Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"Ahh, that's not good, then. General Zhang's plan will fail." I let out a long sigh.

"What do you mean his plan? He told me it was your plan to enslave the elves." Elena said as she placed her slender finger on her red lips.

"Wha-- That eel just can't keep a secret!" I grumbled.

She chuckled upon seeing my reaction, "don't worry, kid. He told me because we're a team, right? I'm sure he won't tell the headmaster."

"Well, that's just one of the problems. I didn't say to enslave the elves..."

"Oh? Then what did you mean?" She tilted her head.

"Um... I was thinking along the lines of, 'forced but mutually beneficial' relationship?" I scratched my cheek nervously as I averted my eyes to the right.

Elena immediately laughed in amusement, "I think you have this habit of speaking about something complicated and serious, but using a questionable choice of words. Just like what general Zhang told me."

"I didn't receive a formal education, okay? Give me a break." I sighed.

"Sure, sure," she hummed, "what did you mean by 'the plan will fail'?"

"If what you said is true, and I will struggle against just one elf, how can our soldiers handle an entire race?" I explained using my hands to emphasize the numbers.

"I'm not saying you'll struggle, but you might get injured and I won't be able to heal you here." She smiled.

"Yeah, my point still stands. You know I'm not weak. Even if we join forces with the orcs, we will just get wiped out."

"Don't worry. That scheming bastard has more powerful allies than you think. We'll be fine, if things take a turn for the worst, I'm sure that bastard will sort things out." She smiled without even a hint of panic, fear, or anxiety.

"You sure are very relaxed. Do you trust that sly eel that much?" I sighed as I plopped myself down on a beanbag chair that survived my fight earlier.

"I won't say trust, but it is what it is," she pulled a couch and sat herself across me, "it's just a fact that he's strong, too strong to be defeated by mere elves."

"But wasn't he defeated by someone in the serpent's lair?" I asked. I wanted to say Eli's name, but I wasn't sure if she knew him.

"I wonder," she said as she popped open a new bottle of beer, "things may not be as simple as you perceive them to be. And it's not my place to tell you anything about him yet."

I didn't reply and just stared at her as she chugged an entire bottle down in one gulp, as if that was water and she was a thirsty traveler who hadn't seen water for days.

No matter how hard I tried to wrap my head around it, I just couldn't find a reason why general Zhang would purposely lose after trying so hard to defeat that serpent. Wasn't he also the one suggesting us to hurry before Eli got the soul?

'BAM!'

The door was suddenly kicked open, and in came a certain white-haired eel with his trademark grin that was ever so annoying.

"Oi, oi, oi... I left you for 2 days and you're already gossiping about me? Tsk, tsk." He smirked at me while tilting his head slightly to his right.

"Ah, really... I just can't catch a break here, can I?" I sighed and turned my face away from him as I leaned back into my beanbag chair.

"I know you miss me so much, little cub. But you could've just told me instead of gossiping about me~" He said as he exaggerated his pout.

"Then let me tell you directly that I do not miss you." I turned towards him and gave him my widest smile.

"Hmm? What's that on your cheek?" He raised an eyebrow and stepped forward until he was directly in front of me.

"My cheek?" I questioned as I looked up towards him.

He didn't answer my question, and just extended his hand instead, cupping my left cheek with his palm. I flinched a bit in shock when I felt his smooth thumb gently brushed against my skin.

"Ow." I let out a small yelp when I suddenly felt sharp pain pricking my cheek.

"You have a cut." He said with a straight face.

"Oh, right. It's from a fake elf just now." I grinned, but he didn't grin back at me. Weird.

"Mhmm." He just nodded slightly and made a wiping motion with his thumb. After that, he brought his hand to his mouth and licked his blood-stained thumb.

"Ew. Don't drink blood. What are you, a vampire?" I frowned.

"Do you have a blood clotting disorder or something? Why is it still bleeding?" He frowned back.

"You opened the wound, you blockhead." I said as I stomped his feet in annoyance.

"Hmm, so the cut was pretty deep. You still got a lot to learn, little cub~" He teased me and hummed, but his grin wasn't back yet.

"I'm not in the mood to hear your bragging." I raised both of my hands and used them to cover my ears.

"And what's that?" He suddenly pointed at my right shoulder.

I peeked at where he pointed, and saw that the silky fabric Luke gave me was now stained red. It wasn't very visible before since that part was covered with my hair, which was now tucked behind my ears as I covered them with my hands.

"Take a guess." I sighed and turned my face to the right, not wanting to engage in another tongue war with him. Man, couldn't I just relax for one day?

"That's why you shouldn't let your guard down, ever. Even now," he grabbed the red fabric and slid it to the side, exposing my injured shoulder, "got it?"

He gripped my chin with his left hand and forced me to look at him while his right hand traced the outline of my wound ever so slowly. His gaze upon me was cold and sharp, but not dangerous nor intimidating. Sometimes he could be so childish I wondered if he got his soul swapped with a 5-year-old, but other times he could be so eerily unreadable, like right now.

"Hey, who said you can just pull my clothes like that!?" I retorted and fixed my robe as I pushed his hand away from my shoulder.

He released his grip from my chin and just stood there without saying a word.

"...Why did you come here?" I asked, trying to shift the topic.

"Ah, right~!" He clapped his hand together, and his beamed his usual grin again.

"The headmaster has approved 'my' plan," he smirked, "we leave in a week. Prepare yourself."