Alustriel, who had already traveled a long way alone, suddenly stopped in the darkness of the night.
"Come out," Alustriel said.
"What's the point of hiding? Are you really too ashamed to show your face?" Alustriel said with a smile.
As soon as Alustriel finished speaking, someone stepped out from behind the trees ahead.
"So I was discovered. I thought you were just an ordinary little elf girl. To notice my presence, you must not be so ordinary yourself," said the man who had emerged.
Alustriel found the man's appearance strange. His face was very long, and he wore an oversized black formal suit.
"It wasn't just your presence I noticed. It would be more accurate to say I noticed all of you," Alustriel said.
"Do the other three not intend to come out? Or do I need to invite you before you will?" Alustriel said.
Three more people emerged from behind three different trees.
Alustriel looked at them. They all had long faces, and all of them were dressed in the same sort of formal attire.
"Are you going to some kind of banquet?" Alustriel asked as she looked at them. "Why are you all dressed like this? It doesn't look like there's any banquet nearby."
"You smell so good," the long-faced man said to Alustriel. "Your scent is truly mouthwatering. I smelled it from several hundred meters away."
"I don't smell like anything today," Alustriel said with a smile. "I didn't put on any perfume before going out."
"It isn't safe for a little girl to be out alone this late at night," the man said. "Especially in a place this far from any village or town."
"I'll return those exact words to you. Elzeran Continent is a world of gender equality now, so people like you can