Colt slowed his steps to a halt after crossing the entryway, waiting for the group to catch up. Maya followed beside him without uttering a single word, occasionally sneaking glances at the group behind with her cheeks still burning with embarrassment.
As the group behind approached the door, noise began to make its way to the group's ears, sparking curiosity among them. The noises became louder as the group moved closer, allowing their sharp ears to begin distinguishing the sounds.
The bulk of them sounded like noise from conversations, mixed in with several other sounds that didn't sound foreign to the elves in the group. A familiar place appeared in the minds of most of the group as they progressed through the entryway.
Before they could confirm it with their eyes, Colt's voice travelled into their ears, confirming their suspicions.
"This is the dining hall, where we will usually have our meals. The food here is much better than anything found in our part of the forest, so be prepared to enjoy your meals." Colt began to speak right as the group was making their way through the entrance.
This place had similar furnishing to the dining halls in the back in the tribe, except that it was a scaled-up version with many more tables and chairs placed around. There was also a counter at the front where both male and female elves were currently giving out food.
The dining hall was bustling with activity, happily engaging in conversations while they ate. The tableware and furniture constantly came in contact with other objects around, creating the characteristic sound of dining areas which led to the noise they heard earlier.
Everything appeared to be normal at one glance, with vibrance throughout the entire hall. However, Alz furrowed his brows as his eyes scanned through the dining hall, quickly picking up on the anomaly within.
The hall seemed to have been split into two sections, with an invisible divide between them where only a few elves were seated. When they saw Colt leading the way, the elves seated on the left sent warm gazes towards him while hostile glares shot from the other side.
"Haa... This is going to be troublesome. Let's just hope everything goes well."
Piecing this together with the earlier incident, Alz started to feel a headache coming while sighing inwardly as he realised he had underestimated the severity of the issue.
He had initially planned on coming here only to collect information on cities beyond the forest so that he would not be totally lost after leaving. He had not expected everything to proceed smoothly but he also did not expect issues to crop up this early.
All he could do now was hope that this would not create too much trouble for him during his stay and mess up his plans. However, he also knew that this was likely not going to happen from their earlier encounter and the scene before him.
With such a large group entering, the hall audibly quietened down as several groups of elves seated on the left broke off their conversations and turned to look towards the incoming group. There were also some curious eyes from the center while most seated on the right remained indifferent.
"Oh, its Colt! Are these our newcomers?" one of the elves seated on the left side called out to Colt, asking him expectantly as his eyes drifted off to Alz the group that was still entering the hall.
"Yeah, they just arrived earlier. I'm bringing them to see the captain now, but I was on duty earlier and don't know where he is. Did you see him around anywhere?" a smile appeared on Colt's face as he looked at the elf who called out to him, replying to him and asking a question of his own.
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Neither of them particularly contained their voice, allowing the exchange to be heard throughout the hall. This time, more elves turned towards the group from both sides, observing the group more carefully.
"Wow! The south is even sending in children now? Have they really become so desperate or are they disrespecting the rest of us!?" before the elf could answer, an acerbic voice cut from the other side of the hall along with a loud slam on the table.
Hearing this, many of the elves revealed surprised looks as they scanned through the group, landed their eyes on Alz. The elves seated on the right began to roar with laughter while pointing at Alz while those on the left looked at Alz with confusion and disappointment.
"Why does it always turn out like this?"
Having been forcefully dragged into the center of attention, Alz could only reveal a bitter smile as he looked upon the scene, sighing inwardly. He wasn't particularly angry at the elves for mocking him, in fact, it was in his interests to be underestimated.
However, his intention to keep a low profile at least during the beginning of his stay was mercilessly dashed with this incident, causing him to feel a sense of helplessness at the situation before him.
Thinking back, he realised that many of his plans which seemed sound at first never went the way he expected, from his return to the village, along the expedition, and even now. This prompted him to reflect on his planning process, determined to refine it further before he set off.
That said, he also couldn't truly be blamed for his oversights as he had only been 12 when he fled the village. In the following years, he had also been living in the absence of external contact and had only resumed interactions with others recently.
These series of events, in a sense, could have been said to be fortunate for him, allowing him to realise the many factors his previous arrangements failed to consider, the element of 'humanity'.
Alz might have been able to take the mocking into his stride, but the elves around him were unable to do so. The bodies of the warriors from the Caila tribe were shaking with anger while the females directed stone cold eyes at the laughing elves.
The elves seated on the left also began to shout angrily in response to the laughter, creating a scene of utter chaos throughout the dining hall. Meanwhile, the elves sitting at the center grabbed their dishes and brought them to the front before leaving the hall, unwilling to get involved in this.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" suddenly, a thunderous roar came from the entryway on the right, echoing throughout the dining hall. A few moments later, a figure slowly walked in with a tired expression on his face and a hand massaging his forehead.
The rowdy laughter instantly ceased the instant the voice was heard, causing the hall to fall into a momentary silence. At the sudden silence, Colt immediately jolted himself back to reality and walked up to the figure to explain the situation.
After all, the figure was the elf that he was looking for, the captain of the southern guardhouse. While Colt was explaining the situation, the other elves in the hall remained completely still, in stark contrast from the picture of chaos just moments ago.
"I have understood the situation. " the captain silently listened to Colt and nodded lightly after he had heard the whole story.
"ALL OF YOU HERE, SINCE YOU HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY, GET YOUR ASSES OVER TO THE FIELD AND RUN 100 LAPS EACH!" he then shouted once again, his voice sounding especially loud as it broke the silence that filled the hall, causing many ears to start ringing.
The expressions of several elves by another entrance were coloured in grief, walking dejectedly over in the direction of the field. These were the innocent elves sitting in the divide earlier who had been a step too late in escaping.
None of the other elves let out any voices of complaints either, obediently returning their dishes to the front and moving over to the field. Many of the elves who were sitting on the right however, looked at Alz and the rest with grudging looks, clearly blaming them for this situation.
After all, they all knew from experience that nothing good would ever come out from arguing with the captain at this time, even if they had reason on their side like the innocent elves who had been caught in the crossfire.
"All of you, come with me." after the rest of the elves vacated the dining hall, the captain spoke to the group before exiting back from the entryway where he had appeared from.
Colt, Maya and the elves from the expedition obediently followed behind the captain with some nervousness and unrest amongst them due to the commotion earlier, entering the entryway after the captain.
Silence returned to the dining hall once again, leaving only the staff in front who were busily clearing the large wave of dishes and utensils that were handed to them all at once.