"Hide, Lyon!" Kalthona yelled as the rest of the group followed closely behind her. Kalthona, however, stopped in her tracks. "Oh my." She muttered, eyes wide with surprise. Conan, Maisie, and Bonney stopped and looked over to see what halted the fire mage in her tracks, and their eyes too widened in surprise.

"Wow." Bonney commented, the first hint of emotion dripping from her voice as she stared at the sight before her. She was clearly amused by the scene. Kalthona, on the other hand, was belly-laughing and grabbing a nearby tree trunk for support. Conan was simply surprised, while Maisie looked down at the men with a grinch-like smile.

"Is this the reason why your manas were so high and intense?" The elf asked, cackling at the sight. Under the moonlight and laid out before them, Hide and Lyon stripped to their birthday suits and tied up together. "Did the bondage play go wrong or something?" Maisie added, full-blown cackling manically by this point, enjoying the look of horror and anger sprawled out on Lyon's face. Hide wasn't bothered by it as much. Instead, bask in the air of nature. He felt like being naked was his true calling.

'Ah yes, this is the real me.' He thought, closing his eyes. Bonny, witnessing this, smacked upright on the head, earning a hiss and a pout from him.

"In all seriousness, how did you guys end up this way?" Conan asked, moving forward to untie the men. As soon as he was done with the blonde, Lyon fled from the area in record time, hiding behind a tree.

"Put something on; you're traumatising me!" Maisie yelled at Lyon, flailing her arms around.

"Don't you think if I had my clothes and armour, I ouldn't?" Lyon yelled back, annoyed.

"That's why I'm asking what happened." Conan stated. He finally freed Hide and placed his own coat over the pale man, which Hide thanked him for.

"We were fighting a milhorn when it was taken out by an archer," Hide explained.

"So that's what the strong mana was." Kalthona commented, wiping her teary eyes.

"Yeah," Lyon said from behind the trunk.

"Still doesn't explain why you two are naked and tied up." Maisie pointed it out.

"Well, let's say the archer needed payment for saving our lives." Hide was carried off.

a couple of moments earlier.

‘Huh? What is that force?’ Hide thought. A large presence was among them. To Hide, the mage was easily A-class. He then turned his head to the side and noticed large azure orbs staring back at him. Without saying much, Hide grabbed Lyon’s head and forced him to duck down.

“Oi-“ The blonde swordsman was cut off as his eyes followed an arrow zooming out of the dark and piercing the head of the milhorn, instantly disintegrating the creature. “What was that?!” He exclaimed.

“My arrow.” A cold, feminine voice, with a slight raspiness, spoke up. Hide and Lyon stared at the tall, lean figure and gulped. A giant wall of mana surrounded the figure’s body, displaying the sheer amount of strength they wielded and the gap between the archer and the two men.

To put it lightly, they were doomed. The archer stepped into the moonlight, revealing a dark-skinned woman with long, dark brown curly hair and sharp azure eyes. She wore a red and yellow long cloth that was wrapped around her body to create a beautiful off-the-shoulder dress. Red and white beaded necklaces hung around her waist and neck, and a thin, white headband wrapped around her hair. Two long gold earrings hung from her ears, with a gold necklace wrapped around her neck.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

However, what caught the men most off guard was the woman's pointed ears. They were large and outward, like Maisie's, but they looked nothing alike. This had to be the other species of elf. Lyon's eyes then widened at the realisation. They were in Aidan Oakwood Forest. He knew the species of elf that lived here. He had read about it in one of the books in his family library.

"You're an Oakland elf, aren't you?" He asked, cursing himself for sounding so meek. The elf let out a dry laugh before pointing her arrow at Lyon's head. There was no way these two would be able to beat her. Not in their current state, nor at their current level. They both could see the behemoth of mana surrounding her being. And her arrows. Her arrows seemed to pack enough magical power to kill a milhorn with just one short.

Lyon swallowed, eyeing the bladed arrow. Hide watched, frozen in his spot.

"What shall your payment be?" She asked, her raspy voice echoing around them. Lyon gritted his teeth.

"Quit messing with us. Payment for what, huh!? We could've handled that Milhorn ourselves." He exclaimed, narrowing his eyes.

"Let's not lie to ourselves." Hide interjected, his voice wavering a little.

The elf's eyes narrowed, then she kissed her teeth before releasing an arrow. It scraped past Lyon and hit the ground behind him, sticking. His eyes widened as a small cut appeared on his cheek. Hide, on the other hand, was a few seconds from jolting up and bolting.

'She really took a shot.' The blonde thought, side-eyeing the arrow lodged into the ground. 'She isn't fucking around.'

"We'll give you whatever you want; just don't kill us." Hide pleaded rather pathetically, in Lyon's opinion. The elf thought about it for a second. Then she grinned, rather maniacally. The boys did not like where this was going.

"Your clothes and armour look rather nice." She spoke, eyeing Hide's crimson-patterned black shirt made with the finest silk Halia had to offer. She then looked at Lyon's armour, which oozed both mana and luxury. She knew the silver was one of the best Eldoria had to offer. However, that two-hander that laid comfortably beside him is what really caught her eye. She licked her lips, her gaze fixed on the sword. Lyon's instinctively went towards his third arm, trying to pull it closer.

Seeing this, the Oakwood elf readied her arrow. However, she stopped. Her ears moved around, and she growled. The distant call for Lyon and Hide from the group was getting closer.

"I guess I'll just have to take it using magic." She muttered. With a snap of her fingers, Hide and Lyon were stripped, and everything they owned was in some bubble above the elf's head.

'How did she do that?!' The two men were stunned. They were quickly snapped out of their thoughts, however, when a cold breeze brushed over their bodies. They looked down and screeched to the heavens. There they sat naked, tired up, with everything they owned gone.

"You'll pay for this, bitch!" Lyon exclaimed. "Mark my words! You'll pay."

"Now, now, Lyon. Calling a lady a bitch is a little rude, isn't it?"Hide spoke, his back caressing the blonde's back with every word he spoke.

"Will you shut the fuck up and stop moving?" Lyon screamed, exasperated. His patience had run thin, and he felt like he was spiralling. Why did he ever join the damn guild? These weren't the kinds of people he used. He'd think he would get used to them after a couple of months, but no. He then glared at the elf, who was making her way back to whatever parts she emerged from.

"You're all the same. Whether you're in Fairwood or Oakwood, you are all the fucking same. Eldoria would be fine with no fucking elves!" He exclaimed the last part. The brown-haired elf stopped for a second, her back still turned.

"Bold words for a B-class nobody." She spat back before disappearing.

Back to the present.

Bonney, Conan, Kalthona, and Maisie all stood there, wide-eyed and mouths agape.

"So you went on a racist tirade?" Kalthona questioned, a deadpan look sprawled on her face. Lyon turned his head to the side.

"I do regret some of my words." He muttered, embarrassed. Maisie, on the other hand, was in her own little world.

'Another elf. I've got to meet her.' She thought. The elf then remembered Isaiah's words on the first day they met.

"Not even the elves of the other tribes like the Fairwoods." She took a deep breath.

'It's a gamble, but I know it'll be worth the risk.' The elf then smacked her face, worrying everyone.

"Okay guys. Let's go get your sh*t."