Chapter 43. Elven Village (1/3)

 

After around twenty minutes of laying on the tree, both the little girls and Helesta soon woke up with a heavy yawn. Helesta looked at me for a second before frowning her eyebrows as she questioned, “You didn’t fall asleep from the energy drain?”

 

“What energy drain?” I looked confused.

 

“Well… it’s complicated but after making a contract with a powerful artifact, everyone around a certain radius of you would fall asleep from having the mana around the surrounding drained at a sudden speed that most bodies wouldn’t be able to keep up,” she explained.

 

“Is that so…?” I was a bit speechless but nodded, “I guess I am either immune to that or some other factor is taking place but anyway… should we head back soon?”

 

“Mommy…” Ruby suddenly pulled onto my clothes while pointing towards the south, “I smell something nice… Ruby recommends heading there!”

 

“To the south?” both Helesta and I frowned while looking our way towards the south where there was nothing but thick forests and emptiness.

 

I mean I am not doubting her senses since Ruby and Aquamarine are both artifacts that are considered legends but what could be on the south that makes her attracted, is it another artifact or is it some sort of monster?

“What do you smell, Ruby?” Aquamarine… or Aqua for short questioned her sister.

 

“I smell those sharp-eared beautiful people!” Ruby answered without flinching a bit.

 

Helesta’s eyes widened upon hearing her statement as she looked at Ruby in the eye before asking seriously, “Are you sure they have sharp ears and are beautiful people in appearance, or is it only in personality?”

 

“Appearance!” she answered in a second.

 

Helesta’s eyebrows quickly frowned even more as she looked at me with a business smile, “I think we stumbled upon a treasure land, Aya. If I am not wrong, she must have sensed elves which are earth attributed creatures which would make sense…”

 

“Elves?” I looked a bit confused.

 

“Right… You aren’t someone from this world, you wouldn’t know but elves were previously creatures who were regarded highly in both human and demon society. Elves were known to have a good sense of business which made them the best business partners you could find,” she explained.

 

I’m interested… not just in their sense of business but also in how elves look like all the manga and illustrations I’ve read have shown elves to be beautiful men and women with bows and would be able to blend in well with the forest.

 

“Wouldn’t we be intruding if we approach them?” I questioned before Helesta looked at Ruby who was still looking towards the south with an excited look on her face.

“It shouldn’t be a problem if Ruby comes with us since her presence would feel more revered towards creatures that have a strong attribution with the earth, fire, and similar attributes,” she answered before her wings came out from her back, stretching wide as she looked at me with a nod.

 

Hearing about that made me a bit more reassured as I released both of my wings as well while looking at Ruby and Aquamarine as I asked, “Can the two of you fly, or do you want to be carried?”

 

“Aquamarine can fly but Ruby can’t,” Ruby answered to which Aquamarine nodded the same.

 

It quite fits their attributes since Aquamarine, if I remember correctly, has the Air attribute which is basically an evolved version of the Wind attribute from what I’ve read. Unlike the Wind, attribute is merely moving the wind in contrast to the Air attribute which is basically bending air particles to your will.

 

“Can the two of you transform back to your artifact form instead since I feel bad if I only take one of you with me…” I bitterly laughed before Helesta laughed super loud with a smile.

 

“That title of yours really isn’t a joke…” she giggled whilst Aquamarine and Ruby suddenly shone white before suddenly a jacket wrapped itself around me with the rapier attached itself to my hand like some Lego piece.

 

“Mommy, let’s fly!” Aquamarine’s voice echoed inside my head as the sensation of Ruby nodding could be felt instinctively inside of me.

 

I turned towards Helesta who nodded before the two of us walked towards the edge of the tree before she spoke, “Glide your way until a little bit from a tree then immediately ascend upwards, it should help reduce your speed.”

 

“I understand…” I said before taking a deep breath as the two of us immediately jumped off from the tree as a tremendous amount of wind came blasting towards my face.

 

My hair fluttered all around as my wings quickly reacted like a parachute, utilizing the incoming wind to lower our speed as we glided down to which Ruby’s voice suddenly echoed, “Mommy, a little bit to the left then straight from there!”

 

“Helesta, a little bit to the left apparently, and go straight!” I shouted despite the loud noise of the wind while adjusting myself a bit to the left until a nodding sensation crept up to me to which I stopped and focused straight.

 

As if understanding what I wanted to do, my wings flapped themselves twice which caused my body to suddenly explode forward, launching me straight at a higher speed as Ruby’s voice echoed again, “A little bit more ahead, Mommy!”

 

“Gotcha…” I mumbled before launching myself forward at a higher speed.

 

All of a sudden, the feeling of mana spraying down on me reverberated around my body for a second only to vanish soon after as a six-colored circular barrier surrounded both Helesta and me. The barrier had a tint of blue, red, sky-blue, brown, yellow, and white which matched the elements of both Ruby and Aquamarine.

 

“A multi-elemental barrier, that’s quite something. Is this part of Aquamarine’s ability or is it a combination of both?” Helesta who glided her way towards my side asked.

 

“Both of us!” Ruby and Aquamarine both answered simultaneously in my head.

 

“It’s apparently both of their abilities, it really feels weird since I expected Ruby to only have offensive skills, but I guess I was wrong… also what was that I felt earlier?” I looked at Helesta before she showed a smirk.

 

“What you felt earlier is called a territorial barrier which is something that used to be common in the past but is now a legend ever since the purging of Territorial Barrier Magicians which was quite the tragic incident, but these barriers are meant to protect a territory from dangers,” she explained, “In fact, the Demon Kingdom also has twelve of them in an array, but we don’t activate it unless we really need it since maintenance for them is quite… yeah.”

“Wouldn’t that mean that our presences are already known to them?” I mumbled before she nodded with a smirk.

 

“A lot of them should be coming towards our direction now, let’s land quickly otherwise we’ll arouse their suspicion,” she said to which I nodded as the two of us quickly descended down, touching the grassy floor as a magical scene appeared in front of me.

 

The forest trees which were more ordinary a little while ago suddenly turned into a more magical look with some weird kind of patterns and glowing blue and orange leaves. There were also little plants that were glowing as if I was in some kind of magical forest.

 

Amidst my surprise, Helesta suddenly released a tremendous amount of mana towards all directions in a pulse-like manner for ten seconds before stopping as she looked at me with a smile. I was confused but soon, my question would be answered almost immediately.

 

“Mommy, parry to the right!” Ruby and Aquamarine both spoke as I quickly gripped Ruby and swung upwards instinctively before a loud clang echoed throughout the forest as a burning line flew upwards, disintegrating into clouds of dust as I looked in the direction where it was fired with a frown.

 

“You shouldn’t test someone who wields two revered spirits,” a voice echoed before suddenly a figure appeared in front of us, blurring for a few seconds before becoming clearer.

 

The figure was that of a female with two short yet sharp ears, she had clear green eyes like an emerald and golden hair that stretched towards her shoulder. At her back was a tall yet thin, magnificent black bow that had all kinds of patterns etched into it.

 

“It’s been a while, Elder Elf,” Helesta smiled.

“Has it been a while, it felt like it has only been a year since we last met, the youngest successor of the Demon Empire,” the elf smiled at Helesta.

 

“It has been fifty years, Elder Elf and I am no longer the youngest successor but the Queen, and also the Empire is no more but a kingdom,” Helesta giggled as I looked at them confused… Demon Empire?! Wait… You mean the Demon Kingdom was once an Empire?!

 

As if to add to my confusion, a window suddenly appeared in front of me, notifying me of progress towards one of the main quests.