Chapter 462: Conflict
Ivana’s position was rather unique among her people. She was in charge of the health and well being of their god, the mother tree. While it might have sounded like something that would involve forestry or gardening, in truth it was more about her mental well being and nourishment, specifically so that she could recover faster after the death of their first mother tree.
Ivana’s other job was related to the teachings and learnings of the mother tree and also spreading her will when the need called for it. In essence, Ivana was like a spiritual leader as she was the people’s direct link to their god.
Due to this unique position, Ivana had to constantly remain the very image of their god at all times, something she both loved and loathed at the same time.
When it came down to it, due to her position, she never appeared in front of people in normal dress. Therefore almost no one knew what she actually looked like, allowing her to go out and about without needing to unnaturally cover up.
It was her only time to be free.
And right now this time was being interrupted by some uninvited guests who also just so happened to be some of the few who knew what she looked like outside from her normal attire.
"My my. Mother has shown down upon us all today my dear brothers as it seems that Miss Ivana had come out from the dark and musty rooms of the palace to spend some wonderful time in the sun. Truly if one were to ask, I could only say the brightest thing outside today is you and you alone my dear Ivana..." The black haired man in the lead said, but at such a volume where it would have been hard for anyone standing more than ten feet away to hear him for he knew if her face was exposed, she would probably never come out of the palace again.
’Come to think of it, despite being cheesy, I wonder just how there is a sun in this pocket dimension. Seems like it wouldn’t be possible for one to be in here and yet this is the first time I thought about it enough to question just why is there a sun?’ Laz thought to himself before looking up into the sky. While it was true that he was suppose to be out with Ivana and Maia right now, interfering with Ivana’s life wasn’t something he intended to do. Afterall, they weren’t even really friends in the end.
Laz then turned his gaze to where Maia had been heading with the animal, only to find that she was no longer there.
Looking around, he quickly spotted her as she was talking to a man selling some sort of hard candy on a stick. Seeing the man shake his head, Laz also saw Maia start to pout until she noticed Laz standing near by.
She rubbed her thumb and pointer finger together, indicating that she needed money. Laz was just about to help her when he noticed that his money was human money and obviously not going to help him here.
Turning back, he noticed that the four young men were still surrounding Ivana and it was clear that she wanted nothing to do with them.
’Wait a minute... black hair...’ Laz thought and remembered what was said about those guys with black hair.
’Right. That first family or whatever that they suspect is responsible for infecting Maia with those Infernal Beetles. So these guys are part of that family huh?’ Laz finally connected the dots.
One thing that Laz didn’t know was that he was assumed to have been part of that family when people saw him out and about. While his height was pretty short for the Elven people, even they weren’t just born at this height. Instead, they grew just like any normal human. So unless someone came up close enough to see his short ears, they just assumed he was one of the younger members of the first family.
As for the ones talking to Ivana right now, since they all seemed about the same height, it would make sense to Laz that they would be about as old as Ivana.
’Then again... Considering Ivana is on par in age as the queen, wouldn’t these guys if they were the same age be like married themselves? Or even have kids? So doesn’t that mean she’s getting hit on by a group of old guys? Well... whatever. Looks like I’m going over there one way or another. My daughter needs some cash after all and it’s time for my sugar momma to provide...’
Thinking this with a smile, Laz made his way over to the four men surrounding Ivana and slipped inside their ’circle’ before they even knew he was there.
"Who the hell are you.. wait. Are you from one of the branch families?" The lead male asked while noticing Laz’s black hair.
"Darling. Our daughter is in need of some cash and I just happen to be broke at the moment. How about we go over and buy her some candy now, hmm?" Laz said, slipping an arm around Ivana’s bare waist and dragging her with him before anyone could protest.
Ivana went a bit red in the face, but let Laz lead her along, glad to be out of the ring of men who had obviously done so to prevent her from fleeing.
"Shameless wastes. Trapping a young woman like that while trying to act all noble and shit..." Laz said as he walked her quickly over to where Maia was still waiting with a pouting face.
"I said stop boy. Who the hell do you think you are?" The lead male shouted after having woken up to the fact that Ivana had just been snatched.
"Go get her some candy. I’ll deal with this," Laz said, indicating that she should go while turning around to face the four men who had come up from behind.
"His name is De’von. As for the other’s, they just follow his lead since he is the one from the main family. But be careful about him. Obviously he had a short temper and has been spoiled rotten," came a whisper from Ivana as she left quickly to pay for Maia’s candy.
"Hold there good sirs. I’m sorry to have broken up your meeting, but as you can see my wife here needed to get our daughter some candy. Surely you’ve not come to interrupt a loving family on their outing this fine day?" Laz said as they came up to him, annoyance written on their faces.
"I don’t know who the hell you are but I know for a fact that she isn’t married. And which branch family are you from boy to dare interfere in my business?" De’von said, looking down at Laz.
"Wait.. sir. His ears..."
"That’s... but that’s..."
"YOU. JUST WHO ARE YOU?" De’von demanded after getting close enough to see that Laz wasn’t who they thought he was.
"Hey hey now Demon. No need to scream as you can obviously see I am a guest of Miss Ivana, can’t you?"
"IT’S DE’VON YOU... WAIT... You’re human... aren’t you you little piece of shit..."
"Seems your eyes aren’t just for show, are they?" Laz said with a smirk forming on his lips.
De’von and his followers all pulled knives from their hips and pointed them right at Laz. While it was frowned upon to carry a weapon while in a public place of piece, it was obvious that these four didn’t care about that. And besides, a knife could be claimed to be a weapon for personal defense and most people wouldn’t care to much about that anyway.
If anything, the biggest thing to cause a commotion was De’von announcing that there was a human walking around, causing everyone to look very closely at Laz for the first time.
"Listen here you filthy human. If you don’t want me removing your head from your body, you’d better bow down right now and ask for forgiveness while licking my boot. Got that?"
"OH hey. Can I kill him?" Laz called over to Ivana who was handing over some coins while Maia hugged the candy stick close, like she was afraid of someone stealing it now that it was in her hands.
"No. Remember what we said about low profile for now?" Ivana shot back, not even bothering to turn around from counting out the money.
"Kick his ass daddy. I bet it will make mommy hot and wet if you do!" Maia screamed out, causing De’von’s face to go into a rage while Ivana ended up dropping her money all over the ground.
"Sorry boys. You heard my little princess. If I want to make her mommy hot and wet, looks like you boys are going to need to suffer for a bit," Laz said, cracking his knuckles.
"YOU DARE TO DEFILE IVANA’S PURE NATURE WITH YOUR DETESTABLE MOUTH. I WILL SLAUGHTER BOTH YOU AND YOUR DAUGHTER YOU PIECE OF..."
Even before De’von could get the words out of his mouth, his body was sent flying like a rag doll with a whoosh of the wind.
Where he had been standing now Laz was standing, his hand slowly dropping from where he had punched De’von in the stomach and sent him flying.
"Threaten me all you want. But if you or anyone else ever threatens her again, I will rip your dick off and shove it down your throat. Got it?"
While Laz might have been shorter than De’von and his several friends, right now they couldn’t help but take a step back as Laz’s voice and the coldness within.
It was enough to make each of them shiver.
’If she dies, how the hell am I suppose to go back to my planet?’ Laz thought to himself, not knowing that his image had just gone up a few notches in Maia’s and Ivana’s heads.
