<h4>Chapter 348: Leaving the forest</h4>


    It took them way more time than Zombie would have liked, but in the end, the elves of the hidden vige sent him off with Olive as the guardian.


    "And are you sure that this will work as I specified...? I only wanted one artifact..."


    Zombie asked in a worried voice while constantly making sure that a tiny blue box is safely stored inside of his chest pocket underneath the barrel-like armor.


    "It is, you can rx. You can put your trust in this old man, you know? Those are even better than you''ve specified, those belonged to the only pair of elves who were able to speak about everything they wanted."


    Olive responded, giving the vaguest but at the same the most precise exnation that he could have.


    "Huh? Were they immune to Envy''s control then? I don''t know if this is better than what I specified, but..."


    Zombie tilted his head with a mixed expression but then he furrowed his brows and looked back at the very satisfied-looking elf.


    "Wait... does that mean that you had something like that the whole time and never tried to get rid of the main Envy family?"


    "..."


    Zombie asked, but the answer he got was Olive rolling his eyes while his mouth was firmly shut.


    "...ah... so you did try but it failed, and you can''t talk about it because it would put Envy in a bad light..."


    "...nonsense, no way that any of it is true..."


    Zombie made sure, and this time he clearly saw Olive mutter, trying to fight back against his own body, but sadly failing, and being forced to face the opposite way.


    |The elves sure got it rough, huh...|


    Zombie sighed internally.


    |Oh? Are you perhaps feeling bad for ughtering their entire hidden vige in the previous ythrough?|


    Patience asked, sounding as if she has livened up.


    |No. Not in the slightest. Did you wait this whole time for the right moment to ask me that or something?|


    Zombie responded slightly shaking his head.


    |The elves in the previous ythrough made the wrong choice and suffered the consequences. The ones in this ythrough are different.|


    He added with a light shrug.


    |..so you don''t have a problem with differentiating both ythroughs...|


    |... and what is this about...?|


    Patience muttered, making the boy feel slightly suspicious.


    |Nothing important, never mind that.|


    The sealed being sounded as if she shrugged her shoulders and waved her hand dismissively.


    "I will most definitely want to hear about what you have tried and how exactly it failed once you will be free."


    Zombie spoke out loud, carefully looking at Olive''s back while smirking.


    "..."


    The old elf was once again to respond to that, but the initial flinch that got forcibly held back told the boy more than enough.


    "Anyway... you said that it was better for us to walk thest mile or so just in case there were some vigers in the area that could have spotted us but shouldn''t you be able to sense them from some extreme distance, why the additional cautiousness?"


    "...well..."


    Zombie asked, changing the topic, but surprisingly didn''t get the reaction he expected.


    Instead, the old elf looked to the side and looked away on his own.


    "I... just wanted to make sure that you know not to rush things. You are extremely talented and hardworking, just make sure you won''t try to bite more than you can chew too early and get yourself killed, alright? Mirabelle would be sad if something happened to you."


    Olive turned back to face the young boy and shrugged his shoulders while smirking slightly awkwardly.


    |Oh-ho! Someone is more popr than ever! Maybe we should go have you appraised after all whether you secretly have a charm skill too?|


    Patience giggled inside her seal, pointing out the worried tone of the old elf - it certainly didn''t sound like only the vige elder wouldn''t want something to happen to the brown-haired boy, and not just because he knew about the situation of the entire elven race and promised to help them.


    |Good, that really is making it easy to set up a backup n... but also... why do you sound so jealous...?|


    Zombie responded indifferently and focused on following the trail between the trees used by animals.


    |Eh...? I-I am most certainly not! Shut up! You better tell me what is that backup n you are thinking about?|


    |Nothing important. Never mind that.|


    Patience''s gasped but got shrugged off by Zombie the same way she dismissed him before.


    Shortly after, the human and the elf arrived at the spot where a plump merchant, drolling excessively while his eyes stared nkly into the distance, as he was walking in circles so much that he managed to trample the vegetation alongside his path into the unrecognizable mud.


    "A moment."


    Olive stepped forward and reached his hand towards the hypnotized man.


    "...!"


    The elf''s eyes shone with a bright white light and the merchant flinched and froze in ce with open jaw hanging loose, staring at the closest tree.


    "I made sure that your cart is exactly where you left it, from now on there''s no way for you to get lost unless you gopletely off of this path."


    Olive exined to Zombie, pointing out at the lumberjacks trail leading towards the forest entrance.


    "This guy will follow you there too, and will go on the cart, my skill will deactivate and he will return to his normal self once he gets on the driver''s seat."


    He added exining everything carefully.


    "In his new memories, the two of you, especially you, were going around the forest chasing after the elf and at the veryst day he managed to get away, because of a mess up on Jackfruit''s part - of course, in case of trouble he will try to pin it down on you but it won''t be anything serious, I promise. He should still give you the reward but I can''t promise you that. You know..."


    Olive shrugged his shoulders and made a sour expression.


    "Yeah, everyone in Envys territory tries to swindle others. Don''t worry. Thanks for understanding and going along with my request."


    Zombie nodded with a smirk and patted his chest te in the spot directly over the tiny box containing the artifact the elves had given to him of their own free will.


    "By any chance, if I will be in the neighborhood, can Ie to visit you, even if it''s too early for me to help you all out...?"


    Zombie took a step forwards but ended up turning back and shyly looking at the elven guardian.


    "...!"


    The old elf went wide-eyed before smiling and looking away awkwardly after realizing that he should act more serious.


    "Yes, of course! Fuck! I mean, if you want to... No pressure..."


    He said hurriedly, trying to y it cool.


    |Any ideas why he acts like that?|


    Zombie asked internally.


    |Elves have a weak spot for their family... even the most distant ones. Though you really aren''t someone who understands familiar bonds, are you?|


    Patience''s snickered in response.