At first, Starlight thought it was just the trick of the light, but seeing her up close, he realized it was no illusion. If not for those signature long ears, he might have even doubted whether she was an elf at all.
“Could she be one of the Dark Tribe that Xia Duo mentioned? A member of the Night Elves?” The thought suddenly surfaced in Starlight's mind. But just as he was about to ask, the girl suddenly jerked her head up like an alert wild animal.
“This is bad! I snuck out and still got found! I have to go~ if anyone comes looking for me, remember to keep it a secret!” the girl said hurriedly, then added, “Oh, right~ my name is Lian! If I get the chance, I’ll come find you for more food!”
With that, the elf girl named Lian vanished into the night like a swift leopard, disappearing without a trace.
She came as quickly as she left, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Starlight blinked helplessly at the direction where Lian had ghosted away. He still hadn't figured out what was going on, but the one thing he was certain of was that the steak he had worked so hard to roast had been eaten clean by her.
“I guess I’ll just have to make another portion. Luckily, I still have plenty of stock...” Just as he pulled a rack of marinated ribs from his storage space and prepared to skewer them, several people suddenly burst out of the woods behind him.
Leading the way were several sturdy elf men with bare torsos. Their skin, like Lian's, gave off a faint blue glow under the starlight. However, Starlight felt their complexion lacked the vibrant aura that Lian possessed.
Following not far behind them was a confused-looking Moen. Judging by the leaves stuck to her clothes, she had been following these men for some distance.
The elf men completely ignored Moen. Upon seeing the campfire Starlight had lit, they immediately walked over.
“Did you see a girl wearing gauze clothing... Tsk, why is there a human here?” the man in the lead spoke expressionlessly, but he froze slightly after seeing Starlight's face, seemingly very surprised by his presence.
“It looks like these people are after Lian. Should I tell them the truth?” Starlight thought to himself, but he quickly dismissed the idea and shook his head at them.
After all, judging by Lian's behavior, she seemed more like an innocent child who hadn't seen much of the world. She didn't look like a wicked person at all. In contrast, these cold elf men radiated the aura of villains from head to toe.
The elf man didn't seem satisfied with Starlight's response. He narrowed his eyes and stared intently at him, a dangerous aura emanating from his body.
Sensing the other party's malice, Starlight immediately entered a combat stance. Water and earth elements began to condense in his left and right hands respectively. Given the environment was adjacent to the sea and featured a vast beach, using water and earth elements provided a natural advantage.
Just as Starlight was considering which spell to use for a counterattack, Moen, who had been following behind, arrived at his side. She spoke loudly to the group: “Fellow members of the Dark Tribe, this mage is my friend. Please withdraw your hostility!”
“Heh... since when were we compatriots? Besides, is this a place where humans can come and go as they please? You people have truly fallen!” the leading elf man sneered, speaking to Moen in a mocking tone.
Moen looked at them without changing her expression, showing no intention of backing down. After a few seconds of stalemate, the elf man waved to his companions and retracted his aura.
“Forget it, our mission is more important. There’s no need to waste time on them,” the man said coldly, before he and his companions vanished into the night.
Only after confirming they had completely left did Starlight pull Moen aside and whisper the story about Lian to her.
“That’s strange. I could tell they were looking for something in the forest, but I didn't expect the target to be a person, and that she would show up here with you.” Moen furrowed her brow after hearing Starlight's description.
As far as she knew, the chances of the Dark Tribe appearing here were actually very small, yet they had encountered several in such a short time.
Neither of them had any clues, so they could only wait for Xia Duo and the others to return before discussing it further. Not long after, Xia Duo and Po Kong returned through the now pitch-black night.
Judging by Xia Duo's expression, their task had gone quite smoothly. To Starlight's surprise, Po Kong was dragging a small wooden boat about seven or eight meters long behind him.
He didn't know what method Xia Duo had used to bring the boat over so directly.
She doesn't think we can go to sea with just this small boat, does she? Starlight thought. Although he had no experience in sailing or navigation, he felt that this thing wouldn't be up to their requirements.
However, the conversation quickly shifted to the encounter with the Dark Tribe. Both Po Kong and Xia Duo were surprised. Xia Duo hadn't expected to encounter Night Elves here at all, and from Starlight's description, she was certain the newcomers belonged to a Night Elf elite squad.
Why would such a team suddenly appear here, and what was the deal with that mysterious girl named Lian?
“Lian... that’s a name I haven't heard. It doesn't appear in the World Tree's archives either. But I seem to recall that names among the Dark Tribe are more prestigious the shorter they are. A single-syllable name... what kind of status does that imply?” No matter how much she thought about it, no conclusions could be drawn now. Everything would have to wait until dawn for further investigation.
As their thoughts reached an impasse, Moen gently patted Starlight's shoulder and pointed toward the sea. “Let's not think so much for now. Look over there! The light tide of Firefly Beach isn't something you can see every day~”
The group looked in the direction she pointed and finally noticed the romantic beauty of the seaside. Without them realizing it, countless fluorescent blue-green spots of light had begun to glow in the seawater.
Those brilliant spots of light were like beautiful neon that should only exist in dreams, both mysterious and warm. They were the bioluminescence of countless marine organisms glowing in the dark, like fireflies of the sea, flickering constantly with the white waves.
Under the low-hanging night sky, the stars above and the fluorescence on the sea surface echoed each other, blurring the boundary between heaven and earth. If someone were to look down from the sky, they would find that this beach, spanning over a hundred kilometers, looked as if the entire Milky Way had descended to the ground, ethereal and dreamlike.
The four of them were deeply captivated by this beautiful scenery, letting the sea breeze blow over them as they quietly enjoyed this rare moment of peace. At this instant, time seemed to freeze, and the scene was deeply etched into Starlight's heart.
Rate on N.U.
