The guild bar was as lively as ever
Laughter echoed across the room as adventurers shared stories, argued over quests, and celebrated successful hunts
Then the front door opened, a young women stepped inside
Long blonde hair tied into a ponytail swayed behind her
Light armor covered her body, while a bow rested on her back and a quiver hung from her waist
A green cloak draped over her shoulders
An Elf
The moment she entered, countless eyes turned toward her
Elves rarely left the Elf Forest
Feeling the stares, she lowered her head and hurried toward the receptionist's desk
"Good morning, how can I help you?" the receptionist greets politely
"Umm, I want to register as an adventurer"
"Of course, please wait a moment"
The receptionist disappeared into the back room before returning with several papers
"Here is your registration paper, can you write it yourself?"
The elf nodded
"Great, please fill in your information here"
She began writing
Before she finished, a voice suddenly called out from beside her
"Hey are you new here?" he asked
She looked up
A young man stood there with black hair tied into a ponytail. A sword and shield hung from his back
"Y-yes"
"Well, I'm Phoen" he pointed himself with a grin "My party is looking for a ranger. Want to join us?"
The elf blinked.
"W-Wait... aren't you supposed to test my abilities first?"
Phoen scratched his cheek
"Probably"
"…"
"It's fine, I'm also newbie here" he showed his rank plate "look I'm still bronze"
"And we need a ranger"
The elf stared at him
He looked completely serious
After a few seconds, she couldn't help laughing a little
Phoen smiled
"See? You already seem easy to get along with
The elf hesitated before nodding
"I'll try"
"Great, you could register yourself first, then I'll add you to our party"
After finishing her registration, Phoen brought her to meet the rest of his party
Two people were waiting at one of the tables.
"So, here is my party" Phoen introduced them
He pointed at a brown-haired man with a shield and a one-hand axe "This is Aski"
The man waved casually
Then he pointed at blonde girl holding a magic staff "And she is Ura"
The girl smiled warmly
"And guys this is-" Phoen suddenly stopped, he realized he had never asked her name
The elf giggled
"Ohh, I'm Sylffie, nice to meet you"
The three exchanged greetings
Aski quietly pulled Phoen aside
"Are you sure about this?"
Phoen glanced toward Sylffie
"It's fine, nothing to worry at all" Phoen answered
"She's an elf"
"So?"
Aski sighed
Phoen simply grinned
"Then let's start our first quest then"
Together they went to do their first quest, a black bear quest
The same day, they went to do the quest
They went inside the forest and tried to find the bear
"So, Sylffie" Phoen said while walking "what can you do besides shooting arrows?"
"I can summon my familiars and I can do some nature magic"
Phoen's eyes brightened
"I see, that's handy"
"Can I ask you something, why do you become adventurers?" Ura suddenly spoke
Sylffie silenced for a moment
"...I wanted to see the outside world"
"The outside world?"
"But why" Aski continued "I mean elves lived happily inside the forest right? You have a powerful king to protect you and… umm-"
Sylffie lowered her gaze
"I just want to try something new"
"With humans?"
She paused
"Yes, I understand that elves always think their selves as a higher being than the other race"
"Elves always say we're superior"
"They say humans are short-lived and weak"
"But I don't think that's right"
"Why do think that?" Ura continued
"I just… I don't know, I don't feel right about that, and maybe that's also the reason why I came outside from that forest"
"To find the answer about that"
Before anyone could continue the conversation, Phoen suddenly raised his hand
"Hey be quiet" everyone froze "I think we finally found it"
They hid behind a bush and prepare some plans
Then Sylffie stood up and raised her bow
Whoosh!
She shot and arrow right to the bear's eye, a direct hit
The bear looked at Sylffie and rushed forward
From behind the bush, Phoen and Aski ran forward with their weapons
The bear launched its claw, Aski blocked it and swung his axe
But the bear dodge it
Phoen swung his sword, targeting the bear's head
But the bear titled its head, dodging the attack
"Fireball"
Fireballs launched and hit the bear's body, but the bear's body too thick and did nothing
Another arrow flew, aimed at the other eye
Again, the bear titled its head, but the arrow still hit its face
"Wolf"
Sylffie summoned a wolf and then the wolf rushed forward and bit the bear's leg
The bear limping and then Phoen rushed forward with his blade
But the bear swung its other claw against the wolf then at him
The attack got blocked by Aski
Phoen attack hit the bear on the neck, but again, it was too thick it only got cut a little bit
Blood kept spraying from the bear's neck
The bear tried to run away
"Power shot"
Sylffie shot the bear's back leg, disabled its movement
"Lighting spark"
Lightning burst at the bears
Then Aski raised its axe and cut the bear's head
CHOP!
The head's fell of, the bear was defeated
"Phew, what a great first quest" Phoen said
Afterward, they returned to town laughing and celebrating
From that time the four of them started to do quest together
Fought monsters, cleared dungeons, and raised their rank
One time, they had a quest and needed to rest in the night
Aski and Ura already fell asleep, but Sylffie and Phoen still woke up and sat around the fireplace
For a while, neither spoke
Then Sylffie broke the silence
"Hey, thank you" Slyffie said
"For what?"
"Asked me to join your party back then"
Phoen blinked
Slyffie stared at the fire "I don't know what will happen if you didn't invite me"
"It's fine, even if I never invite you, someone will, right?"
Her fingers tightened around her knees
"I don't think so"
Phoen looked at her
"You know that elves always look down on humans, right? I don't think anyone would accept me"
The fire crackled softly
"Most people know how elves treat humans"
She lowered her head
"We look down on them"
Her voice carried guilt
"Sometimes I wonder if humans hate me because of that"
"But you're different" she clenched her hands "You're always positive and treats me kind even though I'm an elf"
Phoen stared at the fire for a while
"I think you're worrying about something impossible"
Sylffie frowned
"Well, from the start I never think about that at all"
Sylffie looked at him "What do you mean?"
"I don't care about race at all, everyone is the same, they are living being"
"You said that elves always look down on humans, right? But you're also elf and you don't look like that"
"You treat us kindly and help us regardless our race, so I don't think race is matter"
Phoen continued
"What's truly matter is their heart, there always someone who want more than what they already have and then look down on everyone else"
"They wanted to be the best race and everything, so what can we do is just follow what we truly feel"
Phoen picked up a small stick and tossed it into the fire
"We cannot change people's heart easily; we cannot changed bad guy into a good guy"
"That's mean we shouldn't change them; we should be the one who become the good guy, like you"
A small smile appeared on her face
"You're right, thanks"
The time past by, they were doing a quest at night near a ruin
They hid behind the wreckage
Behind them a giant skeleton with an armor covered its body, wielding a sword and shield, its dark cape swaying on its back
A skeleton knight
"You guys ready?" Phoen asked
They nodded and started the quest
Sylffie came out and shot an arrow
"Quick shot"
STAB!
It hit the head
The skeleton turned its head and rushed at her
Then fireballs launched toward the skeleton
But the skeleton blocked it
Sylffie shot another arrow and aimed at the skeleton's arm wielding the shield
The skeleton dodged it and swung its sword
Phoen came and blocked the attack
From behind Aski jumped and strike with his axe
The skeleton already moved and blocked it with its shield
Aski's axe stucked on the shield
Then the skeleton swung the shield and throw him away
"ASKI!"
Phoen then strike with his sword
But again, the skeleton already moved and thrust its sword toward him
Couldn't dodge, Phoen blocked with his shield
Another arrow came
HIT
Once again, the skeleton swung its sword toward Sylffie
Before it could land a hit, Aski already hold his axe on the skeleton's shield
He pulled it off and swung
The skeleton walked back, dodged the attack
"Incinerate"
A burst of flamethrower came and blasting the skeleton
The skeleton blocked with its sword but at the same time it couldn't move
"Now"
Phoen and Aski rushed at the skeleton
But then the skeleton threw its sword toward Ura
Slash!
The sword pierced right at her stomach
"URAAA"
Aski swung its axe
But the skeleton swung its shield and hit Aski
BAM!
His body flew away
The skeleton rushed to retrieved his sword
"ASKI… tch"
Phoen chased the skeleton
He swung his sword toward the skeleton
But the skeleton already held his sword back with Ura's body still stucked on it
The skeleton swung his sword and hit Phoen with the body
Phoen threw to the grown and Ura's body flew away
The skeleton raised its sword and tried to stab Phoen on the ground
Then a wolf jumped forward and bit the skeleton's arm
"Power shot"
An arrow hit the skeleton and pushed it away
Phoen tried to recover and retreated
The skeleton killed the wolf and slowly approached Phoen
With full of wrath Aski rushed forward with his axe and strike the skeleton
"Aski don't-"
But it no use, the skeleton swung its sword and cut his head
Blood sprayed across the battle field
Now the skeleton gazed at Sylffie and walked toward her
Sylffie froze, her body couldn't move a single bit
The skeleton took a stance and rushed forward
Thrust!
Blood sprayed
Phoen blocked the attack
The sword pierced his body
Sylffie watched in horror as Phoen stood between her and the monster
"Sylffie… run" his voice trembled
The skeleton tried to pulled the blade free
Phoen grabbed the weapon with both hands
Blood streamed between his fingers
"What are you doing RUN!"
Without hesitation Sylffie threw her bow and ran
She kept running without stopping, unable to look back
Tears were streaming down her face
It was the end of her party, her first human friends
From that day Sylffie couldn't recover, she stopped adventuring
She spent most of her time sitting alone inside the guild bar
Sometimes she stared at the table for hours
Sometimes she cried
One afternoon, while she sat quietly with her head lowered, someone tapped her shoulder
"Excuse me, are you alone?"
Sylffie slowly lifted her head and looked at the person
She froze
A young man with a black hair in ponytail
The same smile
The same face
For a brief moment, her heart stopped
"P-Phoen, but how?"
The young man blinked
"Phoen? I think you mistook me for someone" Then man said
Sylffie's eyes widened
The resemblance was almost perfect
"Umm… I'm Kalih"
He scratched his head awkwardly
"I'm a new adventurer, and I always saw you alone on this table so I think you don't have a party"
Sylffie stared silently
"So… Do you want to join my party" he extended a hand
Tears immediately welled up in her eyes
The face was the same
But the voice was different
The person was different
Yet somehow, it felt like fate had given her another chance
She grabbed his hand
"Yes" a smile finally appeared on her face
"I'd love to"
Deep in the forest, Auel and Gramm party stood facing a female elf
They kept their stance while the girl slowly lowered her bow and walked toward them, or walked toward Auel
"Sylffie, Sylffie where are you?" A voice echoed through the forest
Then a male elf came out from the forest, an elf with glasses, long straight hair with freckles on his face and a casual outfit covered in green cape
"Oh, there you are" then he noticed the group "Outsiders?"
"Veyn!?" the female elf raised her bow again "Veyn stand back they might be dangerous"
"Wait" The male elf quickly walked forward and bowed
"H-hey, what are you doing?"
He adjusted his glasses
"I'm Veyn and this is Sylffie, are you guys' adventurers from Notov?"
Gramm stepped forward
"Yes, we are called here for a certain quest" he answered
Veyn visibly relaxed
"Well, I'm the quest giver, nice to meet you"
"You what!?" Sylffie shouted
Veyn ignored her
"I'm sorry with that welcoming party but you should already know with what happened in the elf country"
"Yeah, it's fine" Gramm instructed the other to lower their weapons
"Now, because I cannot let you be known by the citizens, follow me, I'll show you the secret path"
"Wait, what secret path? Why I didn't know about any of this?" Sylffie asked with anger
"It's fine, quick follow me"
Veyn ignored Sylffie's complaints and led the group deeper into the forest
The group followed Veyn inside the forest
Sylffie followed them right behind Auel
After walked for a while, Veyn stopped at an ordinary-looking tree
"Here we are"
Rikka blinked
"? What do you mean?"
"Hold up"
Veyn raised his hand and cast an incantation
"Gate"
Then the bark glowed green and opened a path
"Come get in" Veyn get inside the tree
One by one, the group followed
The gate closed behind them
And before the adventurers could properly react, they found themselves standing inside a fully furnished wooden house
"Welcome to my house"
Then he gestured toward the chairs
"Now" his expression became serious "let's talk about the quest shall we"