The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

Seeing the massive tree roofing the sky at a far distance from them, Rosetta and the others inwardly cried in relief. They finally arrived at the entrance of Alvakia forest, the outermost area of the elven kingdom border. The journey reaching there had been hell.

Distance-wise, from the dwarven country to the elven kingdom, it would normally require 3 days to reach. But with all the monsters attacking them, it took them half a month to finally arrive at the forest entrance, excluding the time they took a rest after being attacked by the archdemon.

They couldn't figure out where all those monsters came from.

None of them would guess that it was because of a certain bride's passing thought.

"I thought the elven kingdom has a light barrier to protect them from the demons?" Lilith asked.

"We are already inside it. It's not visible to any species other than elves. We don't need to worry about demons attacking us in here," Aerindel explained, "but there are still protective measures in the forest, so stay close."

With Aerindel and Freanor leading in front, they entered the forest by foot. As they walked in deeper, the surroundings grew dimmer and hazier. Before they realized it, they were already enveloped in a thick grey mist.

"Rin? Frea?" Rye frowned when he noticed he could no longer could see them.

Turning around, he noticed that he couldn't see anybody or anything. That was until his eyes caught a streak of gold. He recognized that it was one of Light's tails.

He hurried towards it, "Light?"

His eyes widened in surprise when his body went past the mist and a bright vivid green world was revealed to his eyes. Every leaf and grass was glowing with vitality and dripping with dew. The sunlight falling upon the trees and flowers added a warm golden hue to them while the air entering his body felt cool and fresh.

"Who are you!?"

The two elves guarding the border were stunned to see a human passing the border. They immediately became alert and aimed their arrows toward Rye.

Rye quickly raised his hands, "I'm here with Aerindel Finrandyll and Freanor Finrandyll."

"Prince Aerindel and Princess Freanor?" The two elves looked at each other. They lowered their arrows, but didn't relax their stance, "where are His and Her Highnesses? How did you pass the Clearance Mist by yourself?"

"Clearance Mist…?"

"Only elves and fairies could pass the Clearance Mist by themselves."

"I lost Aerundel and the others midway," Rye pointed at Light standing not far from him, "my friend here guided me."

Light let out a cry that Rye didn't know it was capable of, startling the 3 people present. The golden symbol on Rye's forehead promptly glowed.

The elves, "!!!"

They hurriedly threw down their weapons and bowed to Rye, "Forgive us for our rudeness!"

Now that they dropped down their guard, they realized how much holiness was radiating from the man in front of them.

They sweated cold. They pointed their arrows at the saint who came to help them. Would they be struck by retribution?

Rye, "???"

Why are they bowing all of a sudden??

Did Light say something to them earlier? Elves could talk to animals?

"I-It's alright. You're only doing your job. No need to exaggerate…" Rye was confused by their sudden change of attitude, "I'll wait for your prince and the rest of my comrades to arrive."

"U-Understood!" The elves straightened up and one of them continued, "I shall inform of your arrival to His Majesty! Pardon me!"

Rye stilled in utter confusion when the elf didn't move from his place. The three of them exchanged glances with one another. Rye didn't know what to do as the two elves waited for something from him.

"…"

"…"

"…Is there something else you want to say?" Rye hesitantly asked.

"N-No! Forgive me, excuse me!" the elf panicked and rushed away, even forgetting his bow and arrow on the ground.

With the elf archbishop, they could only leave once he pardon them. He thought it was the same with the saint, but he only ended up annoying the saint!

Rye, "???"

Why did he apologize? Did he accidentally glare at him?

"Um…I apologize. I didn't mean to glare."

"Not at all! You are not glaring at all!" the other elf hurriedly said.

"But your friend…"

"Please forgive him, he was just nervous!" the elf bowed again.

"No, that's not what I mean. Why are you apologizing again? Sorry, my eyes are naturally like this. I'm not mad or anything," Rye was flustered.

Although people often got scared from time to time, they have never been this scared by his glare.

Thankfully for him, Aerindel and the others appeared out of the mist.

"Rye!" Aerindel was surprised.

When Ludric said they lost sight of Rye, he thought Rye got separated in the mist. He planned to go find him after leading the others in, but unexpectedly, the person was already inside.

"Rin," Rye sighed in relief, "please help me out."

"What's wrong?" Aerindel approached the elf.

"Prince Aerindel, Princess Frea, I apologize for my negligence. I failed to recognize the saint and pointed my arrow at him."

Aerindel swiftly pulled the elf away and whispered something to him. The elf nodded in understanding and hurriedly left after bowing to Rye once again.

"Let's go. It's quite a long walk to the Royal Tree."

Once they entered the area where the elves were living, tree houses stood atop the huge trees all around them. They were connected with sturdy rope bridges made out of woods and vines. Aside from the tree houses above, some of the trees' lower half was hollowed out for stores and establishments.

Living together with the elves were fairies with translucent wings on their back. They were all full of smiles despite the predicament they were in. Each and every one of them was prettier than the person next to them that it almost felt like they stumbled upon Eden.

"Their condition isn't as bad as I thought. In many ways," Rye commented.

"They were quite depressed a few months ago before our departure," Freanor said, "but they regained their positivity when the king announced there is still hope left."

"Don't tell me that hope is…"

"Yes," Aerindel nodded and smiled at Rye, "no need to be pressured. Although 3 years is very short for us elves, it is a lot of time for humans."

"…I've never thought of this before, but how old are both of you?"

Aerindel and Freanor only smiled in reply.

Rye, "…"

What's with that unsettling smile??

"Look, it's Prince Aerindel and Princess Freanor! They have returned!" A male elf excitedly announced.

The elves and fairies immediately stopped whatever they were doing and came to welcome the siblings back. It was very apparent how popular they were with their people.

"Prince Aerindel, it is great to see you return unharmed."

"Princess Freanor, we saved a jar of your favorite Ambrosia nectar as per your request."

Freanor accepted the jar, "Thank you very much, Miss Ralya. I've been craving this on our journey back."

"Everyone, we have guests from outside. They are tired from their journey, so have mercy on us and let them rest first, okay?" Aerindel laughed helplessly as he settled them down.

It was then they noticed the group of people behind their prince and princess. Particularly the bespectacled young man standing between them.

"A saint…" Someone voiced out in a daze.

They all lightly gasped and hurriedly bowed their heads in respect to Rye.

Rye, "…"

This again?

And he really didn't hear it wrong. The elves guarding the border earlier also called him a saint.

"Rin, did you tell them you're bringing back a saint? What if they find out I'm not?" Rye whispered nervously.

"Even without me telling them, they'll regard you as a saint…" Aerindel muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Let's go," Aerindel beckoned them to continue walking.

The people step aside to make way for them. For the first time, Rye was the one getting glued out by their eyes instead of Ludric.

"Can you tell them to stop bowing to me in the future? It makes me feel bad…" Rye asked.

"It may be hard," Aerindel shook his head, "our archbishop is really strict regarding how common elves must show respect to him. You'll need to tell them yourself."

"…I understand."

They walked into a secluded part of the forest. The trees were larger with a wide, multi-leveled structure being supported by them in the middle. There were many structures of similar shapes and different sizes surrounding the biggest one.

Aerindel placed his palm on a tree and a magic circle appeared. A part of the tree shifted into a flight of stairs spiraling up to the bridge connected to it.

Once they were all on the bridge, the stairs disappeared.

Aerindel spoke to Freanor, "Frea, bring the others to greet the Royal Council. I'll go take Rye to meet Father."