The morning sun has just about risen when a lazy yawn filled the room. Aurora, who had just woken up, stretched her paw above her head and slowly got up on the soft bed.
'Mmmm, best sleep of my life.' Aurora sighed internally in satisfaction, jumping down from the bed.
As if sensing she was up, Rejoke also woke up at the exact same time, rising from the pillows he was lying on. He had also rested very well, but now it was time to wake up.
Aurora greeted the wolf with a simple nod and then walked up to the door of the room. Just as she was about to jump and latch onto the handle to open the door, a knock sounded from the other side, soon followed by a soft voice.
"Lady Aurora, have you woken up?" Elise asked from behind the door, her voice low and gentle.
Realizing she wanted to walk in, Aurora merely tapped the door twice to indicate she was awake and took a few steps away. Taking the hint, Elise softly opened the door and walked in with a tray full of food in her hands.
"Good morning, Lady Aurora. I brought you your breakfast." Elise, placing the tray down on the bedside table next to the bed before walking back to Aurora.
She carefully picked the small fox up and made her way over to the bed, sitting down and placing Aurora in her lap.
"Let me feed you, okay?" Elise asked with a soft smile, bringing a spoonful of some simple beef stew. As it was breakfast, the meal shouldn't be too heavy for the stomach, hence just a simple soup.
Aurora leaned slightly, eating the delicious food. Instantly, her whole body was flooded with delight as the exquisite masterpiece of a meal went down her throat.
"I hope it is to your liking. I wanted to ask the chefs to make you something, but mother said it would be better if I was the one to cook for you. My cooking skills aren't great, so I hope this doesn't taste too awful." Elise continued to smile; however, if Aurora looked up to see her expression, she could easily tell the elf was nervous.
As if sensing her feeling even without looking away, Aurora finished savoring the soup and used her telepathic skill.
"Don't worry; it is the most delicious thing I have tasted in my life. Besides, my tastes aren't anything complex; after all, my source of food was monster and beast corpses." She reassured her, taking another spoon of the soup into her mouth.
Those words alone were enough to wash away all the nervousness Elise was feeling as if it didn't exist in the first place. Now, with a bright smile, she continued to feed Aurora while also chatting with her.
"What are you planning to do today, Lady Aurora?" Elise asked, bringing. another spoon of soup to Aurora's tiny mouth.
Since Aurora could only speak telepathically, she didn't have any problems speaking even in the middle of eating; otherwise, Elise would have timed her questions better.
"Hmm, probably explore the village and maybe head out for a bit to hunt some monsters and beasts." Aurora replied absent-mindedly, her mind fully focusing on the soup.
"Exploring, you say?" Elise chuckled softly, placing down the now-empty bowl.
She slowly stood up, placing Aurora down on the bed. She then picked up a second bowl of soup, walked over to Rejoke, and placed it down in front of him.
The wolf looked at her confusedly, then at his alpha. Seeing Aurora nod, the wolf nodded back and began to slowly eat the soup. It was truly delicious, but he hasn't in a hurry to eat it. Rather, he did his best to savor the meal.
"We can absolutely explore the village if you wish to do so; however, hunting isn't the greatest idea. The monsters around the village are all pretty powerful, even more so the ones up north." Elise said, walking back to Aurora.
Once again, the elf sat down on the bed and placed Aurora on her lap. This time, however, she lay her down instead of making her sit and began to pet her head.
"Mmm, that's the point. And don't worry, Elise. Anyone in the first rank can forget about even touching me, much less defeating me. Besides... I want to try something." Aurora smiled widely internally but didn't show anything on the outside.
Though she had to admit that Elise's pets and caresses felt really good. They were super comforting, causing Aurora to sigh in satisfaction.
"I can call my brother if you truly wish to explore the wasteland beyond the snowstorm. He and his party are the best hunters in the village, so I'm sure they know some nice spots." Elise offered with a smile on her face, gently rubbing Aurora's ear.
At the sudden change, the fox squirmed a little before letting out yet another sigh. Aurora merely nodded to Elise's offer despite not even hearing what she said. Her mind was only focusing on the hand on her head.
Noticing her relaxed expression, Elise's smile widened, and she merely continued to pet, rub, and stroke Aurora's head, her back, and occasionally her tail. The two remained silent, with Auroea not thinking about anything at all and Elise just letting the fox relax.
The two stayed like that for a few minutes. Rejoke had already finished eating his portion of the soup, and while he wasn't a picky eater at all, he still very much liked the meal.
Noticing that the wolf was done, Elise smiled and picked Aurora up from her lap, placing her down on the bed. Momentarily ignoring the pouting face of the small fox, Elise got up from the bed and picked up the now-empty bowl. Placing the bowl down on the tray, she picked up the whole tray and smiled towards Aurora.
"Although I don't mind petting you further, if we don't hurry up, we won't have much time for exploring, Lady Aurora." Elise chuckled a little and reminded the small fox.
Realizing she was right, Aurora stopped pouting and hopped off the bed. With a nod towards the beautiful elf, she followed her out of the room.
After returning the tray to the kitchen inside the large tree, the trio of an elf and two magical beasts left the palace-like structure. Truly, the inside of the largest tree in the village was like a palace, which made sense since it was here that the village chief and her family resided.
"So, what would you like to see first, Lady Aurora?" Elise asked with a small smile on her face after they left the palace.
"I don't know this place at all, so I'll have to ask you to be my guide today." Aurora said through their telepathic connection.
Her voice was a bit awkward as she did feel quite embarrassed. After all, she wanted to explore but had no idea what to even explore. Thankfully, Elise didn't seem to notice her embarrassment, or at the very least, didn't show any reaction to it.
With a smile on her face, Elise set out, leading the duo of beasts through the busy streets of the elf village. Aurora made sure to follow closely behind so she wouldn't get lost. Rejoke did the same as his alpha, following right behind her. There were many strange creatures around, so he needed to make sure that none could hurt his alpha.
The walk went smoothly, and the group hasn't encountered any problems. It was the same as the first time Aurora had walked through these streets. The elves looked at the group, but none seemed to have any malicious intents or thoughts.
"They seem to truly believe the legend, huh?" Suddenly, Aurora heard Yuki's voice.
These days, Yuki didn't say as much as she normally did, but she was obviously still around. The two sisters talked while Aurora was asleep, using the downtime to share their thoughts about the elves.
'Legend? What do you mean?' Aurora asked curiously in turn, not really sure what her sister meant.
"Yeah, about our mother. Think about it. Elaine and maybe some other elves are possible; after all, elves are a long-living race. However, there is no way all of these elves had actually seen mother's spirit." Yuki explained in more detail, and Aurora finally understood what she meant.
Indeed, Yuki was right. Who knew when the elves had actually made contact with their mother? For all she knew, it could have been thousands of years ago. So while some elves may have actually met her, most definitely didn't.
Aurora had actually learned a thing or two about elves during her talk with Yuki last night. Apparently, elves lived for a very long time, similarly to the ones she knew from the various stories from her past life. The average lifespan for an elf was around 1000 years, but some of higher ranks or higher quality bloodlines could even live several times longer without any problems.
That meant that it was highly likely that someone like Elaine had already lived for several thousand years. But this wasn't true for most elves. Actually, the age of most of the elves living in this village ranged from about 100-500 years. Such life is certainly long for humans, but for elves, it's something completely normal.
'To think that even these 'young' elves had such a strong belief and faith in our mother.' Aurora thought amazedly.
One had to imagine just how strong a tribe's faith must be if even the youngest generations held such a strong belief in what could be called their god.
While Aurora was lost in her own thoughts regarding her mother's influence over the elves of this village, the group of three had arrived at their first stop.
A relatively small house on top of a not-so-tall but very thick and robust tree. The building's placement definitely had reason, as unlike most of the houses and structures of the village, this house wasn't made out of wood. It was made out of some strange stony material with some parts seemingly made out of metal.
Another eye-catching part of the house was the thick and tall chimney, from which dense clouds of smoke were getting released into the air. However, surprisingly, the smoke didn't float freely up to the sky. Instead, immediately as it got released, it was captured by some strange device with runes all over it.
"Elise, what is that?" Not able to contain her curiosity, Aurora asked using her skill.
Seeing Aurora's fixed on the device on top of the unique house, Elise chuckled and explained.
"That is a so-called smoke catcher. A fitting name, I know. However, despite the crude name, this device is very important for the village. It is able to suck in all types of smoke and slowly purify it using mana. This only prevents any harm that could be done to the forest; the purified smoke can also be used as a fertilizer." Elise finished her explanation and walked over to the door of the house.
Seeing her open the door, Aurora quickly caught up to her, closely followed by Rejoke.
The group entered the building and got immediately assaulted by an intense wave of heat. Sounds of metal crashing and clanging against metal echoed throughout the house. The combination would immediately make anyone realize what this house actually was.
"£¢€π√¢ ¶∆£€." A rough and deep voice reached Aurora's ears all of a sudden; however, she couldn't understand a word the person said.
"Regar, do you have a minute?" Elise called out, clearly responding to the voice. Unlike the other person, she used the so-called universal language, so Aurora could easily understand her.
Hearing the familiar voice, the clanging of metal stopped, and a person entered Aurora's line of sight. It was a man, no doubt an elf. However, he looked different from any elf Aurora had seen before.
"Oh, it seems the princess brought some interesting visitors with her." The man said with an interested expression, finally speaking in a language Aurora could understand.
"Little fox, I assume you can understand me, so let me introduce myself. Name's Regar, the blacksmith of this village. A pleasure to meet you."