Chapter 20: Elven Village (II).
Francisca's POV
Another morning came, every day we were tasked with collecting vegetables, plants and mushrooms but warned to never go outside the border.
We held our baskets and started filling them up to the brim.
"Ah-?! Where did you get those yummy looking oranges, John?!" (Kc) asked, as John pointed into a nearby tree corner where there were brimming orange gems looking ripe.
"The other kids around here helped me find the way." (John) scratched the back of his neck happily, he reached out to take an orange out of the branches and placed them in his basket.
"Well done, John. Oranges are a good fruit to have for your immunity system." I also took a few, seeing that my height didn't let me have the ones at the very top. I settled on the ones that were in the bottom, "I don't want to only stock up on oranges- so I'll go search on my own there."
I intended to go outside the barrier and get some things before being caught.
"Eh-? But we're not supposed to separate for all of our safety." (Kc) tugged on my sleeve and I patted her head.
"I'll be fine, I'm a bit strong, besides I won't go outside the barrier just around the corner. I'll meet you two at the entrance later, is that good?" I gave them both a reassuring smile, it seemed to have won over John but Kc still looked worried about me trying to go on my own way.
"I trust you, milady. Me and Kc can just stay here and collect some oranges." (John) suggested and I nod.
"But John, you know we can't do that no matter how awesome and powerful big sis is! If you're separating then I wanna come with you!" (Kc) pouted and was about to complain that she wanted to go with me but I turned my back away from them quickly and sneaked away to the edge of the barrier.
"Whew finally got away." I took out my phone and saw the whole map of the mountain. "I'll need to find the safest and shortest path that connects to the mountain temple."
At the edge of the barrier, I walked about half an hour before finding different paths.
…
There were three path choices for me to choose: middle, left, and right.
"The safest one would be…" I took another look at my phone, the path with the less dotted monster icon should be- the middle.
I took the middle path.
I walked past the barrier with ease. I was imagining that it would alert the others- or it would stop me from going outside… "Is it just me or was that just too easy?"
Past the barrier it was full of life compared inside, there were magical squirrels roaming around, a deer with huge antlers and birds with many coloured feathers settling itself in a small branch of a tree.
"Tweet! Tweet!" The wind here was even colder, "Let's see what we can take back at the temple."
I walked around the area, the normal animals avoided me as I walked towards the deep part of the sense forest of the mountainside.
"Jackpot." I was met with a bountiful harvest of rare herbs and mushrooms that was laying around the bottom of the trees, near its roots!
Let's see....
What do we have here..
"Mushrooms, are these poisonous? [Scan]." I hovered over checking its properties and sighed a breath of relief when it was just normal edible white mushrooms.
{Properties}
-|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|-
Name: [Wild White Mushroom]
Item Class: Food
Item Rank: Common
Item Effects:
Stamina +5
Note:
[Wild White Mushroom], grows in mountain areas and dense forest areas. Mushrooms are the only produce source of vitamin D, and when fried with the right spices it can taste almost similar to fried chicken, a good substitute for meat.
"This mushroom tastes like chicken?!"
I'll grab that-!
I took a handful of these wild white mushrooms laying around, if I take this back at the temple then I can cook it. The Monks are vegetarian so surely they'll enjoy a vegetable that tastes something like good meat.
"Hmm… there's also something there that I can't quite make." I squinted my eyes to realize it was a pear hanging at a branch of a tree however- it was red in color.
"[Scan]!" I scanned the red fruit to see its properties. "[Red Pear Fruit]."
{Properties}
-|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|-
Name: [Red Pear Fruit]
Item Class: Food
Item Rank: Rare
Item Effects:
Stamina +10
Health +10
Note:
[Red Pear Fruit], grows in mountain areas, and is myth to be red in color because of the blood that was spread in the area of the tree. Rich in fiber, and provides a good digestion system when eaten.
"Good in digestion, and helps you regain ten points in health. This should come in handy." I climbed the red pear tree taking every ripe ones I can, hopefully my [Inventory] was given infinite capacity, I haven't actually tried making this full.
"One… Three… Ten more…"
"Hngh…" I came to reach the last fruit I need. I plucked it out and sighed a breath of relief, this should all be enough in terms of normal food now I can try and find the rare medicinal herbs like the [Crying Flower] or the [Mandrake Root] to bring back to the temple anonymously.
I was about to go back down into the ground but I heard an ear piercing sound coming right next to the red pear tree.
"Ark! Ark! Awrk!"
"...?!"
What the heck was that noise?!
I looked up at the neighboring tree and found a bird pecking a red pear fruit, it was sucking and licking the juice, not noticing my presence as I kept my head down, getting curious at the thing.
"A bird- it's a huge bird…" I thought about running and leaving it alone… but I'm curious what kind of bird is it first? "[Scan]!"
{Properties}
-|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|-
Name: [Cì chuān Bird].
Beast Class: Avian
Beast Rank: Rare
Note:
[Cì chuān Bird], is also well known to have its long orange beak to pierce through its prey and meal. Native to [Xiāowáng Forest], it can weigh up to seventy to a hundred pounds- and tastes good fried with butter. It is peaceful and will not attack, unless threatened.
"Hmm… well a peaceful bird. I only came here to forage some plans not to hunt." I went down quietly back into the ground, keeping my feet balanced in every branch and bid the bird goodbye.
"Bye, bye bird-"
Slash!
"ARK-! RAHK-!"
"?!"
The [Cì chuān Bird]!
A blade of wind was pierced through its chest-! A huge one-!
"Awrk…" The bird tried flying away but another wind blade came out of nowhere and slashed one of its wings. "Damn!" I watched everything unfold with my very eyes and tried finding where the hell did that come from.
"Phone-! Search bar…" I looked at the dots and saw an unfamiliar dot hovering around near my area. "Huh?!"
CRASH!
I pressed over the dot and the details said: [Elven Race].
"Aaarghhh!" My body stiffened hearing someone scream.
I look at the map again seeing the dot moving towards the dead body of the [Cì chuān Bird].
"Someone's yelling… and it's an elf. I can't believe that there's an elf in this area." I muttered to myself, planning to sneak up on the elf and just see what they look like.
I blended into the bushes, careful not to make any noise, and decided to observe the elf.
"Hngh!" (Elf Boy) groans, trying to take a piece of meat onto his bag. I observed him for the time being, from his clothes- a bit shabby and worn.
He looked like he hadn't showered in days and his silver white hair was messy.
"Come on- budge!" He stabs into the body of his prey, slicing a big piece before trying to pull it back and slicing it again looking exhausted. "Come on budge you stupid piece of-!"
He was incredibly weak, he kicked the wing of the bird and cussed a bit more. "Fuck! We need this meat! Everyone at home hasn't eaten anything good in days! So budge!"
'We', so he's not a lone wolf. There should be an elven village nearby, and from his words it doesn't look like it's doing well if they haven't eaten anything in days-
"..." Well damn he's physically weak but in terms of magic he's very strong, I mean he took down that bird in two shots- I kind of do feel bad that I'm out here hiding in the bushes just watching him struggle.
Rustle… rustle…
"...?!"
"Please- do not be afraid."
I came out of my hiding and offered a hand to help him get the meat that he needed. "I can help you-"
"A human-!" The Elf boy raised his knife away making me step back a bit for closure. His eyes glinted with fear and distrust around me, "..."
"Wait-!"
Before I could even finish he ran away from me at such a fast speed. He left his kill on the ground, what a waste! "I said hold on-!"
I followed his path, but without even a minute passing I lost his trail.
"[Map]." I opened my phone and found the moving dot moving at a very fast speed. "Is he… is he flying?"
I did my best to catch up and just run on my own, treading and passing the monsters not wanting to fight. I was getting deeper inside the forest- and soon reached another mountain side with a huge cave entrance where the dot of the elven race disappeared so suddenly.
"What…? Even with that I clicked track on his dot- it shouldn't have disappeared that easily." I came and poked around the entrance way, seeing an old busted sign.
[DO NOT ENTER
DANGER].
"I should go back… but an elf-" My mind did fight over what to do. I ignore the sign and charge right up to danger or safely go back to the temple entrance acting like nothing happened?
"Sigh… I'm already getting bored of the temple so I should take a day off to myself and check things out. I should come back alive rather than dead." My curiosity won, I entered and went through a huge cave entryway smelling the dirt and dust.
Drip… Drip…
I went with my gut, keeping the map open at all times and checking out if there's monster dots here that I should be worried about.
These caves are so big.
There's a torch here. Did the elf boy leave this here? I don't know any spell that acts like a flashlight. Note to self learn a light spell later, but my smartphone light should suffice for now.
"There we go." I opened the flashlight and looked around, seeing fresh deep footprints. "Hmm… nice boot patterns."
I kept on following the footprints, seeing nothing but old dusted signs before the lights shined onto something. "Ungh…!"
I felt sick to my stomach, the pungent smell- and rats coming out of the skeleton's eyes. "...a dead body?!"