"Come on, Malaki. Why the long face?" Adrian nudged his friend as he held up a mug of beer that was topped by a generous amount of foam. He clinked it with the mug of a red faced Priestess who was very clearly drunk.
"Isn't it obvious?" Malaki, the Dark Elf, sighed and ran his finger along the rim of the mug in front of him.
"Oh, pshh! His Excellency Leon invited us to come with him to the Elven Empire. He even promised us a few things that can help up ease our way up to B rank. Isn't it a good thing? You get to visit your home, and we all get a crapload of rewards!" Adrian thrust his arm forward, sending a fair bit of beer pouring over the rim of his mug.
"THAT'S the problem! Rivera is NOT my home!" Malaki slammed his fist down and crushed the mug in front of him, sending the warm liquid pouring over the sides of the table the three were seated at.
The Dark Elf got to his feet and stormed out of the tavern with heavy steps, leaving his comrades and the other people in the bar stunned.
"The cost is going on your tab, Adrian." The owner of the bar, a bald man said dryly as he walked over with a rag to clean the place up.
"Uhm... Sure thing." Adrian paid little attention to what the man was saying. He brought out a silver coin and placed it on the table before leaving, with Bella following behind closely. The owner picked up the silver coin with a raised eyebrow and shrugged. The total cost of their drinks and the broken mug was just about a dozen copper coins, but he wouldn't say no to free money.
Adrian and Bella hastily burst out of the tavern's front door and chased after their friend. Their minds had sobered up quickly and the looked around before spotting a shadow quickly distancing itself from the tavern by jumping from rooftop to rooftop. They recognized Malaki's shadow very well and followed.
While this would be illegal in Fort White, they were lucky that for some reason, no While Millipede or city guard had come to apprehend them.
Before long, Malaki stopped on top of the building that the three of them had bought with their collective savings. He sat down on the roof and gazed up into the sky. Even with the fact that the city was now floating at roughly three hundred meters in the sky, the stars still looked too far out of reach.
"Malaki." Adrian called out as he and Bella landed on the rooftop half a minute after the Dark Elf. "We're sorry we said something out of line. We didn't mean to offend you." Adrian said. He was technically the one who said it. Bella had just been high off her drink and simply cheered and laughed.
But that was not important! What was important was appeasing Malaki.
"It's fine. I'm just overreacting." Malaki sighed as his two friends sat on either side of him. Bella laid her head against her shoulder in a comforting gesture while Adrian simply patted his back.
Malaki was a Dark Elf. Dark Elves were basically unwanted and unrecognized by Elves. Their blood was not pure and they were associated with magic.
The exact origin of the Dark Elves was not clear but the presence of Dark magic within their blood was clear. It was either their first ancestors had been experiments of a deranged mage, or some Elves had done something to tie their souls and the souls of their descendants to Dark magic.
This caused the normal Elves to hate and discriminate against the Dark Elves. The two of them were like oil and water, never getting along and producing a rather violent reaction if heated up.
Malaki had been born on Rivera. But shortly after his birth, he had fled from there for safety. His parents did not make it after the journey, as they were rather poor in terms of magical or physical talent. They were rather normal, although stronger compared to normal humans.
Malaki told his story to his friends. This was a topic he had never shared with them. They had thought that he had been born on the Central Continent, and while they knew of the tense relationship between Elves and Dark Elves, they had never thought that Malaki might have suffered so much because of it.
"It's fine. You're right. This will be a good opportunity to visit there. With His Excellency Leon, I doubt the Elves would bother me too much." Malaki sighed sadly after he had finished telling his tale. He did not look around but stared straight ahead to avoid the pitiful looks he was getting from his teammates.
"Damn dude..." Adrian dragged a hand over his face and let out a sigh. "This calls for a proper drink! We need to drown out these sad feelings and have you high off your top!" Adrian clapped Malaki on the back. He did not want to start mumbling about how he pitied his friend, so he directly changed the topic.
"You think the old man will let us back into his bar?" Malaki raised an eyebrow.
"He better." Bella scoffed as she got to her feet and held out a hand to Malaki. "I saw the silver you gave him, Adrian. That can get us a few barrels of ale!" Despite her petite and cute appearance, Bella was someone who frequently drowned herself in mugs upon mugs of beer and ale.
"Drunk missy." Adrian smirked and called Bella the name that an old bar owner in Fort Bender had called her when she had gotten drunk off her ass some time ago.
"Oh, pssh! That old man just doesn't know what it means to hold you alcohol." Bella rolled her eyes and the boys laughed. Together, the three of them left and headed back to the tavern they had only just left minutes ago.
Meanwhile, Leon chuckled from high up in the sky as he watched them go.
Some time ago, he had gotten an alert from the White Millipedes stationed in Fort White about the three of them jumping across the rooftops. He had told the millipedes to keep an eye on them and alert him if anything concerning the three of them came up, which had been done this time.
It was thanks to him that there were no city guards on the trio's tails.
"His story is quite interesting. Another thing to add to the list of mysteries that this world has presented to me. Perhaps Michael will know the answer behind the Dark Elves' origin." Leon muttered to himself as he rubbed his smooth chin. With a soft gust of wind, he vanished from the sky and reappeared at the top of Michael's temple. There, he stood and let the wind waft through his silky black shoulder length hair.
With the constant forward movement of the flying Fort White, a steady and constant cool breeze blew through the streets of the city.
After making sure that everything was well and fine after the city had been detached from the earth, he had immediately set course for Fort Bender. There, he would buy a few A rank defensive items from Gustavo that would serve as excellent protection to the city from attacks.
Already, a small gravity field was being constantly projected around the floating city. Aside from the wind and other smaller creatures that were harmless, nothing that was not acknowledged by Leon could enter the city. It served as a perfect defense, but it was not enough in Leon's mind.
If, for some reason, Fort White came under attack by someone as powerful as himself, then the barrier would not last long enough. So, he wanted to put greater defenses on the city. Already, the gravity barrier could defend fairly well against Mid to High A rank attacks. This was already astonishing, considering that this had not been a feature that Leon had planned, and had only been consequently made in the formation's activation.
The speed of the flying city was not bad. It had only been roughly half a day and they were already close to Fort Bender. Leon estimated that they would reach the city by morning.
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