22. Ants, Elves, Vampires, Gods, Heroes, Demons and Witches

"I forgot to ask one thing," Yumino said as he waited in a bedroom for the others to wake up.

"The name of the elf before me, the one who didn't listen—what is it?"

"Erolith. Thrana Erolith."

"Erolith... He meant something to her, didn't he?"

"Her? To whom may you refer?"

"Don't tell me, are you jealous?"

Yumino felt a soft slap pass through him out of nowhere. He understood whom it was from, but he had no idea how the witch had pulled that of.

"If you are talking about that elven girl, then yes. He was the one who stayed with her before you."

"Were they like..."

"Oh? By chance, is my dear hero jealous?"

"Can I also do that slap thing?"

Gauntmere explained to Yumino that Nima didn't have that type of relationship with Erolith. However, she could not guarantee what her feelings towards the "betrayer" were now.

"And one more thing."

"Full of questions now, are we?"

Yumino ignored the cheeky remark.

"In your story. There was this one girl that loved the white ants. What happened to her?"

For a while, no answer came back. Gauntmere kept the elf waiting long enough that he started wondering if "not hearing" is a thing that can happen in their conversations.

"After the first one poured water on the ants, she had a fight with the two boys. They pushed her pretty hard, so she fell and hit her head on a stone."

For a second, Yumino wasn't able to process the sudden yet anticlimactic development.

"That's a horrible story! Did the other girl just sit there and let it happen?"

"Exactly."

Gauntmere's answer came almost instantly. It was so sudden that the conversation was cut short, leaving Yumino in awkward silence. No, the silence was there, but it was loud enough to make Yumino's head feel funny.

Suddenly, the boy felt a jolt run through his body.

"Gavin asked me to call you. The others are—"

Garron barely opened the door when something comparable in speed to lightning flew out.

*****

"So, what's up with him?"

"Why ask me?" Averin said indignantly. "It's not like I have to keep watch over a grown elf. Ask Verina what she's done with him!"

But the red sorceress was nowhere to be found. No, in fact, she was everywhere. She followed around the hyperactive elf, writing down everything he was up to.

"Looks like she's having fun," said Gavin. "It's not every day we get to see this side of her. Let the witch do her thing."

As Gavin was lying deeper into his seat on the veranda, a sudden zap jolted him upright.

"You don't get to call me that~," a playful yet scary voice resounded throughout the castle.

"Yesh..." Gavin said, rubbing his freshly electrocuted back.

As this was going on, Garron slowly entered the room. Even in such an agitated situation, he was great at keeping his calm.

"I took a peek at Velmira's notes the other day. She wrote about there being a chance that this would happen."

"How big of a chance are we talking about?" Averin asked, busily putting on her heavy black armor.

"About 80 percent. 'Maybe higher for elves.'"

Not another word was spoken between the three. They all sighed at once, disappointed at themselves for not being more careful with the the scarlet sorceress.

"Oh? It seems they've calmed down," Averin said, noticing the silence.

The girl hurried for the door, happy that the group could finally be on their way, but once she opened said door, the first thing she heard was a loud "No!"

Only upon being alerted did Averin take a look in front of her, and what she saw was the twisted smile of the elf called Yumino, as he was waiting in a runner's position a couple of steps away from the exit.

Luckily, the group had quick reflexes, so they were out of the way before Yumino could do anything rash.

Mere moments after the door was opened, a trail of lightning with Yumino at its front end flew out the door and jumped from the veranda. Behind it, Velmira, who left behind a trail of the same element, but red, followed.

"We're going ahead! See you at the horses!" she screamed.

Glad it was finally over, but overwhelmed by the two, the remaining adventurers sighed once again and left the castle.

*****

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Kingdom of Veston, an elf and a vampire were exchanging blows in a complex choreography of nimble moves. No, it wasn't a choreography; their moves flowed splendidly, but each of them was improvised and adapted to the opponent.

"Keep it up!" the vampire screamed while somehow keeping a dignified tone.

The elf, a girl with shoulder-length white hair, was breaking out a sweat trying to find a spot she could strike with her daggers.

"Ha!" she screamed, moving faster and faster with every strike. But no matter how fast she moved, she could not reach the vampire.

"Focus, Nima!" the vampire with long black hair said.

"Like this, you won't even get close to him!"

The taunts of the vampire angered Nima, but also encouraged her to try something new.

"Hyah!"

"Oh? Very vocal, are we?"

The vampire continued poking at her with his silver tongue, but what followed was beyond his expectations.

The girl threw one of her daggers in the air, lunging forward with the other held in both of her hands. Through this move, she was able to focus some of her mana and add an extension of pure mana to the blade. Even just a touch would be enough to leave one's body badly burnt.

The vampire, distracted by the flying knife, took a couple of steps back and barely dodged Nima's first attack. 

He expected Nima's next move to consist of her grabbing that knife and attempting a powerful slash, but he was wrong.

With a gracious turn of her body, the elf hit the dagger above her with her foot, as if she were a professional soccer player. Her foot landed right on the hilt, launching the blade towards the adversary caught once again off guard.

Her dagger flew with immense power and barely missed the tall vampire by millimeters, thus concluding the sparring session.

"With all due respect, Lord Lucien, how do you know that he is more capable than me?"

Lucien took a second to let his stupor fade away, then he followed with a laugh.

"Oh, Nima. This was proof enough for me. You're not even one step behind the boy!"

The vague reply didn't answer Nima's question, but she didn't pry any further. Instead, she answered with a smile.

"I take it this is all for today?" Lucien asked the girl.

"Yes! Thank you so much, Lord Lucien! I've gotten so much stronger these past few days!"

"Don't put yourself down, Nima. You were always strong; we just had to get you back in shape."

Nima, having nothing more to say, bowed at the lord of the kingdom and left the room they were in.

"Are you going after him? Guards said they should arrive about now."

Nima answered with a firm nod. "That's exactly what I was waiting for!"

*****

"Pfft! Ahhahahah! The Rider Of Death? No way I could take on someone like that!"

"But you took down the demon lord, didn't you? And you also have that sword now..."

"Yumino, the demon lord, is nothing in comparison with one of the riders. He was a handful for the three of us, but a rider would probably curse him to death with just a glance or something."

"Any of them? Not just Death?"

Gavin paused with a "hmm."

"Maybe death is on the stronger side? But that doesn't make a difference. They are all gods, so yeah. Be it Pestilence, War, Famine, or Death, all of them could easily do what took us years to accomplish. What came over you that made you ask such silly questions?"

"Oh... Nothing... I just guessed since you're a hero..."

"This world had many heroes, my dear elf. Every race and every generation has them," Velmira intervened. "But the Four Riders are eternal. What is a hero to a god?"

Yumino lowered his gaze. He looked at the horse he was riding and then at the ground. He felt disheartened. If the overpowered heroes in front of him couldn't even hold a candle to Death, then what could he do?

"Making a name for myself suddenly became the easy part..." he said to himself.

"But enough about this," Velmira continued. "It seems someone's here to welcome you. Ah, my love rival is so sharp~!"

There, at the gates of Veston, a cute elf with short hair stood with her dagger pointed at Yumino.

"Looks like someone's getting taught a lesson," said Gavin, complemented by Garron's laughter.

"Ha..."

That was all Yumino could say.