Moving through the trees, there was a somber silence throughout the forest. For a while, this didn’t seem terribly out of place. All around the settlement was a lingering air of death. Any creature caught nearby was always hunted down. This continued all the way until a certain point, that point, resulted in a large shift in migration of animals leaving the surrounding area and moving south. Once likely a vibrant tiny part of civilization, now empty and desolate.
Only with this migration, all around the hamlet was full of life. Shelters crumbled while new smaller ones took their places to house a wide array of different creatures. After a while, elves only rarely hunted nearby, causing a lustrous return of an animal habitat in this place. Possibly remembering the harrowing events only a dozen years, at best, when they passed a clearing that gave full view to the desolate improvised skeletal remains of said hamlet. There was no movement or sound that could be heard, adding to the eerie silence.
Passing through, their party moved back into a lightly dense woods. Ignoring the dirt path that took an hour's journey to reach a main road. Jessica wasn’t too familiar with these woods. What she did know was that these woods weren’t as bustling as that of the one north of the deserted hamlet. Still, what she found most surprising was the empty field she thus found herself in. Feeling something wrong, only no matter how many looks she gave the old man, he remained quiet.
Feeling the connection, Leo also noticed something was wrong. Ignoring an obvious fact that the clearing didn’t feel natural at all. Randomly, an exceedingly flat plain could be seen for as long as the eye could look. While not exactly true, in the distance could be seen a treeline in all directions. If such a location actually found, there would be an endless number of people wishing to usher in a construction crew. Partially for the unnaturally flat land, otherwise for the increase in mana.
Not a small amount either, outside a cultivation chamber, this was the largest disparity of mana in nature she had ever felt. Nothing about this mana felt different. Simply breathing told her this mana wasn’t for public consumption, which begged a question. If there was this much natural mana, only while mimicking natural unrefined mana. What could possibly generate this much mana? While maintaining an aspect of it feeling natural and unrefined?
Jessica could feel she wasn’t alone in these wonders. Leo, who had been silently next to her, had been having his own wandering thoughts. Far-reaching conclusions seemed to run through his mind. For someone that still didn’t have that much knowledge of this world, similar to a child having just started experiencing the world. Thus, when she felt all the emotions running wildly through his head, she could feel a sense of turmoil rushing through him.
Looking over, she saw him remain glued to the sky. Looking akin to an unseen monstrosity. Having nothing but a strange look in her own eyes. There was nothing in the sky, after looking up Leo had his head snap down while staring at the ground with rough breathing. The old man sat patiently since they arrived. Something in the air created an atmosphere, she found it difficult to open her mouth to say or ask anything.
At that moment, the old man looked to the left. Following his gaze, she could see Leo was still looking down from her peripheral. Not knowing when, a duo could be seen walking towards them. Blurry initially, as time went on she noticed the duo was slightly shorter than an average person, just enough to be noticeable. Both were men, one was Beast. While the other was a man she had never seen before.
He had an unnoticeable arrogance about him. Like two contradicting facts. His back was straight, and his chin lifted, this didn’t have to do much with personality. Instead, what appeared to give off this untold arrogance was his bones. Everything from his slightly touched up appearance in simple clothing. All things about his outside screamed normal, while when her eyes met his gentle brown eyes, he smiled gently at her and nodded. Only meeting his eyes almost caused her to bow, if not for the old man placing his arm on her shoulder to support her.
Nothing about their meeting was hostile, he was as amiable as could be. Jessica hated nobility, dwarves had their own society norms. Unlike humans, there wasn’t as many complicated steps. In fact, in terms of the way they acted, dwarves were simply and almost seemingly uneducated. At least from a distance, what came after repetitive communications was that the two went to two different schools. One was a school of useless steps to prove their superiority, while the other was superior simply by existing.
Dwarves almost never had anything handed to them, everything they had was built upon themselves or countless generations. They had skills that showed why they were nobility, as they contributed to the society of dwarves to prove their worth. The man in front of her, he had a sharp looking face. Almost like no detail was out of place, not a single brown hair was out of place. And yet, his clothes were anything but superior or clean. He had on casual wear, from the indentations it was clear this man normally wore an apron above them. She had seen similar indentations on Uncle Beast’s clothes, making the signs undeniable, easy to see.
Thinking back, the old man was always the same. Never did he wear anything special, always common clothes that never brought him attention. Having stayed behind, rarely did she see him in public. Times he did bring her along, he was always covered. She attributed this to him being an elf, they didn’t have the greatest of reputation on the continent. Now, when she looked at this new man, she found it hard to look away. Taking a peek at the old man, he flashed her a confident smile. He had the same unmistakable air that made it heard to look away from.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Shortly after the first came a second and third. The third group came with a large amount of hostility. This group was also a duo. Only the arrangement was strange, it was a human and an elf traveling together. The man wasn’t overly tall, nor could he be defined as short. Handsome with one of those playboy smiles. One that made him appear like one of the useless human aristocrat that only knew how to play in a brothel. This man too had that same air as the other two. When their eyes met, she felt an overbearing force different from the dwarf. He nodded at her before looking away dismissively.
As for the other member. No matter how Jessica looked, he looked like a member alright. His eyes were spitting flames. He looked between the old man with a great amount of hate. This hatred followed when he gazed viciously at her with a provoking smile. However, no matter how she looked at the man, it appeared she wasn’t the only one that didn’t belong. Smiling back, she made a noise that drew everyone's attention before spitting on the ground while meeting the eyes of the elf.
Very quickly was a smacking noise as the old man slapped the back of her head with an obvious reprimanding look. Everyone had looked at her with surprise and a bit of unconcealed nervousness. Only at that moment did she realize nobody had said a word and looked away from the elf, clearly furious at her action. From the dwarves to the human man, all of them looked them over at their arrival. Only every single one of them also looked at Leo with undisguised hints of horror. For Beast and the other dwarf, the look of horror quickly went away as it was replaced by fascination. They continued to peek, while the human man didn’t take a second glance. The elf appeared unable to notice Leo in any way.
The fourth group to come filled her with shock. A green skin man with a lazy smile on his face and a yawn walked up with a homeless looking man. When the two appeared, the second and third group looked ready for a fight. The elf met Ken’s eyes once and coughed up a bit of blood before looking at the ground without looking up again. She didn’t feel any mana, however, it was clear he did something. This reinforced her opinion that he didn’t belong. Of the two, Ken glanced at her to acknowledge her existence, while Loki smiled and wildly waved at her before taking off his top hat and bowing like how he imagined a gentleman would. The two actions completely destroyed the already difficult imagine of a gentleman but that somehow fit him well.
Finally, it appeared everyone was there. At some unknown time, something had appeared in the air. She could feel it, and she tried hard not to look up after what Leo experienced. In the end, she had no choice, something pulled her gaze up as it looked onto an intricate chair. While it truly was a chair, the cravings of the wood chair and overall lofty feeling given off clearly indicated this was a throne. Softly floating in the air as a set of crystal jade white feet poked out of a serene black dress. Drawn to the chair and person wearing the dress, she unconsciously looked up.
Seated upon the somehow simplistically wooden chair, the same seat that was clearly an imposing and magnificent throne. A flawless featured face that did nothing but cause the one looking at be enthralled by the beauty. While the bottom of her feet were white like jade, her skin was an obviously healthy tan. She had gloriously green flowing hair that reminded Jessica of the softness of silk. A set of crystal green eyes that seemed to have been painted on a blank canvass. When the two pair of eyes met, everything disappeared as she found herself in a boundless, lush forest.
Only this wasn’t a calm forest, above her head, while on the ground of ancient trees that threatened to block out the sun. They weren’t strong or big enough to block out the pitch black darkness that sprawled overhead. As lightning flashed across that sky, the world was so empty and dark that all that happened was tiny white snakes flashed and dashed across the sky, unable to illuminate the cold and ruthlessly dark abyss. Subconsciously, her head felt like it had been cut off as her eyes dropped from looking up to not just looking at the ground but her very own feet.
Knowing full well she was still breathing by the thing pounding and threatening to escape her chest. Painful as it was, she was soundlessly panting, knowing that the being on that throne had not meant to harm her. If they did, she wouldn’t exist. She was a type of existence that could not be defiled by the looks from the mundane. As a name appeared in her mind subconsciously, they were illustrated to be correct by the next thing that happened.
“”We greet the Will of the World.””
Almost seemingly rehearsed, everyone there spoke at the same time. Voices overlapping as they greeted the being in the throne. The only ones that hadn’t spoken wasn’t just her or Leo. That elf, she couldn’t be completely clear. When they spoke, a large burden seemed to be shifted off her shoulders. As if them speaking drew that being’s attention off her own. Near the end, she could swear she only heard one voice in the direction of the human and elf duo. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the gusto to look up anymore.
“Everwood, why did you call this meeting?” Her voice was both seemingly gentle and thunderously loud. Causing the false impression she was shouting as a gentle whisper drilled itself into her ears. The thundering was by an echo created by no special feature of herself. While all a conclusion she drew herself, Jessica could feel an undisclosed care and love in the voice that was somehow still transferred along with a voice so cold she felt like she was going to freeze just hearing the speaker.
Feeling a gaze on her, she wanted to look up, still in the end she kept her eyes down. A gentle voice she was familiar with spoke words that filled her with warmth to remove any lingering cold, “As per the agreement, signed on your decree. A meeting must be held to transfer our names.”
If Jessica dared to look up, she would see that the elven man, had looked up slightly. There was a fire burning in his eyes as there was a materialized hate coming from his stare while looking at the old man.
Without missing a beat, the old man didn’t even brother glancing at him, “I, Stephen Everwood, appoint my daughter, Jessica Everwood.”