“I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!”

Ri was startled into looking back towards Dyon, but to her surprise, he was no longer there. And when she strained her ears, her mouth gapped when she realized she could hear nothing.

Confused, Ri was about to turn back when she felt a hand lightly pick up her hair.

Ri jumped forward, pulling her sword from her back, ready to attack.

“You’ve already tried to attack me so many times, are you really going to do it again?” Dyon said with a chuckle, “your hair is amazing by the way. So soft and it smells like spring and clear water. I could get used to that…”

Dyon spoke absentmindedly and didn’t seem to notice Ri’s shock, but his hair comments snapped her out of it.

“Would it kill you to not be a pervert? Smelling my hair? You thought that was a good line? You sound more like a serial killer, rapist, or a mix of the two.”

Dyon held his hand to his chest, feigning a hurt expression.

“Milady Ri, there’s no need for such harsh words. I was only appreciating the finest nature has to offer.”

Ri’s face distorted when Dyon called her milady, but she responded with a kick and changed the subject. She just wasn’t used to people, especially in the Elvin Kingdom, calling her beautiful. In fact, it was often the exact opposite.

‘Whatever, he’ll see the difference between me and them when he reaches the city…’

“How’d you do it so quickly? There’s just no way… My father had to directly teach me the method and that required understanding the illusion path of my water will…”

Dyon was surprised to hear what she had to say, but he made a mental note: ‘Don’t underestimate people because they only have one will… there’s a good chance they’ve understood multiple paths…’

It wasn’t that he was sure that Ri only had one will, it was more so the fact that even a simple elemental will like water could be so versatile. It made sense for water to have an illusion path with how well it did in distorting reality.

“You may not know this, but my music will is already at the peak of the 9th level and I’ve already understood a path to near perfection within it. In fact, I believe I’ve found the true essence of music by realizing making music with your body is the root of all music.

I simply applied what you might also call an illusory path to distort the sounds I make into another frequency. In fact, although other wills may have limits to this and be caught by beasts, because music will is so firmly tailored to sounds and frequencies and manipulating people with them, I can reach frequencies even Little Black wouldn’t hear.”

“A maxed level will… at 17… Why do I even bother with you, humph.”

In a fake rage, Ri began to walk away.

Dyon smiled and followed behind her, enjoying the swaying of her ‘hair’.

**

Further ahead, unknown to Dyon and Ri, a little girl was trembling with her back against a tree.

The little girl was truly beautiful for lack of a better word. Her hair was such a light shade of pink that it was nearly white. Her eyes shone the same color, almost like small pink diamonds twinkling as her eyes watered. She held her little hands to her chest while she slowly backed away.

Her clothes were a ragged grey and her pure jade-like skin was matted with patches of mud and scrapes of greenery. It was clear she had been through a lot and her day was only getting worse.

“What are you doing out here little girl?”

A young man sat on the back of what looked like a white tiger. Its teeth were crystalline and its stripes were a striking gold. It stood at 2 meters tall and was 4 meters long, allowing the young man to sit cross legged on its back.

The young man himself had bright red hair, his eyes shining the same color. His build was robust and large while his ears were long even among the elves. He had a massive battle axe strapped to his back with a handle as thick as his large wrists.

The little girl was too afraid to respond. Her shivering only increased when she realized a tree had stopped her from being able to back away any further.

“It would be a shame to let a little girl with such potential slip away to the Norville family. Come. I’ll bring you with me. I’ll care for you and raise you. Once you’re old enough, I’ll take you as my concubine. Isn’t that much better than living as an orphan?”

The little girl shook her head. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she couldn’t say anything with her sobs caught in her throat.

She had just found out that she had lost her parents. With no one able to support her living under them, she was forced to return to her village.

But, with no one to protect her on the way there, she had stumbled around and ran into this situation just when she thought she was finally close to home, or whatever supposed home there was left now. Yesterday was supposed to have been her fifth birthday, but instead, it was one of the worst days of her life.

She fell to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest as the young man and his beast slowly walked towards her.

At that moment, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She shuddered, looking up in a pair of hazel-green eyes. She couldn’t help bunch jump towards the first source of warmth she had had in weeks, sobbing uncontrollably. 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜

She didn’t know why she had reacted like that. For some reason, she just felt that those eyes were willing to protect her… And she didn’t want them to disappear like her parents had. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮

Dyon held onto her, letting the girl cry and ignoring the confused young man behind him. He was a bit surprised that the small girl had trusted him so easily, but he was somewhat glad as well. He didn’t know what she had been through, but who could stand idly by while a little girl was being subjected to such a thing.

The words of the young man made a fury brew in the depths of his soul. What a complete and utter scumbag.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, picking the little girl up into his arms.

.