"Hey—ho! Hey—ho! Hey—ho!"
Annan was still watching the strange procession disappear behind the treetops when sharp chants rang out from the far end of the road.
There's more?
He looked toward the sound and saw dozens of giant rats carrying a heavy wooden platform toward him.
Chanting in time, they followed two columns of Grayfur Rat Priests to the junction.
Through the curtains hanging around the platform, he could make out an enormous rat lying on it, as big as a mountain of flesh. Gold ornaments covered its body and protruded through the fabric.
Annan stared, more baffled than ever.
"What's going on? Why did the Elven Royal Court invite even the Ratfolk...?"
"The Elven Celebration has never invited those filthy creatures before," Eliana said beside him. Compared to the Ratfolk, Annan looked far more tolerable to her.
"I don't think this is a good thing... You're changing too quickly. Radical change can tear your people apart... Huh? Eliana?"
A few minutes later, Annan was dragged back to the training cabin.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he protested loudly. "I'm the Lord of Free City, a future ally of the Elven Royal Court, and a friend of an Elf Elder. You don't have even a little respect for me!"
Eliana left without a word. She did not even shut the door.
Thinking back over what he had seen, Annan closed it himself, returned to the vine bed, and began his daily Meditation.
Aldo Forest had a different kind of beauty at night.
Cool moonlight filtered into the depths of the forest, faintly outlining a figure in the treetops near the training cabin.
Even a human who had just arrived could see it. How could Eliana, the other Elves, and the Elders not?
Someone in the Elven Royal