บท 31: Elf King
Chapter Thirty-One: Dentō to Taiō
His journey so far had lasted some three months and a couple of weeks, and as he had gone with only one rest, he was beginning to tire again, so he could forgive himself for not being… entirely cordial when he was met with a rude- if understandable- response by the elves of the Alf Forest. The forest itself was well-hidden, and a secret to most outside of those born there, and any who may have informed outsiders.
Luckily for himself, he was such an outsider who had been informed by Riveria of the forest's location; it was her former home and birthplace, after all. All of those called high elves were born there, with the royals being revered at the same level as deities- or even more so- among elves. This secrecy and reverence went hand in hand with the traditions of the elves; another such quality was a high distrust of outsiders. This would be especially pronounced if the outsider were to show up to their secretive homeland, and unannounced to boot.
This is exactly what he had done, in his haste.
The hostile reaction he received was predictable, of course, but he weathered it after initially snapping at them for attacking him outright with magic before cursing him from the backs of their horses when it wasn't effective at all. Magic without a falna was impressive, but not powerful in comparison to those that did have one, after all.
They quickly accepted that he was much more powerful than they could handle, but was still attempting to maintain decorum; their leader seemed to appreciate this, if nothing else, and ordered the group to bring him along to the settlement proper. Knowing he was in their home, seeking their help, he did and went as he was told, and resigned himself to being as patient as was required to see this through.
At the time, on the 66th floor of the Dungeon, the group bolstered by allies from the Far East had finally seen success against the monster Rex, and Finn had landed the first killing blow; a cheer went up from him, Gareth, and Oda, as they all slumped in exhaustion.
"'Level 9 threat my ass'" Ottar grumbled, "How did he figure that? Gotta be at least high level 9, bordering above"
"Well, you wouldn't think it looking at the thing" Musashi said lowly, "It looks like a bug reformed to appear as a disfigured person. Actually, it seems better to say a humanoid ant"
"Take a good look" Finn said, twirling his spear, "Each of us needs to kill this by the time Haroeris returns, and better by the time the others on the 50th floor complete their task; let's rest for now, then check to see when it spawns again"
Progress continued to be good for them all, once the leading group got started with hitting their goals. Hestia Familia were mapping on the 35th floor, and the group on the 50th floor had all hit at least their halfway mark; Aedan though, had to now wait what would be another month before being granted an audience with the royal family, after resting with the time he had been forced to take. Thankfully, after explaining himself, he would at least get an audience in the first place, a stroke of luck.
Time passed quickly, as it always did for him; a side effect of his great age, he mused. Still it seemed to be… longer than it was, so when the date arrived, he was energized and level-headed to meet the occasion. Long since having memorized the proper manners, he followed the honor guard and was announced before the royal family, and marched in before walking to a space indicated with the pattern in the floor; there, he took a knee, bowing to be addressed and return his plea to the family.
"You are an adventurer from Orario, title Haroeris, named Aedan ail DonhUid; you come seeking aid in the remaining Grand Quest to slay the One-Eyed Black Dragon. Is that all correct?"
"It is so, King Larfal" he said with head still bowed, refraining from using the surname or clan name of the elven king. The king himself took the audience along with his wife, Aelfwyn, and some others he had glimpsed but had not been introduced.
"This is troubling; we are aware, of course, of the danger posed by the monster. Our ancestors helped to aid the Sword Hero against its blight" Larfal sighed, bowing his own head, "So while it brings me pride to know you seek our aid, we do not have the strength to lend. We do not allow gods into our forest to live, so we have no falna, and no means by which to match the strength of those who do. It pains me to admit it, but we yet only have our solitude, and to be clear, we mean to keep it if nothing else, even should the Dragon be victorious in the end"
"If I may, King Larfal?"
"Yes, please rise and speak your fill"
"Thank you" he stood in a moment, taking another to look around the room into the eyes of each person present, "I know it is asking much, yet I have no choice but to ask regardless. Should we fail in our mission, the Dragon will subjugate the world, and not a grain of dirt nor leaf will escape its dominion" muttering started up, but he continued, "I know that your people have aided in the fight against it before; Celdia the queen of old, as well as recent elves who were part of the attempt made by Zeus and Hera Familia to bring the Dragon down. I know that it is beyond my asking that you aid our cause directly in fighting; instead, I ask for something still great: first is permission to commune with the spirits in the holy forests of the elves, and second is to take a single branch of the first holy tree back with me to Orario" he had barely finished before he was being shouted down, arguments broken out over his- admittedly- steep requests.
"Silence!" at the King's command, it was done, "Can you tell me what these will do to aid you if granted?"
'At least he's entertaining the thought, or humoring me…'
"Of course; I believe that my allies and I have rediscovered the manner to enter into Bonds with Spirits, and seek to put that to the test. The effect of doing so with someone who already has a falna could be catastrophic, or it could make for a powerful force to put against the fell beast. The branch is special though; one of my allies is powerful enough to aid us, but is also afflicted by an inherited decay that prevents her from battling at her full strength. The branch is a necessary part of crafting a curing potion for her to remove the ailment permanently" he finished, bowing again, and waited.
As the silence stretched on, he held himself back; they weren't even speaking among themselves.
Finally, a single clap rang out, "Leave us!" Larfal ordered. Without hesitation, the room was emptied save for the two of them and the queen. Standing at his throne, Larfal looked down to Aedan, "I understand your request; if a manner of spirit bonding has been rediscovered, then the easiest way of contacting spirits would be through elven forests, and the properties of the holy trees are well-known even to other races, so I am not surprised by your requests and reasoning. You will have them on one condition"
"Yes"
"Hm, you will be the only one who may commune with the spirits in this forest, and may do so only once, before you leave here; then never return to do so again. The branch you can have- so long as it is only one- as our contribution to this effort. If your ally is so strong, hopefully it will be enough to ensure the safety of the whole world. We will not dishonor our ancestors now, if there are things we can do to help. Kill the damned thing, then leave us alone, understand?"
"That is precisely what I intend to do"
"Good… Aelfwyn, please retrieve the branch for us, I will show him to where he may commune to contact the spirits"
"Of course, Larfal"
The king was old, but true to elven nature, still appeared youthful. Though even he was less than half Aedan's own age; not that he would mention that to the man. He took him deep into the forest, along a trail lit by ethereal lights that blinking into and out of being as they made their way in a seeming attempt to conceal the very thing they were approaching.
He could tell the moment they arrived.
The air and ground itself were charged with energy, magical and… something else.
"You can feel it"
"It's… incredible"
King Larfal raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sensitivity of the brutish looking adventurer with him, "You must be a powerful mage to be so sensitive to it; yes this is it" his announcement ushered the lights to shine up all around them, showing a massive tree, stretching beyond sight both into the canopy and in its massive girth- that itself reflected the light with its own soft green glow, "This will allow you your request, while keeping interference into elven lands and affairs to a minimum; take whatever time you need, but once you leave these grounds, you will not return, nor will any other outsider"
The king began to walk back the way they came before saying back over his shoulder, "When you leave, simply walk away in any direction; the lights will lead you"
Once the man was gone, he sat and got to work immediately. The spirits were- if there was such a thing- the truly favored race of mortals in the world, despite the elves thinking it was themselves. Being nearly ageless they have in common, but in their ability to bestow power onto others, the spirits are nearly like the gods themselves in that respect. Welf's ancestor had contracted with a spirit, exchanging blood to gain power from them. There seemed to be a handful of cases from the olden days: the famous Argonaut was even said to have gained power from Jupiter in some way. So he, too, tried to contact the spirits that would listen.
Meanwhile, a large party was arriving in Orario, much to the exasperation of the Ganesha Familia members guarding the gates. Like those that came before, they were easily directed to their destination, but a group of their size drew much more attention than those previous to them. Still, they were not accosted all the way to Hearthfire Manor, which saw both the group from the Empire and that from Altena- with general tension- arriving together.
Greater still was the tension when they were answered by a white-haired woman who directly turned her focus to the man leading the pack, opening her eyes wide as her face contracted into a fierce scowl, "You…"
"Alfia" Belisarius answered shortly, and remained still as a smack echoed around the area when she struck him faster than most of those present could follow.
"Now you may come inside" she kept her poker face, but was internally shocked that her strike hadn't sent the man flying.
With some trepidation, they followed her inside and soon the full party of nineteen were seated and waiting for the resident gods or goddesses to greet them.
In the end, they realized that only four other divines were there, all female: Kali, Bheara, and Hecate, with the hostess being Hestia, of course.
"All the others have made a temporary conversion, as you seem to plan to" Alfia told Belisarius, nodding to the group from Altena, "We welcome you of course, goddess Athena"
"I couldn't stay away, knowing what the nature of this quest is; it was decided that I would be the one from Altena to come along. Thank you for having us"
Hestia, despite the exhaustion it induced, took on the conversion process for all fourteen people from the Empire.
"Man, it feels nice to have my falna unlocked again, thanks goddess" Ranulf grinned, earning shocked looks from his peers.
"You've been a notorious pirate with a locked falna!?" Belisarius eyed him warily.
"Calypso was returned to heaven not too long ago; most of my tenure has been quite blessed" he sent a wink to Alfia, who ignored it and the man himself with the utmost stoicism.
"Now then, once you are all ready, these are the marching orders that Haroeris left behind…"
As such, over the following short time, the three groups below the ground were further bolstered with the large number of reinforcements. Belisarius recognized his own son quite easily, though the boy seemed completely oblivious, introducing himself as if a stranger; which… he supposed they were. Choosing to do the same for now, his mind went to Alfia's warning.
'I have told Bell of my relation to him, and only my relation to him; you may reveal yourself to him, but be prepared to answer him when he asks why he grew up without you'
'That's fair, though you'd do well to reign in your clear animosity for me when we are all around each other'
The man sighed as he had to face the executives of the two Familia that were responsible for booting them out of Orario after they failed to slay the Black Dragon.
Bell, blissfully unaware of the situation, had gone back up in order to collect still more Valgang Dragon magic stones.
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