The young man is back again from his journey, and with a heavy load at that judging from his looks.After meeting up at the portal we immediately went back to the palace where we were about to have our dinner and a small celebration, Andrei was silent the whole time, and was still wearing his dark and worn out mantle.
Andrei… do you think we should also replace that?" I told him, trying to break the ice, Layla herself was also in agreement, as she nodded after I asked the question.
It took a while for him to answer as if he was processing the question.
He looked at his clothes and looked at me again.
"Yes… Thanks"
I couldn"t tell what he is thinking, after all, he looks absentminded and his voice was deeper than it was before.
"... and along with that can you also give me spare guns just in case mine breaks down?"
All he talks about is anything related to his mission, and strangely he isn"t asking questions to Layla who"s supposed to be a former resident there.
"Yes, Andrei, that will be done, so can you tell me about your journey while we dine?"
The one who asked was the empress herself, I tried to make fun of her so Andrei would laugh earlier in the forest, but it seemed that he didn"t get it.
"Ahh, about that, just ask Eagle, I"ll sleep for now. Thank you for the invitation empress"
He isn"t also calling the empress by her name the way he used to. When the empress was about to lose hope, the young man was there for her, this kind of concern coming from her is normal.
As the attendant who will be leading him to his room arrived he bowed to Rara and me.
"Wait a moment young man, want to drink with me?" Everything is so awkward from the start, maybe a good drink at a good bar with ladies will change the mood.
"No, thanks. I still have three days here right? For now, let me just rest, the portal takes a toll on my body"
He walks away and disappears, confirming that he was already away I called on my attendant that I didn"t see for a year.
I opened the window and called for them.
"Eagle, Raven are you there? Can you dine with us instead and tell the Empress everything that happened?"
Two bird flapped their wings as they entered through the window and transformed themselves as men.
As Eagle and Raven told us everything that has happened, both the empress and I were wide-eyed.
I felt the hairs in my arms standing, the young man has definitely undergone lots of struggles by himself in a year, and it was something so cruel for him to do, that he lost his former self totally.
"Are you serious Eagle?… Andrei has done something… like that"
The empress was too surprised hearing how many Andrei killed in that world, how many dark-elves he tortured by his own hands, shaking in fear.
"It"s true that the dark-elves have made our people and if they are eradicated I would feel that we are winning, but… having Andrei, Andrei didn"t have to go through that"
The empress stood up from her seat hitting the table with her tiny hands, but the table did crack a bit due to her force, if I can remember the former emperor was the same when he snaps off.
She also had an aggravated expression on her face. Maybe due to the guilt of taking in Andrei and supporting him in this journey.
"Calm down, Empress, if you show that expression to him later, he will definitely feel more dejected"
I told her to calm down and nodded at Eagle to continue.
"Sorry, your imperial majesty, but it"s the truth.
I can"t even watch it anymore, and Raven here would fly away once his torture session starts.
Desperate to find the curse source, he killed and tortured as many dark-elves as he can.
But during his tortures the dark-elves mocked him, which made him much more desperate.
Unable to get any information from them, at the months that pa.s.sed, he killed and tortured as much as he can, learning from each instance and finally just last month before the portal opened he mastered the way of extracting information from these vile creatures.
And when we crushed a huge dark-elven base, he was able to finally get a clue.
As such why he is on the edge right now."
"I see, then what kind of enemy is he after when he returns? That clue leads to it right?"
"It isn"t exactly an enemy, but a resistance group formed by the Free Elven Forces, he intends to find this group and gain information"
Hearing this I noticed my wife Layla flinch, in concern, I whispered to her.
"Layla, do you know this group?"
And she simply slowly shook her head.
"No… I was just surprised, that there were still survivors, I thought that those who only know of the portal"s existence was saved"
"Just shows how tough your race is"
I smiled at her, and she looked at me in the eye and smiled. When I met Layla before and discovered her true ident.i.ty, she told me that she was 95 years old already, to convert it to a human"s lifetime, it was somewhere around 18.
Because of the key she has, that was pa.s.sed amongst her family, she was able to travel to another world in an attempt to live in peace once again. Knowing my wife she must be feeling responsible for running while some of her brethren are still fighting.
But it doesn"t matter anymore, she made a promise to me, to live as my wife and as a human for my family.
I held her hand and entwined it with hers, and I felt our wedding rings collide, reminding us of the day we promised to be with each other forever.
Eagle"s report continued for the whole night and the Empress was clearly bothered about it, that she wasn"t able to finish her meal.