Aside from martial arts, she had been keeping up with her reading and writing practice. Aurea hadn’t had many chances to read over the last few months, and was already getting a bit rusty. I was about to ask her how she learned to read considering most other commoners were illiterate, but realized that might remind her of her deceased father. With her learning so much, along with socializing with the elves, Aurea was making use of every waking moment and falling asleep as soon as she touched the bed every day.

“Ok, that's enough about me. Anything interesting going on with you?” Aurea asked eagerly.

I was honest with her when I told her that most of the work I had done was extremely repetitive and uninteresting. My days had mainly consisted of further developing the underground base, constructing more autonomous robots, and increasing my resource gathering capacity.

“The most interesting thing that’s happened is a group of Wild Hunters led by a lady named Venari coming through and hunting a fireblood wolf in the area.” I mentioned offhandedly. Aurea’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Venari? As in Lady Venari Stratis, the Governor’s daughter?” she asked excitedly.

“You know her?”

“Of course!” she squealed. “Every girl in the area admires her! She joined the Wild Hunters as soon as she became of age, and every mission she’s been on has been a huge success since then!”

Aurea then proceeded to regale me with tales of Venari’s accomplishments. She told me about how Venari had once fought a monster with power of the Law of Water known as a fluvial serpent. Using her understanding of the Law of Water, she was able to counter the snake’s own magical attacks. From there, she used the only weapon she could reach, a halberd, to cut and weaken it. The killing blow was a thrust to the head, so powerful that the halberd’s tip completely pierced the fluvial snake’s head, and pinned it to a tree. From there, the stories only got more and more exaggerated. One claimed that Venari killed a monster by simply punching it to death, while another said that she beat five men in a wrestling match simultaneously.

“[It is likely these stories are largely exaggerated.]”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, after all we have seen some pretty weird stuff since coming here.”

“Are you going to go talk to Lady Venari?” Aurea asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Probably. I want to use that fireblood wolf as a test subject, so I’d like to negotiate a trade with Venari if possible.”

Aurea hesitated for a moment before blurting out, “Can I go with you?”

I sighed internally. “Sure.”

She seemed ready to argue, but stopped in surprise when she heard my answer. “Really?” she asked suspiciously.

“Yes. However, you will need to agree to one condition: You will do what I say, when I say, how I say. If I tell you to run, you will run. If I tell you to fight, you will fight. Understood?”

Aurea nodded slowly, “Alright. I can agree with that.”

“Good,” I replied, deftly grabbing a leaf that had landed on her shoulder and tossing it aside. “Make sure you get some rest tonight. We’ll leave before dawn.”

“Is Mors coming along?”

I paused for a second to think. “I’ll ask him in a bit. Either way, make sure you bring whatever you need for a day trip. We should be back before nightfall, so there’s no need to pack too much.”

We parted ways after saying some farewells, and I made my way to the cabin inhabited by the elves. I heard Mors and the elves laughing long before I got there. I opened the door to be greeted with the sight of Mors doing a few mundane magic tricks for the two children. The old mage was using a small silver coin for the tricks, palming it in one hand while pretending to pass it to his other hand. Revealing that hand to be empty, he reached behind Myrill’s ear and made it look like the coin had appeared out of thin air. Both of the children giggled incessantly, delighting in the spectacle.

“I guess I should add sleight of hand to the list of skills Mors knows. There’s more to him than meets the eye.”

Aleathra and Vulre were seated in the back of the cabin, with Aleathra watching her kids with an intensely protective gaze. Vulre, on the other hand, was completely absorbed with the half-carved object in his hand. He used a small set of carving knives I had gifted him to delicately mold a block of wood into a mortar and pestle. The elf had a small leather strip that wrapped around his thumb to cushion it from the knife, slowly but surely carving out a hole in the center of the wooden block. A small pile of wood shavings lay in a pile next to Vulre, and I made a mental note to have a custodial robot clean them up as soon as one was fabricated

I knocked on the doorframe to announce my presence. Everyone turned to look at me, and I motioned at the robot holding the writing supplies behind me.

“Mors said you wanted some writing supplies?” I asked sheepishly.

“Oh, yes!” Vulre said, rushing over and snatching the papers and pens. A shocked expression appeared on his face as soon as he touched the blank and lined papers..

“What is this?” he exclaimed excitedly. The elf rubbed the paper between his fingers and closely examined the lined sheets.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“Uh…paper? Don’t tell me you don’t have that here.” I replied, raising my eyebrow in confusion.

“But it’s so smooth and thin!”

“Yeah, well, shouldn’t it be?”

My confusion seemed to only encourage Vulre’s curiosity.

“Normal paper is much thicker than this, and stiffer too! But this paper is delicate and whiter than snow! How did you make this?!? Did you-” Vulre demanded to know with his face mere centimeters away from mine. Suddenly, Aleathra appeared behind him with a hand raised. A loud smack echoed throughout the room, and Vulre grabbed the back of his head in pain.

“What was that for?!?” he cried as he spun around.

“How many times do I have to tell you to not interrogate people?” She scolded. Aleathra turned to me and bowed her head, “Thank you for the writing supplies,” while glaring at Vulre from the corner of her eye. He took the hint and bowed his head as well, “Yes, thank you. Please forgive my actions, I was just a little too excited.”

“Erm…no problem…” I stuttered out.

“However, I must ask, what are these things?” Vulre inquired, holding one of the pens close to his eye.

“Oh, those are pens,” I said, taking it and clicking the top to reveal the writing tip. I scribbled on one of the sheets of paper to demonstrate how to use it.

Vulre took the pen back and examined the tip, “You didn’t dip it in ink?”

“There’s a small reservoir of ink inside the pen that dispenses ink when you write.”

“Really? This is revolutionary! How did you come up with-” Vulre froze mid-sentence. It was as though he could feel his wife’s piercing gaze boring into the back of his head. “Well, that’s just really interesting hahaha…” he laughed uncomfortably.

“Is there anything else you need?” I asked, to which both elves frantically said no. They insisted that I had done enough for them, and that they didn’t dare ask me for anything more.

“I really don’t mind,” I sighed mentally.

“[It is best to not push anything more on them.]”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Mors,” I said, “you mind if we talk outside real quick?”

“Of course,” the deathwalker responded, dusting his pants off as he stood up. He turned to Myrill and Kynia, “Make sure you both study your words hard, ok? If you do, I'll show you some more magic tricks.”

“Okay!” They both chirped and scrambled to go study. Mors chuckled at the sight before exiting the cabin with me right behind him. I gently closed the door and walked a distance away.

“I didn’t know you could speak elvish” I remarked as we walked.

“I’ve picked up bits and pieces over the years. So, did you need something?” Mors asked once we had walked far enough. I quickly informed him about the situation regarding the fireblood wolf, and asked his opinion on how I should proceed.

“Well that would certainly explain why the Wild Hunters are in the area,” he commented.

“If possible, I’d like to capture that fireblood wolf alive for testing and experimentation.”

“That will be difficult,” Mors said while scratching his stubbled chin, “Fireblood wolves are strong and fast, plus they usually burn or melt nets and chains thrown on them. You would need vitae-infused materials to effectively hold one.”

“Hey Eve, do we have enough tungsten to make some chains?”

“Calculating…You currently have enough tungsten to make 15 large chains. Considering tungsten’s high melting point, this should be enough to restrain the fireblood wolf.”

Turning my focus outwards again, I said, “Don’t worry, I have a metal strong enough to hold it down.”

Mor’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he didn’t question me any further. “In that case, your next obstacle will be dealing with Lady Venari. She and the Wild Hunters won’t let their quarry fall into someone else’s hands so easily.”

“Hmmm.” I chewed on my lip as I tried to think of a way that might allow me to resolve such a situation peacefully. “You said you’ve met Venari before, right Mors?”

“That is correct,” he nodded, “I have interacted with her a few times. However, I would say we are mere acquaintances at best.”

“Do you think you could convince her to trade the fireblood wolf for something equally as valuable?”

“That is very well possible, but it would be difficult. Every part of a monster is valuable, from the blood to the flesh to the hide. Unless you have something worth all of them combined, it’ll be nearly impossible.”

I cursed in my head. The only real items of value that I had were my robots, and I wasn’t about to just give them away. I didn’t want anyone to know exactly what technology I had at my disposal, otherwise it was possible that I would be in extreme danger.

“If I may…” Mors said, interrupting my train of thought, “I could accompany you and perhaps talk to her on your behalf.”

“That’s…actually not a half bad idea.”

“[This plan is acceptable.]”

“Well I’m glad to see it has your seal of approval.”

“That’s a great idea. I think that’ll work nicely,” I praised. I spent a while ironing out the details of the plan with him. Aurea and I would work together to capture the fireblood wolf, and in the meantime, Mors would negotiate with the Wild Hunters. If a deal truly couldn’t be reached, then I would hand over the monster without resistance. No matter how much I wanted that monster, it wasn’t worth pissing off one of the most important people in Ocaephis for.

“[If you are against antagonizing influential individuals, then why did you brush off Lord Drusus’s men? The fact that he sent a squad of soldiers after shows that you are now in his sight.]”

“Er…no reason.”

“[Based on your speech patterns and abnormal brain wave activity, I believe you are lying.]”

“Fine, if you really want to know, it’s because they reminded me of those damn school bullies. Always tossing their weight around just because they could. It pissed me off. Happy?”

“[I am satisfied.]”

“Hey, are you alright?” Mors asked me. I realized I had paused mid-sentence while talking to him. Clearing my throat, I said, “Yeah, I’m fine, I was just thinking about something. You should probably sleep now. We’ll be waking up early tomorrow. I’ll send one of my robots to wake you.”

“Of course,” he said, bowing his head. “I shall see you tomorrow then.”