“So far? Nothing. Nothing has been decided. It’s too difficult of an issue to be resolved in a single meeting.”
“What makes it difficult? Is it because I’m a fey?”
“Yes,” he said.
“I don’t think I fully understand. Why do the dwarves ha- mistrust fey so much?”
Hallbjorn studied her with a grim expression for a few seconds before sighing.
“The dwarves of Dokkalfheimr have lived in this cave for nearly four centuries now, and for that entire time, the ghouls–or drow– have been killing us at every opportunity. Just a week ago, they got a crew of our miners. And the ghouls worship and are controlled by the fey.”
“Why do they do that?” asked Elise.
“Why do they worship the fey?” asked Hallbjorn. “Because they’re descended from the fey. Or so the legends go. It’s said that a fey once fell in love with an elf, and from their union came the drow.”
“Why do they kill the dwarves?”
“They’re just monsters,” said Hallbjorn. “The System won’t define them as such, but what else can we call them? They’re hideous creatures with a hideous language and they kill for fun. They’re masters of poison, and take pleasure in killing us in the most painful ways possible. They have never once tried to negotiate with us. They won’t even let us leave these damned caves. My grandfather tried to take the dwarves out, only to lose half his fighting force when the tunnel they were digging was collapsed by the ghouls.
“Even my wife- They fucking killed my wife.” Hallbjorn looked up at her, and her fur stood on end. “To be honest, I don’t want to trust you either. You might bear the Rune of Fate, but I can’t trust you. If you’re involved with the ghouls at all…”
“I’m not,” said Elise quickly. “I’ve never met them. And I don’t think I want to.”
“Good,” said Hallbjorn. “Good. I sincerely hope you’re telling the truth. I don’t know if there’s a single dwarf in the city that doesn’t have a bone to pick with the ghouls and fey. However, your Rune complicates things.”
“Is it really that big of a deal?”
“Bigger,” he said. “In short, your life is not in danger here. As much as we despise the fey, none of us are reckless enough to try and kill the one bearing the Rune of Fate. Even trying to keep you prisoner could have dire consequences.
“However, we also can’t let you roam for free. For one, it’s unsafe for you. Not all dwarves share the Council’s same caution about harming the Rune of Fate. You are also a fey, so the compromise was that if you stayed in the city, you would be kept under constant surveillance, which would double as protection.
“Given those circumstances, would you like to stay, or will you leave? I will not stop you from leaving if you wish to do so.”
Elise didn’t like the idea of constant surveillance. One of her favorite things about college life was the lack of anyone looking over her shoulder and breathing down her neck like her adoptive mother did at home. Going back to something like that didn’t sound appealing in the slightest. The prospect of guaranteed safety did sound nice though…
No! She told herself. Don’t get complacent again. You have things you need to do.
You’re right, she replied to herself.
She needed to get stronger. On top of her original goal of getting a human form, she had a new goal of getting strong enough to kill the warg. If she chose safe living in a city, she would slow her leveling to a crawl, if she leveled at all. She couldn’t go hunting in the city.
“I think… I’m going to leave,” she said.
“Is there any particular reason?”
“I have goals,” she said. “And I don’t think I can accomplish them here. I also don’t like the idea of constant surveillance.”
“May I ask what those goals are?”
Elise hesitated. Was it safe to tell him? She couldn’t think of any way him knowing that information could hurt her, but she didn’t want to just tell him either.
“I want to get stronger,” she finally said. “There are a few things I need to do.”
“I see,” he said. “Then do you mind if I try to change your mind?”
“You want me to stay?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“There are a few reasons. First and foremost is that you have the Rune of Fate. Regardless of your intentions, the Rune of Fate always portends major events. I’d rather have you on our side than elsewhere when that major event happens. Also, with the Rune of Fate, it will be easier for me to justify making another attempt at returning to the surface. Finally, if you left, it would put me in a difficult situation.
“Right now, among the Council, there are three sides in the debate over you. One mistrusts you completely and wants you dead, or at least out of the city. They would be glad if you chose to leave. The second side is my own, and we wish for you to stay and help us at least in part to fulfill the prophecy. The third is neutral, but they don’t want you to leave. They want to wait and observe until they can come to a decision.
“However, among the general public, it’s different. There are only two sides. One wants to kill you, and the other wants you to lead them to the surface. Neither would be happy if we let you leave. I could, of course, do my best to educate them and sway their opinions further from the extremes, but that would be difficult, and might even backfire. I am not the only one with power and credibility. In fact, because I often take neutral stances on things, I actually hold less sway over public opinion than some of my Councilors, and I wouldn’t put it past them to stir the pot and make things worse.
“Does that all make sense?”
Is he trying to guilt trip me into staying?
“I guess…” said Elise. “But I think I’d still rather leave.”
“If you stay, I can make it worth your while,” he said. “You said you wanted to get stronger? We can teach you. We don’t have any knowledge of the current state of the world, but I can assure you that our knowledge on magic and the System is as good as anything you can find on the surface.”
Elise was suddenly unsure of what she wanted to do. It might be hard to level in the dwarven kingdom, but her greatest weakness at the moment, aside from literal weakness, was ignorance. She hadn’t even been in this world for a month yet, and all she knew about it was what little she had experienced herself and whatever she could extract from the System Assistant.
“Even outside of Dokkalfheimr, it would be difficult to find anything like that,” Hallbjorn continued. “Unless things have changed greatly since we fled to this cave, fey are not trusted by any society.”
That almost sold her. Theoretically, she could go out hunting to level up at any time. It was simple and straightforward. Gathering information though? Who knew when she would next find an opportunity for that? Pretending to be an ordinary rabbit near humanoids could only get her so far. But it was still too soon to say for certain.
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“Tell me more,” she said. “What specifically can you teach me?”
“We have a [Loremaster] who has already expressed interest in meeting you. She is the most knowledgeable person in the entire city. She can teach you almost anything you need. If you want more combat-focused knowledge, we also have a large training hall for the Royal Guards, and Sindri, my Captain of the Royal Guards, has said he wanted to meet you as well. I don’t think that he had teaching in mind when he said that, but he is loyal enough to me that he would do it if I asked it of him.”
“...Alright,” she said. “But I have a few more conditions.”
“Go ahead.”
“I want to be able to leave whenever I want.”
“That’s fine. As long as you let me know first. Next?”
“As little surveillance as possible.”
“That one isn’t as easy.”
“It can still be constant, I just want room to breathe.”
“Hmmm. I believe I can work with that. We can discuss it more later. What are your other conditions?”
“I don’t want to be involved in any decisions relating to the prophecy. I know it’s important to you guys, and I know I have the Rune of Fate, but I don’t want the fate of an entire city depending on me. I will be here, but I don’t want to be in any position of responsibility.”
“Done. Next?”
Elise thought for a few seconds. “I think that’s all.”
“Wonderful. Now, let’s discuss details…”
They spent the next hour laying out a contract. It didn’t start as a literal contract, but after a few minutes as they started working through exceptions and edge cases, they realized it was too much to keep all in their heads. It also gave Elise more peace of mind to know that there was evidence of their dealings.
“Then your lessons will begin immediately,” said Hallbjorn when they finished. “In the morning you’ll meet your general tutor. In the afternoon, you’ll start your training with Sindri.”
“Sounds go-o-od,” said Elise, yawning.
“Greta is an early riser, so you’ll want to go to sleep as soon as possible.”
“I’ll do that then.”
Elise was mentally exhausted. Hallbjorn had a pair of guards escort her back to her room, but she barely remembered the trip. One moment, she was leaving Hallbjorn’s office, and the next, she was enjoying the soft comfort of her bed. She could hardly believe it was still the same day that she had emerged from her evolution cocoon. So much had happened since then. However, she felt good. Or at least, as good as she could.
Her mood still darkened when her mind returned to the Grays, but there was a silver lining now. She was making progress. She was going to get stronger. She was going to get more knowledgeable. And then…
What will I do then?
She had no idea what she would do when she left the dwarves. She didn’t even know when she would leave the dwarves. She wouldn’t gain any levels so she wouldn’t be much stronger. She doubted she’d be able to do anything to the warg, even if she raised her skill levels and learned more about magic. So she’d need to find some other way to level up first. And a way to do it away from the warg.
I want to see Sophie again.
Elise realized with a start that she had been so focused on the warg that she had almost forgotten the survivors. How could she have done that? She hadn’t known Sophie for long, but it was long enough that she had definitely gotten attached. She wanted to see the half-elf girl again, even if only to check in on her. Besides, Sophie could use a bit of good news. She had just abruptly lost both parents and her pet. The loss of the parents was definitely worse, but maybe the return of the pet could lift her spirits, if only a little.
Or it could do the opposite. What would she say if she saw Elise’s wings, or heard her talk? Would she be happy? Would she feel betrayed? Would she be suspicious of how she survived? What about Nick and Bianca?
Maybe it was better not to go see them again. They were probably safe. That teleportation scroll would have taken them somewhere safe. Somewhere far from the warg where they could get help. Bianca and Nick were competent adults. They could take care of Sophie well enough on their own.
Even if she did go back, and even if they were happy and accepting of her, then what? She couldn’t stay with them. Elise could only level up through fighting things. If she stayed with the Grays, she might never get an opportunity to level up again, and lose out on her chance to evolve and get a humanoid form. Or at least, it would take much longer.
As much as she was getting accustomed to being a rabbit, she was also getting sick of it. She missed having hands. She missed being able to walk around on two legs, and wear clothes, and carry things in purses or pockets. She missed being able to interact normally with other humans. She wanted to get back to all that as soon as possible, and that meant leveling up as much as possible, and that probably wouldn’t be easy if she stayed with the Grays.
In that case what would she do if she went back to them? Pop in to check on them, then leave? Say, “Hey, Sophie, I know you just lost your parents, but hey! I’m still here! Well, not really, since I’m actually a sapient being and not a pet, and I’ll be leaving now so I can get stronger and you might never see me again. Sorry your parents died. Alright byeeee.”? Obviously she wouldn’t say it like that, but that would probably be what Sophie heard, and that would be awful. That would be like getting helped up off the ground just to be sucker punched and sent right back down.
She couldn’t do that. That would be cruel. Maybe in a few months, or a few years, once they had time to process and come to terms with what had happened, she would go and tell them the truth, but not now. Besides, she didn’t even know where they were. It might take months or even years to find them. For now, she needed to focus on herself, and how to get stronger. After all, there was still the matter of the warg…
I’m going to kill it, she thought. No matter what.
It might take a long time to get strong enough to do that, but she would do it eventually. Maybe when she did that, she would feel better about seeing the Grays again. Or maybe that would be worse. What if they hated her for taking away their revenge?
She started going back and forth with herself again, but her mind was at its limit, and she fell asleep before she came to an answer.
The next morning, she was awoken by loud knocking on her door. She didn’t know how that worked, since the door was made of pure stone, but regardless, it was enough to wake her up. She hadn’t even gotten out of bed when the door swung open to reveal a dwarf woman in a plain brown dress. She looked down her nose at Elise with an expression of poorly hidden disgust.
“Evi csy yt? Gsqi sr. Pix'w ks.”
She turned to the side and gestured out the door with an impatient look. She clearly didn’t like Elise, but Elise didn’t know what to do about that. Unlike with the Grays, she doubted acting cute would work. However, she did have that new skill that she hadn’t gotten a chance to try out…
She focused on the {Charm} skill, and thought about using it on the dwarf woman. She could feel the skill activating, but there was no visible change in the woman’s demeanor.
“Alex evi csy hsmrk?” said the woman. “Pix'w ks. Wxytmh jic.”
She gestured out the door again, this time a lot more insistently. Elise obliged, but kept an eye on the woman on her way out. She was worried about getting kicked in the side. Fortunately, the woman did no such thing, but she looked like she wanted to.
Elise was led down the stairs of the tower back into the castle proper, then through a few hallways until they reached a slightly more ornate set of doors than the rest. On the inside was a library, if it could be called that. It had been built for far more books than it had, and most of the shelves were empty. There was a semicircular desk in the center where a dwarf woman sat, reading something. She looked up when they entered, shot Elise a nasty look, then went back to her reading.
The woman in brown led her off to the right side where there were a few tables, one of which had two people sitting at it. One of them was Jens, the old wizard, and the other was someone Elise had never seen. It was an old woman with a hunched back and a wrinkled face twisted into a permanent scowl.
[ Loremaster of the Forgotten Kingdom, lvl ??? ]
[ {Inspect} has leveled up! 27 -> 31 ]
Jens had his blue orb again, and as they got closer, Elise felt herself pass through a thin barrier of mana.
“You’re here,” he said with a frown. “This is-”
“I can introduce myself,” interrupted the old woman. “I’m Greta. I heard that runt Hallbjorn wanted me to take on a new student. I said ‘no’ at first because that’s ridiculous. I’m almost 200. I can barely take care of myself, let alone some snotty brat. But then he told me that you were a fey, and had the Rune of Fate, and I got curious, so here I am. Don’t get used to it though. If I don’t like you, I’m leaving.”
“...Yes, as she said she’ll be your teacher,” said Jens.
“If I like you.”
“Greta, this is-”
“It can speak, can’t it?” interrupted Greta. “You. Fey. Tell me who you are.”
“I-I’m Elise.”
“Good. You have a name, at least. Alright, Jens, you can go away now.”
“Greta, I still need to translate.”
“Oh, good point. Then leave the orb here first, then go away.”
“I need to be here to power the orb.”
“Drat! Fine. You can stay. But shut up.”
“Yes, Gr-”
“No more talking.” She turned to Elise. “So, is it true that you’re from the surface?”