Nathan blinked.
An… elf?
Emi’s white hair was cut short, just above her shoulder. Her form was petite, red eyes staring at Nathan, reminding Nathan vaguely of a puppy. It didn’t help that she kept bouncing off her heels.
“Holy shit, hot elf princesses are a thing,” Chad said.
Nathan turned and glared at Chad. “Seriously?”
Mara’s eyes were on Emi’s hair. She had a look of idle curiosity on her face. “Weird.”
Emi stepped closer to Nathan, leaning in. Nathan tilted his body back.
What is she doing?
“You’re not elves. But you’re not orcs either. What are you?” Emi said.
“We’re human. And can you please step back?” Nathan said.
Emi hurried away from Nathan. She rubbed the back of her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve just never seen creatures like you before.” Her eyebrows furrowed together. “But you’ve heard of my kind. You knew what we were.”
“There are stories about pointy-eared humanoids in our myths,” Chad said. “I think it’s just a funny coincidence. But how are you speaking English…?”
“Ah, the system must be translating everything!” Emi said. “The old legends mentioned something about that.”
“The old legends?” Chad said
“From our first time through the Nine Circles.”
Nathan’s brain fritzed.
First time?
Before anyone could say anything, Mara spoke up. “Do the old legends mention anything about guns?”
“Guns?” Emi tilted her head. “Do you mean that odd magic crossbow you have?”
Mara’s jaw dropped.
“Y-you don’t know what a gun is—!?”
Chad held up a hand. “Your species went through the Nine Circles and survived?”
Emi nodded up and down slowly. “It was thousands of years ago. Some of our people believed that it was nothing more than a myth. But, uh… they don’t believe that anymore.”
“Okay, we’re getting off-topic,” Nathan said. “Can we redo the introductions? I think we’re going all over the place.”
“Yes, of course! As I said, my name is Eminia Laplanta. I am the last of my lineage and heir to my people.”
“Why are you the last?” Mara said. “Don’t you have any brothers or sisters?”
Nathan winced as the atmosphere took a nose dive. Emi looked at the ground.
“I’d rather not talk about that,” she said.
Chad clapped his hands together. “Right, let’s move to a different topic. So, you’re an elf?”
“Indeed!” She brightened. “I am unsure where to start telling you about myself. Ah—I was born third in line for rulership. I live in a castle with lots of servants. I used to, anyway. I spent my days preparing for an official position in the court and practicing magic.” She awkwardly laughed. “And then the apocalypse happened and now I’m here.”
“W-wait, magic?” Nathan said.
“Yes, magic. Why would you ask—” She gasped. “You cannot, can you?”
Nathan slowly nodded. “That’s… not something we have, yeah.”
Emi sighed. “What a shame. Magic is such a wonderful thing.” She perked up. “But if the legends are true, you should be capable of magic now.”
Are skills a type of magic? I’ll need to ask her that later.
“How did you end up surrounded by a bunch of raptors?” Nathan said.
“Raptors?” Emi hummed. “That’s what they’re called? Yes, well, I just escaped from the tutorial. My escort did not come with me, evidently. I was taken off guard by those animals—which is why I’m very grateful for the assistance you gave me.”
Nathan was about to respond when she gasped dramatically.
“Heavens! I don’t even have your names! Please, let me know who saved me so I can thank you all appropriately.”
Chad crossed his arms and threw his head back. “The name’s Chad Mann. Not to brag, but I can bench 200. My DMs are open, you interested?”
She squinted her eyes.
“Were you invisible?” she said.
Chad froze. “Pardon me, honeybuns?”
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t see you during the battle. Do you have some sort of invisibility spell? Can you teach me?”
Chad melted into the ground. “Never mind me, guys. I’ve just been killed. It’s over.”
Nathan ignored Chad.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Mara stuffed her revolver into her inventory. “I’m Mara! And if you ever want to learn how to fire a pistol, I’m your gal. Hell, I’ll even give you a gun right now—“
“Erm, let’s not give a pistol to the elf girl who’s never even seen one before,” Nathan said.
Emi smiled. “A pleasure to meet you, Mara. I’m unsure about these guns you tell me of, but I’d love to learn when we have more time.” Her attention turned to Nathan. She didn’t say anything and looked over him from top to bottom.
“You rescued me earlier,” she said.
Huh, she’s looking at me really intently.
“Uh, yeah. Sorry about the harpoon throw. It was kind of risky, I know,” Nathan said.
“No, don’t be sorry. You saved me from grievous injury.” She looked at his arm. “May I ask how you lost your…?”
Nathan’s lips narrowed into a thin line. “A monster.”
“I see.” Her tone was noticeably calmer than earlier in the conversation. “I’m sorry. I wish that things were different. You don’t deserve this.”
Nathan reared back as if struck.
Too sincere!
“Thanks,” he said. “I appreciate that.”
“I still don’t know your name.”
“I’m Nathan. Nathan Lee.”
Her staff dropped out of her hands.
“THE Nathan Lee?”
“Yes?”
She reached forward and grabbed his hand.
Excuse me what the f—
“So not only was I rescued by a hero, this hero just so happens to be the strongest person in the apocalypse!” she said. “It’s just like a storybook!”
Chad (having recovered from Emi’s emotional attack) stared at Nathan.
“You lucky bastard…” he said.
Emi dropped his hand and clasped her fingers together in a pleading gesture. “May I travel with you? As you can see, I’m quite defenseless. I promise I’ll be of aid—I can teach you to harness your newfound magic. And I will, of course, assist you in finding a Pandora!”
Chad ducked behind Emi and hurriedly put his hands into a ‘time-out’ gesture while shaking his head quickly.
I think he doesn’t want her on the team.
Nathan turned back to Emi. “Can we have a second to discuss it?”
“Of course,” she curtsied again. “I will wait here for your group to come to a decision.
----------------------------------------
The three walked over the edge of the primeval forest and gathered into a huddle.
“So, we can’t let her join us,” Chad said.
Nathan tilted his head. He sounded so confident.
“Why?” he said.
“Don’t you remember the article in the help page?” Chad said. “It mentioned competing with other races. I’m, like, 90% sure that only one race is getting out of here. The rest are going to be killed or something.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Nathan said.
“We don’t. I bet the cute elf girl thinks it means one race is getting out. Even if she doesn’t believe it now, what about the third or fourth circle? We shouldn’t risk it it.”
Nathan looked over at Mara. She shrugged.
“I like her. After all, she wants to learn about using a gun. Someone like that can’t be a bad person.”
Nathan turned and stared at Mara before shaking his head.
“She mentioned finding the Pandora,” Nathan said.
“And how is she going to do that?” Chad said. “Like, there’s got to be a plan or something before I can believe her. And like I said, I just don’t see how we can trust her.”
Nathan pursed his lips. Chad made a pretty compelling point. Even if everyone could walk away from the Nine Circles, the text in the article had been so ambiguous that people would inevitably resort to violence.
Barely 3% into this mess and everyone’s gonna be planning how to backstab each other.
“I think we should tell her our concerns,” Nathan said. “Give her a chance to defend herself.”
Mara snickered. “She already knows, silly.”
“How could she possibly know that?” Chad said.
Mara reached her hands up and gestured at her ears. Chad’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape.
“Yeah, that makes sense… and I’m surprised you’re the one who pointed it out,” Chad said. “She’ll probably deny it though.”
The three separated and walked over to Emi.
“So, Emi,” Chad said. “We’ve been discussing things and we have some concerns—“
“I promise that I won’t betray you!”
Nathan stared at her.
She laughed nervously and waved her hands in front of her. “I’m sorry. You were right, I can hear you. But I swear I’m not planning to betray you, I would never do that!”
“We can’t believe you,” Chad said. “It’s not that you seem like a bad person, but we just don’t know for sure.”
“W-wait! At least give me a chance! Can I at least have the opportunity to gain trust before breaking it?”
Chad cocked an eyebrow. “So you’re planning to break our trust?”
Emi’s mouth froze.
“Uh…” She dug her hands into her white hair and curled up into a ball. “No! I didn’t mean it like that!”
Nathan stuck his hand into his pocket.
I kind of feel bad for her.
“I think we should let her come with us,” Nathan said.
“Really?” Chad frowned. “Dude, it’s not a good move.”
“For all I know, you guys could be planning to betray me,” Nathan said. “I could be planning to betray you. But we’re willing to set that aside. I don’t see how this is any different.”
Chad reached up and scratched his head. “I mean, I guess so…”
Emi sprang up and clapped her hands together. “You said you wanted a plan for finding a Pandora, right?” she asked. “Well, I have one!”
She pulled up her quest window in front of everyone.
Class Quests
[Obtain ‘Mana Sensing’ (Bronze)]
[Obtain ‘Raging Fireball’ (Bronze)]
[Obtain ‘Waterbolt’ (Bronze)]
[Obtain ‘Earth Shards’ (Bronze)]
[Obtain ‘High Jump’ (Bronze)]
“Mana sensing?” Nathan said.
“Yup!” She closed the window. “These ascension artifacts give off an enormous amount of mana. If I have a stronger Mana Sensing ability, then I should be able to detect it, even if it’s a hundred leagues away.”
Chad’s eyes lit up at the plan before they dimmed.
“Wait, but what are the quest requirements?” Chad said.
“I have to absorb three mana stones. I’m not totally sure how I’ll absorb them, but I’ll figure it out when I get there.”
“…I have no idea what those are,” Chad said.
“They’re little stones filled with condensed mana. Mages use them when they run out of mana in their bodies. They’re also used for lots of spells.”
Chad rubbed his chin with his index and thumb. “And how would you find these mana stones?”
“They’re super common! Most elves have at least one, and the monsters here should drop them. If we run across another group of people, I bet they’d have some.”
Nathan shrugged. “I mean, it’s at least worth pursuing, right? What’s our alternative otherwise for getting a Pandora?”
Chad looked up at the sky and then down at the ground. He hummed, tapped his foot, and did a few other gestures. Finally, he sighed.
“Fine, I’ll sign off on it,” he said. “We need a baddie on the team anyway. Uh, no offense, Mara.”
“I’m not sure what that means,” said Mara. “But I have no objections to the plan.”
Nathan stuck out his hand. “Welcome to the team, Emi.”
She stared at his hand for a bit and tilted her head.
“What are you doing?”
Oh yeah, she has no idea what a handshake is…
----------------------------------------
When Nathan had explained what a handshake was to Emi, she enthusiastically grabbed his fingers and nearly ripped his arm out of his socket. Nathan made a mental note to be more careful about explaining this stuff to her.
After the fact, they’d ended up creating a camp. Nathan had proposed sleeping inside his Soulbound Town, but Chad had objected.
“What if a bunch of monsters end up hanging outside the portal door, and we walk right into an ambush, bro?” Chad had said.
Nathan hesitantly ended up agreeing. Mara and Emi didn’t say anything. Emi was fine with it because she was used to sleeping under the stars—odd for a princess, but normal for an elf?—while Nathan had no clue about Mara. Maybe she used to camp.
The next morning while Chad was still sleeping, Nathan pulled Emi aside.
“You said you’d offer help with magic, right?” he said.
Emi nodded. “Yes, is this about all the raging magic inside of you?”
“Magic? Is that referring to my skills?”
“Skills, magic. It’s all the same name for different sides of the same thing.” She smiled. “Of course, I can help—I should be able to give you a better grasp on your new skills.”
“New skills? No, I’m trying to get a skill. It keeps saying stuff about contemplating the flow of water.”
Her jaw dropped.
Nathan blinked.
“Are you okay?” he said.
“Y-you’re a cultivator!?”