None of these elves had particularly serious injuries. After all, they had the advantage in equipment, along with the rangers suppressing the enemy from a distance. The trolls had never managed to pin them down in close combat, so despite being outnumbered, the elves had not suffered a severe blow.
Many of their injuries did not require Aaron to use the Holy Light at all, though some elves did need him to throw a burst of Holy Light their way. What Aaron had not expected was that the most seriously injured among them was the female elf who had never even fought during the battle.
The female elf's robe was somewhat tattered, and she showed signs of having been bandaged. Aaron casually tossed her a ball of Holy Light and asked, "Are you all right?"
The female elf nodded and gave Aaron a grateful smile. She told him that she was the priest accompanying this escort party, but her lack of experience had allowed several ambushing trolls to catch her off guard. Not only had she exhausted her Holy Light, but her injuries had also made her a burden on the party, causing the escort to suffer more attacks and even delaying their arrival.
"A priest is supposed to be protected by the whole party. You don't need to blame yourself so much." Seeing the guilt and self-reproach on her face, Aaron offered a few casual words of comfort.
The real world was not a game, after all. There was no such thing as aggro. Enemies would not stupidly fight to the death against obviously well-protected shield warriors or paladins while leaving the damage dealers free to attack at will.
If the frontline tanks wanted to protect the damage dealers and supports in the back, they could only take the hits themselves. Characters who lacked offensive options, had weak defenses, and moved slowly, yet provided tremendous help to the rest of the party, were clearly more likely to be targeted.
"In the end, it was because I lacked experience." The female elf shook her head, but she did not remain sunk in her negative feelings. Forcing a smile, she said, "I definitely won't make that mistake next time."
"Good, good. That's the spirit. Keep at it." Seeing that the elf was all right, Aaron stood and stretched his arms and legs, then casually picked up the shield a badly injured elven warrior had dropped earlier and examined it closely. This was his first time handling a shield native to this world, and he wanted to compare it with the one he usually used.
The predominantly red shield was shaped like a slightly distorted S, with a gold-painted rim around its edges and the phoenix emblem of Quel'Thalas decorating its face. The grip on the back was made from some kind of sturdy wood, its surface carved with intricate patterns that probably helped prevent slipping as well as serving as decoration.
Aaron hefted the shield and found that, although it was large enough to protect his whole body, it was not particularly heavy. He reached out and tapped its surface, producing a clear, ringing vibration that suggested the material it was made from was some sort of metal.
Hearing the sound, Aaron nodded with affected solemnity. "Sounds nice. It's a good shield."
"Pfft-" Several injured elves who had been watching Aaron since earlier could not keep smiles off their faces, while the female elf actually laughed aloud.
Aaron flushed and forced himself to act as though he was not embarrassed at all. He walked a little farther away, raised the shield in a defensive stance, and considered what would be different if he used it in battle.
Aaron reckoned that the shield would probably offer excellent protection, given its considerable size. But if he wanted to throw it at an enemy, its enormous dimensions would prove troublesome. With arms the length of Yalu's, it would be very awkward to throw.
"Excuse me... are you a paladin?" Just as Aaron was considering testing the shield's protection with his longsword, the female elf approached and stood beside him, leaning on her staff as she asked.
Aaron casually cast another burst of Holy Light on her, then drew his longsword and demonstrated one of the paladins' signature skills-Consecration. As Aaron stepped forward, the Holy Light flowed into the soil beneath his feet, spreading several golden cracks across the ground, with Holy Light continuously surging out of them.
After confirming Aaron's identity, however, the female elf's expression grew complicated.
According to her, the blood elves' Church of the Holy Light had a history no shorter than its human counterpart. But the elves' long lifespans meant that the conservatives in their church far outnumbered those among the humans.
During the earlier siege of Quel'Thalas, the elves had witnessed the power of the newly emerged paladins. Yet even though the younger generation in their church had proposed learning this new class from the humans several times, the old fellows who held power simply refused to agree.
"If I could become a paladin, I probably wouldn't have been a burden to everyone else today," the female elf concluded.
Aaron glanced at her, wanting to say that the high elves would definitely have their own paladin force in the future, but he had no idea where to begin. Was he supposed to tell her how those future paladins would imprison a being of Holy Light, a naaru, and forcibly plunder its Holy Light? Aaron felt that if he said that aloud, one of the two of them would have to die on the spot today.
"Then... would you like to... never mind. It's nothing." Aaron had just been about to ask whether she wanted to learn to be a paladin from him when he suddenly remembered that the source of his own Holy Light was unknown, and he had no idea how to teach anyone either. He could only stop himself.
As far as Aaron knew, although paladins and priests shared the same roots, the two classes used the Holy Light differently. A priest could not become a paladin simply by learning a little close combat. At most, that would make them a priest skilled in melee fighting.
Halfway through Aaron's words, a look of delighted surprise had appeared on the female elf's face. Once he finished, her eyes dimmed again.
"So humans are wary of elves too, after all?" the female elf muttered. Aaron, however, had been paying attention elsewhere and did not hear her clearly. He simply continued fiddling with the shield while watching the direction in which the rangers had given chase.
The rangers soon returned. Judging by the blood spattered across them, they had probably made quite a few kills. But the elves apparently had no tradition of counting kills by trophies, and none of them brought back any troll heads.
Once these rangers returned, they took the wounded with them and continued toward Quel'Lithien.
"Aaron, let me tell you, that was my first time fighting trolls." Vereesa spoke to Aaron with excitement written all over her face. This new ranger had only recently completed her training, during which her targets had been limited to creatures such as the lynxes and grizzly bears roaming Eversong Woods. When they had escorted Rhonin earlier, Aaron had been the one to deal with the trolls. For Vereesa, this had been her first real encounter with them.
"How did it feel?" Aaron asked, following her lead.
Vereesa thought it over carefully and told Aaron that it had not felt much different from killing orcs in Khaz Modan. She had simply felt a greater sense of accomplishment while pursuing these age-old enemies. After all, she had grown up hearing about her ancestors' glorious exploits fighting trolls.
"Oh, is that Liadrin?" Vereesa, who had been talking nonstop to Aaron about her achievements during the pursuit of the trolls, suddenly paused, then ran toward the female elf walking ahead. From the sound of it, they knew each other.
"Wait, Liadrin?" Aaron watched the two female elves chatting and laughing after their long separation, and only after quite a while did it register. He had never expected this priest to be Countess Liadrin, the future leader of the blood elves' paladins.
A jumble of introductions followed, and only then did Aaron learn that Liadrin was a military priest stationed at Farstriders' Camp. That was also why Vereesa knew her so well, and the two were on fairly good terms.
According to Liadrin, the Farstriders had just launched a surprise attack against the trolls and achieved considerable results. However, they had subsequently paid a heavy price as well, and an enraged Lor'themar was planning revenge against those trolls.