Chapter 36: All alone

The men in chainmail looked bigger than any other man he had seen during his entire life, and they also had very ferocious appearances. He turned and attempted to escape but one of the men held him back, he wrenching himself free but all his efforts were futile.

"Who are you and why have you not been enlisted in the army of our royal holiness" the one that seemed to be the leader spoke in what surprisingly seemed to be a feminine voice. Chen pretended not to understand the men which seemed to enrage them, as they took it that he was trying with them. One of the men punched at him, the punch was shockingly fast, he only managed to evade it by a hair's breadth.

One of the men unsheated his broad sword and made a move to stab at him, but suddenly he saw blur and a woman appeared in front, she used her body to shield his, the man who attacked him managed to stop before he could harm the woman.

"Stop!! This is my brother, and he is mentally unstable" the woman said and turned back to look at Chen, he didn't know what to say to her so he kept mute.

"If he isn't well, I suggest you keep him at home. We are at war and anyone is a suspect" he said and turned around, the rest of the soldiers left with him and the whole market seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, everyone began coming out of wherever they had hidden.

Chen turned to the woman who had saved him, she had very pretty face and the signature pointy ears that everyone seemed to have. She grabbed his arms and pulled him away from the market place, for her slender fragile looks she seemed to pack a lot of strength as her grip on him was very strong. They took a bend and arrived at a street that looked like it should have existed in the medivial era, the houses were build with stones and had very smoky chimneys. They walked a few hundred meters before arriving at a slightly huge house. The woman opened up the door and pushed him into the house.

"What is your name" she asked as she took off her cloak and threw it at a chair situated at a corner in the room, she then walked over to the fire place and lit it up. Chen had already taken a sit when she returned, would she dragged a chair over and sat opposite him and waited for his reply.

"You can call me Chen" he said curtly and the woman looked at him with a stupefied gaze for a few seconds before the burst out laughing.

"What sort of a name is that?" She asked while trying to hold back laughter. Chen didn't bother to honour her questions with a reply and just looked on silently. The woman soon got tired of the silence and decide to press Chen for more information.

"Can you remember anything else, like where you came from or if you have other family members?" The woman asked, she had helped Chen because she genuinely thought he was mentally ill and she had a soft spot for people like that.

"I come from Earth, and was brought here under strange circumstances to execute a mission, when I am done I would be on my way" Chen said seriously, the woman couldn't help herself and burst into another round of laughter.

"All elves are from Earth, so you must have a really wild imagination. I just realized I hadn't told you my name yet, you can call me elene."

"So elene what exactly is going on here, what war were the soldiers talking about"

"You mean you are not aware that there has been a war going on for a few decades now? In my hundred and eighty years of life, we have always been at war. There are a few years of peace at times but the war always continues"

Chen was furrowed his brows in surprise, a hundred and eighty years old and she didn't look a day over thirty, he felt that the grandmaster had not given him enough information about this realm before he was sent over. There were a lot in this realm that was completely different to his realm, he pushed these thoughts away and decided to ask questions that were relevant to his cause.

"What are the reasons for the war, and who are we at war against"

"We are at war with the kingdom of halethen, they seem to have developed a penchant for land grabbing recently, they decided to take a village in the Eastern region hostage, and the material our mages need for their spell craft are mostly gotten from that village."

"Did you just say mages? Are there a lot of mages in this kingdom" Chen asked, his interest was piqued now. He felt that if he can learn a few spells or if he could meet a mage he might be able to bring his friends over. He had tried using his summon ability but was dissapointed to find out that he couldn't.

"Yes we have mages, but only a handful not a lot of people have the capacity for magic, it takes a toll on the body and soul and at times might eat into the life force of the mage, mages are directly subordinate to the king and take orders from no one else."

"Do you know any mage that might want to help me out"

"I know of a few mages but not any that would help out, like I said they are only answerable to the king and mostly not accessible to commoners. I suggest you don't go looking for one on your own it might be dangerous. During wars they are the kingdom's Trump cards" elene said and Chen's heart sank, for a moment there he was hopeful. It seemed to him that he would have to do this on his own