Moonlight sifted through layered leaves like silken veils, scattering bright coins of light across the ground; only the nights of the Elven Forest paint scenes like this.

Now and then, glows like fireflies rose from both sides of the path, weaving between leaves like tiny lanterns to light the way. They weren’t fireflies at all, but little sprites of the forest, quick as sparks.

Under that hushed moon, a group panted and pushed small handcarts along the shadowed trail, wheels chirping like crickets.

“Hurry, hurry! Faster!” Her shout cracked like a whip through dew.

Lia walked at the tail, urging them on, her presence like a steady drumbeat in the dark.

“Lady Lia, I—I can’t push anymore!” His arms felt like waterlogged logs in the stream.

“These are our comrades; if you want the Azure Front to abandon you to the frost, you can let go.”

“I wouldn’t dare!” The words leapt out like a spark catching straw.

At her order, the weary man squared his shoulders again, like a tree bracing in wind. They were adventurers who had just escaped a timber trade tower that smelled of sap, and in the carts lay comrades knocked out by white-robed men, along with scattered goods like fallen leaves.

The Azure Front, as Lia told it, was a secret, vast underground network—roots under stone—formed by elves in the Elven Empire who opposed war, and adventurers who’d slipped the hunt. It united the unjustly detained to fight for peace.

Of course, that whole pitch was something Yue Liuyi spun on the spot, like thread drawn from moonlight.

But with two elf girls’ lineage, sharp skill, and bright beauty, plus Lia as the inside contact—no one doubted; they swallowed it like parched earth drinking rain. For freedom and for the road home, they obeyed the three girls, pushing with all they had, like oars biting through a dark river.

...

“This way, we can finally explain who we are,” the words landed like pebbles in a clear stream.

“Xiaoyue, you’re a queen of improv; if I didn’t know my Xiaoyue’s the cutest, I might fear that sly moon-bright brain,” she teased, eyes curved like crescents.

“Heh-heh, I learned it from LittleSnow,” she giggled, light as a sparrow hopping on frost.

“I’m nowhere near Xiaoyue’s wild sky-running imagination,” she said, smile drifting like mist.

The two girls walked side by side at the head of the line, their shadows braided by moonlight like twin ribbons.

“Xiaoyue’s plan works, but trouble’s just beginning. Beds and meals are still in the fog, and one lie begets more lies, like ivy on a wall.”

“Mm… true. And Lia said she woke up only to be locked here; I don’t know where the others or the Skyship drifted off to, like a whale lost in clouds.”

“Don’t lose heart; a good start is a dawn under trees.”

“Mm… right! LittleSnow, do you know who those white-robed ones are? Why strike so cruelly—killing the Elven Guard on duty and knocking adventurers out like sacks? From those complex mechanical bones, they look Inner Ring—just not sure if they come as friends or knives.”

“Xiaoyue guessed right; only the Inner Ring crafts things that intricate, gears like spider silk. But those white-robed ones… they’re our enemies, blades hidden in silk.”

“Huh?” Her breath snagged like a leaf on a twig.

“They pretend to be Dragon Heaven’s rescue unit, then kill the stationed Elven Guard; and like when they faced Tiger Girl, they never cared whether adventurers lived or died, tossing lives like straw. They’re not here to rescue. If they haul adventurers away, they may slaughter them at the border of the elven lands, cutting reeds along the waterline.”

“What?!” Her cry flashed like a startled bird.

Dixue’s reasoning struck Yue Liuyi like a bell, the sound rolling through her chest.

“They’ll shift the killing of elves onto Dragon Heaven, and the killing of adventurers onto the elves—simple as pouring oil on embers. Their aim is to stoke hate between natives and newcomers, to turn neighbors into flint and steel.”

“Seriously? It’s really like that? People can be that vile?” The chill pricked her innocence like ice needles.

Yue Liuyi’s eyes widened, blue hair glinting like a river under moon, and thoughts burst open like night blossoms.

“Then… those recent news crimes, robbing elves, could be white-robed ones disguised as adventurers, masks over wolves. But stirring war—what’s their profit?”

“Plenty circle a battlefield like vultures catching thermals—terror cells, arms dealers, heretical factions, rival species to the elves. Whatever their intent, it runs crosswind to our path; they’re enemies of the Azure Front.”

“Wait, didn’t I just make the Azure Front up?” Her voice held playful dew.

“We can make it real. With Xiaoyue at my side, stars follow the moon; anything’s possible.”

Yedie Snow hugged the blue-haired girl’s waist, her arms warm as a sash, and spoke with bright confidence that glowed like dawn.