I charged the bandits, or who I thought were bandits, their movements were more fluid, and they had very expensive looking weapons, very much not bandits. I threw my spear again, they tried to dodge, but I threw it faster than they could move, and thus had a new hole through their chest. I heard a clink, something bounced off my armor, I guess it was either a thrown blade or arrow, too bad this armor contained some of the last remaining adamantium, mithril, and orichalcum I know of that hasn't fallen into greedy noble hands. "You're going to have to try better than that." I wasn't worried, the armor had a self repair option that used my mana to repair it, a reason I don't have to find new sources of these extremely rare metals. 

I threw my spear again, I clipped two people. but even that was enough to rip their arms off. With the strength I was showing, it was enough to make these fighters wary of their next move. When I got my spear back, I threw it, not aiming at the ones coming for me, but rather the ones who were grouping up on the elven guards. I managed to skewer three more, turning the tides one again in the elves favor. One took this chance to try and charge me, likely to wound me, but I held my hand out and said, "Firebolt." A ball of fire and lighting shot into the man, shocking, then lighting him ablaze. Their shouts of sheer pain and agony left the others hesitant to fight me now, and I was glad my actions were pulling these enemies to me instead. The remaining men counted to twelve, they were all spread out now, my spear would be hard to use against such a spread out group.   

"I'm going to give each of you an out, surrender, and you won't be killed." I watched them eye each other, the elves had finished their fight, and I was mostly holding the other twelve's attention. When one tried to attack me, I nonchalantly threw the spear at the guy to kill him, eleven remained. "You're a thousand two hundred years too early to fight me, just drop your weapons, and maybe I'll let you live." Some of them were beginning to falter now, dropping one of their men like they were nothing seemed to drop their spirits. I was about to do something to bring them down, but vines quickly wrapped themselves around the attackers, and I heard a female voice speak up, "You dare to attack a princess?"

When I looked to her, someone who was the perfect definition of elegant was approaching with her guards, pure white hair which shined like the prettiest pearl, green eyes that radiated like an emerald, and a body that seemed like a masterful sculptor made it after years of delicate work. She spoke again, "Restrain these men and make sure we interrogate them on who sent them." Her men would say, "Yes, princess!" I would take a knee and kneel before her, "I kneel before the princess of the elves." I may never have seen her before, but now that I noticed the crest, I knew she was the descendent of the elven prince of my time.

"You aren't apart of these assassins?" She would ask me. I would shake my head, "No my lady, I have no affiliation to these assassins. I believed them to be bandits at first, but their weapons and proficiency told me otherwise." She would look to me, then say, "He's telling the truth, we may trust him." She would speak to her men before turning back to me, "Rise valiant adventurer." I would do so, she would say, "Would you mind if we hired you to assist in the defense of my carriage and transport of these assassins?" I would nod, "Of course, I wouldn't dare turn down such a request." 

Once the assassins were chained up, and means of suicide checked for and removed, I had them chained up to the back of the carriage in no time. The princess would say, "Ride with me in the carriage, I'd like to speak with you, and I see you don't have a horse. It would make everything much easier for all of us." I would nod, "As you wish my lady." I boarded the carriage and we soon set off, soon back on the main path. She would look through my helmet to stare me in the eyes, "So, who are you?" I would shake my head, "I'm not one you should get to know my lady. Many have labeled me crazy for my many claims, I would rather your future not be harmed because of myself." 

I watched her raise a brow, "You don't seem crazy, in fact, you seem rather normal for an adventurer." I would shake my head, "It's not something I speak about anymore, but stories still spread, and it follows me to this day." She would sigh, "I'll be the judge of that. However, I might as well introduce myself, I am Eleanor Amaryllis, Princess to the Elven Nation of Yggdrasil. Might I ask your name?" Now, I believe I knew where the name arrived from, a human helped make the nation of the elves, a major game nerd, so they ended up naming the nation Yggdrasil from the stories he ended up telling them about from mythology, books, and games he ended up reading or playing. In a sense, like a type of thanks for helping them in the past. 

"I don't remember much of my past, but my name is Grey, nice to meet you Princess Eleanor." I would do a small bow in my seat, she would seem to be intrigued. She thought for a moment, then said, "Grey, do you know my grandfather, Odin Amaryllis?" If I remembered correctly, Odin was the prince of my time, he was approaching my actual age, roughly 1,272 years old, a new record for elven age. I would shake my head, "My lady, I'm but a mere human, and I've never been to the elven kingdom in the recent decade, I wouldn't know your grandfather, my apologies if this wasn't the answer you expected." She would shake her head, "No, it's fine. I just remember a story my grandfather told me, I guess I just hoped it was true." 

After this, she held a more normal conversation with me, destination, goals, future plans and the like. I assume it was so she could learn more about me, but I did end up telling her these things, she would say, "If you're heading to the capital of the Stella Empire, how about joining us until then? We'd appreciate the support from such a strong adventurer such as yourself." I would think, but eventually nod, "I don't see any issues with this my lady, I will join you on the trip." She seemed to smile, "Then it's official. Don't try to back out of it now." I would shake my head, "I'd never dream of it princess." 

This began our joint trip to the capital, I was being paid, the princess wouldn't let me go unpaid, and with my presence, we managed to get through these next two weeks uneventfully. We got a proper carriage at a town to load the assassins into, this way we didn't have to move at their walking speed. Every so often, Princess Eleanor tried to peer into my personal life, but I kept giving her the run around so she didn't dig too deep. But aside that, I spoke with her guards and began to establish something akin to comradery. We weren't friends, we knew too little to do that, but we were sort of like brothers in arms in a way.

When we got to the capital, I smiled from within my armor, "It's been a few years since I came here, glad to see nothing changed." This was true, I had left around seven years ago on a trip to investigate the land of the demons, it was part of the reason I was on my return trip. Princess Eleanor would ask, "What's your favorite part of the capital?" I would say, "The center, where the statue of the first king of the Stella Empire stands. I used to sit there and watch people mill around peacefully, the peace of it all made me feel better for a while." She would gain a smug look, "Surprising you're such an emotionalist Mr. Grey." I would shrug, "It's what I like." 

I rode with her to the castle, the attempted assassins would be taken to the dungeon for interrogation and likely execution, Regicide is taken seriously here. I spoke to one of the royal guards of the castle about the event, giving my opinion on the whole attempted murder of the Elven Princess. But I mentioned I needed no reward and left the castle before she could meet with me again, mostly because I was embarrassed to see Odin again. I told him last summoning, roughly five hundred years ago, I was going to break my restrictions, and I'm still here half a millennia later. I didn't want him to see me, I didn't want him to pity me, I won't let him see me until the day the heroes are here arrives. 

Once I was out of the castle, I removed my armor and spear back to my inventory, this way I looked like a normal person amongst the crowd of citizens. Once I did that, I just walked around the capital, seeing what little may have changed in seven years. I walked around, browsed the stores, doing what I used to do with my friends... before I chose to stop having any due to how the passage of time will remove them from my life. I took to a spot that overlooked the center of the capital, the statue of the first king of the Stella empire. I looked to both my sides, completely empty of my friends, "I miss you guys." 

A voice spoke up, "I know that white hair anywhere. Hello Grey." It was older, but I knew who it was, I looked down, "Hello Odin... I didn't want you to see me like this." I heard walking, and I felt a hand to my shoulder, I looked over, and gray hair and dark green eyes met me. He was way older than he was five hundred years ago, but here I was, still the same. He pulled me to his chest in a hug, "It's good to see you again, and I'm sorry we had to meet again." I responded, "I wish I could say the same, I couldn't keep my promise, and I didn't want you to see me like this." 

Odin would respond, "I know, I'm not upset." He would release the hug, then sit to my left, "I heard you rescued my granddaughter, and I thank you for that... I assume you heard the rumors about the hero summoning correct?" I would nod, "I have an oath, to help as many heroes as I can before I find out my restriction. I owe it to my friends, those who I couldn't join in death." Odin would speak again, "I heard you tried to get people to believe you, it didn't work." I would nod, "I guess fading into obscurity after all I did was getting to me, and I didn't want to find you because it would show I couldn't hold my promise."

I felt a smack on my head, "Hey! What was that for!?" Odin would look to me and say, "I'm not upset you couldn't keep your promise, I'm upset you didn't come to me for advice or even to see me again. We've been friends for over twelve hundred years, I'd rather see you than wonder if you died somewhere." I would sigh, "Maybe I should've... wait, how did you know I was here?" Something I completely forgot was how he found me, I mean, I was sure I kind of covered my tracks. Odin would say, "When someone describes old, extremely rare metal covered, special weapon using, individuals, I sort of knew it was you. Besides, your magic is very unique, more refined than most, I could track you anywhere." 

I realized how unique I was, period, "Never mind then, I guess I'm more out there than I thought." I responded. Odin would chuckle, then say, "Come on, I want you to officially meet my family. You saw my son before when he was a baby, but he only knows of you through my stories, just like my Granddaughter." I would cringe a little, "That's embarrassing, those weren't my best days to say the least." Odin would chuckle, "I know, I know, that's why I want to clear the room with them, have them meet the real you." I would smile, "Sure, I'll meet your children. They better respect their elders though." Odin would burst out laughing, someone that looks as young as him is as old as he is, this would make for a funny meeting.