Emerging problem

Seth ORLETH

"This thing is really heavy!! » I thought.

My shoulders hurt, but I tried not to be left behind by my fellow porters, we were carrying bags full of mana stones, the master had asked us for this task and we were excited to be able to be their useful because if we manage to transport all this to the village, then we too could go hunting with the master.

"I didn't know they would be this heavy" I grumbled.

-"Hey...Seth move forward, otherwise I'll step on you" mocked Saroth, one of my comrades.

"Don't you see that's what I'm doing here."

I replied a little annoyed, these guys tend to make fun of me for my frail physique, for an ogre-human I'm quite strong but compared to these bastards I was considered weak, they didn't even bother to call me anything that came to mind.

"Seriously, I don't see why the master chose you to accompany us, weak as you are?" Saroth whispered just loud enough for me to hear.

"Hey man, you dare to question the master's decisions?" I answered him sternly.

All of a sudden, there was silence behind me, the fact of mentioning the master's decision must have calmed them, perhaps the master would say nothing but the patriarch cannot tolerate rebels within our clan.

It all dates back to three weeks ago, after the master had managed to form a pact with the leaders, they formed a group and started hunting weak monsters to absorb their essences, the patriarch and the others managed to saturate their stones of essence, their physical faculties increased greatly and their mana increased, they had become strong enough to serve the master as a training partner.

The master wanted the rest of us to be just as strong, he wanted to bond with us too but the problem was that his mana count was not enough for all of us, which brings us to this expedition to this cave which was an ancient dungeon to collect enough mana stones everyone needs.

Little by little we advanced and we ended up joining the master who was waiting for us at the entrance to the cave. As soon as we arrived, they waved us off, I couldn't blame them because the forest was dangerously unpredictable.

In the group, there were nine of us in total; the master was at the head, the patriarch, Lady Dahlia and the two best archers of the clan were behind us, they put us in the middle of them to better protect us, honestly I would have liked to go hunting with them but I am too lousy in combat, which was an anomaly coming from a warrior people.

I always preferred tinkering to fighting, I was always lectured that in this cursed forest we couldn't allow ourselves to dream and that survival took precedence over everything, blah blah blah..., but I was always quite naive to hope that one day, I could learn under an artisan from the dwarf clan, for this I started tinkering with lots of things from time to time.

***

After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the entrance to the village, the master who had finally gotten used to placing his hand on the runes engraved on the tree and infusing them with his mana to deactivate part of the field of illusion, at first he thought it was a door that opened to a dimension, you should have seen his face when I explained to him that it was just an illusion that was intended to repel monsters.

"He was in shock, hehehe!!" I snickered in my mind.

These runes had been placed for all the clans by the clan of elves, the elves just like the dwarves are neutral clans, they prefer to provide us with equipment against their protections, because unlike the rest of us, they are not fighters, they focus instead on crafting and the study of spiritual magic; Elves and dwarves have a great affinity for spiritual magic as seen from their spirit descendants, I have heard that from their age of maturity they summon spirits to make a contract with them.

We returned to the village, I took the opportunity to release a sigh of relief by unloading the weight I was carrying, I did some stretching to stretch my body a little.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked in the direction of the whispers I heard in the center of the village, there three young women or rather three young Elves surrounded by the people of the village were advancing towards the master, their bodies were in tatters , covered with wounds, their blood flowed freely which tarnished their white skin even more.

"Was that even possible?"

This breed was known for their extraordinary beauty, which seemed unrecognizable to me.

"What the hell is going on?" I said to myself as I made my way through the crowd.

The patriarch who had recognized someone among them was disconcerted, he ran in their direction shouting his name.

-"Katia?? What happened?" he asked.

The young elf, who was struggling to even open her eyes, took a breath of air into her lungs and released them.

"Hordes!!!" she shouted in horror.

"Hordes, what does that have to do with their conditions?" asked the master, raising an eyebrow.

"Forgive me, but that's what we call an invasion of monsters my lord," I replied, bowing to him.

"We have come to seek help, and to warn you that all clans are in danger.

" she explained while she groaned in pain.

Murmurs echoed through the crowd, everyone worried,  even if we had the illusion barrier, it wouldn't be able to repel hordes of monsters on a large scale.

"Why not seek help from the other clans closest to you? Like the Dhakat clan perhaps?" The patriarch asked doubtfully.

Kof... Kof...kof....

The young elf coughed, she washed her face again, you could clearly read the lines of despair on it, her empty eyes, her hands trembling, in fact she had already slipped them between her thighs to prevent them, but nothing did.

His lips twisted, revealing a macabre smile, which made me shiver.

"His eyes weren't smiling at all" I said to myself

"The Dhakat clan was decimated"