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After witnessing that short, but brutal, exchange between Aivar Redleaf and the master and bodyguard pair of Andassis the Seventh and his scarred bodyguard, I was made to realise how much of an acid-tongue we had on our hands. I had steeled myself for all manner of verbal battery. Come what may, my years on the internet had armed me with an impressive arsenal of one-liners…

However, all it took was a single look from me… and she had fallen. Or rather, Nature Elves just weren’t very resistant against pretty people, if you would excuse my shamelessness. In fact, she was already busy smiling at me, edging closer as she constantly tried to pinch my cheeks. Had it not been for the fact that she was a girl, I, honestly, would have punched her already.

“Nana, is it alright if I call you Nana?” Despite the fact that I had only just given her my name, she was already acting like we had known each other for ages, tossing around the pet names as a good friend would. “Since you’re not saying anything, I will take it as a yes.”

Nana who did not even have the time to respond: …

Andassis the Seventh smiled encouragingly from the side. “Seems like Lady Redleaf and Lady Mo Na have taken a liking to each other, excellent.”

Why are you including me in that list?! And what’s excellent about this?!

“Come, Nana, let me bring you around the gardens.” Completely ignoring the king like a Passerby A, Redleaf dragged me along with her.

Honestly, I wasn’t overly fond of outgoing people like her. However, she didn’t seem like the scheming sort either, thus I wasn’t afraid that she was trying to lure me into anything. The fact that she was able to treat the king’s garden like her own home was proof enough that she wasn’t just some gardener -perhaps she might bring me some unexpected results.

At the end of the day, my end goal of saving the humans would naturally include the Nature Elves as well.

However, I never got the chance to speak at all during our tour. A quick word here and there about their race’s ability to tend to plants and she was off dragging me to the next foliage.

In a lot of ways, her words were like the garden she tended, lush and teeming… unfortunately.

“This is a Wheatbulb tree. It automatically absorbs the mana in the air, turning them into fruit bulbs. These fruits can also be ripened early by feeding the tree mana -the fastest record is two minutes. The fruit of the Wheatbulb tree is famous for its sweetness and juiciness. In fact, a certain bread is baked with only the juice of high-grade Wheatbulbs. These trees were developed by a great botanist over six thousand years ago…”

Six thousand?

At that point, I’m sure even these long-lived elves would call that long…

After three to four minutes spent lecturing on a diminutive-looking tree, Aivar Redleaf turned her attention towards a white orchid-looking flower. “This is the Manarite flower -looks like a piece of jade, doesn’t it? It’s actually a flower. If you eat its nectar on a long-term basis, it will boost your mana… It’s a highly prized product, and only we Nature Elves know the method of growing it… Quick, over there, see that bee? It’s in the process of gathering its nectar…”

Following that, she continued leading me to a bunch of other strange and wondrous plants. Unknowingly, we actually completed a whole round of the garden and came back to the Aivar tree.

As if welcoming the elf that had the same name as itself, its fiery leaves danced in the air, gently circling around us before falling to the ground.

“Nana, do you know why I’m called Aivar Redleaf?” Aivar Redleaf pulled me intimately towards her and against the trunk of the Aivar tree. Then without a word from me, she closed her eyes and began reminiscing.

“That was because, in the year of my birth, we had a devil invasion. Still bearing me, my mum hid in the shadows of the Aivar trees. Aivar trees, upon reaching the age of five thousand, would automatically evolve into Aivar treants. It was these treants who slew the invading devils, rescuing my mother. As a sign of her gratitude, she named me after her saviors… In actuality, there are many other elves who took this name. Thankfully, we can still distinguish each other using our surnames…”

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect Aivar Redleaf to have such a tragic past, yet before I could even reach to comfort her, she suddenly reverted back to normal. Her normal talkative self, anyway…

“But that’s all under the bridge, over two hundred years ago.” She giggled in my direction, almost in a smitten way. “Nana, were you worried about me for a second there? Don’t worry, I’m fine now. I wasn’t even born then. The one who was truly affected was my mum.”

Well, that’s rather heartless of you… I almost feel sad for your mum… she is still alive, isn’t she…

Suddenly, her face took a turn for the worse, as she had spotted unwanted company. “You lot, why are you still here? Can’t you have the decency to leave before I notice you? Geez. Spoil our alone moment, why don’t you?”

Ah… I was wrong for siding with her… but I guess the ones who should really be speechless should be that king and his entourage.

Andassis the Seventh and his men had actually been following us from the start to end, however, it was only now that Aivar Redleaf noticed their existence… a degree of absent-mindedness that even scatterbrained wasn’t enough to describe…

Even the tolerant-to-a-fault Andassis the Seventh was black-faced, let alone his bodyguard who was on the verge of pulling his sword.

It was in this awkward atmosphere that Prince Sersan finally found the opportunity he had been looking for. “Sister Redleaf, we were just about to leave, I just thought now would be a good time to say goodbye.”

“You are… little Sersan?” Redleaf tilted her head quizzically. Finally, after a few seconds, she asked in an unsure voice, “How did you get so big?”

“…it’s been ten years since we last met…”

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