“I’m sorry… could you repeat that demand?” Alex asked.

“I am speaking common, aren’t I? I demand Princess Elissa!”

“Men, tie up these guests. We wouldn’t want them acting without our say-so,” the hooded figure said to the men now entering the VIP booth.

“I say, boy… are you addled?” one of the nobles watching this all unfold asked.

“I am in full control of my faculties,” the hooded figure retorted.

“It’s just… the people in this booth alone are…” the Noble trailed off as he gestured to the sheer concentration of power within the booth.

The hooded elf looked around the booth at each of the assembled beings that terrify even monsters—everything from military officers, invincible titans, and even the most powerful dragon of all time. Only to scoff at the very notion they were a threat.

“They may be powerful, but I have these children hostage… even they wouldn’t act with them at risk… now boys tie them up.”

“With what, boss,” Alex asked somehow in a matching cloak as he stood behind the hooded figure.

“With rope… GET BACK WITH THE HOSTAGES!!!!”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Alex replied as he sat back down with the hostages ignoring the exhausted looks many were giving him.

“Make sure you tie up the humans extra… and blindfold them,” the hooded figure ordered as his men used the finest silk rope to secure their high-ranking guests.

“Wow…,” Alex muttered as they tightly bound his hand behind his back. With all the booth now securely tied up, the figure lowered his hood, revealing a perfectly proportioned elven face.

“Tell me this…” Alex began before grunting as the elf’s minions tied a blindfold around his and Mimi’s eyes.

“Tell you what? Why am I doing this?”

“Well, yes… is bondage an elf kink or something?”

“Buh-you-mah…” the elf began to sputter, unable to comprehend what he had been asked.

“It’s just usually Elissa when she-mhmhmm-mhmhm,” Alex began to mumble as they shoved a bundle of cloth into his mouth.

“Enough of that, thank you very much. You should know as well as I do the reason we are tying you up like that.”

“And that would be?” Mimi asked.

“Everyone and their mother knows humans have magical eyes that can trick people into obeying them.”

A silence descended on the booth that was a very noisy silence. The kind that people recognise as being silence rather than a background absence of noise.

“You think we can control people with our gazes?”

“Mhmhmhm?”

“Yes, really… You can’t trick me… I heard all about humans and how tricksy they are. Like you have ways to get words stuck in people's heads.” Alex, at this moment, spat out the bundle of cloth.

“You are now thinking about ducks.”

“Arghhhh, see, this is the power of the human!!! I am now thinking about ducks!!!!” This display now told the entire booth what had become increasingly apparent. This elf was an imbecile of the highest order.

“Men gag him. I don’t want his words in my head again… make sure he can’t spit it out!” Obeying their orders, the two minions apologised as they shoved the cloth back into Alex’s mouth and bound a rope around his head to keep it in place.

“Now for baby Elissa,” the elf said as he knelt behind Elissa, who had been in the timeout corner this entire time and cut her free.

“There we go, Elissa, you're free to-” the elf did not finish his sentence as Elissa spun around and delivered a full-force punch to his face. The punch's force was such that he immediately lifted off the ground and crashed into the stone ceiling above them. Leaving a very elven-shaped impact crater for decoration.

Many of the nobles watching this let out sighs of relief, expecting such a powerful punch to be this idiot elf’s end, only for their faces to display a mix of concern and horror that will, from here on out, be referred to as a connor. With looks of connor on their face, they watched as the elf stood up and brushed off the dust sticking to his cloak.

“Nice to see you remember me by giving me one of your usual punches,” the elf said with a joyous expression. Elissa, however, just cocked her head.

“Who are you?” The elf, in response, looked more hurt by this than the rock-shattering punch delivered to his clearly empty skull.

“It’s Wesliegh!” he explained as he pointed at himself.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Elissa replied, still not recognising him.

“I’ve known you since the day you were born… that Wesliegh.”

“Still nothing,” Elissa replied with a shake of her head.

“Boss, you sure this is the right Princess Elissa?” one of his minions asked.

“I only have one little sister named Elissa, and this is her!!!”

“You have a brother Lissy?” Mimi asked.

“Oh yeah, I have a lot of siblings… But I don’t remember a Wesliegh… Do you mean Wilhelm?”

“No… I don’t mean Willy… I am your older brother, not the younger one…”

“Still don’t remember you…” Wesliegh collapsed to the ground in despair at his younger sister not remembering him.

“This is your fault!!” Wesliegh roared as he stormed up to the bound, gagged and blindfolded Alex.

“You got her to drink the forgetting potion humans like making… what's it called again… MOONSHINE!!!”

“Please remember Elissa. We always played together when we were little. You are the reason I developed armoured bones!!!”

This statement sent a wave of surprise throughout the booth. Armoured skin was where people developed natural armour. Armoured bones was an even higher grade and brought a mortal's durability up there with crafted children. At least they now had an explanation as to how he survived her punch from earlier.

“Did he tempt you with juice?!!! I heard humans can make drinks out of fruit that tastes really good, so good you want to work for them forever!!!”

“Juice isn’t a human thing… there's some on the food table over there,” Mimi said, gesturing with her head in what she assumed was the direction of the table.

“You won’t trick me into falling into your trap, human… I have discovered your methods of mind transfer and turned them against you!!”

“Mind transfer?” Sloth repeated, obviously intrigued.

“Yes, humans have an ancient method of transferring thoughts between people they never meet.”

“Tell me more.”

“They cut down trees, pulp it in water, then use a strainer thingy to make very thin white stuff. They then do a weird thing on this white stuff and make squiggles that transfer thoughts.”

“A book?”

“Ah, I shouldn’t be surprised Lord Sloth has heard of the method.”

“Mhmhmhm,” Alex tried to say but was unable to due to the gag.

“Men remove the gag. I want to hear his confession,” Wesliegh said with a grin as a fresh wave of looks of connor spread amongst the booth.

“I wasn’t going to confess… I was more curious… Does high king Wilhelm the eighth know you are here?” At Alex’s question, Wesliegh looked smug.

“He ordered me here.”

“Directly?” Alex pressed.

“Yes, I was walking passed his office and heard him crying out about seeing baby Elissa and that there was a damnable human named Alexander.”

“I see now,” Alex said with a nod.

“Elissa, you sent a letter home a few weeks back, right?” Elissa nodded.

“You don’t mean?”

“Yes, he assumed it was an order when it was really…”

“STOP TALKING AMONGST YOURSELVES, AND TELL ME WHAT YOU MEAN!!!”

“Wesliegh… it is Wesliegh right?” Elissa asked to which he looked visibly heartbroken.

“I sent a letter home to father to let him know the news.”

“Yes, that you were in need of rescue from this human… That he needed to see his baby Elissa.”

“No… Wesliegh… the letter I sent home was letting father know I was going to have a baby… he has always been a doting sort, so he probably was looking forward to seeing my baby…”

“So… you’re pregnant?” Wesliegh asked as he looked at Elissa with a stunned expression.

“Yes,” Elissa answered.

“I’m going to be an uncle?”

“Yes.”

“And Alexander is the father?”

“Yes, I am,” Alex replied.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SO IN THE FIRST PLACE!!” Wesliegh shouted as he stepped behind Alex and cut his bonds.

“If you told me you were an elf with an ear condition, we could’ve avoided this whole mess…” Alex wisely chose this was not the moment to reaffirm he was, in fact, fully human.

“By the way… big brother…” Alex began as he draped an arm over Wesliegh’s shoulder. Wesliegh, for his part, looked overcome with joy at being called big brother.

“Who told you all these things about humans?”

“Oh, some nice men in robes that said they were missionaries… They said that humans were evil and corrupting and we should invade them first chance we got…”

“Very interesting…” Alex said with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

“Now we have gotten this whole confusing situation sorted out. Can we end the hostage-taking part?”

“Oh yes,” Wesliegh said as he went to the edge of the booth and signalled his men to stand down. One of the hooded figures in the booth tripped over as he faffed around with his sword causing it to bend.

“Dammit, Jack, stage props are expensive!!!” Wesliegh shouted.

“Stage props?” One of the nobles repeated.

“Well, yes, real weapons are scary. Most I can handle is my travel table knife,” Wesliegh explained, gesturing to the sheathed dagger.

“My travelling stage troupe came along to help me rescue my sister.”

“So all these people in hoods?”

“Stagehands, actors… everyone chipped in.”

“So you planned to stage a hostage incident with some of the most powerful people on the continent… with an acting troupe?” Yuu asked, seemingly stunned by the fathomless depths of Wesliegh’s stupidity.

“Wesliegh…. Why don’t we both go and have a word with your father about what a stellar show you put on today?” Crozonia asked, taking off her very poorly made costume.

“LADY CROZONIA!!!” Wesliegh exclaimed as he knelt down.

“Don’t worry about that… I think I have some perfect openings in my military for your family to help out with,” Crozonia said with an icy smile as she guided an oblivious Wesliegh out of the booth tailed by his two helpers.

If only he had looked back into the booth, he would’ve seen a shared look of connor on everyone’s face.