Ignoring the Elvish curses that I understood perfectly, I let Treia the Elven scouts lead us to the city, the smell of lemonade very potent at this point.
I scrunched up my nose, grumbling, “I see why they’re used to keep things away now. Mia’s not enjoying this anymore than I am.”
Mia, the adorable snake, was using my cloak to block out the smell, letting out hisses of annoyance when it didn’t work.
she complained.
As Systie shuddered on top of my head, Treia gave me a strange look. “It’s not that bad? How-?”
I snapped my segmented jaw at her, causing her to blink then realize why it was annoying me so much. “Oh.”
Lucas, who had looked back at that exact moment, stared at me, bewildered. I grinned and snapped my jaw again before Treia stuck her finger between the segments, causing me to writhe uncomfortably. I pulled back and glared at her, poking her spine as she grinned smugly. She let out a suppressed yelp before slapping my hand lightly.
Save me now, Systie whined. I get how bad the smell is now! Stop sharing it with me!
“Nu uh. You don’t get to whine about it; that’s what you get for trying to lord it over us.”
Treia glared at me. “Oh stop it, you-”
She poked between my jaw segments again, causing me to flinch. I poked her back and we devolved into some sort of war.
***
The Human Princess was… very un-Princess-like. That’s the verdict the Elven Queen came to while watching her and the Dark Elf with the third eye and Dragon fool around for half the trip to the Palace until they reached the city itself, where the Princess seemed to poke him one last time before looking up at the gates and seemingly falling into character. The boy, however, seemed to have no qualms with being around Elves that gave him death stares. Even higher Level people who looked out of their Manors to watch him carefully.
However, without warning, he waved at the surveillance device with a smile on his face before it went dark. The Queen attempted to switch devices, but found them all black.
“Interesting,” she mused. “He’s quite aware of his surroundings, huh?”
Her son, however, was fuming after watching the device.
“This girl- who refused me- is traveling with some Dark Elf?!” he raged. “How dare-”
“Quiet yourself,” the Queen snapped, her son going silent immediately. “You don’t even see your own faults, so why do you think she’d marry you?”
“Because Humans would do anything for a higher standing in this world,” he growled.
I cannot imagine an Elf that hated Humans more than him, my Gods, the Queen of the Elves thought, restraining herself from slapping her own face. How’d I even manage to birth a son like him?
Before she could think more upon this, the door to the room she was in opened and a guard quickly moved onto the room and knelt down.
“There was a Dark Elf spotted in the city, Your Highness! We sent forces to stop him but he subdued all of them without effort! What are your orders?!”
“What? You did this without speaking to me first?! He’s with… the… wait, he subdued them? Our Level 100s?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
This must be a miracle. Is this someone who can put my son in his place finally?
“Let him and the Princess in,” she said, relieved.
The man looked up at her blankly. “Eh?”
***
“This is wholly pathetic,” I mumbled. “These are Level 100s?” I asked, gesturing at the groaning, armored men who had many dents in their armor. “I mean, they’re pretty durable, but they would be dead if not for that armor… I think.”
Treia sighed, looking up from the one who’d attacked her and nearly ripped her dress before she’d been able to activate her armor in time. “I didn’t think I could take a Level 100… this is making me wonder how strong I’ll be at that point.” She tossed her sword into the portal to my storage space, watching it longingly.
I heard more armored footsteps in the distance, pulling my eyes away from Mia, who was poking one of the unconscious guards. “More? I’m getting tired of waiting for Level 100.”
Treia gave me an embarrassed look. “Sorry… I still have 27 Levels to go…”
I smiled at her and patted her shoulder. “Meh. I can keep waiting a little longer. Once we get to the same Level, though… Don’t expect me to wait. Anyways, let’s see if these guards are any better-”
“Dark Elf!”
I felt a vein in my forehead nearly burst in irritation.
I spun to the guard and glared at him. “It’s Jason, dammit! Not ‘Dark Elf’, you damned Elves! The hell’s wrong-”
I was muffled as Treia’s wind Elemental, which I didn’t even realize came with us, stuffed my mouth with air. I glared at Treia next, who frowned at me, already back in character.
“I’m sorry about my trainer, he gets offended easily,” Treia apologized as I wrestled with the Elemental.
WHY THE HELL DID I NEVER GET ABYSS TENDRILS OR WHATEVER IT WAS CALLED?! I hissed internally.
(Abyss Tendril, a skill Jason could’ve chosen in his second Tier Up. It was one of the Skills he overlooked. It had the ability to latch onto nearly anything, including Elementals. It could be used to drag things around up to a maximum weight, proportional to the user's Strength Stat. Think of it like Spideman’s webs.)
Eventually, using some very convoluted Runes, I was able to pull the giggling Elemental off my face, giving Treia an annoyed look.
“Now that he’s finished, may we go to the Palace?” Treia inquired, her Elemental floating back over to her.
My ears twitched slightly at this, but I didn’t comment. The guard who’d been standing there looked back at one of her comrades with a confused expression. After a moment, they nodded and turned around, leading Treia, Mia, and I along a path to the Palace.
Well, this is probably going to be interesting, Systie sang. Let’s see this Queen.
~~~
I looked around the palace, which was quite different from the other Palace. I tilted my head, resisting the urge to ask what the name of her home was. I watched the Elves of the Palace watch me warily as I carried a now sleeping Mia in my arms while following a Princess, probably looking pretty suspicious. With a flick of my wrist, my cloak flowed out behind me, looking like my previous one though without the horns that I usually had. I missed my horns; I just felt too unbalanced without them.
Treia, noticing the slight Mana use from me, looked back at me worriedly. I gave her a small wave as I covered Mia slightly, who gripped my shirt while dreaming about what she’d look like after her evolution, which I was still putting off.
Treia nodded at me slightly and from the slight twitching of her spines, I could tell she was a bit nervous.
“You okay?” I asked, moving next to her.
Her hand brushed against mine as she whispered, “No. I don’t know how she’ll react to seeing me again after I rejected her son. I mean, she probably hates me.”
I tilted my head. “I doubt it. She- wait, you came here for him to propose to you?”
She shook her head. “I had to come here for something else, and he suddenly did so. I told him no because he’s a bit… too much to deal with. He has a temper, which I didn’t want to deal with.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“So, if he didn’t have a temper, you would’ve agreed?” I asked, a bit curious.
“Why?”
I shrugged. “Just curious.”
She looked at me strangely for a moment before we came across a pair of doors that our escorts stopped at and slammed their spears into the ground in the most anime way I could possibly imagine.
“We have arrived at the throne room!” she announced, voice loud. “Behave yourselves in front of the Queen, or else.”
I frowned. “Or else what? What’re you going to do?”
The woman glared at me before seeming to remember the guards who’d tried to stop me earlier. “I… uh-”
“Enough of that,” a female voice said, apparently through the door. “You may come inside.”
The door began to open on its own and I scowled. “That kinda defeats the purpose of the door. We’re supposed to open you, not you open yourself-”
Treia elbowed my side, not doing much damage. “Shush.”
“Bu-” I was cut off as Mia copied Treia, elbowing me as well, causing me to nearly keel over. “Point… taken.”
Mia giggled and I pinched her, eliciting a yelp. Before she could retaliate, the doors were all the way open and Treia was already walking forward. I followed behind her, some semblance of respect making me walk a step behind her.
I looked up at the Elven woman on a throne, which was far too big for a person, looking wholly uncomfortable. The moment Treia walked in, she hid her previously uncomfortable expression and looked down at the both of us with a flat expression. I resisted the urge to say something about the chair as I looked at Treia, who’s hand twitched slightly.
On either side of us, there was a line of what I assumed were high Level guards, which Systie confirmed by showing the Levels of a few of them.
Elf - Level 110 | Tier 4
Elves are a race most attuned to the earth around them, specializing in healing or a cross element of Earth and Water they call Plant. Some specialize in Poison, a Water-Death crosselement. This specific Elf is guard who works at the Elven Kingdom’s Palace as part of the elite guard.
Looking back at the Queen, I noticed the boy who was standing next to her, dressed in an itchy looking suit, though he seemed to focus only on me. With a slight frown, I looked at Treia as she spoke.
“Your Majesty, I- we’ve come to see you about an important matter that may involve the-”
Without question, I gave Systie half my current Mana and she disappeared from the top of my head, catching the Queen’s eye for a moment.
“What-”
Information Restricted. Any attempt to reveal crucial Quest information to non-Quest related persons will be punished.
Current Persons that can be spoken to about related Quest : Jason Andromeda, Miana Andromeda, Treia Kia, Julia Willow. All non-Quest related persons must leave.
<...Yes. I need a lot of Mana for it, but I can give a convincing announcement.>
The Queen, or Julia Willow, started at the message and seemed to think about it for a moment. She then sighed.
“Everyone here, leave the room,” the Queen stated. “Now.”
Immediately, the lines of guards filed out of the room, leaving only Treia, Mia, the Queen, Systie, the boy next to the Queen, and me. I stared at the boy for a long moment.
The Queen sighed. “That means you too, Salen.”
Salen glared directly at me. “You trust this Dark Elf? This could be a thought out trick by their kind once again! Last time-”
“This has nothing to do with you. Leave,” the Queen ordered. “I don’t care who you think you are, but you will not disrespect our guests.”
“Not until-!”
I was about to snap something, but Systie hissed,
I frowned and, but closed my mouth, side-eyeing Treia. She shrugged, giving me a helpless look. She then readjusted her dress, clearly not comfortable. While I waited, I played around with my cloak, turning it into a variety of clothes, from a normal t-shirt and jeans, to a suit that perfectly matched the Prince’s. I then thought about the dress that I’d seen Jasmine wear all that time ago.
Systie, clearly understanding my thoughts, altered the cloak for me, making a carbon copy of it, though it was made for me, as a bit of a suit or something. Treia looked at me, confused before her face went red and she looked directly back at the Queen. Frowning, I looked down. I was a bit surprised since I actually looked good. With another thought, I made a matching cloak and let it fall around me.
Looking back up from my short break, I noticed the glare of the boy I assumed was Prince and I waved at him, which I realized was the wrong thing to do. The moment I looked back at Treia, there was a yell and the boy seemed to teleport to me and, at the last moment, I was able to avoid having my torso cut off from my legs, though I was still hit by the longsword he had.
Instantly, I got a notification.
Ailment : Elven Poison (1)
Every four seconds, lose 2% Max Health. You are unable to heal naturally for the duration of this. Can stack 10 times.
Duration : 10 Minutes.
With a frown, I simply switched all my Mana to Void Mana, which immediately killed off the poison, something Systie had taught me to do back in classes.
“Huh. Poison. That’s a bit underwhelming,” I said slowly. “Y’know what, I’ll let it slide this time around, though, next time, I’ll throw you out the room.”
Clearly ignoring my warning, he jumped at me as the Queen began to stand. I sighed.
“Your funeral, I guess.”
Easily dodging his sword, I grabbed it in my now armored hand and shattered it with a simple squeeze. I then grabbed him by the arm and threw him across the room with little effort. Falling backward through a portal, I appeared behind him and kicked him into a wall behind Treia, who didn’t flinch at the sound of him hitting the wall. Before I could do anything else, the Queen stepped next to Treia from the chair.
“Enough,” she commanded, her face completely blank, though I could see some emotion behind the mask of emotionlessness. Thankfulness, maybe.
Seeing this, I shrugged. “Sure. Didn’t get to return the favor, but that’ll do.”
I walked back to Treia’s side, where she glared at me.
“Stop being disrespectful,” she hissed under her breath.
I sighed. “There’s no need to whisper. Plus, he was the one who attacked me. I gave him a chance to stop, which you know I don’t do.”
She seemed to want to complain but instead sighed. “I’m just annoyed that you don’t take potions.”
I understood that she meant that I was physically incapable of using potions without killing myself. Which would be bad.
I pat her head, feeling her spine twitch. “I’m fine. Who cares about potions? Potions aren’t really useful to me anyways.”
“Me.”
I rolled my eyes and removed my hand from her head as there was a clang of a sword against ice from behind me. I felt Mia grow annoyed.
Half a second later, Mia was out of my arms and there was a resounding slap from behind me. I heard a body tumble to the ground and I looked back as Mia hmphed and hopped back into my arms. The boy was groaning on the ground, a surprised look on the Queen’s face, her facade completely broken from the sight of a small girl with horns slapping her son. There were a few moments of silence before the Queen cleared her throat.
“Well… we shall postpone this conversation until later, over dinner, yes?”
Treia groaned, her face in her hands as I pat Mia’s head, giving her one of the hundreds of muffins from my storage space.
~~~
Systie floated around the room, checking for listening devices. I sat on the bed, Mia already dead asleep, clearly having forgotten what happened earlier.
On a whim, I asked Systie, “Why exactly does Mia sleep so much?”
Systie, floating over to me and landing on top of my head, responded, She’s growing. A lot, clearly. You’ve seen how large she’s gotten.
“Yeah, nearly as large as she used to be. Does that mean that she’ll be more active once she gets to her full size for this Evolution?”
Yep. Also, you’re also perfectly in the right for not letting her Evolve yet. If she were to evolve now, she would probably be asleep for nearly the entire day straight, only waking to eat.
“Huh. So her human-ish body isn’t growing, but her Serpent form is,” I muttered, scratching my chin. “So I’m not just refusing her Evolution for nothing.”
I guess you could say that.
“...You don’t agree, do you?”
I do. She responded, unconvincingly.
“Uh huh,” I grumbled, shaking my head, nearly dislodging her. “Anyways-”
Before I could continue, there was a knock on the room door.
It’s a person I can only assume is Treia from that very “non-conspicuous” cloak.
“Oh, come on, Systie!” Treia complained as she opened the door, glaring. “Can’t you just not follow me?”
Jason asked me to follow you and tell him all the details of your private li-
I snatched the eyeball from on top of my head and stuffed her into a drawer, closing it quickly. “That’s for being weird and a liar. I only asked for you to make sure she was not going to be killed or kidnapped at any moment.”
“Why would I be killed?” Treia asked, confused.
I stared at the drawer, knowing that Systie could see through it and was probably looking right back at me. I then let go of the drawer handle and sighed as Systie flew out and flew into the side of my head, seemingly annoyed.
“Anyways, what exactly are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for this dinner or whatnot?” I asked Treia, who watched Mia sleep.
She looked pointedly away from me, nervous. “I mean, yeah, but… it’s not for another few hours or so and I wanted to know if you wanted to go for a walk around the nearby city.”
I tilted my head. “Is the city suspended in the trees?”
She frowned. “Yeah? Why?”
“Then yes,” I said, ecstatic. “But first, I need to make sure this definitely sleeping snake gets into the bath.”
Mia, knowing the game was up, jumped out of the bed with a yelp and ran directly into Treia, who lifted the small thing up.
“You’re right; she kinda smells.”
Mia deflated, glaring daggers at me.
~~~
After an ice bath, I found Treia outside the castle gates, dealing with a Prince who was clearly trying to flirt with her. I carried a very pouty Mia in my arms with Systie in her usual place on top of my head, feeding on my excess Mana.
With half a second’s thought, I simply opened a portal next to Treia, about twenty feet above and hopped through, landing on my feet next to her with a thump.
“What’s happening here exactly?” I asked innocently.
The child-like Prince spun towards me with a snarl. “Who do you think you are?”
I tilted my head. “The one who beat you up? The Bond of the Dragon that slapped you across the face?”
The boy’s (though effectively child’s) face went red as he took a step towards me and seemed like he was going to snap at me until I simply shrugged and looked over to Treia.
“You ready?” I asked her.
She nodded and I simply opened a portal beneath each of our feet and dropped us near the place where we entered the Palace. Mia, who clearly couldn’t help herself, stuck her tongue out at the back of the Prince’s head as we walked into the city.
Once we finally were out of earshot of the Prince, I felt Treia grab my hand and pull me along what looked like a very thick tree branch, looking like she was at home. I let her lead me up and down large branches. Systie pointed out the abundance of Elves that had noticed me and I shrugged.
“What’re they gonna do, stop me-”
I suddenly stopped talking as we went through what looked like a large gateway, entering what was clearly a huge city. All of it suspended in the trees.