Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 297 - 296: Sol and Belna

Soldrin accepted Belna’s invitation after a brief hesitation.

He was indeed curious about this elf who suddenly appeared before him, but he really needed a pass right now—although a High-Ranked Ranger had many ways to bypass blockades, crossing safely and legally was much better than those ”alternative plans.” Besides...

He had been away from home for seven hundred years, and was genuinely happy to see a fellow elf.

”It’s too noisy here; why don’t we go to my place?” Belna suggested, frowning as she glanced around. The rough adventurers and mercenaries, who always tried to cozy up, clearly made this young elf uncomfortable. ”I have a nice room at the Ashwhistle Inn.”

Soldrin had another place in town, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to take this opportunity to learn more about this elf, so he gladly accepted Belna’s invitation. The two beautiful elf ”ladies” left the little tavern together, while the remaining adventurers and mercenaries didn’t seem to care much about this small incident.

They continued to drink heartily, freely spending their extra copper coins and discussing the past year’s changes at the border and their plans for the upcoming spring. To them, two elves were far less important than the next potential job.

Soldrin followed Belna through the cold alleyways and soon arrived at the Ashwhistle Inn located in the town’s southeastern area.

This young elf lady indeed rented a nice room, a clean and tidy guest room complete with a small fireplace and a coarse carpet—it seemed her financial situation was quite good, or perhaps she had yet to experience the ordeal of running out of travel money in the human world.

”It’s still quiet here,” Belna said as she entered the room, throwing a few logs into the fireplace while starting a fire. ”Humans really are a noisy race, aren’t they? Oh, I don’t dislike humans, it’s just that sometimes they are too loud...”

”Much quieter than dwarves,” Soldrin replied casually, glancing around the room’s furnishings—it showed signs of being lived in, with a lingering scent of elves. ”It’s not easy to see silver elves in the northern regions. Did you just arrive here recently?”

Belna finally lit the fire. She clapped her hands and, smiling with satisfaction, replied, ”Yes, I just recently arrived. I started my journey from the eastern gate of the Green Wall, traveling along the trade route northward, crossing Typhon’s fertile plains and the Northern Hills, and finally arrived here... But I’m not planning to go further north; it’s too cold, I might freeze to death if I keep going. By the way, Sister Sol, aren’t you going to take off your cloak?”

Soldrin casually removed his cloak, revealing the huntress attire beneath—an excellent ranger could disguise themselves in any situation. The war skirt and tall leather boots were part of his tactical outfit. Soldrin was very satisfied with his disguise skills and still couldn’t understand why Gawain was always so surprised by his cross-dressing for missions. Wasn’t this normal for the job?

He hung the cloak on a nearby hook, then looked at Belna’s outfit and curiously asked, ”Are you a druid?”

”Yes, I’m from the Heart of the Forest faction,” Belna declared proudly, as a flash of magic glimmered on the talisman hanging from her chest. ”My mentor is the Thornheart Master of Moon Valley. My journey was arranged by my mentor.”

”Thornheart Master? Is she still taking apprentices? Wasn’t she said to have retired and no longer personally teaching apprentices?”

”Oh, my mentor lost all her retirement savings playing cards with the Moon Valley Seer a hundred years ago, so she returned to teaching and took on eight druid apprentices and forty cooking students all in one go...”

”Why take on forty cooking students?”

”There weren’t enough druid apprentices, and the tuition collected wasn’t enough to cover her gambling debts...” Belna casually revealed these ”elf secrets” that might shock outsiders, but to Soldrin, it only felt warm and nostalgic. Many uninformed people often thought elves were inherently rigid, stuck in their ways, with a poor sense of time and lacking communication skills. In truth, elves are a race that truly knows how to enjoy life and entertain themselves. It’s just that most elves are not as expressive and open in their emotions as humans, leading to some misconceptions.