Ezekiel awoke to the sound of someone knocking on his door. He looked over at his door and realized that he was too sore and lazy to get up from the bed, so he said, "Come in." The door opened, revealing that it was Bear knocking on his door, and he peeked inside of Ezekiel's room, saying, "Everyone else is up, ready to get breakfast. Get changed and meet us outside." Ezekiel said, "Okay," but started to go back to sleep. Bear then marched into Ezekiel's room and proceeded to shake Ezekiel awake, saying, "Wake up, bro! We're fucking hungry!" Ezekiel, in a little pain from Bear touching his sore muscles, snapped awake and was now a little angry, saying, "Just go without me, dude! Go to a restaurant or something! Can't a homie get a little more sleep?!" Bear then said, "There are two reasons why we can't let you do that. One, we all want to eat your pancakes. Two, right after breakfast, we're leaving Borene to head back to Wolfwater." Ezekiel, now fully awake, remembered that they did only pay for two nights at this inn they were currently in, so he decided to wake up for now and sleep later. Ezekiel got off of his bed, scratched his head then said, "I'll have the pancakes made soon." Bear then hugged Ezekiel, saying, "That's my little bro for you! So kind! So generous!" Ezekiel, a little agitated, said, "Dammit, Bear! Just go downstairs already!" Bear then skipped out of Ezekiel's room, humming "pancakes" over and over to himself.
Ezekiel got dressed and packed up his belongings. Before long, he met up with everyone outside of the inn, and to his surprise, they had everything set up that Ezekiel would need to make the pancakes. Everyone was eagerly waiting to eat the pancakes, so Ezekiel got to work. Since Ezekiel was cooking these pancakes out on the street, some curious people passing by them caught a whiff of the pancakes, intrigued to learn what the scrumptious smell was coming from. Before long, Ezekiel had a crowd watching him with interest, as he served Bear, Tokuda, Aqua, Kairi, and Suko their pancakes with a side of honey. A person who wanted to try this new food said, "I'll offer 1 silver coin for what you're making there!" Another person challenged that, saying, "I'll pay 3 silver coins!" Soon, the crowd burst into people making offers for the pancakes that Ezekiel was making. I can't let this opportunity go to waste, thought Ezekiel, and Bear swore he thought Ezekiel's eyes turn into dollar signs right then and there.
The rest of the morning was spent selling pancakes at ridiculously high prices. Ezekiel also took this opportunity to sell soap to the eager crowd, seeing as he might not have this big of a crowd ever again. Although they ran out of ingredients to make more pancakes for themselves on the way back to Wolfwater, the profits that they gained from selling pancakes was enormously high. Ezekiel finished counting the money, realizing that they had gained quite a lot of silver coins from something as basic as pancakes, which honestly were worth only about 5 coppers. Ezekiel shrugged, then went to buy the ingredients for pancakes. When Ezekiel came back, the carriage was loaded and ready to go, so Ezekiel quickly put the ingredients on the cart, said their goodbyes to Borene, and left the kingdom behind.
On their way back, Tokuda, at one point, had fallen asleep without anyone realizing it. Bear, Suko, and Ezekiel were also in the back, caught up in small talk. Aqua and Kairi were sitting at the front of the carriage, engaged in their own womanly talk. Bear was about to follow suit with Tokuda and take a nap when he saw a piece of crumpled paper sticking out of Tokuda's pocket. Bear carefully retrieved the piece of paper to make sure he didn't wake up Tokuda by accident. Bear then uncrumpled the wad of paper and realized that it was a wanted poster, the same one that Tokuda had ripped down in Borene. It read, "Wanted: Tokuda Tetsuo, formerly known as 'The Armless Ghost.' Crime: Treason. Accused of associating with the Freedom Legion. Bounty (dead or alive): 100 gold coins." A rough sketch of a younger-looking Tokuda was scribbled on there as well. After looking at the wanted poster, Bear was surprised to see that a human-like him, seemingly famous for fighting the war on the side of the humans, would end up doing something like this. Ezekiel and Suko realized that Bear was caught up in thought, staring at the wanted poster. Ezekiel then asked, "You alright?" Bear nodded, then handed the wanted poster to Ezekiel and Suko, who were both shocked to find out why he was a wanted man. Suko thought for a moment then asked, "If he helped the humans in the Humanity War, why bother switching to aid the Freedom Legion? Wouldn't that destroy his reputation?" Ezekiel agreed, wondering what could've occurred to make someone like Tokuda change sides like this. Tokuda then woke up, overhearing their conversation, saying, "Damn. I guess it was bound to be found out eventually." Ezekiel then asked, "So this is why you're wanted?" Tokuda shrugged, saying, "Yeah. Pretty stupid if you ask me." Ezekiel handed Tokuda the wanted poster back, saying, "Nah, not at all. Before we went on this trip, I helped Bear bust out some slaves from some asshole slave traders." Tokuda then looked at Ezekiel and Bear with serious intent, asking, "So, you both are part of the Freedom Legion then?" Bear scratched his head, saying, "Well, not exactly. We're not a part of them officially or anything, but we do support their ideals and want to help in our own way." Tokuda nodded, saying, "I see. Well, now you're talking to the lone wolf commander of the Freedom Legion." Ezekiel, surprised, exclaimed, "Commander?! You?!" Tokuda nodded, asking, "Is there a problem with that?" Bear nodded, saying, "Well, you did serve the human side in the Humanity War. Why bother helping your enemy now, 10 years later?" Tokuda sighed, saying, "If I knew this kind of world would be the end result of the Humanity War, I never would've bothered fighting in it. Not that I had much of a choice, anyway." Tokuda looked as if he regretted something in his past, then said, "You might not understand why exactly I decided to do what I did, but let me tell you something that I can say as the human that I am. Humans are the scariest creatures alive, much scarier than demons." Tokuda looked at Ezekiel and Suko, saying, "You might know this as fellow humans, but humans are driven by wanton greed, letting selfish desires overtake them easily. The higher up the ladder you are in human society, the more that wanton greed takes you over until you find yourself taking what you want, how you want, without regard to how others feel. You turn into a demon yourself, soon finding yourself manipulating others in order to get what you desire, and that greed only spreads like a disease." Tokuda, based on his tone, was a little angry at this point, but he continued, saying, "The human race also might feel inferior to the other races with good reason. Elves are gifted with prolonged life and natural beauty, dwarves are gifted with their hands, demi-humans are gifted with animal-like attributes that could potentially make them superior to a regular human. Each race has its own gifts. Due to the nature of this, the question then becomes this: what are humans gifted with? We don't live as long as elves and not all of us are beautiful. We might make things similar to the dwarves, but they'll never be superior. We may look somewhat like demi-humans, but their features and how they use them will always be better than humans. So, what would be the answer?" Ezekiel already had the answer to this, saying, "Humans have the power to innovate, to change the world around them. They have to, or else they'll be overtaken by the other races." Tokuda nodded, saying, "Exactly. That's why humans are scary. Their greed combined with their power to innovate is a force that can bring destruction among everyone that goes against them, and they justify it as a thing that can be used to keep up with the other races. The aftermath of the Humanity War was only the beginning of their greed, and their innovation will only be used to further their greed, making everything theirs and only theirs." Tokuda then took a deep breath, exhaled, then said, "Of course, that isn't all humans. I'm just saying that the bigwigs at the top of the ladder are the ones controlling everything for the humans, as their word is practically law." Tokuda looked angry, saying, "Peace is achievable. The other races want peace with the humans, but some humans are too stupid and blinded by greed to do such a thing. Human pride also interferes with it, but that's just an excuse greedy humans make." Tokuda then said, "I want to wake them up, take off their blindfold of greed and see the consequences of their actions. I may have fought for them at one time, but I've woken up from that a long time ago. I aim to achieve peace with all races and combine our strengths to use for the greater good, even if it means war with humans once more." Tokuda shifted his sitting position a little bit, then said, "However, it's been difficult for me to fulfill that dream ever since the bigwigs learned of my treason to them recently and decided to put a bounty out in order to stop me. The humans at the top are slowly starting to view the Freedom Legion as a threat ever since they found out I was involved in it, according to our informant on the inside. The Freedom Legion has been growing over the years as well, but it's not big enough to stop anything that the human higher-ups might do. They might make their move soon, and the Freedom Legion needs all the help it can get." Tokuda then looked at everyone and asked, "Would you all like to become official members of the Freedom Legion, and help me fight for the greater good for all races?"
That was a bombshell of a question that Tokuda had asked. Everyone stayed silent as if absorbed in thought. Tokuda was about to say something when suddenly, an arrow whizzed right past his head. Bear, Ezekiel, and Suko were stunned, surprised by the arrow that had just whizzed past them. Tokuda quickly shouted, "GET DOWN!" Ezekiel pulled Aqua and Kairi back in the carriage just as another arrow flew and landed right where Kairi was just sitting. The carriage had a canopy-like object that covered the roof of the carriage, but the sides were still exposed to possible arrows. Tokuda noticed this and shouted, "Use the boxes as cover! Build a temporary wall!" Bear, Suko, and Ezekiel quickly began fortifying the inside of the carriage with the boxes of ingredients that Ezekiel had bought before they left Borene. Kairi and Aqua were taking cover as best as they could on the floor of the carriage, keeping their head down. While building the walls, a couple more arrows were fired at them, but luckily no one was hit. Bear, after finishing placing down his last box, took cover and sniffed the air. That's strange. I can't smell anything, and I didn't smell or hear anything when the arrow was fired. Whoever they are, they're damn good, thought Bear. Tokuda then said, "Ladies, you both stay here for now until we figure out what we're dealing with. Suko, use your dragon scales to harden yourself and take the lead. I'll follow behind you, Bear follows behind me, and Ezekiel follows behind Bear." Ezekiel was impressed, as Tokuda's time in the war and his role as a commander apparently weren't all talk. Suko then hardened his skin with dragon scales and quickly jumped out of the carriage, scanning the surrounding area. Suko noticed that they were surrounded by dense trees and bushes, so it would be hard to determine where they were shooting from. Tokuda then got out next with his sword in his mouth, and an arrow was immediately fired when he stepped out. The arrow barely missed Tokuda, snagging a small piece of his robes. Shit! It's probably another assassin if they're only firing at me, thought Tokuda. Suko then backed up to where Tokuda was, being his shield for the time being. Bear then got out behind Tokuda, and another arrow was fired at Tokuda. This time, however, Bear could hear the whizz of the arrow, and with his axe, he quickly knocked the arrow away. Ezekiel then got out of the carriage, and Tokuda faced in the direction from where the arrow came, saying, "Ezekiel, Suko, use fire magic in that direction. We'll burn the enemy out." Tokuda then looked at Aqua, saying, "Aqua, be ready to use water magic to douse the fires so the fire doesn't spread too far." Aqua nodded, preparing some water magic to use when she needed to. Suko then breathed a lot of fire at the bushes, and Ezekiel randomly shot fireballs at any tree he could see. While they were doing this, Bear kept an ear out for the sound of any arrows or any movement, but he couldn't hear anything until Ezekiel fired off a fireball that hit a tree, and Bear quickly heard the heavy rustling of someone jumping from tree to tree. He followed the sound to an untouched part of the forest and spotted a blur of brown jumping from tree to tree. Bear shouted, "Over here! I found them!" Suko, Ezekiel, and Tokuda then rushed over to where Bear was, and Aqua got to work on dousing all the fires. Another arrow was fired at them, but Bear deflected it. However, he failed to notice that two arrows were fired at the same time, which stuck into Bear's shoulder. Bear flinched in pain, but it wasn't enough to stop him. Tokuda, while Bear was dealing with the arrows, made his way over to the tree where the arrows had come from. With lightning-quick speed, he climbed up the tree and deflected a couple of throwing knives that were thrown at him. He spotted a hooded figure nocking another arrow, and the hooded figure was able to get the arrow off before jumping to the next tree. Tokuda followed, and he had a clear sight of the hooded figure now. Suko and Ezekiel were also following, with Bear lagging behind a little bit. Ezekiel was firing off magic at the hooded figure. Distracted by Ezekiel's magic, the hooded figure started slowing down in order to dodge his magic and then land where they wanted to, and this bought time for Tokuda to accurately throw his sword and nail the hooded figure's robe into a tree. Bear, who had finally caught up, used his axe to cut down the tree with one hand in one strong swipe, and the hooded figure came down with the tree. The hooded figure struggled to escape, trying to pry loose the sword while falling down with the tree, and both the chopped tree and the hooded figure crashed into the ground. The hooded figure was then knocked unconscious by the force of the fall. Suko, Ezekiel, Tokuda, and Bear then surrounded the hooded figure, unsure of what to expect. Bear held his axe close to the hooded figure as Tokuda retrieved his sword. Tokuda then said, "It's probably a damn assassin after me again. They might be after the bounty on my head." Ezekiel sighed, relieved that the situation was over.
Bear then unveiled the hooded figure's hood, revealing that it was a beautiful young female elf with blonde hair, who looked oddly peaceful while knocked out. At first glance, the robe seemed to be her size, but upon further inspection, the robe was actually a bit small for her, as the curves on her body were more distinct while wearing it. Suko began heavily breathing and his nose began bleeding furiously as he said, "There's the hot blonde elf of my dreams, with all the curves in all the right places! I bet she has thighs for days, too!" Tokuda stepped forward, saying, "I hate to pop your dreams, but we need to kill her. Who knows if there are others with her or not. We can't have her coming after us again or saying something to her friends or people that hired her." Suko then quickly stepped in front of Tokuda, saying, "You're fucking joking! Killing a hot babe like her is a waste!" Tokuda exclaimed, "She's our enemy! You're getting horny over the person that attacked us not even a few minutes ago?!" Suko exclaimed in response, "Who the fuck wouldn't?! She's a knockout babe, and because of that, I forgive her, even if she was trying to kill us!" Ezekiel, realizing that Suko may just be more of a simp instead of a pervert, decided to side with Suko for a different reason, saying, "I think we should keep her alive. She may be able to give us useful information." Suko, in a perverted manner, said, "Let me help with interrogation, then!" Bear then said, "I don't know what kind of roleplay that'll be, but I agree with Ezekiel. The more information we have, the better. Plus, there's a small chance that we could possibly get her on our side. Her skills are definitely nothing to sneeze at." Tokuda considered it, saying, "Fine, we'll keep her alive for now. Tie her up and we'll take her back with us."
Once back at the carriage, Aqua tended to Bear's wounds while Kairi cast a spell to wake up the tied-up elf. The elf slowly woke up, and standing in front of her was Tokuda, crouched down, sword in mouth, pressing it against her throat. The elf's eyes widened, realizing the situation she was in, and Tokuda said, "If I don't like any of your answers, I won't hesitate to slash your throat. Who sent you?" The elf nervously looked down at her throat, but Tokuda used the blade to keep her head up, saying, "Look at me, dammit. Who sent you?" The elf stayed silent, not wanting to answer the question. Tokuda then looked at Suko, who was staring at the elf in a perverted way with a bloody nose. Tokuda said, "My friend here happens to like elves. Seems like you're his type, and I wouldn't mind having you be his plaything for a while, or at least until you're ready to answer my questions." The elf's eyes widened in terror, but still, she said nothing. Tokuda then said, "Suko, don't get too messy with her, alright?" Suko, however, fainted due to blood loss, and Tokuda simply sighed in disappointment, saying to the elf, "I'm gonna slash you if you don't speak here soon." Ezekiel, however, wasn't sure if this was the best way to go about interrogating someone. The elf noticed Ezekiel's gaze, and she suddenly spoke, saying, "Him. I'll speak to him." Tokuda looked over at Ezekiel, gave it some thought, then took his blade off the elf's throat, saying, "Don't take too long." Tokuda then left, leaving Ezekiel and the elf alone. Ezekiel, attempting to lighten the mood a little bit said, "What a grouch, am I right?" The elf curiously studied Ezekiel, then said, "You're not like the others, are you?" Ezekiel froze, wondering if she knew he wasn't from this world. Ezekiel nervously said, "W-What are you talking about?" The elf responded, "Humans. You aren't like the other humans that I've seen. You seem to care about other races, and even have a demi-human who isn't a slave along with you. That isn't something a normal human would do." Ezekiel breathed a sigh of relief, happy that it wasn't what he thought it was. He turned his gaze towards Bear, who was still receiving treatment from Aqua. Ezekiel then turned back towards the elf, who was genuinely smiling. Ezekiel couldn't help but smile as well. Ezekiel then realized the situation he was in, then angrily said, "Wait a fucking minute! This is an interrogation! I'm supposed to be asking the questions!" The elf laughed, and it was a genuine laugh. Ezekiel's anger dissolved, and he couldn't help but laugh as well. Tokuda, hearing the laughter, then barged in, saying, "What the fuck are you doing, Ezekiel?" Ezekiel shooed him away, saying, "I got it, dude. Don't be messing with the vibes, man." Tokuda stared at him, asking, "'Don't mess with the vibes, man?' Huh?" The elf then said, "Yeah, get out of here, bro." Tokuda was visibly pissed by that comment, and Ezekiel was rolling on the ground, laughing his ass off. Ezekiel was laughing so hard, he was struggling to breathe and say, "S-She told you to get the fuck out!" Ezekiel was howling with laughter, crying tears of joy at a sight he thought he would never see. Tokuda was irritated by this point, so he left, grumbling to himself. Ezekiel eventually calmed himself down then said, "That was funny as hell. But for real though, I would like you to answer some questions that I have for you. I promise that we'll let you go unharmed on three conditions. Condition 1: you answer my questions truthfully. Condition 2: you don't come after any of us again. Condition 3: you answer a question that I will personally ask you after this interrogation." The elf considered these conditions, then asked, "You're really gonna let me go after this?" Ezekiel said, "Yeah. I keep my promises." The elf then asked, "You're not gonna torture me at all?" Ezekiel responded, "Nah, that's dumb. Plus, I don't hurt girls since that's literally the least manly thing to do." Ezekiel then sat down, saying, "Plus, where I come from, there's an important document saying something along the lines of 'no cruel or unusual punishment,' or something like that, so torture is just a non-existent concept for me." The elf, rather surprised by the generosity of her captor, said, "Fine. I agree to your conditions." Ezekiel smiled then said, "Glad to have your cooperation."
Of course, Ezekiel wasn't stupid enough to simply believe everything the elf told him. He kept his eye out for signs of lying as he proceeded to ask his questions. "Who sent you," asked Ezekiel. The elf replied, "My master did. He's a human who enslaved me. Due to that, I can't disobey his order or else my collar will kill me." Oh, so it's the same as the other collars that the slaves had, thought Ezekiel. He reached down towards her neck and pulled her robes down a little bit, just enough to where he could see that there was, in fact, a slave collar around her neck. Ezekiel wondered if he should do it, and after a bit of debating to himself, he decided to do it, asking, "I'm a mage, and I can easily get that collar off for you if you want me to. You wouldn't be bound to the ass hat that did this to you anymore, would you?" The elf looked up in surprise, asking, "For free? With no catch?" Ezekiel nodded and said, "Yeah. Slavery doesn't settle right with me, anyways." The elf replied, "Please do it." Ezekiel then got close, chanting the words to release the magic collar, and after a few moments, the collar popped right off of her neck. In an instant, the elf suddenly got her ropes untied and punched Ezekiel as hard as she could in the face, sending him backwards into the boxes behind him, then jumped out of the carriage and ran right towards Tokuda. Tokuda was quick to react though, as he brought his sword down on her before she could stab him. The elf blocked the sword with her small hunting knife, and Tokuda shouted, "I told you we should've killed her! She's dangerous! We never could've trusted her in the first place!"
The elf, while locking blades with Tokuda, screamed at him, saying, "All you humans are the same! Selfish, greedy assholes that are no better than goblins! Why did you enslave my people?!" Tokuda then shouted, "I wasn't even aware that the humans brought the elves into their conflict! I abandoned their crusade years ago!" The elf quickly jumped back, getting some distance. Ezekiel, still a bit dazed from the surprisingly hard punch he received, said, "Tokuda, don't kill her. We can give her a second chance." Tokuda angrily looked at Ezekiel, saying, "You're too soft, Ezekiel. You trust people here too quickly, and that's how you'll get backstabbed so easily. The moment you give someone a second chance, they learn from their mistakes and start looking for more ways to kill you. This elf doesn't deserve a second chance!" The others in the party simply watched, too stunned to be able to say or do anything at this particular moment. Ezekiel then said, "Everyone deserves a second chance to try to redeem themselves of their past mistakes, dammit!" Tokuda stared coldly at the elf, saying, "Not her." The elf and Tokuda then engaged in battle once more, both moving quicker than the eye could see. Sparks from their blades colliding went flying everywhere, and the battle was an intense one. The elf seemed to have the upper hand since she used a strange type of magic, one that allowed her to have a physical advantage over Tokuda. Various parts of her body began to glow a bright red, like her arms and legs, and even her eyes. She then began swiping at Tokuda faster, and each thrust of her blade was more powerful than the last. Tokuda realized he was getting beat, so he jumped back, trying to analyze the elf and the strange magic she was using. However, Tokuda simply wasn't fast enough, as the elf quickly closed the distance between them. Before the elf could stab Tokuda, Ezekiel shouted, "STOP FIGHTING, DAMMIT!" Then, through a combined effort of Kairi and Ezekiel, they both let out large amounts of wind magic, knocking them both over to the ground. Tokuda was quick to recover, though, as he quickly got on top of the elf and stabbed her through the shoulder, pinning her to the ground. The elf cried out in pain, then Tokuda said, "I'm gonna finish you right here and now, you damn elf." However, Ezekiel tackled Tokuda from behind, saying, "You're not gonna kill her! Do you hear me?!" Tokuda shouted at Ezekiel, saying, "SHE JUST TRIED TO KILL ME, AGAIN! SHE NEEDS TO DIE!" Ezekiel then wrestled with Tokuda for a bit, then Ezekiel said, "Just get some information out of her, then we set her free!" Tokuda then shouted, "SHE'LL COME AFTER US AGAIN! SHE'S RELENTLESS!" The elf was struggling to get the sword out of her shoulder while Tokuda and Ezekiel were arguing, but the sword was pinned deep into her, and she didn't have the strength to remove it. Ezekiel looked over at the elf, who seemed to be in great pain, and said, "Tokuda, just give her a second chance to redeem herself. That's all I'm asking." Tokuda, realizing that arguing with him wasn't going anywhere, stopped fighting with him, sighed, and said, "Fine, but if she pulls that crap again, I'm slashing her throat without question." Ezekiel sighed in relief, saying, "I can live with that." Tokuda got to his feet, pulled his sword out of the elf's shoulder, and put his bloodied blade to the elf's throat and said, "You heard my offer. Now, talk."
After that ordeal, the elf was willing to talk. Ezekiel found out that the elf's master was involved in a plot to assassinate Tokuda for the bounty of 100 gold coins. By doing this, it would ensure that her master was guaranteed a wealthy life if carried out properly. The master didn't want to get his hands dirty, so he sent out an expendable slave to do the job, which was the female elf. As elves were better than most at tracking and hunting, the female elf was the best choice for the master. If things went wrong, he'd just find another slave to use. Ezekiel was a little pissed off at the master, thinking that no life is simply "expendable." Tokuda, finally finished with his interrogation, took his blade off the elf but said nothing as he looked at her coldly. Ezekiel, seeing that she was still injured and scared for her life, asked the elf, "You ever heard of pancakes?" The elf looked at Ezekiel and responded, "No. What are they?" Ezekiel, trying to ease the tension of the situation, looked at her in a smug manner, saying, "They're a badass food that I made. Wanna try some?" The elf said, "No, thank you. I'm okay." However, her stomach said otherwise, growling loudly. Ezekiel laughed, got up, then said, "Give me a few minutes. It'll be a damn good dish. Tokuda, if you want to, keep an eye on her. Aqua, once you get Bear patched up, get the elf healed as well." Tokuda and Aqua nodded, and Ezekiel walked back to the carriage and got everything ready to make pancakes. Bear walked over to Ezekiel while he was making the pancakes and asked, "Everything okay now, little bro?" Ezekiel said, "Yeah, but this didn't exactly play out as I imagined it would." Bear then said, "Tokuda might be right to an extent, Ezekiel. I appreciate that you trust us, but not everyone is worthy of the trust you hand out." Ezekiel sighed, saying, "I know that, Bear, but everyone deserves a chance, and maybe a second chance." Ezekiel paused for a moment, then said, "I wanna piggyback off your idea and try to get her in the nation of science." Bear chuckled, saying, "If you can't beat them, join them, or so it goes. Hopefully, she's willing to join us, but I'm surprised that you're offering her a spot after what she tried to do." Ezekiel ignored that last bit of what Bear said, as he was focused on making the pancakes for the elf. Soon, Ezekiel finished the pancakes and put a side of honey with it. Ezekiel brought it back, and the elf, now sitting upright, said, "It smells good. Is it those 'pancakes' you mentioned?" Ezekiel nodded, then said, "Yeah. Just eat those in peace, and please don't try anything else." The elf said, "I wouldn't dream of it." Ezekiel took a deep breath, then set the plate of pancakes down in front of her, then let out a sigh of relief. Ezekiel took a seat in front of her and watched her eat the pancakes. The elf was clearly delighted with the pancakes since she happily ate all of them. Ezekiel then produced a bar of soap, explaining that it was a "miracle bar" that got rid of dirt when used for things such as washing your hands or using it in the bath to clean yourself. The elf tried it out by washing her hands, and she was quite surprised at the clean feeling that it gave afterward. Ezekiel said, "You can keep the soap bar if you want to." The elf happily kept it, putting it back inside her leather pack of various items she brought with her.
The elf then asked, "Why are you showing me these things?" Ezekiel confidently responded, "This stuff is the culmination of thousands of years of scientific progress. Without it, I doubt that I would've been able to make this stuff myself. I plan on showing this world more stuff like this as I invent it, and it'll only get bigger and better as we go." Ezekiel then asked, "What's your name, by the way?" The elf responded, "Rina Magmoria of the Wooden Elves tribe." Ezekiel said, "Rina, huh?" Ezekiel then cleared his throat and said, "Well, Rina, the main reason I'm showing you this stuff is because I think you'd fit in quite nicely with our little nation of science. Your skillset would be very helpful to us, and I think it'd be pretty cool to have an elf tag along with us." Rina looked rather surprised upon hearing the last sentence Ezekiel spoke, as she felt a strange feeling of acceptance from Ezekiel that she hadn't felt in a while. Tokuda then stood up, saying, "You can't be fucking serious. After what she did, you're now trying to recruit her?" Ezekiel brushed off Tokuda, then said, "Rina, the world of science is too complex to try to put into words, but if you want to join the nation of science, I'll show you all of its wonders. Of course, it's completely up to you, and I won't force you to join if you don't want to." Rina considered her options. I currently have nowhere to go, but I got an offer to travel with this human and his friends. The human standing before me seems rather nice, as he cares about others, even if they are of a different race. This human also shows no hostility towards me at this moment. He is nice to the core since this human even went as far as to free me from slavery, so I feel as though I should repay him in some form or fashion, thought Rina. Ezekiel noticed her thinking over the decision and said, "Also, don't worry about Tokuda. He may not look it, but he's a pretty nice guy deep down. I'm sure he'll forgive you if you apologize." Rina looked over at Tokuda, who only scowled at her. Rina thought for a bit, then decided on her answer. Rina smiled and said, "I'll join your nation of science, but what you show me had better be worth the trouble!" Ezekiel smiled and said, "I'll be damn sure of it." Rina then asked, "It's a bit impolite to ask for names when you haven't given your own, so what is your name?" Ezekiel, a little embarrassed that he forgot that basic etiquette, said, "I'm sorry! My name is Ezekiel Clark."111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lmOc9g1kH
