It only took Alz a second to recognise him, largely due to his unchanged appearance from the past. Alz revealed a brief look of pain, brought on by the memory that came along with recognising the elf, but it quickly faded and nodded lightly towards him and returning a smile as he walked over.

The elf was Kleiz, the one who had lectured them and escorted the group of eight over to the fourth village at the start of their trials. There were two elves beside him whom Alz also recognised who were whispering towards him, asking about Alz's identity.

Kleiz failed to show any signs of a response to this, simply staring at Alz with his eyes and mouth widely opened as he looked at the approaching Alz. He finally regained his composure shortly after his companions nudged him and began to tell them who Alz was.

The two of them were also members of the group of six who had escorted them to the fourth village. Despite this, they hadn't immediately recognised Alz partly because they only had minimal interaction during the trip and Alz had also greatly changed in appearance over the years.

Kleiz was also unsure when he asked, but he remembered the group of four who were always together when he saw Polon's behaviour and felt like the elf before him vaguely resembled one of the elves from the group, but he didn't actually expect it to really be him.

The two were naturally shocked upon hearing this, finally noticing the resemblance of Alz and the elf of the past. Everyone knew what had happened to the fourth village, making them all the more surprised at learning his identity.

Several of the elves who were eavesdropping also revealed surprise expressions while all the elves around revealed curious gazes that contained confusion as they looked at the newcomer. After all, there was something else that set him apart from the group, he was clearly still a child.

They were both curious about how he managed the earlier feat and confused as to what he was doing here. Yet, before anyone could ask Alz anything, the chieftain's voice suddenly rang across the field.

"Now that we have all gathered, let us begin. " the chieftain announced, focusing the attention of the elves group on him, simultaneously answering the doubts the elves had in mind, although they were now confused for a different reason.

"Alz, step forward." the chieftain called for Alz to move forward. Hearing his name being called, Alz obediently stepped out of the group and walked up until he stood before the chieftain.

"This is Alz, a survivor from the fourth village who had recently returned to the tribe. Do not look down on him just because he is young! He had been surviving alone in the forest with his own abilities for the past five years! You have already witness his abilities earlier, treat him as your equals as you move towards the capital together!" the chieftain announced while Alz turned to face the crowd.

Following this, the chieftain called for Alz to return to the group a

"The time of promise has dawned upon us. The Elven Capital has given us much aid in our times of need and it is only right for us to repay the great favours we have received...... May the Mother Elf bless all of you on your upcoming journey, always remember that the tribe will stand behind you wherever you may go."

The chieftain speech started out with the purpose of the trip, eventually going into various hopes and blessings for their safety and futures in the new land.

Many of the elves closed their eyes as they listened and the more sensitive elves even teared slightly as they listened to the chieftain's speech, the final words that signified their parting with the tribe in the upcoming years.

It was not that they would never be able to return, but they would have to spend at least 30 years in the capital before they would be released and allowed to return to their respective tribes in accordance to the agreement.

However, most of them generally chose to stay at the capital even after the 30 years. After all, they would have spent 30 years there by the end of the period and would choose to settle down.

The rare exceptions where when elves felt strongly enough for their tribes of the old and chose to return. There were several elves who fell in this category within the Calla tribe as well.

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The chieftain himself was also a part of this group, losing his spouse in the capital many years ago. He had decided to return to the tribe, to dedicate his remaining years towards improving the place that had raised him with some of the wisdom he had obtained from the capital.

During the speech, Alz was one of the few who felt little attachment towards the tribe and was the least emotionally affected by it. Hence, he decided to put his time to good use and politely asked Kleiz for details of the upcoming trip.

He had read about the agreement in the past, but the scrolls only briefly mentioned the sending of warriors to the capital with no other details. He had also been spending all his time previously with Polon and was unwilling to spend the time researching on further details

Kleiz sighed inwardly as he looked at Alz who seemed to know nothing about the journey, wondering why he was even coming along. However, he decided not to probe and instead began answering his questions patiently while feeling as though they had gone back to the days before his trial.

Alz began to feel slightly down as he looked at Kleiz explaining, feeling a void in his heart at the memory of the three missing elves who were beside him the last time this scene played out.

He shook his head lightly to dispel these feelings as soon as they appeared, continuing to listen attentively. After all, Caila wasn't here to cover for him if he missed anything this time, unlike back then.

After the speech concluded, the group began to march towards the entrance while the council followed behind. There were also some elves who had gathered around the field earlier who moved as they saw this, walking behind the council and seeing the group off.

These were mostly comprised of close friends of the elves in the group. as those who participated brought their spouses along if they had any and those who had children behind were forbid from participating in the journey.

The pensive mood from the chieftain's speech earlier was alleviated by the light of excitement in the of the group as they moved out of the village in a formation, having the supporters stand in the middle while the warriors surrounded them.

It was a large group with 26 warriors including Alz and 25 supporters in the center. Many of the supporters were spouses of the warriors, but there were some exceptions as well such as with Kleiz and his two companions as well as Alz who was an exception among exceptions.

The agreement was to send 50 warriors and 50 supporters, but a messenger had arrived, informing them that that the queen decreed for the number to be reduced by half in lieu of the attacks at the fourth village, something the tribe felt extremely grateful for.

After the group left the village, the central village returned to its peaceful days once again, as though nothing had changed from before. Everyone was still doing what they had to do and Polon had returned to the fourth village with the next wave of relief efforts sent towards the village.

However, this peace did not last for long before the tribe was stirred once again by a shocking revelation. This source of this disturbance was an object that was presented to the council.

Polon had returned to the central village a week after Alz had left to fulfil the promise he made with him, to pass the book Alz had written over to the council. Upon receiving the book, the chieftain first observed it with shock, which had only deepened as he went through the contents inside.

He immediately inquired Polon on where he got the book, to which Polon promptly replied honestly. Hearing this, the council members looked at each other with bitter expressions as they passed the book around while regretting the hasty decision to let Alz leave the village.

Alz might have displayed resentment towards tribe, but from this act alone, they could tell that he did held no ill will towards the tribe. In fact, just from the contribution of this book alone, he would have easily earned himself a position of equal if not greater importance than themselves.

They did not know how the book was made, but it was lighter and contained more information than the scrolls they used. This alone would have been enough to propel his position upwards, but there was more.

The book contained many innovative technologies they could have never imagined, with detailed write-ups explaining its theory and applications. Furthermore, the technology was all stuff that was useful to the tribe.

Even the chieftain who had returned from the elven capital was stunned into silence by the contents of the book, his eyes filled with awe when he filled the pages earlier. They couldn't even begin to imagine how much the author of this book, Alz, would have been able to contribute to the village had he stayed.

However, they couldn't go after him anymore. The group would have progressed more than half the distance by now even despite having to guard the supporters and it was far too late to chase them by now.

With regret flashing in their eyes, they sent Polon back to the fourth village and began to send messengers to the other villages to gather the librarians at the central village for recording and spreading of the book's contents.

The technology of the tribe advanced rapidly after this with the new innovations and after a month of development, Alz's grandfather had finally came up with a concrete plan with the new technologies and gathered the council to discuss the tribe's merger.

Two months later, the council gathered the various tribal chiefs and announced the plan for a merger, initiating the first stages of a long and slow process that would mark the greatest change in the tribe since its split, but this is a story for another time.