Chapter 58 "O Noble Spirit!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so—"

"What the heck, man!?"

"I truly am! I had to understand! But I didn't! I had to! Yet… I didn't…!"

"H-Hey…! Just— Just relax," I stepped away from him. "What is it anyway? Apologies?"

I didn't know how to process his overly apologetic stance and words. I mean, deep down, I did. But damn I didn't want to be confronted with that. Not again. It was so awkward for me when the hideous elf was the one erratically apologizing and kowtowing. I didn't want it again. Never. "Know what? Whatever you've done to me, I'm fine! I totally am. There's no need for you to even mention it—"

"O Noble Forest Spirit!"

"Duh!" Why was I even surprised? My jaw dropped after I jumped behind.

"Pardon my sins! And please…! Give us back the princess! I'm so sorry, O Noble Spirit! You have come all your way to the descendant, the current princess, of the Tree's Sacred Line… but… but… I failed to recognize you!

"Even when you explained as much to us, lowly commoners, we failed to recognize you!" Some more Thumps resounded through the forest, shaking the earth and scaring the birds. Putting in between me and the crazy elf as many steps as possible, unwilling to offer my back to him, I backed away really far, and still, he felt as near as ever.

His voice only grew louder and more erratic. I was so put off and panicked I had to ask the man whether he was assaulting me or not. When I did so, he only grew more apologetic and sorry. "I'm so, so, so sorry if the Noble Spirit may think it's the case!" I thought he was so worn out he could barely move, but look at the man now. Surely, that long nap of his got him back on his feet.

Should I run? Should I not? I didn't want to have to deal with all the uncharted territory that opened to me as we spoke. The whole thing was still a huge misunderstanding. Who was that Noble Spirit or something? I knew I wasn't.

"Please! O Noble Spirit! Be so merciful as to give our people the late king's daughter back! I won't ask for anything else! A-After we are to be finished with your honorable affair, of course! Please, this lowly elf shall serve as a guide to your noble self! So please, give us the princess back—"

"Sh-Shut it!"

If you guys don’t read this on NOvElB(i)n(.)cOm and read somewhere else, Ain will HWUNT u and KWILL you!

"O Noble Sacred Spirit of the forest of my ancestors, do forgive my sins! Not recognizing you…! When you yourself tried to inform us, lowly elves, of your noble presence…! Please, forgive my sins!"

Inside of me, then and there, something broke. For the first time, I was mentally drained. I just wanted to sleep and forget everything. Alas, that wasn't going to happen. My plans were disrupted. Or were they? What now anyway? Having to go through all of this.

Elven Princess, please, take over and help. Something or someone in me cut a clear "No thank you." I sensed it. And I was left to deal with all of this alone.

So anyway, time passed again, and the sun dropped too. By a little margin. And White-haired explained things to me. Or rather, we just talked. His face was tense, his ashamed gaze planted to the ground. He told me he wondered about the How. The big How. Thankfully, he had undone the deep, apologetic kowtow he gave me earlier.

We were still in the forest, still by the place our carriage broke down at. At this point, it was like a second home to us. One of us slept here, and the other idly killed time waiting for the sleeper to get better. Thankfully, we would get going in a few. Also, after all the cries and yells he gave the whole forest to hear, naturally, a few enemies came to us. I slew them all, and then we got back to how things were earlier.

The elf's face wasn't quite willing to meet my gaze. At least the man's shoulders were facing me. "Pardon me to ask, O Noble Spirit, but…" At some point, eventually, his face climbed up and met my eyes. "Why might there be this… great deal of distancing between the two of us, sir?" Anyway, as I said, now, we would be discussing all of what needed to be discussed.

"Just so you don't try anything funny on me," I sighed, shaking my head. "You know I can't exactly 'trust' you after all we went through… right? Ah, and drop the 'sir'." Well, it didn't last long. The elf had finally deigned to meet my eyes and drop the overly ashamed aura hanging about his head. Now, his head felt too heavy with shame and self-hate, it seemed to me. Clutching his knees, he eventually said nothing. "H-Hey, you don't have to react that way, do you? I know I may be harsh on you, but you do understand where I'm coming from, don't you?"

"O-Of course I do! Th-That's exactly why I—"

"Well. If you do then, just understand that I'm being careful. Aside from that, there is absolutely no bad blood between us. That's how I feel. So don't worry about it."

"Y-Your kind words reassure me…"

"Glad they do. I'm comfortable with this much distance… And anyway, I can hear you just fine." I slightly nodded to him, after shouting every word of our conversation super loudly. I wasn't sure whether he could even distinguish the nodding movement of my head from that far away, however.

"Y-Yes, I understand, sir." Putting an awkward smile on his face, he went on. "B-But well! Thirty meters is a bit…" he cleared his throat, "too much. O-Only if you ask me, that is!" We were indeed that far away from each other.

"It's necessary," I shouted back.

"I must apologize for my useless intervention then, sir!" And in this apologetical and ridiculous setting, I was on one side, casually sitting like a frog, while he was farther away from me, on the other side, formally sitting on his knees as they were joined. "So anyway, O Noble Spirit… where was I… erm…" After his 'useless intervention', the elf took back where he left off. He told me "I actually wonder… how? How would the princess come to ask to meet with the Forest's Guardians…? How could she undertake such a mission? Or rather, why? I feel ashamed to admit it, but I had really no understanding whatsoever over this matter.

"And as you… well… as I, lowly elf, thought you were no more than the princess, I didn't press you to share with me the details of the 'plan' I believed was bound to fail right immediately. I was totally clueless about it. I mean, I was indeed astounded by the proposal of the princess—that was in fact you—but ultimately decided I would go with it without so much as a question. Why, because I never thought—or rather, never hoped we would get this far to start with. I hoped the princess might reconsider.

"Especially in the chariot, when we first stumbled upon the orcs as they fought… so savagely and thirstily. What I failed to recognize was that it was you, O Noble Forest Spirit, all along, piecing together each part of your plan— May I venture to ask, O Noble Spirit, should your noble quest be related to, in any way possible, the rescuing of our poor, defiled forest? I-I wouldn't dream of it, but…!"

"It is not."

"E-Evidently…! Haha…! W-We wouldn't be worthy…! I-I was just asking. Sorry. A-Anyway." The elf cleared his throat, stopped smiling awkwardly, and hurried himself to speak, saying the Noble Spirit didn't have all the time in the world. "Now, it all holds a lot of sense. Meaning, too. For whatever reason, you have come to visit us. Or rather, the other Guardians of the forest. Y-You are one of them! One of the Guardians! You must be, O Noble Spirit!" The way he asked that let me think he wasn't even sure of my identity. He did ask me before too.

He tried to guess at it. In a way, he was sure about my identity as a Guardian of the forest, but maybe he wanted me to confirm it to him so that he would be a hundred percent sure. Unfortunately for him, I heavily shook my head at his comment. 'Asking about that is a No,' I conveyed to him.