"Elena… have you been waiting here for us this whole time?"
A trace of doubt flickered through Kurose Akira's eyes as he looked straight at Princess Elena and asked the question.
Faced with Elena's sudden appearance, the three dark elves instantly tensed up. They raised their weapons and took defensive stances, nerves stretched taut.
Elena merely swept them with a cold glance and said flatly,"I have a few words to say to him. I'll deal with you later."
As soon as the words fell, her gaze returned to Akira. She smiled faintly and continued,"Abducting dark elves imprisoned in the Gloom Prison within elven territory—according to elven law, that's no less than fifty years of incarceration. You should consider yourself lucky that the Queen happens to be away today, and that I'm temporarily handling the affairs of the Elven Kingdom. Otherwise, the consequences of your foolish behavior might be more than you could bear."
"So," Akira asked curiously, meeting her eyes,"you're willing to let us go?"
He knew full well that the Elf Queen herself would never do such a thing.
"I can let you go," Elena said calmly. "And I can even allow you to take those three dark elves with you. But there's one condition."
She lifted a slender, jade-like finger and pointed toward the three dark elves.
"What condition?"
"Come here again tonight," Elena said. "I'm planning to create a masterpiece soon, and I need your assistance."
As she spoke, her eyes swept slowly over Akira's body, and she nodded with clear satisfaction.
"..."
Akira froze for a moment. He couldn't shake the feeling that this elven princess was… strange. Completely unreadable.
"Fine. I agree," Akira said at last.
"Good."Elena glided lightly toward the three dark elves and said coldly,"You infiltrated the Elven Kingdom and stole three leaves from the World Tree along with elemental soil used to nourish it. By elven law, you should be imprisoned in the Gloom Prison for a hundred years. However, due to the Queen's mercy, she has forgiven your foolishness and greed. Consider this your only warning."
The three dark elves stared at one another, disbelief written all over their faces.
They… were really being released?
"Take them and go," Elena said softly to Akira with a smile."And don't forget what you promised me."
Akira didn't reply. He immediately led the three dark elves away.
They hadn't gone far before the dark elves began whispering among themselves.
"So… everything we did was already known to the Queen?"
"That can't be possible, right?"
"But she knew our purpose! She even knew about the elemental soil!"
"As expected of the Queen… nothing in the Elven Kingdom escapes her eyes."
"Then why did she let us go?"
"..."
Akira listened quietly to their conversation without interrupting. He simply activated the teleportation array.
"Let's go," he said. "We'll leave via the teleport."
At that moment, however, the three dark elves suddenly became wary of him.
Before, they had trusted Akira because they had no other way out of the Gloom Prison. Now, the situation was different.
Nilu stepped forward and looked him straight in the eye."You said you were acting on someone's request. May I ask—whose?"
"Follow me and you'll find out when we arrive," Akira replied calmly."If I truly meant to harm you, why would I go through the trouble of rescuing you from the Gloom Prison? Wouldn't it have been far easier to act there?"
The three dark elves exchanged glances. In the end, they chose to trust him.
The moment they stepped into the teleportation array, they were transported to a human city far from the Elven Kingdom.
Liu Xue and the others had already been waiting there for some time.
Because the escape location had changed, Akira had instructed them in advance to move the rendezvous point.
"Akira!"
Seeing him return safely, Liu Xue and the others rushed toward him.
"Guildmaster! Are you hurt?"Fuli and Flora asked anxiously, checking him over with worried eyes.
"Don't worry. I'm fine."
Akira gently patted the two little elves on the head, then turned to Ye Lingxi.
"The three dark elves have been rescued. Your task can be submitted now."
Lingxi's face lit up with excitement as she bowed repeatedly."Thank you so much, Brother Akira! This B-rank commission has troubled me for so long—now it's finally completed!"
On the surface, the task seemed simple. In reality, it was brutally difficult. Without the Elf Queen's involvement, escaping from the Gloom Prison would have been nearly impossible. Among all B-rank commissions, this was easily one of the hardest.
After all, one might even have to face the wrath of the Elf Queen herself—a demi-god-level existence that even A-rank guilds couldn't possibly contend with.
"Wait… it looks like we still need to deliver the three dark elves to Paslow to complete the commission…"Lingxi froze mid-submission, realizing the task wasn't fully finished yet.
"Paslow?"
At the sound of that name, the three dark elves immediately relaxed, their attitude toward Akira shifting.
"So it was Lord Paslow who hired the adventurers…"Nilu bowed deeply."Our earlier suspicion was rude. Please forgive us."
Akira merely smiled faintly and didn't dwell on it. But from their reaction, it was clear that Paslow held an extremely high status among the dark elves.
"So where is Paslow now?" Akira asked Lingxi.
"She's deep within the Dark Forbidden Forest," Lingxi explained."There's no teleport access there. We'll need to ride griffins."
"Griffins…"Akira glanced at Marei Rhine. She met his gaze coldly.
He immediately understood."Fine. We'll take griffins. How long will it take?"
"We'll teleport to Twilight City first, then fly by griffin… about two hours," Lingxi answered.
"Then let's move."
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at Twilight City. They rented three griffins and set off toward the Dark Forbidden Forest.
For various reasons, Fuli, Flora, and the elves accompanying Liu Xue didn't come along.
After all, elves and dark elves were hostile toward one another—and centaurs couldn't ride griffins. So Liu Xue, Ye Lingxi, and one dark elf shared a single griffin.
Akira and Marei Rhine rode together on another. Thankfully, the seating area was spacious enough—otherwise, hugging Marei's scale-covered body would have been painfully uncomfortable.
During the flight, Akira turned toward the two dark elves riding on the same griffin nearby and asked,"Why go through so much trouble to infiltrate the Elven Kingdom just to steal a few leaves and some soil?"
Akira himself had used leaves from the World Tree before. They granted a +30 attribute bonus, but they weren't particularly rare and could be obtained through other means.
As for the elemental soil, it was simply soil found near the World Tree, infused with a bit of elemental energy.
He couldn't understand their true objective.
"We came to save Lord Paslow,"the dark elf with short deep-pink hair explained.
"Save her?"
"Yes," Nilu added firmly."Only the World Tree's leaves and elemental soil can save Lord Paslow. She's done so much for us—we have to repay her!"
Hearing this, Akira finally understood their motives.
Not long after, the griffins landed deep within the Dark Forbidden Forest.
The moment they touched down, a large group of dark elves appeared and surrounded them!
"Who goes there?"A dark elf with brownish skin demanded sharply.
"Don't worry, Rowen! It's us—we're back!"Nilu called out.
"Nilu, you're finally back!"Rowen warned her sternly."Lord Paslow is furious about your infiltration of the Elven Kingdom. You'd better explain yourself to her immediately!"
"I understand!"Nilu nodded quickly."They're our friends. Please treat them well!"
With that, she headed alone toward Paslow's residence, instructing the others to look after Akira and the group.
Akira surveyed his surroundings.
Compared to the grandeur of the Elven Kingdom, the dark elves' settlement was starkly simple—wooden huts built among the trees. Combined with the Dark Forbidden Forest's perpetual lack of sunlight, the entire area felt dim and oppressive.
Yet when Akira looked at the dark elves themselves, he was surprised.
Each of them was wrapped in silver-gray dark magic. Their physiques were sturdier than ordinary elves, and their combat power was clearly far greater. Some bore scars of past battles, and their sharp eyes glinted faintly in the darkness, radiating ferocity and experience.
That said… they didn't seem particularly friendly.
"Human,"Rowen leapt down from a tree and strode up to Akira."Why do you smell like those elves?"
She was tall—only a few centimeters shorter than Guren—and her wheat-colored skin made her look even more powerfully built.
"Rowen, stay back!"Nilu's two companions hurried in front of her, blocking her from approaching Akira.
At the same time, more dark elves gathered. In moments, hundreds had surrounded Akira completely.
"Is this how you treat our guests?"
A cold shout rang out.
Instantly, the dark elves obediently dispersed.
At the same time, a dark elf with entirely silver-gray skin entered Akira's field of vision.
And when she appeared, Akira noticed something shocking—
She towered over the others, standing a full five or six meters tall.
Her ears were abnormally long, drooping all the way down to her waist like a pair of twin ponytails.
Akira couldn't help but gasp in awe.
"So… big!"