as Mars woke up and went outside the cave the sun had just risen and he was also slightly surprised seeing all of the elvers was up and about, they seemed to be working on making a hut, that was about 100 square meters, out of the wood Mars had stacked next to the cave and the floor was already mostly done and they were working on the walls of the hut when Rex saw Mars and signaled to the other elvers that walked over and lined up in front of Mars before Alvin stepped out and introduced himself with smile on his face"i"m Alvin captain of the 6th barrier forest patrol team, i have heard from Rex that your name is Mars?"
Mars was slightly taken back from the energy Alvin was showing despite it being just after sunrise on him being injured but still managed to give a slight nod
"yes my name is Mars, i"m the living G.o.d of energy"
hearing Mars Alvin lit up a little more before he
"i see i that case, Mars i am very sorry about calling you a human attacking you i hope you can forgive us this mistake"
as Alvin spoke he bowed down along with the rest of the elvers and stood in silence as Mars was little dazed by the change in his att.i.tude from yesterday, and a little influenced by his dragon instincts Mars felt some joy in having people bow for him but pulled himself together as he gave a smile and spoke in a light tone
"it"s fine i forgive you... have you heard from Rex about my conditions?
as Mars forgave him Alvin and the rest of the elvers raised there heads before Alvin spoke again with a slightly apologetic smile
"...no not yet"
"i see... in that case i will restate my terms for your surrender"
Alvin, Chloe and Isabel looked a little tense so Mars pointed to a tree stump and had them sit down while he stood
"fist term you or your people will not intensively harm me or Victoria, second term you all will provide me with knowledge and answer my questions, third term you will all help me in crafting, hunting and building some things if i should request it"
hearing Mars sate his 3 terms Alvin felt like it was a little light pries for their lives and asked Mars after thinking for a little while
"...what happens if we break those terms or run away?"
hearing Alvin"s question Mars gave a wide smile and opened his arms while he started to transform shocking the elvers as they quickly pulled back and reached for their swords before Mars spoke loudly almost yelling at them with a smile that showed his teeth that grew sharper from transforming
"sure you can try to harm me or Victoria, the all mighty administrator forbid you succeed for if any of you hurt Victoria i will cleanse this continent for your ENTIRE RACE!"
as Mars yelled out he slipped into a battle stance and prepared for a fight before he spotted something made him fall over and roll on the ground in laughter
"hahahaHAHAHAH--"
looking at Mars"s erratic behavior the elvers was slightly confused as he went from treating genocide to rolling on the ground laughing loudly less than 5 seconds before Chloe got a little angry and yelled at Mars
"what"s so funny!?"
hearing Chloe"s angry voice Mars laughed even harder and for almost a full minute the elvers looked at him rolling on the ground before he finally stopped and sat up while he dried the tears in the corner of his eyes as he looked at Chloe holding back laughter
"sorry sorry, it"s just you talk about running away when you don"t even realize your have already been trapped, the other have an excuse but you there young elf i thought you would have learned
something from yesterday"s hunt"
as Chloe heard Mars talking about the hunt from yesterday she froze and started to tremble as her face paled as Alvin noticed Chloe"s situation he yelled at Mars
"what do you mean yesterday"s hunt!?"
seeing Alvin fume Mars gave a teasing smile while his transformation was coming undone before he spoke
"why don"t you turn around and find out?"
Alvin fist gave a slight glance behind him before turned around as what he saw captured his attention completely, sitting in the trees and on the ground where more than 10 black panthers they all looked alike and all had cold dark eyes that was emitting formless pressure watching the elvers every move as Mars spoke again with a lightly teasing tone
"you are free to try and outrun Victoria, if one of you manage to escape i will let all of you go as a sign of respect"
now not only Chloe but also Alvin and Isabel was turning slightly pale only Rex looked mostly calm as he knew Mars the best but there still was a slight layer of cold sweat on his face, all of the elvers looked before Mars spoke out in a light tone and released the tension
"okay that"s enough Victoria, i don"t want them to pa.s.s out"
a few seconds after Mars spoke the formless pressure that was pressing down on the elvers disappeared like the morning dew as the shadow decoys all dissolved into dark smoke and disappeared and Chloe"s legs gave out as she sat down on the ground still slightly trembling, Mars clapped his hands and woke Alvin from his daze before he spoke again with a slight smile
"sorry about that, now have you decided if you want to follow my terms?"
Alvin looked at Chloe that was sitting on the ground then to Isabel that was slightly pale but still gave a slight nod, then he gave a glance to Rex and also confirmed with him before he gave a sigh and spoke looking slightly defeated
"...okay we accept your terms"
hearing Alvin accept Rex gave an approving nod before he mumbled in a praising tone
"...a good commander knows when to surrender"
as Isabel stood closest to Rex she heard what he mumbled and showed a proud smile as Mars walked op to Alvin and spoke again while he reached out his right hand
"no reason to look like a soldier being taken to a prison camp, i believe this is the start to a worthwhile cooperation between me and your village, what is your village called?"
seeing Mars had switched his murder mode off Alvin gave a sigh and reached out hand to Mars as he gave a him a firm handshake with a light smile on his face
"it"s called Green River village"
as Mars and Alvin was shaking hands Victoria"s shadow appeared behind Mars as she jumped out from it and sat down behind Mars and started cleaning her paw while she looked at the elvers with curiosity
"oh there you are Victoria"
as Mars saw Victoria had decided to appear he turned to her and gave her some head petting before he turned back to the elvers and spoke
"me and Victoria are going down to the river but..."
Mars paused and looked at elvers seeing Chloe was still sitting on the ground nervelessly looking at Victoria with a pale face, then a Alvin that was still injured, then to Rex that had gone back to building the hut before his eyes finally rested on Isabel that looked somewhat calm as he asked
"what"s your name?"
having Mars talking directly to her for the first time Isabel was a little confused before she gave a slight smile
"my name is Isabel"
Mars engraved her name in his memory for a few seconds before he asked her
"Isabel would you mind joining us on a little trip?"
Isabel gave a glance to Alvin that gave a small nod before he walked over to help Chloe up
"sure, why not"
after confirming Isabel was following after him Mars walked towards the river with Victoria and Isabel and after walking a for a little while in silence Mars started to ask some question
"can you tell me about that treaty Alvin spoke about yesterday?"
Isabel gave a slight sigh before she gave a nod
"sure, but do you mind if i talk about some other things first?"
seeing Mars nod all 3 of them stopped as Isabel collected her thoughts for a few seconds before she spoke
"fist is the forest, it"s called the mother forest and is surrounded by ocean to the west and the south and to the east is a inseparable mountain range leaving the north were it borders the human kingdom of Destra, it"s divided into 4 zones, zone 1 is the village and the closely surrounding area, zone 2 or the safe forest is the forest around zone 1 and is regularly cleared of magic beast and other dangerous by patrols, it"s also were we grow most of the food that is consumed in green river"
Mars gave a nod as he started to draw a map in his head of the area around the elven village, but never having seen the village it was rather vague
"zone 3 or the barrier forest is where we are now and it runs like a belt between the first 2 zones and the last zone, the barrier forest have a 20 magic formation in hidden spots that sends an alert to the village if a large group of people enter, zone 4 or the outer forest is the forest area to the north and borders Destra it"s also the only zone where outsiders are allowed by the treaty, and outsiders found in the barrier forest is when not killed on sight escorted to the outer forest"
listening to Isabel"s smooth voice Mars was a little dazed but still continued to draw a map in his head showing Destra to the north, Green river village to the south and the mountain range were his cave was to the east and slowly nodded as his eyes rested on Isabel that took it a sign to continue
"400 or so years ago Green river village and the mother forest was. .h.i.t with a heat wave that failed our crops and starved our people, it was decided after much debate among the elders and the village chief that trading with Destra was the best way out of the crises, and so for the first time in the 20 thousand year old history of Green river village we started to trade with anyone, it went well profiting both sides greatly and the trade also brought new farming techniques to the village"
as Isabel took a break a trace of nostalgia flashed in her eyes before she continued talking
"the trade went so well that a trade town was made here in the barrier forest 200 years ago, it was called Mother town after the forest and it quickly grew with elvers, humans and beastmen living in the town together, while it was not always in harmony the town was mostly peaceful... or at least as peaceful a busy trade town can be"
looking at Isabel that seemed to indulging in her memory Mars kept quiet as he waited for her to continue talking, and suddenly anger and hate seemed to pa.s.s through her eyes before she took a breath to calm down before she spoke again
"about 80 years ago elvers started to disappear from Mother town, the missing were mostly women in their prime and all of them vanished like smoke, never to be seen again... after some investigation we found out that they had been kidnapped and sold as slaves after a retaining magic formation had been carved and then been filled with molten magic beast cores directly on their back"
seeing the pain in Isabel"s eyes Mars also felt some rage towards the sc.u.m that kidnapped and enslaved those elvers as he waited for Isabel to continue talking
"after we found out about the elvers that had been enslaved there were many including myself that called for war against Destra, but the village chief decided to negotiate with Destra seeking to free the enslaved elvers, but unable to leave the village he sent his wife Jade to handle talks with Destra in Mother town"
as Isabel stopped talking heavy grief and anger pa.s.sed through her green eyes before she clenched her fists and spoke with a cold voice
"the negotiations with Destra never happened because Jade was caught hours after she reached Mother town and was raped and killed by n.o.bles from Destra that fled Mother town after they released who she was... when she was found the next day dumped in a alley like some piece of trash with her body mangled almost beyond recognition our rage boiled over and a ma.s.sacre found place as Mother town was cleansed from all outsiders while the 200 or so prisoners was sent out of the forest each one with the some words carved into their backs"
as Isabel stopped talking she took a breath and looked Mars directly in his eyes before she spoke again
"the words on their backs read:Mother town have been disbanded and any outsider brave enough to set foot in the forest for the next 50 years will be killed without question"