front and approached Serene. He then proceeded to whisper something to her.

Looking at Serene's changing expression, it was apparent that something serious was happening. 

Moments later, Serene got off from her horse, and approached Tristan and Captain Raika.

"I apologize, captain. There is something that I really have to do first. Therefore, you all may continue the journey to Vanyar first. I will rejoin you shortly."

Before the captain was able to answer, Tristan opened his mouth.

"What is it, Lady Serene? If I may ask."

Tristan's unexpected question threw Serene off guard. She was hesitant at first, before deciding to spill the words.

"The scout spotted a group of trappers not far from here. Thus, we will go and halt them. It will not be long, I promise." answered Serene, with the last part directed at Captain Raika

Upon hearing this, Tristan grinned widely and said, "If it involves fighting, please count me in!"