AN:
Suprise! Another chapter for you!
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Seeing her laying on the grass as emotionlessly he picked her up and laid her gently on his head. Noticing her small stature he awkwardly examined himself.
"Is she half dwarf half elf or why is she so small?" thought Raas. "No I think I have grown again... and there are maybe a thousand of those notifications... but no time for that. First I have to find a shelter before it gets dark. Who knows what monsters are around here? Just have to wait for her to wake up and hopefully get some information out of her."
So letting the notifications wait he picked a random direction and slithered forth.
...
(POV Commander Gravus de Lopita.)
"I want to speak to the person who is in charge of this place."
Hearing the familiar voice of the nobleman I could only sigh as I quickly took another sip out of my leader pouch, before marching towards him.
With a quick salute, I asked him, "Esteemed Leonidas, what seems the problem here?"
Turning towards me he looked me up and down before asking, "Are you the one in charge here?"
Internally I sighed, just how many times did he see me and never remembered who I am? Sometimes I think he has dementia or something.
With a short salut, I answered, "Yes my lord."
"Good, I want you to send out a search party for my daughter Lana. She has gone out hunting in the Latarus forest but isn't back yet."
"I am sorry sir, but it has only been 4 hours and normally she goes hunting for 6 or more."
The nobleman frowned and puffed his chest out.
Before he could even say a word I turned my mind out and just stood there as he rambled on and on about how we aren't doing our job and how all the taxes he is paying is being wasted on us guards.
And this happens every 7 days when his daughter goes on her hunting trips trying to get some fresh air and out of her controlling father's sight. I would pity the girl, but she had not only been born with noble blood but also a genius mage with quadruple affinities. Not even speaking about her appearance that rivaled the crown princess.
She had a smile that could even enchant blind people... ok now I am over exaggerating.
But my point still stands, she is a sweet woman, in her early 20s, so with a deep breath I waited till her father finished his ranting before answering.
"Yes, of course, esteemed Leonidas, I will organize a search party immediately and find her before nightfall."
"Hmpf, of course, you will do, or I will see that you will never work as a guard again."
Knowing that he was just bluffing I put up a smile and excused myself.
After a few minutes, I gathered the search party of 18 scouts and hunters.
With meticulous effort, we combed through the forest, but the large trees threw an ever-present shadow on the ground which made the search difficult. But luckily we always had the return whistle ready blowing it every few minutes.
It could only be heard by elves and we used it to remind Lana that her father has send out a search party for her and to immediately return.
It normally took us an hour or two but this time there was no sign of her. She would normally pop up from behind a tree and try to scare us or just happily wave a small game she just hunted at us.
But this time nothing.
As the third hour hit I turned toward the lead scout and asked "Still no signs of her? She normally is around this part of the forest. How come we haven't even found a trace of her?"
The scout whose name was Rapo pointed his finger and whispered. "Wait, I think I see something there."
Casting a sight enchantment I looked towards where he was pointing to.
Seeing the oak metal arrows and quiver I signaled the group to slowly follow me.
Reaching the place we could see long streaks of indents in the grass and broken flora at this place.
"Something big must have been here." Looking back I could see Rapo and the other scouts doing their work gathering information.
"yes could it have been a Lindwurm?" asked I as I touched the ground.
"No there are no footprints or anything so maybe an emperor worm. But even then they don't grow so large or are even remotely in this area."
"So what could cause this and more importantly any clues on what happened here?"
Rapa took a few moments to cast a minor clairvoyance spell before sighing, "Hmmm, looking at the scene it could be that some kind of unknown monster got past here where the lady was hunting. Or..."
"Or what?" asked I. This whole situation is giving me the heebie-jeebies. It is far too odd. There were no accounted monsters in this area that could leave those tracks, and something this large going noticed wasn't a good sign.
"Or the monster ambushed her and ate her up in one bite... No blood marks no signs of fighting... But there is no bad omen here indicating that no one died here. A very peculiar sight..."
Looking around and telling my gaze I commanded, "Alright everybody we are going to follow those tracks. Toro and Gero, go back to the city and inform the king of our findings. Tell them to send reinforcement for an unknown monster of tier 3 or higher. The rest follow me and stay on guard."
The group saluted as I took point and lead the group deeper into the forest.
It was scary how we encountered no other animals besides a few birds and insects.
A bad sign indeed.
Something came here and probably took the region under its control.
'Ugh, how I hate wandering monsters.'
...
(POV Raas)
Slithering a few hours around the forest I smelled smoke in the air.
'Better avoid it for now,' thought I as I picked another direction and slithered away.
It took quite some while before I finally found a suitable place underground between the roots of the large tree. The sun was still up but it was almost sundown, but thanks to it I could somewhat tell in which direction I was going.
Balling up, I used my wings to cover myself. My wings are quite soft and perfect to use as a blanket. But before I finished making myself comfortable the elf regained consciousness.
Her eyes slowly fluttered open and shook her head.
She said something in elfish, I presumed, and let out a big sigh.
I patiently waited for her to fully wake up, but as soon as her eyes landed on me she froze up like a statue. I didn't move but she abruptly shoot to her feed and made a dash for the exit.
With one swift movement, I tucked my wings back and blocked her way as I stared down at her.
I pitied her as she slowly backed off while tears streamed down her eyes. I could understand how scary it would be to wake up in an unknown dark location with a giant-winged snake monster. Personally, it would be so epic to be in her situation, but that is another topic.
"Calm down little elf, I won't eat you."
She continued to back off towards the far end of the cave, "What you want then?"
I curled up in a comfortable position, "Well, I am a little bit lost. So, I just want to know a few things."
It was quite amusing how she flinched every time my tongue flicked around. It was already natural to me, like breathing or blinking.
"Lost?" She asked while sitting on the ground while hugging her knees.
"Yes, lost. So, where are we."
"Elven kingdom Lutora. Western continent Enos. Latarus forest. Boarder to human territory."
Frowning at the information, or more precisely at the lack of information I pondered. 'I don't even know on which continent I was... I never even left the dungeon. This is such a pain in my tail! What am I going to do now.'
"Please, no hurt me! I will tell you more information! I will obey winged demigod!"
Hearing her desperate voice I snapped out of my thoughts and saw her now bowing before me. Her forehead was on the ground and her hands grasping the dirt.
"Demigod? And no, I won't hurt you."
"Yes, demigod! You in possession of Sol's gem. You a powerful monster! I will follow your orders!"
She kept her head low as I stared at her. 'The whole situation escalated quickly.'
"Hmmm, tell me then, do you know a C-rank dungeon named Woodland Dungeon?"
"... no dungeon on Enos named Woodland Dungeon."
"Shit..."
*Booom!*
Hearing the explosion she looked around and clung to the wall.
"Stay here. Don't move."
"Y-yes, my lord."
'I will just pretend I didn't hear that.' Turning around I peeked my head out to see what caused this commotion.