Chapter 13

Ding]

[Quest completed]

[Quest Rewards: 20System points+1000exp ]

.

[Ding Congratulations host for Level 5 ]

[5 system point has been rewarded]

[Ding Congratulations host for Level 6 ]

[6 system point has been rewarded]

[Name: Ren Carter ]

[Age: 10 years]

[Race: Human ]

[Occupation : None]

[LVL:6]

[Exp : 100/600]

[HP: 80/80]

[STR: 30]

[Mana: 104]

[AGL: 50]

[VIT: 27]

[STM: 72]

[DEF: 26]

[System points : 20]

.

Countless notification came in front of me

I was happy now i have extra system points for emergency situation.

I was feeling fatigue after fight ...or you can say after using high portion of my mana...mana sickness ..

IT FELT like a good hour before the little elf girl was finally able to settle

down. I didn't blame her; being forcibly kidnapped would be traumatic even

for adults, and she seemed to be only a bit younger than I was.

As I comforted her, I realized how bizarre this scene must be—a ten years-

old boy tenderly patting the head of an elven girl in the back of a carriage as

beasts devoured four bloody corpses just next to them.

"W-What happened to those bad guys?" she sniffled, her voice still raw.

I didn't know if telling such a young child about killing was appropriate, so I

avoided it by telling her simply, "They had a… very unfortunate accident."

She studied the hesitant expression on my face with a raised brow, then

looked back down and whispered, "Serves them right."

Perhaps it was merely my reaction to seeing an elf for the first time, or

perhaps, even then, I felt some inborn connection that bonded me to the girl.

Whatever it was, I couldn't take my eyes off her. Her disheveled state

couldn't mask the innate beauty that seemed to radiate from her.

She had long, gunmetal grey hair that I had mistaken for silver in the

sunlight. A pair of gleaming teal eyes shaped like perfect almonds sparkled

beneath long fluttering lashes, and her perky nose was so red from crying that

it matched the color of her rosy lips. Each of her individual facial features

seemed to be carefully molded gems, but the fair, creamy skin of her face was

the canvas that brought her features into a surreal, almost phantasmal work of art.

.I helped her up to her feet before speaking again. "The people who tried to

kidnap you aren't going to chase you anymore. Do you think you can make it

back home by yourself?"

She drew back in fear as a panicked expression covered her face. Tears

welled up in her eyes, and both her hands clenched tightly to my shirt like

claws. Her answer would have been clear even to an infant.

"Look, I need to get home too. Aren't elves generally safe in this forest?" I

sighed, trying to pry her fingers from my shirt.

She shook her head violently, like a dog drying itself, and said, "Beasts are

only scared of grown-ups. My parents told me children get eaten by hounds

or tree golems."

I would normally have been amazed and intrigued about something like a tree

golem, but after witnessing a demon king metamorphize into a dragon, it was

becoming difficult to find anything that could surprise me.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, trying to come up with a solution. "How long

does it take to get from here to where you live?"

Still holding onto my shabby shirt, she looked down and admitted, "I don't

know."

I fought the temptation to release another sigh, since the poor girl looked like

she was about to cry already, and agreed to take her back home.

The kingdom of ElF was quite some distance to the north,

I instructed the elf girl to wait inside the carriage while I gathered some

necessities; I didn't want her to see the mangled carcasses of the slave

traders, the sight of which even I found hard to stomach. I finally found a

backpack small enough for me to wear without it dragging on the ground. I

carefully folded and stuffed a small tent into it, and added a leather water skin

and some dried rations. I picked up Pinky's knife from where it had fallen.

When I'd fought Danton and George, and strapped it to the front of my waist

to balance the awkwardness of the heavy equipment on my back.

I thought briefly about taking the carriage back to the elven kingdom, but it

was too dangerous—we would stick out like sore thumbs in the forest—so I

freed the forest hounds. While they were domesticated enough to pull a

carriage, they couldn't be ridden.

When everything was ready, I stuck my head back into the carriage. "Let's

head out now," I said, trying to sound more enthusiastic for the girl's sake.

"Okay!" She hopped out of the carriage and I led her away, trying to steer her

around the area where all the dead bodies lay.

I learned a lot about the elf girl along the way. Her name was Siofra Val Elndiaer

and she had just turned five, so she was about a year younger than I was—

physiologically, that is. Most elves reached puberty around age ten, but

even though she was much closer to physical adulthood than I was, I still had

the advantage of an adult mind in my ten year-old body.

Siofra was also a reserved girl, almost to the point of being shy. She was very

polite to me, especially considering that I was older than her, and never

complained, which made her a very agreeable traveling companion. If not for

the fact that I was traveling away from my destination, I might have actually

enjoyed having her with me.

When the sun began to set and the fog gathered thickly around us, we pitched

the tent underneath the exposed roots of a particularly large tree for the night.

Centuries of soil erosion had washed away the earth surrounding the massive

trunk, leaving its spreading roots elevated like archways.

I hadn't been able to fit any of the supporting rods in the backpack, so I used

the long rope I'd brought with me instead. I stretched it between two of the

roots and hung the tent canvas over it, weighing down the canvas edges with

moss-covered rocks. After I finished setting up the tent, we sat next to it,

underneath a tree root, and I took out the dried rations.

I handed some to Siofra, and she gave a slight bow.

"Thank you very much."

"You know, you don't have to be so polite to me.

I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you weren't so on edge," I replied around a

mouthful of the dried rations.

"Okay, I'll try." She gave a shy smile.

I began wondering if she had been raised in a very strict household. Perhaps

it was simply customary for elves to be so formal—maybe by telling her to

be more comfortable with me, I was inadvertently inviting her to marry me.

Giving her a shrug, I continued stuffing my face with food.

"Can you tell me about the human kingdom?" she suddenly asked, her eyes

sparkling with curiosity.

"What did you want to know?"

"What is a human city like? How are humans? Is it true that all male humans

are perverts and have more than one wife?"

I choked on the dried fruits I was chewing, spraying them out before they got

caught in my windpipe.

"No. Although it isn't against the law, usually only the nobility and the royal

families have multiple wives," I said after composing myself and wiping my

mouth.

"I see now." Her eyes were still sparkling.

Do you really?

I went on, explaining a bit about the town and my family to pass

the time, then I asked her the same question. "What is it like living in

Elf kingdom?"

She pondered a bit before finding the words to explain.

"I don't think it's too different from what you told me about where you grew

up, except the children all have to go to school to learn about our history and

how to read and write. When we awaken, we get mentors assigned to us and

we become their disciple. From there, a lot of it is just training with your

master."

"I see." I pondered the differences between the education systems of the

humans and elves. While the educational method of the elves was a lot more

advanced and undiscriminating, it only worked because the elven kingdom

was much smaller and tight-knit by comparison to the human kingdom, but it

was clear to see how the early foundations were laid for cultural differences

in the older generations.

I got up from the ground and held out my hand to help Siofra up. She

hesitated, and I thought she turned a little red, but decided it was just an

effect of the rapidly dwindling light.

"You sleep in the tent. I'll keep guard next to you, outside."

I could see her thinking; then she fixed her eyes on me, full of resolve.

"I don't mind sh-sharing the tent, if you're okay with it." She tried to sound

nonchalant but her voice betrayed her.

I replied much more quickly than I had meant to. "No, don't worry about

that. I'm not very sleepy right now anyway."

"All right."

Did her ears just droop a little?

I waited until I was sure she was inside the tent, then leaned against the

massive tree trunk and began meditating.

Author note

PLS GIVE RATING TO NOVEL.....

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