The elf took a slight look inside the house over Yuki’s shoulder and what he saw was the following:

Mark sitting on the edge of the bed with his sleeping clothes half on. Zilu on the bed behind him with red cheeks and moist eyes. Ely, Aria, Alice, and Rose around the bed staring at them intently.

"Oh... Am I interrupting something?"

Yuki took a step to the side, blocking the view inside the house with her body while taking the wooden tray from the elf’s hands with a quick motion.

"The Master is handling some matters at the moment," said Yuki in her usual calm tone. "So I would appreciate it if you could come back later."

"Of course, of course," said the elf with a smile. "There’s no problem at all. Take all the time you need."

He paused for a moment.

"But if you would be so kind as to tell him... your husband?" said the elf with a cautious tone. "That I would like to speak with him when he’s free, I would be very grateful."

"Don’t worry about it, I’ll tell him," responded Yuki dryly.

"Excellent, I’ll be in the central square, with your permission," he said with a smile.

And with that the elf limped away slightly.

Yuki watched him go and closed the door, then walked to a small table against the wall, placing the tray the elf had brought on it.

Mark, who had heard the entire conversation from the bed, looked at Zilu, who was still sitting against the wall with her legs drawn up and her ears drooped.

"Zilu..." said Mark in a calm tone. "Do you really think I’m capable of doing something like that to your village?"

Zilu looked at him in silence for a couple of seconds.

"I want to believe you’re not..." she answered in a low voice.

Mark let out a long sigh and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

"This whole thing took me by surprise too," Mark confessed, rubbing his eyes with a hand. "When I opened that screen, I didn’t expect to see something like this."

"Why would someone ask you to do something so terrible?" she asked in a voice that no longer trembled but still sounded fragile.

"I don’t know..." he lied.

Because the truth was that he did have a pretty clear idea of who was behind this, but explaining to Zilu at that moment that there was an entity with a god complex who was fucking him over wasn’t going to help calm the situation.

Mark brought a hand to his head as he felt the headache pulsing at his temples again, and Ely, who was standing at his side observing the conversation in silence, noticed the gesture immediately.

"Master," she said, approaching and positioning herself at his side. "You should eat a little of what they brought you. You still need to recover your strength."

"You’re right," he said, nodding.

Then Alice, without anyone asking her, walked to the table where Yuki had left the tray, lifted it with the whole tray on top with one hand, and brought it to the edge of the bed, placing it in front of Mark like a portable table.

"Here you are, my lord."

"Thank you very much, Alice."

Mark took the spoon and began to eat.

The bowl had a thick vegetable soup with chunks of meat he didn’t recognize but that tasted pretty good. The bread was a bit hard, but after a week without eating anything it seemed like the best thing he had ever tasted in his life.

With that, the others went searching for chairs around the house and seated themselves around the table. Rose was the last to sit down, taking a chair and placing it on the other side of the table with her legs crossed.

Mark had barely been eating for a few minutes when Rose spoke.

"Master, assuming the first option is completely off the table..." she said in a direct tone. "How do you plan to unify the entire south of the continent?"

Mark looked at her without stopping chewing.

"Rose, let the Master eat in peace," Aria intervened, frowning.

"It’s a valid question," Rose answered without looking at her. "I don’t think the Master will just do nothing about it."

"Well, you can wait until he finishes eating to ask him!"

"Aria," said Mark, swallowing a piece of bread. "Don’t bother with Rose. She’s right."

Aria fell silent but her expression made it clear she disagreed.

Mark had a couple more spoonfuls of soup before speaking.

"For now I can’t think of anything," he admitted, setting the spoon down on the bowl.

"Nothing?" Rose repeated, surprised.

"Nothing" Mark confirmed. "But that’s what I have you all for."

They all looked at him.

"Us?" asked Ely with disbelief.

"Together we should be able to find a way to accomplish the objective," said Mark, looking at each one of them. "I alone won’t be able to do this, that’s a fact, but if we think together maybe we can find the way."

The room fell silent for a moment, until Ely spoke.

"If that’s what the Master desires, then I won’t disappoint you," she said with a serious and firm expression.

"I agree with Ely," continued Aria, nodding. "Whatever the Master needs, we’ll be there."

"You can count on me, my lord," added Alice with a small bow of her head.

"I feel the same," said Yuki.

Zilu simply remained silent while watching the scene and then they all looked at Rose.

"...I’ll try to think something," she said in a less than enthusiastic tone.

"Thank you," said Mark, smiling. "All of you."

"Zilu, could you pass me the map?" asked Ely turned to Zilu.

Zilu, who had been listening to the entire conversation in silence from the edge of the bed, blinked a couple of times as if she had just come out of a trance.

"T-the map? Ah, yes, of course..."

Then Zilu stood up and went to a corner of the room where the rolled parchment Sarah had given them was. She took it and handed it to Ely.

Ely stretched it out over the table and unrolled it completely.

Sarah’s map took up almost the entire surface of the table. The hand-drawn lines showed the Great Forest, the plains of the south, several towns and settlements marked with dots, routes marked with arrows, and the notes Sarah had added by hand in the margins.

"It would be best to first see how the territory is composed," said Ely, studying the map with her eyes. "If we’re going to plan something, we need to know where the main cities are, what races live in each zone, and where we should start."

Alice leaned over the table to get a closer look at the map and Aria stretched from her chair to try to see something.

Mark finished eating what was left in the bowl and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then stood up.

"Where are you going, Master?" asked Zilu, watching him.

"To see what the elf wants," responded Mark, walking toward the door. "I’ll be back soon."

He was opening the door when suddenly Rose stood up.

"Master, do you mind if I accompany you?" she asked, walking toward him. "There’s something I would like to talk to you about... alone."

"No problem," responded Mark, opening the door and gesturing with his hand for her to follow him.

"Thank you, Master."

And with that, both of them left the house and headed toward where the village chief was waiting.