Chapter 8: Elf

A young boy was lightly but swiftly running through the land with his gaze seemingly unfocused.

"What do you plan to do now?" asked Seraphim who was floating on Grey's shoulder.

Grey suddenly stopped and took a deep breath to calm his emotions. This was the first time Grey was feeling something like this so he lost his calm.

"There are still 2 years left until I turn 15, how about becoming an adventurer to kill time?" Grey answered after breathing deeply and thinking for a moment.

"I agree, then your destination should be the closest kingdom, the Clear sky kingdom." said Seraphim.

The Ainsworth empire is surrounded by several kingdoms. The Clear sky kingdom is one of them.

Grey nodded and ran lightly towards the Clear sky kingdom's direction.

Grey, who was now considered by his father to be C rank, can run for 3 days straight without eating, drinking, or sleeping. Mostly, if not all of the other people at C rank cannot do this. This was only possible for Grey who practiced the Tyrannical Heaven art since young.

Grey would only stop at a village to buy food and rest outside in the wilderness.

In a windy night, Grey was resting inside a cave while eating bread he bought at a village and talking with Seraphim. It was already 2 weeks since he started traveling. At first, Grey thought that he couldn't buy food because gold coins were too expensive, but fortunately, the village he first bought food had silver coins to use as change.

"Guess I'm lucky." he thought.

At this moment, Grey heard several footsteps and after several breaths, he heard people talking to each other.

"Boss, can we really not play with that elf girl?" said an average built man said.

"I told you many times that you can't! Do you know how much trouble I've endured to have her accept the slave contract! She's an elf with a noble bloodline, plus she's a virgin and can use magic! If we sold her to the nobles of Ainsworth empire we'd make a fortune! Play with as many women as you want then." said a big fat man.

"Really!? Thanks, boss!" thanked the average built man.

"Let's rest first… huh?" the big fat man was surprised when he saw Grey who was leisurely eating with his head down.

"I couldn't sense him." thought the big fat man as he stared at Grey vigilantly. When the other men saw their boss looking at Grey with vigilance, they too became vigilant.

Since his past life, Grey had a habit of always hiding his presence even when he was sleeping.

Grey raised his head and looked at the big fat man, his 3 men, and the wagon that they were guarding. He was able to clearly see what was inside the wagon even though it was dark, with his trained eyes.

Inside, he saw a mature girl with long pointy ears and blonde hair. Even though her appearance was unkempt, it was still not able to hide her exceptional beauty.

When Seraphim saw the elf, her eyes shined brightly and she smiled.

"Heh, it's just a brat. Leave if you don't want to die, this will be our resting place from now on." said the big fat man.

Grey just looked at him and said "leave if you value your life."

When they heard what Grey said they became surprised and looked at each other and laughed loudly "Pfftt HAHAHAHA, what are you going to do? Cry to mama? HAHAHAHHA"

"Grey, you must obtain this elf girl." said Seraphim suddenly

Grey looked at her questioningly and asked "why?"

"She will be of great help to you." answered Seraphim.

Grey then looked at them who were still laughing. Grey then stood up and patted his butt "let's end this quickly." he said.

"HAHAHA, what are you-" before one of the men finished his sentence, Grey suddenly appeared in front of him and punched his face causing his skull to cave in, resulting in instant death.

The one close to him was surprised and reacted slowly but still sent a punch towards Grey. Grey easily avoided his punch and immediately coiled his hands to the man's neck and broke it.

"That's 2 down, 2 more to go." said Grey leisurely as he looked at the average built man and the big fat man.

"Shit! He took 2 D ranks down immediately." thought the big fat man. "Slave! Come over here! Cast long range spells at him! And you, find an opportunity to kill him while I take the front." said the big fat man to the elf and the average built man.

The elf was about to resist because she saw that Grey was still just a child but before she could do so, a circular tattoo on her chest instantly lit up and she moved even though it was against her will. The elf just looked at Grey with her dead eyes as she can't disobey the big fat man.

"Ah, how long has it been since I saw those eyes." Grey thought. In his past life, he often sees those eyes. It was eyes that has lost the will to live and was only waiting for death.

While Grey was still looking at the elf, the big fat man charged towards him and shouted "You dare look away!?"

The big fat man launched a big right punch towards Grey. Grey dodged to his left and punched the big fat man directly towards his liver, but the big fat man, as if he felt nothing, sent another punch towards Grey.

"Hmm?" Grey was surprised and punched him in his liver again and right rib after he dodge his punch. The big fat man still sent punches towards Grey as if he felt nothing. "HAHAHA! try all you want! one of my skills is shock absorption!" said the big fat man as he laughed loudly.

When Grey took a step back, intending to distance himself from the big fat man, a blade made of wind was swiftly coming towards his neck.

"Wind blade" said the elf.

Grey tilted his head backwards and successfully dodged it, when Grey was intending to correct his posture, a dagger immediately thrusted towards him from the back aiming towards his heart.

Grey twisted his body to the side and successfully dodged it. "Chantless magic huh, this is gonna be troublesome." he thought.

"tsk." the average built man clicked his tongue after he failed and hid in the shadows while the big fat man charged towards Grey again.

While Grey was dodging the fists of the big fat man another wind blade was headed towards his way, After dodging it, Grey got punched in the gut by the big fat man resulting in him being knocked away. The average built man smiled wickedly when he saw this and launched a slash towards Grey's neck intending to sever his head from his body.

"I got you." before the dagger of the average built man touched Grey's neck, Grey twisted his body again and avoided it, he then sent a lightning fast jab towards his chin, which he was not able to react to. After the jab landed, the average built man's consciousness instantly faded away.

Grey instantly took the dagger, coated it with a small amount of mana and stabbed it into the average built man's head. Grey immediately charged towards the big fat man after killing the average built man, with a dagger in hand.

The big fat man, who was still surprised was slow to react and clumsily sent a punch towards Grey resulting in his palm being severed at the wrist, before the big fat man could scream in pain, his neck was immediately slit.

Grey purposely let the big fat man hit him in order to bait out the average built man. "only D ranks huh." said Grey as the dagger in his hand shattered even though he only coated it with a small amount of mana.

It was Grey's first time killing actual humans in this life but Grey still had an indifferent expression. Grey then looked towards the elf after killing the big fat man.

The circular tattoo on the elf's chest slowly disappeared as she slumped to the ground after Grey killed the big fat man. Even though she had been released from the slave contract, her eyes still remained the same.

A slave contract is a contract that binds someone to another. The slave in the slave contract cannot disobey or harm their master and can make them do things even against their will.

"Hmm?" Grey thought that the reason her eyes were dead was because she had became a slave, but it looks like that was not it.

Grey then walked towards her. Grey saw that she was shivering due to the cold night and he blushed because she was only wearing one piece of ragged clothing, because of this, Grey took of his cloak and covered her with it. "rest first." said Grey as he brought her inside the cave. The elf just look at Grey silently and didn't resist.