When we arrived at the feast that was waiting for us outside, I saw a very funny scene.
There was a clear split between the sides of the feast.
There were elves who were sitting on one side and on the other side…was our group sitting together.
There wasn't any interaction between the two sides and our group wasn't even touching the food that had been prepared. If there had to be a definition for an awkward party, it would be this.
When they saw us come together, they immediately started flocking to us.
However, seeing that the other side was also moving, they started getting wary again.
The two sides stopped and stayed on their own sides, staring at the other side.
Seeing this, I couldn't help giving a sigh. At the same time, I heard a sigh coming from the side.
When I turned over, I saw that it was the green haired elder who sighed along with me.
The two of us revealed bitter smiles when we looked at each other before we separated and headed off to our own groups.
Seeing that we walked over without the elves, they didn't hesitate to surround us this time. The guards were the ones that were on the outside while the rest were gathered around us in the center.
They didn't say anything at first, but it was clear by the looks on their faces just what they were thinking.
However, I stopped all of that by saying, "What are you all doing?"
The moment that they heard this, they all looked at me with a confused look.
I gave a sigh before saying, "Do you not remember why we came here in the first place?"
All of them still had the same confused looks on their faces, but there were a few of them that had hints of recognition on their faces. They were starting to understand what I was talking about.
So I shook my head again and said with a sigh, "We came here to discuss a non-violent resolution with the elf tribe over the logging issue, remember? If you keep acting this wary of them, do you really think we'll get anywhere?"
As soon as they heard this, the rest of the members of our group couldn't help revealing awkward looks.
That was because they knew that I was right.
They had treated the elves as hostiles because of what had happened before, but it didn't change the fact that they were currently on a peace mission.
So the more that they acted this way, the more that they embarrassed Zwein who was their leader.
So after a while, they all apologized with awkward looks.
I shook my head and said, "I know that it's hard to let go of your fears when we're surrounded by powerful elves like this. However, as long as we act like this, we won't be able to accomplish everything." I changed to a more understanding tone as I said, "I don't expect you to completely give up your fear of them since I know that it is impossible, but I just ask that you act professional."
There was a moment of silence that followed after I said this.
But then, all of them looked back up at me with determined looks and promised that they would try.
Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief.
Of course, it wasn't like I was really worried in the first place.
That was because all of the members of this group had been specially chosen for this mission in the first place.
I had gotten to know the people that worked under me…or rather under Baroness Rose during this time, so I had an idea of what kind of personality that they had.
These people had all been chosen because they were those that had an open mind, so they were more willing to accept things compared to the rest.
I knew that they were nervous since it was their first time in an elven village, so I also knew that it would just take a bit of encouragement for them to regain their fighting spirit again.
Well, fighting spirit would be the wrong way to describe it with what goal we had. The better words to describe it were hospitality spirit.
So after gathering themselves, the members of our group split up.
They scattered themselves among the elves and started mingling with them.
At first, the elves were wary of the humans that had approached them, but the festive air of the banquet helped. Plus with the wine that was served, it didn't take long before the elves opened up to the humans.
The members of our group also quickly found that the elves weren't that scary to begin with.
The elves might possess great power, but that didn't mean that they were different from them. They were just like humans where even if they possessed great power, they all had their own personalities and things that they liked.
The humans found that it was no problem talking to the elves once they found what they liked talking about.
For these elves, it was the outside world.
The elves were an isolated race after all, with rare chances to learn about the outside world. Not to mention that all of the elves that lived in this village were young since this was a place to nurture young elves before they started traveling the world.
So these young elves were very curious about the outside world.
Just like how there were different elves, there was also a group of elves…that were hostile towards us.
This was a group led by Apollo that kept to themselves in a corner of the feast.
From time to time, I could feel Apollo's gaze on me and they definitely were not kind.
But I didn't pay too much attention to them since I knew he couldn't do anything right now.
Instead, my attention was drawn by someone else who approached me.
It was the green haired elf who had guided us to the village.