"Hey, I pointed out your problem—how can you treat me like this?" Eli leaned against the cell wall like a lazy cat on cold moonlit stone. "Even if I earned no merit, I ate the bitterness; isn’t that off?" His voice drifted like rain on iron.

He said it lightly, and his eyes stayed calm, like a pond untouched by wind.

His leisure stood against the corridor’s chaos, Elf guards scattered like fallen leaves after a storm.

"Hey~ why’s nobody talking to me~" Eli sighed, then bent the lock off with a crack, the metal crying like a cricket in dusk, and he swung it in his hand like a bell.

"You look awfully idle." A voice came in, dry as winter reeds in a river wind.

Eli heard it, hid the lock behind his back like a squirrel stashing a nut, and looked up at the newcomer with sun-warm eyes.

"Yo. Uh. Elavis? Mm. Elavis. Hi there." He waved, his smile easy as spring light through bamboo.

The Elf Queen shook her head, her hair like dark water. "No matter how long it’s been, you still haven’t changed," she said, like a frost line drawn straight.

"Ah? I might disagree—I'm not the person in your memory anymore," Eli shrugged, like a sparrow shaking drizzle from its wings.

Elavis only tilted her head and waved, her hand cutting the air like a blade of wind; the guards withdrew like shadows at dawn.

When the room held only the two of them, she smiled like a crescent moon. "You didn’t make me come to chat, did you?"

She’d felt a heavy aura from the dungeon for miles, like thunder sleeping beneath stone.

She knew what kind of person her cell could hold, like a hunter knowing his snare—he’d stepped in on purpose, like a fox choosing its path.

And while she delayed, she felt watched, like a deer under a treeline of silent eyes.

If she couldn’t guess his aim now, she might as well have lived like smoke, drifting for nothing.

Eli smiled, tossed the lock away like a pebble skipping a pond, then drew something from his personal pocket space like a star from a sleeve, and lobbed it to Elavis.

"Here—your ancestor’s thing," he said, voice bright as a lantern. "He’ll tell you what I came for."

Elavis glanced down at the seed, her breath catching like a bird in netted light.

Eli hesitated, scratching his temple like a dog at a door. "Hey, don’t tell me you don’t know how to use it?"

Elavis blinked, slow as night settling, then shook her head like willow tips in wind. "No. I’m just thinking your strength climbed fast, like ivy up old stone."

"Ah, that—well, people change, like rivers find new banks," Eli chuckled, his laugh scattered like hail.

Elavis asked no more. She sighed, soft as mist, and after a moment she poured the Elf Race’s royal power into the seed, like sunlight into soil, and reached Waynes’s divine sense like a bridge over fog.

Eli watched from the side, scratching his head like a crow unsure of shiny things. "Looks… not that simple," he muttered, words drifting like smoke.

By the time they finished—who knew how long—the minutes fell like sand, and Eli was yawning against the wall like a lion after heat.

Seeing Elavis’s posture settle, he stepped forward, his smile easy as tea steam, and held out his hand like a peace branch. "All set?"

Elavis studied him for a long time, her gaze steady as a winter lake; only when he grew awkward, like a boy caught in rain, did she smile. "Mm."

"Hahaha, then—happy cooperation?" Eli grinned, his tone playful as a kite in wind.

Elavis looked him over, this man all loosened seams, and she felt a spark of offense like a reed set alight. Waynes’s words put the reins in Eli’s hands like a seal in wax.

She didn’t accept that, so she’d argued like flint knocking steel for a long while.

In the end she yielded, but obeying him cleanly felt wrong, like swallowing bitter tea without a pause.

She bit down gently, anger fine as pepper. "Who said I’d cooperate with you?"

Eli blinked, his fingers in his hair like tangled roots. "Huh? That’s not in the script."

"With that attitude?" Her smile tilted like a blade’s edge. "What do you think?"

Eli thought, the pause still as midnight. "Fair point."

He untied his hair like loosing a banner and set the initial Judge Mode, his aura dropping like a stone in deep water.

Face stern, voice clear as a temple bell: "Happy cooperation?"

Elavis looked at him and burst into a laugh, quick as a sparrow. She shook her head, half-smiling like dawn through cloud, and offered her hand like the meeting of rivers. "Happy cooperation."

"..." Eli arched a brow, mind flicking like a fish in current. This woman—what mood swung her? So quick to agree?

Boom!

The defensive line to their side erupted with a blast, like a volcano spitting black birds; smoke coiled and rose like dragons.

They turned as one, eyes sharp as blades, and saw dark plumes bloom like ink.

Elavis glanced at Eli on reflex, her gaze keen as frost. "Birand. This time, what will you do to please Sister?"

"Huh?" Eli stared at her, confused like fog on glass.

Elavis blinked, a charming smile blooming like peach flowers. "Nothing. Forget it," she said, voice light as ash.

Eli frowned, the crease tight as a bowstring. "Huh? Why so strange?"

Elavis lifted her staff with a sigh, her breath like autumn wind through reeds. "We’re allied now. Shouldn’t you do something, as your opening move?"

Eli smiled, quick as flint finding spark. "Good idea."

Elavis smiled back, words gathering like rain—then Eli vanished, clean as a hawk diving out of sight.

Elavis lowered her head and drew a pocket watch from her neck like a moon from cloud; she looked at the smiling girl inside and curved her lips like a quiet wave. "Sis. He’s alive. You can rest easy."

...

"Hey, human brat, do you know this could burn the whole forest?" The girl stood hands on hips, her pout like a plum, anger flaring like dry grass.

The boy ignored her, shooing with his hand like a man brushing sparrows. "You’re making a fuss. Move. I’m starving," he said, his tone rough as gravel. "Why care if it burns? It’s not my house."

"You!" she snapped, her words like thrown stones. "I’ll fetch the village elders and have you dragged back to the human lands to be punished!"

"Tch. Fine, I’m joking, okay?" The boy sighed, waving again like a lazy wind through tall weeds.

"Tch. Sis, let’s go," the girl said, pulling her sister like a kite string. "We’ll tell the adults and make him taste bitter."

Her little sister eyed the roasted fish, swallowing like a thirsty fawn. "Sis… I’m hungry…"

The girl flushed, anger rising like steam from a pot. "You! If you’re hungry, go home for dinner!"

The boy smiled, eyes warm as firelight. "Alright, silly girl—you’ve never seen magic, have you?"

"What did you say!" She flared, anger like sparks in straw.

The boy ignored her and patted the younger sister’s head like rain on moss. "Little one, want a bite? Call me ‘brother’ and I’ll share."

The little sister nodded, soft as a kitten. "Brother~"

"Ay, good girl." He chuckled, handing over the fish like passing a torch.

The older girl arched a brow and snatched it, quick as a hawk. "You can’t eat what strangers give you!"

"Sis." The little one’s eyes welled, tears like pearls about to fall.

"And he said he was starving!" the girl huffed, anger curling like smoke.

The boy watched the duo, and a sigh drifted from him like wind through pines. "Haha, wonderful," he said, voice gentle as dusk.

Then he raised a hand and sketched sigils in the air, lines weaving like golden vines; the two girls stared, stunned as deer.

Golden light drew into bright segments, solid in the air like glass threads.

"Let me broaden your horizons," he said, his smile like sunrise.

In moments, eight kinds of flame kindled in the air, each a flower of fire dancing to his fingertip like swallows.

Under their wide eyes, each flame ferried back its ingredient like a bee returning with nectar.

He tossed them down before the three of them, the bundles landing like fruit from branches. He sighed, his breath clouded like morning fog. "Sigh—those guys will find me soon."

The two girls were lost in the spectacle, their ears shut like shells, and missed his warning.

Seeing their faces, the boy’s voice softened like silk. "Come on, don’t be shy—let’s eat."

"Hmph. With power like that, why not enlist and help the Hero push back the Demon Race?" the girl grumbled, her defiance now a low ember.

He heard it and smiled, a curve soft as a crescent. "What, you like the Hero?"

"Of course," she said, standing straight like a pine. "The elders say the Demon Race is cruel. Without the Hero, weak elves like us might be killed at birth."

The boy smiled and fell silent, his quiet like snow.

Soon, several white-robed men arrived, their steps silent as owls; the girls couldn’t see them, like stars hidden by day.

The men looked at the boy, and he nodded, brief as a blade. He finished his meat fast, then pinched the girls’ cheeks with greasy fingers like smudges of paint. "If you want to join the Hero’s Army one day, I can ask the Hero to take you as personal guards."

"Hmph. Who’d believe that? You?" the older girl shot back, her words thin as reeds.

"Yeah. Me." He smiled, warmth in it like a hearth he rarely showed. "When the time comes, tell the Hero my name. I’m… I’m Kate Fingal."

The white-robed men froze, shock rising like a tide.

The boy waved, casual as wind, and left with them like shadows flowing from light.

"My lord, shall we check those girls’ names?" one white-robed man asked, voice careful as a drawn thread.

The boy looked at him, thought a moment like a stone weighing the stream, then shook his head like leaves. "No. Leave it to fate. If fate wills, I’ll know. For now, don’t disturb their lives."

"Yes, Hero," they said, respect sharp as polished steel.

He gave a bitter smile, crooked as a broken branch. "I’m still not used to you treating me this reverently."

"It’s our duty," the man replied, words steady like an anvil.

...

"Hey. After all this time, can you tell who I am?" The boy stood wounded, blood dried like rust; his team dead or scattered like seeds in wind.

Only the girl from then remained, her presence a lone lamp under rain.

She stared, lost like a bird without a path. "He… Hero? What happened to you?"

"I mean—do you remember back then?" His eagerness beat like a drum under his ribs.

The girl’s eyes slid away like water, and she shook her head like reeds. "Emmm… I don’t understand what you mean, Hero."

"Forget it." He shook his head, the movement heavy as a tired bell.

"Guard. If… if you remember, tell me the name I gave you back then," he said, hope thin as thread.

"Huh? I don’t understand, sir," she answered, her voice a pale cloud.

"... Sigh." His breath emptied like winter through a cracked door.

...

Elavis closed the watch, her fingers careful as petals, and looked toward a far place like a mountain behind mist, her expression caught between smile and tears like rain under sun. "Sis, he loves you too. Please don’t blame him."