“Good point. So, are you good at fighting?”
“I only know how to use a bow, but I’m pretty confident in my aim. After all, I am one of the elite warriors in the tribe.”
“Hidden talents, huh.”
Lucas thought about Noli’s performance today—taking out a target with a single arrow from a long distance.
Without exceptional skill, that was absolutely impossible.
If Ivina agrees, he should let Noli join the mission.
The next day, before dawn, Lucas led the elves along with two slave traders bound hand and foot toward the royal capital.
He hadn’t slept all night but surprisingly didn’t feel tired.
Under the influence of divine authority, it seemed he could avoid fatigue even without rest.
Was that really a good thing?
Along the way, with nothing better to do, Lucas casually struck up a conversation with Noli sitting beside him.
“By the way, elves live tribe by tribe, right? The connections between you aren’t that strong. Why do you still step in to help other elves?”
Noli didn’t answer, only glanced back at the other elves in the carriage.
Though she didn’t speak, at that moment Lucas understood her answer.
She didn’t want her comrades to face danger again.
“You’re right,” Noli sighed softly.
“There’s no real unity among elves. Each tribe only cares about its own interests. If there’s no benefit, the other tribes won’t help each other.”
“So it’s really just a scattered bunch.”
Hearing Lucas’s remark, Noli could only respond with a bitter smile.
“You’re right, it’s just a scattered bunch. The elves have fragmented so much that when a tribe is captured, no one warns the others.”
“Could it be because the mark to enter the elf space only allows access to your own tribe?”
“No, you’re wrong. Actually, anyone can enter; the mark grants access to any elf-created elf space. It’s just unnecessary because we never go to other tribes, and other tribes don’t come to us.”
The rift between elf tribes was even deeper than Lucas imagined.
But he had no intention of meddling; this was an internal matter of the elf race. His job was simply to protect Noli.
As for the internal problems of the elves, that was beyond Lucas’s current concern.
The carriage stopped in front of the Knights’ Order gate.
The black hawk seemed to have already alerted Ivina because as soon as they stopped, she came out with her people to greet them.
The two bound slave traders were immediately dragged inside the Knights’ Order, while Ivina pulled Lucas aside into a corner.
“Well? Any new discoveries this time?”
Plenty.
Lucas relayed all the information he had learned over the past two days to Ivina.
“Well done. You saved us a lot of trouble. We’ll take it from here. You should go home and rest.”
He hadn’t slept all night and had been driving for two days straight.
Even though his current body didn’t feel tired, Lucas still longed for his soft bed and Leilia at home.
But when he returned, Leilia was nowhere to be found.
Only a note from her remained on the table.
“Hm? Went to work for the kingdom’s princess? So soon…”
Thinking about it, he hadn’t even been on duty for several days himself.
It seemed both he and Leilia would be busy in their respective roles in the days to come.
Lucas took a bath and collapsed onto the bed, quickly falling into a deep sleep.
He woke up in the evening, surprised he had slept so long.
The scent of food wafted through the room, and Leilia’s humming could be heard through the door.
If not for the responsibility to save the world, life like this wouldn’t be so bad.
“Lucas, are you awake?”
Leilia called from the kitchen when she heard him move.
“Wait a bit, dinner’s almost ready.”
“How’s working for the princess?”
“Hm, Her Highness the princess is a bit different from what I imagined, but she is indeed a good person,” Leilia said after some thought.
“My work isn’t difficult, mostly cleaning and organizing files for the princess. That’s it.”
It seemed Leilia’s side didn’t require much worry.
Being close to the kingdom’s princess meant no one would dare to cause trouble for her.
Leilia’s positive impression of the princess made Lucas curious.
If there was a chance, he really wanted to meet this princess Leilia spoke of.
“Will you be going out again after this?”
Leilia asked.
“Yes, I think so. This matter isn’t completely resolved yet. Ivina will definitely ask me to continue handling it.”
“Is that so… well, it makes sense. You’ve got to see things through to the end.”
Leilia pretended nothing was wrong, but Lucas had known her long enough to sense her mood.
She felt insecure when he wasn’t home, but there was nothing they could do about it…
Suddenly, a knock at the door interrupted their conversation.
At this hour, who could it be?
The only one who knew their address was Ivina.
Yeah, it must be Ivina coming to visit.
Lucas didn’t overthink it and opened the door immediately.
But standing there was not Ivina, but Noli, now dressed in casual clothes.
“Yo,” Noli greeted Lucas.
“So this is your place?”
Faced with the unexpected visitor, Lucas was momentarily at a loss for words.
“What’s wrong? Does me showing up seem strange?”
Noli tilted her head, curiously sizing him up.
“Or is there something at your place you don’t want me to see?”
“Why are you here?”
Lucas finally asked the question he should have asked from the start.
“Didn’t I say I wanted to join the future operations against those slave traders? Ivina said they’d organize the mission soon and told me to stay at your place for a few days.”
Lucas glanced toward the kitchen. Ivina’s arrangement was too sudden—he hadn’t even had time to explain to Leilia.
Having someone else in the house, especially a woman, would Leilia mind?
“What’s wrong? Are there others living here?”
Noli seemed to sense Lucas’s discomfort and peeked inside.
“By the way, it smells delicious. Didn’t expect you to have good cooking skills.”
“Ah, that’s not—”
Before Lucas could explain, Leilia’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Lucas? Do you have company?”
Leilia stepped out, locking eyes with Noli, who was peeking inside.
This was going to be hard to explain in just a few words.
But Leilia didn’t press further and invited Noli inside.
After all, leaving someone standing at the door wasn’t polite.
She even portioned some of tonight’s dinner for Noli and invited her to eat together.
During the meal, Lucas explained the whole situation to Leilia.
“So that’s it. Noli is someone who exists in Lucas’s memories…”
Leilia munched on her spoon, studying Noli before leaning toward Lucas.
“Isn’t that great? You’ll definitely be working with Noli frequently, so it’s not a bad thing to get along well early on.”
Leilia’s unexpected openness surprised Lucas.
He had thought she might object.
Still, since they’d be working together, he needed to ask Noli’s opinion.
“Hm? Me?”
Noli replied.
“I have nowhere else to go. Ivina said after this incident, we’d stay in the capital, and the Knights’ Order would arrange jobs for us.”
“Then, would you consider working alongside Lucas from now on?”
Before Lucas could answer, Leilia beat him to it with that question.