Meeting the High Elves

The letter was beautifully designed, every word on carried a sense of elegance. I only arrived the day before, yet someone had already reached out to me. Either they sent it to the wrong address, or someone has been stalking me. Tearing open the waxed seal, I took out the letter.

Just as I finished reading the first line, someone knocked on the door. Opening it, I saw Anastasia standing outside holding up a similar looking envelope on her right hand.

"You received this too? Have you read it?" She asked after spotting the letter I currently have at hand.

After skimming through the letter, I deduced some information from it.

"It looks like someone sent these letters specifically for the combatants, Parzival didn't receive one. No mention of who the sender was, only the location to meet up. What do you think of this?" I asked her.

"It could be a trap set by the vampires, who knows what they might be thinking?" Anastasia said warily.

"Well there is that possibility, but do you want to risk it?"

"If this is actually a trap, then it would be really bold of them. I don't think they would do something this crazy days before the tournament. Plus we don't really know our way around the city, might as well have some fun."

"As the Princess commands." I waved my arms in an exaggerated manner.

"Wait... What's going on here?" Parzival rubbed his eyes and said groggily, awoken from our voices.

I looked at Anastasia and made a 'you explain' head motion.

---

While killing time in the streets of Blackgarde, Anastasia saw something that made her mad.

"Eric we got to help him!" Anastasia exclaimed, pointing at a vampire dragging a man along with a metal leash.

I shook my head slowly.

"But why? He's-"

"Look again, now focus on his face."

"What... No way, why does he look like that?" She felt disgusted as she saw the blissful expression on the man's face.

"Thralls, they are humans who worship vampires. Devoting their entire life to the vampires for the chance of turning into one of them. Vampires usually use them as blood banks, 'Walking Self-serving Blood Banks' was what they called them.

Even though they are just humans, they are slightly stronger than the average. Their owners feed them a little of their blood every time they got fed on, this would make them stronger but will not turn them into full vampires. The chances of them actually being turned into vampires are pretty slim, as they are a little more than dirt in the eyes of a vampire." I explained.

Along the way, we even encountered several vampires blatantly feeding on their thralls out in the open. It might be a social norm for them, but looking at the scene grossed both Anastasia and Parzival out.

The location to meet on the letter was a place called Jabba Hut. Even though it said hut, it was actually a pub. At half past seven, it was flowing with a steady stream of customers. The air in the pub was stuffy, but the atmosphere was very cozy. Everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves and no one batted an eye when we entered. The customers in the bar were mainly humans and elves.

Settling down at a table, we took turns looking around, to see whether we can spot the one who sent us the envelopes. So far none of them even glanced in our direction, so we waited and ordered some food.

Suddenly, two figures strode in and commanded the attention of the entire pub. All the patrons in the pub looked up from what they were doing and stood up. After giving a slight bow and warm welcome they resumed their activities. It seems that they were well known and was kind of a big deal.

As they got closer, I could make out their features. The guy and the girl who entered both had pointed ears. Both of them looked like they descended from the heavens, their ethereal beauty blinding all those who looked upon them.

"High Elves..." I heard Parzival mutter from behind, he instinctively inched back, not knowing how they would treat him if he was to be seen.

They looked around and our eyes met. Instead of heading towards the bartender, they headed straight towards us. The girl had a look on her face that screams 'I should not be here'.

The guy had light blonde hair as opposed to the girl which had dark grey hair. High elves generally looked the same as normal elves, but one noticeable part that separated them was their longer ears. Other than the physical look, high elves are superior in strength, agility and magic compared to normal elves and they are mostly royalty.

Coming to a stop in front of our table, the guy placed a hand on his heart bowed slightly. The girl followed suit.

"Greetings humans... and half-blood, I see you two have accepted my invitation. Ah, where are my manners, let me introduced myself, i am Prince Nivelet Krauthemier and this is my sister Princess Aerin Krauthemier. We are from Zeovaria kingdom."

Hearing that, Anastasia immediately stood up and curtsied. What she learned from royal etiquette was that giving a good first impression while meeting another kingdom's royalty was very important.

"I am Princess Anastasia Verdias Mirthstar of Erewhon Kingdom, it is a pleasure to meet you guys."

"Pleasure is all ours." They did not seem fazed at all when they heard she was a princess, it was as if they already knew who she was beforehand.

The high elves I met long ago usually had holier-than-thou attitudes. So seeing them act so politely came as a surprise for me.

Nivelet noticed that Parzival was not meeting their gaze. He knocked on the table in front of him, causing Parzival to jolt and look up.

"Worry not half-blood, we do not discriminate between dark and light elves, what is your name?" He said kindly.

"Parzival... Parzival Bladeheart," he mustered up his courage and spoke.

"Nice to meet you, and what is 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 name," he turned around and looked at me.

I looked into his eyes to see whether he had malicious intentions towards us, but all I could see was a friendly spirit.

"Eric Pendragon," I reached out and shook his hand. "We only arrived yesterday, how have you already figured out the locations of all the combatants?"

"Oh you have no idea how much information you can buy with money these days, it was really easy to locate you guys," he said with a smirk.

Before i could let go, he tightened his grip on my hand, and naturally I returned the favour.

"Oh ho, is this a challenge?" He said with a wide grin.

"..."

"Brother! Please stop embarrassing us. I'm so sorry, he is a maniac that loves to challenge people, i apologize for his rude behavior." She quickly disengaged our handshake, and then proceeded to smack him on the head several times.

He could only cower from the onslaught from his sister. After a while they stopped, and took two more chairs to sit with us.

"Hmm from the looks of it, I guess no one else is coming. Shall we get started on the reason why we came here today." He looked around the table with a wide smile and clasped his hands together.