Reward VIII

As I walked through the castle halls, several housekeeping elves spotted me; of course, I ignored them. I knew what they were going to do. Shortly after, I arrived at my destination.

Knock, knock, knock.

I knocked on a wooden door and waited for it to be opened. Shortly after, I heard an aged voice approaching from the other side of the door, and soon the kitchen door opened.

"You are"

Opening the door and looking down, the old elf woman's eyes widened. Everyone in the castle received a report regarding this human; priority number one was to not disturb him and report back if they saw him.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am. I am a guest of Mr. Angrod. Would it be possible for you to prepare some food for me?"

What came out of the human's mouth left her confused.

"Eh, yes, of course, we will immediately prepare food for you."

"Preferably without poison, please."

The last words he said left her cold.

"Of course it won't have poison."

"I hope so."

After the lady in the kitchen agreed to cook for me, I followed her into the kitchen. As I entered, I could see a huge kitchen. The lady urged me to sit down while she prepared something for me. After about 20 minutes, the lady brought me several plates of food. Now that I realized, elves seemed to dislike animal meat; what the lady brought me seemed to be salad and a lot of unknown fruit, very finely chopped. I didn't care about the appearance of the food; what I wanted was to fill my empty stomach. Being under an authority for a long time and without food was torture. If I wanted to, I could last several years without food, but only if I went into hibernation. Enduring a month without food and under the pressure of a monster was not so simple. I became exhausted both physically and mentally. When the kitchen lady gave me a fork, I quickly thanked her and started eating.

"It's exquisite, ma'am."

"Thank you, enjoy it."

The food had no poison. I ate a lot of fruit; those fruits were rich in mana. I could feel it. The sweetness in the fruits was the best, although my palate did not recognize any flavor. It was the first time I had tasted something like this; I felt very good thanks to the food. At the same time, in a large room, there were five figures.

"Are you sure about what you're saying?"

"Yes, the elemental was seen walking the halls. I'm told it's currently in the palace kitchen; the chief of staff is attending to it."

Angrod was shocked; the elemental had appeared out of nowhere. Surveillance and alarm magic were unable to detect it.

"So, at last he deigned to show his face."

Idril was upset by what D had done. Now that the contract seemed to be gone, she was more than willing to eliminate D.

"Idril, I've made up my mind; I don't want any more surprises."

"Will you let this offense go unpunished?"

"Idril, remember that you were already defeated once by him."

"But I wasn't serious; if I was serious, I would have easily defeated him."

Idril had no choice but to tell what had happened. Now that the contract seemed to be failing, she decided to reveal what had happened; she had to do so so that they would know what that elemental was capable of. When she revealed everything, Angrod and Eryn's faces did not look good. Idril was considered by many in the kingdom to be the strongest mage; her mastery of the mana arts was simply superior. She was a genius among the elves, and that was just talking about her mana arts. If we talk about her 'manifestation', no one could defeat her in a 1 vs. 1, but that same Idril was easily reduced. With that revelation, Angrod knew that the best decision was to leave the elemental alone.

"And what makes you think the elemental fought seriously?"

"Well, that."

"Did you see him come out of the human's body?"

"That."

"You, better than anyone, know what a high-rank elemental is capable of, and even Flurris doubts she can win in a confrontation."

"Father-in-law, don't worry about my sister Idril; she won't do anything stupid, right, Idril?"

"Yes, sister, I won't do anything."

Now that they had decided not to antagonize D, Angrod ordered the person who had come to inform him about D's movements to bring a certain gift to the elemental. With this, D would know that Angrod kept his word after all. However, when Angrod was about to hand over the gift to be taken to the person in question, another individual quickly entered the room unannounced. Everyone looked at him with different faces. The person knelt on one knee and said:

"Lord Angrod, I, Eldarion, come to report; we are under attack."

"That?"

Like Angrod, everyone in the room showed expressions of astonishment.

"Yes, the entrance to the kingdom is under attack."

"Who is attacking us?"

"They are beasts, sir."

"?????????"

Angrod's head tilted in confusion. It was rare for beasts to enter the forest; the spores of certain plants acted as a repellent.

"Currently, a squad of knights is handling the situation, but the number of beasts that were identified exceeds 100, and the weakest beast is a C-rank, sir."

"Are you sure about that information?"

"Yes, and to make matters worse, the beasts are coordinating to attack; which led us to believe that it is a tamer, but we have not been able to identify it."

"Who's in charge of that squad?"

"Captain Eowyn is handling the situation; he is currently doing a good job of holding off the enemy forces, but it is only a matter of time before our advantage over them is broken, sir. We ask, please, send a royal guard."

"Okay, you can go; I'll send someone to help them."

"Understood."

Without further ado, Eldarion left the room. Angrod was left thinking about the situation; he felt that something was wrong. He felt that these past few days things had not been going very well. After contemplating for a bit, he decided to send a person who could quickly end this problem. Usually, such a person would not be sent out for things like this, but Angrod's intuition told him that something was not right.

"Idril, go help them; finish it quickly and return to the palace. I have a bad feeling about this situation."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's rare for beasts to enter our forest and organize themselves to attack; that, without a doubt, is the work of a beast tamer, and a very powerful one at that. I estimate that his rank is S to be able to control so many beasts."

"Well, yeah, it's a little weird."

"Normally, it would be the humans who would be the first to attack us, but I suspect this is not their doing. That's why I want you to go there and finish it off quickly. Idril, I don't want another failure on your part."

Angrod's eyebrows furrowed. With each passing second, his intuition told him that something was not right.

"Understood, Elder Angrod."

After he answered, Idril began to disappear; she was teleporting to the palace closest to the entrance of the kingdom. She was going to unleash her rage on the battlefield; she was going to show those invaders and the opponents from the different noble houses that the royal family was no joke. After Idril disappeared, Angrod ordered:

"Go and deliver this quickly."

"Understood."

The person Angrod gave a certain gift to carry was Maedhros' trusted messenger. That messenger soon left the room and quickly headed to the castle, where the person he was supposed to deliver the gift to was located. After some time, the gift was successfully delivered to the elemental.