Ch-89: Elf King (3)

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"He said I had talent! Fuck you! All bullshit!"

Katarina shouted as she ran through the winding dark tunnel. A wolf donning dark gray fur chased after her. Flames rose from the wolf's forehead, and from its undulating tail made entirely of fire.

Yes.

After all it was an ancient fire elemental, not just any ordinary wolf.

Katarina found the fire elemental in this deep caravan, and she roused herself up to convince it into making a contract, but before she could open her mouth, the spirit transformed into a wolf and leapt.

"Shedia! Help me!!"

She shouted urgently, but Shedia, who had sunk into Katarina's shadow, did not pop out.

The distance between her and the wolf gradually inched closer.

Shedia remained unresponsive.

That made Katarina more restless. Taking a few hops further, she bit her lips.

'If I only keep running like this, I would eventually be eaten alive and then everything will be over. If that's the case…'

Katarina halted on her tracks and turned around. She drew out her curved saber with both hands and glared at the half-flaming wolf scuttling towards her.

Big.

And huge.

That gigantic maw could easily munch her in half.

Katarina's body stiffened with fear.

Taking advantage of the gap, the wolf pounced on her. Katarina shut her eyes as the wolf lunged for her.

The faces of her mother, her father, and her younger siblings flashed through her mind.

It was Cloud who came at the end.

He was her first love and the man who would be her last.

'I should have kissed him one more time before leaving.'

She regretted, reluctant to let go.

Moments later, Katarina's body, pushed by the wolf, was knocked over. She had thought the stone floor to be scraping and rough, but it was… surprisingly soft.

'..Fluffy?'

Why was the stone floor soft?

Katarina opened her closed eyes. The large wolf was supporting her body with its forelimbs. And before she even got a sense of what had transpired.

– Lick.

"Ugh?!"

The wolf licked Katarina with its large tongue, drowning her in saliva. She stalled and blinked, this dumb cute behaviour was expected of a puppy and not from a freaking grown ass wolf, the size difference was huge.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute. Stop it."

– Lick.

"Stop it…"

– Lick.

"Stop!!"

Katarina crowed loudly.

The wolf, startled, threw its head back with a sullen expression.

– Eeek…

This time, it was Katarina who was taken aback.

"Uhh… sorry for yelling at you?"

The sullen wolf's expression softened slightly.

Katarina tentatively questioned the wolf.

"Are you a fire elemental?"

The wolf stared at Katarina without any reaction.

"Th… are you thinking of signing a contract with me? Any chance..? As for the terms of the contract, um… well, there's an old elf up there? A bit pushy? Yeah. He will arrange it."

Finding it unresponsive, Katarina continued to speak gibberish.

Don't you want to go outside, aren't tunnels and only tunnels so boring, there are many beautiful things outside, and so on.

The wolf just stared, and stared.

Anxiety bloomed in Katarina's mind.

"You don't want to sign a contract..? Looks like…we couldn't reach an understanding. I'm sorry for taking your time. Now, if you would let me go…"

– Lick.

"Ugh!?"

The wolf gawked at Katarina once more and changed its form, flaring up. The huge wolf blossomed into red fire and the fire gathered in one twirl.

The wolf's forelegs suddenly disappeared, knocking Katarina onto her butt. She looked at the fire elemental as she rubbed her ass.

"Will you sign a contract?"

Sparks spurted slightly from the fire elemental.

Taking that as a sign of acceptance, Katarina experimentally reached out her hand. A thin skein of fire shot from the elemental and licked Katarina's palm.

"Ah!"

Katarina hurriedly withdrew her hand from the sting. Could she have been burned? She examined her palm.

Instead of burns, her palms had strange, unreadable writing.

As she tilted her head, the fire spirit approached and rubbed itself on her cheek. Although the fireball touched her face, it was strangely… not hot.

"Are we contracted?"

~Yes~

The elemental's inscriptions had been handed down to her.

Katarina jerked up in surprise at the sudden voice as the elemental perched up to reassure her that it was the elementals' means of communication.

Then something rose from Katarina's shadow.

"Shedia?"

"Um."

"…You didn't come out when I called for you way earlier."

"I didn't feel any killing intent from the wolf. If I had felt it, I would have come."

"Is that so?"

"Um."

Katarina let out a small sigh as Shedia nodded her head boldly. Well, she was right. The fire elemental didn't want to harm Katarina, it was just a prank. A heart whopping prank.

"Okay. Now, let's go find the other elementals…"

Katarina, who was about to pull her along, hesitated.

Shedia was looking at the lively fire elemental with twinkling eyes.

Katarina recalled how Shedia had stretched out her hand for an elemental, and she sulked as the elemental fled away.

"Do you want to touch it?"

"…Can I?"

"Uh. Are you fine with it?"

Katarina asked her elemental. The elemental was reluctant, but it did not refuse her request.

Taking that as a yes, Shedia reached out, able to touch an elemental for the first time in her life.

Seeing Shedia giggle like a child, Katarina smiled happily, affected by her spirit. Looking at her, she felt like she was looking at her own sister.

""

"Shedia, how old are you?"

Shedia was puzzled by Katarina's somewhat unexpected question. But it wasn't a particularly important question for her, so she just answered.

"Twenty."

"Really?"

'She's only two years older than me, actually..?'

She had thought there would be a difference of at least six years between them.

As Katarina scaled up Shedia's age in her head, Shedia looked up at her and said, "Hey… thank you."

"Um? For what?"

"T-The elemental… for allowing me to touch it…"

Shedia's voice sank.

Was she shy?

Katarina smiled, finding the short girl cute.

"Sis."

"Yes?"

"Don't call me 'hey,' call me Sis."

Shedia's expression hardened for a moment.

Katarina fanned her hand in embarrassment.

"No, no. I don't mean to enforce it on you or anything… I thought we have known each other for quite some time, so I figured it would be better to be more friendly in… you know… If you don't like it, don't…"

"Sis."

"Uh?"

"Thank you, Katarina."

Looking at Shedia again, Katarina found her face didn't have the gloom she had shown a moment ago. She was smiling brightly, and after pausing a moment, Katarina also smiled happily.

After that, Katarina got in to making contracts with the rest of the four ancient elementals in next four hours.

* * *

"They're here."

The World Tree suddenly said.

No additional explanation was needed.

Moments later, Katarina came up the steps, gasping for breath. Around her, four elementals of different shapes hovered around.

I propped myself up and ambled towards Katarina.

Looking at me, she trudged over and leaned into my arms.

"Was it hard?"

"Very. I can't measure how much I have ran around inside…"

"You did well."

"Um."

Katarina hummed, rubbing her face in my arms.

I gently brushed the back of her hair and said to the World Tree, who had returned to the body of the male elf.

"Since we have had our conversation and Katarina's business is over, don't you think we should be leaving?"

"Why are you being so hasty? You all can stay for a few days if you all want."

"No. We have distance to catch up. The reason we ended up here in the first place is because the ship sailing to the Principality of Polycia sank, leaving us stranded. Originally, we had no intention of stopping by."

"Is that so? Then I shouldn't be holding on to you guys any longer."

The World Tree made a very sad expression.

What exactly is this old tree trying to pan out?

Without hesitation, I turned my back to the World Tree.

"Then we should be going. I would appreciate it if you could get us a guide to show the way."

"Oh, wait a moment."

The World Tree said so and he stretched out his hand below the ground. A tree trunk — almost — rose from under the ground, sundering the dirt ground. The Elf King cut it off and threw it languidly at me.

The chopped part sailed through the air and landed gently in my hand.

"Is it what I think it is?"

"A twig of the World Tree."

"You're giving it to me?"

"That's right."

"You have a surprisingly big heart."

"You all are but my guests. I'm the one who brought you all here as guests, if I can't present even this much hospitality, I'm letting myself lose face."

"Thank you, then."

I carefully stuffed the World Tree's twig into my backpack.

"I would like to talk a little more, but that will perhaps only be possible something later. I hope you all will stop by again someday."

Saying that, the World Tree waved his hand at once.

Branches rose from the ground, intertwining and lacing, to create a faux cave that surrounded us.

"Huh? What??"

"It's okay, calm down."

I calmed Katarina down by grabbing her by the shoulder.

Moments later.

The entangled branches untied and went underground again, the scenery around us had completely changed.

We were out of the woods.

The pristine fields were nowhere to be found, only a smelly dirt road and hard stones littered around us.

Katarina and even Shedia were surprised, their eyes wide open.

"We… weren't we just in the middle of a forest?"

"It's the Elf King's hocus pocus. Not too surprising."

"No, do you think this all whatever for whoever's sake it is can be boiled down to him being the King of Elves?!"

I nodded without speaking.

"…is the Elf King really that great?"

"Probably, even if all three Kingdoms attacked together, they wouldn't be able to win. Maybe even add The Empire."

Katarina's complexion turned pale.

"That's gotta be a lie. How's that even possible?"

"I know, right."

And why so.

"Then, the twig that the Elf gave me earlier…? Is it something amazing?"

"This? It's a twig of the World Tree. Not only is it a material with zero resistance towards mana channeling, but it can also amplify magic. I don't know if it will sell, but if it does, I might be able to buy a county."

Katarina's complexion turned blue from pale, as if she might start hyperventilating.

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Katarina, our journey is just beginning."

Hicck.

Katarina began to hiccup.

* * *

Northern part of the Continent.

A woman strided in to a castle in the Principality of Polycia, a barbaric land of danger and blood.

Her white dress and long white hair fluttered behind her.

""

She was a pure beauty on the outside, with skin as white as snow and eyes blue like jewels—like a heroine—but in reality, she was Leslie, a villain. A tyrant known for her cruelty.

However, that nickname was not matching as she ran down the aisle with a desperate yet pitiful face.

Arriving at her destination, she opened the door vehemently.

"Father!"

In the room she opened, a skinny old man was staggering up from his bed with the help of his maid. The old man, hearing Leslie's voice, turned his attention to her.

"Huh?"

Tears dripped from Leslie's eyes at the sound of the old man's murmur.

Gasping, she murmured.

"Oh thank you, Goddess Iris…"

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02