It has been 3 months counting from the day of my arrival, my physical fitness is excellent even if Aelynthi can still wipe the floor with me. My inner mana level keeps rising, now at 6 times ambient even though I have stopped cultivating. I think it is related to all of the mana shaping I do, I hope that it stops as I still have many unpleasant hypotheses on the origin and the nature of inner mana. I can afford not cultivating as the source of my strength so far is not dependent on spells but on my ability to recreate modern weapons and I do not think my AMR will fail to kill a rank 2 mage as even crossbows can pose a threat to mages if Aelynthi is to be believed.

What I do need is freedom to conduct larger experiments without interference or a risk of exposing my knowledge. Currently I already have multiple working designs for mana based engines but I am limited by the resources available in this cave. Gathering carbon from the air for a large scale engine would take many weeks if not months, another problem is that oil is needed for the lubrication of the parts. I could try extracting carbon from stone but I do not think it is a good idea to do so in an enclosed environment and in front of a very curious dragon. My guns and their respective parts only need a few drops which I can gather from the little meat the dragoness gives me. It is possible but its like the difference between extracting iron from mud and extracting it from an iron vein. I would very much prefer freedom to do as a please and not have to worry about my actions. I have little choice but to gather my courage and talk to the dragoness.

"Kate, how long do you plan on keeping me here?"

Silence is my answer.

"I can not live like this indefinitely, I need to eat fresh food, even Aelynthi has been affected and she has been here for less than a month."

A few minutes pass.

"You can leave."

I am surprised, just like that? Kate does not wish to share any information about the reasons of why she changed her behavior after her trip or why she is letting me go now... Pushing her to open up would be a bad idea, trying to convince a woman of something or asking her to share her inner thoughts is suicidal, especially so when she can crush you like a bug.

I go over to Aelynthi and try to inform her that we are leaving as she is supposed to be my servant... I am not sure myself, at the very least I will tell her I am leaving.

Aelynthi does not even try to listen to me. I look back at Kate, Kate relays the information to my loyal servant. Aelynthis reaction is similar to a child whose candy has just been taken away from her. As Aelynthi is not Kates student but my ‘servant’, she will have no right to be here when I leave.

I start packing up my things while Aelynthi keeps looking between me and Kate until she accepts the reality and her shoulders slump, after a few minutes of her depression she packs up her belongings. I have no food so I ask for Kate for some rations, she obliges. Now I have a few kg of rations plus the 10 kg of equipment in my back, if you add the 15 kg of armor I am wearing then I feel like a soldier leaving for war. Well, I guess I am.

As I look up where the tunnel is, I understand that I need to make a ladder as Kate has chosen to ignore this detail but with my shaping proficiency it only takes me a few minutes to climb up to the tunnel. Before entering too deeply into the tunnel Aelynthi does some kind of bow and says a few words, I say my own.

"Goodbye, thank you for everything." I hear no answer and start walking down the tunnel.

Finally we exit the tunnel. I see it is still morning so this is a good start. After we climb down to the bottom, the forest floor, I turn around towards Aelynthi and ask if she can understand me via telepathy, she nods.

"This is where we go our separate ways. Goodbye."

"No."

"What do you mean no? You go to the village and I go somewhere else." The mountains would be a good place.

"I am your servant til death do us part." What? Seriously?

"How do I know you do not stab me in the back then?"

Aelynthi shows some anger and answers: "The reputation of elves."

I think I have just insulted all elves... "Will you follow me into danger? Will you listen to me if I send you into danger?"

"Yes, Yes." Interesting, this contract is not as one sided as I thought.

I raise an eyebrow, "Why?"

Aelynthi continues to show slight anger and answers: "The reputation of elves." That explains nothing, I do not even understand the motive behind this contract.

"Can you explain the contract between us."

Now it is Aelynthi turn to be surprised, she asks "You do not know?"

"From where should I know?"

"All mages know."

I resist the urge to facepalm, "Please explain in detail about the contract between us."

"I serve you with absolute loyalty till death do us part. If I die you are obliged to compensate my kin depending on the circumstances, if you die I receive part of your property which is decided by your kin depending on the circumstances. If I betray you my kin is punished accordingly to my betrayal." This contract puts a lot of trust into the fairness of our kin… Does somebody enforce this stuff?

Should I mention my kin is in another world? Does Kate as a teacher count as my kin? Well, nevermind. From what I gather this system was made for young talented short lived mages to whom an older more powerful mage provides his service. The master grows quickly, out grows the servant and dies off. The servant gets the masters knowledge and part of the masters property in the end. Wait, is she considered to be a more powerful mage? Well she is mid rank 1 while I am rank 0, the balance breaker in my situation is that I can make rank 1 and rank 2 artifacts but she does not know that, all she should know is that Kate gave me a rank 2 artifact judging by her previous experience. I need to probe her to see if she knows I can make artifacts.

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**Please note that this is telepathy between a rank 0 and rank 1 mage which would usually not be possible. Thanks to Kathorrunth teaching Aelynthi and Anton they can more or less communicate, so the errors made by Aelynthi are intentional for now. Their ability to communicate will improve quickly over time as Aelynthi has practiced little but is very talented in this regard.**

"Have you learnt of the origin of the artifact in my hands from Kathorrunth?"

"No."

Well it seems that she does not, I will try one more time.

"What is in your opinion the origin of this artifact." I point to my pistol she is most familiar with.

She frowns and thinks for a moment, "Dwarves?"

I guess that is as good of an answer as I can get from her.

"You said absolute loyalty? Even against elves? What about your kin?"

"We are mages, power first, kin are complicated."

Alright, I can understand that. How important is power to her? She does not look like a person that would kill for power. I suppose she expects me to have similar morals as her, isn’t that just naivety, though I would not kill unless it is for my survival.

"Why did you dislike me when we first met."

"Babysit human mage, unworthy to be student of dragon, my wish to be student of dragon."

Yup I pretty much guessed all of that, so simple minded?

"Did you agree to the contract just so you could learn from Kathorrunth?"

She looks away and answers: "Part. Student of dragon worthy to be master." She does feel shame after all, but in small amounts...

Well, now I know a little more about her psyche and maybe just a tiny bit more about mage mentality.

"Do you know that I never agreed to the contract?"

"You gave decision to Kathorrunth."

"No, I did not. She took the choice away from me."

Aelynthi pauses to think. A good minute or so passes before she says: "I contract of servitude form with you now."

I smile and say: "I do not want to."

Aelynthi is stumped and before I can leave she smiles and says: "I tell Kathorrunth."

Now it is my turn to pause, as Kate can be an unpredictable element here. If it was before... I would not even be in this situation but now I can only guess Kate forced this contract on me to protect me? I do not have enough information, thinking positive about other people's motives is not good for survival. For all I know she is here to steal my knowledge as I did not share everything with Kate which may or may not make sense depending on a few unknown factors... Can magic be used to subvert the will of a sentient being long term without negative side effects? How valuable is my knowledge in the eyes of Kate? Does Kate know about the weapon I created? It is possible that Kate was never informed of my artifact... Or in her view me killing a few wolves is nothing.

"Touché"

Aelynthi has a bigger smile now.

"Why are you happy? Why do you even want to serve me?"

"Beat up trash. Barely worthy enough." You want to beat me up more? Worthy enough? I should stop trying to apply logic to her motives...

"If I am not happy with your performance as a servant what can I do?"

Aelynthi looks like I have insulted her, she answers: "Send back to kin."

Now it is my turn to smile again but before I can address her telepathically I dodge a fist to my face.

Aelynthi nods with a slight smile: "Me good job, kin no punish."

So her kin will judge if she did a good job? Can I just permanently order her back? Won't she tell Kate then? Eh, I can not see a solution. Should I ask if her job includes sexual service?.. I think I should stop insulting her for now, as 'til death do us part' may happen earlier if I do so. Most likely it requires consent of both parties and is not part of the contract.

"Why did the elder want you to serve me so much?"

"Politics, me not want marriage, old more powerful mage"

"Does this put me in danger?"

"No, the reputation of elves."

All right, I get it, you guys have an awesome reputation. I sigh look at the beauty in front of me, silver hair, light green eyes, high cheekbones and overall definitely how I would imagine an elf if I was in my old world. I will not even start questioning why my worlds fantasy is this worlds reality...

"Where are we?" I ignore the look she is giving me.

"We are on the outskirts of the Elven Kingdom of Brypeiros."

Alright, now we need to leave this territory and find.... wait, the kingdoms name and her last name are the same.

"Your last name."

"Distant kin."

Bullshit, I could ignore it before but now this experience is to similar to a damn cheap fantasy transmigration novel. I bet my diamond bullets that she is a princess.

I do the most graceful bow I can as I say "Princess"

She shows surprise and then asks "How..?"

"You just told me."

After a few seconds of contemplation she kicks towards me in anger as I jump away. I turn around and start to run as I laugh.

I barely make a few steps before I am on the ground with an elven princess sitting on top of me and pinning one of my arms against my back.

"Don't you dare spread this information, or you shall be persecuted by the crown."

Royalty needs guards, does it not? Even if traveling incognito there should be some guards, but I do not see any around here. So I press on.

"I shall tell every person that listens or does not, every person who can understand me or does not, shall hear me say where Princess Aelynthi is located."

My arm is in incredible pain, probably pulled a muscle, but she has yet to dislocate it. I am released after a few seconds. I clutch my arm in pain and slowly get up and look on with a smile of victory towards an angry face.

"I would suggest you go back to the village and we never hear from each other again."

Her face changes to a face of confusion then to surprise: "You do not want to blackmail me?"

"I am blackmailing you to leave me be!"

Aelynthi pauses to think and decides to pursue the most logical choice "No." Woman and logic do not go on the same road.

I pause and say "I meant to say I am blackmailing you to come with me!"

She laughs and says "Alright." I sigh. At least I made her laugh.

"What if I am trying to trap you and kidnap you?"

"Student of Kathorrunth." ...How is that an argument?

"Even if I go into human territory and tell every mage I see that you are elven royalty?"

Aelynthi smile and answers: "You won't do that, if you do I will just drag you down with me." Eh, yeah that's a really good choice... Back on topic, why is she my servant now?

"Your motivation to become my servant was to hide yourself more deeply and use the backing of a dragon to dissuade whoever is forcing you to hide?"

"You are not as dumb as you look."

I sigh, "Isn't this more of a threat to me now?"

"It is."

"You wanted to use me without me knowing and now you want to use me while I know it."

"What use? It is a fair trade, you get to accompany this princess." She says with a straight face. Girl, if my idea about my adventure here being similar to a novel, you most likely end up as my wife or dead. In conclusion I will spank your butt one day. I sigh again.

"Besides I have a new motive to following you now. I intend to find out why you want to get rid of me so much."

"It is because I dislike stupid girls." I say with an emotionless face.

She puffs up in anger only to exhale and smile at me. She replies: "I am not stupid."

"You, an elven princess, want to follow an unknown human out of elven territory without any protection. How can you not be stupid?"

I barely dodge the staff aimed at my head, before I can feel happy about my new found dodging skills she uses the other end of her staff to destroy my stance... I find myself on the ground looking up at a smiling princess with her staff pointed at me. Her smile is cut short as I use my legs to do what she did to me... this escalates into a training session and her coming with me.