Did the leaders think of me as a friends.h.i.+p token from them to him? How rude! This is tyranny!

After that strange night and strange conversations with our hero, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping, with the sunlight so bright hitting my face as I felt its gentle warmth.

I sat and felt a strange sensation covering my body. As I rubbed my eyes gently I touched it and when I opened my eyes I saw a black mantle, the same mantle he was using.

Which means he took it off and used it on me as a blanket.

"I wondered why the coldness of the mountain didn"t bother me while sleeping… how considerate of him," I gigled as I felt it with my hands, the feel of it is strange, as its not a cloth we elves usually use, it feels like it wasn"t made from a plant, the threads are also so fine, and it looks like it was never used before.

Curious, I smelled it, and it smelled good, I thought it would smell sweaty, he"s a male after all, and males sweat frequently right? Especially with this cloth wrapped around his body at all times.

"If he wasn"t as reclusive as that, we would have been close friends by now."

I folded it to return it properly to him and thank him. The air was still cold even though the sun was already up, but I should return this immediately, in this coldness, a foreigner like him might not be used to... or he is? He lives by the waterfall right? And it"s pretty cold there sometimes.

I stood up behind the rock I was sleeping at and I squinted my eyes through my surroundings as I searched for him.

"Is he still sleeping? It"s stil so early after all"

And found the tree where Slaine slept that night with his birdie friends, but he was not there anymore nor his friends.

"Then he might be at the base, he should have waken me up and I would have taken him there, I"m the one who"s gonna be scolded... I even woke up early, but he beat me up to it."

I told myself worried, as I was given an important task by my leaders, and I failed at that.

"Okay next time, I"ll wake up even when the sun is still not up!"

Then, I looked at the mantle, a sudden realization came into my mind.

"Wait… if he doesn"t have a mantle, does that mean that I can see more of his face now?!"

My curiosity was aroused as I scanned the entire place again for him.

"He"s not here… where could he be?"

But as I was searching for him while his folded mantle hangs in arms, my ears moved as I heard some elves screaming.

On impulse I immediately ran into the direction where I heard it, with a fear waking me up totally.

"Could it be… did they find out our last hideout that quickly? And Slaine is not here because he"s fighting?"

Questions showed up in my mind, maybe because of the trauma of almost being killed, knowing the true terror of facing those abnormalities.

What will happen then?

Will everyone face the same terror again?

Right before when we are trying to become stronger!

Just how far will this world be unfair to us! d.a.m.nit!

I ran as fast as I could, but as I got closer, I figured out that the screams weren"t screams of death and fear, but they were shouted orders, and the answers and complaints of those who followed it who were exhausted.

These were the generals shouting commands, and the qualms of the elves that followed them.

With this, I was able to sigh in relief and went towards the cliff that faced the sea, where the entrance of the hideout is, I finally found the source of the strange screams I have been hearing were exactly what I a.s.sumed would be.

Below the entrance, at the beach, all of able-bodied elven men and women gathered, including those who are non-combatants.

They gathered in groups neatly lined-up in rows as they ran together at the beach in laps, it was a surreal scene, I can even see in their faces that they dont understand what"s happening to them, especially those in the non-fighjter units.

"Even I don"t understand them… what the h.e.l.l are they doing? Elven men running together, and if they aren"t able to stay in formation they are made to do some strange exercises by the generals… seriously what the h.e.l.l is this?

So this is why they are screaming, in order to be in perfect harmony as they ran together with their group."

As I scanned the area, I finally found the cause of this pitiful scene. There I saw him wearing the same mantle I am holding.

I pouted in disappointment seeing him wearing another mantle.

"What? He had a spare? Where did he even pull that from?"

As the men ran around in laps listening to the three generals" orders, shouting words to keep them in rythm with each other, Slaine on the left side of the beach directly under the entrance of the cave stood in front of a big rock that served as a table, with papers lined up as he spoke surrounded by the council of ten, who seemed to be thinking as they put their hands to their chin, scratched their heads with their eyebrows furrowed.

"So it"s not only me huh… "

I went towards them in order to get my next orders as Slaine didn"t bother to wake me up.

When I was finally at a distance where I could hear them talk, I heard Ms. Alre who asked concernedly.

"Everything is okay though since we are the ones who are asking for your help, but are we really making the non-combatants or non-fighters fight as well?

They don"t have any talents in fighting, nor compatibility with magic or with the fighting spirits."

This was a question to the man infront of her,Slaine, who still wore all black with a bandana under the lower part of his face with his mantle covering his body and his hood covering his head and ears.

He answered her by slightly shaking his head and facing her looking her at the eye, talking to her respectfully like an equal.

It"s one of the things I look up to him for, he posses such strength but he"s humble, and treats us as his equals, he is also not bragging about being our savior nor took advantage of the fact that he saved us.

"They need to fight… when the necessary time comes, you need to increase… their survivability, or else they would be… burden, like the last time… if reinforcements did not come, fighters die defending non-fighters"

Hearing his words, it surprised them all, as it did make sense, but he was so blunt that even the council of ten have a complicated expressions on their faces, lamenting what have happened

I myself was surprised... by how well he is talking right now in elven. Back then he was like a baby who just learned how to speak.

As he looked at them, and no one answered he added to his sentence to explain further.

"When the time comes to fight… they fight… also, magic? Spirits? Talent? That"s not the only thing that decides it.

Imagine this, non-combatants have training… and you were trapped… in an all or nothing situation, non-combatants can fight with you, even if they are not that efficient in it, it could change the tide of the battle.

You are also able to retreat faster."

He is also great with handling people, realizing that he made a mistake with his words, he explained further in a way that the leaders can understand and think of it in a positive note, hearing this their faces lightened into a smile.

Hearing their exchange, I finally got the idea why the non-combatants as well are running. The running in circles thing seems to be training for them so they can fight with us if necessary, an idea we hadn"t thought of, as we lived in a community where the fighters protect the non-fighters, while the non-fighters provide food, shelter and clothing for them.

As I was deep in thought, the words escaped my mouth.

"Then what about our daily lives, if the non-combatants trains with us, they wouldn"t be able to provide us food and our needs"

And with that, they turned their head towards me.

Noticing what I just blurted out in front of the council of ten I immediately held my mouth in surprise and bowed towards lady Allannia

"I"m sorry esteem high-elf, and our leaders, it was out of my place. I just came here to return our comrade and hero"s mantle, I"m sorry for not being able to perform my duty well as when I was awake he was already gone"

But the esteemed lady just giggled a bit and caressed my hair.

"It"s okay, and that was a good question, and don"t worry about that, it was the same for us as well, he suddenly stepped into our quarters and told us to gather immediately... even though it"s still too early."

She yawned and a droplet of tears appeared at the corner of her eyes, her sleep must have been cut short.

"Slaine, if you don"t mind can you answer her question?"

She looked at Slaine waiting for an answer, and he immedaitely nodded and spoke.

"They"ll only train when they are done with their duties, while they train the basics the fighters will have advanced training with me.

Also, Ms. Alre I have something I really need you to do."

Ms. Alre was confused, as she puts her index finger on her cheek.

"What… do you want me to make?"

…

As the meeting continued, I just sat and did nothing I wanted to join the strange training myself because of my curiosity but general Alwin stopped me, telling me to accompany Slaine at all times with a big smile on his face.

Wow... this is how they treat me right now... even how obedient I am to orders I still have a heart you know!

As I sat and heard the rest of the planning, the details were laid out.

The battalion was first divided into the magic and spirit elements they specialize in and then they were then categorized into different types, according to how their magic will affect the enemy or our forces.

He cla.s.sified them into four types:

Support - Those whose magic or spirit specializes in healing, strengthening, or any kind of magic which can be use on a comrade, in this role, the non-combatants are given a chance to show their skills, as lots of the non-combatants have magic or spirits that can do it.

Attack - Those magic or spirit that has a high chance of damaging the enemy, almost all elements have this trait, but mainly those that have fire, lightning and water elements were chosen.

Defense - These are the very scarce amongst the users, most of them have earth or nature elements with them, these are those that can summon golems that are immune to nullifying weapons.

The spirits I am contracted with are also can be called golems, but even if they are immune to nullifers, it can still be easily hacked by a steel weapon.

Communication - These are the disciples of Mr. Wistari, but due to their small numbers they have picked amongst the non-combatants for Mr. Wistari to teach the original magic of his. Although Mr. Wistari was hesitant at first as most of his students before have given up the training due to the side effects to the brain, Slaine convinced him to give it a try.

Each team would have one member who"s magic or spirit was categorized into. This way they can attack, support, defend themselves and communicate with other squads whenever they need to.

For us, who never thought of this idea before, was made to realize its impact to our forces and to how we will fight our battles from now on.

We have been taught not only a new system of using our manpower, identifying ourselves, categorizing ourselves with our magic, a different way of organizing our forces, and understanding more about our magic and what it can do.

"Before we wouldn"t have considered this, as the proud race we were, we wouldn"t let anyone put us on a pedestal, we competed against each other on who knows best."

I mumurred as I remembered the past.

However, it did not stop simply from there, as everything wasn"t just a plan, in order to get used to it Slaine have planned "practical trainings" with us. I don"t know what the word means but he said that it"s a kind of training which we will experience the situation he will put us into, and each squad will respond to that according to what they have learned in his teachings.

For the reorganization of the Free Elven Forces, the forward scattered forces across the continent were also recalled to attend the trainings.

Which makes me excited for a bit, I can finally learn more his strength through these trainings, but unfortunately I was tasked to a.s.sist him again, which means I can"t join a squad to train with.

With tears in my eyes I waved goodbye to Valeri who joined another squad.

Valeri is on the supporting role as she had proven herself in the last battle with her small spirits that could bind the enemy.