"The three of you, go watch after him." Blain picked three elves from the group and instructed them to chase behind Polon.

He wanted to go himself, but he resisted the urge to chase after Polon as he knew that there was nothing he could do for Polon even if he caught up. He also wasn't too concerned about his safety as he trusted in his strength.

Alz ignored the gazes from the surrounding elves, carefully collecting the shards of glass on the floor. After several minutes, he picked up all the shards on the floor and fastened the bag again, placing it in his backpack.

Blain promptly approached Alz when he saw that he was done, asking him, "Alz, are you really leaving?"

He too wanted to know the answer to this question. From Alz's performance and getup, it was apparent that he had been through many things since the attacks and he would certainly be an invaluable asset towards rebuilding the village.

Alz simply looked up at Blain and nodded, not explaining more. His eyes were unfocused and it was clear that he was distracted. Noticing this, Blain swallowed his questions with a bitter expression, knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of questioning Alz in his current state.

Suddenly, Alz voiced a question, "Have you sent elves back to report on the condition of the village yet?"

Blain was caught by surprise at the sudden question but quickly responded, "We just arrived and came here immediately after Polon. We haven't even scouted the area for wolves yet." he answered frankly as there was no reason to hide this from Alz.

Alz nodded slightly after hearing this and said, "There was a pack of seven wolves left but they have already been killed. Their bodies are over there." Alz updated them on the situation and pointed in the direction he was heading earlier before the interruption.

Blain looked at Alz with his eyes wide open in disbelief, not just him, the surrounding elves all looked at Alz with shock. That short sentence conveyed a simple message that sent a chill down their spines.

The wolves wouldn't have randomly died on their own and there was only one plausible way in which Alz could have obtained that information, furthermore he was alone with no signs of any allies which made the shock they felt even greater.

"Y-You killed them alone!?" one of the elves couldn't hold back his thoughts and shouted.

Alz sent a casual glance at that elf before looking back at Blain, continuing his words, "I'll bring Polon back with me to the village to report the village's condition to the council." he wasn't asking a question, he made a statement.

Blain met with the gaze of Alz and fell into silence. He was looking deep into Alz's eyes, trying to peer into his mind, to find a way to convince him to stay. However, he couldn't come up anything which would sway the resolve of the young elf before him.

Several moments later, he sighed and asked, "Are you confident?"

"I will bring him back no matter what!" Alz's expression instantly hardened and he replied in an extremely serious tone.

Blain nodded his head multiple times while finally revealing a delighted smile at this answer. This was the first proper answer he got from Alz in the entire time, and the only one which he was satisfied with.

Alz then began to ask Blain a few questions on how Polon led his life after the incident, all of which Blain patiently explained to Alz with as much details as he could provide.

After this conversation, Alz started running towards the direction Polon took off in with a determined expression on his face. Lein had a rare smirk on his usually expressionless face as he gazed in the direction Alz headed while some elves appeared confused.

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Alz could feel his heart thumping loudly, providing energy to his limbs. The time between his steps grew shorter as he ran, revealing the impatience that he felt. As he was running, he realised that the surroundings were becoming more familiar.

Alz had been to most of the village in the past, but there weren't many places which could give him this sense of familiarity which was cultivated by a long period of time spent in this area. His steps slowed down to a walk as he began to observe his surroundings.

"So he came here." he thought as he looked at the familiar sights around him. There were signs of damage all around, but every tree, every building, and even every bade of grass here had a place in his memory. These were the dorms where they had lived together in the past.

Alz began to regulate his breathing, thinking of what to say when he met with Polon later. He was slightly worried that Polon might lose his mind and leave the village, but his concerns soon dissolved when he realised where this was.

Since he ran in this direction, Alz knew him well enough to pinpoint exactly where he would be now. Alz revealed a look of nostalgia as he looked around, before walking towards the hut where they lived while organising his thoughts.

The familiar hut soon entered his eyes, along with three elves who were waiting around the hut. The three elves shot sharp gazes in his direction when he appeared, but quickly relaxed their bodies when they identified him, greeting him with a light nod.

Alz returned their greetings and slowly walked over to the hut while nostalgia began to fill him. Memories of the spars he had with Link and Polon here, of the times he was explaining the contents of Lein's lectures to Polon while Link made fun of him by the side, fond memories of the times when everything was still happy.

He quickly shook his head to clear his mind. Now was not the time to look back at the past, he had something more important to do now, to save his friend who was still suffering from being trapped in the past.

This was something he understood, and something he had been fortunate enough to overcome in the early stages with help from the archives. However, things looked worse for Polon. The stories of how Polon led his life since the incident made him feel like shards of glass were piercing his heart each time.

He understood Polon more than the elven council back at the village, more than Lein and Blain and in some areas, even more than Polon understood himself. Hence, he had noticed many more signs which they could not from Polon's actions in the past years.

Polon had closed his heart for five years and it had only been worsening. He did not know that Polon had intended to end his life in this trip, but he also didn't think Polon would be far from his breaking point given the things he had heard.

He took a deep breath and entered the hut while calling out, "Polon?"

Polon was standing in the kneeling in the room slamming the ground in front of him. When he heard the approaching footsteps, his face immediately shot up to look at the intruder with a ferocious expression. Having seen that it was Alz who entered, an innocent smile suddenly floated on his face as though his rage earlier had just been an illusion.

His eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were stained with tears while his fingernails were digging into his palms. The bottom of his fists had a small trail of blood dripping from it and the ground before him had two marks which contained hints of red, matching the shape of his hand.

"Hey Alz, do you still remember?" Polon asked in a normal tone, the tone he often used when he conversed with Alz in the past.

"Yeah, I remember everything." Alz replied while looking back into Polon's eyes.

The side of Polon's lips curled up to form a wider grin as when he heard the reply, but the smile vanished in the next instant, replaced by a contorted expression filled with grief and loneliness.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU LEAVING!?" Polon bellowed at the top of his lungs.

The dominant emotion might have seemed like anger, but it took a different form when it fell into Alz's ears. What he heard was a cry of grief, loneliness and the fear or something being taken away from him yet again.

Alz fell silent at this, at a loss of how to respond. He was after all just a 16 year old who had been living in seclusion the past few years. He even felt an impulse to just stay at the village, but the resolve he held immediately doused the thought.

About half a minute passed with the two elves staring in silence before Alz said with a gentle smile, "Polon, let's take a walk."

Polon's was overcome with nostalgia for a moment as he blankly stared at Alz. This was always how it went with conflicts among the four of them. Whenever someone was throwing a tantrum, they would always bring him out for a walk to talk things out.

He soon returned to his senses and replied grumpily, "But I never win."

"We're just going for a walk like the old times, how's there winning and losing." Alz naturally knew what he meant but pretended to be oblivious. After saying that, he immediately walked out of the hut.

Polon looked at this and hesitated, but his hesitation lasted just an instant before he gritted his teeth and chased Alz out of the hut.