Author note: What is this? The author of broken promises finally uploads a chapter?!
Yeah, sorry about the massive delay of the chapter, it's not like I was busy or anything, I just had writers block. Literally wrote two paragraphs then had no idea what to write for like two weeks. I realised it was getting close to a month without a chapter, and I didn't want that again so I forced myself to write.
So if anything feels out of place then that's the reason and I'm sorry.
Don't think that means I haven't been doing anything with my spare time though, I've been working on a document called 'The Daily Schedule of a Mushroom' which is just a plan for every day up till the last day of this book. A lot of people have been asking if I had it all planned out, and whilst I did in my head I wanted to write it down so I won't forget. I've also been working a little bit on something else, but I'll talk about that at the end of the chapter as well as the poll from the previous chapter. Anyway, on to the chapter. Please enjoy.
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~Day 91~
I was still groggy after just waking up by the time we reached open water, the island was still entirely visible behind us, but this time it was the wild half that we saw. The flora of the island was a cross between my home Islands and the Central Continents. With a few warm island trees scattered amongst the north's heavier thicker trees.
Those of us not too used to sailing spent most of the day getting used to the swaying all over again. It's amazing how just one day on dry land can throw you off balance.
Whilst I felt like I would throw up at any moment, Verros happily sat down fishing with some of the crew. On top of that the further south we get the better weather we get, we haven't see even a spot of rain today, it's perfect fishing weather... I think. Of course being the time of year it is there's no doubt we will see some more rain. I did live in the Dead Isles for nineteen years, I know it rains sometimes.
Since there was no way I would get any training done today I joined Lord Avalas in the captains cabin, he once again sat down in front of maps and notes. Hawkwood was, unfortunately currently in charge of the wheel so he wasn't with us. Also Alvir was too occupied with swimming again, so it was just me and the old lord.
"Was there something you wanted Ellena?" He asked, his usual cheeky smile plastered on his ageing face.
I pulled up the largest chair in the room and sat next to him. "Nothing really, I just don't have anything to do." I sighed.
Avalas pulled a fake sour expression. "Ehhhh?~ No fun, I thought you'd come to ask me if Ballud was single or something!"
I felt my face scrunch up. "I've already asked him that." I mumbled reluctantly.
His face lit up. "Really?! I'm rooting for you two!~" He cackled. After observing my embarrassed expression for a moment his face turned a bit more serious. Well, he still had a smile, but he always has one. "Tell me Ellena, how much do you know about Dark Elves?"
I blinked a few times surprised by the sudden questions. "Well, as much as any other person really? Although I guess I know a bit more thanks to Ellephwen and Samora."
"What do you know about Dark Elves?" He asked.
Oh I see, so that's why he's talking about Elves. "I know that they're born from a Demon King and a Light Elf Queen, my knowledge doesn't extend massively beyond that." I answered.
He nodded his head. "I see. Well, do you remember when young Verros asked us why the Dark Elves were targeting us?"
"Yes, you said you didn't know as Dark Elves are naturally even stronger Demons." I replied also nodding my head.
He scratched his head. "Well, the truth is we do know why we're being targeted."
I felt a pang of pain in my heart. "I see... You didn't know if you could trust me, huh?" Just that one sentence made me feel quite depressed.
"No no no! It's not that at all. Well, I suppose it could be interpreted that way?" Avalas cleared his throat. "Anyway, whilst it is true Dark Elves are born naturally more powerful than Demons, it's not by much. You see Dark Elves have the strength of Demons, but with the potential of High Elves, the most powerful of the Elven clans. So whilst they're only born a little stronger, their growth is the fastest of any Elven Clans. They can eventually even surpass the power of Volcanic Elves."
I furrowed my brow. "So what does that mean exactly?"
"You're probably under the impression that all Elvish clans live together in one group, correct?" I nodded. "Only Lake Elves do that, all the other Elves have several... families scattered around the different continents. The Dark Elves of the Dead Isles are one such family."
"I'm still confused." I replied, my eyes narrowed.
"The Dark Elves of the Dead Isles target us because they're too weak to target the Demons or the powerful free city of Libertas. It's much easier to target normal human villages."
"I thought you said they're more powerful than Demons, how could they be weak?" I asked, no less confused.
"No, I said they're born stronger, but if they grow lazy from living on a now lifeless isle and not having to fight thanks to most beings leaving them alone what do you think would happen?" He asked a grin on his face.
A spark lit in my head as I came to the realisation. "They wouldn't train, they would just stay with the same strength they were born with. Meaning any normal Demon that trains would end up stronger than them. Leaving the Demons a no go."
Avalas nodded his head with a satisfied smile. "And meaning that the free city filled with powerful mercenaries of every race would be a no go also."
I sighed satisfied, then proceeded to still be a little confused. "That doesn't explain why you didn't tell me, or why they're raiding in the first place."
Avalas shrugged his narrow shoulders. "Well, we honestly don't know why they're raiding us, especially now of all times. Could be that the previous family head died somehow and the new one wants them to be fierce warriors again, or it could be they're running out of resources on the island." He shrugged his shoulders whilst sighing. "As for why we didn't tell you. We just didn't know how you would react, we were worried you might get reckless and try to fight their entire clan or something, originally we planned to tell you afterwards so you wouldn't try and fight other Dark Elves, but I think we can trust you. I know you wouldn't do something so stupid." Avalas smiled gently.
I averted my gaze, feeling a little guilty. I am very reckless, but it doesn't matter how strong the opponent is, I just love battling. I can't exactly tell him that though can I? If I don't hold myself back when I reach there he's probably going to be disappointed. Well, it is true I wouldn't fight them unless I have a reason...
After the conversation, I sat by Avalas whilst he planned his route through the Demons Territory. I don't know any of the towns or settlements he keeps talking about though. All Demon settlement names seem to be sharp sounding. Like 'Rokil' or 'Deratik'. He told me that's just the way the old Demon Tongue is, even though almost no Demon actually speaks it anymore, they name almost everything using it.
...
A few more hours passed and it was night time. I stayed up late to watch the stars again, I think whilst I'm on this ship this will become a habit. I had Verros and Alvir join me, Verros told me that in the Mountains you could see a very similar sight on certain nights, but never on the level of what we were looking at.
After a short while, we both headed to our respective hammocks and went to bed.
~Day 92~
I felt stable on my feet today, at least more stable than yesterday. So I asked the soldiers if they wanted to train with Verros and I again. They agreed readily, thanks to my Earthen Armour they can hit me without risk of damaging me or the ship, it's just a shame that I can't go all out, I don't have enough precision with Skull Crusher to risk using it on the ship. I don't want to sink us in the middle of the ocean.
I kept up the Earthen Armour for a few hours, it's a good way to gauge the power of the soldiers on this ship. I've found a few, including Verros hold out to some degree when attacking. They are the elites of a Nobles army after all, they're bound to have above average strength. Even when they hold back they still often pierce my armour, in my previous life I never encountered humans as strong as these, then again I barely left the village. The strongest person in the village was by far the father of the Dwarf family, there weren't any stand out humans.
I sat down on the ships railing to take a breather, using my magic for that long without a break is really exhausting. "I heard Lord Avalas told you about the Dark Elves." Said Hawkwood, who sat down beside me. After a slight pause I nodded my head in response. "Sorry, about that." He apologised with his usual stiff expression.
I giggled. "You could make it sound more sincere."
He sighed. "Sorry about that too." I think his expression actually turned a little sad, it was cute.
"It's fine, although after thinking about it, I can't say I exactly understand his reasoning." I told him.
He lightly raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, to me it makes more sense to have told me about the weakness of this family of Dark Elves, regardless of how much you trust me."
Hawkwood scratched his recently shaven chin. "Why's that?"
"Well first off, what if he didn't tell me, and I assumed that all Dark Elves were on that level? Sure he said he was planning to tell me after I'd met them regardless, but who knows when I'll next see him? What if I met another family of Dark Elves on the way to the Demons Queens castle and they weren't a friendly one?" I paused to gauge his reaction, which was a difficult thing to gauge on him. "Secondly, knowing all the facts would give someone a better grasp of the situation and surely make them less reckless?"
Hawkwood looked me in they eye then sighed. "Whilst I agree with your first reason, the second on depends on the person." Hawkwood sat quiet, watching the soldiers train for a while. "You've probably noticed, but Lord Avalas is hard to agitate, yes?"
"Yeah." I replied.
Hawkwood carried on. "He doesn't have looks, he didn't even have position when he was younger. He rose up to be a close adviser to the Queen due to his intelligence and ability to stay calm in any situation... Except when it comes to those he loves. He's still mostly calm, but he has a tendency to overthink things, overanalyze situations."
Love... Wait. "Ellephwen.."
Hawkwood nodded. "Yes. You're her daughter, he probably just thought too hard on the situation and got a bit muddled. That doesn't excuse me not correcting him, but I didn't really think about it. It didn't really bother me either way... Well, before at least."
What did he mean by that last bit? No wait ignoring that I feel as though I completely forgot about something. "I completely forgot! If he's in love with Ellephwen why is he married? Isn't that cruel to his wife?"
Hawkwood eyes widened, at least I think they did, it was a minuscule change. "You know in some Kingdoms polygamy isn't only legal it's also widely practised? Loving more than one person isn't impossible you know? He cares just as much about Lady Avalas as he does about Lady Ellephwen. Besides, it's not like he has a chance with Ellephwen.
"Ugh." That's true, I can't fault the logic, but I feel as though his closest guard should be a bit gentler.
"L- Lady Ellena, have you recovered enough to carry on." One of the soldiers had run over. He seemed a little out of breath, it's good that he's so enthusiastic, but maybe he should take a rest first. Besides Verros is still there, and he's nothing to sniff at.
"Alright, I'm coming." I replied, just as I stood up however a thought popped in to my head. I turned to face Hawkwood. "Why don't you join us? You haven't joined us the entire journey."
Just as the words left my mouth I heard a chorus of complaints and flat out NO's from the various soldiers around us. Hawkwood stood up motioning his eyebrows to the denials. "That's why."
Hmm... Are they scared of him? Should they be scared of their own captain I wonder.
Hawkwood cleared his throat. "Still, I've noticed you're always practising defence. Some on the men could take your attacks, at least a little."
I shrugged. "I don't want to hurt them."
"Ma'am, I understand what you're saying, but that wounds my pride." One of the soldiers piped in.
Hawkwood stood and strode to the centre of the group, many of which looked terrified at the idea. He turned to face me. "Since you seem to want to go all out, then come at me."
I raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
He nodded. "Don't worry, go all out. I can take it."
Well. I can't exactly use Skullcrusher, if I swing too wildly I could hurt someone or damage the ship... I guess I'll just to punch him then?
I slowly made my way to him, all the soldiers around us stopped their mock battles, even Verros stopped to watch.
I pulled back my fist, and aimed straight at his chest. The wind circled around my first as it flew through the air, and as it connected with Hawkwood chest the air around us vibrated. A strong wind blew everyone's hair and billowed the sails rocking the ship.
However, as the shaking settled down and the wind dissipated, still stood in front of me with an unchanging expression was Hawkwood. "I told you to go all out... Next time don't hold back."
EHHH!? It's true that I held back, but that punch would have even sent Kol flying. The soldiers around me reacted knowingly nodding their heads. Verros blinked a few times in surprise.
I took a deep breath. "Okay, let me try again." The guard captain nodded.
I pulled back my fist, and threw it again. With full force behind my swing. As he caught the fist mid air, the ship around us shook violently.
Wait... He caught my fist this time..? I looked towards the hand that held mine. If this were any other situation I would probably be blushing... "Much better, you have a lot of strength." Hawkwood told me entirely unshaken. "Ready for more?"
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
After I stared at his hand for a few seconds longer... I nodded my head. "Good." He replied.
...
A few hours passed by until we finally stopped. Over the hours Hawkwood gave me several tips and pointers for fighting hand to hand. Skills aren't the only thing that factors in to your ability to fight. Still, it really surprised me, throughout the entire session I didn't land another single hit after the first. He blocked everyone with one hand behind his back without even blinking. What kind of monster is he?
...Hmm, I wonder. I sat next to him in the kitchen as he was eating alone, there was something I wanted to ask him. "Are you a High Human?" I asked, unblinking.
His eyes genuinely widened as he spluttered his drink. He took a quick breath and his expression turned back to normal. "How do you know about High Humans?"
Oh yeah, it's not a well know thing is it? "Ellephwen told me once. If Humans evolve they become High Humans who have power comparable to God Attribute monsters."
He sighed. "If there were any High Humans alive at the moment do you really think we would be worrying about Lavias so much?"
..."Oh yeah." That is a good point.
His face looked troubled. "I'm not one to brag, but I am strong. Probably the second strongest man in the Kingdom."
Eh? Second strongest. "There's someone stronger than you?"
Hawkwood closed his eyes and nodded. "Captain Roland. The guys a serious monster. He's not even 30 and his strength surpasses most reincarnated beings. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the strongest man on the continent."
...That gentle uncle? The strongest on the continent. I let out a deep sigh, "I don't remember humans being so powerful."
Captain Hawkwood took a sip of his drink. "They're not. We're talking two individuals in a kingdom of millions."
"Still... It seem like every human I meet is a monster..." I replied dejected.
"Do you really think that? I'll admit Kol is strong, if there was a ranking for 'strongest warriors in the Kingdom' he would be in the top ten, but did any of his men give you trouble? Do you think any of the soldiers on this ship other than me could win against you in a real fight?" I shook my head. "Exactly, it's not that humans are strong, it's just you happened to have met the strongest in you brief stay in the Kingdom. I don't know whether that's good or bad luck though."
...
I came away from the conversation feeling refreshed, if I've already met the most powerful warriors in the Kingdom of Ashes then I don't have to worry about meeting anymore... At least until I get to another Kingdom. I mean, there must be a reason why the Queen is worried about the others, I doubt Ashes in the only country with a few powerful warriors. Even if Roland is the most powerful on the continent he's not immortal.
Hmm... I wonder where Verros would rank on that 'Strongest warriors in the kingdom' list? I'd hope it would be pretty high.
~Day 93~
When everyone was awake Lord Avalas gathered us at the helm of the ship with an almost serious face. By his side stood Hawkwood arms behind his back. For some reason he was wearing his full armour and had his weapon on his back.
Avalas raised his hand up for silence. "I've called you to meet this morning as I have something I must warn you about. As you all know thanks to the Krakens corruption the sea around the Demons Continent is teeming with sea monsters. However some of you may not know that the corruption has also spread north, to a certain degree. We have now passed in to at least lightly corrupted waters, so I ask you to keep your equipment on at all times from now on. We don't know when or if we'll be attacked."
"Didn't you say that we wouldn't have to worry this far north?" I raised my voice so he could hear me.
Avalas shook his head. "No I said it wouldn't reach the Dead Isles. The waters too shallow for anything deadly to live there."
After saying that he dismissed everyone. The soldiers went to get themselves equipped, as did Verros and I. I also told Alvir he couldn't swim today, or for a while. He whined for quite a while after that.
For the rest of the day we carried on our training routine, Hawkwood partnered up with me in his full gear, he wasn't any slower in it. What was weirder was that my fist couldn't even scratch his gauntlets, I don't know what they're made of, but it's not any metal I know of.
By the time night rolled around no monsters had shown up, just in case Hawkwood ordered his men to take shifts overnight. Whilst I once again spent a few hours watching the nights sky, when ever there aren't any clouds I want to see as much as it as possible. When I'm back on land I wont be able to see this.
When I finally got in to bed Alvir was still being a bit grumpy, but he got on the hammock regardless. With a smirk I apologised to him, then tried to catch some sleep.
~Day 94~
Another day of just training and mock battles for most of the crew, it seems to have become a regular thing on this ship. I once again joined up with Hawkwood, whilst Verros trained with various soldiers and even a few sailors that decided to join in. I don't know why, hut I feel as though Verros leaves whenever I'm with Hawkwood....
Well, I can guess why, but he must know we're not an item as such. When I'm trying to punch him it isn't exactly flirting. I won't deny that he is kind of hot when we're training... Also yesterday thanks to the heat and being in full armour he was sweating by the end of it which was also nice..... How-however that is unrelated, it's just exciting to be able to punch with my full force. He's also helping me actually learn to fight properly, or at least fist fight. I'm learning how to dodge more attacks too.
I still can't believe that Roland is supposed to be more powerful than him though, it's terrifying. I'm glad I ended up being on their side.
Alvir, who had cheered up significantly since yesterday watched us training intently. His tail shook happily every time I took a five minute break to come a stroke him.
As evening began there had still not been a monster sighting. Well, Lord Avalas did say it's a small chance, we are on the very outskirts of the Krakens influence.
Since it was another clear night I spent it stargazing with Alvir and Verros. Verros had his new fishing rod with and spent the time fishing with a calming smile on his face.
Since it was a good opportunity I decided to set some thing straight. "You know, you don't have to be so courteous."
"Hmm?" He replied.
"I mean for me and Hawkwood. We... We're not lovers or anything." My face turned a little red just imagining it.
Verros didn't look up from his fishing. "I know, but you want to be."
I scratched the back of my head then let of a nervous laugh. "Well, you're not entirely wrong."
He finally turned to face me, a sad smile on his face. "I just think you should enjoy yourself... Whilst you can. I may not act like it, but I think a lot about what you told me. About the dangers of this King Lavias." The wind blew his thick tied up hair softly.
"What about you? Shouldn't you also enjoy yourself whilst you can?" I asked. The guilt in my voice was probably a little to obvious.
"Ellena. I came with you out of my own choice, remember that. Don't feel guilty about what's happened.... Or about what might happen in the future." He turned back to fishing.
We just sat there for what must have been over an hour, he managed to catch a few fish. Which Alvir happily ate up. I wonder if it's safe for him to fish in monster infested waters anyway?
Later that night when I finally got in to bed I thought about the last thing he said. 'What might happen in the future'... I can guess what he was implying... I just don't want to think about it.
~Day 95~
The entire ship was awakened early in the morning from a soldiers yelling, we were all panicking as we rushed to get in to our armour and rush outside. However, contrary to our expectations of seeing a towering monster however, there was just a lone ship. Far off in to the distance.
"I was wondering if this would happen..." Avalas commented with a more grim look that usual.
"What's dat?" Verros asked rubbing his eyes. His armour wasn't even on properly, how long did he stay up after me?
"It's a Dark Elf ship, off to raid my coastline..." Avalas' eyes narrowed.
Dark Elves... Yeah, I can see it now, with my improved vision I can make them out... Wow, yeah they're definitely Elves... All beautiful, black and silver hair, dark skin and dark armour... Some of them were looking at us. "They know we're here... Should we attack first?" I asked.
Avalas shook his head. "No, we should only act in defence."
"Why? Aren't they going to attack your coast?" I complained. Surely they should stop them.
"We can't risk it." Hawkwood said as he walked over to stand at Avalas' side. "We have a mission, if you can succeed and stop them on the islands, then good. But that's not our mission, we have to secure the Demons alliance so we can't take any unnecessary risks. Besides, my men there will be ready for the raid this time, we think we've cracked their raiding pattern.
I hesitantly nodded my head. It just feels a little weird, waiting for them to attack. They're right there, one of our enemies...
However that's what we did, we waited. It felt like hours passed in minutes as the Dark Elves ship slowly drew past us at a distance, never getting closer. Until finally they disappeared in to the distance behind us...
"Hmm..." Avalas commented stroking his small beard with distant eyes.
I turned to face him. "What is it?"
Avalas snapped out of what seemed to be deep thoughts. "It's just... They didn't attack us... If they want to raid humans why didn't they attack us?"
"Maybe they didn't want to risk it with an unknown vessel?" I guessed.
Avalas shook his head. "No, I think it's something different... Maybe what they're doing isn't by choice... just a thought though." He added at the end shrugging his shoulders.
... Not by choice... Could that be true... I looked at the spot on the horizon their ship used to be. Slowly, we all dispersed to go back to our daily activities.
I spent the rest of the day with Verros who once again sat on the railing fishing, I watched the sky fly past and played with Alvir. No one really felt like mock battles today, just standing there staring at an enemy vessel is exhausting. Even Hawkwood got on with light official work instead of anything else.
I saw a few sailors glance to the back of our ship a few times to make sure the Dark Elves didn't sneak up behind us.
Either way I went to bed feeling a bit worse that I have for the past few days. Not even the beautiful night sky could shake the feeling. The soldiers were on double guard tonight, as they watched for two different kind of threats.
The worse thing, however was that I felt disappointed. I wanted them to attack, so I could level, so I could get stronger.... Am I really that much of a battle maniac?
[Name: Ellena]
[Age: 94 Days]
[Species: Virga Ferrea, Dryad]
[Height: 7'-3"]
[Sex: Female]
[Title/s: Kin of Ellephwen, Wolfmother.]
{Level: 59]
[Health: 6357/6357]
[Mana: 1532/1532]
[Stamina: 5746/5746]
[Hunger: 5746/5746]
[Attack: 5188]
[Defence: 7358]
[Magic Attack: 1616]
[Magic Defence: 3098]
[Skills: [Pain Resistance lvl 10 (Max)] [Poison Resistance lvl 8] [Mind Resistance lvl 2] [Venom Resistance lvl 7] [Night vision lvl 10 (max)] [Amplified Vision lvl 8] [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 60}] Up! [tough stomach lvl 7] [Unarmed Combat Expert lvl 7] Up! [Polearm Journeyman lvl 7] [Demifoot lvl 3] Up! [Warriors Heart lvl 39] Up! [Warriors Will lvl 25] [Warriors Strength lvl 27] Up! [Greater Regeneration lvl 4] [Guardian lvl 8] [Dryads Charm lvl 8] [Skinning lvl 5] [Tanning lvl 4] [Leatherworking lvl 4] [Carving lvl 2] [Earth Magic lvl 7] Up! [{Wolfmother lvl 7}]]
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Author notes: So there ya go, a bit of a glance in to the strength of Hawkwood and a talk about the strength of humans in general. (Some people seem a bit confused about the strength of humans.)
Anyway on to the poll. I am going to attempt Ellephwen first as she won, but to save on doing unnecessary polls I will then go on to Alvir, then Hawkwood etc, etc. Basically I'll do all of the ones on the previous poll, then do another poll with another set of characters and do them in order. Also as usual I was surprised about the results of the poll, for some reason I was expecting Samora or Verros to win, I don't know why though.
Finally, I mentioned that I was working on something else as well. I'll get on to that, but first if you're only interested in the Daily Diary, the following few paragraphs don't concern you. So you don't have to read this as you won't miss out on anything.
So, to begin with if you're a fan of my Star Wars fanfiction you'll be disappointed. I'm not stopping it permanently, but I haven't uploaded a chapter in months anyway so it's go on hiatus. The reason I'm putting it on hiatus is so I can write something else, you see I want to concentrate on daily diary, so I only want one side project at any time. I want to try a lot of different story styles, different settings etc to see what I'm best at, to improve as a writer.
So yeah, I've been working on a new fiction (well planning I haven't written a thing yet, just coming up with characters and stuff), an original one instead of a fanfiction like my previous side project. This wont effect the main fiction at all, just as the Star Wars fanfic didn't which is why I said it wont effect those purely interested in Daily Diary, they can completely ignore this.
Anyway, I won't say much about, all I say is what it's called, or at least it's working title; New Boston: City of Hope. It's sci-fi, that's all i'll add on to that.
Finally, even though I feel a bit bad for asking this considering how long this chapter took to come out, but any reviews would be awesome, thanks!