When the morning came, we were woken up bright and early by the elves.
Leading them were the two blonde elves who had led us to the village yesterday.
It seemed that since they were the ones that had greeted us first, they had been assigned to take care of us while we were in the village.
The elves lived with nature, so they rose with the sunrise.
As a race that had abundant magic, they didn't need that much sleep unlike us humans.
So after going to bed late last night because of the party and then waking up early like this, it really was hard for us. But it wasn't as if we had a choice since the other side was already up.
It wasn't as if we could just keep sleeping all by ourselves when they were waiting, that would be disrespectful.
In the end, we all got up and enjoyed the meal that they had prepared for us.
To my surprise, I found that there was actually meat with this meal.
I had thought that since the elves lived with nature, that meant that they didn't eat meat. However, that didn't seem to be the case.
There were all kinds of meat products that were placed on the table, from bacon to ham to jerky.
I couldn't help turning to ask the blonde elf on the side and she answered, "Living with nature isn't as simple as you think. If you let your guard down for a single second, you will be swallowed by nature." Then her voice calmed a bit as she added, "Not to mention, we make sure to use every single part of the animal that we hunt to show them respect, so we are still respecting nature. It is all part of the cycle of nature."
What she said was correct, but it really was strange hearing this from an elf that I thought was more…gentle and nature loving.
Or at least that was the preconception that I had of them.
Having it shattered like this really was a strange thing.
When breakfast was over, it was Moon who came to pick us up to see the elders again.
As we were heading to the meeting room, we passed by Apollo who was leading a group of elves out.
As we passed by them, I could feel his gaze fall onto me once again.
It was especially bad since Moon was currently walking with me.
She didn't lead the way, she had left that to the two blonde elves. Instead, she deliberately slowed down so that she was walking right beside me. Not to mention that she had been staring at me the entire time, which made it even worse.
When my gaze met Apollo's gaze, he looked at me like he wanted to kill me. At the same time, he mouthed with his lips, "You're dead."
There was no hiding it anymore, he had already made up his mind.
Since that was the case…
It seemed that I did have to change my plans.
Once we passed by them, Moon suddenly said, "I'm sorry about him."
I couldn't help being caught off guard when I heard this.
I looked at her and saw that she actually had an apologetic look as she said this. It seemed that she really took this matter to heart…
But it wasn't as if that would change anything.
So I changed the topic by asking, "So how did you end up being engaged to him in the first place?"
Moon didn't answer right away when she heard this. She just lowered her head and gave a sigh, as if this would be a long story.
Then all of a sudden, she said, "It's a very complicated matter, but basically it goes back to the laws of the elves. Because I am who I am and he's the head of the warriors, it was destined to happen, that's the gist of it."
I looked at her with one raised brow and asked, "Aren't you a little too young for that anyway?"
After all, based on her figure and her face…while it was beautiful, she did seem a bit young.
When she heard this, Moon puffed out her chest and said, "Young? I'm already 167 years old, how can you call me young?"
I was surprised to hear this, but then I remembered that elves had lifespans of over a thousand years. As such, they developed slower than humans did.
So if you convert this to the human standard of age, she was only around 16 years old.
16 years old and with this body, it seemed that she really was a late bloomer…
But as I thought that, Moon glared at me as if she could see that I was thinking rude thoughts.
Seeing this, I revealed an awkward smile and continued, "If you don't want this engagement, why don't you just refuse it? I'm sure that with your status, you should be able to do something about this."
Moon lowered her head and revealed a bitter smile when she heard this.
She naturally also knew this, but…there was a problem.
After a long period of silence, she said, "Apollo's father…is a problem."
I asked with a confused look, "Who is his father?"
Moon's bitter smile became wider as she said, "Donan."
She said this as if I should know who this person was, but surprisingly, I actually did know who this person was. That was because this person had played a large role in the elven storyline in the game.
Donan, the head warrior in the capital of the elves.
The elves might be a migratory race that lived with nature, but they still needed a place to gather all the important people so that they could stand together as one race against the other races. That was the capital of the elves where the Elven King and the rest of the elven royalty lived.
And Donan was the head warrior in that capital.
He was one of the most powerful elves in this entire world and he was quite the honourable man, but it wasn't strange that he would have someone like Apollo as a child.
That was because I knew the true face of Donan because of the game.
Donan was an exclusionist who only cared about elven supremacy.
In contrast, the current Elven King was a moderate ruler who wanted to get along with the other races.
So in the game, there was the quest line to stop Donan's coup and save the Elven King, which would allow the player to become the friend of all elves. That gave them access to all kinds of beautiful elven ladies.
I didn't have any plans to take this quest line, but somehow, it came back to me in the end. It was like I was cursed to attract all kinds of different quest lines from the game…
Seeing the look on my face, Moon knew that I knew who Donan was, so she didn't say anything else.
Just like this, we were led back to the tree in the center of the elven village again in silence.
But before going in, I suddenly said to Moon, "You shouldn't let yourself be bound by rules. Your life is yours for the choosing and only you can decide what you want to do."