Chapter 39: The Lost Man

Evelyn was stunned for a moment as she listened to what Elias said, especially since Elias’s expression while speaking was completely flat, as though he was recalling something from his past.

Then Evelyn only gave a faint smile before looking ahead at the soldiers setting up tents.

"Thank you for your advice. But Elias... I know there might be some things weighing on your mind, but try to rest for a bit."

"That’s right. Besides, you’re the one working the hardest here, Elias."

Suddenly, Elysia, who had just come back, continued Evelyn’s words from behind, then walked around in front of Elias and crouched down before him.

"You’re the one who thinks about us the most here. From little things like the warming Talismans, the calming ones, and the ones for light. Small as they are, they’ve all helped everyone a lot."

"And on top of that, Elias, you’ve been giving up half your rest time to search for that flower alone. While everyone else is resting in their tents, you wander around in the middle of this dark, dangerous forest looking for it."

Hearing that, Elias was a little startled that she knew what he’d been doing. Even though every night, Elias made sure they were asleep first.

"How do you..."

"I know you want to cure our mother quickly. But if you push yourself like this and suddenly fall ill before we find the flower, wouldn’t that be even more troublesome for us?"

Elias could only fall silent, lowering his head a little. He had thought about the possibility of falling ill, but with the deadline looming, he really couldn’t relax even a little.

"Thank you, Lady."

For now, Elias would just follow what Elysia said. But at the same time, he also had to change his plan for searching for the flower.

"Good, if you understand. Oh, right. I found something on my way back here."

Evelyn and Elias exchanged a brief look, equally curious, then turned to Elysia.

"Did you find a clue about the flower?"

"No, Big Sis. I found a man who says he’s lost."

"What? Lost in a forest like this?"

"Yes. He said he was originally with his party hunting a tiger monster. But when they found the monster, the information about it turned out to be wrong. His friends were slaughtered by the monster, leaving him alone."

"Oh my, how pitiful~"

It was a tragic story. And surviving alone in this forest for several days was a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck, but Elias felt a few things were off.

"Where’s that man now?"

"Huh? He’s by the fire right now."

"I’ll go meet him first. You two please go back to your tent and rest."

Evelyn and Elysia just watched Elias walk away, leaving them behind. They exchanged a glance before choosing to follow Elias to meet the man.

When Elias reached the fire, sure enough, he found the man sitting there staring into it with a cloth draped over his body.

Elias approached the man and sat on the other side of a log near the fire.

Elias smiled at the man before he began to speak.

"Hello, sir. Nice to meet you. I’m one of the soldiers on this expedition team."

The man flinched for a moment when someone suddenly spoke to him, then looked at the smiling Elias before answering.

"Ah... Hello."

Hearing that short reply made Elias smile wryly, sweat on his cheek.

’I look like I’m trying way too hard to be friendly.’

"I’ve heard your story from the others. I’m sorry for the loss of your comrades."

"Right... That day was a living nightmare. Watching my friends get torn apart right before my eyes felt so..."

The man didn’t finish, maybe because it wasn’t something good to say, or maybe because of trauma.

"How horrifying... What kind of monster would do something so vicious?"

"It hasn’t been named yet, but people call it the Iron-Claw White Tiger. At the time, the RoseBlue guild put out a quest to gather information about that monster.

Seeing that the reward was 150 Grade A Mana Stones, naturally people were tempted. What’s more, there was no grade restriction.

But as everyone knows, the risk of entering a forest like this is no small matter, especially Blackwood Forest."

*Crackle...

Elias listened carefully as the man spoke while adding twigs to the fire.

"That makes sense. So in conclusion, you and your friends came here because you were tempted by the reward."

"Yes... That’s right," the man said, then smiled bitterly before continuing, "Actually, we’re low-grade adventurers, and the pay from completing quests isn’t much because of our grade."

Evelyn and Elysia suddenly sat down beside Elias, and Evelyn spoke up too:

"So in short, since you and your friends are low-grade Adventurers, when you saw the reward and the lack of a grade restriction, you and your friends recklessly took the quest without regard for the risk."

"Well, it’s human nature, in general. They’ll do anything to survive," said Elysia, holding her hands out toward the fire.

"Elysia, I don’t know where you got a line like that, but that’s not entirely true, you know~"

"I already guessed it wasn’t true, since I made that line up myself."

"W-what...?"

Elysia looked at Evelyn’s face with a faint smile.

"I just wanted to be a wise person for once."

Evelyn glanced at Elysia’s hair for a moment before touching it.

"In that case, why don’t you cut off all your hair so you can become fully wise? It would look great to see you with no hair."

The veins on Elysia’s forehead popped out and one of her eyes started twitching, then she slapped away Evelyn’s hand from her head.

"I’ve got an idea. If I go bald, you should go bald too. But I understand you’d be embarrassed if someone else cut your hair, so..."

*Clink.

Suddenly, the girl’s hand gripped the hilt of the sword at her waist as if about to draw it.

"Let me do it for you, my dear sister."

Seeing Elysia already gripping her sword while speaking such "sweet" words touched Evelyn,

"Wow~ my little sister is so thoughtful. But as your big sister, I should be the one to do it for you first"

to the point that she also gripped her sword hilt while smiling at Elysia.

"Right?"

Elias, who was sitting between the two of them, could only freeze with a twitching face. He didn’t know why those two were even here when he’d told them to go rest.

In the end, Elias could only sigh and slap his forehead, before pinching one ear of each girl.

"Can you two calm down?"

"Ow! That hurts!"

"Okay, okay, fine! We’ll calm down! But Big Sis started it!"

"Watch your mouth! You’re the one who messed with me first. Are you pretending to be senile now, you granny?"

"What did you say?!"

"What, huh?!"

’These girls...’

Since the two kept getting louder, Elias tightened his grip on their ears a little.

The two girls squirmed in pain before finally sitting back down calmly. But even so, Elias could still feel the energy of a quarrel in front of him, as though an electric current were crackling across and its source was the two girls.

"Hmph!"

"Hmph!"

’I didn’t think those two could bicker like this.’

Seeing one of the girls dressed all in white, yet with a face and appearance identical to the girl he’d met earlier, the man grew curious and finally asked where they were from.

"If I may ask, where are you all from?"

"Ah... Allow me to introduce them. The girl on my right is the eldest child of Marquis Nocturne, Evelyn Nocturne. And her twin sister, Elysia Nocturne.

And I’m their Caretaker, Elias Veyron."

"What?! Nobles from the neighboring country?! F-forgive my rudeness, Lady Nocturne!"

When the man learned that Evelyn and Elysia were daughters of a noble family, he immediately prostrated himself before them.

On the other side, Evelyn stayed silent without answering the man because she was still annoyed, and Elysia only answered with a few words.

"Get up. I’m not in the mood right now."

Hearing that, the man rose from his prostration and sat back down.

"F-forgive me, and thank you for being so kind to me."

Elias could only laugh wryly at the cold reactions of Evelyn and Elysia.

"Please forgive my ladies’ attitude. Usually they aren’t like this, or maybe they are..."

’In the game, they’d be indifferent to strangers.’

"So what’s your name, sir?"

"Ah, just call me Vladir."

Elias extended his right hand toward Vladir for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Vladir."

Vladir looked at Elias’s hand for a moment before smiling with a bead of sweat on his cheek.

"Sorry, but my right hand is hard to move..."

"Oh, my apologies!"

Elias immediately switched to his left hand. Then Vladir raised his left hand and returned Elias’s handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Vladir."

"Nice to meet you too, Sir Elias. I look forward to working with you."

"Of course."

At the same time Elias and Vladir were smiling and shaking hands, a pair of glowing eyes was watching them from the darkness, unnoticed by anyone.

* * *