The border guard ran toward the troop commander, raising and waving the letter he had just received.
"Commander! Commander! There is important news!" He shouted as he ran along the bamboo path.
The commander turned around.
"What is it?" The commander opened the letter that had been sent.
He appeared deeply startled by the contents.
"We must report this to the village chief!" Said the commander firmly.
It took roughly two days of travel for the commander to reach the village chief's residence.
For those whose lifespans were nearly endless, two days was nothing more than a brief moment.
The commander traveled by wind elemental horse, a spirit of intermediate rank that anyone could see.
Spirit horses were not to be bound with rope, as spirits were creatures held in the highest respect by elves.
If an ordinary horse had been used instead, it would likely have taken far longer, perhaps a full month to arrive.
The commander arrived at the home of the village chief, the father of Stella and Astella.
He opened the wooden door.
"Village chief, it is I, the border troop commander."
A female elf servant with light blue hair opened the door.
"You are... um, who exactly?" The commander asked.
The servant bowed her head.
"I am Seren's mother." Said the servant with a flat expression.
The commander was taken aback.
"Eh, Seren, that slightly unhinged kid?!"
"He may be like that, but he is still my son." The servant snapped back at the commander's impulsive question.
The village chief then came down to the first floor of his home.
"What is all this noise about?"
The village chief was a full-grown elf with a large muscular build, long blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes like Astella's.
The commander knelt before the village chief.
"Please read this letter, village chief."
The village chief took the letter and opened it.
"To the honorable chief of the forest elves.
I am one of the island fairies of the Winter Kingdom who watches over the descendants of the great spirits.
I cannot say much here, as the Winter Kingdom has been massacred by servants of the Life Council.
As for the current situation, according to the ice sharks, one of the princes survived and escaped from the kingdom.
Should the village chief find him, please protect him.
As he is very likely one part of the Miss who is being sought by the Life Council."
The village chief immediately closed the letter.
At that moment, the long-overdue great gathering of the elders and chiefs of the forest elf villages finally began.
The village elders assembled in the topmost room, which was circular in shape.
The commander opened the door to the room.
He entered to read aloud the letter he had received.
The elders were startled upon hearing it.
They began to deliberate at length, causing the commander to grow uneasy.
"Could that young person be the one the young lady brought here?"
"Eh?! A young person?!"
"You're only just hearing about this now?"
"This is truly enormous news."
And so the long debate within the leadership of the forest elves unfolded.
Three years passed just like that.
The elves had grown closer to Ichigo, yet for long-lived creatures, three years was not quite enough time.
Several elves still regarded Ichigo as a stranger.
On top of that, the elders had still not concluded their discussions, and so Ichigo's identity continued to be kept secret because of it.
Their faces still showed signs of unfamiliarity whenever they looked at him.
Ichigo kept swinging his sword on the training grounds.
Sweat flowed freely in the warmth of the sunlight.
"Ichigo!" Called Stella, who was carrying a packed lunch.
Ichigo turned and wiped his sweat with the cloth wrapped around his shoulder.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked.
Stella handed him a lunchbox wrapped in a checkered cloth.
"Here, eat this! You looked like you were working really hard earlier. You forgot to make lunch, so I thought I'd prepare a portion for you at the same time I was making Astella's."
Ichigo took it from the bottom of the box.
"Thank you."
Stella replied with a smile.
She looked around the training grounds and approached Teacher Basoa.
"Mrs. Basoa!" Stella called.
Basoa responded.
"Stella?!"
"Do you happen to know where Astella is? I've been looking for a while and I don't see her anywhere on the grounds." Stella asked.
Teacher Basoa furrowed her brow.
"I'm afraid, Miss, I haven't seen her since the start of today."
"I'll go look for Astella then." Stella ran off.
Teacher Basoa watched Stella from a distance.
"I have a strange feeling about today."
She then glanced over at Ichigo.
"Eat well, because today's training is going to be very demanding."
Ichigo nodded slowly.
He then set out a few small pieces of meat on the ground, scattering them so the birds around the training grounds could eat.
It was such a beautiful sight that Teacher Basoa was left speechless.
"Honestly, Ichigo... just what kind of creature is he?"
Basoa shook her head and patted her own cheek.
"Never mind that! Regardless, he is still my student!"
Stella kept walking around the village.
Onward.
Onward...
And onward, still searching.
"Excuse me, have you seen Astella?"
The elf residents of the village kept shaking their heads.
She asked Seren, Sophie, Wanda, and even Seren's friends.
But none of it produced any satisfying results.
Everything she heard only led to a negative outcome, because Stella had inadvertently made the elves aware that Astella was up to something, or so it seemed to the villagers.
That gave rise to many damaging rumors.
"Goodness, is that child causing trouble again?"
"She's only ever causing the young lady difficulties."
"Why does someone like that have to be the young lady's twin sister?"
Stella sat down under a medium-sized tree.
"Astella, where are you?"
She closed her eyes beneath the shade of the leaves.
A gentle breeze blew. Sunlight filtered through the swaying leaves above.
A thought suddenly came to Stella.
"Oh, that's right. I have a map!"
Stella pulled a map from the band at her hip.
"I've already been to the market, the suspended housing area, the village center, the guard area, so now I just need..." Stella circled the places she had already visited.
She then pointed to the darkest area of the forest, where the wild animals rested.
She hesitated at the thought of Astella being there.
"No, there's no way Astella would go somewhere that dangerous, right?"
Stella stood up.
"But even if she is in there, and even if she encounters a wild animal, as her older sister, it is my duty to protect her!"
She hurried off, without any other elf knowing.
Inside that dark part of the forest.
Stella stepped into wet mud.
"ASTELLA! ASTELLA!" Stella shouted.
Guided by the whispers of the spirits in the air helping her, she kept moving forward.
She pressed through muddy pits and slipped past sleeping wild animals.
Until she noticed that the spirit whispers had gone silent.
"Where did they go?" Stella asked.
Stella began walking slowly, weaving between the enormous trees.
She looked around as she walked.
Until her steps came to a stop before a small tent with very little light inside.
Stella began to peek at what lay beyond the tent.
In the darkness of the deepest dark point of the elf forest.
The mysterious elf stood taller than Stella.
She had the build of a middle school girl.
A glowing communication orb rested in her calloused hands.
"Preparations are complete, Gun Fairy of the Warfare Council." The mysterious elf whispered.
Within the orb of light appeared the figure of a young man with dark brown hair bearing faint streaks of white at various places.
It was not grey hair, but something else entirely, though it was clear it was neither a wig nor the result of dyeing.
"Is there anything that has happened in the past three years?" The young man asked.
"So much that I cannot say it all. The elf village has become extremely lively now. And he became a student so easily, compared to how much difficulty I had to go through to become her student!" The mysterious elf slammed the wooden table.
"HOW CAN THAT BE?! DO YOU KNOW HOW SICK I AM OF BEING COMPARED TO MY OWN TWIN?! EVEN MY FATHER..." The elf's hands trembled violently, her breathing audibly heavy.
"Very well. Hold them in place until we come to retrieve him." Said the Gun Fairy.
The mysterious elf gave a salute.
"Understood. I will do so."
The orb call was ended.
The elf removed the black robe she had been wearing.
From beneath the robe, the elf was revealed to be none other than Astella.
Suddenly, from behind one of the forest's wide tree trunks:
The sound of a snapping branch was heard.
Astella turned toward the sound.
"WHO'S THERE?!" She shouted.
Slowly, the figure that had been watching began to come into view.
Stella, her expression in complete disarray, stared at Astella.
"Astella?!"
To Be Continued