Neoma's eyes widened upon hearing Elin's words. He quickly bowed his head down, bending his waist forward in a 45° angle. He spoke in a flustered voice.
"I-It is an honour to meet You, Your Highness. I apologise for my rude tone before. I had no idea that You held such a high and important position…"
The youth quickly switched from informal to formal speech, stuttering on his first words.
Of course he was pretending to be so shaken up and flustered from hearing Elin's position as the princess and commander of the kingdom of Aekodora. He didn't want to give it away to her that he actually knew who she was before hearing her introduction. That would arouse too much suspicion.
"There is no need to apologise or speak so formally to me. It actually makes me quite uncomfortable… Please, just call me Elin. I'm helping you not as a princess or a commander, but as an elf who loves to explore these woods."
Elin smiled kindly at Neoma again in an attempt to reassure the human that it really is okay. She wanted him to relax and not be as tense around her.
As the white-haired youth slowly nodded in response to Elin's words and thanked her for her kindness, the elf raised her hand up to her lips and let out a loud whistle.
After a couple of seconds had passed, a few bushes on Neoma's right side rustled and a mythical creature walked into the small field of grass surrounded by trees. It was a white coloured horse with a silver horn on top of its forehead.
'A unicorn…'
This time, it wasn't an act. Neoma's eyes widened upon seeing the creature next to him. He was unable to hide his shock. Meeting an elf wasn't as overwhelming as seeing a unicorn, since they were quite similar to humans. They just had longer and pointier ears, and most were at least over 185 centimetres tall, their average height being taller than that of a human's.
However, unicorns were beings which Neoma only saw in movies and books. They weren't similar to humans and were even more magical than the elves.
"Her name is Aurora. She'll take us closer to the capital city of Aekodora. Of course, we can't come in through the front gates. The elves…"
Elin stopped herself from finishing her last sentence before continuing.
"I hope you understand. There are elves who don't show any prejudice towards other races, but most don't think fondly of humans…"
"I understand. You don't have to feel so bad about it, Your High– Sorry. Elin. You don't have to feel bad about it. I can tell that you are very kind and I am grateful that you were the one who found me here first."
Neoma wore a sweet smile on his face which managed to reassure the princess that he truly wasn't upset at her.
A majority of elves didn't like humans. There wasn't an event which caused the hatred between these two species. Well, at least one which Neoma could remember. Most of the elves thought they were better than any other species, except for a few. Their main reason was that elves were one of the creatures which were the closest to nature, and that their knowledge on elements and subelements was vaster than that of other species'.
"May I pet her?"
Neoma asked curiously as he glanced over at the unicorn named Aurora.
"Only if she lets you."
Unicorns were prideful creatures. Even though they couldn't speak, they were extremely intelligent and could understand many languages. Who knows… Maybe they just choose to not communicate with any other beings.
Neoma nodded in response to Elin's words and slowly approached Aurora. He knew that he should treat a unicorn with respect, as if it was a high ranking person. He could vaguely remember that Aurora wasn't just Elin's pet. No, it would be wrong to call the unicorn anyone's pet. Elin and Aurora were more like companions. In the novel, Aurora always accompanied Elin whenever the elf went out on missions and always fought by her side.
Aurora was carefully observing each and every Neoma's step and move. The youth stopped a metre away from the mythical creature and slowly bowed his head down to her, showing great respect. After lifting his head up, he asked.
"May I pet you?"
Neoma lifted his hand up and watched Aurora, waiting for her response. After a few seconds of observing the human, Aurora stepped closer to him and leaned her head down, gently pressing the bridge of her nose against his hand.
The youth couldn't hold back the smile forming on his lips. He gently petted the unicorn's head after Aurora showed him that she was okay with it.
'I knew my judgement was correct. He truly is a kind human…'
Elin smiled upon seeing Aurora, her trusted companion, approve of the human in front of her.
"Alright, let's head to the city now. The journey will get troublesome if we waste any more time."
The elf spoke as she approached Aurora and quickly hopped onto the unicorn. She glanced towards Neoma and extended her hand down for him, offering to help the youth mount the creature.
Neoma didn't shy away from Elin's helping hand and grabbed onto it, letting the elf help him up onto the unicorn. As he sat in front of her, he started to slightly panic as he couldn't find anything to hold onto.
'Oh magical horsey, please don't get mad at me. I know that this lowly creature shouldn't grab onto your mane like that, but I'm really afraid of falling off…'
He begged in his mind before gently holding onto Aurora by grabbing her long white mane. He truly didn't want to get on her bad side.
Once Neoma was holding onto the mane, Aurora began to run back towards the city; however, she wasn't heading towards one of the main entrances. She was heading towards a cave which had a manually dug up tunnel inside – the secret passage only known to the royal family of Aekodora and the few close servants of theirs.
The whole journey was quiet and Neoma didn't mind it, since he was preoccupied with thinking how unlucky he was.
'Ahh…'
Neoma sighed inwardly.
'Luck truly isn't on my side today. First I transmigrated into one of the most dangerous areas of the eastern continent Voruan and then I met one of the few major characters of "The Elven Hero". And no, it doesn't just end with that. Now I'm being taken to the royal palace where Kyros lives… As if I can just say no to a princess. I guess it is better than dying in this forest.'
"We're here."
Elin's words interrupted Neoma's thoughts.
The elven princess hopped off the unicorn with no trouble while Neoma just stared down at the grass, getting anxious seeing how high his feet were off the ground.
'How do I get off… Do I just jump? What if I hurt myself?'
Neoma was terrified of heights. Even though some may say that he is not that high up from the ground, the youth's mind was already playing many tricks on him. On top of that, he was terribly afraid of pain. He wished to avoid getting any injuries.
However, the fear was quickly defeated by another emotion, which most people can agree on the claim that it is stronger than fear – embarrassment.
Elin didn't wait for Neoma to get off. She just placed her hands on the human's waist and lifted him off of the unicorn as if he was a small child who just finished riding one of the horses at the zoo.
Neoma just stared blankly into nothingness as his mind was still trying to process what had just happened, completely speechless.
"We'll be heading into the tunnels now. Be careful and stick close to me. It's relatively safe there, but you can never know which creature could've slithered his way into the tunnels."
Elin's warning quickly brought Neoma's wandering mind back to reality. He just nodded his head slowly in response, too embarrassed to open his mouth to reply to her words.
The princess truly viewed Neoma as a child. In her eyes, he was small, fragile, innocent, and a poor soul who went through horrible things. Plus, she didn't find the human to be heavy and she managed to lift him off of Aurora with ease.
Elin was one of the strongest elves in the whole eastern continent. Her combat ability and her immaculate archery skills made many beings fear her and respect her. She trained every single day after she had turned 8. She already knew that she wanted to protect her kingdom at a young age. There weren't many elves who could defeat her in battle.
The elven princess soon entered the cave and Neoma quickly followed behind her, not wanting to be left behind. The cave was dark and had many unlit torches inside on the walls. Elin grabbed one of the torches and lit it using a matchstick and its tiny box.
"You should hold it. My eyes are accustomed to the dark."
Elin smiled as she handed the flaming torch to Neoma.