That night, Astoria dressed in plain black clothes, packed a few essentials, and silently left her room. She crept towards the prison entrance and noticed that the guards were not there.

Thank you… Astoria whispered to the air and walked inside.

Entering the prison, Astoria quietly crept past each cell, looking inside to catch a glimpse of the prisoner. Pretty soon, she found who she was looking for.

Sam was sitting in a corner of his cell. Unlike in Leon village, he had not been tortured or anything. In fact, compared to the other prisoners, he was treated quite well. He was wearing his usual clothes and looked well fed and healthy. The only thing identifying him as a prisoner was the fact that he was in a cell.

“Sam!” Astoria exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Startled, Sam looked up upon hearing the familiar voice. He then saw the woman he loved the most in the world.

“Astoria!” he yelled in response and ran towards the cell gate.

Through the gaps in the bars, the two hugged each other, emotional at finally seeing each other after so long.

“I have a plan, let’s get out of here!” exclaimed Astoria, releasing Sam and quickly unlocking the door.

Sam wondered what the plan was but realised that now wasn’t the time for questions. He put his faith in Astoria and decided to leave.

However, the moment they turned around, they bumped into a large and towering figure.

“Dad!” exclaimed Astoria. Sam froze in place.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Holt asked coldly.

“Dad please, let us go. We’ll go somewhere far away and won’t bother you at all!” Astoria cried.

“Preposterous! Do you really think I’ll allow that?” Holt spat in rage. He couldn’t believe that his daughter was ready to abandon her family and village.

Before she could react, she found her wrists bound by shackles. They were made of a special ore that disrupted the flow of mana and were useful for restraining mages and martial artists.

“You have given me no choice,” Holt sighed, dragging both Astoria and Sam towards the cell.

“Dad, no wait! Please! Please wait!” Astoria cried but Holt was not in any mood to listen. He shoved them both into the cell and shut the door, paying no heed to her daughter’s pleas.

With his back facing them, he said, “Stay here and reflect on your actions, Astoria,” and then left the two in the darkness.

After leaving, Holt entered the main hall. A shadowy figure stood to his side.

“Thank you,” Holt spoke to the figure. “I know it must have been very difficult for you, but without your help, I would have been completely oblivious to everything and wouldn’t have been able to stop her. So, thank you very much.”

“That’s no problem at all…” the figure responded. It took a step forward and the light illuminated its face. A young man with black, scruffy hair, tanned skin, and a striking resemblance to Astoria was revealed.

“… father!”

…

Several days later.

The demon tide had passed, and the elven village made it out in one piece thanks to the efforts of Ray and Drake. They spent their extra time resting and recovering their strength, then celebrating their victory with the villagers, and now helping the village with healing and restoration.

For all his efforts, Drake was even personally thanked by Myra for helping protect her people. Drake blushed and told her that it was no big deal, and it was only natural as they had to work with each other to survive.

Still, Myra asked him if there was anything she could do to thank him. Drake humbly rejected the offer for a while, but Myra persisted. Drake didn’t want to appear rude, and there was something he was interested in.

“Do you… have any summoning spells you could share with me?” Drake asked innocently.

It was not easy to find new summoning spells. Given that they were integral to the strength of a mage and, by extension, the village, they would not part with their strengths so easily.

Ray laughed internally, expecting this from his disciple. Normally, such a request would be considered rude and taking advantage of their village’s generosity, but after everything Drake had done, Ray was sure his master would grant it.

Myra also smiled and replied, “Of course.”

She took out three spell scrolls and asked Drake to pick one.

Drake hesitated for a bit and then made his choice. It was a rank one, lightning bat spirit that could shoot out lightning bolts. The others were another defensive spirit, and a scouting type spirit which he didn’t think would be very useful for him.

The lightning spirit, however, not only would be useful to him as an additional method of attack, but he could also study the rune and make artifacts out of it. Specifically, he thought he could make one glove to shoot out lightning bolts, and the other for fire. He also thought he could engrave lightning along with light runes into his sword to increase its offensive strength.

Naturally, that would mean he would have to summon rank two artifacts which would be exponentially more difficult than rank one artifacts; however, he felt that the boost it would give to his strength would be worth it.

Considering all those factors and ideas, Drake accepted the lightning bat spirit summoning spell. Naturally, Myra and Ray did not realise all the daring ideas going through Drake’s mind. Even if they did, they would have simply thought he was delusional.

After accepting the reward, with most of the aftermath of the demon tide dealt with, Drake prepared to leave. Myra insisted on having a farewell feast and Drake eventually gave in.

Myra had a variety of food freshly prepared by some servants as a buffet. Beautiful elven women danced to a melodious orchestra in the grand hall, providing entertainment for the crowd. Numerous soldiers that Drake had fought with cheered and celebrated, drinking themselves unconscious.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Drake enjoyed the vibes.

It was nice to have moments like this, he thought.

After the party, Drake spent the final night in the village, before packing his things to leave the next morning. Myra, Ray, and a number of soldiers had come to see him off.

“Drake,” Ray called.

“Yes master,” Drake replied.

Ray smiled as he looked at him.

Initially when he met Drake, he didn’t think much of him. However, Drake had worked diligently and showed great potential. Within these few years, he discovered his own style of fighting and attained strength that was far above his age and realm. Not to mention his freakish ability to summon any rank zero artifact that he visualised.

Beyond his strength, maturity, and intelligence, Ray observed that Drake had his heart in the right place. He cared about his family, his friends, and doing his best for everyone he could. He treated even servants and slaves with respect. Ray was moved by the Drake’s strength of will and character more than his actual battle strength.

You are definitely going to go places, he thought.

“As your master, there is unfortunately nothing else left for me to teach you. You have learnt everything that I can teach, and gone well beyond my expectations,” Ray spoke sincerely.

Drake was surprised. Apart from when he obsessed about his master or made snarky remarks, Ray was generally a stoic man of few words, and he rarely spoke any words of encouragement. The change, combined with the look he gave him, Drake knew that Ray was speaking from the bottom of his heart and so was grateful for the praise.

“Take this as our parting gift, and my graduation gift to you,” said Ray, handing him a bag.

The bag had several things.

Firstly, it contained a number of pills which Drake knew would be very useful for him.

Next, there were two books. The first was a book which was something like Ray’s cultivation journal. It talked about the entirety of Ray’s cultivation experience, with answers to all the problems he faced, both in mana cultivation and martial arts cultivation. It would be an invaluable source of reference for Drake, at least until he reached the steel body and warrior mage realm.

The other book was different. It was a rare book on alchemy, i.e. making pills. The elves made and sold most of the pills used by the villages, apart from the zenith pill of course. Hence, the elves had spent a lot more time devising alchemy techniques to make pills than the two human villages.

Ray had now given him all the alchemy knowledge their elven village had built over the centuries. If Drake was going to be on his own, he would need plenty of pills to aid in his cultivation. Being able to make them himself meant he wouldn’t have to depend on others and would always have a source of pills. Hence, it was another invaluable resource for him.

Frankly, Drake couldn’t believe that Ray had shared something like this with him, and his gratitude and respect for his master went through the roof.

Finally, there was a scroll. Drake opened it up to see one of Ray’s favourite spells, specifically a rank two healing spirit. This was more powerful than the healing fairy spell he learnt from Holt which was rank one. Not only could it cure deeper wounds, but it could also help against some poisons. Although he couldn’t use the spell now, he was sure that it would be very helpful in the future.

Drake accepted the parting gifts gratefully and bowed deeply to Ray.

“Thank you master, for everything that you have done for me. I swear on my life that for as long as I live, I will never forget you and your kindness.”

Ray lightly smiled in return.

“No need to be so formal. Go now, go back safely. Don’t die in this stupid war and be happy.”

Drake nodded and hesitated for a bit, before deciding to go for a hug. He had never hugged Ray before, but figured now was a good time so he went for it. After a few seconds, they separated. Drake could have sworn that he spotted a faint blush on Ray’s face but decided to ignore it.

Bowing once more to Ray and Myra, Drake mounted his horse and started to leave.

‘Dad… everyone… I am coming back!’

…

The night when Drake was having the farewell party, back in the Jain village.

Wearing a bright chain mail, sword sheathed on the side, with emerald hair, a young Elwin returned from his mission. His mission was to reinforce the Leon village to defend one of their mines in a battlefield that was quite far away from their Jain village. He had left before Drake left for the elven village and was returning only now.

Needless to say, he was extremely tired. He decided he would give his report to Hazezel quickly and then rest for the night.

Hazezel and Holt were working together in the office. Normally Astoria was the one working with Hazezel but with her locked up, Holt spent more time helping Hazezel.

There was a knock on the door and Elwin entered. He was surprised to see his father there but didn’t think much of it.

“Brother, I’ve returned,” he announced.

Happy to see his brother again after so long, Hazezel greeted and welcomed him into the room.

Elwin took a seat and gave his report on the mines. They managed to successfully defend it against several waves of demon attacks.

After listening to the specifics, Hazezel sighed tiredly. Despite their victories, this war was becoming more and more troublesome.

“By the way,” asked Elwin. “Where is Astoria? Why is she not with you? And what about Drake?”

Hazezel and Holt shared an uneasy glance.

Holt sighed heavily, “A lot has happened since you left Elwin, I’ll explain.”

He first explained how the elven village was being attacked by a demon tide, so Ray and Drake had gone as reinforcements. Elwin trusted in Drake’s abilities, and knowing that Ray was with him, wasn’t too worried.

He was surprised that Ray had finally decided to return to his village and join the war. He wished he could have expressed his gratitude and said his goodbyes too, but it was too late now. They would probably have a chance to meet in a battlefield at some time anyway, so he wasn’t very bothered.

However, when Holt started explaining the situation with Astoria, Elwin froze.

The more he explained, the more Elwin’s eyes widened.

After a long while, Holt finished his explanation. Both of them looked at Elwin, wondering what he was thinking.

“I see…” his voice trailed off.

Elwin was feeling complicated.

Personally, he didn’t experience love so didn’t understand it very well. This might be quite surprising as given Elwin’s strength, reputation, position in the village, and not to mention his looks, he actually had a large number of female fans who had crushes on him. Any one of them would probably faint if Elwin ever actually talked to them, let alone asked them out. However, Elwin was neither aware, nor had any interest in this. For the last four years, his mind had been occupied with nothing but the war.

Additionally, he was also a very duty-bound man and understood the importance of his role in their family and the village. He knew that Astoria was intelligent too and understood it all, so he really didn’t expect that they would have a falling out like this.

He loved and treasured Astoria immensely.

As the eldest, he had watched her grow up his whole life, and had unconsciously taken on a protective role of her. He always strove to give her what she wanted and make her happy. He could personally never bear to see her cry.

Hence, if it were up to him, he knew he wouldn’t have the heart to do what Holt did and try to separate them forcefully.

That said, he also understood why his father, from his position as the village head, did what he did, so he was really torn.

This was just such a mess!

Elwin was not good at thinking, it hurt his brain. He preferred to leave all the thinking to the others, such as Hazezel and Astoria. He was happy just going to whatever battlefield they told him and focusing his efforts on winning. That’s all he wanted to do.

Elwin did not want to think about complicated village politics, interpersonal relationships, and love which he had never experienced and didn’t understand.

All he wanted was for this fight to be resolved as soon as possible so they could return to being a happy family again.

However, he knew that that was easier said than done. Either Holt or Astoria had to change their minds, and he knew how stubborn both of them were.

Sigh…

It hurt his already exhausted brain to think about it. He felt like visiting Astoria but then thought better of it. He knew he wouldn’t be able to bear seeing his little sister locked in a cell. If he did, he would immediately cut the bars down and release her, which he knew would anger his father so he didn’t want to do it.

Hence, Elwin decided to just stand up, return to his bedroom, and get some rest.

The next morning, Hazezel summoned Elwin to his office and gave him a relatively tame but still important mission, which would still take Elwin out of the village for a week or so.

He suspected what was going through Elwin’s mind and so he added, “This will help you get your mind off things.”

Elwin smiled gratefully at his brother and accepted the mission.

He left the mansion, mounted his horse, and after readying his soldiers, left the village.

What he didn’t notice however, was Hazezel’s eyes turning pitch black as he left.