171-180

171 Entering the capital of Elfhiem

A few days passed of constant travel and Shaman was finally at the entrance of the capital city of Elfhiem. Currently, Shaman and her group were in line to get into the city, as they needed to get checked before entering it.

The trees were as tall as skyscrapers, blocking the sun to the point of complete darkness, the only light being mana crystals that were placed throughout the forest. The trees were made of white wood with vibrant green leaves that scaled with the size of the tree.

"Welcome to Elwood." Kiruya introduced the place while they waited as they were pretty far back.

"Have to say the entrance isn't that grand." Elysia looked at where they were entering and there was no gate or anything, just a small building for the guards.

"Well that's because they don't want to interfere with the tree's growth, which is why the paths are unpaved, unlike other cities. There are a few teleporters, but they are only for the army and royalty." Kiruya gave them a quick run down of the history of the place and why things are a certain way.

Kiruya further explained about the forest that the entire thing is covered in a magical dome that is powered by a mana crystal. This acts as a defence as well as a way to detect ill intent towards the royal family and the city. The crystal is also treated as a sort of monolith as it was found within a tree that dated even further than the kingdom.

There also hasn't been a change in rule for hundreds of years with all of their leaders coming from the same bloodline. This was thanks to the Elf's rather forward-thinking. Whenever leadership is passed on to the next generation, there would usually be a drastic shift in policies that suited the general public.

"Seems like you need quite the sizable force in order to get through the forest." Shaman saw the capital as an impenetrable fortress, but as most things go, there has to be a weakness.

"Mhm, not something you can just walk in and destroy." Kiruya felt her throat getting sore as she had been explaining a lot of things about Elfhiem on their trip.

.....

Shaman looked at Elysia since she liked to cause destruction and if anybody was going to do it, it would be her.

"W-what are you looking at me for?" Elysia awkwardly laughed and avoided eye contact.

"We're next." Clara already knew a lot of the information already and was paying attention to the line that was slowly progressing forward.

A couple of guards in matching uniforms approached them with a stone in hand.

"State the purpose of your journey and please put your hand on the stone." The guards presented a stone to each of them and they all put their hands on it.

"We are just visiting and plan to take on the dungeon." Kiruya stated the reason and there were no objections from the guard.

"Alright, you shall enter, but don't forget to follow the rules while within the city." The few guards stepped aside, allowing them entry to the capital city Elwood.

*

Making their way through the forest, weaving through the trees, they were able to see the light of the city.

"Did they have to make the path so complicated?" Shaman was sick of the constant turning. Although it wasn't that rough of a ride, it certainly made getting to the capital take longer.

"Aha don't worry, almost everyone who isn't an elf complains. Sadly their pride won't allow the forest to be touched." Kiruya was used to the winding path, but she did share the opinion that it was annoying, especially to those with big cargo.

Finally reaching a straight path, they were able to get a good look of the city and see what kind of place it was.

Going through an archway, the noise of a busy city echoed out. The city was massive and, just like the Freya forest, was surrounded by a forest but on a much larger scale. The buildings were mainly made out of wood and had a very natural aesthetic. There was also a combination of clay and some bricks throughout the buildings. There were not many tall structures, but the sheer size of the area made it hard to see to the end.

However, looking out in the distance, it was clear where the dungeon was, as there was a tall tower that screamed royalty.

"I expected tall buildings." Elysia thought of the previous places they had been to and expected to see a much grander city.

"The city grows along with the people. Since most things are made out of natural elements, they are able to expand the buildings on the go. It is also a factor that elves live a much longer life, so the need for apartment buildings is that prevalent." Kiruya also wasn't used to the site of a capital city being so minimal.

"It also helps that only elves can be permanent residents, so you would have to find a town outside if you wanted to live in Elfhiem."

"Makes sense since I'm sure they don't want any outsiders staying in their sacred territory." Clara knew that it had only been with the recent King of Elfhiem that the capital opened up to visitors.

"The previous few kings have been quite protective of the tree that contained the crystal, but with the opening of the dungeons, they were able to move it to a safer location, which is where we are heading now." Kiruya pointed at the very building Shaman saw, confirming where they were going.

*

Stopping by a place where they could have their mounts looked after, they officially entered the capital Elwood.

"Now what's the plan?" Shaman wasn't sure if they were going to go straight to the dungeon as it was midday.

"Hmm we will find a place to stay first, then we can decide on what to do." Kiruya didn't have anything in mind as they were not in a hurry.

"Are we able to explore a bit?" Elysia wanted to look around the place with Shaman as they hadn't gone out to do something fun in a while.

"After we check-in at the adventurers inn, you will have the day to yourselves, then tomorrow we can go scope out the dungeon." Kiruya wanted to do some things herself, but there were a few things they needed to do before they went out.

"Can I come with you Mother?" Silver wanted to join Shaman and Elysia, as they were in a new place and he wanted to see it with them.

'Oh no, what do we do?' Shaman was already faced with a dilemma as she wanted to hang out with Elysia, but didn't want to leave Silver.

However, before Shaman could think of a response, Elysia had proven prepared for such a question.

"Now Silver, me and your mother want to spend some time alone, is it okay if you wait a little longer before we explore the city with you." Elysia patted Silver's head, hoping he would accept.

"Hmm fine, I will just spend some time with auntie Clara." Silver didn't mind and was secretly considering exploring on his own.

"Huh? Auntie?" Clara stepped back a little shocked as this was the first time she was hearing this.

"Well are you not a part of the family as well? You're not another mother so you got to at least be auntie." Silver didn't quite have a grasp on how families worked and seeing as Clara wasn't in a relationship with Shaman, thought she was more like her sister.

"U-umm, at least call me big sis or something. Auntie makes me feel old." Clara, who wasn't that much older, didn't like the sound of auntie.

"Oh okay." Silver didn't mind, so there were no issues in changing her moniker. Kiruya, Shaman and Elysia though had giggled as they found Clara's reaction rather cute.

"So Clara, are you alright with Silver?" Shaman trusted Clara, but wasn't sure if she would want to be stuck with him.

"Aha it shouldn't be a problem, plus he seems old enough to look after himself, so don't be too worried." Clara wasn't too keen on exploring and preferred to get some sleep as she was exhausted from all the travelling.

"Alright, well if that's sorted let's check in and get on with our day." Kiruya clapped her hands and led everyone to the inn.

***

"They have arrived." An elf in a green cloak was standing behind a building in an alleyway watching over the group.

"Good, keep watch of them and make sure they don't get into trouble." A voice came from a small rock that was attached to the elf's ear.

"Yes your highness, is there anything I should do in particular."

"Just keep an eye on them, I need to know if they are worthy of being with my son."

"Understood." The green hooded elf vanished back into the alleyway to follow Shaman and her group.

172 Date in Elwood

Shaman and Elysia checked-in at the inn, getting themselves a room together. They also witnessed first hand how rooms are created. The inn master had shown them the process and it was rather fascinating.

The wood that the building was made of extended out and would start to form the room. It would make the shapes of the beds and tables, furnishing the room on the spot. Then a wave of green energy went over the room turning it from a wooden sculpture to a modern home.

This confused Shaman and Elysia as they didn't know how wood could create a nice comfortable bed. The inn master explained that it was mainly special effects and that there are magic space storages in the hotel. The wood was not turning into real furniture.

*

Kiruya gave Shaman a map so that they knew their way around and wouldn't get lost in the city. Leaving them to do their own things Kiruya locked herself in her room to report back to Freja about their trip.

Clara had instantly fallen asleep in her room as being in a nice comfortable bed worked on her like magic, putting her to sleep.

Silver was in his room getting comfortable and was planning to go on a trip all by himself in Elwood.

Shaman and Elysia already left the inn, heading towards a food court district to have a little date while they had time.

Walking hand in hand, they passed through the busy city, which was mainly composed of elves. Some of the older elves looked at the 2 fox girls with an annoyed expression, but they had expected that as they assumed many still had misgivings about allowing outsiders in the capital.

.....

"Other than the old ones, everyone seems nice." Elysia whispered to Shaman as she noticed some of the glares.

"Well, if suddenly your territory opened up to everyone while your whole life is based around this place, then I can see why you would dislike visitors." Shaman figured that the older elves did not appreciate the opening of the capital city, but it wasn't their concern.

Continuing to make their way through the streets, they found themselves in a square plaza filled with stands and restaurants. People from many races converged on the food district and filled many of the stalls and places around.

"Do we want to try something new?" Shaman was curious about the kinds of food that Elfhiem would have and seeing such an expansive selection, thought it was a good opportunity.

"Oh yes, I need to ask all the restaurants for their recipe books so I can absorb the information through the system fufu~." Elysia had asked the food place they went too on their trip to have a look and thanks to the system was able to take in all the information.

"Looks like we have a plan." Shaman knew that if Elysia was able to cook any meal it would make it so they could choose whatever they felt like even without having to go into a city.

*

Walking into many restaurants and ordering small bits of foods to eat, Elysia managed to look through some of the cook books they had. Although some were more protective, some were eager as they wanted to spread their food to other places.

Elysia was in a good mood and although she had a slight headache from absorbing so much information, she did not let it spoil their day.

"Oh Elysia, there seems to be a way to get on top of the forest." Shaman spotted a set of stairs that went around some of the trees, heading into the leaves.

"We are going right now." Elysia, seeing the chance to get her ideal daring spot, didn't waste any time heading towards the set of stairs. Grabbing Shaman's hand Elysia rushed to the spot Shaman pointed out.

Arriving at the set of stairs, there was a small line as guards were doing checks on people before they went up.

"Huh it must be a popular spot." Shaman didn't see people walk up the steps so she wasn't hopeful that it was a place they could go to.

"Then it must be a great spot, let's hope we can just walk right up without any issues." Elysia was filled with excitement as it's been so long since they have gone out to just have fun.

Shaman nodded her head and tried to listen carefully to see if she could find out what was up the stairs. Still, she doubted it was something they couldn't do as there were varying races in line. There were also couples in the line, so this helped reassure them that this was a tourist attraction spot.

Moving up in line, Shaman wasn't able to hear anything other than the flirting couples and guards asking for people's hands to check their ID.

"I wonder if it's linked to the adventurers guild ID, or if the rock the guards are using has some special property." Shaman didn't have to carry anything on her to confirm her identity as it seemed like there was a magical database.

"Hmm I think it just sends a mana wave through your body to determine who you are, but that's just my guess." Elysia tried thinking about how it worked, but before they could continue their talk, it was now their turn.

"Hand please." The guard spoke in a monotone voice as it was clear he didn't want to be here.

Putting their hands on the rock, it scanned them and soon a magic projection appeared in front of them.

"Enjoy your stay and please do not touch the tree or pull any or the leaves, otherwise there will be consequences." The guard gestured for them to go through. Meanwhile, Elysia's excitement was already building up.

"Yes! It's what we thought it would be." Elysia pulled on Shaman's arm and they began to go up the stairs to the top of the tree.

*

Making it to the top, they found that there was a wooden platform just above the tree, giving them a view across the entire forest as well as much of the continent.

"Woah." Elysia went to a wooden railing that was on the edge and was able to see the borders they entered from as well as a mountain range that separated Elfheim from Elysium.

"Good thing it's a nice day." A cool breeze came across the top of the trees and their tails flowed with the wind.

Shaman came to the side of Elysia and hugged her while taking in the view.

"I promise I will try to get better." Elysia's expression saddened as she had been agonising over what Shaman said about not being so overprotective.

"I know, and you have improved so much already. I can already see you are getting better with Clara." Shaman hugged Elysia even tighter, trying to reassure her that she was improving.

"Aha thank you, it's so hard to keep myself under control at times, but I can tell that I'm not jumping to conclusions as often." Elysia didn't feel the same anxiety whenever Shaman was with Clara or even Kiruya, managing to keep her calm.

"As long as there is progress then we can say we are getting closer to a solution, although some of the ideas I have are not that very good." Shaman thought of ideas to help Elysia, but a lot of them were not ideal and wouldn't solve the overall issue.

"Hmm?" Elysia was curious what they could be, but seeing Shaman's rather nervous face, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"Don't get the wrong idea, but the thought crossed my mind that maybe we could extend this obsession to Clara." Shaman tried to not set off Elysia, but thankfully she didn't react strongly.

Elysia took a deep breath, stopping herself from yelling or setting anything on fire.

"Although the idea seems plausible, I don't know how long it would take and if I could in the first place." Elysia wasn't sure, but for it to work, she would need to battle the constant urge of going crazy and not wanting to ruin a friendship, it was difficult to even start.

"Again it's not a good idea as it doesn't fix the problem, but it also occurred to me that this crazed state you go into may be useful when in battle." Shaman also thought how it could be beneficial for them, but didn't know all the pros and cons in keeping it.

"We will just have to see along the way and decide what's best for us." Elysia didn't want to turn down the idea completely as it would make things simpler, but there were also other factors to consider like everyday life.

'If I could have better control, or even dial it down to only the extreme cases, then maybe I could really one day see it as a boon.' Elysia hoped to achieve something like this as it would make the whole situation a lot less stressful.

"Indeed, now let's enjoy the time we have now, don't want to get all doom and gloom on such a nice day." Shaman pinched Elysia's ear so she would snap out of her thoughts.

"Sorry about that." Elysia didn't mean to make it a serious talk, but it was something she needed.

"Don't worry about it." Shaman, using one of her hands, grabbed Elysia's chin and pulled her in for a kiss.

173 Silver's solo adventure

While Shaman and Elysia were having a passionate kiss on the viewing platform, Silver was busy planning his trip.

'Clara is asleep and Kiruya is busy in her room, so I should be able to go out unnoticed.' Silver was left unattended and, wanting to explore the city, was about to leave his room. However, as he turned the handle, he froze in place, suddenly struck by anxiety.

'Should I wait for Mother or big sis Clara?' Silver was extremely anxious about going out alone, but the urge to explore the city was stronger. Taking a deep breath, Silver opened the door and walked out of the inn.

Pulling out a copy of the map that was given to him, he made his way to an entertainment district.

'I hope I don't have to spend too much money.' Silver looked in his own inventory, confirming he had a decent amount of gold coins, but since they are in the capital the prices for things could be extremely high.

'It's a place for elves, not adventurers, so surely it won't be too expensive.' This is what convinced Silver that it would be okay as only elves were allowed to permanently stay in the forest, making it more likely things were cheaper despite it being a capital city.

'Let's just go.' Silver shook his head and followed the map to his destination.

*

Making it to the entertainment district, Silver looked around for any stores or areas where he could have some fun.

.....

'Although I just wanted to look around, surely there are some games I could play.' Silver liked the scenery, but was more keen on having fun and since he couldn't go into the dungeon alone, he had to make do with other things.

Walking along the street, Silver had gotten a few concerned and confused looks.

Silver started feeling anxious until suddenly a tall female elf who looked beautiful approached him. The elf wore a green dress that was skin tight with a silt at the bottom revealing one of her legs. Her hair was black which made her green eyes stand out, although one eye was completely covered by her hair.

"Boy do you know where you are?" The female elf leaned over and made sure to not seem like a kidnapper.

"I was looking for places to have fun and it said this was the entertainment district so I thought there could be some games I could try." Silver spoke, a little embarrassed in the woman's presence, causing him to avert his eyes.

*Sigh* "Show me the map." The elf held out her hand waiting for the map, hoping that he had just misread it.

"H-here." Silver placed the map in the elf's hand and she quickly opened.

"You gotta be shitting me, they haven't even updated the map." The elf facepalmed as the map Silver received, had the wrong labels for some of the areas, which explained why a 13 year old was in the adult entertainment area.

"Oh." Silver didn't know what to say as it was Kiruya who had given him the map.

"I'm so sorry, they switched some of the designated areas, come with me and I will take you to where you wanted to go." The elf knew how dangerous it could possibly be for someone so young and wanted him to leave as soon as possible.

"I r-really shouldn't be goi-." Silver wasn't sure if he should trust the elf, but before he could protest she grabbed his hand and dragged him.

"Call me Elanor, now let's get out of here." Elanor gave her name and dragged the small wolf boy out of the district.

*

Once they reached a different area of the forest, Elanor let go of Silver.

"Good, no interruptions." Elanor looked around nervously trying to see if anyone was following her.

"T-thank you." Silver was blushing and looked away as he couldn't help but stare if he looked.

"No problem boy, but I need to go, make sure you get a new map." Elanor quickly left, almost jogging, but her dress limited a lot of her movement.

Silver took a deep breath and wasn't sure what to make of what just happened.

'I hope she is okay. Although I was ready to pull out my scythe, I didn't want to cause a scene.' Silver this entire time had his system inventory open ready to pull out his weapon if anything happened.

'Maybe I should follow her to see if she is okay, it looks like people might be following her.' Silver noticed her rather nervous looks and didn't have a good feeling about it.

'She helped me, so I should help her.' Silver, deciding to see if Elanor was going to be okay, quickly rushed into the alley that she ran into and hid in the shadows.

Going along the wall he searched for Elanor and upon approaching the entertainment district spotted a few wealthy looking men surrounding Elanor.

"Where is our money?" One of the men had encased his hand in wood, creating a blade.

"L-like I said I will have it by the end of the day." Elanor glared at the elf who held the wooden blade to her neck.

"Yeah right, you're too busy leading a little boy around the city." A more chubby noble elf spoke up about seeing her and Silver together.

"I couldn't leave a kid in that area, plus it's none of your business what I do." Elanor bit her lip as she only wanted to help Silver, but it looked like it caused the debt collectors to come after her.

"LIke we said, you could always pay us in other ways. Why are you being so stubborn?" A rather skinny elf shrugged his shoulders looking rather disappointed.

"I am not selling my body! Now let me get back to my job, my break is about to finish and I don't want the pay to be cut." Elanor was getting frustrated and the tips of her hair started to turn green.

"How about no~?" The elf with the wood blade pushed the blade closer to Elanor's neck.

However, before anyone could realise what happened the arm of the noble elf was cut off. Stepping back in shock and pain the elf held his arm that was now in half while screaming.

The other 2 elfs backed up, but a pair of shadow chains came from the ground restraining them.

"Who goes there? Unhand us now!" The skinny elf was frantically looking around for whoever was doing this, but was met with silence.

Elanor stood in shock as she was unsure what was happening and who it possibly could be.

"You will pay for this if you don't let us go now!" The chubby elf was sweating and tried to throw out any threat he could.

While the chains were restraining the elves by their arms, dark blades came out of the shadows, pointing themselves towards the immobile limbs before shooting forwards. The blades then passed through the shadowy chains and pierced right through the arms of the 2 elves.

They both screamed in pain and fell to their knees, trying to cope with the pain.

Elanor was terrified as she didn't know whether or not she would be next. Not wanting to stay any longer, she quickly broke into a run, but was suddenly grabbed and pulled back into the shadow of the wall.

The 3 elves were left to bleed and would slowly die if they didn't get any medical attention.

"Whoever that was is going to pay!" Gritting his teeth, the elf with the wooden blade tried to stand up.

"Boys quick, we need to get healed." The elf with the blade limped out of the alley while the other two tried to cover their profusely bleeding arms.

*

Silver came out of the shadows while pulling Elanor with him.

"Phew that was close, you okay?" Silver turned to Elanor who was rather disorientated by being in the shadows.

"I-it's you boy?" Elanor blinked a few times as she didn't believe the same boy she guided would have saved her.

"It's Silver and yes I did just almost kill them." Silver would have liked to kill the elves, but knowing it would only cause more trouble, decided to only injure them, as the news would spread like wildfire if nobles were killed.

"Huh? There is no way you did that." Finding it hard to believe, she took a good look at Silver's face to make sure she wasn't mistaking him for someone else.

"I-I can't believe it, you are the boy I helped, how the hell are you that strong?" Elanor could barely believe what she saw was all done by someone so young.

"That would be because of my mother who is on a date right now, but that's all I can tell you." Silver knew he wasn't allowed to talk about the system unless he knew 100% the other person had one like Freja.

"W-well thank you. I don't know how I could ever repay you." Elanor looked down to the ground as now she thought she accumulated another debt.

"Oh don't worry, this is free of charge hehe~." Silver didn't expect anything back and just wanted to help. Hearing his response, Elanor sighed with relief, but she still felt obligated to do something.

"I should head back though, I used quite a lot of mana holding those chains for so long and I don't want my Mother to know I went out alone." Silver needed to replenish mana as fast as he could, as he knew Shaman could tell he was up to something by simply looking at his mana bar through the system.

"Wait, what's your mother's name, so I could at least thank her?" Elanor didn't want Silver to go quite yet without any information.

"Hmm her name is Shaman, but we are not here for long so I doubt you will see us." Silver didn't see the harm, so he said her name.

"T-thank you." Elanor didn't know if she could find his mother, but at least she had something she could work off.

"No problem, but I really need to go." Silver didn't want to delay any longer, so he jumped off the roof and started to sprint back to the inn.

174 Dark elves

Silver had returned to his room and quickly jumped on the bed, hoping his mother wouldn't notice he went out on his own.

'I Hope Elanor is okay, it was nice to help someone, but those nobles may end up causing more problems.' Silver was worried that he created more trouble for Elanor and possibly some for his mother.

'I didn't show myself so it's fine, but maybe I should have killed the nobles then and there.' Silver didn't want to anger any of the higher powers of the capital, so he opted for injuring them instead.

'Only time will tell if I did cause any trouble.' Silver rolled over in bed, feeling anxious about the consequences of his actions.

*

"Silver~ we are back." Shaman and Elysia had gotten back to the inn and came to check on their son. Peeking into his room, Shaman saw Silver laying on the bed, supposedly resting.

"Hello mother, how was your date?" Silver turned over to look at Shaman and was hoping she wouldn't notice anything.

"Hehe~ it was great. Anyways, I thought since there was still some time left, we should go explore and head to the dungeon to see what it's like." Shaman walked into Silver's room and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hmm? What about big sis Clara and Kiruya?" Silver sat up as he would have thought they would all go together.

.....

"Oh Elysia said she would go get Clara and I also think Kiruya is all good to go. However, she said not to wait for her, seeing as she can't really help unless we are in serious trouble." Shaman found Silver's reaction a little odd as earlier he was so excited to go out, yet now he seemed much more calm.

"Are we going now?" Silver wasn't sure if there was still some time or if Shaman planned on leaving at a moment's notice.

"Hmmmmm." Shaman stared at Silver directly in the eyes as if she was trying to find something.

Silver was extremely nervous and wanted to avert his gaze, but that would be an admission of guilt.

Shaman opened Silver's status window and saw that Silver used a bit of mana. Although it could be just using magic for everyday use, Silver only uses shadows which heavily suggests he went out.

"Silver."

"M-mother."

"Where did you go?" Shaman wasn't angry with Silver yet and first wanted to know where he went.

"I-I umm, went to the entertainment district because I was bored and big sis Clara was asleep." Silver didn't want to lie, so he opted for only telling part of the story.

"But why did you use your mana?" Shaman wasn't buying it as there wouldn't have been a reason to use it if he was just walking around.

"Because it's faster." Silver averted his eyes, hoping Shaman wouldn't dig any deeper.

"Say it while looking me in the eye." Shaman grabbed Silver's face and forced him to look directly at her.

"I-I'm sorry Mother I went out and accidentally beat up some nobles." Silver couldn't bring himself to lie right in her face.

"Is that all?" Shaman thought it would be something worse, but what Silver did seemed relatively tame to her.

"Y-you're not angry?" Silver was going to cry, but Shaman's reaction was a surprise to him.

"Why would I? I know you wouldn't beat someone up unless they were doing something horrible, so tell me, what happened?" Shaman felt proud of Silver, but she wanted to hear the full story before she praised him.

"Well…" Silver then went on to explain how he went to the wrong area and an elf named Elanor helped him to get where he wanted to go. However, he followed her and found there were nobles trying to get money out of her and even threatened to assault her.

Shaman stopped to think for a moment after hearing the explanation and nodded her head.

"Silver… I am so damn proud of you." Shaman, hearing what happened, couldn't help but feel super proud of her son for helping someone. She also hugged Silver while patting his head to show she was really proud.

"T-thank you mother!" Silver's face lit up with happiness and hugged Shaman back with his tail wagging happily.

"However, you still shouldn't have gone out on your own without telling Clara or Kiruya." Shaman was glad that Silver was okay in the end, but it did not excuse how he left without saying anything.

"I won't do it again." Silver lowered his head as it was indeed stupid of him to go out without anyone knowing and the least he could have done was ask before going out.

"I know you are capable of defending yourself, but I would still like someone to know where you are." Shaman didn't want to baby Silver as he was mentally at least 13 years old from what the system said about him.

"Mhm." Silver nodded, happy to hear he had some freedom.

"Now let's get going, we have a scoping out to do." Shaman pulled away and gave Silver one last pat.

Silver nodded and Shaman took his hand, heading towards the front of the inn where everyone should be waiting.

*

Walking outside the Inn, they found Elysia, Clara and Kiruya already there, waiting for them.

"Are we all good to go?" Shaman asked one last time before they headed towards the tower which was at the other end of the city.

"Yep." Clara yawned, regretting letting go of the great sleep she was getting, but she wanted to have a look at the dungeon as well.

Elysia went to the side of Shaman and wrapped her arms around Shaman signifying Elysia was ready to go.

Kiruya nodded her head and changed her outfit from the usual casual clothes she wore. Now changed into more revealing clothes, Kiruya wore short jeans and a crop top, giving her a midriff. In addition, the end of her tail was now fitted with a blade and her weapon was visible on her back. A black and orange blade that went in a circle was on her back, which looked like it split in two with handles on one end.

"Ohh? What kind of weapons are those Kiruya?" Shaman was intrigued by the weapons as it was something she has never seen before.

"It's better if I show you. Also, I will be joining the fights this time around, as we are only investigating and I sort of want to join since it's been a while." Kiruya awkwardly chuckled as it's been a few months since she last fought and she wanted to scratch the itch she has had for a while.

"That's fine, we are only scouting out the entrance anyways, so seeing you fight would be a treat." Shaman felt excited as she was yet to see how Kiruya fought and was really curious.

"Just focus on your scouting and leave the fighting to me. You'll be clearing it on your own later anyways" Kiruya was embarrassed seeing Shaman so excited, as no one had really taken an interest in her fighting style before.

"We understand, now let's hurry!" Shaman didn't want to waste anymore time as it was getting late in the afternoon and she didn't want to stay out for too long.

*

Walking through the city, they had made it to the rather large tower and saw it served as an adventurers guild as well. Inside were a bunch of different tiered adventurers going in and out of the dungeons as well as the auction section.

"So this is the place?" Shaman looked around the place, noticing it was rather grand, with most of the place being accented with green.

"Yep, and we are going into the tier 6 and 7 dungeon." Kiruya pointed to a gate which clearly labeled which tier each dungeon was.

"Are there 2 levels to the dungeon, seeing as it is split between 2 tiers?" Shaman remembered Ebonscale dungeon which had 2 levels to it with the first being tier 4 and the underground being tier 5.

"It sort of is, so the dungeon will be rather odd. As you may have heard, harder dungeons start developing their own societies rather than just containing wild beasts." Kiruya paused for a moment as she tried to find the best way to explain it.

"So what we will be dealing with is a separate race?" Shaman was a bit concerned as the theory of the dungeons being portals to other worlds, or at least snippets of other worlds was becoming more plausible.

"Yes, so the dungeon is that of dark elves and through that dungeon is the second exit to where the palace is, but there is more to it than that. I will get to that when the time comes. For now, prepare yourselves, as it may be a rather daunting task." Kiruya knew it was hard for many people to kill what seemed like normal people, but the dungeons allowed them to essentially respawn an infinite amount of times.

"I understand, this will be a tough one indeed." Shaman wasn't afraid of killing, but it seemed like the clear conditions may be rather harsh in order to pass.

"Good, now sit back, watch, and try to learn." Kiruya took the lead and walked towards the dungeon. Everyone else followed, preparing themselves for what they were about to see.

175 Morales out the window

After going through a check, Shaman and the group all entered the dungeon without any troubles.

The group walked down the stone steps until they reached the bottom, getting a view of the entire area.

Like a normal mediaeval city, there were houses scattered in a field as well as a castle in the distance. A noticeable detail was the giant tree that came out of the castle which Shaman assumed is the dark elves' world tree.

'Kiruya wasn't lying when she said it would be a separate society.' Shaman saw purple skinned elves living out their daily lives as if it was a fully functioning world.

"Although they look real, just know that as soon as they see us, every single one will try to kill us, so don't be fooled." Kiruya knew this was a difficult stage for an adventurer as it would seem like they are killing innocents.

Everyone nodded. Although it was hard to not see them as just normal people, they needed to accept that they are not actual people.

'Think about it like it's a video game! They're just mobs that will respawn and this is just a super realistic MMO.' Shaman had a better time at accepting that they are just things created by the dungeon, but Clara and Silver still felt wrong about murdering them. Elysia didn't didn't mind either way, she only cared about the people close to her so it didn't phase her if she had to kill, especially if said enemy poses a threat.

"First, I want you to scout out the area and get familiar with it while I will clear it. Try not to enter prematurely until I have fully cleared the area. Other than that, keep watch and take note of the kind of elves we are dealing with." Kiruya explained what she wanted Shaman and the rest to do, hoping that watching her fight would help lessen their doubts about killing the dungeon dwellers .

"So we watch you fight while scouting the area and get familiar with the type of dark elves we would be fighting?" Shaman confirmed what they were doing with Kiruya and the latter nodded.

.....

"Alright, I will take the lead. They usually have a few patrols near the entrance so we will use them to demonstrate what I meant." Kiruya wanted to make sure they knew that no matter what they do, they will get attacked, so at least they will be on guard at all times.

Kiruya, seeing everyone nod, started to walk down the path that led to the outskirts of the city.

*

Spotting the patrol that Kiruya was talking about, everyone stopped and let her confront the group of 4 dark elves that wore the same armour as normal elves but in black.

Everyone pulled out their weapons just in case, ready to jump in if Kiruya got in trouble. Although they doubted they would need to, they still wanted to be on their guard.

Kiruya stood in front of the patrol as they approached. Once they were close enough, a sudden dark purple glow appeared in their eyes. They seemingly switched into attack mode without even trying to converse with Kiruya and charged at her with their spears.

"Die!" The dark elves coordinated their attack, each one going for different weak spots on Kiruya, but as they were about to reach her body, she jumped in the air.

Using her wind she stayed elevated in the air while pulling out her weapons. The circular blade split in 2 as she wielded each half in a backwards grip, the circular blades extending along her forearms.

The dark elves moved to throw their spears, at the same time conjuring up wind to enhance their throw. However, before they could let go of their spears, Kiruya pushed herself with her wind back onto the ground behind them.

Using her tail, she slashed across the backs of 2 of the elves while dashing forward. Leaving them no time to turn around to block or retaliate, Kiruya spun with her blades in hand, slicing right through their armour. Stopping in their midst, Kiruya spun one last time on the spot and sent out wind blades, chopping off the heads of the dark elves.

Their bodies fell to the floor, having been easily defeated by Kiruya, impressing everyone as her movements were rather elegant.

'She really does have the fighting style of a feline.' Shaman also noticed that Kiruya's movements were very cat-like, as when she landed on the ground she stretched out like a cat would.

"So, as you can see they are rather rabid. Of course since they are on the outskirts, they are the weakest of their kin, so don't underestimate them once we are further in." Kiruya walked back to everyone hoping they understood.

"Even a child will act like this?" Clara hoped the answer was no, but it looks like that won't be the case.

"Sadly no, but they can't do anything to hurt you, so if you really can't bring yourself to kill them, then at least knock them out." Kiruya saw the conflicted look on Clara which was understandable.

"Well if they attack us we kill them, not like we can save them." Silver was indifferent about the whole situation as his moral compass was quite off when it came to certain things, only seeing these issues as black or white.

Shaman was speechless at Silver's words, but at the same time couldn't argue or tell him off as he wasn't wrong.

"That's the harsh way to put it, but Silver is right. No need to think too much about it since when we come back here everything will return to normal." Elysia wouldn't hesitate to kill as she already established in her mind that things will return to normal once they have left.

"We will continue forward. Once we are by the town, that is where the path will split off, so you should look for a route into the castle." Kiruya sighed as there was a clear split in the party between those who would kill and those who would hesitate.

'Hope they will understand that they truly are beasts despite their appearances.' Kiruya was given direct orders by Freja to not disclose the true identity of the dark elves before their scout mission.

'It would make this a lot easier if I could say they are shapeshifting beasts, but Freja wants to make everything a trial.' Kiruya didn't see the point in withholding any information, but she couldn't go against Freja's orders.

*

Continuing further down the path, they made it to the edge of the town which had a small stone wall surrounding it.

There were a few guards on the outside, but Kiruya pounced on them with ease, using her tail to slice their throats before they could make any noise.

"Here is where we will split off, I would recommend following the wall unless you think you can make it using your stealth skills, but know the safest way is to follow the wall until you reach the castle." Kiruya wanted to leave them with some advice before they parted ways for the time being.

"Okay, when did you want to meet back up?" Shaman wasn't sure if they could take as long as they wanted or would need to be quick.

"I don't mind, but I prefer to regroup in no more than an hour. You will know when that is as I will cast a tornado which will be the queue to retreat." Kiruya planned to use one of her larger scale spells as an indicator if they ran out of time.

"Alright, I will have Elysia shoot a massive fire arrow into the sky like a firework if we finish early." Shaman wanted their own indicator and looking at Elysia who loves to explode things thought they could take advantage of that.

"If that's all then let's get this mission underway. I will see you in at least an hour." Kiruya stretched herself out like a cat before grabbing her weapons.

"Be careful Kiruya." Shaman knew she would be okay as she was a tier 8, but couldn't help worrying.

"Don't worry I will be fin-." Kiruya started to walk through the gate, but she tripped over her own feet and face planted into the ground.

Everyone stared blankly at Kiruya as they didn't understand how she fell over.

"Umm are you sure you will be fine." Elysia wasn't sure what to say other than to ask if she would be okay going alone.

"Yep! I will be fine." Kiruya shot up from the ground with her face completely red.

Shaman facepalmed and shook her head as it reminded them that Kiruya was a rather normal clumsy girl.

"Don't fall over next time Kiri!" Silver gave Kiruya a nickname and waved her off while giggling to himself.

"I-I… yep, bye!" Kiruya was too embarrassed to retort back at Silver and quickly ran into the town.

"Now we should get moving. Do we want to use my shadows and cut through or follow Kiruya's advice?" Shaman didn't mind either way and wanted to see how everyone else felt.

"It would be quicker to cut through." Elysia wanted to cut through and also have a shot at a few elves.

"I don't know." Clara was still having a moral battle with herself as she didn't want to kill a child even though they were in a dungeon.

"I'll go with whatever." Silver didn't mind and would do whatever his mother chose to do.

"We don't have to fight if we cut through, so Clara you don't have to fight this time, you can leave it to us even if we do encounter elves." Shaman figured since they were not meant to be fighting that Clara could sit back.

"Thank you." Clara was glad and felt relieved that she wouldn't have to fight yet.

"Alright Silver, please take Clara in your shadow and I will have Elysia. If we are ready to go then let's start making our way to the castle and find a way in that we can infiltrate through."

176 Pillage

Feeling embarrassed for tripping over, Kiruya sprinted into the town to create a bit of chaos.

'Damn it! I was looking so cool too.' Kiruya wanted to be a role model for them, and so she tried her best while they were in the Freya forest to not trip over anything. However, now that she had tripped over once more, the image she was trying to build was ruined.

'Ahh whatever, let's just destroy the town.' Planning to release her frustrations since her plan was ruined, she pulled out her blades and propelled herself with her wind.

The dark elves spotted Kiruya running into the town and, going into a similar state like the guards, they grabbed the closest weapon to them. Soon, the group chasing her grew in size as even the children joined in, resulting in a cacophony of screaming and yelling.

"Die!"

"Leave now!"

"You dare enter our territory!"

Kiruya made her way to the middle of the town to gather the elves that were chasing her. Jumping on top of a small fountain, Kiruya waited for the dark elves.

.....

40 elves reached the fountain, trying to stab Kiruya. They rushed inside the fountain, trying to get closer, and even started to climb on top of each other. Since they were unable to use magic, it took them a moment to get in range with their pitchforks and knives.

"Alright let's begin." Seeing the elves getting too close, Kiruya jumped up into the air while coating her blades with wind. Kiruya then slashed towards the group of elves, sending wind slashes that were too fast to dodge.

Making use of the newly created opening in the crowd, Kiruya landed on top of the dead bodies, now standing in the midst of the elves.

The elves all turned with their weapons, randomly striking for any part of her body.

Kiruya dashed forward into the group of elves and deflected many of their strikes, giving her an opening. Slashing the chest of elves of varying ages, Kiruya started to shred through the group, not allowing any of them to get close with their weapons.

Slowly, the group of 40 dwindled while a pile of dead bodies was building up.

Blood covered the central area and the first group of elves were dead. Many were children, young adults and even elderly, but no matter what you did they would continue to attack unless you killed them.

However, once they were killed, their bodies deformed into that of a beast, revealing what they truly are.

"I wonder if the others will find out." Kiruya knew that sooner or later the girls would notice the changes and was curious how they would react.

While she was speaking to herself, more shouts rose from another part of the town as well as the clinking of armour, suggesting that guards from the castle were coming.

'Seems like I will have to use some bigger skills.' Kiruya turned and saw a few hundred elves charging towards her.

Spinning her weapons in her hand, wind swirled around her arms creating small tornados.

Sprinting forward right into the elves, Kiruya slashed forward while running, shooting tornados into the massive group of Elves.

Many tried to dodge, but the wind current stopped them from moving out of the way and dragged them into the tornado. Blood spewed everywhere as they were torn to shreds by the constant wind pressure.

Kiruya kept running directly into the group, starting a repeat of the previous events as Kiruya tore into her enemies while deflecting their attacks. She also used her tail to kill elves by stabbing them in the neck or pulling them onto her weapons.

Noticing that there was a significant amount of elves beginning to stack, she realised she needed to push them away or else be overwhelmed. Kiruya responded by setting up a two-layered wind barrier, the inner layer swirled like a tornado while the outer kept getting compressed.

The elves trudged through the compressed air, but got deflected by the constantly swirling inner layer. Shortly after, the compressed air exploded, killing 50 elves at once as they were torn limb from limb. Blood rained down onto the town, but her inner layer of wind kept kiruya in a dome of dryness surrounded by a sea of blood.

Turning on her heels, Kiruya saw more guards coming from the castle alongside some more civilians from the surrounding town.

'Geh they just keep coming in greater numbers.' The rest of the town's population was now rushing to her location and now the city guards were coming as well.

'I need to be more careful.' Knowing that a significant amount of guards were coming, the use of magic will become more prevalent, providing more of a challenge for her.

Stretching her body out like a cat, Kiruya was ready to take on the next wave of elves.

However, even before the mob could get anywhere near her, a squad of elven archers released a volley of arrows at her, propelled by their wind magic. Kiruya was able to sense the mana fluctuation in the air and easily moved her body as if she was dancing, dodging the arrows with aplomb.

Not wanting to deal with the archers longer than necessary, Kiruya connected her two weapons and suspended them in the air in front of her. Aiming it towards the castle where the arrows came from, she built up wind in the center of her spinning weapons, forming it into a ball.

Pulling her arm back, she punched with all her strength, launching the wind ball as if from a cannon towards the archers. Crashing into the wall, a burst of wind exploded from the point of contact, causing the platform the archers were on to collapse, dropping them to their death and burying them under the rubble.

Punching a few more times, Kiruya eliminated the long range threats and now had to deal with the small army.

Moving her focus back to the larger group of enemies, Kiruya hopped on top of a building and then on to the air, suspending herself with her wind magic. Once she gained her balance, she positioned her weapon in front of her and suspended it in mid-air once more.

'Now let's see how many I can kill.' Kiruya planned to do a larger scaled spell to get rid of most of their forces.

Spears were being thrown from the ground, but Kiruya was able to deflect them or move out of the way as she pushed herself with her wind.

Kiruya then coated her arm with wind, moving it around in circles like a miniature tornado and letting it gain in power as it moved more and more air towards the tip of her fist. Kiruya let the air compress at her fist until she could no longer control it, then punched out once again with all her might, aiming through the centre of her suspended weapon and towards the ground. A massive boom echoed throughout the dungeon as the compressed air expanded in an explosion of wind, crashing down on the elven army.

The elves that were underneath got instantly crushed to mush as the impact of the wind flattened them on the ground. The ground itself turned into a crater with cracks running through it. Blood coated the ground and flowed through the cracks of the crater, creating a small pool at the bottom.

At least 3 quarters of the elves that came out were crushed. However, instead of making Kiruya happy, this only annoyed her as she wanted to kill them all.

"Tch." Clicking her tongue, Kiruya softly landed on the ground and brought out her weapons once more.

'I was hoping the magic amplifiers I got on them would increase the area of effect, but it seems to only increase the strength of my magic.' Kiruya looked at her weapons as she recently got them upgraded, which was one of the reasons why she wanted to fight.

The remaining elves, not caring about the people that just died, sprinted at Kiruya in desperation.

Rolling her eyes, Kiruya threw her blades going right through the elves with ease, killing them.

Using wind to control the rotation and direction of the blades, she was able to kill the rest of the elves before they even got close.

*Sigh* "Finally, that should be most of them." Kiruya was feeling exhausted as she used a lot of mana on the large scale attack, pushing herself to use more mana than she usually would.

"I don't think the stronger dark elves will come out." Kiruya looked over to the castle where the second part of the dungeon mainly took place and waited to see if the higher tiered elves would come out.

"There is still 30 minutes left so hopefully they can finish up before then." Kiruya, having some more time to kill, went to look for a high place to observe from while she waited.

***

"What the fuck is this thing!" Shaman and her group had encountered a group of elves while going through the outskirts of town.

Elysia had just finished killing them as she was curious how they would react, but just as they were leaving, they noticed the elves taking a new form. The bodies retained the same colour as the elves, but turned into large dogs with rather large mouths.

"It looks like a beast." Elysia picked up a stick and was poking at what they thought was a dark elf but now turned beast.

"It's happening to the others too." Clara looked over to the more fresh bodies and saw that they were also transforming back their natural form.

"So they are not elves but beasts in disguise?" Shaman wasn't too sure what to make of it and found it a bit bizarre.

"Well, we learned from Silver's dungeon that there is a story to every dungeon, so maybe whatever this beast is, it took over the local race and is pretending to be them?" Elysia recalled the time in the dungeon with Silver and how the boss had a story behind him.

"Hmm their status says nothing other than dark elf still so I think we need to kill the boss before we find out more information." Shaman was intrigued by the 'dark elves' and now knowing they are not truly people made it easier for everyone to kill them.

"Phew, at least now I know they are not actual people." Clara let out a sigh of relief knowing that it's all pretend and not real.

"You sure are affected by this whole thing a lot more than us." Elysia turned to Clara and was a little surprised that she was so emotional to the elves.

"Well ever since my memories were unlocked, my emotions have been haywire. Even during the bit of training I did as an assassin, it was a rule to never hurt children under a certain age. So it was hard to go against that since I lived by those rules for quite some time." Clara explained more about her situation and it made sense why she had such a strong reaction.

"Alright we still need to scout the outside of the castle, so let's not get too distracted." Shaman was able to hear the fighting in the town and knew that they shouldn't stay idle for too long.

Bringing Elysia back into the shadow and Silver with Clara, they continued down the outskirts to the castle's edge.

177 Route into the heart of the castle

Shaman and her group managed to make it to the castle walls, but upon arrival they found some dark elves patrolling on the outside. Coming out of the shadows by a house, they planned on what they were going to do.

'Why would they be all the way out here?' Shaman opted to circle around to the far side of the castle, where she thought there would be no elves outside the walls.

"There might be a secret entrance, or they are just patrolling the castle grounds as well." Elysia whispered into Shaman's ear what she thought, accounting for the fact that this was a dungeon and so common sense doesn't always apply.

"Hmm, let's use our fox forms and see if they attack. If not, we will investigate the wall to see if there is anything out of place." Hoping to get it done quickly, Shaman chose to try and avoid any unnecessary fighting.

"Sounds good."

"Silver, Clara, stay here while we investigate the wall while in our fox forms. If you hear fighting then come, but for now stay here." Relaying the plan to Clara and Silver, they both nodded.

"Alright Eli, let's go." Shaman and Elysia then transformed into their fox forms.

After transforming, Elysia went up to snuggle her head into Shaman's body but was dodged.

"We can do that later." Shaman using her paw smacked Elysia on the snout and caused her ears to droop.

.....

*Sigh* "Come on, the quicker we finish, the faster we can do whatever you want." Shaman didn't quite understand why Elysia became so playful and thought it might have to do with being in their beast form, but now wasn't the time.

"Okay." Elysia nodded and her ears perked up again.

Clara, who was watching from the side, couldn't help but shake her head at the scene as this was supposed to be a serious mission.

"Heh, Mother and mamma Elysia are cute." Silver was giggling to himself, finding both his mothers rather adorable.

"Oi, don't say that to us. Anyway, we are wasting too much time." Shaman yelled at Silver, but knowing they had limited time, couldn't dwell on it.

Running out toward the castle wall, Elysia followed Shaman. As a first test they were going to run by the dark elves to see if they would get aggravated.

Waiting for the patrol to come back around, both Shaman and Elysia ran past the dark elves. Surprisingly, they did not react to Shaman and Elysia's presence at all and continued their walk like usual.

Shaman wanted to test it further and touch the guards, but seeing as they wont target them, she figured they should just move on.

Switching to telepathy just to make sure they did not alert anyone by accident, Shaman started to examine the castle wall.

"Eli, start going to the right and I will head left. Yell out if you find anything!" Shaman figured there would be a draft or some other indicator if there was a secret entrance. The only fear Shaman had was that she was overthinking and that the guards are just patrolling since it's just their job.

"Mhm." Elysia felt anxious in leaving Shaman alone, but she still listened as that's what Shaman entrusted her to do.

Shaman went along the wall, following the guards from a safe distance.

'So far nothing with the wall, and the guards are acting normal.' Shaman wanted to see if the guards checked a particular area or did something out of the ordinary.

After following the guards for about 5 minutes they approached the main gate. The guards looked around for a moment and went down into a trench that was by the gate. One of the guards then waved their hand and a secret wooden entrance was revealed.

Shaman instantly contacted Elysia about what she saw and instructed her to join her down the trench. Meanwhile, Shaman followed the guards inside, finding herself in a rather old tunnel resembling a tomb, that went towards the middle of the castle.

Having still gone unnoticed, Shaman used her stardust to create an illusionary cover on herself. She now completely blended in with the wall, masking her presence.

'I don't think Elysia will be able to catch up.' Shaman didn't know if Elysia would understand, but when she was about to run ahead, the entrance suddenly caught fire.

After it was burnt down, a little black fox with small flames at the tip of its ears and tail stepped into the tunnel.

'Damn it.' Shaman wasn't surprised, but it was so flashy that the elves noticed and turned around. Seeing Elysia and her flames, the elves went into their crazed state.

"Oops." Not expecting anyone to be on the other side, Elysia quickly prepared a fire bow she could remotely control. However, as the elves went charging at Elysia, Shaman came out from behind and shot ice spears at them.

Just like Elysia, the tips of Shaman's ears and tail became frozen to represent the element she was using.

The spears impaled the elves in the back of the neck, going right through the gap in their armour.

"Elysia, next time we are doing something stealthy be more discreet, I don't want a repeat of the noble killings we did." Shaman remembered how Elysia blew up the mansions instead of killing the target silently.

"Hehe, sorry but that's just too boring." Elysia did not like going covert so she would always lean towards the most destructive methods available.

'I'm afraid of the second element she will choose.' Shaman knew Elysia could get a new element, but hadn't bothered to or hasn't had the right circumstances to do so.

"Whatever, let's continue forward." Shaman couldn't keep being angry as there were no more immediate problems and only hoped Elysia would temper her recklessness.

"Okayy~."

Going deeper into the tunnel, they had not encountered any more elves, yet still found it rather eerie.

"If it wasn't for us being strong, I would have been terrified." Shaman wasn't a fan of quiet places, but having Elysia with her and the capability to defend herself made even things she found scary seem trivial.

"Well it's the least of our worries. After feeling the pope's pressure, nothing can really compare." Elysia could still feel the pressure that came from the pope as it left a rather strong impression.

"We will most likely have to fight that seeing as he is directly linked to the trapping of my parents." To make things worse, Shaman wouldn't be surprised if Freja threw her in the ring without warning.

"I would rather not, surely Freja could fight him." Elysia didn't want to go down the path of being the protectors of the continent and preferred to go off to live peacefully with Shaman.

"I'm sure we will fight alongside her, but we need to level up, hence why we are here." Shaman knew they were progressing at an abnormal rate, but without it, they would run out of time.

"Let's hope that's the end of it after he is dead." Elysia knew she couldn't get out of it, so at the very least she hoped that it would be the end after killing him.

"Don't forget I may have a territory to rule."

"Urggghhh, are you sure you can't continue to be a runaway princess?" Elysia was now having second thoughts about getting married to a queen.

"Aha, we'll just have to wait and see. Apparently we live for a long while, although not as long as elves, but still a decent amount." Shaman heard from Freja at one point that the fox race lives quite long lives, so she might be a hundred years old before having to take over the territory.

"I'll just not think about it for the time being." Elysia already could imagine the pressure of running a territory and didn't want to deal with it.

"Fair, we are at the end of this tunnel anyway, so make sure you stay focused." Shaman saw the tunnel opening up to a bigger room and assumed it was the exit.

Cautiously walking out of the tunnel, they found themselves in a massive open room and what looked like the trunk of the world tree they could see from the outside.

"Woah." Mesmerised by the view, Shaman and Elysia walked closer to the tree.Moving closer, they saw a pool of water at the base of the tree, and a few dark elves bathing in it.

"Looks like we ended up in the core of the castle, right where they protect the tree." Shaman was surprised that the secret path led straight here.

"Well when you never sustain any attacks, having lived in a secluded space, a shortcut to certain areas would be something you would want." Elysia assumed because the elves lived rather peacefully, that the shortcut was made just to reduce travel time.

"Either way, we have a way directly into the heart of the dark elves' castle, so we should head back now." Now having a way in, Shaman decided to head back for now and report their findings.

Elysia nodded and followed Shaman out the way they came, excited for their future raid on the dungeon.

178 Kiruya's intervention

Returning back to Silver and Clara, Shaman filled them in on what she saw.

"I wonder if we can take anything from the world tree." Clara assumed that if this was an instance of another world, then the world tree would have some value to them.

"After we clear all the elves we can play around and see if we find anything, but for now we have to focus on clearing it, once we return of course." Shaman liked the idea, as the pool of water she saw with Elysia might have special effects.

"Why don't we just go and clear it now?" Silver thought that there was no point in waiting and they could go ahead.

"Kiruya said we are only scouting today as we need to face this dungeon by ourselves so we can get the experience." Shaman had the same thought, but it was understandable as they needed to level up.

"Just let me send a really powerful explosive arrow and I could wipe the whole town if you want?" Elysia smiled while pulling out her bow, getting ready to fire into the sky.

"Do that later! Just send the signal up in the sky to let Kiruya know we are finished." Shaman smacked the back of Elysia's head to get her not to blow up the entire town.

"Sheesh fineee." Elysia pouted since she couldn't cause the destruction and chaos she wanted.

Aiming into the sky Elysia prepared an arrow to signal Kiruya. Condensing the fire arrow as much as she could so it would explode in the air, Elysia fired the arrow into the sky.

.....

Wanting to be a bit fancy Elysia tried to create an image out of the fire in the sky. As the arrow exploded, Elysia concentrated on the fire, using the mana she imbued in it to exert some influence over the explosion. Trying to create an image of a fox, Elysia felt a massive headache from trying to control the fire. However she was still able to create the image she wanted.

In the sky an image of a fox's head appeared, which should be an obvious indicator to Kiruya who it was.

Falling over, Elysia was caught by Shaman before hitting the ground.

"Did you have to be so extravagant?" Shaman shook her head as it was clear it took a lot of mental energy from Elysia.

"Haha well I couldn't destroy the town so why not do something cool." Elysia held onto Shaman's shoulders, making sure she didn't fall.

"That was sooo cool!" Silver was amazed by what Elysia did and ran up to her with his eyes shining.

"Thank you~ Silver." Elysia felt a different feeling of joy from impressing her son and was feeling incredibly proud of herself.

'Maybe Shaman's horrible idea of accepting Clara might be possible.' Elysia felt herself opening up more ever since Silver became a proper son to her. The other side of her was also not as active and seemed to have calmed down considerably, especially ever since she started dating Shaman.

"Alright, let's head back to the entrance of the town and get out of here." Shaman picked up Elysia in a princess carry which Elysia wasn't expecting.

"You know you don't need to carry me? Although I'm not complaining." Elysia was perfectly capable of walking as she only had a headache, but wasn't going to turn down being carried.

"Urgh." Clara who was silently watching, walked off as she was actually quite jealous and didn't want to see more.

"Oops." Shaman didn't mean to annoy or make Clara uncomfortable and felt bad for her as it must be hard to always see Shaman with Elysia.

'Have to wait and see how much progress I can make with Elysia and maybe we can try something.' Shaman didn't admit to Elysia yet, but she was keen on the idea of including Clara in the relationship as Shaman didn't see any more members joining her group.

"Oh well, let's get going." Shaman wanted to think about it later as right now they need to get out of the dungeon.

*

Arriving back at the entrance of the town, Kiruya was sitting on a stone wall waiting for the rest to return.

Clara was the first to arrive shortly followed by Shaman with Elysia in her arms and Silver.

"We finished 15 minutes early, so good work everyone." Kiruya hopped off the wall and lightened the fall with her wind.

"Thank you, we found a secret entrance that goes straight to the world tree, so once we clear the first area like you did, we can go right to the heart." Shaman was already getting excited for the castle invasion and couldn't wait.

"Good, you found it." Kiruya knew of the entrance, which is what she hoped they would find.

"Alright now that we are done, let's head back and get some rest." Kiruya turned on her feet and headed towards the exit. Shaman and the rest were relieved that so far things were going smoothly, hoping that tomorrow would go the same.

*

Returning back to the surface, Kiruya gathered all the cores and sold them, getting them today's profits. Although Shaman and the others did not participate in the killing, Kiruya still gave them an equal portion for their scout work.

Heading back to the inn they were staying in, they each went to their rooms. Shaman, who was about to walk in, saw Kiruya gesture at her to come over. Thankfully Elysia was already asleep in Shaman's arms so she nodded to Kiruya and quickly put Elysia in bed.

Sneaking her way out of the room, she made her way to Kiruya's, wondering what she needed.

Peeking her head into the room, Kiruya sat in a wooden chair with a few notes in front of her.

"Shut the door so I can activate the sound proof spell." Kiruya waited for Shaman to close the door and once closed she clicked her fingers.

A thin wind barrier started to encase the room they were in and once it was done seemingly vanished.

"Now we can talk without disturbing the others." Kiruya then used her wind to move a chair for Shaman to sit in.

"So what did you need to talk about?" Shaman was able to tell Kiruya wasn't doing anything with ill intent and was more worried about what she had to say.

"Well I'm sure you will know when I say Elysia." Kiruya flicked through the pieces of paper that were on the desk.

"Oh." Shaman sighed as she guessed Freja asked Kiruya to help her with Elysia's obsession for her.

"Yeah… I wanted to have a chat before I start thinking of ways to help as I'm not exactly the best for this kind of situation and wish Freja didn't leave it all up to me, but that's another issue." Kiruya scrunched up the paper in her hand slightly as she didn't appreciate being left with work she wasn't confident in doing.

"Either way I appreciate it, so let's hope we can come to a solution." Shaman felt bad for Kiruya, but any help was welcomed.

"I just hope that Elysia isn't too obstinate about it or is at least willing to change." Kiruya could already tell how much of a headache the situation can be and wasn't looking forward to it.

"Well good news there, she is trying to not let her emotions get the better of herself and has made a lot of progress. For example she didn't get annoyed by your presence unlike with Clara, which is why their friendship is a bit awkward." Shaman explained more details about Elysia and how she seems to be getting better at managing it.

"Oh I see, well that makes things much easier, but I have to say the idea about having it extend to Clara sounds dangerous." Kiruya was also given a couple of the idea's Shaman had.

"We figured that we might as well use it to our own benefit rather than get rid of it entirely as it seems to increase her power." Although passed out when Elysia went off the rails in the skeleton knight dungeon, Shaman did see the aftermath, which was a terrifying increase in Elysia's potential.

"Hmm, it definitely could be useful, and seeing as you don't intend to look for new members, changing the relationship to include Clara might be a good idea." Kiruya, being a part of a polyamorous relationship with Freja knew what it was like.

"If you decide to go down that route, you have to be close friends, you can't just include Clara randomly, she needs to earn her place." Kiruya knew this all too well, as many of the other women that would join Freja would usually back out due to constantly clashing heads with other members. So it was better if they got to build up the friendship while keeping in mind that they could also enter the relationship.

"I don't intend to make my own harem, but yeah, if it could be a threeway it would make life a lot easier. So thank you for your insight, I just need to convince Elysia to go on a few "dates" with Clara." Shaman knew that this could be a disaster, but in order to mend their friendship they first need to talk to each other one on one.

"I will try to come up with other ways, but if you're sure you want to go this route with Clara, then be sure to tread carefully and go slowly, you can't rush this."

"Mhm, I'll try for now, but if it doesn't work out then we will just try to eliminate it all together." Shaman hoped that things would work out with Clara, but in the end it's up to both Elysia and Clara to be willing.

'I also have to get closer to Clara, but I don't think that will be an issue.' Shaman, although not sure, has noticed the subtle signs Clara has shown which indicate there is some interest.

"If you want to have another talk, we can meet again around the same time when you next return from the dungeon. Also, if you need help with anything else, do let me know." Kiruya was willing to pull a few strings to make things go as smoothly as possible.

"Thank you again, I haven't really had the chance to talk it out, so I definitely will be coming back." Shaman, who only informed Freja about the situation, was getting worried that she wouldn't get much help as it had been a while since she told Freja. Shaman was also getting a bit lost on what the best choice would be and she couldn't go to Clara since it also involved her.

"No worries, now go snuggle with her before she wakes up and realises you are in another girl's room." Kiruya chuckled a little at what she said, but was also worried since she was the girl in question.

"Aight, take care." Shaman got up from the seat and quickly went back to her room, hoping Elysia was still asleep.

179 Disruptions

Shaman managed to sneak back into bed without Elysia noticing and took a moment to think about how to deal with the situation.

'Once we clear the dungeon and we meet with the elf king and queen, we could spend a little time sorting this out.' Shaman wanted to get their mission in Elfhiem done as soon as possible and hit tier 7.

'It may take us a few weeks to get the exp needed, seeing as the dark elves at the start are rather simple tier 6 with the guards being tier 7.' Shaman used her [inspect] skill on the dark elves, which gave her an idea of the different tiers they can expect to encounter in the dungeon.

'The outside is the beginning, inside is where all the tier 7's are and I assume there is a deeper level for the tier 8 dark elves.' Assuming that there was more to the castle, it would be quite a long dungeon to clear.

'Hmm this is going to take longer than just a day.' Realising the length of the dungeon and them being a lower level, they may spend a couple weeks grinding.

'If that's the case, I will try to see if there are a couple days where I try to get Elysia and Clara closer.' Shaman wanted to take advantage of the breaks they will get to act out the idea she had with Kiruya and hopefully there will be some more progress.

'Now let's just get some sleep, I can talk about it with Kiruya later.' Shaman, pushing the thoughts away, got herself comfortable and fell asleep.

***

"Your majesty Raiu, they have started to infiltrate the dungeon. They are currently tier 6 so it will most likely take them a month at most to get here." A hooded elf kneeled before the elf king who was looking out a window at a sort of entrance behind which the palace resides.

.....

"Hmm that should give me enough time to prepare Ren. We could even send him out at the end of the dungeon as a little test." Pushing up a pair of glasses, he formulated a plan on how to welcome their new guests.

"Do you still want me to watch over them?" The hooded Elf was requesting more orders as he found this to be rather relaxing from his usual work.

"Hmm, keep observing them, but no need to report to me, just make sure they do not cause any trouble until they arrive and I will contact you if I want a report." Raiu threw behind him a piece of paper and the hooded elf held out his hands.

"Understood." The elf was about to leave, but Raiu put up his hand to stop him.

"Make sure that they don't encounter Elanor, she mustn't return back to the palace, not until she has learnt her place." Raiu had an annoyed look remembering the female elf that silver bumped into.

The face of the hooded elf went pale as he recalled the boy talking about meeting an elf with that same name.

"Y-your majesty I'm afraid the young boy accidentally made contact with her." He spoke hesitantly, soon after feeling a sudden pressure fall on his shoulders and dropping him to the ground.

"Damn it, at least it was the only young boy. Whatever you do, make sure she doesn't meet with the white fox." Raiu relaxed, allowing the hooded elf to get up from the ground.

"U-understood, it seems like she only briefly helped the boy, but that's all, so I should be able to keep her away." The hooded elf quickly exited the room, glad that he wasn't punished.

Once the hooded elf left, Raiu opened a holographic screen, which appeared in a flash of green light. On the screen was Elanor, working at the bar.

"At least she is trying, maybe she will be able to return finally." Closing the screen, he sat in a chair and opened up a green system menu.

'As her father I should have been less harsh, but grandpa wouldn't let me and now I have to play as the cold dad, what a pain.' Raiu sighed as he was forced to kick out his own daughter because of his grandpa, the previous ruler of Elfhiem.

'Hopefully the guard fails and they do meet. Maybe I could interfere a little, seeing as gramp's power is weakening and he shouldn't be able to hear the messages I send to the guard.' Now that the previous ruler was nearing the end of his life, his power withered as well, giving Raiu more freedom. As such, he considered changing the mission objective of the guard monitoring Elanor.

'Once he is dead, that self imposed curse will finally be gone.' Raiu clicked something on the screen and vanished on the spot.

***

Woken up by the shining sun, Shaman slowly opened her eyes and was greeted to the usual scene of being smothered.

Slowly rising out of bed, she patted Elysia, waking her up as well.

"Morning Shaman~." Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around Shaman, hugging her.

"Morning Eli~ ready to kill some dark elves?"

"Mmm murder." Being half asleep, Elysia wasn't sure what she was saying, but it was still amusing.

"Pfft, cute." Shaman giggled and quickly got out of bed, Changing into her usual outfit. Elysia followed suit and once they were both ready, they walked out of their room.

Clara was already up and Silver just got out of his room, but there was no Kiruya to be seen.

"Is Kiruya still in her room?" Shaman looked over to her room, trying to see if she could hear anything.

"Oh, she already went ahead. We are going to have breakfast together." Clara saw Kiruya leave and was told where to go once everyone was up.

"I see, well let's go then."

*

After eating breakfast, they headed straight for the dungeon. However, along the way a woman called them out.

"Is that you?" Elanor was walking home from her job, having just finished her night shift, and spotted SIlver walking with a white haired fox girl.

Silver and Shaman both turned their heads to see who called them out, but once they turned they saw a woman get dragged away.

"Elanor?" Silver recognised the voice and became worried as it would seem the woman is getting abducted.

"Was that the lady that helped you?" Shaman was sceptical, but seeing someone get abducted so quietly and without anyone nearby, must mean whoever is doing it is strong.

"Y-yes I think it was, we should go see." Silver wanted to help and although it may not be her, still seeing something like that and not acting on it felt wrong.

"Alright, before we head to the dungeon, there is something we need to take care of, as I'm sure you've heard." Shaman turned to everyone who was listening and they all nodded their heads.

"I'll go ahead, they shouldn't be able to outrun me." Kiruya didn't mind helping, as it will help build a positive relationship with the elves, which was always welcome. Running off, Kiruya climbed up onto the roof quickly and tried her best to track down the abductor with her nose.

Shaman and the rest all began to run down the alley. Luckily, thanks to it being early morning, not many elves were out and about, making it rather quiet.

*

Kiruya peaked over the side of the roof and pointed in the direction in which she found the abductor.

Going where Kiruya directed, the sound of a muffled woman echoed out, instantly getting the attention of everyone.

Walking around the corner, they saw the same woman and a hooded elf who was seemingly trying to knock her out.

Shaman quickly inspected the 2 elves and saw that one was indeed Elanor, but the other was a tier 8. This caused Shaman to back away as this was a fight she didn't think she could win even, but when she looked up she saw Kiruya already pouncing on the hooded elf.

Pulling out her blades, she threw them at the elf at high speeds. However, before they even landed, he vanished from the spot. Appearing above Kiruya he went to hit her in the back, but Elysia was already preparing an arrow.

Firing the arrow at high speeds, Elysia was able to prevent the attack from the hooded elf.

Falling back, the hooded elf stood on the roof and looked down at the group.

"Tch." Knowing he just failed his mission, he decided not to go up against the 5 people he is meant to oversee.

'I'll have to report right away.' Deciding to just report back right away, he once again vanished from the spot, leaving them alone in the alley with Elanor.

Kiruya sat on the ground heavily breathing, as she was quite terrified that she would have been severely injured, seeing as she was unable to react at all.

"You okay?" Clara went to Kiruya's side to make sure she was okay while Shaman went to Elanor.

"Elanor?" Shaman sat Elanor up against the wall and she slowly opened her eyes. Seeing the fox girl she saw before, she remembered the name Silver told her.

"Shaman?"

180 Elanor

'Tsk, I failed, I need to report to his majesty.' The hooded elf sat on a nearby building still watching over the group.

Pulling out the piece of paper he received, he activated the magic circle that was on it and a connection was created.

"They made contact with Elanor." The elf got straight to the point, hoping that he wouldn't be exiled himself.

"Good, Now keep watch. I couldn't say it before because of the old man's magic that encases the castle, but I wanted them to meet." Raiu informed the hooded elf that it was a good thing they met, but this confused him as it was a complete contrast to his orders from last night.

"I am currently out doing errands, hence I can talk about it, but I want my daughter back so I hope our visitors can bring her along. Now continue your observation and report to me when they are close to entering the palace grounds." Raiu cut off the connection, leaving the hooded elf shocked about the news.

'Well this is an interesting twist, but the king's orders are absolute.' The elf was relieved as he didn't lose his position and seemingly did the right thing in just abandoning Elanor.

'I just hope I don't get involved even further than I already am.' The elf who was a normal soldier for the king could tell this issue was very personal, so for his own safety hoped that this is all he has to do.

*

.....

"Shaman?" Elanor said Shaman's name out loud as it was the name she was told and hoped it was her.

"Hmm? You know my name? Silver did you tell her my name?" Shaman turned to Silver who was looking up into the sky, pretending that he did nothing.

*Sigh* "Whatever, Are you okay?" Shaman examined Elanor's body and came to the realisation she had quite the proportions.

'Damn, where are mine?' Feeling a little envious of Elanor, Shaman once again prayed her next evolution will bear results for her body.

"Y-yes, he didn't hurt me." Elanor, still shaking from the experience, found it hard to calm down.

"Good. Hey Kiruya, should we take her back home or to our room?" Turning to Kiruya who sat up against the building wall, thought about it for a moment.

"Hmm we will take her back to ours for safety and escort her home after we've assessed the situation." Kiruya got up from the ground with the help of Clara and grabbed her weapons that were lodged into the ground.

"Alright, come with us, we will get you somewhere safe." Shaman helped Elanor up and, feeling that her legs were still shaking, Shaman used herself as support for Elanor.

'Calm down, we are just helping.' Elysia took deep breaths and was digging her nails into her own hands trying to calm down. As her blood trickled down, the coldness of her blood caused her to snap out of it. Quickly bringing her hand to her mouth Elysia tried to lick it off to hide that she hurt herself.

'This is so frustrating, I wish I could get over this already.' Elysia was getting angry at herself for not being able to control her feelings as it was bluntly obvious they were only helping.

"Elysia? Your hand… are you okay?" Clara saw the blood on Elysia's hand and knew something was wrong. Reminded again that Elysia needed help, Clara resolved herself to get closer to Elysia for Shaman's sake.

'This is my chance.' Although Clara wasn't aware of the plans Shaman had, Clara herself figured out on her own that she needed to close the gap between them.

"O-oh I'm fine." Elysia turned her head, as Clara was the last person she wanted to tell about her problems, especially since they indirectly involved her.

"Here." Clara gently grabbed Elysia's hand and pulled out bandages to stop the bleeding.

Elysia's core shook as the switch inside her was almost flipped, but the gentle touch of Clara was oddly soothing. This was enough of a distraction for Elysia to not allow herself to go crazy.

Clara felt a sudden burst of hatred and disgust, but then it suddenly disappeared. Looking up nervously while patching Elysia's hand, she saw her face blush slightly.

'What the hell is going on?' Clara wasn't sure what to make of the reaction, but she continued what she was doing which seemed to work.

"All done." Clara, not wanting to ruin the moment, cheerfully spoke and smiled despite her confusion.

"T-thank you." Once Clara was done, Elysia was able to breathe again as she no longer felt her other side coming out.

"Come on you two, we need to leave." Kiruya saw everything happen and, since she was aware of the circumstances, let things play out until they had to leave.

"Oh yes coming." Clara panicked for a moment and blushed a little as it was rare for her and Elysia to be seen together.

'Why did my heart suddenly race?' Elysia felt her head spinning while Clara was touching her hand and felt a familiar feeling to what she had with Shaman. When Shaman saved Elysia and was taking care of her, she felt for the first time this genuine care. It didn't matter to Shaman who Elysia was. Such unconditional care which was something she lacked for many years.

'No, no, no that can't be happening.' Elysia did not want to continue the thought as there was no way she could come to like Clara.

Elysia, needing more time to sort out her thoughts, stayed at the back, holding her head, trying to understand her own emotions while following the group.

**

Returning back to their inn, Shaman sat Elanor down in a chair and planned to ask her some questions.

"Do you know why you were targeted?" Shaman assumed Elanor was someone popular as the rather expensive green dress and looks suggested she was well off.

"It could have been the debt collectors, they have been getting more aggressive about taking my body as payment." Elanor's first thought was the noble debt collectors that were insistent on using her body and were now taking extreme measures.

Shaman was speechless as it was a horrible situation to be in. She couldn't believe someone like Elanor was going through such circumstances.

"Then may I ask where you come from?" Shaman wanted more background knowledge and hearing Elanor had to pay some kind of debt, she wondered if there was a way they could help.

"I-I umm." Elanor wasn't sure if she should say that she was from the royal family and since they were outsiders it would look bad for her father's reputation.

"If you don't want to say it's okay, we all have our secrets about our identities." Shaman, seeing Elanor fidget upon hearing her questions, decided to not push and switched to asking about something else.

However, Shaman's words affected Elanor differently and made her feel more comfortable about disclosing who she was.

'Looks like they are not the type of people to care.' While initially worried she would be discriminated against, Elanor was now hopeful that they could help since they are adventurers.

"I am the exiled daughter of king Raiu." Taking a deep breath, she realised how silly it sounded, as if she was doing some kind of roleplay.

"I knew it!" Kiruya who was leaning up against the wall had a feeling it was royalty as the last time she went to the palace, she saw a little black-haired girl and Elanor had the same face as that girl.

"Huh?" Elanor looked over to Kiruya and was surprised to hear that someone potentially knew who she was.

"Wait, why are you exiled?" Shaman was surprised by the reveal and now had more questions about how the hell she ended up where she is.

"Hold on Shaman, let me quickly jump in." Kiruya now knowing who Elanor was, intended to give a bit of background knowledge to help Shaman understand.

'Correct me if I'm wrong at any point, Elanor." Kiruya then cleared her throat before beginning to explain a bit about royalty.

"Now as you see Elanor has black hair and not the usual blonde which signifies royal blood. The last time I visited, which was many years ago, this one here was barely a teenager. Now for the issue as you may have guessed, Elanor has no sign of royalty on her and I can assume the old ruler who is still around didn't quite like the so-called impurity in her." Kiruya paused for a moment and, seeing Elanor bite her lip, guessed that so far everything she said was correct.

"I don't know if this was the only issue, but since a defining trait is a super important part of their culture, especially to the older elves, they used this as an excuse to forcefully exile Elanor from the family. Adding insult to injury, to restrict her movement they even forced her into debt." Kiruya finished leaving everyone speechless.

"S-she is right, my great grandfather couldn't stand the sight of me and since he still has more authority over the kingdom than my father, grandfather forced him to kick me out. I have been trying to get back, but every time I get close, the guards turn me away." Elanor knew of the secret entrance to the palace that avoided the dungeon, but every time she would be denied.

"Hmm, we can sneak you in when we go to the dungeon since we are here to visit." Shaman, thinking aloud on a whim, saw no harm in helping, seeing that Elanor was in a very unfair situation. She also considered the fact Elanor was royalty. Worst case, they could "pretend" Elanor snuck in with them to get to the palace.

"Really?!" A glimmer of hope appeared in Elanor's eyes as she looked at Shaman, hopeful she wasn't just hearing things.