they all had dinner at harry castle. while everything was cooked by bartoli, she already started to train her own chefs in the family. pretty soon, she would be able to draw herself out of the kitchen work.
the dwarves almost fainted ate all the good food and wine. actually, wizard cyril was the only one who remained conscious. still, because of how tipsy he got, he went back to rest pretty quickly.
the next morning, butler lindsay knocked on abel’s door.
“young master!” butler lindsey called for abel very anxiously. it wasn’t very common for him to do this.
“what’s wrong, lindsay?” abel quickly opened the door. it was surprising to see such shocked expressions on lindsay’s face. normally, it was very hard to get any sort of expression from him.
“there are fifteen elves outside the castle right now, young master! they want an audience with you. here, it’s something that they want to give you,” lindsay stated the business and handed a green leaf to abel.
when abel took the leaf over, he connected his power of will to it. then, he heard a voice that was moving towards his mind.
“greetings, grandmaster abel. this is lady carrie of the elven city of angstrom. i have come here on behalf of grand duke edwina and duke albert.”
strange. carrie had been very respectful to abel ever since they went on that quest together. she had never been this polite to him, though.
abel ordered lindsay, “i want you to welcome these elves in the most respectful way you can. remember to call uncle marshall to attend the welcoming ceremony.”
whatever these elves came for, there was a countess among them. as the representative of the humans, abel had to make sure that he was doing everything he could to show his respect.
“yes, master!” lindsay bowed, then quickly made his exit.
abel put on a nobleman’s robe. he quickly cleaned himself up in front of a mirror. after he checked everything in place, he hastily made his way out of his house.
when he went out, everyone in the castle was on their move. twenty of the elite warriors stood in the hall in their full sets of armor. lord marshall had been waiting for him in his golden bull armor and war horse.
abel was the last one to be on time. as it turned out, even without him sending the order out, the entire harry castle already prepared itself when the elves revealed themselves.
a horn blew out, and the castle gate was completely opened. abel rode black wind next to lord marshall. they were at the front, with twenty of the elite warriors following behind them.
the air was getting tense outside the castle. ten official knights and five hundred riders were in their battle position. apart from lady carrie, who was sitting on top of her trusted dire wolf, the other fourteen elven females she was with were all riding on top of white war horses.
it was fifteen against five hundred. still, lady carrie was calm the entire way. she didn’t even look at the squad of humans that were guarding her. she just stayed at her spot as she waited for the castle’s owner to come out.
“back to your camp!” abel called the five hundred riders back. it was wrong to treat a welcomed guest with such a high level of guard, but to be honest, he was very satisfied with the amount of vigilance these soldiers were displaying.
“with respect, lady carrie, the human abel welcomes your arrival,” abel said, then performed a nobleman’s bow to carrie.
“greetings, honorable grandmaster,” lady carrie returned the bow, “i, carrie, have brought fourteen of our angstrom city’s magic circle engineers to serve you.”
“thank you so much for that, lady carrie. please, this is lord marshall, my foster father,” abel said, then introduced lord marshall to her.
“greetings, lord marshall,” lady carrie said with a polite smile. lord marshall wasn’t quite sure how to respond, so he just promptly bowed back. he did know about how “well” abel was doing amongst the elves, but he’d never expected him to do so well to have elven royalties to come help him.
“please, lady carrie,” abel said, then made a gesture with his hand to welcome lady carrie inside his castle. soon, twenty of the elite warriors stood on either side to make a path for them to pass through.
“you have some good warriors with you, grandmaster abel,” lady carrie said as she scanned across the warriors, “what resourcefulness you are demonstrating! they are all equipped with magic weapons, aren’ they?”
abel said humbly, “i am but crafty with my hands, lady carrie.”
lady carrie didn’t like hearing that. if she already knew that abel was, what? a grandmaster blacksmith, she would’ve told him to make a few magic staves for her before he left the elves.
“so why are they here?” lady carrie pointed at the dwarves as soon as she saw them.
abel said with a smile, “they are from the goff family, lady carrie. that there is isiah. he’s responsible for all the architecture work.”
“oh?” lady carrie said with a sneer, “i think you’ve made a mistake there, grandmaster abel. why did you get the dwarves to help you? honestly, i don’t even think they know how to build things.”
isiah wanted to argue, but he knew better than to speak against a member of the elven royalties. abel, however, didn’t appreciate having his friends being insulted like this.
abel said as he looked at lady carrie in the eyes, “lady carrie, those are my fellow dwarven brethren. if you are going to keep that attitude, i’ll have to send my sincerest apologies to grand duke edwina. you know, because i’ll have to decline their offer to help me as a good friend of me and my family.”
“grandmaster, you…” lady carrie wanted to speak back, but she didn’t dare to offend abel any more. instead, she just turned her head and went on her way into the castle.
“let’s go in now! we’ll start work once we have breakfast.”
if this was the first time that abel had encountered the elves, lady carrie would’ve lost her temper already. still, abel was a different man now. he was the one who made the “beauty potion” for her, not to mention the number of times he’s helped angstrom city out. most importantly, he was the only grandmaster blacksmith in the holy continent.
when lady carrie left angstrom city, grand duke edwina repeatedly told her the importance of forming a good relationship with abel. he might be loraine’s future husband, but it was very important for angstrom city to tie its interests with him. “the most practical interests. political, financial and otherwise,” to put it more specifically.
isiah quickly came to abel after carrie went on her way, “i appreciate you speaking for us there, grandmaster, but you really don’t have to risk offending the elves for us back there. the elves might be proud, but the circles and ornaments they make are the best in the holy continent. we are the best in handling rough work. they are the best in handling delicate work. if you really want to be at the top of this land, you must learn to work with both of us.”
abel smiled and waved his hand, “it’s nothing! don’t worry about it. my ties with the elves are deeper than you think.”
since there were fifteen extra elves that came, bartoli and the other chefs became very busy again. the elves had a vegetarian-based diet. to meet that requirement, they started to make new dishes such as di san xian (stir-fried potatoes, eggplants, and capsicum), fish-spice eggplant, and assort vegetable stir-fry. these were all the recipes that bartoli learned in her spare time. once she finished training the chefs, she was going to send them to liante city to take over the restaurant business there.
out of an unwillingness to eat in the same area as the elves, the dwarves decided to eat at a different spot. it was a smaller spot than the public eating room.
wizard cyril appeared next to abel as he was bringing the dwarves to their food, “i’ve seen what you did there, grandmaster abel. it is no wonder master bernie likes you so much. thank you so much for speaking for us. you truly are a good friend of the goff family.”