The relationship between humans and wood elves wasn't that much better than their relationship with the high elves.
While the high elves saw them as sub-human, to many humans, wood elves were objects to satisfy their various kinks.
Because of this, they would sometimes sneak into the forest and kidnap elven girls to sell at a hefty price in the slave markets.
The mercenaries who often raided their camps were always human as well, so naturally, the wood elves hated humans.
How hard was it to live in such a place when you looked just like the people they hated?
Most would probably be okay with her, and live amicably, but there would always be those all too happy to vent out their frustrations on her.
Terra's reaction. The way she bowed her head in his presence and her subtle fears, was a character she had developed after years of living on hostile grounds.
'I doubt she's always like this… it must be the way she acts around nobles like myself and Ash…'
Regular elves could poke fun at her, but the ones with real power were the nobles, only they had the ability to make her life hell.
It was sad to think that discrimination was still occurring in Artaris, especially considering what they had gone through at the hands of the wood elves.
Eliron let out a breath.
"Raise your head, we're all elves here aren't we? Quarter or not, you've lived your entire life with us, be proud of your heritage."
Terra immediately raised her head, a shocked expression on her face as she stared at him.
Then realising she had been staring, she looked away. "Thank you, thank you my lord." She said, a small smile on her face.
'She looks so happy…'
Just a simple compliment was more than enough to change her entire demeanor.
"I'm Eliron, nice to meet you." He said, offering her his hand.
Terra smiled and took it. "Terra my lord."
Then Eliron glanced at Ash. "By the way, why did you call her?"
Ash cocked a brow. "Isn't it obvious? She's going to give you a bath."
Silence…
"What?!"
It was obvious that he needed a bath, he was soaked from head to toe in blood after all. But Eliron could not understand why he needed someone else to bathe him.
Ash wasn't even bothered by his reaction.
"Terra, get the rest of the girls in charge of taking care of the elven lord. Give the lord a proper bath and then give him one of those your treatments..."
Terra nodded. "Yes sir."
Eliron blinked. "Wait, what do you mean yes sir? And since when did the elven lord ever have personal maids??"
Ash gave him a dead pan look that screamed, 'How don't you know this?'
Then he cleared his throat.
"All elven lords have a specialised team of elves to handle his care, our previous lord had one, and you have one as well…"
"…Artie set up the team herself, and Terra is the leader of that group."
Ash didn't seem to be lying, but Eliron had never once heard of this, not from his time living with them, or his knowledge from the book.
But before he could ask any more questions, Terra arrived with six other beautiful elven ladies.
Eliron was about to run when they latched onto him.
"The bath is ready my lord, you need to bathe before dinner."
"We have enough scented soap to get rid of the blood smell."
"Don't be shy my lord…"
Eliron swallowed. "Umm, I can bathe myself…"
The girls just smiled like he had not said anything, as they began pulling him away from the village square, while Ash smiled as he watched him go.
Eliron was taken into a cave in the forest, a spot was not too far from the village.
When he arrived, his notion of not being bathed completely melted away as he saw the stream.
"Isn't that a hot spring?!"
For years, he had wanted to try one, but he was always either too broke or too busy to actually have a proper soak.
The water was clouded with steam, making the cave foggy and because of the stone walls surrounding them, it was calm, only a few forest sounds managing to slip through.
"Yes my lord." Terra replied. "Only the elven lord is allowed to bathe here, please don't be shy, it's our job to bathe—"
She paused when she realised Eliron had already taken off his clothes and immersed himself in the water.
"Ahhh—! This is life!"
Terra blinked then cleared her throat. "Girls, let us begin!"
In seconds, Eliron was surrounded at all sides by the elven beauties, each one attending to him in various ways.
One of them was massaging his sore muscles, her tender fingers doing magic, hitting all the sight spots and loosening the knots.
When she noticed Eliron's reaction to her massage, she giggled and applied a bit more pressure.
"Thank you for what you did today, my lord..."
"Hmm, what do you mean?" He asked, his eyes closed for maximum enjoyment.
Her warm, slick fingers traced his neck, igniting his pressure points with her graceful touch.
"The monsters you hunted," she began, her voice low so as to not disturb him. "Because of it we won't have to starve tonight…"
She ran her hand down his shoulders.
"Really? Are we already out of food? I thought it was meant to last till the end of the week?"
Before the date for the hunt was decided, they had made stock of things and were sure it would last one enough. How was it already so low?
The woman hesitated.
"It's fine, say what is on your mind, I assure you, it won't leave this room." His words were more than enough to warn the other girls to stay silent.
The woman sighed. "Well, one of the chiefs reclaimed his contribution to the store recently…"
Eliron let out a light chuckle. "Is that so?"
He could already guess who it was. Drakili was probably trying to starve the people to make them turn against him.
'How laughable…'
"I guess it doesn't matter now does it?"
The woman nodded and smiled. "Yes my lord."
Eliron continued to enjoy his bath in the peaceful enclove… a woman was scrubbing his foot with a pumice stone, and there was a girl massaging a gel into his hair, the smell of wild flowers drifting into his nose.
'Now this is what it means to be a lord… I see why Drakili wants this position so much…' Eliron mused.
'Like hell I am going to let go of this! Hehehe…'
Eliron had gained new motivation to rule.
Number one, stop the extinction of the elves and therefore save himself in the process…
Number two, continue enjoying spar treatments at the hands of beautiful ladies.
He was a simple man with simple goals.
Eliron closed his eyes, enjoying the treatment, then after some time, the girls stopped and left the hot spring, after which another person stepped in.
Splash!
Ripples spread around him, the currents unsettling as she swam over to him.
And then a second later, his eyes shot open as he felt soft fingers press against his chest.
Standing in front of him was Terra. Her clothes were wet which made them stick to her body, clinging to her curves, and her skin was pink from the heat.
She was the only one left, the other girls nowhere in sight.
There was a green substance on her hand and she was massaging it into his chest, her fingers tracing his body.
"W-what are you doing?" Eliron blurted out as he shrieked back. "Where are the others?"
Terra blinked. "I was about to give you a massage my lord, the others have done their part and have left."
Elrion raised a brow. "A massage?"
'Is this the treatment Ash was speaking of?'