翁公和媛媛在厨房里猛烈进出

Of course, I knew it was a skill difference, but blaming myself wouldn\'t do anything, so I needed to blame something else!

Well, even if I couldn\'t copy Albert\'s technique, this trip wasn\'t completely useless as I now know what a real bow looks like...

Engraving the image of Albert\'s bow, I dismissed the bow in my hands before re-manifesting it to mimic Albert\'s bow completely, except for the color.

*CLAP*

*CLAP*

*CLAP&

Hearing the thundering applause and sneers, I considered putting my new elegant bow to use...

Getting angry at losing now wouldn\'t do anything. Anyway, my primary weapon was a dagger, so who cares about the bow?

Not me, that\'s for sure...!

Raising his hand to silence the crowd, Albert approached me with a smirk... not a condescending one... but a genuine one.

With his pure-white cloak and long blonde hair rustling in the breeze of the wind, Albert picked his bow off the ground before turning to me.

"It was a good match!"

"... are you fu- *AHEM* It w-was indeed."

Walking up next to me, Albert placed his hand on my shoulder... and pat me on the back before returning to his original position.

"..."

Either not noticing or pretending not to notice my foul and confused temper, Albert continued in his joyful tone.

"So, how was your academy\'s trip through the forest and into the kingdom?"

Dismissing the bow from out of Albert\'s sight, I slung my backpack around my back before replying.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, just a simple walk through the woods to get here."

Rubbing his chin with his hand, Albert seemed to think briefly before asking again.

"Nothing abnormal?"

hm? Is something abnormal happening inside the forest that I don\'t know about?

Recalling the incident where some stacks of wood had blocked our path, I stayed quiet, simply shaking my head at Albert\'s question.

It was not because I had lost miserably to him. I didn\'t want to add unnecessary variables to the event by divulging this information.

If it were that important, Albus would ask the other students, like Liam, and receive his answer.

As the crowd again encircled Albus once again, congratulating him on his win against me, I slipped out amongst the noise.

Albert could be quite a useful resource in the future, just like Liam had Alya, but at the same time, the relationship was to be built slowly, didn\'t it?

*TAP~TAP*

However, as I walked farther and farther away from the training range, I heard the sound of rapid footsteps approaching me.

Turning around, surprising Albert, who was rushing toqES me, I asked.

"What is it now?"

Seeing that Albert wasn\'t the type of person to be offended if I didn\'t use a civil tone and no other Elves were around, I dropped the act from earlier and spoke to him normally.

Taking a second to regain his composure, Albert brushed back his hair, revealing his amber eyes, and replied.

"Did you have any plans after this?"

"..? None in particular."

Beaming with brightness, Albert nodded his head up and down before responding.

"How would you like to visit the royal palace?"

...Being able to scout out the palace in advance would be nice... but what exactly was this prince planning?

Challenging me to duel could be seen as him merely trying to test my skills, but inviting me to the Royal Palace was entirely different.

In the book, even Alya had to convince the current Elven queen to allow the main cast into the palace when we had first arrived.

Once again, patting me on the back, Albert did not wait for my response as he said.

"No need for any thanks! I felt that the bow competition might have gone too far... so this is my way of making it up to you!"

Gone too far?

Aren\'t you the one who scored 110 points in the first thirty seconds and then drank tea for the other one minute and thirty seconds?

Considering I had nothing better to do and knowing the layout of the Elven royal palace would be nice for my plans, I nodded and followed Albert.

Fortunately, Albert seemed to know a secret route to the palace, as the two of us were able to find it without being noticed.

Stepping before me, Albert knocked on the huge metal gate before it promptly opened without any identification measures.

Did that work for everyone?

As the gates opened, the fount sitting right before the entrance to the house entered my view.

Taller than the hut I was staying in, the fountain was unnatural. Water flew out at incredible speed, and despite all the water pressure, no water leaked out.

A fountain can be a magical artifact..?

Taking a moment to look inside the fountain, I was surprised to see countless leaves from the World Tree inside.

Seeing my confusion, Albert smiled before replying.

"For the royal family, it\'s a sign of good luck and prosperity if the leaves of the world tree enter the fountain."

Well, I was here, so their good luck had worked!

Following Alber\'s gaze, I looked directly above the fountain and saw a large branch of a world tree covering the royal palace.

As we went deeper into the palace courtyard, I was also surprised to see that there were close to no guards; rather, only a couple of chiefs and servants were running about.

Well, in the elf kingdom, revolts and tension were uncommon, if not nonexistent, so they didn\'t have to worry about security.

But, recently, there must been some tension rising about the elves due to our presence in the clearing.

Though, as we can see from the academy\'s terrible security systems, guards don\'t do anything to protect, so I understood their lack of security.

Finally, the two of us crossed through the massive courtyard as two massive double doors stood before us.

Raising his hand, Albert\'s hand shone a light green before he touched his glowing hand to the door, causing it to open immediately.

That was what it looked like to anyone else in the world, but I could see a completely different story with my eyes.

For a split second, I saw a light green spirit in the shape of a ball appear in Albert\'s hand before it merged with his hand, causing it to turn light green.

Could I ever get one of those?

Pretending I didn\'t see the spirit, I entered the palace immediately and noticed the countless glass chandeliers hanging above my head.

One earthquake and all of this would be gone...

Stopping in front of me, Albert turned around and curiously asked.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Extravagant but not in a bad way."

"You know, saying it just looks nice also works, right?"

"Now you\'re just putting words in my mouth."

"Am I? Your expression says otherwise."

Erasing my expression of awe, I walked past Albert, examining the painting in front of me, and replied.

"What? Are you going to challenge me to another bow duel?"

"For your sake, I won\'t!"

As Albert led me around the massive palace, occasionally stopping to explain parts of the Elven history, I used the time to examine as much of the palace as I could, specifically looking for the secret entrances.

But... there was none.

Was my only way in here with a spirit like Albert?

Looking out one of the windows on the top floor of the palace with Albert by my side, I felt somewhat weird, as the light had remained safe throughout the entire day.

Even though it was almost 9 PM, it was still as bright as it was in the afternoon.

"Is there no control remote for that thing?"

Flustered, Albert stepped back before asking.

"...by that saying \'that thing,\' are you referring to the world tree...?"

"Yeah, you would think with all the Elven history you\'ve been telling me about, they would be able to figure out how to do some proper lighting."

Not wanting to further this topic of conversation, Albert returned to the window and responded.

"...I\'ll keep that in mind when I succeed to the throne!"

How does he say stuff like that without a single bit of sarcasm?

After a couple more moments, Albert and I headed down the stairs as it was finally time for my departure.

At this point, I had already extended my stay in the palace for over three hours, and any time Albert tried to hint at my leaving, I simply acted oblivious, asking him more questions about history.

"When the tree elves first LEFT the forest and encountered the ice elves, there was a slight conflict. Speaking of leaving, do you b-"

"Interesting! Tell me more about these so-called ice elves!"

"