The atmosphere inside the throne room became stiff, the air filled with tension. Aurora's gaze unflinchingly stayed on the beautiful elven woman, who amusedly returned the gaze of the small fox.
But just as the silence and tension in the air started to become unbearable, the chief of the snow elves chuckled and closed her eyes momentarily.
"Alright, alright. I'll stop teasing you, little one. But the question was serious. Could you tell me your name?" The woman apologized and asked, opening her eyes once again.
But when she saw Aurora's annoyed look, she realized that she had made a small mistake. Due to her intelligence and expression, she for a moment forgot that she was still talking to a beast of the first rank.
"My apologies. I may have forgotten that you aren't able to speak yet. But don't fret; I'll fix my mistake. How about I make it up to you, hmm?" The woman offered a slight smile.
There was just something about that smile that Aurora really didn't like, but she didn't pay it much mind. Instead, she sighed helplessly and nodded.
"Excellent." The elven chief clapped her hands once, snapping her fingers right after.
Suddenly, a simple-looking scroll appeared in the woman's hand out of thin air. The seemingly simple display made Aurora's eyes widen in surprise, a surprise that soon turned into jealousy.
She wanted something like that too! It was obvious that the woman was able to store some things away using some sort of magic. This would solve a huge problem she had, due to which she had to leave all those scrolls and books she found in her mother's tomb behind.
The elven woman found Aurora's reaction amusing, but she didn't comment on it. Instead, she made the scroll float towards the small white fox, and then she released it in front of her. She said nothing else, merely smiling as if waiting for Aurora to do something.
Understanding what she wanted, Aurora slowly reached out towards the scroll. Her paw touched the wrapped bamboo paper as she used her Inspect title to see what the scroll was all about.
[Advanced skill scroll]
- Grade: Advanced
- Held skill: Telepathy
– A skill scroll containing a skill that allows the user to communicate with other holders of the same skill through their minds.
[Requirements to learn:
- Intelligence and mana over 250 points without any external help.
[Upon use:
- The user will learn the skill Telepathy.
'Telepathy!?' Aurora exclaimed internally, her eyes widening in shock. Without any questions or hesitation, she directly spent 10 of her free points to get her mana up to 250 points.
She tightened her grip on the scroll a bit, and as if understanding her intentions, the scroll took on a faint glow, and soon, a familiar message flashed in front of her eyes.
[You have learned the skill Telepathy level 1.]
Not wasting a second, Aurora immediately brought up the information available to her about the skill. Although there wasn't much to look at.
The Telepathy skill was exactly what it said it was: a telepathy skill that allowed the user to communicate with someone using only their mind. However, the skill had quite severe limitations.
First was the cost. The cost to use this skill varied depending on a few factors, such as the user's intelligence or the distance between them and the target. As long as the individual the user wanted to talk to was in a five-meter proximity around them, the skill had no cost and could be used without any limitations. However, the further the user was from the target, the higher the cost would be.
The second setback of the skill, and this one was the more severe one, was that it only worked with those who have the same, lesser, or superior skill to this one. So the skill was useless if the target also didn't have a skill similar to Telepathy.
But even despite all this, the skill was definitely something Aurora wanted and needed. Even if it was a very select range of people, being able to actually communicate with someone was a game changer.
"Seems like you managed to learn the skill, huh?" Suddenly, a voice rang inside Aurora's head. Now, this was something she was used to. After all, she had Yuki in her head all day long.
However, this voice definitely didn't belong to Yuki, nor did it come from inside her own soul.
Aurora looked up towards the throne, only to see the chief of the elves smiling amusedly, a smile that greatly infuriated her. Yes, the voice she heard just now definitely belonged to the elven woman sitting on that very throne.
"So this was another test to see if I was strong enough to learn?" Aurora replied, using the skill as naturally as breathing.
"You can take it that way." The elven chief's smile widened further as she continued to use Telepathy to communicate.
"Anyway, now we can finally talk, so how about you tell me your name?" She asked once again, finally expecting an answer.
"Hmph, as if! What with those manners of yours? Asking for another person's name without introducing yourself first?" Aurora merely scoffed in response. She even scolded her for her 'bad manners.'
Hearing the words of the small fox in front of her, the beautiful elf woman blinked a few times in surprise before she burst out laughing.
"This-? The village chief laughing?" Seeing her laugh so carelessly, Elijah was struck dumb. This was the first time in a long, long time he had seen her laugh out loud like this.
"Hey! What's with the laughter!? I was serious!" Aurora's voice sounded inside the elven chief's head, causing her to laugh even harder.
It was only after about a minute that she managed to calm down, steadying her breath. With a light, fake cough, she composed herself once again and spoke inside Aurora's head.
"It's been a while since anyone had spoken to me in such a way. Truly, what a pleasant surprise." Just saying those words made her chuckle again; however, she controlled herself this time.
"As for who I am, my name is Elaine Frös, the current chief of this village. However, no need to treat me with much respect. Actually, just call me Elaine." The village chief, Elaine, introduced herself.
"Right, well, I suppose I can introduce myself now." Aurora nodded and responded, looking Elaine straight in her eyes.
"My name is Aurora. I'm just a small, cute little fox." She didn't even use her full name, but there was no need to do so. That name was something she planned to keep hidden, and she definitely didn't trust Elaine enough to tell her a secret.
"Well, Aurora, I would say you're much more than just a cute fox. After all, I've never seen a rank 1 beast with even one stat above 200 points, not to mention multiple above the 250 mark." Elaine chuckled, slowly rising from her throne.
Aurora watched with careful yet curious eyes as the beautiful elf descended down the steps leading up to the throne. Elaine stopped just a few meters in front of her and crouched down, her hands reaching forward.
Now, under Aurora's confused eyes, she gently picked up the small white fox, bringing her up to her face.
The two stared into the other's eyes in silence for about a minute. Elain then smiled and lowered Aurora; however, she didn't let go of her. She merely brought her down underneath her chest and began to stroke her snow-white fur.
"Say, Aurora. You are a kitsune, aren't you?" Just as Aurora was getting strangely comfortable, she heard Elaine's voice inside her mind.
She had no idea how this elven woman figured out that she wasn't just a simple fox beast. Did that mean Aurora would honestly tell her the truth? No, absolutely not.
Just based on the fact that Elaine was actually asking, it's quite obvious that she wasn't sure. She might be 99% positive that Aurora in fact was a kitsune, but that 1% caused doubts inside her mind. At least that was what Aurora thought. In reality, Elaine was 100% sure that the fox in her arms was a kitsune.
Rather than being a serious question that she wanted an answer to, the question was more of a test of Aurora's honesty. Would she lie and deny the truth, or would she be honest and say how it really is?
Even after a minute after the question was asked, Aurora remained silent. She was actually considering things very carefully, even asking Yuki about her thoughts. As far as she could tell, kitsunes were anything but common, so revealing she was in fact one such being might be dangerous.
However, in the end, and after weighing all the pros and cons, Aurora decided to be honest. Lying was almost never a good option unless you were lying to someone who was 100% your enemy. And even then, the truth comes to the surface sooner or later.
"To answer your question, yes, I am in fact a kitsune. And now that I have answered, can I ask a question of my own? How did you figure out I wasn't just a fox beast?" Aurora asked curiously right after answering, causing Elaine to chuckle.
"It was simple, really. We elves, even if we are snow elves, have a strong connection to nature and its spirits. And particularly those like me that have broken through a certain milestone can feel what we call 'spiritual power'." The beautiful elf explained right away, not bothering to hide anything.
Aurora was honest with her answer before, so there was no need to lie. Maybe if she had lied first, Elaine might lie and just simply wouldn't answer the question, but since Aurora told the truth, there was no need to be stingy.
"Spiritual power, what is that?" Feeling that she might learn something new, Aurora asked further, like a curious little child, which she, from a certain point of view, really was.
"Take it as the power of one's soul. It's not only their mana, but the power of the whole being. We're talking affinities, skills, titles, and things like that. Even physical stats count here, though to a lesser extent." Elaine explained patiently, her hand moving across Aurora's back.
"Now, as I said, powerful elves like me have the ability to sense this power. And when I looked into your eyes closely, I was able to gauge your spiritual power. And I must say, it was beyond anything I expected. That's what made me think you were most probably a kitsune; otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to get this powerful." As she finished her explanation, Elaine crouched down again, placing Aurora on the ground.
Aurora said nothing and merely looked up at the elven woman's beautiful face. She waited to see what she'll do next. By now, it was pretty obvious that the way Elaine treated her wasn't really normal, so she was interested in what would happen now.
"Let me ask you one more question, little Aurora. Actually, first, let me tell you a story. After all, you probably don't know the legend of this place, do you?" Seeing Aurora shake her head, Elaine smiled and began her story.
"Long ago, these snowy wastelands were just that, wastelands. No creatures lived here as the conditions here were too harsh. There was no water, only snow and ice. And no water meant no plants or beasts, which meant no food." As she spoke, Elaine walked back up to her throne.
"This place was truly barren, with snow being the only thing present. However, these lands then got blessed, turning them into a paradise for beasts and monsters that had some relation to the ice attribute. It was at this time that we, the snow elves, stumbled upon this beautiful land. Land full of snow and mana, it was truly a paradise for us." Finally reaching her throne, Elaine sat down and looked at Aurora with a smile.
"However, the blessings weren't over. As we settled down, a problem arose. Monsters and beasts. They attacked way too often, not giving us time to build our own territory. It was then when a miracle happened. Our lands turned into a true paradise full of greenery and trees. A thick cloud of fog surrounded this small paradise, and a heavy snowstorm wrapped around it."
"This snowstorm was special, as no beasts or monsters could enter it. This gave us, the snow elves, the life we had today." Elaine's smile turned warm at the end.
"So now, let me ask you. Do you know someone named Shinara?"