The villagers completely surrounded the entrance, preventing Isaac from seeing more than the tops of the houses and the central hill. A circle of about five meters between him and the villagers formed of soldiers, turned towards the villagers and preventing them from approaching.
Unlike the people Isaac had met so far, the villagers could not read. None of them had been able to read the books stored in the house of the ancients and the only things they could remember from the elder telling them her tales by the fireside was how beautiful and noble the elves were.
Also, their reactions were quite different. Their eyes were wide with curiosity and joy at the prospect of being able to encounter something that you only heard about in legends.
It was the first time they had met an elf, moreover, he was anything but discreet with his shiny white clothes. Yet despite their great curiosity, everyone looked down as Isaac looked over the crowd, a look of annoyance on his face.
"He's pissed off ...", "What are we doing ???" or "He. He looks at me! How beautiful" were the thoughts that filled the minds of the villagers.
Isaac was not the kind of person who liked to be the center of attention at all. He was quite introverted, like the computer scientist stereotype. Two or four people was the limit he could take, but now that about twenty pairs of eyes were staring at him, he couldn't hold himself in place. All he wanted was to get out of here immediately.
Unconsciously, this desire was transferred to emotion and little by little, his initially white aura began to take on an increasingly dark shade. Small black clouds then began to appear around him slowly, then a few moments later lightning appeared inside, creating flashes.
Around, the wind then began to pick up, sweeping Isaac's clothes, also blackening. Coming out of his trance, he then came to look around and observed the clouds around him, a little lost and not knowing where they came from and what to do.
Before he could react, Kiril then stepped forward and motioned for the soldiers forming the semicircle to disperse the crowd upon sensing the elf's threatening aura.
- "Everyone! Go back to work, come on! There is nothing to see here" he pushed in a thunderous voice and imprint of a tone that did not make you want to retort.
Immediately, the villagers seeing the clouds understood what Kiril wanted to do and immediately dispersed. On the one hand for fear that the elf would decide to disperse them by force, but also seeing the serious expression that the captain wore on his face.
Once the crowd dispersed, the soldiers calmed down and turned to Isaac, hoping Isaac was in a better mood. They were sure now that this elf was far more powerful than anyone in the village. Certainly more powerful than all of them put together.
Isaac was calmed down, he felt much better. He then came to send a thankful smile to Kiril who answered him with a short nod, relieving the soldiers. "Phew" the captain thought, looking at Isaac.
- "Okay, where's that app--" Isaac began.
- "Granny!" called a voice to their right.
"I've heard that voice before," Isaac thought, turning around. He had a very good facial and vocal memory and could retain a voice or a face for many years before forgetting it. On the contrary, remembering names was very difficult for him. Even after seven months of classes together, many of his classmates were surprised to see him look up their names.
His gaze fell face to face with that of a young girl with short brown hair reaching only to the back of her neck, contrasting with her yellow eyes.
- "Rebecca! You're right on time" said Rita approaching her. "Here is your future Master!"
At first puzzled and confused, she began to observe the strange clothes of Isaac who looked at him just as much, before finally falling on his ears then his face and came to widen his eyes. A beaming smile then lit her face as she began to run towards Isaac, her arms wide open.
"Huh ?? Wait, she wants to hug me right now, right?" he thought. Immediately, a pillar of earth rose out of the ground in front of Rebecca who immediately took it by giving him a hug. She was suddenly shocked and stepped back as the pillar returned to the ground, looking up at the elf, his face incredulous.
- "M..m-master--" she stammered.
- "First, I haven't accepted you as an apprentice yet. Second, IF you become my apprentice, know that I don't like physical contact" he finally said in a fairly neutral tone almost. coldness.
Immediately, Rebecca understood that she had crossed the line and bowed forward.
- "I'm sorry, Excellency" she said quite simply, closing her eyes. She had stayed in the village and with all her life, whatever she had obtained, she had obtained either by her beauty or by her magic. As far as her magic was concerned, she was sure that such a powerful elf was not at all interested in it then, only her beauty remained. But obviously she was wrong. "I'm stupid. Elves can't be that simple-minded," she said to herself.
But contrary to what she thought, Isaac thought she was very beautiful. A very well-proportioned physical figure with a light but not flat chest and well-shaped hips. However, she was not quite his style.
Isaac had long since lost some of what stereotypically teenagers going through puberty. He had little desire or desire for sex or relationship for the opposite sex.
However, that didn't mean he didn't have it completely. To be honest, he had some but could very well control himself ... most of the time.
- "As long as that is clear" he concludes, looking at Rebecca before turning to Kiril. "We need a land where we can use our spells, preferably empty and flat."
Kiril suddenly snapped out of his trance, looking at the spot where the earth pillar had sunk in, leaving only upturned earth in its path. He nodded positively.
- "We have a small clearing at the end of the village, follow me" he said, leading the way. He then turned to one of the guards. "Take Rita home to rest."
The guard turns pale.
- "But she's never going to listen to me! Look at her! She wants to see them do it! I also want to see them, I don't want to be hit with a cane ..." replied the guard with enthusiastic eyes.
Kiril then looked at Rita who was already starting to follow the group, leaning on her cane, a smile on her face. She didn't really look tired, but Kiril wasn't sure and it didn't reassure him. Nonetheless, the guard was right, she seemed to want to go, and god knows how stubborn she can be once launched. He sighed then and nodded at the guard.
- "Keep an eye on her, go get a chair or a stool and bring her back to the meadow behind. Hurry up if you don't want to miss the start" Kiril continued.
The guard then smirked down the length of his face before running off to get a chair from the nearest house, apologizing to the residents and telling them it was for Rita. Once the chair was taken, he still ran towards the clearing.
It was a piece of land which had been cleared by the villagers to accommodate a new enclosure for the animals and to increase their stocks. The beginnings of a fence were already visible and wooden posts had been driven into the ground to delimit the area.
In the center was a small pond with a stream crossing it with a fairly large tree next to it providing shade. Once there, the guard placed the chair next to Rita who thanked him before sitting down before looking at Isaac and Rebecca who continued to come forward to get away from them.
Once about eight meters away, Isaac stopped and looked at the young woman next to him.
- "Good. I'll examine you and assess your abilities first. Don't move," he said changing from his normal vision to his mana vision. Rebecca's mana circuit ships then appeared, allowing her to confirm that she had a gift.
Unlike the villagers, his circuit was much more developed. Not only did she have more veins, but they were thicker as well. Isaac had been able to study that a more complex mana circuit allowed him to create much more interesting and complex interactions.
After all, the mana circuit reacted a bit like a living rune. Each intersection of a ship forms a node capable of absorbing or emitting mana. Isaac continued to study the ships, oblivious to Rebecca's embarrassed expression.
Without a vision of mana, Isaac appeared to be masturbating the young woman's body from top to bottom. The others watching from afar were outraged, some of the guards had already put their hands on the hilt of their swords, just like Kiril.
The captain then came and turned to the old one, clearly conveying to her what he was thinking before the latter shook her head negatively. She had understood well what Isaac was doing since she herself, as a user of shadow magic, had the leisure to study Rebecca's mana circuits.
Seeing the reaction of the old one, the captain withdrew his hand from his sword under the surprised looks of the guards who did the same reluctantly. They didn't really want to let their tender and dear Rebecca get auscultated by this stranger, even though he was an elf. But without their captain's help, he was sure they didn't stand a chance.
As they thought so, a figure then emerged from the group and raced towards Isaac, far too fast for Kiril or the others to have time to stop him. The old one suddenly rose from her chair, screaming:
- "Artiel! No!"
The captain rushed forward to chase the soldier too late and saw him swing his sword to his right before starting to bring it back to his left to trace a course with Isaac's neck in the middle. Kiril paled as he saw Artiel do this before a sudden light enveloped the elf, blinding anyone who had their eyes on him. So everyone except Rebecca who had her eyes on the ground.
They all immediately closed their eyes as Kiril placed his arm in front of his field of vision, trying as best he could to keep his eyelids open.
After a few seconds, the light dissipated and he saw Artiel's sword still in the air about three inches from the elf's neck. Around the blade, white smoke swirled. The captain was the first to observe the scene before looking at Artiel's body in the same state, surrounded by white smoke swirling across the surface of his armor and preventing movement.
Kiril then began to move forward as the sounds of swords drawn were heard behind him, the other four in number advancing as well. However, the captain took only two steps when a sledgehammer hit him. Surprised at first, he placed his hands automatically in front of him to catch whatever was coming his direction.
The other surprised soldiers also turned then their eyes before seeing Artiel, the envenomed gaze and the eyes red by the light, in the arms of the captain, his blade still floating beside Isaac who had his hand in front of him, palm open.
With a gesture, he raised his hand to the sky. Immediately, Artiel's body rose above the ground and rose five meters before Isaac quickly lowered his hand. Artiel was immediately sent to the ground and hit the ground hard, taking his breath away.
Stunned, the captain looked at his companion before turning to the elf whose gaze was not at all what it was. His gaze was angry and his brow furrowed, making the captain shudder as he reflexively drew his sword.