Several moments passed before one of the elves behind him finally relaxed her aim and walked out from the group, signalling for the others to stand down and allowing for the heavy tension that was lingering in the air to start dissipating.

Alz let out a relieved sigh as he saw this, knowing that his gamble had paid off. Extreme times called for extreme measures, and this was the only method he could come up with on the spot, an all-or-nothing gamble with his own life at stake.

From his perspective, his actions had truly been reckless, but thankfully, these people were the princess's personal guards, the same ones who had been watching over their interactions since the very beginning.

Furthermore, they had also just witnessed the princess charge in unhesitatingly to save him, realising that this elf before them meant much more to the princess than what any of them had previously thought.

Had it been any other guard detail present, Alz would definitely have been killed on the spot just for endangering the princess alone, but they were different, as these elves held the princess's will at their highest priority, allowing Alz to avoid the fate of being riddled with holes here and now.

It was also because of this knowledge that the captain decided to give Alz a chance to speak even in this crucial moment, of course, it was also largely because she didn't have much of a choice at this point regardless.

She had already taken a quick glance at the princess's wound from afar and could tell that she was in a critical condition and was unable to be treated with the basic medical supplies they had on hand.

As it currently stood, the palace was more than an hour's journey from here and there were no other medical facilities nearby, and it was up in the clouds on whether the princess could last long enough for them to reach in her current state, much less when they had to actively consider her condition along the way as well.

There was also the option of gathering herbs on site for treating her, but the chances of it going well were no less than the former with the time it would take.

With this in mind, she was also a decisive person and it didn't take long before she decided to take the plunge and place her trust in the judgement of the princess, in the elf she was even willing to risk her own life to save.

As she was walking over, the colour of shock painted over her eyes briefly as she noticed Alz's terrible condition for the first time, but she quickly tossed this to the back of her mind as the princess's condition was far more important in her mind.

"Do you really have a way to save the princess?" she asked in a steely voice, making it clear that she wouldn't forgive any nonsense.

"Yes." Alz nodded with utmost seriousness on his face.

"Do you need anything?" she asked again in an audibly lighter tone from before, slightly reassured by the confidence in his voice.

"Just giv... I need someone to help carry her." Alz was about to ask for the return of the princess impatiently, but a bitter look floated on his face as he took a quick look at his body, realising that now wasn't the time to let his pride do the talking.

The female squad captain revealed a slightly puzzled look as she heard this, not understanding the meaning behind his words. However, she wisely chose not to question him now, knowing that time was of the essence now.

"Layla, Lily, assist him. The rest of you will stay behind and clean up this mess!" she thought for a moment before issuing the next set of orders, her voice boiling with anger as she gave out the second order, glaring at the dead corpses and the unconscious Cruz with a murderous light in her eyes.

The princess's condition was urgent, but Alz had already indicated that he didn't need help, so she chose to only bring the two of them, leaving the rest to clean up the mess here and watch over Cruz.

Hearing her words, Alz met her eyes briefly and nodded in affirmation before heading deeper into the trees by his right.

Layla gently rubbed her neck and shoot a resentful look towards Alz as she stood up. However, she quickly reined in her emotions with a quick glance at the princess, not daring to delay her actions in the slightest as she hastily following behind.

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"Aura, please be okay... "

Lily also followed after him immediately, frequently looking down towards the princess cradled in her arms with tears rolling across her cheeks as she tried to keep her movements as steady as possible.

It was no coincidence that the two of them were the first to reach Alz earlier, as they were tasked to look after the princess from the start, being the closest to the princess within the entire unit.

The two of them were the closest to the princess in age and frequently played with her in the palace during their growing years, fostering a strong bond that went beyond the others.

This was also why the squad captain decided to have them follow Alz, to assist if needed while also trusting them to watch over the princess's safety. Of course, it went without saying that she was also going to follow along as well as the three of them trailed behind Alz silently.

However, about a minute since they left, the female squad captain couldn't help but worry as she recognised the seriousness of Alz's injuries once again from watching limp ahead unsteadily from behind, his body trembling with each step like it could give way at any moment.

Yet, despite the blood that was continuously spilt from the wound on his left leg and the numerous bruises littered around his body, he was still moving forward at a rapid pace, as though he felt no pain from these wounds that seemed no lighter than the princess.

"I got taken down by that!? Is he a monster!?"

Layla was especially shocked by him, looking ahead with her eyes and mouth fully widened. Just then, Alz suddenly tripped on the root while she was observing him, causing her to gasp involuntarily as he fell flat on the floor.

After the fall, Alz gritted his teeth tightly and struggled to lift his body up but couldn't seem to find the proper balance with the weakness in his muscles.

"Layla, help him." the squad captain let out a heavy sigh as a pained look flash across her eyes. Hearing this, Layla proceeded up without any hesitation, moving up to support him.

"Thanks." Alz thanked her weakly as he looked down at his body with anger and helplessness, but he quickly adjusted his thoughts and gave her directions as the group continued to make their way forward.

With Layla's support, the following journey went by smoothly and they arrived at the destination about four minutes after they set out from the field.

There was a simple bed here, a table with a pestle and mortar with many different herbs lying on the ground nearby and a three-layered wooden shelf with multiple filled bags on it, each of them secured by piece of vine at the opening.

The three personal guards were surprised by this, not expecting there to be something like this built here in the middle of nowhere, but their eyes only wandered around for a moment before they turned towards Alz.

"We're here. Lay her on the bed." Alz announced with joy in his voice as he headed towards the shelf with Layla's support. Thankfully, the holes in the woven bed allowed for Lily to lay the princess down successfully without disturbing the arrow in her chest.

Upon arriving at the shelf, Alz promptly grabbed a sack and some bandages from the shelf. He then untied the sack and held it to his nose, giving the contents a whiff before nodding as he brought it with him to the bed.

"Can I borrow a dagger?" Alz instinctively reached for his waist, but realised that there was nothing there, turning his sights towards Layla as he asked.

"You...!!" distracted by the princess's wound, Layla didn't think too much about it and easily handed it over to him, but his next actions almost made her eyes pop out of her sockets as she desperately resisted the urge to scream at him.

Alz immediately started cutting through her top, attempting to reveal the fair skin that was hidden beneath.

Despite the invisible pressure that was emanating from three different directions, Alz swiftly cut through the first two layers of clothing, finally revealing the wound... or so he thought, but there was still one layer remaining, a thick sash that went multiple round across her chest.

"Isn't this uncomfortable?"

Alz couldn't help but think to himself even in this situation as he saw this, the last bit of doubt in his mind fading away at this sight.

As expected, even he couldn't help but feel slightly awkward before doing this, but he quickly took a deep breath before holding her sash down with one hand, feeling a soft, springy sensation under his palm which his other hand carefully sliced it apart.

He had to be much more careful here as her skin was bound extremely tightly beneath the sash, but he eventually managed to slice it apart without cutting her skin, revealing the twin majestic peaks in its full glory, with the arrow embedded right between.

Alz seemed to have felt the surrounding pressure intensify at this moment, taking a deep breath and refocusing his eyes on the wound. He put the dagger away and gripped onto the arrow with his palm, extracting it out of her body in one smooth motion.

The princess let out a painful groan as the arrow left the body, but Alz finally made a relieved smile for the first time as he observed the arrow, noticing that the arrow was still mostly intact and there were no pieces of organs sticking to it.

The moment the arrow left the body, blood began to flow profusely from the wound, but Alz had already been prepared for this, immediately grabbing several handfuls of powder from the sack and carefully applying it on both sides of the wound.

After several applications of the medicine, the bleeding started to slow down rapidly, finally bringing the princess out of mortal danger to the relief of the four elves present, feeling like the large weight on their chests was finally gone.

Despite feeling relieved, his hands didn't slow down in the slightest as he continued to bandage her wound up to finish the treatment.

"I did it... something changed this time..."

A pure, blissful smile surfaced on Alz's face as darkness began to cloud his vision, causing him to drop onto the floor like a lifeless puppet, with the smile still plastered across his face.