Rowan looked at the little girl in front of him and noticed some peculiar things about her. Her ears were pointy, she had long, silver hair and she had a bow and some arrows on her back. He was a bit shocked to see another race in this world except for humans.
"It says that only those who are deserving will receive the blessing of the ancient elven king," the girl said to Rowan and he looked back at the tablet to see if there is at least some type of resemblance between what she said, what is on the tablet an the language he knows.
There was none so he had to take her word for it. "Who are you and what do you know about the crown prince that entered these ruins?" Rowan looked at the girl for answers but she only looked at him with a puzzled expression.
After a bit of explaining, Rowan found out that the little elf's name was Mika and she was already fifteen despite her looking around eight. In her elven village, each person must come to this ruin at the age of fifteen to gain the blessing of the ancient elven king.
Unfortunately, she didn't know anything about the crown prince or those that were seeking his life. Since Mika should know more about the ruins than him, Rowan asked her if she would like to help him find the lost prince to which she agreed.
With that, Rowan and Mika entered the ruins with Kurama trailing behind them. The ruins were not as bad as Rowan thought since there was nothing but old buildings around him but then they stopped at a gate and he recognised it immediately.
The goddamn teleport gate. How could he forget. Mika went into the gate first and Rowan and Kurama followed. A bright light was in Rowan's eyes and when he could see again, he saw that they were in a dark chamber with lots of burning lanterns.
"Can you smell them Kurama?" Rowan asked the fox next to him and got a bark in reply. Thanks to the contract, he more or less knew what Kurama was saying and told him to stay next to Mika. Mika took this chance to get a lantern and move to the door.
They went into a long hall filled with more lanterns. The hall was quite big and they continued on slowly. Mika was all over the place as she dismantled traps all over. Rowan wondered how the crown prince managed to avoid all these traps but focused on the job at hand.
They finally found a room and entered it. As soon as they entered, the door closed behind them. Rowan tried opening the door but it wouldn't move. A clickety-clack sound came from deeper into the room and Rowan saw five wooden dolls walking towards them.
"Kurama! Beast Bomb!" Rowan called out to the fox. Kurama opened his mouth and a big black ball of chakra formed. He aimed it at the five wooden dolls and shot it towards them. The ball smashed into the dolls and carried them back into the room before exploding.
The door opened after the wooden dolls got destroyed and they went back into the hall. Mika sighed and began looking for traps again. They managed to make it to the second door but instead of going in, they passed by it.
As they walked, Rowan felt like something was off. Mika didn't dismantle as much traps as before. Just then, the ground began shaking and then collapsed underneath them. Rowan grabbed Mika and got onto Kurama's back.
The fall was surprisingly not that far and they wound up in a cellar. Rowan looked around and spotted four people in a corner. He couldn't really see since the light from the lanterns didn't do much but he could see one of the four had the same facial features as King Mike.
There were two armoured guards too and the last one was most likely the prince's fiancée. Rowan got off of Kurama and went to the crown prince. He went down on one knee and said, "Your Highness. I have been sent by your father to escort you to safety."
After finishing his sentence, Rowan felt good about using such refined words. "What foolishness is this? Does my father wish death upon his heir? Why send a boy still wet behind the ears?" Rowan looked at the prince with a bit of dislike.
He didn't like the prince's words. He got up and checked the group's condition. The prince had a leg injury. The princess seemed fine for the most part but the guards was full of so much wounds that even Rowan was surprised that they still stood in front of the prince.
Rowan knew they didn't have much time and looked for an exit. He saw a door at the far side of the room and went to open it. He placed his hands together and created ten shadowclones. He sent them to find the exit and told them to stay in groups of two.
Rowan closed the door and went back into the room. He used the lantern and some wooden stuff that he found in the surroundings to make a fire. He took out some food that Angelica made and warmed it up. A delicious aroma floated through the air.
Rowan called Kurama over and gave him some meat. Mika, who was still on Kurama, got her share as well. Rowan heard stomach growls coming from the corner. "Hey princess. Those guys can barely move so can you make yourself useful."
Rowan could sense some hostility from the prince but he didn't care since he was the one with the food. The princess came over and got food for the two guards first as Rowan instructed and then came to get some for her and the prince.
Rowan ate the rest, with the help of Kurama of course. Kurama wasn't as big as a horse for nothing. After bagging the dirty dishes, Rowan felt the clones turning into puffs of smoke and he got his information about the ruins.