Seven Kingdom

"Wake up, Willy."

Braun's low voice woke Willy up. His head was a bit dizzy from lack of sleep. After a night of endless listening to Braun's stories, Willy got tortured again with the man's loud snoring. But for Willy, it didn't matter. After all, Braun had saved his life. Willy thought it was a small price he had to pay.

However, that didn't mean Braun's stories were useless. Willy got a little glimpse of the world he lived in now.

On this continent full of magic and fantasy creatures, there were reigning Seven Kingdoms. Five of them were Kingdoms built by humans; Uruk, Camelot, Midgard, Niflhel, and Arkadia. The remaining two were the elven kingdom, Alfheim, and the dwarf kingdom, Nidavellir.

But that was then.

Everything changed since the Midgard Kingdom experienced a revival. Ten years ago, Midgard invaded the Kingdom of Uruk, an early sign of Midgard spreading their wings.

Uruk was a kingdom that thirsted for war. It often extended power by eroding the territory of neighboring kingdoms; Camelot, Nidavellir, and Midgard. Therefore, the six kingdoms ignored the invasion by Midgard. They wanted to see Uruk beaten by Midgard. But who would have thought it would be their biggest mistake?

Uruk fell, and the next 5 years, Camelot followed. The remaining kingdoms then formed an alliance to withstand Midgard's attacks. The name of their alliance was Heavens Shield. However, one kingdom did not join the alliance, namely Alfheim.

The reason Alfheim didn't join Heavens Shield was because of one thing. Humans.

Elves had a deep-rooted hatred and dark history with humans. In the past, Elves and humans lived in harmony, they lived side by side and worked hand in hand against other races. So it had been for thousands of years until their power dominated the continent.

When time passed, Humans drowned in greed.

They soon robbed the resources and cut down the forest that became the settlement of the elves. It didn't stop there, they looked at the elves as objects. The elven women were of extraordinary beauty. Their extraordinary beauty made rich merchants and nobles want to own them. For the sake of one elven woman, a mountain of gold was thrown.

From that point started the wonder of supply and demand.

The kidnapping of elf women then took place. At first, it was done secretly. Over time, the kidnapping of Elves became obvious. Then it developed and turned into an open hunt. The forests where the Elves lived simply were attacked. Mother and daughter were kidnapped, the captured men were made into slaves. The Elves turned into a traded item.

Several Elves who were brave and full of hatred towards humans decided to gather in Elunore Forest. They strengthened themselves there. The humans who entered the forest would be killed immediately. Thanks to that news, the news about the Elunore Forest spread across the continent.

The Elves came out from hiding and flocked to Elunore Forest, where they sought refuge. As time passed, the people grew and the population expanded larger than ever. It didn't take too long for them to decide to build an empire that stood to this very day. Alfheim.

Now, Alfheim was giving Willy a hard time.

'I hope this is just a dream.'

Braun shook Willy's body, who was still lying down.

"Come on, kid! You want to die here?" snapped Braun in a harsh whisper.

"Ah, sorry. My head is a little dizzy," Willy replied. He tried to get up with his body that staggered lightly. His eyes stung, and his vision was still a little blurry.

"Is that so? Then stay here, your dizziness will go away. It'll be gone with your head. Don't be lazy, kid! Get up!"

Braun tugged at Willy's body and before the young man knew it, he was then dragged out of the tree root hole.

The air was cold and damp. The forest was covered by fog, and the sun had not yet appeared. It was a little difficult for Braun and Willy to observe their surroundings. But they still ran through the forest.

The two of them continued to jog. Sometimes they would stop for a moment to catch their breath, then start running again. They ran like death was trailing them from behind. Braun walked quickly, but he was careful when he stepped on his feet. He avoided making a sound as much as possible. His eyes were wary as he looked around.

"How long will it take, Braun?" Willy asked quietly.

"It would be faster if you keep your mouth shut and quicken your pace."

Willy was not annoyed at Braun's answer. Now he was more worried about his life than emotions over trivial matters.

After moving for quite a while, Braun's hand pointed towards the front. "There it is, son!"

Willy tried to see what Braun was pointing at. But he didn't know what it was, his vision was blocked by the thick fog and the darkness of the dawn.

"That's the sign our patrol team put up. Soon we'll be out of this damn forest. About 50 meters from the sign is a clearing."

"The campsite was there?" Willy asked.

"Our camp is in the northeast. Next time, you should know the cardinal directions and memorize our route. I'm sure you'd be lost without me."

Braun had purposely taken a slight detour route to avoid the possibility of encountering an elf patrol. He thought the elves might have secured the Midgard Army's route to the encampment.

Willy was excited to hear Braun's words. His footsteps were getting faster.

'Finally!'

Swoosh!

The sound of arrows shot through the fog. Braun, who realized that, spontaneously pushed Willy's body away.

"Watch out!"

Willy was pushed away by Braun's immense force. He fell 2 meters away. Willy, who was still surprised, blinked. His eyes then locked to the arrows that hit the ground. Around it were a large dent and broken ground as if the arrows that hit were meteor hitting the Earth.

'Fuck!' cursed Braun in his heart.

On top of the large trees covered by mist, stood the elven warriors wearing black hooded robes. Their eyes lit up like a predator finding prey. One of the elves wearing blue robes raised a hand as if he was giving instructions to stop shooting.

"The last two mice have been found. This way, their number is exactly 2000. As calculated," said the blue-robed Elf. Her voice was soft.

The elf was Kestrel.

"Pull your sword, boy!" cried Braun. His voice was loud.

"A cornered rat would naturally fight back," whispered Kestrel.

Willy's heart raced. His breathing became erratic and his entire body.Right now, he was about to face death, but he still drew his sword.

"Braun," Willy called quietly. His eyes glanced at Braun. "If we fight, can we escape?"

"No. But at least we die like warriors." No pleasantries at all came from Braun's reply.

When he heard Braun's answer, Willy's heart felt like it was stabbed by a dagger. He swallowed as much saliva as possible.

"It was nice to meet you, Willy."

Willy was silent. From the bottom of his heart, he wanted to run. But Willy couldn't leave his savior to fight alone. He had seen too many gruesome sights on the battlefield and had already felt a lot of regrets.

'Sorry, Mama.'

"Shoot!" cried Kestrel.

Immediately an arrow covered in dark blue light charged at the two of them. Willy, who couldn't see the speed of the arrow, could only stare into the air. Braun, who was perceptive of the situation, immediately let out his <Aura> and cut down all the arrows that charged at the two of them.

"Son! Run! I'll hold them!" cried Braun.

"Then what about you?" Willy asked.

"Don't worry about it. I've lived long enough, and I've had enough of it. Think of your own life!"

Willy was still silent. He hesitated to leave Braun.

Swoosh!

The arrows flew again.

"Run, you idiot!"

'Damn it!'

With a heavy heart, Willy decided to turn and run. He didn't dare turn his head, not out of fear. But because of the guilt.

'Good. Now I can fight them without carrying a burden,' Braun whispered to himself.

"Don't let the other one run!" cried Kestrel.

Dozens of arrows aimed for Willy's back, but Braun parried them all.

"I'll chase the runaway. Alwyn, you and the others face the old man," Kestrel ordered.

"Yes!" replied Alwyn.

Then Kestrel darted through the trees.

"Hah."

Willy ran as hard as he could and crashed at whatever was before him. He ran without pause and didn't even try to catch his breath for any moment. Instead he was struck with a realization that if he stopped, he would die.

Swoosh.

An arrow shot past Willy's leg. The ground shattered, and debris hit his feet.

'Fuck! Why does it hurt so much!'

The arrows were shot several times, but none of them hit. But it wasn't because of Willy's ability to dodge, on the contrary Kestrel didn't let them hit it on purpose. She wanted to toy with Willy and let him believe that there was hope.

After being shot several times by arrows and with each one missing him, Willy realized he was being toyed with.

'She did it on purpose? This Psycho!'

After Kestrel was satisfied with playing with Willy, she decided to end it.

'Now, go to hell.'

Swoosh.

As soon as the arrow shot, Willy immediately jumped to the side. The arrow hit a tree instead and created a big hole. Kestrel's eyes widened when she saw that her shot missed.

'What?'

Before Kestrel could escape the shock of the human dodging her, a spinning sword flew toward her face. Without much need for a second glance, Kestrel reflexively dodged. The sword missed and stabbed into the tree. However, Kestrel felt a pang of pain.

Kestrel touched her brow and glanced down at them.

There was blood on her fingertips and she felt the trickle of blood flow down. She was injured. On her right eyebrow, there was a 2 cm long tear. The wound on her brow stung, but her feelings hurt even more. Kestrel's pride was hurt. Anger welled up in Kestrel's chest.

"I WILL KILL YOU WRETCHED THING!"