One More Time: Rebirth

Chapter 86: Planning the next move

Hearing the princess mentioning elves the group had different reactions. The younger ones had no idea what elves were, this included Edge. In his mind, he wasn't sure if the term elves was an animal a deity or a race. The two senpais and Eva, on the other hand, knew a little bit about elves, but they thought that race could only be found in fairy tales. 

Finally, the two older beings who knew of the existence of elves showed weird expressions on their faces. 

"Kukuku, you want to seek refuge with those haughty pointy-eared snobs? The same ignorant fools that claim they are better than Ethereals."

"For once I agree with you. Why should we head to the forest of those forest hillbillies? The race that foolishly claims to be more elegant than us dragons. How can they be stupid enough to think they can match the majesty of the dragon race?" The princess hearing the complaints of the two smiled sweetly at them. 

"My dear elders, the reason we are heading to the elf village is not only to seek refuge but also to strengthen ourselves." When Tsukiyomi and Tanith heard Serillia calling them elders, the atmosphere got a bit tense. Before somebody else spoke that could possibly worsen the situation Edge intervened. 

"Strengthen ourselves? What do you mean?" 

"The elves have a special training regimen that could unleash a person's full potential. As they owe my mother a favor I can speak to them so that they may teach us their ways."

'A way to unleash my full potential.' When Edge heard this he was intrigued as he remembered what Leonard said before. Hidden within him was a power beyond his understanding. Maybe with this training, he could unlock this hidden power.

"That does sound promising, who would've thought there would come a day that an Ethereal would actually go visit the pointy-eared snobs to be trained. Truly it has been one excitement after another after meeting you Edge." Tsukiyomi showed Edge a bright smile while her crimson eyes stared at him. 

"So that's why the hillbillies could somehow match a tiny portion of our might. But it's unfortunate that this training to unleash my potential won't work on me. A dragon such as I have no need to train and will get stronger the more I grow. Still, it would be interesting to see this secret training the elves created." 

The two who had some misgivings at the beginning were now on board and were quite interested in heading to the forest of the elves. 

"Alright, I get that elves are real and all that. I also understand that our departed queen has made a bond with them, but where are they located? Not to brag but as a black-clad I've been around the continent, from the Northern, Eastern, and Western human kingdoms, to the tribal villages of the warbeasts, to even the metropolitan area of the demons. But I have never seen the forest in which the elves live. If I did I would've never left the paradise of the legal lolis." Leto, as usual, gave his nearly idiotic yet passionate opinion. 

"On the contrary Leto-senpai, you might have already been there but you simply forgot about it. The forest of the elves has this sort of magical barrier similar to the one in school. But their barrier prevents outsiders from locating the village of the elves. Once an outsider gets close to the barrier the outsider loses some part of his memory and is forced out of the forest. The only way to get past the barrier is if you already know where the village is, or if you have someone in the group that knows to guide you to it." 

When Leto heard Serillia's explanation he recalled some instances that he couldn't remember when he was traveling around looking for lolis during one summer vacation. 

"Alright then where is this forest located?" Clarise asked. 

"It's at the southeast border of the Eastern human Kingdom. If we walk we can get there in two weeks." 

"Can't we just fly there? it would be faster." 

"That's not possible, Tanith can only carry some of us, and the speed of [Air Walk] will be the same as walking by land. It will also drain a lot of mana. Also, let's just say we can all fly that would make us easier to detect and easier to shoot down. We want to be stealthy about this so walking is our best bet." Edge explained to Leto who asked the question. 

"Edge is right, not to brag but I'm guessing I'm currently the most wanted person in every Human Kingdom. The true humanity would be out there looking for me, so let's not make it easier for them." Serillia shrugged her shoulders as she spoke. 

"So what's the plan?" Eva asked while tapping on the hilt of her sword. 

"Do any of you have a map?" Hearing Serillia's question Leto took out a map from his pocket. He spread it for everyone to see. Once the group saw the map some of them sighed at the sight they saw. The map was filled with markers and each one of them there was a note saying this is where I found some good lolis. Serillia ignored the markings and pointed at a part of the map. 

"Currently we are located here, and we want to get over here." Serillia slid her finger from one end of the map to the other. She pointed at an unnamed forest in the Eastern Kingdom.

"We should expect that not only did the Northern Kingdom fall but the other two kingdoms as well. So most probably the people of the Eastern Kingdom will be out to get us... I need to tell you guys now that on this journey we might face our former friends, fellow students, and even our teachers. If you aren't able to handle that, then you should either surrender and join the true humanity or you could flee to the Southernmost part of the continent. So are there any of you that want to do one of those? Better speak now or you'll regret it later." 

None of them spoke as they waited for the princess to continue explaining what they should do next. 

"Alright then seeing as everyone is all on the same page, we better leave first thing in the morning. Rest properly now as we have a long journey in front of us."