"Pardon?"
He muttered after a while, his eyes looking white but his mana arranging to form a spell, since he might try to attack me, I began conjuring a short sword behind me just in case.
But I can see that he's simply assessing my mana. Knowing how elves behave now... I can guess he's going to instantly agree with the marriage proposal.
"Hm..."
He pondered while stroking his chin. Please don't tell me I'm right, I swear he's a bad father if he does agree immediately.
"Please give me some time and I may consider it."
I guess not all my predictions are right. What a fine father for him to think about it first before agreeing.
"Putting that matter aside, my daughter being married to you isn't a reward but a matter of choice. What do you wish for other than that, Seven Clavery?"
"Let me think about it. Please give me a day and I'll make my decision."
For a moment, I felt movement above us but I didn't mind it since I couldn't feel any hostility or bad omens.
"Thank you for giving us a chance to repay you. For now, will you accompany me to the town square? We are not the only ones who wish to thank you."
He was referring to the elves that live in this forest. That night, with the exception of the injured soldiers, the elves introduced themselves and offered me their gratitude by giving me their mana as well. I don't know why they do that, but for some reason it feels like I'm being blessed and my mana was starting to increase it's recovery. Sadly, I secretly rejected the mana coming from the male elves since I didn't like the idea of their mana entering my magic core.
I should stay at the elven camp for a while to think of what reward I'd want. The first thing I thought of was asking for money, but then I remembered that the elves don't have much, given they don't use money often. On that note, I decided on something exclusive only to the elves.
"Hey Estel, I'm thinking of what reward I'll get from this village. What do you think should I pick? Does your place have something like an artifact?"
That night, I decided to stay in the village chief's house which was the highest and biggest tree in the village and also where Estel and her mother lived.
"I think I've heard of us having some, but I can't seem to remember."
"Are you by any chance referring to the ones in your father's treasury, daughter?"
A sweet and gentle voice came from behind us, ascending the stairs carrying a fray with drinks was Estel's mother, Khloie.
"Honey juice!"
The moment Khloie-san placed the fray on the table located in the balcony, we were invited to drink with her something like an orange beverage, it tasted like honey and beer combined. And Estel apparently loved it.
The scenery from below us was the unscathed remains of the village. From this height, I can confirm that the dark lord's army didn't do much damage just yet when I had arrived which I'm thankful for. And the damage itself was being repaired by the workers.
"So the village chief has artifacts in his treasury? Can I pick one of them as my reward?"
"Indeed, I can affirm that my husband would give any of them to you without hesitation."
While saying that, Khloie-san smiled brightly, she really gives off an impression of being a lady. I can't bring myself to accept how she's her parent though, but Estel and Khloie-san really do look like they're around the same age as if they're nothing but sisters. Elves are terrifyingly amazing in longevity.
Except her breast size are on a totally different league though... She's similar to Minerva's older sister. Maybe Estel's breasts will grow to be like that too when she grows older.
"Darling, I'm back."
Once again, a voice came from the stairs.
Estel's father, Jhillia was ascending the stairs relatively noisily, but I later found out the reason why.
A young boy with light lavender hair and a girl of the same age with pink hair was dangling on each of Jhillia's shoulders. I noticed that each of this family's members had the same eye color which was black with the exception of Estel's mother who had a light green iris.
"Welcome back, how is the reconstruction?"
"It went well. Without the help of Clavery, we would have suffered massive casualties and irreparable infrastructures."
"Mommy! We're back!"
"I helped daddy at the construction!"
I looked away from them and simply stared at Estel who met my eyes immediately. The married couple were kissing so I didn't want to look. They really shouldn't do that in front of their kids.
"I-I guess you should ask my dad for that artifact once they're finished."
"Y-Yeah, this is awkward. I don't even want to look."
Seems like they're finished since they started talking to each other now, with Jhillia speaking of his day at work and all.
"I'm sorry to disturb you but can I have a word with you please, Village Chief?"
"Hm? What is it, young hero?"
He started addressing me as a hero, that feels weird since I'm not but I'll accept it since I did save them. I can see some eyebags on him after all that work from the battle to the repairs though, will he be alright?
"By any chance, can I receive an artifact? When I get my reward I'll be leaving the village immediately."
"Ofcourse, I can give you any of the ones I have in my treasury. However, do you really intend to leave immediately? You could atleast stay for a month or so."
"I'm sorry, I like travelling the continent. So I'd like to leave immediately."
"Well if that's what you want, I cannot stop you. Well then, please follow me to my vault, it's located below this tree."
Trusting his words, I followed him to a spiral stairway that led deep down. Since there wasn't any torches of the sort as we descended, he lit a magic lantern to see the pathway.
After what seemed like 10 minutes of going down, we finally arrived in front of a sturdy looking metal door.
"Fir andem si ridna, fos."
He muttered words that didn't sound familiar to me, since my translator device didn't translate it, then it might have meant that the language wasn't recorded in it's files or that those were nothing but blatant bullshit.
But with that, the entrance opened and a golden light bursted out right away. Revealing a scene of mounds of gold the size of a human right after, I followed behind Jhillia as he went in.
"Where did you even get all this..?"
I asked, I was too much in awe of what a mere village chief could have done to get this many gold and items in his treasury.
"Some of this were earned by the previous generations. Only a mere portion is my addition, we took them from bandits trying to abduct our people. But ofcourse, you can take any one of the artifacts here to your choosing."
So th-they stole some of them from criminals, huh. Deserved, I guess.s
Truth be told, there were atleast ten items here that gave off the vibes of being unique. It's too bad I can't know their abilities, so it's best to ask Jhillia-san.
"Sir, can you please tell me what they can do so I can choose one properly?"
"Ah, yes ofcourse. Here let me show you."
From a treasure pile, he casually picked up a glowing green tippet with flowery designs and began explaining what it could do frankly.
"This is called the Oracle Scarf, it can significantly increase the effects of light magic."
After that, he shifted to a dark mantle.
"The Phantom Cloak, it's said to be able to conceal it's wearer."
Then a red sturdy bracelet protected by the bone remains of something I don't know.
"Minoan Bracelet. Once worn, the power of minotaur blood will enhance your physical power."
Next a battle axe with a sharp silver edge. It's handle was made of blade-resistant red wood.
"Umzuntan's War Axe, a dwarven warrior created and wielded this in a war during the Age Of Heroes."
After that, he continued introducing to me various other artifacts endlessly while I looked around. Eventually, my attention was captured by something at the farthest corner of the treasury. While Jhillia was busy admiring his ancestor's feats and the artifacts in his possession which failed to catch my interest, I sneakily approached the thing and picked it up from a pile of gold.
It's an egg.
A pink one painted with clouds, seemingly done with excellent artwork.
It felt like it was calling out to me.
It's size is enough to fit a baby inside it too. I'm particularly curious in this one and I don't want to bother Jhillia so I'll look into this with my power instead.
"[Write Destiny]."
---
Name: None
Race: Beast Egg
Age: 600 y/o
Physical Power: 10
Magic Prowess: 10
Description:
- A mythical monster from ancient times is resting within. Injecting divine mana into the egg will awaken the monster inside and imprint upon the first thing it sees.
---
A mythical monster!?
"I pick this, Jhilia-san!"
"And this—, huh?"
I showed to the village chief the reward of my choice. He had a complicated expression, was I not supposed to pick this?
"This... Are you sure about this, Seven Clavery? This is an egg that's been in here since the day I was born. And it hasn't even hatched since then."
I see, so this means that this little guy has been waiting for hundreds of years for someone to claim it as their pet.
"That's all the more reason to take it."
"B-But..."
"Just trust me! Please~ I want it."
The village chief looked reluctant, but he gave up in the end and let me keep the egg which I stored in my storage ring. The matter of waking it up should be easy, I just have to persuade someone with divine mana to awaken it for me. And who would be the perfect option if not Alric?
›››››
SevenOne:
Hi.
BestHeroYukio:
You again? What now? Going to throw in another girl? This one dark elf already just tried to strip Aria!
SevenOne:
Wow, really? Send a picture please.
BestHeroYukio:
Are you out of your mind?
SevenOne:
Alric send me some of your mana, I'll use it for something.
BestHeroYukio:
My mana? What'll you use divine mana for? Well, as long as you don't use it to play a prank on me I'm fine with it I guess.
›››››
With that, I can easily hatch this egg which has been waiting for a master for a long time. Although I'm being over-reliant on Alric these days, it's far better than wasting my affection points.
If I let this thing stay in that treasury, then there's no doubt that it won't have the opportunity to hatch. Meaning it would most likely be stuck there for a few hundred years again.
By the time I arrived in Estel's room which I'll be staying in for the night, something like a flask appeared right in front of me out of nothing and I caught it by surprise.
"What the hell is this?"
I investigated what it was and I figured it out a few seconds later. Contained inside the glass frame was a slightly brighter type of mana which kept pulsating like a living thing. I'm assuming this is the divine mana I asked from Alric, but I didn't expect he could transfer things other than by using his Gate skill.
I still have some time before Estel arrives in her room since she probably doesn't sleep early at all just like any teenager.
Her bedroom like some of those in this world was another depiction of being magical. Except this one looked like it's at the maximum level of old fantasy. Her room was located in one of this tree's gigantic branches, the bed was located at the farthest corner sandwiched by two cabinets, while a table and chair was on the right side and it had two windows from the branch's left and right. She also had numerous brackets that housed various types of flowers in soil-filled pots.
And beside her bed, on top of one of the cabinets was a vase housing a mushroom the size of my palm. It was emitting some sort of biogenetic light, I'm assuming she uses this as a night light whenever she sleeps. Overall, her room was cute.
After checking if noone was watching, I dove onto her bed face flat and sniffed lightly to find her scent. But I immediately felt guilty for that and just took out the egg from the storage ring.
"I guess I'll hatch this thing and see what's inside. This way, One is going to have a new friend."
Without further ado, I also took out the divine mana and put the two next to each other.