"Sir, we've discovered other groups in the vicinity." That was the message that woke Alex in the middle of the night. At first, Alex was dazed and didn't fully understand. His first thought was the presence of enemies, and he tried to mobilize the rest of the group and wake everyone up, but he was quickly stopped.

"They're not so close, sir, and they're not enemies, or at least they don't appear to be with the enemy," they hurriedly tried to calm their leader's nerves.

Alex finally calmed down upon knowing there wasn't an immediate threat. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then asked, "So what's the issue?"

Alex received a summary of how a small group of elves was quite far from their initial position. However, after observing them for several days, it seemed they were moving towards the temple they were monitoring.

"This is problematic," Alex responded.

"That's right, sir. It seems they've managed to go unnoticed, but it appears the enemy is starting to suspect something since they've increased patrols in the area where the group was reported," Kragash replied.

"What can we do, sir? If they really alert the enemy, our operation could be in danger," said an initiate.

"What should we do? It's safe to assume they're here for a reason similar to ours. After all, we were able to confirm the presence of some elves among the captives, apparently of great power based on the aura they emanated."

"You could try to deal with them. If we ambush them quickly, we might be able to eliminate them without leaving a trace."

"Or we could make contact with them and see if we can enlist them to our cause."

Those seemed to be the most viable plans the patrol could come up with. At this point, it was time for Alex to decide. The human hadn't reached any conclusion better than the ones listed, and other ideas like trying to mislead them were discarded due to the high likelihood of them being discovered, jeopardizing the entire plan.

Alex seriously considered the option of getting rid of them. From the reports, the group seemed small in numbers and barely managing, but at that moment, another soldier reported the existence of another group of elves in another position.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Alex thought. "We'll contact them and bring them here. They could be useful allies."

"We must consider that their mission is to rescue their comrades, sir. It's likely that our interests will clash if we're not committed to this task," Kragash said.

"I understand, but we've been observing the temple for many days now, and it doesn't seem like the number of prisoners they bring will decrease. Apparently, the ritual will be of a terrifying scale, so whatever it is they're trying to obtain, it will be necessary to disrupt it at the very least."

Barely finishing giving his orders, reports from small scouting groups began to pile up. There were almost half a dozen groups dispersed in different positions, all seeming to converge on the temple, so it was safe to assume that these newcomers were also here for the ritual.

Alex began to feel the headache that would come with dealing with these different groups. Unknowingly, he had become accustomed to having everyone listen to his words. It wasn't that no one ever disputed his words; rather, many were willing to follow him based on his results. But with these strangers, he wouldn't have that luxury, and at some point, he might have to use methods that he truly didn't like.

Alex started gathering his most experienced scouts and left the rest on alert. Then he set out to find the group that was closest to the temple and therefore at the greatest risk of being discovered.

Along the way, they avoided more than a dozen patrols, a testament to how insanely the number of goblins in this sector had increased.

Finally, they approached the group of elves and got a real glimpse of their numbers. There were five adult male elves led by a young elf no taller than 1.5 meters.

"Hold on," Alex murmured in a barely audible voice.

The group continued forward as normal, but one of the elves felt the murmur and immediately turned on guard. Seeing Alex and his group behind them, he panicked and was about to alert the rest of the group, but he quickly identified Alex with his palms in the air in a gesture of goodwill, which slightly calmed the nerves of the veteran.

"Who are you?" the elf asked in a low voice.

"I have a post nearby; this place is dangerous. Follow me," Alex was direct and turned back to his post. Whether the message reached the other side and they followed was beyond his control. Luckily, shortly after their departure, he could hear the sound of the other group following them.

On the way back, the elves initially hesitated to approach the Gnolls, but as they bypassed patrol after patrol, they realized that the situation was much worse than they had thought. It wasn't just that there were many patrols; in each patrol, more and more powerful goblins were appearing. If even one patrol caught and alerted them, they wouldn't stand a chance of getting out of this situation alive.

Finally, they reached the cave that sheltered Alex's group.

"Can we know who you are?" one elf planted himself at the entrance of the cave and refused to enter, using his body to protect the elf maiden.

"My name is Alex; I'm the leader of this group. Who are you?" he introduced himself concisely to the impolite elf.

The elves looked at each other for a few seconds and then at their young leader, who nodded to them and entered the cave.

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"It's a pleasure to see you again, Alex. I don't know if you remember me; my name is Anya," the young elf replied.

"See you again?" Alex thought. Alex began to recall where he had seen this group before, and soon the initial scenes of when he arrived in this world came to mind.

"Oh, now I remember. What happened after you disappeared?" Alex asked.

Before the elf could respond, the veteran elf put a hand on her shoulder, but she took it and shook her head. "We'll need your help again anyway," then she turned to look Alex in the eyes.

"We come from the floating islands north of the Iretar Peninsula. Have you heard of them, Alex?"

"Not much. I heard about some floating islands, a place full of ethereal beings and rich in resources."

"No, that's another place. North of the Iretar Peninsula, there's an anomaly that holds at least two dozen large islands in a fixed place, plus many others that come and go. The islands are home to two races of elves mainly, although both used to coexist peacefully until about 100 years ago when a conflict broke out between them."

"If at any point you expect us to mediate or interfere in such a conflict, I'm afraid to say we have no interest in supporting any side," Alex quickly responded.

"Our presence here has nothing to do with that, but rather with another sensitive issue," Anya cautiously looked at the human, trying to read his emotions.

"You can tell me your concerns; as I said, I have no intention of interfering in the affairs of your kingdoms, or if you feel you can't trust me, it's okay if you don't tell me," Alex offered.

"It's not okay. In the end, I do hope to count on your help. It turns out that the heir to the throne of our kingdom was kidnapped. We've been following her trail all through the forest, and after many troubles, we believe we'll finally find her here."

Alex thought for a moment before cautiously asking, "Is she a powerful magic user?"

Anya looked confused at the question and quickly responded, "Yes, she is. How do you know? Have you seen her already?"

"It's not that we've seen her, but rather, we've been observing for a while and noticed that the goblins have been gathering a large number of people with outstanding magical potential."

"How did you find this place, if I may ask?" the veteran explorer asked Alex.

"We learned of a captured matriarch who was being mobilized by the goblins. When we followed her trail, we found this place."

"It's evident they plan to perform a large-scale ritual. Do you have any plan?" the veteran asked.

"We intend to wait until they start the ritual and use much of their magical powers to launch a decisive attack. We'll take the prisoners and escape through this sector where we're setting up various traps," Alex responded.

"It's a weak and stupid plan," responded the hot-blooded young elf who had initially blocked the entrance. Alex somehow remembered this young elf, whom he had already struck before for his attitude.

"If you have a better one, I'm all ears," Alex responded. The young elf's attitude immediately put the Gnolls and Resh in a bad mood. Though they didn't understand the conversation, they could see the hostility towards their leader at a glance.

The hostile reaction from Alex's troops put some of the elves on alert; several thought there would be a conflict. However, the leaders of both sides knew nothing was happening; it was the typical misunderstanding between "civilized and savages." The elves always thought others would attack them because they were so savage.

"I suppose then you have no other plan. If that's the case, I'll share the itinerary of our plan, and I hope you'll sign up for the tasks you're best at," Alex ended the conversation. He knew there were other groups in the area, and even though none were as close as this one, he still had to keep an eye on them.

Alex shared the tasks, and the elves decided which ones they wanted to sign up for. Immediately, there was a problem that Alex really expected: the elves didn't seem willing to work, or at least not to work alongside their troops. This began to put Alex in a bad mood. However, he insisted that each one take on a responsibility according to their abilities.

Alex's insistence put the elves in a tight spot. They had hoped to do things their way from the start and had no intention of following Alex's orders. It wasn't because it was Alex or any other personal stigma; it was more of a cultural thing. Elves tend to be quite xenophobic, especially those from the floating islands, which were isolationists compared to the Kellenar Empire.

Under Alex's insistent gaze, the leader of the elves had no choice but to start assigning tasks to her elves. Although there was a bit of back and forth, even she had to sign up for a task since Alex was determined not to let anyone sit idle. The human had previously allowed the elves to act as they pleased, and it hadn't gone well. He knew that if he left them alone, they would start making individual plans that would probably go against what he wanted or, at the very least, hinder his own plans.

With the elves' commitment to participate in the group's affairs, Alex decided to show goodwill and share a portion of food with them. It was clear they had been going with just enough rations for a while. Then he went out to perform his last patrol task of the day.

In the cave, a confused Anya continued to ponder these recent events. Although she couldn't share why she knew, she could consider herself dead if she couldn't return home with the heiress. So there would be no doubt she would throw herself into a suicide mission to free her. Her escort would accompany her faithfully, and she knew they were willing to die for her. In fact, she had already sacrificed several of them, and yet out of nowhere, the human who had initially saved them reappeared and saved them again from certain death, giving them hope of achieving their goals without having to die.

"My lady, do you think the human can carry out the plan?" one of the elves asked in a language different from the usual Elvish.

"Nothing indicates they have a good chance of succeeding. With such a small group, it will be difficult to deliver a very strong blow, so I don't think they'll try to rescue all the prisoners. And unless they plan to leave behind and sacrifice their soldiers, I don't see how we could escape from here in one piece," Anya replied.

"But?"

"But somehow, he feels he will be able to do it. There's too much optimism in the human for it to be a coincidence. He must have some backup plan or some other card up his sleeve."

"Do you think he's not mistaken? Shouldn't we demand that he tell us the whole plan?" the hot-blooded youth intervened.

Anya simply shook her head. "In the past, there might have been no doubt about sharing all his plans and secrets with us. However, it seems he has been cured of that naivety, and if we insist, we'll only manage to turn him against us."

"That would be dangerous. I doubt we have enough strength to defeat him in a head-on clash," the veteran intervened, anticipating any elf who had the stupid notion of wanting to overthrow the human and try to take control of this group of Gnolls and Resh.

Anya looked at the rest of the elves, and in their unconvincing faces, she saw a huge problem. They all thought it was possible to defeat the human and take away the damn artifact so that their leader could take control of the group and not have to be under anyone's command. However, if there really was no object when fighting the human, their troops would face them to the end.

She shook her head pessimistically at her troops' bellicose attitude. Although before, when she lived in the floating islands, she had the same mentality, time in exile had made her more open-minded. She no longer had the luxury of thinking herself superior to the rest, and she knew that in certain circumstances, she would have to make concessions and sacrifices.

"There's no option but to follow his orders," she told them.

The elf felt like they were walking a fine line, and although the human had been very kind in the past, she knew this time he wouldn't hesitate to take the radical option. She could feel that if the elves didn't contribute to his cause, Alex would be more than willing to get rid of them.