Chapter 12

Cassandra Renea's POV:

My vision was instantly bombarded by a blur of bright light. I narrowed my eyes to get accustomed to it. The light didn't belong to the dim torch of prison as it was coming from the window.

How long has it been since the last time I saw sunlight?

I asked myself in ambiguity while I propelled my body up from a lying position. A wave of nostalgia struck right the moment I looked at my surrounding scenery.

"My...home...", Words finally left my mouth as I couldn't hold my feelings back.

I was inside my bedroom, on my comfy bed with my desk near the window, where I would see my lovely flowers placed on the window bathe in the warmth of the sun to grow beautifully.

"Cassandra, breakfast's ready!", a familiar sweet and gentle voice caught my attention, making my heart skip a beat.

"Mom!", I made no wait and rushed downstairs, desperately hoping to meet her and father.

'Thank the gods, it was just a long nightmare! It was all just a nightmare!', I said mentally in happiness as I didn't realize that my tears of joy were beginning to burst out of my eyes.

"Mom! Dad!", I opened the kitchen room, only to be met by a... human.

A human woman sitting on the chair. Quietly.

"Who are you? Where are my parents?" , I took some slight steps back in caution with my sight locked on her.

Slowly, she approached me, the closer she was, the further I stepped back. On her face, it was blurred with a dim grey fog out of nowhere , preventing me from seeing her facial traits, except for her creamy complexion. She had blonde hair falling on her shoulders and a tired posture as if she had been drained out of strength. She dressed in some sort of bizarre clothes with foreign patterns I've never seen before.

"Who are you?!! Mother! Father!", I attempted to run but immediately got blocked by an invisible force. Then, the wooden planks on the floor suddenly bent themselves, making loud broken wood sounds as if they were alive. Like a bunch of snakes, the planks crawled on my arms and legs and tightened me in one place.

I let out panic breaths as the woman came closer by seconds.

"N-No…No…."

She reached out her right hand ,leaning closer to my face with her fingers about to poke into my eyeballs.

"AAAAAAA!", I shut my eyes in instinct and screamed.

"Cassandra! It's alright now! It's alright now! Everything's alright now..."

A reassuring voice which I knew, spoke to my ears whilst I felt I was being hugged by someone.

"Elder Ailmer?", I opened my eyes and met the friendly old chief's face, who is very wise and kind to everyone in my village.

"It's good to have you back.", He smiled happily.

"Where are we elder?", I scanned my surroundings to notice that we were apparently in some kind of vehicle.

"We're on Drinkard's wagon, a member from Adventurer Guild of Sapin, who saved us....", he replied.

"Elder…..what about m-my…", my voice trailed off when I spoke about….mom. Tears began to roll on my cheeks.

" I'm so sorry little one."

I cried out loud again, it was reality....Mom, dad.... they are gone.....

________________________________

*1 day later*.

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Vigor Kinsteel's POV:

It was raining heavily. Thousands of raindrops landed on my frame. I took this opportunity to try to unlock water element since there were water mana inside raindrops as well.... But it wasn't processing at all....

'Fuck, do I really have a skill issue?', I questioned at my disability at something that I clearly got blessed for.

The elves on the other hand had to hide under a giant earth dome I conjured. It took us half a day to travel to their old village, which was destroyed tragically by the slave traders, unless rich figures such as nobles or Royalty invested in the rebuilding process.

As promised, I let the villagers spend time organizing the funeral for all the villagers who were unfortunately killed during the slave traders' attack, and the most unfortunate one during the time in captivity: Kenia Renea….

Although most of the village's buildings were ruined, the graveyard was mostly intact. But I noticed something really odd was that the place to bury dead people was filled with beautiful flowers and plants….quite opposite to the dark, murky depictions of graveyards I saw in movies from my old life.

Everyone except me picked up giant leaves cut from an enormous mana tree near their village. The leaves were big enough to use as umbrellas, covering them from the rain.

The woodworker of the village(with some help from me in creating suitable tools for him) built dozens of coffins for the dead people.

First were for Kenia and her husband. They placed the female elf's body in after washing and cleaning her properly from all the disgusting filths.

However the male elf was unlucky, he was one of the people who tried to defend the village when the slave traders arrived as I had heard from everyone. He was brutally killed and burnt, and what's left of him was a dark, coal-like deformed corpse, just like many other dead ones. They couldn't wash his body at all and could only resort to asking me to cover him with a layer of soft rock.

I leaned my back at a tree from an appropriate distance and looked at the rituals with slight curiosity.

It was my first time at a funeral.

They were gathering around to cover the rain for 2 male elves digging up 2 new holes in the graveyard.

Next, the coffins were carried to the hole and placed next to it.

The chief - Ailmer stood up, walked to the coffin without an umbrella leaf whilst ignoring the heavy rain falling on his figure. He turned to his people and gave a short speech:

"Today we are honoring and remembering Feanor Oloren and Kenia Renea. They were children of grace, courage and kindness. They were our beloved friends, neighbors, brothers and sisters. They were a caring family, a good husband and a good wife, a good father and a good mother…

May the Deity guide them to a better place…

May the forest protect their remains…

May our memories of them live on…

May they rest in peace and love…

Here we bid you two farewell, Feanor and Kenia."

After Ailmer finished his speech, he put his hand on the coffins one by one in silence for a second and then let out.

Something triggered my attention from his speech, as my suspicion grew more and more.

The next person was their daughter ….Cassandra Renea. Her eyes were teary and red from non stop crying as she approached her parents and placed her slender hand on the coffins.

I was just in time to save her, but way too late for her mother. Looking at her made me remember about the children I met on the battlefield back on Earth, during the attacks lead by my nation's military on other lands. They were the same as her, lost their home and their family.

I....,with a decent level of morality taught by my mother in this new world, sympathize for her.

She collapsed and hugged the coffins in utmost grief and despair. Everyone watching the scene was crying hard as well while Ailmer helped her petite figure to stand up.

'.....So….that is what it feels like to lose your family....', I looked at her with mixed emotions and different thoughts in my head.

'Will I be devastated like that if I lose mine? Me, standing at the funeral of my father, my mother, my uncle?', I shook my head away from trying to imagine the terrible scenario.

The ceremony continued as the village paid their tributes to the couple with the same gesture one by one before they started to bury them along with a plant seed for each one of them.

For the final touch, the woodworker placed a well sculpted wooden stele with their names carved on it.

Now I understand, instead of using gravestones, they decorated each grave with a plant or a flower buried along with the dead. It was a tradition of the elves considering their innate tight attraction to nature.

The funeral went on for all other dead elves whom they could find remaining in the crumblings.

__________________________________

*2 days later*

Arthur Leywin's POV:

"Excellent work brat! You made good process for today.", Gramps exclaimed and dismissed his Shadow Panther second phase.

"I'm only able to lengthen the time surviving against you before getting my ass kicked like usual. ", I signed with a defeated smug and let loose of my Beast Will's first stage.

"Hahahaha, it's still an improvement. Better having a moment to say some last words rather than none, right?", he shot me a scoffing smirk.

"Yeah yeah, very funny", I rolled my eyes.

"All jokes aside, brat. Your potential and the kind of power you are endowed with are far greater than any mages could have ever dreamed of. All these years I trained you, witnessed your caliber grow by days brings me joy and pride. Despite not being my blood and kin, you're a part of my family now ,brat. Hence, not only joy and pride, I'm also concerned about your future ahead.", he sat down next to me.

"Do you know what comes with great power?", he asked.

"Mmm, great responsibility?", I memorized a classic inspirational quote from a movie in my previous life, surprised by how Gramps came up with it. I hoped it's just a coincidence.

"No, with great power comes power-hungry bastards.", he corrected.

"Well…you are not wrong I guess.", I pretended to feel enlightened. Gramps wasn't wrong, he reminded me about the time when I ruled as a king. When I was surrounded by politicians and nobles who supposedly acted as trustworthy advisors of my council. Yet, some of them were trying to get on my good side with the aim to abuse my power.

"Quadra Elemental mage and a freakin Dragon's Will, truly an once in a lifetime case. I'm not even surprised if it is only time until you become the strongest mage! You will face a lot of vile scumbags trying to usurp those powers. So be prepared, stay cautious and try not to show off your abilities too much. Only resort to them when it's necessary, like when you're protecting your family, understand?", he said whilst rubbing my head with his fist playfully.

"Ouch, Gramps! Jeez, you flatter me too much. What makes you so sure that I'm that kind of invincible? Or is it only because you have to use the second phase to catch up with mine?", I scoffed back.

"I'll whoop your ass with a cactus, brat. And yeah, I'm confident to say you are. As if there's going to be another kid as strong as you just gonna fall out of the sky."

"Elder Virion, the king and the queen request your presence."

All of sudden, a royal elven guard informed us , and his face's expression told us to hurry.

"What's going on?", Gramps asked.

" The royal gate has just opened, and the gate guards are having troubles with an armed individual riding a wagon full of elven citizens. He refused to show his identity, but admitted he's a human, sir."

Gramps shot up from his sitting position with a distressed feeling.

"A slave trader coming right at our doorstep?!! Lead the way."

"Gramps, I want to come to.", I spoke to him with irritation, remembering back when my family and the Twin Horns got ambushed by slave traders.

"Then clean yourself up."

As we moved through the castle, I stumbled on a too familiar princess who no doubts will grow to be a beauty with a gunmetal silver head, a fair skin with glossy lips and a pair of magnificent emerald eyes glanced at me through the door's gap by instinct when I passed through her room on my way.

"Art!Gramps! Where are you two going?", she poked her head out of her room's opening door, on her hands was my bond Sylvie. I agreed to let Tess play with her today.

"Little one, we're having an urgent matter right now, stay at the castle.", Gramps made a brief prompt and kept going with fast pace.

"It's not going to be a pretty sight for you Tess,", I stopped and spun back to meet her face.

"Stay here, I don't want to rescue a lost clumsy princess for a second time~.", I teased her and sprinted on with Gramps, leaving her behind.

"Hey! You big meanieee!", Tess shouted angrily while Sylvie sent me a "be careful" kyu and waved her paw at me.

We came down at the castle's entry, where a carriage was waiting, accompanied by a group of elven cavalry knights riding ferocious stags with horns as sharp as blades instead of horses like humans do.

"Father, and Arthur?", King Alduin sitting on the carriage with Queen Merial.

"The boy wants to accompany us, what's the situation Alduin?", Gramps questioned and closed the carriage's door.

"The man seemed to not be having any aggressive actions towards our gate guards, nor the elves whom he's retaining for the moment. It is reported that he disobeyed the guards to lay down his weapon and surrender. 3 guards tried to tackle him but ended up suffocated by his mana pressure. The man demanded our arrival since he insisted to only elaborate with us.", the king explained about what just happened while ordering the driver to depart.

"That's..... odd for a slave trader.", I commented.

"Such an arrogant and stupid rascal. Think he can just burst into our kingdom's door and force us to negotiate with him.", King Alduin scolded.

"Calm down dear, we will rescue the hostages alright? Besides, we have Aya with us, that man wouldn't dare cause any harm to our people.", Queen Merial reassured him before turning to me.

"Arthur, mind telling why you want to come with us?", she asked in a worrying tone.

"Your Majesty, just like you all, I also have a bitter hatred for slave traders, for what they did to me in the past. So I would want to see one of them get punished justifiably and publicly with my own eyes."

A few minutes passed and we reached our destination, I inspected what was going on from the carriage's window.

"Your Majesty!",An old male elf who was probably in his 60s greeted us with a formal bow. As he did,a large group of elven villagers who seem to live outside of the Capital followed suit. Based on their healthy conditions and the decent clothes they were wearing, it didn't seem that they had been gravely mistreated.

Then, I peeled my eyes at the "wannabe" slave trader, who seemed to have surrendered to the gate guards pointing their swords at him, yet his relaxing leaning on the wagon posture whilst spontaneously drinking his wine flask told otherwise. Obviously signifying that he could care less of the guards' threats.

The man was enveloped with full body plated armor with a wicked black color and a spiky design, covering his identity entirely. Behind him was a giant spear which had a tone of color just like his armor. The weapon was absurdly large for the size of himself with two heads, one was a medium length blade almost like a sword, the other was a magic staff?

'Since when and how in the world could those bastards have access to armaments like this? Oh no, no way he is just a mere slave trader.', I thought to myself.

"What is the meaning of this?!!", Alduin demanded an explanation with his commanding voice.

"Oh craps.", the armored man suddenly spoke, his voice somewhat belonging to a man in 30s. He stood properly back from the leaning posture and slowly brought both of his hands in the air with his right hand still holding the wine flask, indicating his submission, which surprised everyone.

"Your Majesty!", The gate guard commander greeted us.

"Commander, report.", Alduin ordered.

"The gate was opened by this man, who assumed himself as the head of these villagers, your Majesty," he said as he pointed at the old elf.

"As soon as they entered, we saw them being caged by that man over there–

"Damn. Unchained. Clothed. Well fed. Sitting on my wagon without any actual cages and immediately got released by me the moment I entered your kingdom. Very fine definition of "being caged" .", The armored person shot him with a sarcastic tone.

"You!", The commander reached for his sword with rage.

"Commander.", Alduin gestured to him to stop.

"Mr, please stand up. What's your name?", Alduin asked.

"My name is Ailmer, your Majesty.", the senile elf now known as Ailmer answered.

"Is it true by the commander that you're the village head?"

"Yes, we lived in a remote village near the mountains, your Majesty.", his face instantly turned dark.

"Tell me all, village chief Ailmer."

Ailmer began to recap about how they were raided and captured by bandits for several months. Later on, how they were saved by the man now identified as Drinkard, a member from Adventurer Guild of Xyrus City which caught my attention.

"Thank you for the information ,Ailmer. I'll have orders to give your village a new shelter for the time being. Then I'll manage the reconstruction of your old home as soon as possible.", Alduin gave a sympathetic look and sent men to help the whole village.

"Our utmost appreciation,your Majesty.", Ailmer said in an emotional and grateful tone as the whole elven group bowed in formality and followed Alduin's soldiers.

After having people escort Ailmer's group, the royalty turned the attention back to...Drinkard.

Despite his goofy name, his power was definitely not to be trifled with. The gate guards were mages with at least light red cores and some of them were at orange stage. And here he was, being relaxed in front of 10 men.

"Bottleneck of solid yellow..", Gramps muttered under his breath as I eavesdropped on him.

'Say what?!!!', I looked at him with shock. So adventurers of the Guild were that strong. I thought as I reminded myself to train harder to pursue the dream of becoming one.

"So, is it true that you want to speak with us?", Alduin began first.

"Correct, your Majesty. Pardon me, I would also want to bow but…. It's a little bit hard when I'm having a sword on my throat right now.", the adventurer said to us.

'What does he mean? None of the guards is laying their weapons on him-'

"Ho-how?",cutting me from my thoughts was Aya Grephin appearing from thin air, or her illusion spell to be correct, standing next to Drinkard with her sword closing to his throat by less than an inch for real, which caught us by surprise.

"General Grephin!", the guards surrounding Drinkard greeted, unable to hide their bewildered faces while we looked at her and her "target" with widened eyes.

Drinkard , still standing without any further movements, or he would lose his throat for sure.

"Aya, it's fine.", Alduin gestured, which Aya complied and sheathed back her sword. However, her shocked eyes still fixated on Drinkard in full caution.

"As the king of Elenoir, I express my utmost attitude and thanks towards your actions for having freed our kins from enslavery, adventurer Drinkard. Pardon for the unfortunate misunderstanding of our gate guards, they were only committing their responsibilities.

To make the story clear, accompany us to our palace and we can discuss it in private.", His earlier dreadful scorn towards Drinkard was no longer there, but he was still aware of him.

"As you wish, your Majesty.", Drinkard replied but Alduin stopped him:

"However, even though I'm letting you enter our place as a guest, I still would like you to surrender your armaments first. For safety measures."

I saw that the adventurer was hesitating, but he soon complied as he dropped the black spear to the ground. One soldier was struggling to carry that enormous chunk of a weapon.

"And your dimensional rings as well."

He pulled off two rings from his left hand and gave them to another soldier.

We returned to the palace while Drinkard was being escorted on one stag but under the observation of all the soldiers including general Aya, considering how powerful he was.

*Minutes later*

"Welcome back.", Tess showed up in front of the door, blocking my way with a "friendly" smile.

"H-hi-AAAA!", I screamed painfully as she pinched, and the force she used was without mana but enough to let me in agony.

"Who do you call a lost clumsy princess?", Tess asked in a dark tone, and somehow I could hear boss music playing as menacingly as her aura emitting over me.

"No please be merciful, it was just a jok-AAAAAAA!"

This time, she pinched even harder, making Sylvie jump from my head to flee from her wrath.

"Careful Tessia, or you might kill him before he can meet back his family.", Elder Rinia walked to us with a warm smile.

"Grandaunt!", Tessia ran to her for a hug.

Rinia gently stroked her head in a return hug.

"Elder Rinia, what brings you to us today?" ,I asked.

"It will be answered soon enough, wonderboy.", she gestured her head to the meeting room's door.

Inside the room were the King, the Queen and Gramps, on the opposite side of the table with Drinkard, who were once again, surrounded by guards.

Sucks that I wasn't allowed to go in, this so-called "adventurer" was a very suspicious one despite his "seemed to be heroic action" for saving all of those slaves. What could be his goals to come here?

Tess and I tried to eavesdrop through the door but to no avail.

Tess elbowed me lightly and whispered:"Hey, who's that armored person I just saw the guards bring in?"

"Long story short from what I heard earlier on the carriage, he is an adventurer who rescued a group of elves from being captured by slave traders.", I whispered back.

"Woaa. Th-that's incredible….From my slight first glimpse of him, I thought that he was a slave trader instead."

"It's his armor right?", I asked.

"Yeah, I-I don't like it. He looks so…., as if I was looking at some kind of demon here. But it was a relief knowing that he's a good person.", Tessia was out of words.

"Really? That's strange, I don't see any demons here besides you.", I gave her another tease, effectively enraged her.

"You're so dead!!!!!!!",She hissed quietly with her hands forming sharp wind claws while elder Rinia stood there chuckling instead of saving me.

Third person's POV:

Inside the room, Alduin began first:

"My name is Alduin Eralith, king of the Elven Realm and this is my queen, Merial Eralith, and my father, Virion Eralith. On the behalf of the entire kingdom, we again thank you for what you have done. So first it's about the prize. Let it be you are a human, this kingdom truly owes you a debt , adventurer. Please, name your prize."

"I need my rings please.", Drinkard replied curtly, eyeing at the guard who was holding his inventory.

Alduin nodded his head to him, signifying his trust and the guard followed.

"Here's something I would like to be done with.", Drinkard pulled out a bunch of documents and notes from his ring and slid them towards us.

Alduin and Merial scanned through the papers with confused expressions.

"A map with marked destinations and a list of names. Huh, some of them seem familiar.", Gramps looked at them.

"They are no ordinary names, Elder.They are noble houses of Sapin who evolved in slaves purchasing. You may find some of them familiar, after all, they were once your enemies on the battlefield.", Drinkard took out the wine flask.

Virion looked at him with an impressed face:

"Oooh, we have an adventurer who knows some history here, don't we?"

"Wait, so, that means this map is...."Alduin stuttered for a bit.

"Locations of all slave trading points. I found these inside the base near Marlow city which I destroyed to free those villagers. I entrust this work to your hand, your Majesty, as I believe those places are holding many of your people waiting to be rescued too."

"My....goodness. We can't thank you enough. Adventurer Drinkard, please, take off your helm so we can see the face of our hero.", Queen Merial declared with a friendly smile smeared on her face. Alduin nodded in agreement with her idea.

"My apology, your Majesty. I wish to have my identity concealed by all means."

"Please be at ease, your secret is safe with us. We truly want to know,remember and reward the one who had made a great contribution for our people", Merial tried to convince him.

"With all respect, I have to deny, for my own safety.", Drinkard responded with a serious tone.

".....Very well then, we will be respectful and won't push over.", Merial responded.

"My appreciation. Now I will speak about my prize, your Majesty. First, I want you to listen carefully to my words and please, consider them seriously."

Drinkard stopped for a second to see the Royalty's faces were waiting in anticipation for what he was going to say.

"I have an ability for future foresight, and I have made my way to here to inform you a series of tragic events soon to occur on this entire continent."