The Black-Haired Elf

Right now, Miika and I are on the way to Liasr Guild in the afternoon.

The street is rowdy as usual with many people walking around doing their daily activities.

Even though we don't plan to take any quest today, both of us wear our usual adventurer armor set just to be careful.

"Good afternoon. Shion. Miika."

I stop walking and look at the right to see Griselda waving at us.

"Good afternoon."

I immediately reply while Miika nods at Griselda.

Then Griselda continues talking.

"Are you guys going to the guild now?"

"Yeah."

"You guys are early huh..."

*thud!*

Suddenly a gray ball made of animal skin was thrown softly to the ground near Griselda's feet.

Griselda, Miika and I look at the direction where the ball comes from. Children are running towards us.

"Sorry~!"

The beastman boy shouts that while there are children from other various races are following him.

Griselda smiles at the those kids and attempts to take the ball by crouching down.

*crack!*

Suddenly, a bone cracking sound can be heard out of nowhere. Griselda stops her movement as if time stops for her body.

.....

....

...

After I gave the ball to the children instead of Griselda, Miika and I ended up carrying Griselda back into her house by shouldering both of her hands.

"O- ow..."

"We're almost there. Hang in there."

I encourage Griselda who is having back pain. Seriously, why does this person think that it is a good idea to wander in the forest alone?

We carry her carefully to the door of her room at the back of her Magic Shop.

The front wooden door automatically open because it is a magic item. The magic formula that is placed in that item is "Contact Movement", a magic that cause object to move whenever a certain amount of mana is given to the magic formula.

Griselda manages to put her mana into the magic formula without having to move her body.

Then I see her room being quite messy filled with mostly old books on the desk and the floor.

Miika and I put Griselda on the bed after having hard time to not step on any of those books.

"Thank you. And sorry, it's a bit messy here."

It's not just a bit in my standard. But I'll keep that comment to myself.

"Don't mind it. More importantly, do you have any magic spell to cure the pain? Like Rejuvenate..."

I ask her just in case she can heal herself.

"Sadly, I only have aptitude with Earth, Light and Dark aptitudes."

Griselda replies immediately.

Rejuvenate is an advance healing spell that requires Wind or Water aptitude. Even if she knows the Rejuvenate formula, she won't be able to activate that magic spell considering that she does not have the required aptitude for it.

I learnt the spell from that nun. I can just Overtake Miika's Heal spell to activate it.

But I don't want people to know about this power of mine. The important factor of why I can defeat most of my enemies is precisely because they don't know anything about Overtake.

And the only people who know about this power...

That Midora guy and Nelsia. I'm not even surprised if Nelsia was already told by him about it.

... I remember the splattered red.

I don't really think much about it yesterday because I was focusing myself to earn money for living.

However-

"Shion?"

"!"

Miika's call put me back into reality. I immediately reply to Miika so that he does not think that I'm not listening.

"Umm... I was thinking whether we can ask one of the nuns from the church to cast Rejuvenate on her."

Griselda then talks to me.

"It would be helpful, but I don't really want to bother them too mu-."

*creak~!*

Suddenly, I can hear the shop's door opening before Griselda finishes her sentence.

And then, a voice of a woman can be heard with irritated tone.

"HELLO~! IS ANYONE HERE~?! CAN I GET THE GODDAMN SERVICE?!"

"Ah.. it's her huh."

Griselda seems to recognize that woman's voice. Then she asks me a favour.

"It must be a customer. May I ask you to tell her that she can just leave the money on the table?"

"Well, I don't mi-"

"YOU HAVE EXACTLY 30 SECONDS BEFORE I COMPLETELY SMASH THIS STORE!"

"Wait, WHAT!?"

*tap!*

That woman over there just said something crazy so I run towards the store in a hurry. Miika follows me from behind.

As both Miika and I arrive at the store, I see a woman with black-haired ponytail. She is wearing white and green outfit accompanied with black shoulder and waist armors. She is holding a katana-like sword near her waist.

A... human?

Upon closer look, I notice the long ears pointing out of her black hair.

She's most likely an elf but her appearance resembles a human.

Unlike humans in this world who can somehow have variety of hair colours, elf's hair colour is usually blonde. This is the first time I have seen an elf who is not a blonde so her appearance definitely stands out compared to other elves that I've met so far.

"Finally. Is the old hag in? I need to buy insta-magics."

"S- she got back pain. She said that you can just left money on the table."

... wait. Did she just call Griselda an old hag!?

"Again? She needs to just retire already."

She walks to the shelves right after saying that. Then she takes three blue-coloured insta-magics which is shaped like a talisman..

The insta-magic she takes is "Moist Absorber". A barrier that protects its target from certain amount of liquid. It costs 1 gold and 3 silver coins each as stated from the wooden label on the shelves.

The black-haired elf puts 3 gold coins on the shelves and walk awa- wait. Only 3 gold!?

"W- wait. The total cost should be 3 gold and 9 silver coins!"

I shout at the elf thinking that she might have looked at the cost wrongly.

"Less payment due to the lack of customer service."

*creak~!*

The elf opens the door while saying that.

"Huh!? That's not how it works!"

"W- wait! Shion!"

Miika asks me to wait but I ignore his warning. I immediately leave the stop and stand in front of that elf preventing her from walking away.

"... you're blocking my way. Move."

The black-haired elf sounds unpleased when saying that.

"Not until you pay the whole cost. More like, nine silver coins for a discount is a complete-"

Before I finish my sentence, the black-haired elf suddenly grab my head fast enough that I cannot react at all.

*whoosh!*

At the next second, my body is already in the air after the black-haired elf easily throw my body away.

"SHIOOOOOON!?"

I can hear Miika's shout. More like I need to something about my falling body!!!

*thud! thump!*

The only thing I can do is to use both of my hands to cover my head. I end up falling to a wooden basket with my head and upper body entering the basket first. The basket is on top of a wooden carriage that carry many baskets so the impact makes the other baskets fall from the carriage.

"Ow...!!"

My hands hurts so much but I at least manage to protect my head from directly hitting the bottom of the basket.

But there's another problem, not only that my upper body is stuck inside the basket, my waist is hanging on the edge of the carriage.

"Shion!"

I can hear Miika is running towards me.

"Are you okay!?"

Then I can hear a familiar woman's voice who is most likely the one who pull the carriage. It's Erkimi's voice, the Dyrad that works as Guild's receptionist.

"Hnnngh...!"

I try to push myself up but I just can't seem to have enough strength to do it.

Then Miika and Erkimi lift my body up.

"One... two... three!"

Erkimi says that signalling Miika to pulls my leg while the other person is pulling the basket.

*thud! thump!*

"Ack!?"

They manage to get me out of the basket. Only for my face to hit the ground right after.

"Aaaaa....!"

My face, especially my nose, just hit the ground. I cover my face while groaning out of pain.

"S- sorry! Are you okay, Shion!?"

I ignore Miika's question and quickly search for that black-haired elf.

There she is... walking normally as if nothing happened.

Irritated after looking her back, I try to chase her but Miika grabs my left shoulder from behind and talks to me.

"Umm... where are you going?"

"Isn't it obvious?! I'll make her pay the full cost even if I have to use force!"

Then Erkimi stands in front of me before talking to me.

"I would rather not do that if I were you. You will just get beaten up in the end."

I notice that both Erkimi and Miika is preventing me from chasing the black-haired elf.

"... you guys know her?"

"Well, she is famous after all."

Miika is the first one who answers. Then Erkimi follows up.

"She is the Liasr's Strongest Adventurer."

Before continuing her sentence, Erkimi looks at the black-haired elf's back.

"Veylene Reverangel. Also known as 'Bastard Elf'."

Veylene... Reverangel...

"... 'Bastard Elf' is her adventurer title?"

I ask that question because it sounds more like an insult rather than a title. Adventurer's title is supposed to be given by the public to the adventurer showing the adventurer's achievements.

"Yeah, that title is official."

Erkimi instantly replies.

... seriously? Just what did she do until she got that title??

.....

....

...

I tell Erkimi about Griselda's back pain. Fortunately, Erkimi is able to use Rejuvenate. She immediately goes to Griselda and cast that spell on her.

I tell Griselda about that bas-, I meant, that black-haired elf but she does not mind it at all.

Four of us end up walking together to the guild. I want to help in pushing the carriage but Erkimi politely refuse my offer.

As we enter the guild, we notice two male adventurers being tied up with a rope and are hanging around the ceiling.

"What the..."

While I am dumbfounded by that sight, Erkimi smiles and walks towards Rimikia who is standing behind receptionist desk amd talks to her.

"What did they do this time?"

Rimikia pushes her glasses slightly up before replying to her.

"They used wind magic to blow up the girls' skirts in town so I had to punish them."

What a childish prank...

I look at Miika to give him a valuable lesson in life.

"Listen. NEVER USE WIND MAGIC FOR STUPID THINGS LIKE THAT. OK?"

"Y- yes!"

Miika looks scared by my glare but at least I get my message across.

Griselda then looks around before talking.

"Looks like the Guild Master is not here yet."

"Looks like it."

I reply to Griselda while looking around at other adventurers drinking alcohol. Weren't we supposed to have a meeting here?

"I have something to do so you two can sit first."

"Got it."

After my reply and Miika nodding at Griselda, Griselda goes towards the receptionist leaving both of us.

I want to sit but most of the seats are already taken. So both Miika and I just stay on standing up while waiting for the meeting to begin.

There are lots of familiar faces here.

Pepprica the Halfling from the item store is drinking alcohol with some adventurers.

The nuns from this town's church are talking near the receptionists with Rimikia.

Antarea the Dark Elf from this town's blacksmith shop and the Lamia guild receptionist are talking to some female adventurers with skimpy outfit... wait, they are not adventurers. If I'm not mistaken, I saw those ladies work at this town's brothel sometimes when I was still adjusting myself in this town. Though I made sure to not come near the brothel's area as much as possible after that.

Lastly, I saw that black-haired elf reading a book at a table where no one else sit. Everyone seems to avoid the only A-rank adventurer in Liasr Guild.

I want to go there and ask her to pay the full cost. But since Griselda is fine with it, I have no more say in this matter.

*creak~!*

I suddenly hear a door opening and most of everyone here pay attention to who's coming next.

I see a big person with face similar to a pig.

That's... a male orc.

He wears bulky silver armor set with gray outfits. He's tall enough to bend down when he pass the guild's door. There is a big axe that is tied to his back.

"Ah, Guild Master!"

I hear some adventurers greeting him by calling him Guild Master. So he is the Guild Master.

That orc looks around and then come straight towards... wait. Towards me?

He immediately speaks right after he arrives in front of me.

"You are the new recruit, Shion, correct?"

His size is intimidating but I refuse to show my weakness in front of a guy like him. I reply him while looking directly at his eyes.

"Yeah, my name is Shion."

Both of us immediately become the center of attention even though we just talked a little.