Aquiring a follower

After making a stop at a town, I'm back in the forest.

I found a small town and bought some clothes and some food in there. I had collected coins from whoever I killed over the years, so I have quite a bit of money. My storage is filled with stuff.

I bought some outfits there. The one I'm wearing now consists of black boots, some tight, long, black pants, a red shirt and a black jacket.

Now I'm once again in search of practise targets. I travel around the land, fighting different creatures that seem strong. Most die instantly, but few manage to entertain me a little. Those that do, I make sure to eat.

After a month of this kind of traveling, I rest near a waterfall. The nature in this place is stunningly beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful places I have seen in this world.

Not letting this oppurtunity go, I get naked and dip in the water, bathing under the waterfall.

I enjoy the running water, tempted to turn into my drake form, but I do not, because this place isn't big enough.

While I enjoy myself, my senses pick up movement 500 meters away. It's a creature, alone and moving this way, leisurely.

I wipe the water off my face and flick my hair back, then look towards the creature, still staying neck deep in the water. It's a humanoid and a woman. No it's an elf, judging by the ears.

I patiently wait for the elf to reach me. She walks carefreely and only spots me once she's 20 meters away.

"Oh." She mutters in suprise. "Hello!" She smiles at me.

I stare at her for a few seconds. Then I slowly stand up and walk towards her. She hesitates and seems a bit distressed. My gaze is unsettling her.

The elf has pink hair, in a weird hairdo. Her hair is short, but long in the back. The back is tied into two twin tails. Her face is beautiful and flawless, with a small nose and slightly slanted, hazel eyes. Her body is fit and slender, with nice assets, 1.7 meters tall. Her breasts are around E cup. Overall she's an absolutely stunning, slender beauty.

The old me would have killed her for intruding on my bath time, but I want to be more civil now.

"It's rare to see a female elf travel alone so deep in the forest. Why are you alone?" I ask with mild curiosity, while I walk towards her. Then I proceed to stand in front of her, with my hands on my hips, as if clueless to the fact that I'm naked.

She stares at my body, but I pay it no mind. Rather her scatterbrained attitude is irritating me, so I slap her.

*Slap*

Now she looks at my face with a hurt expression and mumbles meekly. "Sorry..."

"You're distracted attitude is annoying. When I talk, you focus." I tell her, without changing my expression.

"Uhm. I'm an adventurer. I'm doing a quest, but I saw this beautiful waterfall, so I came here." She says. As she talks, she seems to forget the slap and now has stars in her eyes.

"This woman..." I quietly mumble to myself and frown. Then sigh.

I turn around and walk over to my clothes. Then I dry myself with some fire magic and out on my clothes.

"Um. I'm Nadia, nice to meet you." She comes over to me and offers her hand for a handshake. I stop my actions and turn to her, once again staring at her for a few seconds. She becomes a bit apprehensive, but just as she is about to take her hand back, I grab it and shake it. Then I proceed to walk away.

"..Wait." Soon, I hear Nadia behind me. I stop and turn, seeing her running after me.

"Can I know your name?" She asks, hopefully.

"I don't have one." I casually lie and continue to walk away. After this, Nadia doesn't follow me anymore and we seperate.

I walk out of the forest with a pleased expression. That bath left me feeling refreshed. It was much better than I thought it was going to be.

Out of the corner of my eyes I spot a dragon. My eyes light up seeing it, as dragons are supposed to be strong, aren't they. Which means it won't die in one hit, will it?

I smile and leak some excitement out, then I fly off with a boom, trailing that dragon. Once I get closer to it, my excitement disappeares. It's just a flying lizard that looks like a dragon.

I sigh while flying above it and send out a slice with my aura, decapitating the lizard easily.

Just when I thought I finally find something interesting as well...

I find a small cliffside and settle down there, with the intention of spending a night. Once I have carved out a comfortable spot for myself, I fall asleep.

....

The next day, I wake up and lazily stretch. Once that is done, I once again start moving.

After a few minutes, I detect something again. It's the same elf from yesterday. Looks like she's fighting something good. She seems to have found an A rank beast and is struggling with it. By the looks of it, even I couldn't kill it with one hit.

I swiftly move towards her and stop just far enough away, so I won't get in her way. I peer at her and the monster.

She's quite strong actually, managing to fight the beast. But for some reason she's struggling, as if the thing could hurt her. I check how she's using her aura and immediately understand.

After a few minutes, she manages to slash the beast on the neck. This creates an oppurtunity for her to go for the kill, which she does. She casts some sort of wind spear spell, that penetrates the beasts heart, killing it.

Once she's sure it's dead, she rests on her knees, breathing heavily.

"You..." "Hyiaaa!" I appear behind her and try to converse, but she jumps up in fright.

"Oh, It's just you, haah." She relaxes when she sees me. Is this really a reason for her to relax? I think amusedly.

I cross my arms under my small breasts and look at her with a relaxed expression.

"Your use of aura is horrible. You might as well try to bash someone to death with your head. There wouldn't be much of a difference in effect." I tell her, somewhat indifferently.

She looks up at me with an expression mixed with suprise and intrigue.

I raise my hand and imbue some aura into it. "See?" Then I bring it down and vertically bisect a tree beside me.

The movement and execution are effortless. Flawless. The amount of aura used is so small that you can barely sense it.

"Wow!" She exclaims in wonder, reminding me of a child. Then she does something unexpected and comes closer to me. She grabs my hands and looks deep in my eye with a smile.

"Please teach me!" She chirps. I can practically feel the excitement radiate off her.

I smile. "No way."

Her excitement visibly vanishes, making me chuckle.

"Whyyy?" She whines at me.

"I don't have time to teach you. I'm looking for strong opponents to fight." I casually tell her and turn her away.

"Then..." She looks at me, racking her brain. "I'll travel with you and tell you what I know of strong people. In exchange you will teach me when you have time."

Hearing this I turn back towards her with a bit of interest. Then make a decision.

"How amusing. I accept." I say with conviction and step closer to her. "You will be traveling with me from now on."

"Yes!.. Buuut~, what should I call you." She awkwardly asks and shyly scratches her nose.

"..Pendragon... Artoria Pendragon is my name. You can call me Artoria." I tell her, after a brief pause and turn away.

"Then I will call you Artoria." She smiles. Also letting out a quiet mumble. "Your eyes are so pretty..."

My brows scrunch up slightly and I turn back to her. "What?" I ask with confusion.

"I said your eyes are so pretty. They remind me of a clear pond." She responds with a smile.

"Ha. Hahahahahaha." I burst out laughing. My laughter containing an undertone of malice.

"Very good. Then I suppose we'll get along." I add with a smile. Leaving Nadia confused.

As I walk in front of her, I can't help but chuckle again. When I gaze at myself in the mirror, even I find my slitted, pale blue eyes eerie. It's like an unfeeling predator is looking into the depths of your soul. However this chick finds those same eyes pretty...

"So where can I find powerful warriors?" I suddenly ask the girl, losing my smile.

"Eh? Umm, I've hears of many powerful warriors in the east." She responds after coming out of her thoughts.

"Then we will go east." I stop and look at her. "Which way?" I casually ask, but again she looks nervous and meek as she points out a direction.

I nod and ask. "Can you fly?"

"No." She answers and shakes her head slightly.

"Alright." I say, then I grab her in a princess carry and take off. Since she's taller than me, it looks a bit weird, but I don't even notice.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" She screams as we fly away at high speeds.