"Sir, let me introduce myself first. I'm Andreas Lionheart."

"Lionheart?" Daniel muttered in surprise.

The boy named Andreas nodded, then pointed at the pink-haired girl and said,

"She is Liara Lionheart, and that boy is Kaisen Lionheart."

Daniel glanced at them. He had heard about the Lionhearts from Kayn, but honestly, he didn't know much about them.

Besides, he hadn't expected to run into even one of them—let alone three.

"I'm a descendant of the main branch of the Lionheart family, and those two are from the side branches. We have a tradition in the family: anyone who wants to compete for the position of heir has to prove themselves," Andreas began to explain.

"So proving yourself has something to do with this mountain?" Daniel reasoned aloud.

"That's right, sir. In fact, we came here to complete a request from the elves. If we succeed, they're willing to form an alliance with me and support me."

"I see. With the support of a race like the elves, your position in the family would definitely rise. But I'd really like to know what kind of request would make the elves go this far—and more importantly, something they can't do themselves," Daniel asked with curiosity.

The elven race and the dragonkin were both proud by nature, but the elves at least tried to hide it. The dragonkin didn't even bother.

That's why it was really interesting to Daniel to learn what the elves couldn't handle on their own—something they had to ask humans to do.

Andreas looked at Liara and Kaisen. On Liara's face, it was written clearly—don't tell a stranger anything.

Andreas sighed and glanced at Kaisen's face. He could tell by his expression that Kaisen was fine with sharing. Maybe it was best to tell this person.

He didn't want to reveal something this important to an outsider either, but there was no other choice. When he first heard about the request, he thought he could handle it alone.

But after coming to the mountain with Liara and Kaisen, he realized they didn't stand a chance. They hadn't even managed to deal with a few Undead.

"The truth is, we came here to find a treasure that's currently in the hands of the Dark Elves."

"Dark Elves? So you're after them," Daniel's eyes lit up in realization. One of the three races that lived in the outer layer of the mountain were the Dark Elves.

"That's right, sir. You might not know, but those Dark Elves are actually just a traitorous branch of the original Dark Elf race. They stole a treasure that was important to all elven kind and fled here after betraying the mountain. Our mission is to take that treasure back," Andreas explained.

Daniel frowned.

Why? Because what the boy was saying sounded incredibly stupid. According to what the skeletal skull had told him, the Dark Elves living in the outer layer, at best, had a leader who was just below B-rank.

How could such a weak creature steal a treasure valuable to the entire elven race? It was clearly impossible.

Unless stronger Dark Elves used to be among those traitors and had died off after centuries—but even that was hard to believe.

Normal elves lived for at least a thousand years. High-ranking Dark Elves probably lived three to five times longer.

There were only two possibilities: either Andreas was lying to him, or he had no idea about the truth himself.

"Why don't the elves come get the treasure back themselves?" Daniel asked. He had a few guesses why, but he just wanted to be sure.

"They can't. This mountain is located in the Central Plains. The elves' movements here are heavily restricted—especially if they try to send a high-ranking elf to retrieve the treasure. That would draw too much attention. If the rulers of the Central Plains learn about the treasure's existence, they'll never let it return to the elves," Andreas replied.

Daniel nodded. That was the most logical explanation he could think of too. But his instincts told him that wasn't all—there were probably deeper schemes involved.

"Interesting that you trusted me with something like this." Then he gave Andreas a closer look and added,

In truth, even though he thought the boy was a bit dumb, he clearly knew how to negotiate. He told Daniel all this to get him interested in the treasure.

Now Daniel was sure the boy was going to make him an offer to buy his help.

"Sir, if you help us retrieve the treasure, I'm willing to pay you a hundred gold bars," Andreas said, just like Daniel expected.

"That's not enough for me to take on a tribe of Dark Elves," Daniel rejected without hesitation.

A hundred gold bars? Tempting, sure. But thankfully, he wasn't in need of money at the moment.

"Then how about a rank A item? A defensive one," Andreas gritted his teeth. A hundred bars was a lot even for him, but he expected his offer to be turned down.

"Still not enough. We're talking about a tribe led by a half-step B-rank. It's risky," Daniel shrugged and refused again.

Andreas gave him a dumbfounded look. Just an hour ago, this man had wiped out a whole tribe of Undead led by a nearly B-rank monster. Now he was scared of another one?

"Along with that item, I can give you an invitation ticket to the Ten Thousand Treasures House auction," Andreas revealed his last card.

"Deal," Daniel accepted this time. He hadn't expected to get something as valuable as an invite to the Ten Thousand Treasures House.

The Ten Thousand Treasures House was the biggest auction host in all of the Celestial Domain. But they only invited extremely powerful and famous individuals.

If he got lucky, he might even be able to buy an S-rank sword there—if he had the money. Even though his situation was good, he doubted he could compete with the divine Climbers.

Andreas let out a sigh of relief. He had started to worry that he'd have to give up on this man's help.

Even though it cost him a lot, it was worth it. If he could get the elves' support, he'd have a massive advantage over the other heirs competing for the position.