"Naughty kids should not try to play with others like this. It can make someone get hurt."

Mary scolded the flailing elf in her arms. She was serious about her claim, and despite her smiling face, her unhappiness was visible in her expression. She understood the pain he was feeling, and it pained her too.

She pressed the body she was gripping down harder against the ground, and the elf cried out in pain as he was pressed harder against the rough surface.

"C-Curse you-! Our precious water-! It's all gone now."

The elf cursed, but Layla stepped up and cleared the misunderstanding.

"We were not trying to poison the water. Rather, I saw that the water was contaminated, so I put a cleansing potion in it to test it. If you don't believe me, I can show you the proof by drinking it myself."

Layla pointed out as she grabbed a small handful of water and drank it after fifteen minutes.

The potion had finally worked, and the water was clear once more. It shined in sparse places where the sun hit it, and all the contamination had settled at the bottom.

Her willingness to drink this water made the elf settle down a little, but he did not believe her.

The elf was still worried that Layla was playing a trick. What if she had already taken a purifying pill and was now putting up this show to fool everyone?

The dark elves could not take this chance since they would die if they drank poison. But then another animal from the forest who usually did not come here to drink finally came forward and drank the water.

Once one animal drank, more and more came forward to drink this newly-cured water.

"Let me go! I will test this water to see if it is truly purified."

The teen elf proposed, and Layla nodded at Mary to let the elf go.

Mary sighed disappointedly before she pulled her hands back from the elf. But she was never far enough to give him any freedom he could use.

The elf sighed before he cast his magic. His magic circle was perfect and carefully crafted. A lot of care and effort seemed to have been put into it.

"This water is purified-! *gasp* I cannot believe it. I have never seen such a miracle in my eighty years of life-span. Hey, you are a human, right? Since when can you use magic like this?"

The dark elf asked, looking and sounding exactly like a teenager.

Dark Elves, like elves, were a long-life species that aged slowly. As such, their physical and mental development was different from others.

But to know it and face it were different realities, Layla decided not to think about it anymore.

"Chief, it is safe here, so you can come out now. I think these humans are trustworthy."

The teen elf asked, and Layla watched as more elves emerged from their hiding spot.

The pair were surrounded by around a dozen elves, all ready to shoot her and Mary at a moment's notice.

"Oh my! If you call me a human, then I might blush. But alas, my dream of fooling everyone into deceiving into thinking of me as a human cannot be realized. Right, elf queen?"

Mary asked as the elderly woman who was the current elf queen finally came forward.

She had her eyes closed, and her body looked like it would sag any second now. But the magic coming off her was intense, making Layla step back.

"I have lost my eyes because of my position, and as a result, I gained insight into this world's truths. That's why I can tell you are here to discuss an offer that would benefit us. As the elf queen, I will welcome you to our village.

Ah, but if you would please do something about that cleaned-up contamination at the bottom of this lake, it would be helpful."

The elf queen spoke, and Layla could also feel a hint of magic in her voice.

The small compel made one want to do whatever the speaker said. But once someone knew that it was there, it became rather useless.

"Don't worry, granny! I will watch these people and bring them back to the village once they are done. You should head back now and prepare for dinner. I am quite hungry, and I want to eat already."

The teenager who attacked them offered his service. He looked excited, and his mind seemed to be on dinner rather than here.

It made the elf queen sigh tiredly, but she decided to leave everything up to this kid and head back.

Once the older woman was gone, the teen elf turned toward the pair and gave his introduction.

"My name is Klovar, and I am the grandson of the current queen. It is nice to meet you."

The dark elf introduced himself with all the enthusiasm in the world.

Now that he knew that Layla and Mary were not dangerous to him or his village, he had chilled out and seemed nice. But Layla left the introduction part up to Mary to do.

"It's nice to meet you, kid! My name is Mary, a maid from Duke Lockhart's mansion, and this is Layla, one of the Duke's wards. We propose a partnership with the dark elves to help both sides."

Mary had a silver tongue, and her words sounded genuine (they were), but Layla did not think the kid believed them.

Still, he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, which was enough for now.

"What are you going to do next? Is this another potion made by humans? Wow, they sure have a lot of handy tools to use at times like these. Have magic advanced this much in such a short amount of time?"

Klovar asked, not even pausing to catch his breath when he spoke.

And Layla finally decided to answer him this time.

"It's not magic, but alchemy. There is a fundamental difference between both, and if you are interested, I can take you to visit an alchemist later."