A Gift for You (2)

"You shouldn't open the doors to strangers, boy."

Lucas was a bit stunned as he looked at the elf who was now floating in the air, looking at him with indifferent expression as if she was lecturing him.

"Should I close it back again?" replying with a nervous chuckle, Lucas held the window pane again. 'Was she using wind magic?' Curiosity rose in Lucas's mind, as he always felt amazed and curious whenever he saw someone using magic.

"What if I do something bad to you?" She continued to ask although she seemed like she didn't want Lucas to close the window again.

'Of course you won't. That's why I am letting you in!' Lucas understood that she was just trying to lecture a child with goodwill who she thought that he didn't know about the world. But he knew that elves were always neutral and loyal. Unless one didn't do any harm to them, they didn't harm the others. But at the same time they were also known for not forgetting their revenge.

"Maybe I will shout for help?" Lucas smiled softly, knowing that the elf who he had saved once would not do anything bad to him. "But I know that you are not a bad one. Why don't you come in?"

As Lucas stepped back for the elf lady to come into the room, she accepted the invitation and stepped in while sighting heavily. "Are you alright now?" She still had that indifferent expression on her face but her voice sounded gentle.

"Yep. It is not that serious." replying with a usual smile, Lucas started to think. 'But I visited the god, though.'

"What about you? Are you fully recovered?"

Lucas remembered that she was brutally tortured but seeing her right now, she looked like she was really energized.

"I am fine. If you didn't heal me on time, I might have died but as you see, I am all fixed. That Walter guy healed me, too." She sat on one of the chairs in the room, with crossed legs, as she put down the bag that she was holding. "Which is why I came to thank you." She added.

"You're welcome. Glad to hear that you are fine."

Looking at the elf, it was pretty obvious that she was ok. It seemed that she also changed her clothes before she came here, as she looked clean and fresh, not like the bloodied and rugged figure that Lucas had seen in the tunnel.

"I am going back to Reblica jungle tonight. So I wanted to know if you have something that you want before I go back because I would like to repay my debt as soon as I can."

'Oh, she must be going back to her home.' Lucas understood that elves didn't like to stay far away from their home, which was the Reblica jungle, the place where most elves inhabited, located between Rudia kingdom and Airis kingdom. But at the same time, he started to wonder what that elf was doing in the Ereck forest since it was a rare case.

"I don't have such wishes, big sister. I am just glad to help you!"

Lucas really didn't have anything he desired at the moment. Maybe some information would do, though he didn't know if the elf would be able to answer. And it would just be fine if he could be friends with the elf, in order that he had some connections, in case he needed the help of elves in the future.

"Really?"

"Really." Lucas nodded.

"What are you doing in the tunnel? Isn't it too young for you to be hunting? You don't seem like you are someone in need of money, either." The elf closely inspected Lucas, thinking for his reason which kind of made Lucas scratch the back of the head in nervousness.

"It's just a small training. Actually, we don't plan to go that far but there is a diveorus and then we got teleported out of nowhere."

Lucas realized that there was a bit of sternness in the elf's face as soon as he mentioned the diverous. 'May be she got teleported by that annoying demon, too?' Lucas thought.

"What are you doing there, too? I thought elves don't leave the Reblica jungle?"

"We don't. Until we have certain things to investigate."

"So you have something to investigate in Ereck forest?"

"Yes."

"And you met with the demons? Why are they torturing you? Is it related to what you have to investigate?" Lucas knew that it was rude and he shouldn't bombard someone he met for the first time with many questions but he couldn't help it.

He had things to know. Moreover, demons didn't make enemies with elves until the later part of the novel so he also wondered if this situation was the spark for the fire between the demons and elves.

"Sort of."

"Is it the orb thing?"

"Where did you hear that?" The elf seemed to be a bit surprised to hear that as her voice became a bit colder.

"From the demons. They told that they were doing some kind of experiment and….. Oh, they also said the orb is not working." Lucas stared at the elf carefully, wondering if there were some noticeable changes or not.

"Of course, it won't" For the first time, there was a grin on the elf as she murmured.

"Can you tell me about that?"

'Please tell me. I am going to die from curiosity.' Lucas sincerely wished that the elf would tell him but unfortunately, he only got a rejection.

"Maybe it is equivalent to the debt that you want to repay?"

"I would have done that but it is really not for a child to know. Curiosity kills the cat."

Even though Lucas tried to protest, the elf glared at Lucas which made him a bit chill down his spine. She was neither stern nor angry but it seemed that she was telling Lucas not to pry further.

'As expected…' Lucas was not disappointed as he knew he would not get answers easily from her. 'But that's enough, though….. The orb from the demons is something related with the elves and the demons don't know how to use the orb although the elves might know it.' Lucas felt a bit satisfied as he found a way for further investigation.

"Don't try to investigate. It's not something you should know."

'That makes me want to pry more, you know?' was what Lucas wanted to tell but of course, he didn't say that out loud and only nodded.

They didn't continue the conversation for a while as the elf started to open up her bag and looked through it, pulling out things one by one.

"What are you doing?" Lucas looked at those various things which seemed like artifacts.

"I have something to give you. Wait."

"I have never seen a bag that can hold up that many things...."

"It is my spatial bag. Thank goodness that those demons didn't do anything to this."

Lucas wondered if this elf liked collecting things and such, while just looking at her actions but he couldn't help but to widen his eyes when he spotted a rusted figure in the things she pulled out.

'Wait! Isn't that the sword I am looking for!?' Lucas looked at the rusty sword, finding that the figure was exactly the one that was described in the novel.

"Here, take it." The elf handed Lucas over a yellow crystal binded with a silver frame. "I haven't tried using it but the appraiser said it can help the healers in their abilities. It is pretty useless for me so you take it."

"Ah yes… thank you very much…" Lucas was happy to receive a gift that can help his ability but he still couldn't avert his gaze from the rusted sword.

'Why is the sword in her hands!?' Lucas couldn't believe his eyes. 'Maybe it is possible that in the novel, the elf died and the hunters picked up her collections but threw away the sword because it seemed useless?' And he started to feel hopeless. He was going to find the sword once more in later times but now it had its owner so his plan had crumbled.

"What are you looking at?" The elf was putting back the things one by one again and she held the rusty sword to put it back, she instantly realized that Lucas was gazing at the sword. "What? Do you want this?"

"Can I exchange it with the amulet?"

'I know it is pretty rude but please exchange it!!!' Lucas inwardly screamed and begged.

"Why? Can you even use a sword? The sword effect is great but it is hard to control. And it is not good looking, too?" She was confused as she thought children would like shiny things better, not a rusted one.

"I need it for a friend..." Lucas honestly admitted. He knew that he would get it if he asked her, saying it was for himself but he was afraid that she would feel betrayed when her gift was given to someone else.

Lucas was startled when something came flying to him but luckily he caught it and was surprised when he found out that it was the rusted sword that he wanted.

"Take both, then." The elf got up from the chair as she prepared to leave.

"Thank you so much, big sister!!!" Lucas smiled as best as he could. 'Ahhhh you are not an elf. You are an angel!!' He really couldn't thank enough.

"You deserve it. For saving my life." She still had her indifferent face but her tone was soft. But before she jumped out of the window she stared back at Lucas with her sharp amber eyes, making him flinch a bit.

"Don't do dangerous things again. You should see how worried and restless they were when you fainted."

"Ah, yes. I will be careful." Lucas nervously chuckled. "By the way, I am Lucas. May I know your name?"

"Serene. Call me Serene." With these final ones, she then wore her black hood back before she casted the wind magic to let the wind help her swift away.

"I hope we can meet again, though."

Lucas murmured while still holding the two gifts that Serene had given, feeling happy that Lady Luck had not abandoned him yet, considering that he should pay back his debt to Serene in case they met again.

Throwing himself fully on the comfy bed, a smile of satisfaction and also gratitude flickered on Lucas face. He definitely believed that it was going to be a sweet long night sleep!

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A month had already passed by and it was already the time that Ryosuke would be joining the academy.

'Time really flies fast, huh?' Lucas still felt like the incidents in the Ereck forest were like the ones that happened yesterday and he didn't like how his peaceful days were passing by him so quickly.

"Big brother Ryo, are you ready?" Lucas knocked on the door of Ryosuke's room as the carriage that was waiting for Ryosuke to take him to the academy had already arrived at the front of the mansion.

And a few seconds later, Ryosuke came out of the room with a nervous look on his face.

"I don't want to leave...…" Ryosuke felt like he was a fish that was deprived of water.

"Come on… just wait for two more years and it will be done. And you can also come visit Evandall city when you have holidays." Even though Lucas was telling this, he also felt nervous. He still couldn't figure out how to stick with Ryosuke in the future because when he left the academy, Lucas would start his first year.

'Should I not attend the academy anymore?' It was one possible solution and he wondered how he should convince his family, though. Lucas could handle the training by himself and so the academy was not that necessary. 'Maybe I can really do them if I convince them non-stop.'

He also couldn't understand why Lucian sent him in this body which had so much age difference with the protagonist. Not that he was ungrateful to have such an amazing family, though. 'It would just be so nice if I am the older one and brother Edwin was in my place…..'

Finally, he was able to drag Ryosuke to the entrance while Tus and Eura helped him to bring his suitcases.

"Brother Ryo, do you remember what I told you?"

"Yes yes yes." Ryosuke sighed. "Be careful of the surroundings. Pay attention to the lessons. Be sure to write to you. Report immediately to the headmaster if I see something suspicious in the school."

"What about the sword I gave?"

"I didn't forget it! It is in the suitcase. I made it into a small dagger because it is too troublesome to carry around the longsword." Ryosuke pointed to the suitcase. "I won't lose Akito, ok?"

Lucas remembered that Ryosuke wanted to name the sword and gave it a name, saying that it was from his hometown. He never explained the meaning but Lucas could pretty much figure it out, given that he watched a lot of anime and learned one or two words from there.

But he couldn't figure out why Ryosuke gave a black rusty sword such a name and he was also a bit surprised because Ryosuke never named that sword in the novel. He just used it simply as a tool and threw it away when he didn't need it anymore.

"Great! And last but not least, don't get bullied! You can hit back whoever bullies you, ok?"

Lucas was really worried about that because in the novel there were the times when Ryosuke was bullied. But it happened because Ryosuke entered the academy under the status of scholarship student with no background. 'It shouldn't happen since he will be going as a distant relative of the Evandall family, right?'

Finally he was able to send Ryosuke onto the carriage and even at that time he found out that Ryosuke still had a long face.

'What are you!? A kid!?' Lucas couldn't believe that Ryosuke was acting like an elementary school student who was having his first day at school while he was already 17 years old.

Lucas could only sighed when the carriage left for the academy and headed back to the mansion.

"Master, shall I prepare for our departure?"

"Lucas, I am going to pack up, too!"

"Sure, Tus. Eura." Lucas just replied softly.

It was time for him to go back to Evandall city. To where his family was.