Chapter 134

"Welcome to the Elven Forest."

At the entrance of the elven village, a very mature-looking female elf welcomed the group from the March Academy with a formal smile on her face. One couldn't see any sort of dissatisfaction toward tourists on her face at all.

Of course, Alice still noticed that the four young elven guards standing on either side of the entrance were looking at the March Academy's students with indifferent and wary eyes.

"The person receiving us is Elder Nina. Among the elders, she is the best when it comes to gauging a person's mood and facial expressions, which is why she is normally tasked with handling diplomatic work and receiving guests," Lalu introduced as she leaned into Alice's ear. "You noticed, right? Other than Elder Nina, the other elves here are behaving either indifferently or warily toward our group… This is just how elves are, so don't mind it too much."

When Alice heard Lalu's words, she realized that the loli elf must be worried that she might get a bad impression of the elves because of this situation, which might, in turn, affect their relationship. After rubbing the loli elf on the head, Alice lowered her body slightly to match Lalu's height and said, "Don't worry. I already mentally prepared myself before coming here."

Other than Alice, none of the other students noticed the four elven guards' indifference and wariness. After all, unlike Alice, they didn't come here with a deeper motive. They came here solely to sightsee and have fun. So, they naturally wouldn't pay as much attention to their surroundings.

Subsequently, Alice and the others entered the elven village under Elder Nina's lead.

"Huh?"

The instant Alice stepped past the village gates, a female guard standing on the gate's right side frowned and turned toward Alice's direction. Because of their heights, Alice and Lalu were positioned at the front of Class C04, so the female guard instantly noticed Alice.

"What's wrong, Filia?"

The other female guard standing beside the Elf named Filia noticed the change in her partner's expression, so she followed Filia's gaze and found herself looking at Alice and Lalu as well.

However, unlike Filia, this other guard didn't pay attention to Alice. Instead, her eyes focused on Lalu.

"Oh? Isn't that Little Lalu? Ah, I think I remember now. She's studying in the human realm's March Royal School of Magic. That's the academy visiting our village this time, so I guess it's normal for her to appear here," the other female elf said with a look of realization.

However, Filia did not respond to her partner's words. Instead, she watched as Alice walked into the elven village. Then, once Alice disappeared out of her sight, she couldn't help but look at the silver ring on her right pinky and wonder, Was I mistaken? Or is it…

Alice, who had already entered the elven village, naturally wasn't aware that one of the female guards at the entrance had taken notice of her. Similar to the other students, she looked around the village with curious eyes.

The elven village was very different from the villages and cities found in the human realm. Instead of concrete, the buildings here were made out of magically modified trees. The elves had transformed the inside of the trees here into a livable space, and it was quite a unique sight.

It was especially amazing when one considered that the elves had modified these trees without harming them. All of the trees-turned-buildings here retained their lifeforce.

"Alice, look over there."

While Alice was admiring the elven village's unique architecture, Lulu suddenly poked her waist and pointed at a distant tree. Or, more specifically, the wooden door on the tree's trunk.

"That treehouse has a teleportation array set up in it. It's the only way to enter the Nature Shrine."

"It's inside there?"

Alice was a little taken aback. This was because the treehouse in question looked no different than any other. It simply had a door leading to the inside of the massive tree trunk. She found it hard to believe that it was the only path leading to the Nature Shrine.

"Why does it look so…normal?"

"It's because it is normal that outsiders won't be able to find the Nature Shrine easily without an elf's guidance," Lalu said, chuckling. "Moreover, even if an outsider managed to learn of it through hearsay, they still won't be able to activate the teleportation array without an elf's help. That's why the village thinks the Nature Shrine is safe and did not bother stationing any guards there."

"You elves are really…"

Alice didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she heard Lalu's explanation. Although there was a saying that the most dangerous location was sometimes also the safest place, wasn't it a little too arrogant for the elves to take zero safety measures? Although only elves knew how to activate the teleportation array, were they not afraid that there might be a traitor among them?

However, Alice felt that the elves' decision wasn't made completely out of arrogance after thinking it through. After all, the Nature Shrine wasn't exactly a special place. It was merely a place for the elves to worship God. Alice wouldn't even have paid it a second glance if the village leadership didn't decide to store the taboo magic books inside the Nature Shrine this time.

While walking past the Nature Shrine's entrance, Alice noticed a stone pillar with seemingly no purpose erected beside the treehouse. The stone pillar stood out like a sore thumb, and Alice couldn't help but grow curious and ask, "What's that stone pillar? Is it used to indicate the Nature Shrine's location?"

"That stone pillar, huh?" Even without looking back, Lalu already knew what stone pillar Alice was talking about. So, she said, "It's not a marker. That stone pillar is something a Hero left behind."

Another Hero? Alice was stunned. She didn't think she would come across another item related to Heroes so soon. "Why would a Hero's belonging be in the elven village?"

"Did you forget? One of the past Heroes was an elf," Lalu said as she looked at Alice in confusion, not expecting Alice to ask such a question. "That stone pillar is something that Elven Hero left behind."

"...The Seventh Hero, right?" After Lalu refreshed her memory, Alice quickly recalled the information she had learned about the past Heroes. Unlike the natives of this world who had grown up listening to stories about the Heroes, Alice had only transmigrated to this world for a little over a month. So, it was normal for her not to remember such details. "So, that's the stone pillar he left behind?"

The Seventh Hero was considered the most unique Hero out of all Heroes. This was because he wasn't a human but an elf instead. Moreover, he had only become the Hero long after the Demon King had appeared, and he could be considered the tardiest Hero in history.

At the time, the demon realm's war had already swept across the human realm and Elven Forest. Even the several surrounding tribes of various races had gotten involved in the war. However, even though humans, elves, and the other races had banded together to resist the demons' invasion, their armies were nothing but paper in front of the demon army led by the Demon King. They simply couldn't put up an adequate defense without the Hero's assistance.

Meanwhile, the Elven Hero had appeared in this situation. So, although the Hero didn't come from the human race, he still helped the various races fight against the demon race and defeated the Demon King.

However, because the Hero had too little time to grow, he died shortly after defeating the Demon King because of over-exhaustion.

Alice didn't expect the Elven Hero to actually leave behind an unknown stone pillar in the elven village.