"Do I need to leave?" Maya asked in a soft voice, afraid that she was intruding on their tribe's private matters. After all, despite the kind treatment she received, it didn't change the fact that they were ultimately of different tribes.

Alz's movements froze for a moment as he was reminded of her presence. He slowly looked up and caught sight of her of her lonely figure by the side, swallowing the words he had planned on saying.

"Well... it should be fine if it's just her. I'm going to reveal it soon anyways"

Alz let out a sigh in his mind before he waved his hand lightly in her direction while reassuring her, "It's fine, it's nothing too important anyway, but don't tell anyone what you hear later."

Maya nodded with a puzzled expression as a question mark floated into everyone's head, wondering what Alz was planning on saying.

Alz took a deep breath before asking in a serious voice, "Can you guys help cover my share of duties for now?"

Colt had clearly explained the way duties were assigned to them yesterday while telling them not to worry about it for the time being, as newly arrived groups were given a week before they would be assigned with any of them.

The duties were assigned directly to the tribes based on their size, and not to the individual guards. The tribes would then be expected to allocate their manpower internally, where the captain wouldn't interfere with.

This was set in place to give the tribes more freedom in their planning while also reducing the burden placed on the captain, a system that had seen great success over the years.

The only condition was that each guard had to conduct at least one duty within a span of three months, to reduce the chances of a few elves overworking themselves and falling ill, disrupting the cycle of duties.

Alz was overjoyed when he first learnt of this, as the duty cycle had been one of his primary concerns before arriving. However, this also meant that he needed the cooperation of the others, which was why he was planning on meeting up with the group even if they didn't appear today.

Many of the elves wrinkled their eyebrows at this, but they quickly exchanged glances and nodded towards each other before the elf who passed the scroll over to the captain walked up and spoke, "We don't mind... but is there a reason for this?"

They didn't mind covering his duties, but they didn't know of Alz to be one who would shirk his responsibilities. This was a question that was necessary for the sake of fairness, especially after what happened in the captain's room.

Alz's lips curled up into a smirk, feeling as though a weight had fallen off his shoulders. Even though he felt that it was very likely for them to agree, he still wasn't completely certain before this, but now he could finally relax.

"I said I would make crossbows for all of you, didn't I? Since I finally settled down, I think it's about time to make good on that promise." a brief silence filled the air after Alz spoke, filling the air with only breathing sounds that were getting heavier.

The warriors' looked towards Alz with widening gazes, recalling the weapon that they had tested along the way. Alz had briefly mentioned it once back then, but none of them thought that he would start working on it so quickly.

Several moments later, cheers of joy began to erupt from the group and the elf who questioned Alz started laughing heartily before he spoke again, "Take all the time you need, leave the duties to us!"

This time, he didn't even bother to check the reaction from the group, as he didn't see a need to. After all, knowing them, there was no reason to expect anything other than a joint consensus here.

"Cross...bow?" Maya mumbled softly, confused by the unfamiliar term she just heard, but query remained unanswered, drowned out by the surrounding voices.

"Now then... for those who laughed at me in the captain's room... " a mischievous glint flashed in Alz's eyes as he continued on with a wry smile, his eyes scanning through the elves who were laughing behind back then.

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The laughter paused for a moment as Alz slowly scanned through the group, stopping briefly on anyone whose voice his remembered hearing back then, bring about a wave of nervous, dry laughs from some members of the group.

"You're all getting it last!" Alz exclaimed, laughing loudly after his proclamation. He had been remembered all their voices then and was waiting for this moment all along.

The unaffected warriors looked at each other and resumed their cheers and laughter while the guilty elves sighed helplessly as they looked towards Alz, not expecting him to show such a childish side.

Their moods reverted to normal very quickly as none of them really minded receiving their bows later. Regardless of anything, there had to be an order in receiving them, and the bonds within the tribe were strong enough to not let something like this affect it.

The group then continued to discuss on the details, deciding on the estimated completion schedules of the crossbows and the timings when Alz would return for his compulsory duty. Covering his duty was one thing but going against the guardhouse's rules for that was only inviting trouble.

Hence, Alz still planned on doing one duty every three months, as this would probably end up saving him more trouble in the end.

The discussion went on for another hour before it finally concluded. The group started to head back with Maya in the darkness, leaving Alz alone on the field once again, except with company of a well-built hut and fireplace this time.

After they left, Alz went through his plans in his head once again before entering the hut and lying on his newly constructed bed, tugged into warm sheets from the sack he received earlier.

Alz soon entered the land of dreams, finally allowing his built-up exhaustion to melt away as the night went by, welcoming the arrival of a new day.

At the next day, Alz woke up feeling refreshed, ready to set out on his daily activities. With all the groundwork laid out already, he was finally feeling relaxed for the first time since he entered the capital, ready to work on his initial objectives.

There was no rush on the side of the crossbows as he had told the others that he would be giving them two per month during the discussion. The others didn't know, but it was actually only a day's work for him.

Even factoring in the time, it would take to complete his workshop, there was still a large excess of for him to work on it. Personally, Alz had also wanted to deliver the crossbows to them as quickly as possible, but he had his reasons for this delay.

From what they had learnt, the forests in the central were also much safer than those of the south, so he also didn't feel a compelling need to rush it either, hence deciding on the two per month schedule.

"Time to check out the library."

His muscles were still slightly sore from the overwork before, so he was planning on visiting one of the key stops in the capital instead, the library. He had been distracted by the need to find a place before, but this was the actual first destination he planned on visiting upon reaching.

After sorting his thoughts, he grabbed his equipment and jumped off the bed, heading out of the field directly. Unlike Maya, Alz had a strong sense of direction and didn't need any external aid, successfully leaving the forest in one smooth path.

From here, he looked around and identified the directions before moving excitedly to the southern district where Colt brought them around.

The library was among the facilities that Colt had brought them to, so Alz knew where it was located. Back then, they had left only after a short introduction without even entering, but now he had all the time he wanted to browse around.

Alz soon found himself before a majestic structure, looking at it with shining eyes filled with anticipation. This was the southern library, a communal library built for the elves living nearby.

While not to the extent of the guardhouse, the library was still large, being around triple the size of the library back at the fourth village. The architecture used similar to the guardhouse, as were most structures he had seen thus far, something that he had gotten used to seeing around.

Alz took a deep breath to quell his burning emotions before proceeding into the library, being welcomed by the familiar sight of elven shelves as he stood by the entrance. A pained smile formed on his lips as his eyes swam around, his painful memories evoked by the familiar scene before him.

However, now was not the time for this. He shook his head lightly and proceeded a counter that was by the entrance. The counter was currently manned by an old looking elf who had been smiling at Alz while looking towards him with warm eyes since he entered.

"Hoho, what do we have here. It's been so long since I've seen a new face, and it's such a young one too. Hohoho." as Alz was approaching the counter, the aged elf began to speak while nodding several times as he looked towards Alz with a gaze of approval.

"Greetings Elder, I am Alz. I just arrived at the capital with my tribe two days ago." Alz introduced himself to the aged elf politely, his voice containing a heavy tone of respect.

The aged elf revealed a brief look of surprise before nodding with a satisfied smile on his face.

"So, what brings a young elf like yourself to this gloomy place?" the aged elf asked as he looked towards Alz with a pair of bright, curious eyes that belied his age.

"I want to learn about the outside world, the world beyond the forest." Alz replied with uncontained excitement in his voice as he returned the elder's gaze with a radiant expression that shined brighter than his own.