NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

"I see the demi-humans have yet changed, hm? And Kouran, aren\'t you forgetting something? You told us to lay low inside a tent, but you didn\'t know that there are other players attacking that base," the mysterious voice exclaimed, and grew closer to our figures.

Kouran shuffled and looked at the two distant figures walking in the shadows. But before the dark elf could retort, the mysterious voice spoke again.

"And you, Fenrir! Why are you so soft against them when you literally annihilated five hundred players from before? You killed La Finta and everything. But now you\'re asking us to help you? Aren\'t you?"

"Hey, I told you to keep it down! Those NPCs are now staring at us!" another girl whispered, as the two marched their way inside.

"I know, I know. But I can\'t help it, since Fenrir needs our help. And I\'ve brought everyone that he needs....Well, almost everyone."

"Are you...Elina? And Eve?" I asked.

"Of course, it\'s me, you idiot! Who else could I be? Just because my grandmother, that doesn\'t mean I became dumb. I\'m nowhere near you, Fenrir," Elina said, but changed her tone as soon as she stood before me. "But even though I don\'t have the guts to befriend you, you\'re still the one La Finta trusted. And because of that one damn reason, the entire elf trusts you too…..It\'s great to see you again, Fenrir and Hunter. Without you, all of us would have died from the players."

"Nah, Elina. Don\'t worry. It\'s nothing. And, by the way, you\'ve changed within the span of a few months. You were just a helpless kid, together with Eve...What happened?"

Just as I voiced my concerns, those two leaders of demi-humans and mercenaries stood from their seats. They exchanged looks, with their faces carved with annoyance. Elina, me, and everyone inside the room returned their gazes and waited for them to talk.

"Who is this little elf disrupting our conversation? She looks puny and unimportant! Take her away before I disregard your offer." The first one to speak was the mercenary leader.

The demi-human chief followed the mercenary\'s line and exclaimed, "Stop wasting our time! We have gone all the way here for an alliance! But what do we get? We need to team up with a player babysitting a child?"

However, the situation had already turned grim. And I had enough of these two mocking the group. 

Just as when I stepped my foot and tried talking with the mercenary, that thug raised his sword and tried attacking me. That bloke wanted an explanation, but refused to listen to me. 

But upon lifting my arms, someone took care of my business before I could even make a move. Elina zoomed at my fore and defended me in the blink of an eye. She didn\'t learn any lightning spell, but raced as fast as my agility status points. 

However, it didn\'t end there. When Elina parried the attack, she sent the mercenary leader flying to the other side. Elina also moved her fingers behind her back and grabbed something inside her pockets. As soon as that bloke hit the ground, that man rose from the soil and glared in Elina\'s direction.

Since the mercenary had recovered, he charged an attack that could destroy a castle\'s room. But instead of running away, Elina stood in front of me like a statue. She didn\'t falter or run away like a normal human would. I could evade the attack, but didn\'t since something would take care of this man.

And that someone was the little girl beside Elina. 

Eve joined the brawl and disrupted the mercenary\'s balance. The bloke fell on the ground and got pinned by the adorable Eve. Within a few seconds, the mercenary lost his consciencessness and snored towards dreamland. As soon as Eve noticed the occurrence, she returned to Elina\'s side and smirked.

"We condone any sort of violence inside our organization and cause. If you wish to fight someone, please fight the players and soldiers outside. Well, besides Fenrir and his friends," Eve said, and flashed the two outsiders her smile.

Elina and Eve grew stronger after we saved them both from the players. We left those two to Kouran\'s care, since Ryoshi and I had a separated adventure, And within those gaps, these two damsel in distress became warriors.

Thanks to Eve\'s pin, the bloke couldn\'t move a muscle. But something more had happened right after the fight had ended. 

Elina rendered him immoblie for a few seconds from her assault. My system also notified me that Elina\'s attack came with a bow that pierced the mercenary. When Elina reached out for her patch, she immediately struck the arrow against the man. And that bolt had poison on its tip, which made the bloke paralyzed.

The demi-human leader noticed the fight and rushed towards the mercenary. When she noticed that the guy couldn\'t move, she slowly looked at Elina.

"Who are you! Nobody could outmatch the speed of my husband! Who are you?! And what have you done to him?" the demi-human desperately asked, while holding back her tears.

"That man….your husband is now poisoned," Elina grumbled, and threw a potion at the demi-human. "Give this to him and lay him on bed for the rest of the day."

"If you don\'t want to join our forces, it\'s fine with me. We don\'t want any liabilities within my group, especially ones who are overly confident about themselves. And I am Elina, the Queen of elves. And that girl is Eve, the Queen of the Mainland," Elina continued, and introduced themselves to them.

Those bystanders outside the office who heard our conversation let out their awes. They couldn\'t help but marvel at the scene and cheered for the two. Some NPCs Kouran brought in this place came from the survivors of the Mainland, where Eve had lived. These people still remembered their roots as they cheered at the little girl who had matured. 

"Those players are stronger than me. If you believe that your people could handle the strength of better versions of me, you\'re free to leave this room. I don\'t want to force you into our domain. And you have the choice to choose from these choices. Will you join our cause and fight for us, or die from the players. We won\'t help you," Elina spoke confidently at the demi-human, who was still on the floor.

"I-I\'m in!....The mercenaries and my demi-human warriors will join your group! L-Leave us alone for now!" the demi-human cried, and galloped her way toward her husband.

That girl carried the mercenary towards the exit, with some guards waiting for the two. The soldiers escorted them outside and saluted us upon leaving the premises. Since those visitors left the room, a new topic arose from our discussion.

"Thanks for the hand, Elina. Now, we need to make a plan before striking the players tomorrow," I suggested.

"I will send you the base\'s map. We could prepare our things today and attack them during the night. It\'s better to infiltrate a place without any lights in the sky. Since most of us are elves, we could race through the building even without light. And the humans could wear their night vision goggles taken from the dragonewts. The blacksmiths and other merchants also helped make those things," Elina declared, and projected a map in front of us.

"Wait, dragonewts? We haven\'t been in the dragonewt kingdom," I retorted, while looking at Ryoshi. "We didn\'t have the chance to visit anything besides the forest\'s border\'s after fighting Alice."

"Then you\'ll love it in the dragonewt\'s city. They have all sorts of things, including merchants. We stole those night goggles from the players and made those equipment with our own tech. Thanks to the system\'s powers, those blacksmiths could recreate anything designed by the humans. But the production is as slow as a turtle. So we need to bear with it for now," Elina continued.

"What about the guns? Did you copy them?" I asked.

Elina nodded and answered, "Those guns are not as powerful compared to the players. But it still does its job on attacking players within a few shots. And I hate to say this, but those weapons are limited. We don\'t have any time and materials to work on that project, unlike the humans. And I\'d bet you\'re not the player who would use a gun."

I seconded the motion and agreed with Elina\'s comment. 

All of us shared the same window, since everyone could use their systems. They were the only ones who could manage their powers, which made them superior against other individuals. 

Everyone present inside the room glued their eyes on the holographic map and reviewed its terrain. It took us hours to evaluate the location of our attack. After countless debates, taking the guards outside the entrance became a majority vote.

"Since those players don\'t guard their entrance much, we could use that opportunity. And then strike them when they\'re split! It would be a good chance for us to breach the building. There\'s an underground basement of that structure.. That place is heavily guarded by those players…."