After arriving at the elven kingdom, we landed somewhere a bit far from the sea to avoid the parasites within the sea monsters.
"Before going to Flora's house, I want to remind you all that none of you are allowed to speak. If you are ask by someone, answer them a bit quietly. Forest elves do not like too much noise"
"Understood"
We went to Annie's house only to be confronted by some guards.
I fought with the tower master, the sorcerer king, reach the sixtieth floor of Hel's labyrinth and some guards is planning to stop me? They don't know who I am anyway so that is understandable.
Annie explain to them what had happened and that I was the one who had save her from the black magicians as well as the one who brought her home.
They then welcome us with open arms and apologize for raising their weapons towards us.
"Please wait Sir. Mike. I will got get my mother"
As she left Nunu ask me, "Master, isn't she supposed to call the master of the house which would be her father"
"That is because here in the kingdom of the forest elves women hold more power than men which is why the master of the house is always the female" Layla explained.
Annie's mother entered the room and sat down right in front of us.
"I, Viscount Anna Flora, thank you for bringing my daughter back here in good condition. If there is anything that I can do, please tell me. I will repay this debt in full"
The viscount lowered her head as she thank me.
"I would like to have an audience with the fairy queen, Anastasia Eliahiree"
"I understand, I shall immediately send a letter to the royal palace. However, may I know why you want to meet the fairy queen"
"Layla what language are they using?" Alfred whispered.
"Elvish" Layla whispered.
"Do you know what they are talking about?"
"Just a bit"
Sheesh, do they not know that elves also have sharp ears like the beast men does?
"I would like to challenge her in a game of Elhitaroo"
(Note: It is pronounced as El-hwi-tay-ru)
All the elves in the room were surprise.
"Layla, what did master said?" Nunu whispered.
"Elhitaroo is a formal form of challenge in the elven kingdom. It means 'challenge of equal exchange'. One must offer something of equal value for the other. If you want to take the life of someone you must also be ready to offer your life if you lose" Layla whispered.
Learning some elvish culture back then sure did pay off.
"I am sorry I forgot to introduce myself"
I stood up.
"I am Michael Santiago"
I showed them my apostle mark.
"The helper and right hand man of the hero Lucas"
The mark glowed brilliantly.
"I serve the Master of the Souls, one of the four rulers of the spirit realm"
I bowed down.
"Again, I would like to have an Elhitaroo with the fairy queen"
Everyone did not speak nor did they move.
I raised my head.
"That is all that I ask for"
The viscount stood up.
"I understand. Please rest in a room, I will personally inform her majesty about your request"
"Thank you"
We went to our room. Nunu and Alfred was on the other side while me and Layla is sharing one. I was able to convince her that it is still dangerous even if we were in another kingdom. So it would be me who will be in charge of protecting her while we are here.
Layla and Annie may have become somewhat close but I am not going to leave her in a place filled with people I am not familiar with. This is not our territory to begin with.
...
After a few hours the viscount inform me that me and my group are welcome to the royal palace. We can go there anytime we want to within this month for the challenge.
Originally my plan was supposed to inflict chaos between the two elven kingdoms and then appear right before them to solve the problem that I created to gain influence and their trust. Now that my affinity towards water at max and wind, earth, and plant at fifty percent.
Elves in particular communicate with spirits and trust spirits. Me who have affinities towards spirits even greater than them would make her to believe me.
"What kind of challenge are you going to do with the fairy queen, Sir?"
"Don't call me 'Sir', it would be more appropriate to call me 'dad' or something. And the challenge I plan to do is a secret"
"Why should I call you dad?"
"Did you not had intercourse with my son?"
Layla turn beet red in a flash.
"S-something like this is not an appropriate conversation don't you think?!"
My goodness, how innocent of her. Additionally, I don't want to hear it from someone who isn't even virgin anymore.'
"Do you know why the two elven kingdoms are important?"
Layla calm herself down immediately to remove the awkwardness.
"Yes I do. It is because they are the lungs of the world. There are trees and plants no matter where you go in the two kingdoms"
"That's right. And they are also known to be the ones leading in terms of agricultural technologies"
"What's so important about so many plants when it expires so fast?"
"So many things. I guess you really are a sheltered princess after all"
Elves do not eat meat so whenever they kill any beast type monster they would just sell it to Ochikris for money.
They have spent so many centuries onto putting their efforts to cultivate nutritious plants which they love. It made the plants itself to possess mana and rejuvenate whoever eats it. What's more, if you preserve it well these vegetables and plants they grow would last even longer than meat.
...
Using the car we arrive in front of the royal palace. The high elf soldiers greeted us with respect.
"I am prince August Eliahiree. Second prince of the Eliahiree kingdom. I shall be the one to guide you, please follow me"
"I am Michael Santiago and I thank you very much for your hospitality"
Layla was fascinated by August's looks making Nunu quite jealous because of it.
(What is up with the amount of the spirits surrounding this human? No wonder he accompanies the hero who is chosen by the Gods)
That is most likely to be the lines going through the prince's mind right now. He may be older than me but he don't know how to conceal his thoughts.
We followed him and we entered a room with a huge door.
It was the throne room. There the queen sat on her throne with many spirits beside her. The other three may not feel or see them but Michael was a bit intimidated by the number of the spirits beside the fairy queen.
Michael have a high affinity towards spirits due to blessing that receive from the Goddess of Water. But the high affinity that the fairy queen possess was a natural one since birth, which is why she have many spirits beside her.
I walk and greet the fairy queen. I knelt down and the other three followed my lead.
"My name is Michael Santiago, the apostle who is also the right hand man of the hero. I greet her majesty the fairy queen Anastasia Eliahiree of the Eliahiree kingdom"
"It is an honor to meet a close aide of the hero"
"It is my pleasure"
"I would like to ask you one question: Why do you wish to challenge me, the fairy queen?"
Why is this even harder than the first time I met Gwen?
I remove my glove and showed them my mark.
"I swear upon this mark that I've receive that the words that will come out of my mouth are not lies"
The mark glowed and a voice was heard. It was more like a whisper saying that they, the Gods, are watching over this event.
"The Goddess of Hunt have given me a certain quest. I am afraid I am not allowed to tell you what it is due to personal reasons. To do this quest I would need your cooperation and trust to do so"
Everyone gasp. A human received a quest from the Goddess they worship, not one of them. It would be okay if it was the hero but for an apostle to receive a personal quest from the Goddess they worship brought forth chills down their spine. Their pride was hurt a little bit but that did not matter as they know that this man did not lie as he just swore an oath to the Goddess he follows.
None of what I said was a lie. I do need their trust and I don't want to tell them what the quest is.
"Why would you go so far to challenge me if you wanted our trust?"
"I want to gain your trust genuinely by following your own traditions"
Please, just give up already and let's get with the challenge!
"Where is the hero? Isn't he supposed to be the one here?"
This *CENSORED*, does she really think that *CENSORED* she must have *CENSORED* for a brain.
Calm down, calm down me, I still have things to do. If I curse her now I won't accomplish it.
"That is because he is currently doing something very important"
That is not a lie. I am doing something very important right now, which is this. I didn't said that he was elsewhere, hehehe.
"I see. I would like to have a private talk with you later regarding our challenge, is that alright?"
"Yes. I thank you for your generosity"
We head back and went to a room led by the second prince.
"The spirits are saying that you are an animal lover Sir. Michael"
"Yeah~ I have a pet dog(Alfred), pet snake(Udo), pet bird(Nia), pet cat(Kaota), and I also have a pet dragon(Nunu). Amazing isn't it?"
"That is indeed amazing"
We entered our rooms.
"Wait, so you are telling me that the hero is the one you are helping?! Can I meet him?"
"No"
Layla sulked. She hid herself under the covers.
It seems like she's a fan of mine.
-Master, are you not going to tell her that you are the hero?
-That would only put her in more danger. Do you want that?
-No!
-See. So make sure that she does not find out then.
-Understood!
[Friend
A notification saying that Alfred acquired two skills pop up.
What was the condition though? It can't be that it just showed out of nowhere.
[Alfred's loyalty have increase]
Oh, so that's it. His loyalty suddenly increase and he got a skill? Wow, just wow.
An elf came to our room shortly after and said that the fairy queen is waiting for me.
As I followed her I felt that there were multiple individuals that were following me, so I disperse some of my aura and confirm that there are indeed some elves that are observing my every move.
Even though I promise that I won't bring any harm they are still cautious about me to the point that there are multiple who are following me.
Didn't the queen said that it would be a private talk?
The elf girl knock on the door.
"Please go inside"
The elf girl said.
I open the door and sat down on the sofa. When I close the door there were several barriers that activated. I was familiar with some of them due to my title of [Rune master].
"What kind of battle do you want?" The fairy queen ask.
"Something that will undoubtedly make you trust me. A game of chess. Do you agree to this?"
"Yes. I'm actually prepared already"
The fairy queen clap her hand and a chess board with chess pieces on their positions were already prepared.
The forest elves are known for their gentle manners, therefore a strategy game such as chess pique their interest and became the best players at it. It is also said that whoever wins the chess match among the princesses will become the next fairy queen.
"Shall we start?"
"Gladly"
The game was long and hard but I won.
"I have to say this is the first time that I lost, and to a human too"
-You beat the fairy queen?
-Yes Udo, I beat her.
-How?! Elves are the best chess players among all the other races!
-Let's just say I'm smart. Plus the chess techniques in my world are far more advanced.
(Note: Michael's IQ is 370. In their world, planet Earth, the average IQ is 150-220)
"Are you really not allowed to tell me anything about your quest?" She ask.
"I can tell you some of it"
If she knows just tiny fragments of it she will misinterpret what I said and I'll be able to do things even easier.
"Be careful now, the spirits will tell her whether you are lying or not" (Loki)
It doesn't matter since I don't even need to lie.
"There will be a very powerful individual who will cause chaos in the two elven kingdoms. That person will use his power to make the forest elves and the dark elves to fight each other. That is the only thing I can tell you I'm afraid"
"No, no, that is more than enough. I now understand the situation"
The 'powerful individual' that I said was referring to me. Therefore I didn't lie at all.
"I am assuming that you will be going to the kingdom of the dark elves"
"Yes. I will also need to talk with their fairy queen about this matter as well"
"You will need to use the soaring mountain range as your route. A bit of advice, never fly when you go there"
"Is there any particular reason why not?"
"As the name implies, there are many mid tier monsters that fly there. Obviously, you and your group are strong but I don't think you'd want to fight all day long against sky monsters that have the geographical advantage. Their numbers are also annoying, so yes, I do think that you wouldn't want to do that, right?"
I nodded.
"Thank you very much for your advice"
Judging by the map, if we use the mountain range we will get to our destination within two to three days. But if we take a detour, it would cost us ab additional five days at the very least.
Michael and the fairy queen's talk lasted seven hours. He then went back to his room to rest, a little annoyed that his talk with the fairy queen lasted much longer than he thought it could be.
...
I went back and gather everyone.
"Okay, we will depart tomorrow with the Artoreseseo kingdom as our destination. We will be going to the soaring mountain range as our route. I want you all to rest since we will be fighting monsters that can fly all day long!"
A mountain range with tons of monsters would give me a lot of soul energy! How can I not go knowing all of this?!
All of them except Nunu were gloomy.
"I don't think I would be able to fight monsters that can fly. I can't fly after all" (Alfred)
"Neither can I. My power's range is a bit big but that doesn't mean that I'd be able to take down monsters that are flying at least a hundred meters from the ground" (Layla)
"Since it is a mountain range filled with monsters that can fly, can we not just use some other route instead?" (Udo)
All of them were visibly oppose to what Michael said which does make sense. They are individuals that specialize in fighting opponents who are right in front of them, not above them. Not to mention, the disadvantage of the terrain while fighting is clear to see. None of the three can produce any long distance attacks continuously.
Udo can but that will with no doubt drain his mana despite being a shaman.
A mountain range where there are only mid tier monsters and above with so many of them at that, the three were serious at changing the route that they will be taking.
"I forgot to mention something, the one who can kill most of the monsters that live there will be rewarded with anything they want as long as I can give it to them"
Using their greed, Michael's offer to them was irresistible. "Anything they want", these words resonated in their minds, Thinking that they can ask their master anything they want as long as it is something within his grasp.
"I guess I would think of something that will elegantly kill those flying monsters. Forgive my rudeness master, but I will now go outside to train even more"
"I will also go now to train with Nunu"
Layla gestured and Nunu happily followed after the princess to train.
"You?"
"I will also train!"
"Let's go then"
"You will be going with me, master?"
"Yes. You already know how to walk on water, so I will now teach you how to walk on air"
"On air? Without stepping on anything?!"
"Yes"
The martial art which is pass down on Michael's clan was better known as 'Flying demon: Thousand shattering strike'. Due to some conflict withing the clan about the long name of the technique long ago, the name was change into the current name which is the 'Warstyle'.
A martial art that is use to fly mid air while destroying the land by generating vibrations within the body. This is the true essence of the martial art, warstyle, which is pass down on the Santiago clan.
Me and Alfred went to a training ground after receiving rights to occupy it to ourselves for today in exchange for letting some elves watch us to train.
The elves promise not to disturb them in any way and will stay on their sits until they are done with their training.
"First, what were you thinking whenever you walk on water?"
"I just imagine that there was land that I can step to, master"
So he unconsciously made a floor with aura by thinking 'There is a floor! I can walk!'.
"That's good. The first thing you need to do is to imagine and then visualize the effects of what you will do. I learn how to fly by thinking I have wings on my back. Well, it would be faster to show it to you though"
Using his aura, Michael ascended and flew. He was going up and down, as if he had wings that are now flapping to let him stay where he was.
He then flew through the entire training ground surprising everyone, especially the elves. They did not sense any mana and yet the man they were watching was able to fly.
A man capable of flying without letting the elf race who are one of the most sensitive race about mana to not feel any while flying was preposterous to them. It was as if he had made fun to their abilities to sense mana itself.
Michael then landed in front of Alfred.
"Although it is good to fly, you will need to cultivate to further increase your capacity to be able to fly longer"
"What about back then when you were fighting the tower master? You were jumping from nothing at all back then, master!"
"Instead of wings, I was imagining a sturdy platform that I can use to either use as a foothold or to change my position mid air. It consumes less aura but it still requires a lot of control. It doesn't matter what you will be imagining of to fly. What's important is that your visualization is solid and is easy for you to imagine so that you would be able to get the hang of it in a short time"
"Can I really think about anything?"
"Yes. No matter what it is, as long as you imagine you are flying then you'd be able to"
Alfred bowed and quickly train.
I feel so stupid using this kind of reference to teach him. Then again this is the best way to teach him since he wouldn't be able to understand the original one even if I were to explain it to him all day long.
I am worried whether this method would actually work or not.
It looks like the elves are keeping a focus eye on Alfred.
"They are trying to figure out what this 'Aura' you were talking about" (Loki)
Naturally. But no matter how much they try to they won't be able to figure it out.
...
Michael and his group departed and went straight to the soaring mountain range after restocking enough provisions.
"We will arrive at the mountain range after two hours so I hope that you guys have already prepared whatever you guys will do. Be sure to count the monsters that you killed and make sure that you don't steal the prey of others, that is all"
I don't think there would be any major changes though. It's only been a day. It's not like something big have change in such a short amount of time.
"As long as you don't call Nia then everything will go as plan, master!"
Why does Alfred don't want me to call Nia? Is it because she will win if I call her? I didn't even plan to call her from the beginning since I want to take this opportunity so that they will improve even more.
"That's fine by me"
Everyone was brimming with excitement.
After arriving, they immediately encountered some monsters. What Michael didn't knew is that the greed of his group far exceeded than what he thought. Resulting in,
"Grand magic: Flame cannon"
As Nunu fired his spell, it was split into several smaller rays and hit all the monsters that were flying in the air.
It was Layla. She use her psychokinesis to split the grand magic and then redirected all the of fragmented flame cannon to hit all of the monsters.
Layla turn to Michael.
"If you are wondering how we did it, it's because Nunu is now my contracted dragon. Officially"
Huh? He got into a contract without me knowing?!
A notification appeared.
[As you are the creator/owner of the individual
It's common sense that when a dragon pledge to protect their master, in other words a contract, it would be unbreakable. And the system is telling me that I can safely break it apart like its nothing? I definitely should go make another Nunu or something!
"That's great then. But, Layla, the two of us will talk later about this, okay? You two made a contract without me knowing. That is unforgivable"
-Master, it's not her fault. I was the one who offered to be her contracted dragon. I am sorry if I didn't inform you about this in advanced, so please don't punish her.
As if. I can freely read your memories without you knowing whenever I want and there is no information about you knowing anything about this
I can believe this guy is lying to me just to protect her.
-I won't punish her I will just talk with her, that's all. That is fine with you, right?
-Thank you very much for understanding.
We continued on our journey while facing dozens of monsters that look like a bird without stopping.
By using a thin high pressured water cannon for a second, he creates a ray-like beam that punctures the brain or heart of his target. Efficiently killing them with one strike while conserving mana as well. If he were to say something about this it would be "I killed them elegantly, master!"
As for Alfred, he still haven't made any progress whatsoever about his training, walking in mid air and flying. And then he thought a better way of killing the monsters. He would take some rocks and throw it to the monster while enhancing his hands with aura. A lethal shotgun. The trajectory is all over the place but he does hit some.
Right now, Layla is the one who I think have the most kills. Nunu is giving away all of his kills to her. To make things fair, I will divide their kills later on.
As for Udo and Alfred, their way is not bad but Udo's way is one at a time with perfect precision however he needs a minute before he can fire another spell like that. While Alfred's way is being done haphazardly. He throws several rocks every ten seconds but his accuracy is twenty five percent at best.
While they kill the monsters, I was busy collecting the monster's soul energy and putting it into my
What a haul indeed! If we can harvest this many soul energy then prolonging the journey for another day or two won't be a problem for us.
After three days we reach the center of the mountain range. There were a lot more this time than when we entered. The most annoying ones were the nocturnal ones. Since I promise to them that I won't kill any monster that they can kill while we are here. They need to be on guard when a monster attack us at night.
For my own entertainment- I mean, for their own improvement, that's right, I won't be helping them in any way for their own improvement. This includes that I won't be responsible for their safety at night.
I am not allowed to warn any of them if there are any monsters nearby nor am I allowed to protect them while they are sleeping. Because of this, whenever I reconstruct souls at night they are so noisy that I have to cover my ears with aura.
With the collected soul energy, I created an original soul core. A soul core where I have program a set of personality already as well as for the skills.
I took out one of the sword master's body.
"Forbidden magic: Resurrection"
The old man was surprise to see me. I knock him out and made him wear Hel's bracelet with the ability of
I made the bracelet to absorb the soul energy from the teens I killed making him even younger. From fifty-four he became a twenty nine year old man. He became loyal after I brainwash him.
"From now on your name shall be Dario. Be sure that you will be useful to me"
"Understood, young master!"
Young master? What's that for? I'm only six year younger than him biologically.
"Master is enough so don't put the 'young', okay?"
"Understood!"
With those three nights that we were here, I was busy reconstructing his soul so that his skills in swordsmanship would also increase. I may be a beginner in swordsmanship but I know and have already experience the techniques of the sword clan from my world when we once had a clan war.
A sword master that possess both the swordsmanship from this world and mine is bound to be powerful.
I checked his status to make sure.
[Status information]
Name: Dario
Class: Knight
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 29
Level: 40
HP: 7,000/7,000
MP: 18,500/18,500
Strength: 39
Agility: 35
Stamina: 43
Intelligence: 23
Level cap: 40
Psychological state: Want's to fight with monsters
Status: Slave
Abilities: Ferganemos, Heavenly sky breaker(40%)
Attributes: None
+
It would make sense that there is only forty percent there since I never learn their sword technique. I was only relying on my memory on their forms to artificially engrave the heavenly sky breaker techniques that I saw. I impress on myself that I even got it to reach almost half.
"May I ask what is master's current goal?"
"My goal? Well, right now it is to hunt many powerful monsters in this mountain range. There are too many so we are cutting the population down before they affect the other kingdoms"
"Shall I take care of some of them?"
"Go ahead"
Dario quickly went away to hunt monsters.
He's more timid than I thought he'd be. Is it because I am his master and he is my servant? I made sure to make his personality to be the type who berserk a lot which is why I named him 'Dario'.