The Survival of an Inferior

His workshop is behind a large mansion, probably where Veronica stays.

One would expect an anvil and a furnace inside a dwarf's workshop. But Kasfo's workshop is full of cabinets, weird antiques, and several tables full of foreign equipment. Many glasses of colourful liquids are scattered around the workshop.

"As you can see, if you are asking me to forge a weapon, I won't because I don't know how to. I'm an alchemist." Kashi says.

"I know. Getting to the point, I want to buy potions from you," I reply.

...

"Brat, are you looking down on me? I don't need your pity." Kasfo says.

Dwarves are usually blacksmiths. If they take on other occupations, prejudice will happen. Humans often think that dwarves are only good at blacksmithing, thus, almost nobody buys potions from Kasfo even after he sells them below the market price.

But no matter how much I refute his claim, he refuses to sell any to me.

I sigh and scratch my head. "Is there anything I can do to show my sincerity?" I ask.

...

Kasfo glares at me and walks out of his workshop. "Sure, save Chael," he says.

"What?"

A grin forms on his face. "What's wrong? Scared?" he says.

"No, I'm confused by your request, Chael has already been saved?" 

"No, you idiot! I want you to find out the reason why the monster wave even came and stop it. If you do that, I will sell you anything." says Kasfo.

...Clarify properly.

I sigh again. "Alright."

!!

Kasfo jolts at my sudden acceptance.

"Pfft...I bet you are thinking of running away."

"I'm not but I want a down payment," I say. "I will die if I go in my current state."

Kasfo frowns. "Fuck off. Do you think I don't know what kind of person you are?"

This bastard...

Damn it...

If it wasn't for his alchemist talent, I wouldn't even be entertaining him.

"Fine fine..." I say as I raise my hands.

I leave immediately and head for the mansion.

Veronica's servant told me that she was handling the aftermath of the situation. Meanwhile, I will have to wait in the guest room. 

After 30 minutes, a voice is heard.

"Why didn't you tell me about the young master!?" Veronica exclaims to the servant.

She arrives in the room, all sweaty and nervous. "I-I'm sorry for the wait. My servant did not inform me about you." 

"It's okay, I told her not to."

!

"S-So...what do you need me for?" Veronica asks as she sits opposite.

"I will go deeper into the forest to find the cause of the monster waves. Maybe even stop it. But I will need your help, do you have a high-level mage with you that knows how to use teleport magic and telepathy?" I say.

Veronica widens her eyes at my sudden request. "Uhm...we don't have anything to offer for your help." 

"I'm doing this for Kasfo."

...

Veronica nods. She goes out for while and comes back with a woman wearing blue robes. She is covered in soot, contrasting her white long hair, and two strands of braids are at both sides of her head. Together with her amber eyes, she reminds me of someone.

"This is Lena Grande. She is a high mage sent from the capital, I've described the situation to her." Says Veronica.

Lena steps out with her arms folded. "However, I don't trust you," she says.

This is getting annoying...

I sigh. "What can I even do to you? Besides, Radz will be following us." 

Her eyes light up. "R-Radz? The red-hair man?" Lena asks.

"Yes?"

She starts to blush. "Ahem...then maybe I will go."

...

After I informed Radz, we departed immediately.

==================================

"Young master...are we really at the right place?" Radz asks. 

All we can see is an endless horizon of mountains. 

"Yes. It's an illusion barrier."

I explained the situation to both Radz and Lena. Thus, we first need to find out why the elves decided to guide the monster wave to Chael. The first step is to travel to the elf kingdom.

Honestly, I've already come up with several hypotheses. The most prominent one is the elves siding with the demon lord. 

I hope that's not the case but-

--------------------------

One side mission has been created!

Find more information about the elf's weird behaviour.

Reward:???

Failure:???

--------------------------

!!!

Shit.

This is a bad sign...

Question marks for reward and failure...

Looks like things won't go as planned. 

I squeeze my eyes and frown grimly.

"Young master?" Radz says.

"Ah. Let's go. Follow me closely, it's easy to be lost in the illusion forest." I say. 

Stepping forward, my body disappears into a ripple of air.

?!!

Radz and Lena follow. 

They immediately find themselves in a foggy forest of flat land, no longer are there uneven terrain and mountains. 

"What-"

"Shh!!" I place my finger on my lips.

I gesture for both of them to follow me silently. 

"Hey, what's going on?" Lena uses telepathy to ask.

!!!

"Stop!" I exclaim.

"Huh?" 

"Elves are sensitive to mana fluctuations!" 

The sound of leaves rustling resonates from every direction. 

"Who are you?" a voice came from above. Several elves with their bows extended aim at us. 

"How many of you are there? How did you get past the illusion?" The male elf asks. 

I put up my hand and surrendered. "There's only the three of us, we were lucky to stumble across this area. We came here to consult the reason for a recent attack by an elf tamer. Herds after waves of beasts barraged the human city of Chael." I say.

The elves flinched at my reply.

So they do know something.

"We have nothing to say, leave!" The male elf says.

This is going nowhere. Let's go with plan B.

"Did something happen to the Life Tree? I may be able to help you." I say and bring out a black eerie mana stone. 

!!!

"UCK!?" The fog instantly dissipates and the elves start to suffocate in its presence.

"W-What is that?!" Radz exclaims.

"It's the soul stone of a high-ranking demon. If any demonic mana corrupts the Life Tree, I can remove it using this." I say.