The guards revealed some surprise when they saw Alz leave the library at this time but didn't voice any questions as they watched his back disappear into the guardhouse.

Alz's feet continued to carry him across the hallways until he arrived at the captain's office, taking a deep breath before giving the door a light knock.

"Who is it?" the captain's voice came from beyond the door.

"It's me captain, Alz." Alz identified himself.

"Come in." The captain's eyes widened when he heard that it was Alz, placing the scroll that was in his hands back on the table and looking towards the door with an anticipatory gaze as he watched it slowly opening.

"How are your injuries?" the captain asked, 

"I'm feeling much better now."

Although Alz knew that the captain was just asking it as a customary gesture, he could feel the genuine concern from his voice, choosing to reply in kind.

"I'm glad to hear that... so, have you decided?" the captain eagerly proceeded to ask, leaning closer towards Alz when he spoke.

Alz felt slightly bad for the captain as he saw his reaction, knowing that he had probably caused the captain much distress over the past two elven weeks.

In the previous two elven weeks, although he didn't pester Alz for an answer, the captain had came by to visit him several times and casually brought the matter up only for Alz to dodge the subject as he hadn't thought of what he wanted to do yet.

"Yes, I'm planning to head to the palace on the third day six cycles from now."

However, he didn't continue to do the same today, returning a clear answer to the captain this time as he had intended do when he decided to come here.

"Six cycles... I will relay this to the palace." the captain made a slight frown when he heard Alz's words, revealing an expression of slight hesitation. Yet, the hesitation on his expression was quickly replaced with a smile, returning a light nod to Alz as he answered.

His first thought was that six elven weeks might be a little too long, but he quickly thought back to the contents of the letter, ultimately deciding to just report Alz's decision to the palace.

"Also, captain, I would like to move back to the field after this." seeing that it was settled, Alz let out a small breath of relief and raised the subject of moving back to the captain, asking him for permission.

While he could have simply just left without saying anything, he still felt the need to inform the captain as he was still a guard under the guardhouse's command after all.

A tinge of surprise flashed across the captain's face, but his lips soon curled into a biter smile when he saw the resolve burning in his eyes, swallowing the words he was about to use to convince him back down his throat.

"Sure, you were already granted permission to leave in the first place, just make sure you take care of your health... and remember to stay vigilant." the captain replied with words of concern at the end, adding a short reminder at the end.

Alz's expression hardened at the captain's reminder, nodding strongly in response to him.

"Also, can you inform the tribe that I went back later?" Alz suddenly asked.

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"I don't mind... but why don't you do it yourself?" the captain paused to think about it for several moments before agreeing to it, but he still decided to ask Alz the reason out of curiosity.

Alz's body shuddered slightly as various thoughts went through his mind, letting out an awkward laugh while averting his eyes from the captain.

"Thank you, then I'll take my leave. The crossbows will be delivered soon." Alz acted oblivious to his question,

The captain stood frozen in place for a moment, not understanding the reason behind his large reaction. However, his eyes immediately lit up when Alz mentioned the crossbow, deciding not to think too deeply about the matters that didn't concern him.

After he hurriedly left the captain's office, Alz didn't hesitate for a moment as he continued to leave the guardhouse from the northern entrance.

"It's time to go back."

Right outside the entrance, Alz looked towards the direction of the sunflower field with longing in his eyes. With a smile on his face, he then began to head off in the same direction, traversing walk to the forest for the first time in ten days.

Although his left leg still hadn't fully recovered yet, his pace was still significantly faster than when he had to rely on crutches for movement, arriving back at his old home only a little longer than two hours later.

Upon exiting the trees, he was immediately greeted by a breath-taking sight of golden petals swaying along with the gentle breeze, calming a little of the anxiousness he had bottled up within him.

His lips slowly began to curl into an innocent grin as he continued to stare at this majestic sight, marvelling at the beauty of the flowers before him.

"That was still brighter."

However, it didn't take long before his thoughts began to stray, turning a reminiscent gaze towards a patch of trees at the side. The radiance emanated by the flowers might have been bright, but it still paled in comparison to that sight burned deeply into his memories.

Alz directed a concerned gaze in the direction of the palace before turning away with a heavy sigh, deciding not to think about that matter for now.

Even though the surroundings were still bright, Alz began to feel a pang of drowsiness assault his mind, feeling a deep fatigue slowly creeping up towards it as he arrived back at this familiar environment.

After spending some time pondering, Alz decided to go along with it and went up to lay on the flowerbed, drowning himself in the familiar scent of nature as he relaxed his mind and went to sleep.

Despite the lack of a proper bed, Alz found himself more comfortable here than at the past two elven weeks at the guardhouse, managing to sleep soundly until the next day came by.

The Next Day.

Alz rubbed his eyes and began to stretch his body when he woke up, breaking out into a smile as he realised that he was feeling much more refreshed than before.

He hadn't really noticed it before, but evidently, the many days of non-stop reading had taken a heavy toll on his mind, finally clearing only after a long, well-deserved rest.

"Should I just leave now?"

Looking up towards the skies that had yet to light up, a conflicted expression began to surface on Alz as he focused his thoughts on the problem that had been bothering him the most, unable to fully come to a decision.

Although there were many things he learnt from the military library that bothered him, he had also obtained all that he needed to know, of the location of the city to the South.

Whether it was the problems the elves were facing or the revelation of the major contributions by the wolves, none of these would matter to him if he went chose to leave everything behind him and leave the forest now as he had originally intended.

However, he also understood that while this was a simple way out, it would inevitably lead to many consequences as well, consequences that might end up being shouldered by his tribe.

Still, judging from what he had learnt about the Elven Queen over the past few days, it also seemed to be highly unlikely that his tribe would be implicated too heavily by his selfish actions, allowing him to not rule out this option entirely.

This result was supposed to be what he was going for at the very beginning, perhaps even turning out better than he had hoped for. Yet, he felt none of the joy he had expected after arriving at this stage, only a strong sense of loss at his conflicted emotions.

Alz tossed and turned several times in deep thought, but the conflict in his eyes only seemed to deepen as time went by.

About half an hour passed with Alz repeating the same motions before he suddenly sat up from the flowerbed with bloodshot eyes, realising that letting things go on like this was not a solution.

It didn't seem like he would arrive at a concrete decision if he continued to keep things to himself, deciding to consult with someone else to gain a wider perspective on the matter.

Hence, he stood up and started walking out of the forest, heading towards one of the locations he visited the most in his stay here, with one of the few elves that he interacted with frequently since his arrival, the community library.