"Sorry. These guys looked like they were about to escape, so I had to take action and get them first." Liam explained with a sweet smile to the bunch of elves who were staring at him with their mouths wide open.
He walked over casually and stood in front of them, tossing the five knocked out barbarians on the ground like gunny sacks. Just from looking, one could see that all five of them were in a bad state, their faces and bodies being black and blue in several spots.
"You… you did this alone?" Finally, one of the elves asked. For maybe higher elven soldiers and generals, this might not be a big thing. Still, to a patrol unit, this was unbelievable, especially because the barbarians were not dead and captured alive.
"Ah. Right. These guys are not strong enough, so I was able to take them down." Liam smiled once again. "By the way, if you guys had a prison, we should take them there soon while they are still unconscious. This would help in interrogating them for more information."
Agreeing with Liam, the elves quickly did the same, and Liam also ended up accompanying them for their own safety. He was now freely walking inside the same prison he was captured in just a few minutes ago.
The elf guarding the prison cells recognized Liam and got another shock. But the situation got resolved quickly since the elves seemed to hate the barbarians much more than human beings.
Not long after that, a few more elves joined them and took note of Liam's achievement. Finally, even the leader of the patrolling teams arrived at the spot. He looked at Liam up and down and gave a satisfactory nod.
"You have helped us greatly this time. Walk with me."
Liam smiled politely and walked with the guy. "Don't think that we are idiots. We also are capable of capturing the barbarians like this. We are not weak."
"Hmmm?"
"What I am about to tell you is something that is privy only to the higher echelons of the elven community. So I would suggest you keep it to yourself."
"Ok." Liam nodded with a serious expression.
"Our biggest threat in the area until a few years were the dark elves. They are elves who renounced our god and went astray after their mind got twisted by demonic energy."
"And while we were dealing with them, all of a sudden, the barbarians who did not dare raise their heads against us somehow became stronger."
"They have developed some sort of drug that strips an elf of all of their mana and power. But this was still under our control as we found an antidote for this drug."
The elf stopped and sighed, "That's when the barbarians revealed something else. A new kind of power."
Now Liam understood. "Do you mean the power that allowed them to become several times stronger suddenly?"
The elf looked visibly surprised, but he nodded. "Yes, I am talking about that same thing."
He sighed again and continued, "Currently, we are under attack from the barbarians on one side and the dark elves on the other side. So the situation in Kimoria is not great. We recently had a major struggle, so right now, we are trying to recuperate and gather our strength again."
The elf led Liam back into the city and one of the taverns. He then generously even ordered a few food items and drinks. The food was mostly vegetarian and was nothing special but the wine tasted divine.
Liam had never had anything like this before in his life. He helped himself to a few refills while the elf continued the story.
"I know human beings and elves don't have the best of relations, but I would personally like to thank you for this help. You have also taught me that all human beings are not the same."
Liam smiled, "No, you were right the first time. Most human beings are greedy." The two of them laughed at that remark, and the atmosphere slowly turned into a friendly one.
At this point, Liam slowly suggested his main agenda, "I have some free time at the moment. There is no rush for me to get back to the human kingdom, so if you don't mind, I can stay behind and assist you in capturing more barbarians."
The elf immediately turned stiff. There was a look of reluctance on his face. This was why Liam made sure not to say help or hurt their pride at any point in time, but it still looked like the elf was not convinced.
"In return, I hope I can continue to drink your wine." Liam laughed it off to continue keeping the atmosphere light.
The elf was still not too pleased, but Liam ignored that and started to act as if he was drunk and loose-mouthed.
"Saaa! This is good! This would help me out a lot. I would be penniless if I returned back to the human kingdom now, but if I stay here and work for you guys for some time, I will get some silver coins, right?"
"I can also take pride in the fact that I am working for the elves. This is…." Liam continued the charade, painting the picture of a perfect lackey, which he was already well versed in.
And a few minutes later… the elf finally relented!
The next day, the city of Kimoria saw an unexpected scene. One human and a bunch of elven soldiers were working together, and from time to time, they would drag several captured barbarians to their prison.
Liam did not reveal his undeads as the news about that part of his skill set seemed to have not surfaced just yet. Instead, he used [Stealth] and his swordplay to make a quick work of whatever barbarians he could find.
The elves were also scouring the wilderness along with him, so they covered a lot of distance together. More importantly, whenever they came across one of the special barbarians capable of using the bloodlust skill, they silently retreated.
In this manner, things continued to proceed smoothly. From the morning till almost evening, Liam worked together with the elves patiently even though it neither gave him experience points nor gave him loot.
This was just the first day, so he did not worry about that part. What he wanted to do was buy more time to stay back in the elven lands, which was successfully accomplished.
But his main problem still remained. How the hell was he supposed to get the old man to teach him what he needed?
He did not even know how many days he had to burn for this to happen. Considering that there wasn't much time left, this was going to be a very expensive endeavor, and he only hoped it would bear fruit.
