Chapter 180: Falls of Duress(4)

'A... Pool?'

Not just any regular pool, there is a golden fountain at the center and several marble statues of angels pouring water into the pool can be seen. Luke then peers around the room, his mouth slightly agape. He expected to end up in an office or a guest room, but this is a far cry from what he expected.

"Young master, welcome to my bath."

After hearing a voice speak, Luke focused his vision in the front. He then noticed a man peacefully soaking in the pool while staring at him. Luke just stood there staring at him for a few seconds before bowing.

"It is an honor to meet the Elf King."

The Elf king smiled casually and motioned for the guards to close the doors behind Luke. The guards then obeyed and shut the door, leaving Luke and this... naked Elf King in a pool.

"Luke, come here; we have a lot to talk about."

Luke paused for a moment before slowly approaching the Elf King. Luke then took a proper position behind the Elf King and began to speak while his gaze wandered around.

"Can you tell me why you want to speak with me? Your majesty."

"What are you doing over there?"

"Hmm?"

Luke then fixed his gaze on the Elf King, who smiled at him. The Elf King then raised his hand and pointed at the pool he is in.

"Come and soak with me."

"Uh..."

Luke frowned slightly as he looked at the Elf King, who was patiently waiting for him. Luke's slight nervousness elicited a chuckle from the King.

"Don't be shy; there are only the two of us here; no one will see you."

"Haha... Then what about you Your Majesty?"

The King then turned around to face Luke, resting his cheeks on his palms and amusingly smiling at him. The King's smile sent shivers up his spine.

"What's the problem? We're both men, aren't we?"

Luke's lips twitched.

"Please accept my apologies, but I believe my body is too filthy to share the same waters as you, Your Majesty."

"Isn't that why baths exist to cleanse the body?"

"..."

Luke's mouth opened and closed several times, but he stopped when he heard the king chuckled and returned to his original position.

"You'd better get in here or we'll take the whole day. And I guarantee you won't be sorry if you soak here. When you're stressed, this is the best place to be."

Luke closed his eyes and frowned deeply. Luke then sighed and slowly opened his eyes, reaching for his clothes and slowly unbuttoning them. Luke then gradually removes his top clothes, followed by his pants. He is now completely naked.

After removing his clothes, Luke placed his clothes near the side of the pool and walked slowly towards the bath. Luke's feet then touched the lukewarm pool water. Luke slightly frowned and sank his body slowly into the water. Luke then stared at the elf king smiling at him before ignoring him and finding a good spot. Luke sighed as he sat comfortably in the bath, closed his eyes, and gazed up at the ceiling. He's not going to lie; the water in the bath relaxed him so much that he could stay here for hours.

"You seem to be enjoying the bath now, don't you?"

Luke slowly opened his eyes and looked at the Elf King, who smiled at him. Luke said nothing and just stared at the Elf King, who was smiling at him. The King then begins speaking.

"You have a fairly smooth-looking and pearly white body for a commander who engages in wars."

"I thought the elves didn't care about human affairs? How did you know about the wars?"

The king then laughed.

"When Silviu mentioned that a dragon is guarding his daughter on the Western Continent, I was immediately interested, so I kept track of some of your activities there... But it appears that Silviu is truly growing old, as he can no longer tell the difference between a dragon and a human."

Luke remained silent as he listened to the Elf King.

"But I believe Silviu is not that much of a fool, he is my personal knight for a reason. I can also sense faint elemental powers within you. What are those?"

Luke remained silent for a brief moment before speaking.

"Have you ever come across magical containers?"

"Ah... Now I get it. You got your abilities from those things, huh?"

"Do you know anything about them?"

"Only a few, but I must say, it's quite impressive that you can deal with all the natural elements with that... rather fragile body of yours."

"I only use these abilities when absolutely necessary."

"Smart choice, if you abuse that powers of yours it is like also abusing your own body, so be careful next time."

Luke nodded and the Elf King nodded in satisfaction. The Elf King then took two glasses of wine and passed one to Luke. Luke then accepted the glass and drank it slowly while listening to the king speak.

"My name is Eldor Keasys, by the way, in case you don't know."

Luke nodded hesitantly, his gaze fixed on the wine glass he was holding.

"My apologies about that your majesty, I only got a little knowledge about the Eastern Continent so I didn't know your name."

"That's fine, and since we're alone here, there's no need to be formal; just call me Eldor."

Luke looked over at Eldor, who was fiddling with his glass. Now that he looks at him properly, Eldor has the iconic green eyes that most Elves have, but he also has unusual light pink hair instead of the usual white hair. Despite his light pink hair, he appears intimidating enough to indicate that he is a king.

Eldor finally noticed his stares and looked Luke in the eyes. Eldor then simply smiled at Luke and sighed.

"All right, let's move on to something else. What is your relationship with the Wood Spirit? Hmm? You must be quite close for the Spirit himself to bother and guide you here."

"We treat him as our grandpa."

"Your... Grandpa?"

Luke nodded and drained the wine from his glass. Eldor was just speechless as he looks at Luke with disbelief. Luke looks so calm that it looked like the Spirit of the Wood is nothing for him.

"I've never seen anyone get this close to any of the five Spirits before. You might be the first one in the entire history of mankind."

Luke sighed and frowned slightly. Eldor just stood there staring at him for a few moments before speaking again.

"I ran into a few of your friends earlier. One is a swordmaster; one is a necromancer and two interesting children. You have a lot of powerful friends."

Luke nodded, his gaze fixed on the calm water in front of him.

"I still don't know why they kept sticking to me though."

"Perhaps it's because of your charms, who knows?"

Eldor simply laughed as Luke frowned instinctively. After a while of laughing, Eldor's face immediately turned serious.

"Tell me about the extra person you've brought into my dungeon, Luke."

Luke remained silent for a few moments before responding to Eldor.

"He'll only be there for a short time; he'll soon be in the hands of the others."

"I think you are mistaking something here."

Eldor then looked Luke in the eyes. Eldor then smiled, but unlike his previous smiles to Luke, this one was cold.

"Even if you have a Spirit on your side, that doesn't mean I'd just let anyone do whatever they want within my kingdom, let alone you, a human of unusual origins."

Luke remained silent. He is now speaking to the true King of the Elves, not the Eldor he was speaking with earlier.

"I shall tell you as you wish, your Majesty."

As a result, Luke began to share some of the information he had learned about the Dark Eye. Eldor let out a sigh-like laugh after hearing everything.

"What a disaster this is."

Eldor's statement elicited a nod from Luke. Luke then heard Eldor sighing heavily and speaking in a cold voice.

"Does that child named Snow belong to them?"

Luke came to a halt and stared intently at Eldor, who was also staring at him. Eldor opened his mouth once more.

"Yes or no?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"You dare to speak to a king that way now?"

"What are you planning?"

Then Eldor sighed.

"Ignoring my words huh? Okay, then, let's make a deal."

Luke's eyes narrowed and his senses became alert.

"What deal?"

"You and your companions, as well as that human named Romeo you brought, can leave this kingdom in peace... But you have to leave Snow."

Click

Luke stared coldly at Eldor, pointing the gun he had received from Irene at Eldor's head. Eldor then took a serious look at Luke's gun.

"What is that you are holding?"

"Would you like to find out, your Majesty?"

"It looks fairly intimidating."

"Let's put that to the test shall we?"

Inside the room, silence descended. No one dared to speak, and both simply stared at each other. Luke clenched his fists even tighter as he stared at Eldor.

'Good thing I brought my gun.'

Before dipping into the bath, Luke hid the gun that he received from Irene under his removed clothes near the pool. He was aware that this Elf King was not an easy man because the novel provided a brief description of him.

[A very cunning and devious man hiding behind his kingly appearance, using his light pink hair as a distraction for enemies to look down upon him and slowly crawl and ruin them like a snake. He is a very ambitious man who is willing to kill anyone who goes against him. The hidden King of the Elves.]

There is no way Luke is dumb enough to fall into Eldor's hospitality after reading that shit.

"Your Majesty, no matter what you do, you will not be able to take Snow away from me."

"Is that child with accursed powers really that important to you?

"More than important, and if you ever dared to lay a finger on her I will blow your head off."

"This is the first time someone has actually dared to kill me; despite your dainty appearance, you are quite a brave fellow. Is it because you have the Spirit of the Wood with you?"

"I can take you on even without his assistance."

Eldor went quiet for a few minutes while looking at Luke straight in the eyes. Eldor laughed after that.

"All right, you win. I won't do anything to the child."

Eldor then stepped out of the bath and walked up. Luke just stared at him passed by him and then grabbed a towel to dry himself.

"I'll let you go, Luke... But in return, you must share any new information you discover about the Dark Eye with me."

"Your Majesty, if you wish, you may investigate this continent on your own."

Eldor paused for a second before speaking. Eldor then smirked and walked slowly towards Luke. Eldor then crouched down on the edge and looked at Luke with a fascinated gaze.

"You are a very cunning bastard, are you planning on using me to scout this continent for you?"

"Why? Is this your first time dealing with someone similar to yourself?"

"Haa, man you are a pain. Okay, I'll do that, but you must tell me everything you know about the Dark Eye in the West."

"That sounds like a good deal."

Eldor simply sighed and stood up. He then begins to walk towards the door, which is gradually opening up for him. Eldor said one more thing before leaving.

"Roam around the kingdom if you wish. There are a lot of things in here that I believe you would enjoy."

"Thank you for your gracious hospitality, Eldor."

"Ha!"

Eldor simply shakes his head and walks away, leaving Luke in the bath alone. Luke sighed as he looked at the closed door. He decided to get out of the bath and put on his clothes again after a few more minutes of soaking. He still has a lot of things to do, so he can't stay here, which is disappointing because the bath was so relaxing.

The guards greeted Luke as he exited the bathroom and opened the door for him. The knights all gave him brief glances before ignoring him and letting him pass. Luke noticed their looks but ignored them as he walked outside the palace. As soon as Luke got out, he was greeted by Lina and the others approaching him.

"How did your conversation with the King go?"

Lina's question elicited only a shrug from Luke.

"It's quite nice I guess."

Liam then examined Luke's body and asked a question.

"You look quite wet, what happened?"

"Ah... Well... I took a bath?"

Lina and Liam looked at Luke, puzzled, while Luke just stared at them both dead in the eyes. He can't just say he took a bath with the Elf King without context, or he'll be misunderstood. Luke just sighed and looked at Jay, Nash, and Snow, who were playing in the distance with a couple of elf children.

"Let's take a look around here for a bit longer and then head home."

Lina then flinched at his words.

"So soon?"

Luke then looked at Lina's slightly disappointed expression.

"Why? Do you wish to remain here? Well if that is what you want then sure, we can leave you here."

"What? No! I don't want to be left behind here!"

"Really? But you appear to be disappointed that we will be leaving early."

"...It's just that... I kind of missed this place, you know? I'd like to take a little longer strolling around to capture the nostalgia!"

"Ah... Alright."

"...You don't believe me do you-"

"Yep."

Lina is completely speechless as he looks at Luke, who is looking back at her with deadpan eyes, while Liam is standing still and smiling at the two of them. Luke simply sighed and rubbed his face with his palms at the end.

"Hey, is there a souvenir shop somewhere around here?"

Lina then tilted her head and looked at Luke, puzzled.

"A souvenir shop? I don't believe there are any... OH WAIT!"

"Hmm?"

"Come with me! I'd like to show you something!"

Lina then grabbed Luke and Liam's hands and dragged them away from the castle, and Nash, Snow, and Jay noticed them and decided to follow.

"Dad! Where are you going?"

Luke then looked at Nash who landed on his shoulder and just shrugged.

"I have no idea, Lina just started dragging me."

Snow then spoke while looking at Lina.

"She appears to be excited; she might show us something entertaining."

Luke regarded this with skepticism but returned his gaze when Lina finally let go of his hand. He then heard Lina's proud voice.

"Ta-da! We've arrived!"

Luke's eyes narrowed and looked at the shop in front of him.

"A... Clothing shop?"

"This is not just any clothing shop! They sell odd clothing here!"

Lina then took a step forward and entered the store. Luke and the others exchanged a few glances before deciding to go inside. Luke's mouth opened in surprise as they all entered.

"...Hawaii shirts?"

'What the...'