"My name is Eric. There is a human town nearby, named Ringwood Town. I come from the orphanage there." Eric didn't hide anything, as he felt it was better to come clean if he wished to obtain their help.
Elara was immediately heartbroken upon hearing Eric was an orphanage child—in other words, he didn't have any parents.
But now that she thought of it...
'Doesn't it suddenly become much easier to take him away from this place to my place?'
Elara suddenly had butterflies fluttering inside her stomach from anticipation.
Lysandra was too tired to keep track of her daughter's daydreaming, so she left her to her own devices.
She thought for a moment and introduced herself first. "My name is Lysandra Willow. And this is my youngest daughter, Elara Willow."
Elara was internally surprised. Lysandra had told her that if people didn't recognize them, they shouldn't mention 'Willow.'
'So why is she breaking her own rule now?'
But she didn't mind. She would have gladly revealed it to Eric later if Lysandra had hidden it.
Eric calmly nodded with no change in his expression. Why should he? These fair elves looked like top-tier nobles; even minor ones had titles in their names, much less these otherworldly beauties.
Lysandra wanted to check if Eric recognized the 'Willow' title. As expected, he didn't—meaning he truly lacked worldly knowledge.
Lysandra did this because she had noticed how highly Eric had trained himself. A single orphanage child couldn't reach such a level of training. In fact, even top nobles' scions might not achieve this kind of progress—this kind of training was likely only achievable by those who had 'Will in their heart.' Even Elara, who similarly had 'Will in her heart,' hadn't reached such peak mortal stats as Eric.
Lysandra had lived long enough and seen too many people to at least judge mortal or even Master Rank stats. She had also used her spiritual sense to check Eric. Though it was just a light scan, it was more than enough for her to discern his current physical capabilities.
She was least surprise that Eric had 'Will in his heart.' If he could trigger her instincts, he definitely possessed it.
People with 'Will in their hearts' were rare, but given her position and reach in the world, they weren't that rare—especially in the last century. To her, such individuals were absolute monsters: unpredictable and amazing, but not the kind Celestia desperately needed at present.
Lysandra spread her spiritual sense and located Ringwood Town. Following that, she found the orphanage and soon pieced together most things, including why Eric had been found floating in the ocean—though the last part was just a guess.
This was also a fantastic opportunity for her. Eric would owe her favors. She didn't need anything from him—just that he remembered he had received her help, that he belonged to Celestia, and that he wouldn't sell his soul to the enemy in the future.
"So, Eric, why did you interfere with my daughter's and my sweet, intimate vacation time?"
Elara immediately glared at Lysandra.
'What do you mean 'interfere'? What if Eric suddenly wants to leave?!'
Eric gave Lysandra a bitter smile and explained, "I apologize, but it wasn't intentional. I just wanted to leave town and train in the southeast forest. I also wanted to see the ocean, which I'd heard about from the townsfolk. Everything went fine—I reached the place—but then I was attacked by two Rank 1 Mages from some Dark Elf tribe who shouldn't have been there. After that, I fell into the ocean..."
Eric avoided mentioning that he might have killed one dark flower, in case they were together.
"How terrible..." Elara covered her mouth at the unfairness of two Mages attacking a mortal.
Her eyes quickly teared up.
Hearing Eric had faced such danger stung deeply in her heart. She almost wished to rush out and slaughter those wild tribes.
Both Eric and Lysandra ignored Elara.
Eric was much more mature than his crush—at least mentally. He didn't need to indulge Elara every time. Of course, he owed her a life-saving favor, but that didn't mean he had to be a 'yes-man' for her reactions.
"I see," Lysandra nodded. "These tribes are rogue factions and have nothing to do with the Elf races on the Elvin Continent. In fact, they could be considered criminals. It's like pirates—there are criminals of all races, and their own kind hunt them. But just in case, I'll go check on these Dark Elves and see what they're up to."
She could, in fact, see everything clearly from where she sat. But she needed time to process what had just happened, so a walk would be fantastic—and it would give her daughter the opportunity to push Eric down!
'Daughter, your mother is sacrificing her vacation for you! Remember this favor! Go, my child—show your mother you have her wild side!'
Just as Lysandra was about to stand from her half-seated position, Eric hesitated and then informed her, "I'm not sure of their strength, but I suspect they have at least one Rank 3 Mana Wielder among them."
He had this suspicion—otherwise, those Dark Elves wouldn't be traveling freely. They likely had many more Rank 1 and 2 Mana Wielders—dozens, possibly even a hundred—and almost certainly more than one Rank 3. In short, it spelled doom for Ringwood Town.
Lysandra laughed. Even Elara giggled a little at Eric's worry—it was almost cute.
Lysandra stood, waving it off. "Don't worry. I'm only scouting, not fighting. It'll be fine. You two should use this time to get to know each other better."
As she was about to leave the room, she paused and pointed at the wardrobe she'd placed inside. "There are some male clothes in there. I've left them for you. Take care of my daughter, Eric. I'll be back by evening. Enjoy." With that, she stepped out of the hill and vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, Eric's pupils narrowed with shocking realization and horror. He hadn't even heard properly what Lysandra had just said due to his shock.
As Lysandra was seated previously, Eric hadn't really noticed, but when she completely stood up, his heart also stopped.
If his guess wasn't wrong, then Lysandra was close to 9 ft! At least way over 8 ft!
Eric felt like shooting himself in the head. Why was the world constantly terrorizing his pure and innocent heart!? He only wanted to be the Ultimate Final Evil Boss, not the little brother of every woman in this world!
Eric sighed and recovered from his heart attack, then turned toward Elara, who, for some reason, was blushing deeply while gazing down at her fairly all-right developed chest—though her chest size was still smaller compared to Lyria or Livy. But with her figure and height, Elara looked absolutely gorgeous.
Eric was 80% certain that Elara was at least an inch shorter than him, and this brought his confidence back.
He coughed, "Umm... Sister Elara, can you please wait outside? I will put on some clothes first."
Elara had noticed how Lysandra had indirectly signaled her too many times to make her move and had even left them alone. She was grateful, but she didn't know what to do! She was still a young girl; the best she knew was to k-k-k-kis....
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Elara shrieked cutely and bolted outside without even closing the door.
Eric had no idea where Elara had gone off to or where he even was, but he had to admit that even her panicked shriek was giving him diabetes. Though Lysandra's voice was also nice, it couldn't even come close to one-fourth of the power of Elara's melodious voice.
Eric climbed down from his bed. He was now completely at ease recalling Elara's height—if his estimate wasn't wrong, she should be 6 ft 4-5 in., much tinier than him.
He walked toward the wardrobe stark naked while wondering in his mind, "Riya, why are you so quiet? Did something happen to you?"
"You should check these memories from after you fell unconscious," Riya replied with a tired voice. She was mentally exhausted from being on edge for the last two days.
After receiving the voice recordings, Eric understood why Riya had been so silent all this time.
That Lysandra was truly scary—she could even detect who was listening to her words and making 'sense' out of them. This was far beyond what most people could mentally grasp.
Words and information were always recorded everywhere. For instance, the bed Eric was lying on now had his 'memory' recorded there—of course, it was only that a guy had been lying there for 'this long.' Someone who could 'see' this could figure out a lot of information that even Eric might not have noticed. Usually, a detective or someone similar would be better at this.
Similarly, voices spoken were also recorded by a rock or object—not completely or properly, and neither were they possible to decipher—but recorded nonetheless. Similarly, animals also recorded the 'exact' sounds heard, including tiny insects—though, again, not properly. Similarly, a human sleeping or unconscious would record noises and sounds just as they were 'spoken' or 'sounded,' without any meaning.
But Lysandra didn't consider any of these as 'listening to her.' What she meant was someone was making 'sense' and meanings out of the words she was speaking! And that was very scary, as Mind Space was nearly a semi-imagination of his—it existed but at the same time didn't.
People might see his memory but couldn't really touch his Mind Space, though he wasn't certain how far this world could go. Still, he had a fairly good understanding of his own mind due to all the diligent yoga he had done in his past life.
While thinking all this, Eric found some nice, comfortable-looking clothes that would fit him well.
He wasn't even surprised by how excellent these clothes were. He even had a feeling that he might not be able to tear any of them with his full strength.
So, after putting on a white, comfortable half-pant and a same-colored shirt, he immediately put his thoughts into practice.
Let's tear other clothes apart!
With that, Eric grabbed a simple inner vest and tried tearing it apart.
Little by little, he put more and more strength into his arms.
After a while, even with his full strength, he really couldn't seem to tear a simple male garment!
Eric was devastated.
It seemed he had been defeated by an unknown male's inner vest.
"Riya, did I get weak, or haven't I fully healed yet?"
"You've completely healed within these two days, and your strength, speed, and everything else are back at their peak. Just give up on fighting these clothes. Clearly, they're made of some extremely durable fibers."
Eric gave up and was startled. "Riya, you mean it's been two days since I was unconscious? How many days has it been since I left Ringwood Town?"
Riya replied calmly, "Today is the seventh day, and judging by the sunlight coming from the door, I'd say it's currently afternoon."
Eric went silent.
He had already failed to keep his word by the fourth day…
Well, at least for now, he was still alive—and had some hope of returning in one piece, perhaps after another seven days.
Riya nodded. "Yeah, don't worry about Ringwood Town for now. Currently, it's a great opportunity. If you can satisfy both these Elves, then not only can you perhaps obtain a cure for you, Livy, and Lyria—but even for Grandma Bella. So be prepared to be a boy toy!"
Eric rolled his eyes. He knew Riya was just joking. He had his pride as a man, and—hopefully—these girls weren't that short either...
He would owe both these fair Elves a great favor for whatever help they could provide him at this moment—especially since he was still a mortal and a weakling.
He suddenly wondered if the lingerie-clad giant Elf aunty had actually just left to scout an enemy camp while wearing nothing but lingerie.
Was this a new level of shamelessness? Should he also consider mastering it?
While thinking all this, Eric walked out of the cave barefooted.