Noticing the playful, angry look on Legolas’s expression, Aldren couldn’t help but grin as he stepped forward before bowing respectfully to Austin.

"Sir Austin. I am truly pleased to see you alive and well again. Just like me, Legolas had been worried sick about how long it took you to fully recover." Aldren announced, and Legolas instantly glanced away so he and Austin wouldn’t make eye contact.

’What’s wrong with this crazy old elf?’ Legolas muttered in his thoughts.

He couldn’t believe what Aldren was openly admitting right now.

’Don’t you know that if you say that out loud, he’s only going to use it to tease me later.’

’Ugh....’

"Anyways," Aldren continued. "I wanted to thank you personally for the potion you gave me during the battle."

"Oh, there’s no need to thank me for that."

"I have to, Sir Austin. I have fought in many battles across many years, and I have never in all that time experienced anything like what that potion did for me."

"My mana core has been cracked for over two centuries. I had even accepted long ago that it would never fully recover. But after drinking your potion, I woke up the next morning feeling things I had not felt since I was young."

"You gave me back something I had grieved for a very long time, the feeling of aiming for a higher level to reach. So I want you to know that from this point forward, my sword and my loyalty are yours, for whatever that’s worth to you." Aldren announced as he bowed before Austin.

The room turned quiet for a moment, and Austin opened his mouth in surprise before closing it gently.

He could see how serious this was for Aldren, so he didn’t want to undermine the effort the dark elf commander had mustered to say those words.

Moreover, if an elf became loyal to anyone, it would be increasingly difficult for them to ever betray that person, so this truly meant a lot, seeing an elf become loyal to someone like him, a human.

"Thank you so much, Commander Aldren. That means a lot to me, truly."

Watching this, Legolas straightened up next to Aldren, then raised his hand gently.

"I would.... also like to... f-formally pledge my undying loyalty..... a-and eternal allegiance, a-and sworn brotherhood, t-to...."

Seeing how Legolas struggled to articulate his words, Austin decided to give him a hand, interrupting him mid-sentence.

"Legolas...?" Austin called.

"Yeah."

"Just stay quiet. Your undying loyalty isn’t going to spare you from working very hard for me. You’re stuck with me as my potion-making friend for life, and nothing is ever going to change that."

Legolas wanted to protest, but he soon realised what Austin had done, and the male elf couldn’t help but grin while rubbing the back of his head.

Soon after, everyone had a smile on their face, and it didn’t take long for them to all burst out laughing together.

Once the laughter settled, Aldren reached into his coat and brought out his item box, holding it out toward Austin.

"Sir Austin, the Countess asked me to give this to you."

"What’s inside?" Austin asked as he accepted the item box.

"It’s the large mana crystal from the goblin hideout. We mined it from the ceiling of the cave after the battle, and the Countess had it stored in there for you."

"She what?" Austin froze as he recalled exactly how large that crystal had been.

It was a blue, enormous mass of crystal that had glowed above the entire underground chamber.

"You mean the whole thing is in here right now?" He asked.

"Yeah, all of it." Aldren confirmed with a nod, and Austin turned the small item box over in his hands slowly.

"This has to be worth hundreds of gold coins, right?"

"Yeah, I heard it’s closer to several hundred gold coins, if sold to the right buyer."

"Whoa."

"The Countess wanted you to have it. Her words were that without your help, the extermination would not have succeeded, and without your potions, many of us would not have had our mana cores restored, and without whatever happened in that forest, the poisonous air would still be there. So she felt she had many reasons to thank you, and this was her way of doing so." Aldren explained, and Austin looked down at the little box for a long moment.

To think he could ever possess such a large amount of mana crystal at once.

With what was stored inside it, Austin was certain that if it were to be sold, he would have more than enough coin to build a really big workstation, along with a really big mansion as well.

Since he wasn’t against the idea of having more than one wife, Austin was certain the mansion would be large enough to house his future family.

It would be a massive leap toward accomplishing his goals in this world, and right now Austin couldn’t wait to see it happen, so he looked at Aldren and Legolas with a smile.

"Please tell the Countess I said thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Aldren bowed. "I will."

Legolas gave a small nod before saying. "We’ll leave you to your recovery now. Get well soon."

"I will. Thank you, my friend."

"We are not friends."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Austin smiled as he rolled his eyes while watching Aldren and Legolas leave the room.

The moment the two elves left, Austin simply stood there, taking a look at the item box in his hand before placing it inside his pocket, with a satisfied grin spreading across his face.

Then he slowly turned around and headed back upstairs toward his wife, eager to make her feel even more relaxed and satisfied.

And so, days passed, and now a carriage could be seen heading out of the mansion.

Within it, a beautiful and extremely stunning elven Countess sat next to an equally dazzling dragon lady.

Both ladies smiled as they watched the beautiful wolfkin hugging her husband, because to her, he was simply the most amazing man any woman could ever wish to have by her side.