บท 5: Chapter Four - Arriving at Elenoir
/// Arthur Leywin ///
The morning dawned crisp and clear, the slight wind that blew in the treacherous woods of Elshire providing a subtle warmth and comfort- a contrast to its true hoodwinking nature, an elaborate yet veiled hoax.
"That tree is one I used to come with my Grandfather sometimes! I remember carving my name into the trunk of the tree when he wasn't looking. We're not too far anymore! I think that if we quicken our pace a little bit, we'll be able to make it by tonight!" she said suddenly, pointing to the tree.
"Hmm, sounds good. Let's keep going." I replied to her, a tenuous, hair-splitting discomfort rising in the pit of my guts. A premonition. Was something about to happen? Was someone about to ambush us? Were we walking in a death trap?
A plethora of questions invaded my mind, storming. A violent storm of quick q & a brewed inside my mind, as I questioned everything and tried answering them logically at the same time.
…Something….. something deep inside my gut was telling me that there is something wrong going on. I shouldn't be here. I do not belong here- or rather, I was being rejected. My hands trembled ever so slightly.
The girl, Tessia, turned around, a questioning look over her face that soon turned into a look of surprise, her eyes showing full moons,
"How are you doing that?" She asked me, her finger pointing at me.
"Hmm? Do what?" I asked, my head tilting slightly to the side- confused at what she meant.
"You eyes… they're glowing blue!" She exclaimed excitedly as she ran over to me and started looking at my eyes at point blank. But why were my eyes glowing…?
…
Was it because of my agitation?
"Do all elves' eyes glow?" I asked, both trying to change the subject and to satisfy the curiosity of why she was so normal when she my eyes gleaming with a murderous aura.
"No." She denied, shaking her head as her gunmetal hair swayed in the mild air of the forest, "you and my grandpa are the only ones I've seen with glowing eyes." She said, excitedly.
"Grandpa… does he have a system too?" I asked myself, mentally as we continued our walk, led by Tessia.
[Draconic Will integration has reached 97%. Complete integration will result in an explosion. Do you wish to integrate right now?]
– YES
– NO
"No", I replied mentally. So even a beast will integration results in explosions..
"Arthur? You said your family and the people close to you called you Art. I feel that, through this journey, I have gotten close enough to call you that as well." We were crossing a stream atop a moss-covered log bridge when she suddenly stopped. "So... Can I call you Art as well?" Tessia turned around, revealing a wide smile.
"Hmm? Sure, I don't mind." I said, returning her smile.
"You 'don't mind'? Tch, you could sound a bit more enthusiastic..." she stuck her tongue out at me.
"I would be honoured to be called Art by you, Your Highness." I made a bow gracious enough for a noble despite my tattered clothes.
"Hehe, and you may also have the honour to call me Tess." she giggled, curtsying back at me before turning back around and hopping off the log.
We continued our journey after that without talking much. Although I had used some points from hunting rabbits on my stamina and strength and along with mana rotation that had now increased to 16% proficiency, Tess was still having issues. Imbuing her in a slight sheen of mana and augmenting her legs with it, we were able to continue our journey without taking many stops.
It was dusk now and the fog around us seemed to be getting thicker. Before my sense of direction was all but useless in this blasted forest. But, for some reason, the more time I was exposed to the bewitched mist, the more clear my vision became. If I didn't have the system, I would've been lost a hundred times over, going in circles with me even knowing.
She suddenly turned to me, her face a mixture of happiness and hesitation before she muttered, "We're here."
Looking around, the only things visible were clusters of trees and fog. Confused, I was about to ask where we were, but I stopped myself when I saw Tess placing both her palms on a tree and muttering a chant.
Suddenly, the fog around us was sucked into the same tree and what came into vision was a giant wooden door that seemed to be propped up by itself on the ground.
Tess grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. When she opened it, I was reminded of the portal that Sylvia had pushed me through. The experience didn't feel any better the second time but I at least knew what to expect. As we softly landed on our feet, arriving at our destination, I immediately rummaged through my bag to make sure I still had the stone Sylvia entrusted me with. It was only after confirming that it was still there did I finally look up and take in the scene around us.
Pristine.
That was the word that popped into my head as I gawked at the elven city. It appeared we had directly teleported right past the gates. What I saw before me were buildings that seemed to be built out of a jade-like material. These jade buildings were so flawless and smooth that each seemed to be carved from a single, huge stone.
Tess was still holding onto my hand when a group of what seemed like guards arrived out of nowhere. These elven warriors emanated a dignified air, all dressed in coordinated black suits with green trimmings and a golden shoulder guard on their left shoulder. These five guards all carried a rapier strapped to their waist. I mentally noted that these guards had no sensible aura radiating out of them.
augmenters and conjurers both naturally emit a faint aura from their bodies. The fact I wasn't able to sense any mana leaking meant one of two things: Their mana cores were at a high enough level where I wasn't able to sense it, or they had enough control over their mana to not let any leak out. Either way, it meant that these guys were as impressive as their attire made them look.
The guards ignored my presence as they suddenly kneeled in front of Tess In unison. "We welcome back the royal princess."
"..." My gaze flicked back and forth between the guards and Tess and I'm reminded of the time when I jokingly called Tessia 'your highness'.
Tessia was actually the princess of this whole kingdom?
When I tried to let go of Tessia's hand she suddenly squeezed her hand tighter. In a voice so cold and apathetic that I mistook her voice for someone else's, she said, "You may rise."
They stood up with their right fist still crossing their chest when the knight in front speaks. "Princess, we arrived as soon as we saw that the royal teleportation gate had been used. The King and Queen are..."
Before he could finish speaking, I heard a cry not too far away.
"My baby! Tessia, you're okay! Oh my baby!"
Running towards us was a middle aged man and woman. From the crown on the man's head and the tiara encircling the woman's forehead, I assumed that they were the King and Queen.
The King's tall, built body was uniformed in a loose, decorated robe. His emerald eyes were pointed upwards and his thin lips were tensed, matching his short, military style hair.
While the King had a dignified but somewhat reserved appearance, the Queen was breathtaking. Although she was a bit past her youthful stage, her age couldn't mask the beauty that she was. Her round eyes shimmered a light blue hue, contrasting well with her lush, pink colored lips. Her silver hair was curled down, flailing past her back as she ran towards us, her well-proportioned figure visible underneath her dress.
The mother's cheeks were lined with tears as the father had a tense expression that looked like he was holding back tears as well.
I turned my gaze to see Tessia's face visibly soften as she started tearing up as well. I let go of her hand and gently pushed her towards her parents, feeling a little sentimental myself.
Tessia landed in the arms of her mother who started sobbing at this point on their knees, both burying their face in their daughter's shoulders.
– COPY PASTE END –
(SR/n: Finally.)
The last to arrive was an old man, well past his prime. His hair was pure white that was tied back. His razor sharp features went soft upon seeing Tess. However, as soon as his gaze lingered over to me, I felt it. The morbid sense of damnation. His eyes gleamed in a vibrant hue of golden. I saw his muscles go stiff as he looked at me, his mana flaring around his body.
I took a step back. I was able to kill upto C-Rank beast even in this 4 year old body, but he was different. His core was much higher than mine. Not just that… It was like the power that seemed to be bestowed upon me by the system was resonating. Screaming at me to be unleashed.
Like a polar opposite.
I gulped in a dry lump of saliva as I looked at the old man's hands dangle freely to the either side. A wave of horror crept up my spine. It was just a normal pose to stand in… to a normal person's eye.
However, I could see it… the hundred ways he was about to move and kill me without even knowing. The golden colour of his eyes shone even brightly as he peered down at my sternum. Suddenly, the overwhelming pressure dissipated as his eyes returned to their former colour.
"I'd like to apologise. I merely mistook you for someth- someone else. You just appear to be a brat who awakened too early." He said with a content smile, satisfied with what he answered.
Something was off about him… after all four year olds are not common here, even by elven standards.
(SR/n:*vein appearing in the forehead* Not this again...)
The King finally stood up and while his eyes were red, he still carried an air of dignity. "As the King of Elenoir and the father of Tessia, I must apologise for this unsightly appearance of mine and more importantly, I wish to thank you for escorting my daughter back home safely," he stated, his voice coming out a bit hoarse. "Please accompany us to our home so that you may rest. Afterwards, you can tell us what happened."
His tone was gentle but implied that there wasn't really an option, so I simply nodded in consent. As I was about to follow behind them, Tessia came to me and grabbed my hand again, filling the surrounding people with expressions of shock. I couldn't help but chuckle uncomfortably as I scratched the side of my head, unable to muster up the appropriate words for a situation like this.
After a strenuously awkward ride that seemed a lot longer than it actually had been, we arrived at the castle. Rather than a castle, however, it looked to be an enormous tree. This tree, which probably needed at least a few hundred people locking arms to encircle it, was made of a white stone that, I could only guess, had gone through a petrification process somehow.
Stepping through the front doors of the tree, I was pleasantly surprised to see how impressive the interior of this castle was. There were two curved staircases that created a circle, with a gigantic chandelier floating in the middle of it. This chandelier seemed to be made of the same orbs of light that were dotted throughout the city.
I had told the King and Queen that it wasn't necessary for me to rest and would rather tell them as soon as we arrived, so that's what we did.
Not even washing up, the welcoming crew was all situated around the rectangular dining table downstairs. Tessia's father was on the far end of the table with me directly opposite of him. Tessia's mother sat perpendicular to her husband, with Tessia seated right next to her. The grandpa was sitting across from the mother and daughter, leaving a pretty big gap between us, while the five guards stood off to the side behind the King.
With both his elbows resting on the table, fingers intertwined, the King was the first to speak. "Child. What did you say your name was?"
"Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin, and I come from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Elder, and gentlemen." I stood up and bowed slightly at each of them individually before sitting back down.
Discussion wasn't going to progress if they were going to treat me like a child.
Both the King and Queen and the guards in the back showed evident looks of surprise from my mature behaviour, while even the grandpa had an amused smirk on his face; Tessia giving me a shy smile.
Regaining composure, the King continued on. "It seems you are much more mature than your age. Forgive me for assuming. My name is Alduin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial Eralith and my father Virion Eralith. As for what happened, please tell us. We would like to hear your side of this."
Waving off the apology, I began telling the story. I made sure to be very vague in telling them how I got inside the Forest of Elshire in the first place; I simply told them I had gotten separated from my family after running into bandits, only managing to survive out of luck.
Inevitably, I had to tell them I was a mage. This was followed by another wave of looks of utter disbelief from everyone, including Tessia. Because of the lack of obstacles we ran into on our journey back, I never really had the need to use mana so I didn't bother explaining.
One of the guards told me that I was a liar and to prove that I was actually a mage when, unexpectedly, Tessia's grandfather shut him down. He then clasped his hands together on the table and looked at me with a renewed, eerie interest.
I quickly moved on, telling them how I had spotted a carriage and observed them carrying a tied up child into the back of a carriage before going off.
At this, the King slammed both of his hands on the table, his eyes narrowing into a menacing glare.
"I should've known it was humans..."
I corrected his mildly racist comment and said, "They were slave traders. Them and bandits alike prey on, not just elves, but humans as well, speaking as a victim myself."
This caused the King to shut his mouth before sitting back down, letting out a soft cough.
"I didn't ask Tess... *ahem* the Princess this, but I am curious as to how slave traders even got their hands on the Princess of this Kingdom," I queried, almost calling Tessia by her nickname. I didn't think calling her something so informal as Tess would sit right with everyone present.
At this, the King almost looked embarrassed before saying, "My wife and I had a bit of a disagreement with Tessia and she decided to rebel by running away. We had decided to let her cool off a bit before fetching her back because we knew where she usually stayed when she pouted, but unfortunately, she ran into some hu... slave traders."
Ah... runaway princess. I sneaked a small grin at Tess and she responded by sticking out her tongue, face flushed.
I glazed over the details of the fight with the slave traders.
"Luckily, I had caught the slave traders by surprise and managed to dispose of them before untying the princess and escorting her here."
"So a four-year-old managed to 'luckily' kill off four adults, one being an augmenter at that, and you simply wave it off like it's no big deal," chimes in the king's father seated across from Tessia, leaning back on the chair so only two of the legs are touching the ground.
"Yes. Half of them were asleep and the two were simply not on guard so disposing of them was not too challenging," I refuted back.
The elder just responded with a lazy shrug of his shoulder.
After finishing the events, I cleared my throat before asking what I came here for. "As I have mentioned, it has been almost two months since I have seen my parents. I do not plan to intrude on your kingdom for long as I wish to meet them quickly, so I was wondering if you guys had a teleportation gate that could take me to the City of Xyrus or anywhere inside Sapin."
"You're going to leave already, Art!?" Tessia shot up from her seat, face stricken with panic.
Both her mother and father gave each other a baffled look as they mouthed 'Art'.
The elder just shot a snide grin at this and chuckled, rocking on his chair.
"I don't think it's appropriate for a human such as myself to be inside this Kingdom for too long, Princess. Besides, I wish to make sure that my family is safe and tell them I'm okay as well," I answered, giving a sheepish smile.
The King responds back for Tessia. "It has been a couple hundred years since the last human has stepped foot into the Kingdom of Elenoir and you, Arthur, are the first human to be in the capital of this Kingdom, the City of Zestier. However, saving our daughter and taking the trouble to accompany her all the way back to us entitles you with a proper reward..."
I take a quick peek at Tessia and see her head down, her gunmetal silver hair covering her face.
"...Unfortunately, the teleportation gate linked with the Kingdom of Sapin opens only once every seven years, for the Summit Conference between the three races. Since the last Summit was two years ago, it'll be another five years until the gate will function," the King continued.
I couldn't help but let out a deep breath in disappointment.
"However, we are more than willing to send a group of guards to escort you back home. You are correct that it may not be wise to stay in this kingdom for too long. While some are tolerant, many hold animosity towards humans because of the war long ago." He flashed a brief, sorrowful smile at this.
I nodded in agreement. At least I'd be able to safely go back home.
"For now, please make yourself at home here. We will have your escorts prepared by tomorrow morning. I do advise you not to wander around outside in the city though, for the reasons mentioned earlier."
— COPY PASTE END —
As everyone walked outside, I tried following all of them.
"Wait a second, brat." I heard the elder's voice, brash and lacking in emotion.
He walked closer to me, his steps echoing.
"We need to talk… also, do you know what's going on with your core?" He asked as I felt the colour drain from my face.
"I have no idea what you're referring to." I replied, not letting my voice waver as I stood straight despite the crumbling pressure that kept building up. However, despite how much this energy seemed peculiar and opposite to my own, I felt an uncanny familiarity with it.
Like deep inside… it was my own. The elder looked at me, his eyes squinting on me.
"Pfft-" he stifled his laughter as I looked at him with a surprised look on my face. He bent and his hand extended towards my head as he ruffled my hair,
"You surely are an interesting brat. I had never seen anyone bear with my pressure for too long. It's like you have immunity to it." He said as his eyes glowed once again, "how did you awaken so early?" He asked.
"Maybe I have a good talent for magic?" I replied sheepishly, trying to sound as childish as I could.
He looked down at me, his scrutinising gaze seemed to dig holes in my very soul.
"Follow me." He said, motioning for me to follow him.
"But where?" I asked warily, already on edge because of the old bat's behaviour.
"We're going to spar, brat." He replied as he looked back over his shoulders, a mischievous smile over his face as he threw me a wink.
WHAT IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING UNHOLY….!
*************************************
<< Arthur's Current Stats >>
Name: Arthur Leywin
Level: 13
Class: None
Title: None
Core: Bottleneck of Light Red
– PASSIVE SKILLS –
Mana Rotation: 14%
Unknown (lvl - max)
Tenacity (lvl - 2)
Masochism (lvl - max)
Bloodlust (lvl - 10)
– ACTIVE SKILLS –
Draconic Will (97% integrated)
Swordless Technique (lvl - 5)
Swordsmanship (lvl - 15)
Dash (lvl - 5)
Burst Step (lvl - 1)
– AFFINITIES –
Fire (lvl - 5)
Water (lvl - 4)
Wind (lvl - 3)
Earth (lvl - 2)
Unknown (in-accessible)
*************************************
((If you use wattpad, you can find the story a bit earlier here: https://www.wattpad.com/1267010847?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_reading&wp_page=reading_part_end&wp_uname=jarrarbtc&wp_originator=Gm6oE%2F0q59RDwYZSHPQ5pyBtzukQwmKaRunEUEvaC9xD7Gjentk4T9tyDPViahEzFHKo3VcT3vnfL5X1xgptlVoxHhf3uLb8A%2FMfp8tI11wu94DQ0Bd9ug63qOe1KY8S
A/n Hey everyone… Hope everyone is doing ok.. Do comment on how the chapter was. The update times may vary greatly since I have a lot of stuff going on so yeah… that's all.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter,
Until next time, stay blessed, happy reading and I'm out.)
– McWhooper –
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง