As soon as Lyana saw the elves, she immediately rushed forward toward them in joy but Liam grabbed the woman and closed her mouth with his palm. He then lifted his finger to place it on his lips and signaled her to keep quiet.
Just as the elf wondered why the human was behaving strangely, suddenly another figure appeared out of the shadows. It was a barbarian.
Lyana gasped in shock. Moreover, there wasn't just one but four other barbarians also appeared from the thicket, dragging along with them a lifeless elven woman.
"Bastards!" Lyana clenched her fist, tears streaming out of her eyes. She wanted to rush forward and kill all of them, but if she did that, unfortunately, she would only be joining them. The elf's body slumped in Liam's hold as she looked down in shame and embarrassment.
The barbarians did not linger around there for too long and after a few minutes, they left the area, taking along with them their freshly caught slaves.
Only then Liam and the group stepped outside. No one said anything as they walked ahead silently without looking back. Finally, Liam said a few words to ease the relationship, "If I could, I would have."
Lyana shook her head. She also understood. None of them was a match for the barbarians so they had no choice except to suffer this fate. Otherwise, the elves would have retaliated a long time ago.
A few more hours later, the wilderness soon completely cleared up revealing a gentle and beautiful forest. The air in the place was itself different. There was something in the air that made everyone feel at ease.
"We are here," Lyana mumbled as she collapsed to the ground. The other elves also fainted on the spot. "Huh?" Liam turned to look at them but before he could do anything, something hard struck the back of his head and he lost consciousness.
***
Liam did not know how much time had passed by when he woke up again. He looked to his left and right with a weird expression. "I am in a prison?"
He hurriedly tried to summon his status screen, but of course, like always, when in a prison the system interface did not work and all his communication was cut off.
"Perfect." He chuckled helplessly. The only good thing was that next to him a fox lay on the ground pitifully. It looked like they put Luna behind bars as well.
"So… you are finally awake?" A gruff voice sounded from outside. Liam turned to see a stern-looking man standing outside the prison room. He was tall, lean, had elfish features, and a whip in his hand.
"What are you looking at, filthy human?" He spat out in contempt.
The cherry on top of the cake. Liam bitterly smiled. He didn't say anything and also he wasn't too worried about this situation.
He had followed some sort of quest to arrive here so he was pretty sure that he was safe for the time being. Worst case, he probably had to wait until Lyana and the other elves recovered.
"Chi! You look too smug for a vermin who is about to die. You disgusting piece of filth. Wipe that rotten smile off your face." The elf outside shouted once again and lashed his whip at the prison bars.
He wanted his prisoners to quake in fear so seeing Liam unnerved like this was extremely infuriating for him. "This won't do. Filthy trash like you needs to be taught a lesson! Hmph!"
The elf jingled the key bunch hung on his hip searching for the right key when suddenly a set of footsteps echoed in the dark place.
"That's enough, Groter." A tall elven woman walked over and she was adorned from head to toe with numerous noteworthy items.
Hmmm? Liam casually looked from the elf named Groter to the new woman as if he was watching a show that had nothing to do with them. He knew he was going to get out anyways so all of this was just fast forwardable cut scene as far as he was concerned.
Groter saw this and became even more furious. "Leader, this trash!"
"Shut up!"
Groter was shocked.
"How dare you insult the hero who saved our people! Go! Go inside and punish yourself with a hundred whips!"
The woman then elegantly bowed towards Liam and immediately sprung open the prison cage. "Please forgive us for this misunderstanding. Lady Lyana has regained her health and she explained everything."
"Oh? Lady Lyana?" Liam nodded with a polite smile. He then picked up Luna, dusted his back, and walked out like a boss.
"Please follow me, Sir Liam." The elven women lead him out of the place, through a long tunnel and the both of them finally emerged from within a big tree trunk.
So the prison was underground within a tree's root network? This was Liam's first time in a place like this. He had also never heard about this before. So he looked around everywhere in awe.
The outside was even more impressive with several huge trees, and a wide network of some sort of rudimentary huts atop the trees, each containing a couple or more elven soldiers.
Hmmm? In all honesty, Liam had expected more but these elves were poorer than the demons?
As if she was reading Liam's thoughts, the elven woman next to him immediately explained with a smile. "We are still outside the main Kingdom, Sir Liam."
She escorted him for a few minutes when finally something bright and noisy came into the view. "This is more like it." Liam smiled as he looked around. In front of him, a huge city was sprawled with several elves bustling about here and there busily.
There were all sorts of hawkers on the street. Herbs! There were numerous herbs everywhere! The entire place was lively, full of new information and new possibilities.
And of course, the one thing that stood out like a sore thumb was that… there were only elves and elves everywhere.
