Only partially.

Before I could finish considering my decision, Grutrod made a swift defense of his own. "The lad is in no condition teh fight at the minute." There was a slight sorrow to his words, which I knew the reason for. However, it would very well serve to fool those listening into thinking Oliver was injured, which was a story I would prefer told over the truth in the current moment.

Karen scoffed, however before she could speak Millana addressed the three adventurers. "You are Silvia and Natalia, correct?" There was a distance to her words, showing she was still slowly processing the great quantity of world-shattering events she had been **** through in a very short time. Regardless, her tone was still quite firm, and suggested she was already certain of her answer.

It seems this was at last enough to break my hold on Silvia's attention, though that did nothing to change her mood. She looked over to Millana, still glaring as she spoke in an angered tone. "Why does it matter?" The words were spat with a venom that shocked just about everyone present, including myself. Then, I remembered that no matter how much she hated me, it had been the Normns who took Oliver's arm in her eyes, meaning I may not be the worst here.

To Millana's credit, she moved past Silvia's hostility very quickly. "Mathew stated that you made a discovery yesterday morning that pertains to the present situation. Is this true?" A slight amount of passion was returning to her voice as she slowly moved past her shock.

Grutrod was the one to respond, letting out a large groan. "Eh, don' tell meh we 'ave teh fight another of them retched things." He shivered under his heavy armor, "The last one left me enough nightmares." Smirking to myself, I couldn't help but think, 'No, my newer creation is a whole other ballgame. Perhaps you'll be seeing those as pleasant when it is done.' I was somewhat surprised by the sadism in the thought, but it wasn't anything entirely new.

With a grimace, Lana was the next one to ask the adventurers a question. "Would that be why your fourth is missing then? Were they injured by the abomination?" There was a sense of sympathy in her question as she subconsciously rubbed her left upper-arm with her right hand, perhaps reliving her own battle with Dread.

Before the adventurers could respond to say otherwise, I decided to take the opening I had been given to shift the conversation away from something that could harm me. "I do believe he is absent because of what occurred yesterday." I nodded towards Lana as I spoke, acting as if I was giving a positive answer to her question despite the fact I technically was not.

As I looked towards the three adventurers, I could tell they all fully knew what I meant when I said "what occurred yesterday". Natalia pressed her lips together forcefully, seemingly stopping herself from saying anything. Grutrod had a solemn look, casting his gaze slightly downwards and shaking his head. Lastly Silvia gave me a side-eyed glare, slightly less obvious than her previous one.

Lana looked downwards in a slightly withdrawn demeanor as she responded, "Ah, my deepest condolences. I hope they are alright in the end."

Silvia's glare was given fire as she spoke with a clenched jaw, "I do as well."

Not reading the room as per usual, Karen decided to speak up again. "Well, regardless of your failure to all show up, the blessings of the light should bring us a swift and undeniable victory against this wretched thing." No one seemed encouraged by her words in the least, and they earned her and angry look from just about everyone present.

A quite awkward silence followed, all of us waiting for someone to kick it off. Not feeling like taking charge myself for once, I waited for a few moments before it became clear that nobody was eager to take the roll. "*Ahem*, madame Karen, do you know perhaps where we should begin looking? It did not seem like there were any major clues towards its presence."

Scoffing was Karen's reply as she rolled her eyes, "That just shows how much you lack a true education." She turned to me with a victorious smirk before gesturing to Silvia, "Why do you think I hired an elf?" Silvia cringed slightly as she spoke, Grutrod & Natalia tensing up slightly. In response I simply stared at her blankly, not understanding at all what that meant. With another scoff and eye roll, Karen sought fit to try and lecture me. "Elves can contact forest spirits, that way they can just tell us where the beast is."

Silence returned to the group, with a surprising number of very different reactions from around me. Isabell was shaking her head slowly disapprovingly beside Millana, Silvia was not moving an inch while seemingly in deep thought, Natalia seemed to keep starting to talk and then stopping, and Grutrod was taking deep breaths through his nose. On the other hand, the generic guards around me all seemed to be nodding in agreement, which I did not take as a good sign for Karen's argument. Millana and Lana both looked like they were doing everything in their power not to facepalm, which I suppose would be due to Norman teaching them more of Elves if they lived nearby.

Entirely missing this public disagreement, Karen waved her hand in an ushering motion towards Silvia. "Well, come on then, get on with it." Silvia did not, in fact, 'get on with it', and instead stood there seemingly grinding her teeth.

Looking back and forth from everyone around, Silvia, and Karen, I felt I had enough social queues to speak on something. "Excuse me, madame Karen." She turned to me, annoyed and glaring. "I admit I am grossly uneducated in elven culture, however I seem to be getting signals from those around us who are that perhaps you may not be fully correct." For once I was actually doing my all to be non-confrontational in this moment, though I had no doubts that Karen would oppose me anyway. The important part was that I was making it clear I was making no assumptions, and I would not intentionally damage my relationship with Silvia further.

Before anyone could speak, everyone was surprised when Silvia responded to me. She still spoke with anger, but it was far less, as well as far less directed at me. "No, it's fine, I'll do it." Grutrod and Natalia looked concerned, but I myself was quite intrigued to see what exactly was about to occur.