Chapter 3: Rescue

I sighed in relief as I made it just in time to save both her and the child. I took a good look at the small boy, who was grabbing the woman's hands with his own. His tear-struck face looked on in worry as he watched his mother's peaceful state.

If I had arrived a second later, he would have been killed.

After a few hours on the road, I noticed ten signatures located deep in the forest, but I was going to ignore them before a forest fire began to emerge from where they were. I expected some accident has occurred, but I never imagined this. I reached just in the nick of time as the woman started to scream for help.

"Oh boy," I kept the corner of my eye on the two assassins as I slowly crouched across the boy. He seemed to notice as he suddenly tensed before relaxing again. "Hi there, sweety what's your name?" I spoke in a soft voice.

The boy hesitated, first giving me a small glare, before answering me in a meek voice, "Siegren." His steel grey eyes suddenly widened as he noticed something peculiar and started stuttering while nervously pointing a trembling finger at me. "Y-Your ears."

I titled my head in genuine confusion. I tucked my hair behind my right ear so it would be more noticeable. "Hm, what about them?"

"W-Why do they look like that?"

I tapped my chin thoughtfully, amused by his reaction. "Hehe, you mean pointy!" I happily grinned while touching the tip of my ears, looking comical.

Siegren nodded, "Yeah."

"Well, because I'm an elf, silly," I retorted playfully, flicking his small forehead. His head slightly arched back and he looked bewildered by the gesture. The heavy atmosphere disappeared like it was never there.

"Stop lying! The elves are just made-up stories. They are not real!" he barked.

His firm response made me pause as I narrowed my eyes. He didn't seem to be lying, and normally a child his age would have heard about us. Especially with the broadcast of the three kingdoms uniting together to form the council. However, his reaction and response almost made it sound as if elves were nothing but a fairytale.

How interesting.

"Boom!"

The sound of an explosion occurred with the noise of splintering wood, slightly blowing our hair from the tremendous force. I turned to look and noticed the wall I had formed was blown to pieces with faint traces of lightning simmering before they disappeared. The mage emerged from the debris and started instructing two of his subordinates to help free the ones trapped by the roots.

I stood up and began to address Siegren, "It seems we will have to talk later. You think you can stay here with your mom?"

Siegren clenched his jaw as he nodded slowly, glaring in their direction, "Be careful. They're dangerous." I giggled, and he looked confused by my reaction.

"The only dangerous one here is me, kid," I said while messing with his hair, earning me a smack from his little hand. While I was not a white core mage anymore, someone from the silver stage isn't someone to snuff at either. Especially if their opponents are in the lower stages.

Before I started walking away, I heard Siegren say something behind me, "Thanks…for saving my mom." I looked back and saw Siegren appearing a bit bashful as he looked away.

Hehe, how cute.

I cheerfully waved at him and continued walking ahead. The smile I had previously worn began to slowly disappear, leaving only a stoic expression on my face. My playful behavior was gone like the wind and was replaced with cold fury as I gave an icy glare to these pathetic individuals who would go after an innocent child and woman.

One of the assassins who was hacking the roots with his sword noticed me approaching them and notified his companion. They both stood in front of their comrades, ready to defend them. I scoffed, and more roots emerged from the soil, entrapping them as well. With a swift turn of my hand, I snapped their necks.

Neither of the four assassins had a trace of mana within them, so all they could do was just die from my hand. Quick and painless. Which was more than they deserved, in my opinion.

The mage looked interested by my display while the remaining three dark-robed assassins stood in formation around the mage.

"D-Did you see that?" One of them asked. "In just a second, she killed them all!"

"I did," Another grumbled. "Shit! We didn't expect to encounter a mage around here, especially someone as powerful as her." His head turned to their leader, "What do we do?"

The red-robed mage sneered at them, "Fools, she may be powerful, but she won't be able to handle all three of you at the same time."

"But she managed to kill four of us very quickly."

The mage scowled even further, "Of course she did. Those fools didn't bother to get out of the way and paid the price with their life. Now, enough talking. Go and do your job. Her earlier magic performance must have taken some toll on her." His tone suggested no further argument as he held a small fireball and threateningly pointed it at them.

I didn't bother to correct them and say I held back a lot of my strength. It was better if they underestimated me. Instead of just finishing them off quickly and escaping with the mother and child, I waited for them to attack because of the mage.

When I peered into the mage to see what level he was at, I was shocked by what I found. The mage didn't have a mana core, yet the power that was emanating from him was the strength of someone in the dark orange stage. I would have to interrogate him after this little scuffle is over.

The three assassins held their swords and charged in three different directions. One to the left, one to the right, and another in front of me. "Fools," I conjured my sword, made from plants with closed rose buds sprouting along my arm to my shoulder. My preferred weapon in battle.

My weapon appearing out of nowhere surprised everyone, especially the mage who stood at the back as he whispered in shock, "Impossible, is she…"

I didn't give them time to get their bearings and suddenly lunged toward the bandit on my left while infusing my sword with wind mana to make it sharper and stronger. Both swords made contact, and his sword immediately broke from the collision.

The bandit held the handle in disbelief, his sword resembling a dagger now. "What!" He didn't have time to say anything else as I quickly decapitated his head.

"Carl, no! You will pay you bitch! Take this!" The assassin swung at me with all his might while the other one tried to strike me from below from the front. I was unimpressed by their display. I pivoted my body and jumped over the corpse and away from my opponent's range of attacks.

They worked together as they tried to slice or stab me with their swords. I noticed the mage standing there and waited for him to attack, but he didn't. Instead, he wore a barely controlled greedy expression as he watched me fight his subordinates.

"I had enough," deciding to end it here, I dodged the next slash and moved under the swing. Augmenting myself, I used wind mana to move faster and appeared behind the bandit who was in mid-swing. Like his friend, I decapitated him as well.

"No, Frankie!" the last remaining bandit screamed in despair. I appeared behind him and pierced his heart. He looked behind him with wide, shocked eyes and started coughing up blood, "W-What." His eyes became glassy and fell over lifeless after a few seconds.

I swiped my sword to remove the blood as I stood over the corpses. Then, I heard the sudden sound of clapping.

"Bravo! Bravo! Marvelous performance! It is as expected from an elf," the mage complimented with a smug expression. "I read about your race being exceptional in magic, and I have to say, you performed marvelously."

"Not even angry about your friends?" I wondered what he knew about elves. As Siegren mentioned, they were only known from stories.

"Of course not," he denied as he stood a dozen feet away. Clearly weary from getting too close. "They were killers for hire. In their line of work, they should have expected to meet their end like this one day."

"Wow, such a good employer you are," I responded sarcastically before pointing my sword in his direction. "I guess this just leaves you."

"Ah, but first, let me introduce myself, my name is Kaelin Emberstone. A royal court mage for the royal family," he spoke, sounding proud of his status. "And your…"

"I don't care."

Kaelin grimaced from the interruption while the orange-yellow hue began to brighten his face as the fire burned closer and closer to our location. "We don't need to fight. I'm just here to follow the orders of the empress. Going against me would mean going against the royal family. Are you prepared for that eventuality, elf?"

Empress?

"So, it was the empress who gave the kill order?" I asked a question of my own. "What would the emperor say about this?"

"The boy is just a bastard with a royal bloodline. These small disputes don't concern him," he held out his hand. "Join me and we will head towards the capital. Being a royal mage, I could get you an audience with the royal family rather easily. You have my word you will live a life of luxury."

"So, your emperor doesn't care his illegitimate children are ending up dead. It sounds to me like he's just a whoremonger, and your empress is a jealous bitch. Like I would go to meet people who sent killers to eliminate a child," I spoke with contempt.

"Watch your tone, elf," Kaelin warned coldly. "Even if I have an interest in your race. More slights about the royal family, and I'll not let it slide."

"Well, here's my answer, 'Mr. Royal. Mage.' The answer is no. I will not go with you." I responded with my stance at the ready.

He snorted and suddenly opened the front part of his robe. The armor was decorated with multiple embedded gemstones, which began to glow. The mana collected in the stones started to be drawn toward him as his power steadily increased. "Very well. Your dead body would suit me just fine for my studies in magic. If you think I would be like those weaklings you disposed of, you are in for a very rude awakening."