The next morning, Eliron woke up feeling extremely refreshed. After all that physical exertion, he had slept like a log.
'Nothing like a three-hour trek to loosen up old joints…'
Physical exercise was one of the recommendations doctors gave to cure insomnia, and Eliron was very familiar with how effective it could be.
After all, during all his years of working on construction sites, he had never suffered from sleeplessness, even when he had countless worries.
The time he had spent tracking the mammoth and going to the goblin village and back had left him completely exhausted.
Thankfully, now that all the male goblins were dead, he was able to follow the tunnel back to the base, although it was not a very pleasant experience.
When he arrived, the remaining goblins ran away to hide while he spent his time gathering everything he needed.
It took some time, but now all the preparations were set.
Eliron got to his feet and stretched, his bones making light popping sounds that made him sigh in a relaxed manner.
Then he glanced at the camp. Some of the hunters were already waking up, while those who had taken the night shift stood by the edge of the camp.
One of these people was Artie, who was almost always awake.
Now that the goblin raid was over, one out of the three objectives of their mission had been completed successfully.
There were only two unfinished goals left. The first was to hunt enough monsters to bring back home…
After acquiring the infinity pouch, Eliron had increased the scale of the hunting trip since they now had a practical way to carry it all.
The second goal was hunting the Magister Mammoth to finalize his deal with Artie.
Just the thought of encountering the beast made him tired already…
Eliron got up and was making his way toward Artie when a girl suddenly ran into him and fell back, accidentally tossing the herbs she had gathered into the air and onto his head.
"Owww…" the girl muttered as she hurriedly got to her feet. "I'm sorr—Eeek!" She squealed when she realized who she had dumped the herbs on.
"I'm sorry, my lord! Please forgive me!"
Eliron grabbed one of the herbs from his head and observed it. "Don't worry, Delilah, right? It's fine…"
The girl's eyes widened when she heard her name, surprised that someone of his station would remember.
After they rescued the girls, Eliron made sure to memorize every one of their names to make communication easier.
"Thank you…" she stuttered.
Among the rescued girls, Delilah was one of the most timid.
She was the girl who had screamed out loud, alerting the entire goblin village, and had spent hours apologizing nonstop afterward.
Delilah was smaller than most girls, had large, eerily black eyes that nervously darted from place to place, and long, voluminous hair of matching color that even covered her eyes, partially obstructing her vision.
All those features that would have otherwise been imposing on the right person were placed on a cute, petite body, which made her far less intimidating.
Delilah was like a cute little teddy bear…
But one of the reasons she stood out to him was that Delilah was something of an expert.
When it came to foraging, although she was barely seventy years old, Delilah was unmatched in the village.
Being the top forager in Artaris made him curious about what she was gathering.
Eliron squatted down to help her pick up the herbs when a familiar scent drifted into his nose.
'Is this what I think it is?'
He grabbed one of the herbs and brought it to his nose, taking a whiff, then his expression turned serious.
Delilah hugged the herbs to her chest. "My lord, is there a problem?"
"Where did you find these?"
Delilah pointed to the southern part of their camp. "They were over there. I noticed them yesterday and felt like we might have use for them."
He slowly rotated the leaf in his fingers and smiled. 'I see why she is a genius among the foragers.'
The herb in his hands was thyme!
Thyme was a spice used back on Earth for cooking over several centuries, a wonder herb that could make meat taste exponentially better.
'To be able to recognize this even when the elves had never used it before…'
"Gather as much of this as you can find and keep it well. If you find any more herbs you think will be useful, bring them to me when we return."
"Y-yes, my lord."
Although Delilah probably had no idea why he had taken interest in the herbs, she seemed happy that Eliron also thought they could be useful.
Eliron smiled.
Because the wood elves were isolated from the rest of the world, things like spices never reached the village, so they had to rely on whatever they could find in the forest.
With this herb, and whatever else she might discover, they could make their food far tastier.
Delilah got up and clumsily ran away, a small smile on her face as she left.
Eliron then glanced at Artie, who had noticed their little exchange and was now staring at him.
At this distance, a greeting would be awkward since she would not hear him well, and keeping eye contact while walking toward her was even weirder.
It was like those moments when you see your friend from afar and have no choice but to endure the twenty seconds of awkwardness before you finally meet.
Eliron sighed and quickened his steps.
"You're up really early, unlike others," Artie said when he arrived.
While it was only four of them who carried out the rescue operation, the elves had celebrated their return deep into the night, so most of them were exhausted.
Eliron frowned as he glanced at the camp. "I told them not to take it too far. We are in the middle of a forest, not at a pub."
Artie shrugged. "At least their little party seems to have taken the edge off; they seem a little more relaxed considering what happened yesterday."
"True. Who would have known hobs would be in the camp? And even a goblin king? Damn…" Eliron mumbled.
"What if I had already been out of mana? Things could have gone really badly, fast."
Artie gave him a side-eye and tiredly massaged her temple.
"If I remember correctly, I warned you about those exact things long before you took us to that godforsaken camp."
She raised her voice angrily, but not to the point of being loud.
"My head still hurts from that rock, you know?"
Eliron nervously cleared his throat.
"Uhum… sorry about that. I'll tell Yen to give you another check-up."
Artie sighed.
"It wasn't all bad, though. You managed to surpass both Ash and me in the space of two weeks…"
She stared at him as though he was a puzzle she was trying to crack, her brows furrowed.
"But is this really natural?" She sighed.
"I find it hard to believe that this is all because of a divine ascension," Artie probed.
Eliron simply shrugged.
Although most main characters in novels would get flustered the moment anyone even suspected their power, the truth was that he didn't really care.
Even if he were to blab about everything that had happened, what would they do? What would anyone do?
Hiding his power or making up excuses every time he used a new skill was simply inefficient.
That was why he often came up with the most basic excuses; there was no reason to stress himself over it.
"Anyways…" Artie continued her earlier statement.
She stared at him, a faint flicker of emotion in her cold green eyes.
"Thank you."
When the words left her lips, Eliron froze for a few seconds. 'Did her cheeks just blush pink?'
It was barely for a second, but at that moment, Eliron could have sworn that he saw it.
'Artie saying thank you…'
If she had said it without much thought, then he wouldn't have been bothered, but she had said it genuinely.
Eliron had no idea what was going through her mind, or what had been bothering her since the expedition had begun.
But he was sure about one thing.
Little by little, like a baby slowly opening its eyes to the new world, she was… changing?
"Regardless of whether this was your idea or not, the fact remains that you…" she paused. "Were… of help to me…"
Eliron smiled wryly. 'You could just say I saved your life…' he thought.
Then he cleared his throat. "There is no reason to thank me; it was a team effort."
She smiled and slowly shook her head. "Learn to take the credit every once in a while."
"Also, about the Magister Mammoth, you can forget about it. You no longer have to hunt that monster. You have proved yourself already after that fight."
Artie had expected that what she said would make him happy, but instead, Eliron stared at her back and said, "Huh? What do you mean??"
Then his next words made her heart grow cold.
"The mammoth is already here."