Life Hunter

Chapter 16: ''Do you accept?''

"The fuck do you mean by they know we're here?!" Night exclaimed.

"Well, I didn't really try to hide since the beginning you know? I didn't completely erase my aura and when I sent those birds, I let them fly freely. The only reason I didn't use World Index is that the range and magnitude are too strong and it would may bring unwanted problems," Arima explained calmly.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I wanted to see how much the promise of a princess weighed. She said I'd be welcome. And if they ever try to kill me, I first beat them up, then ask for compensation."

Night's mouth twitched before he turned to look at the front.

"I sense ten presences other than the treants, two hundred meters from here."

"Yeah, I detected them a while ago. If you want to know, there's an elven city a few miles away, the population is around a million, the number of people patrolling is almost two thousand, and the people waiting for us are a mile away from here. There are twenty of them, those you sensed were merely scouts."

"Is that princess with them?" Night asked after a moment.

"From what I can see, no. Also, even if she told her people that I'm her friend already, as long as I am a human, they will insist on meeting me without her. To keep her safe mainly. Their actions will probably be something like this: if they don't like me, they will try to kill me. If they acknowledge me, they will try to chase me out. For each scenario, they will give an excuse to Lifa. Something like 'he left on his own' or 'he tried to attack us so we killed him'. Well, I'm not saying it's a certainty but there is a high chance," Arima explained.

Night groaned. "My head hurts, why can't you keep things simple?"

Arima mused for a bit. "Princess important. Human dangerous. Chase human. Protect princess," he said with an almost too serious face.

"Sorry, it's my fault. Don't ever do that again please," Night instantly responded.

Five minutes later, the two finally arrived at the place where Arima had predicted the ambush would happen. And as expected, a group of elves surrounded them in a second. Half of them stayed hidden on top of the trees, aiming at them with their bows while the other half was ready to attack directly with blades.

"Who are you?" A good-looking man stepped forward and questioned with a strict tone.

"Arimane Blade," Arima casually answered. He smiled as if there wasn't anyone threatening him at all.

The elf scowled. "Why are you here?"

"To visit."

The elf's scowl deepened. "Sorry, but I'll have to ask you to leave. Letting you in will give too much unrest to our people."

"Then, what if I said I have the permission of your princess?"

"What?"

"I mean that your princess already told me that I would be welcomed in your country. Oh, and since I know you have more than one, the one made this promise is Lifa."

At this point, the elf didn't know what to say or do. He turned toward an elven soldier beside him and told him to go back and report. Arima grinned. He sent an order to one of the falcons he had concealed and had him follow this soldier.

"Please wait for his return," the elf said that to him right after.

"No problem."

"{Hey, it's a bit different from what I expected. They don't know who you are,}" Night sent a telepathic message to Arima.

"{It's okay, it's the same thing. Lifa most likely didn't tell anyone about me, at least publicly. That's why. Even if it looks like they are going to ask her and let me in, that won't happen. They will ask her something like 'do you know a human with this name?'. They actually won't say that I'm here, waiting. And in the end, we come back to what I said to you before.}"

"{Why are you so sure? Maybe they'll just let you in.}"

"{Believe me, it's a soldier's job to protect their country and elves value their royalty a lot. If they are reasonable, they will try everything to keep me away. This is why I sent a falcon to follow this soldier, so I can talk to Lifa myself.}"

Night sighed. "{Troublesome.}"

Arima smiled. "{Welcome to a stereotype fantasy world with racism, discrimination, and a fucked-up hierarchy. Though there's something that surprised me with those elves.}"

"{Something?}"

"{Yeah, something.}"

***

Two miles away, the elf soldier arrived to the city. Because he couldn't do anything alone, he went to see the higher ranked officers. The word passed from a person to another until a pretty high-ranked officer entered the castle, which was more like a big mansion.

The town was mainly made of wood, with stone to make pavements, and a lot of different types of plants. The majority of people would say that this place was extremely pure and enchanting.

After the officer entered, the falcon lost sight of him. But a bizarre, small magic circle formed discreetly behind the officer and a small black cat jumped out of it. The cute feline followed instead of the bird.

This cat was made with dark magic instead of lightning so its specialty was discretion. The cat and the officer wandered a bit in the mansion until they arrived before a door. The officer knocked and entered, he knelt almost instantly.

The cat tilted his head to peek in the room with his golden eyes. There were three women sitting on sofas, enjoying some tea, and a man standing behind one of them. One of them was Lifa. At her side was an equally beautiful elf who appeared more mature and slightly older. They seemed to be sisters with their resemblance. The last woman was surprisingly a therianthrope with fox ears and a tail. The man behind her seemed to be a lizard type with green scales over his limbs.

When the officer stepped inside the room, the fox girl directly looked at him. At his shoulder to be exact. "What is that?" She inquired with an elegant tone.

Everyone in the room reacted and turned their head. They realized that there was a cute black cat, the size of a palm, standing on that man's shoulder. The officer was shocked beyond words. He didn't even notice that there was an animal standing on him. Even now, he couldn't feel any weight which disconcerted him greatly.

Lifa stood up, took the cat in her hands. "So cute!" She caressed him and he meowed in return. The other elf stared at the cat but lost interest after a while. In contrast, the fox woman squinted and seriously observed the small animal. Lifa returned to her seat with the cat.

"Why are you here?" The calm elf asked the officer with a soft voice.

"Y-yes," he turned toward Lifa. "Does princess happen to know a human called Arimane Blade?"

"Eh?" Lifa was surprised. "Yes. I do know him. Where did you hear that name?" The cat meowed and looked at him as well, as if he was asking the same thing.

"That human passed by the forest a while ago. He said that he would leave the continent and he would come by maybe one more time in the future," he said. He also lied.

"Oh, I see. It's a shame," she seemed a bit disappointed. The other elf seemed a bit surprised.

"Lifa, who is that person?"

"Sister, it's the human that saved Layra. I told you, right?"

"I see, so that's him," the elf nodded. "Thank you for telling us, you can go now," she told the officer.

"Yes!" When he was about to leave, the cat in Lifa's arms revealed a grinning expression which shouldn't appear on a cat. At that moment, the elven woman reacted and looked at him.

"Wait a minute, soldier," an unfamiliar voice resounded in the room. Lifa and the officer froze while the elf woman, the fox girl, and her guard glared at the source of the voice.

Lifa yelped and the cat jumped down. His eyes became extremely sharp and looked around. "Hi, if I may say so."

"A-Arima," Lifa pointed with a trembling finger at the cat. She was full of embarrassment because she held him.

The cat looked at her. "Oh, don't mind it, it's not my actual body or something like that. It's been a month since last time, huh? Well, I have only one thing to say. I'm waiting outside with some friends. So, I hope you can tell them to let me pass. That's all, bye."

The cat meowed, became a shadow and vanished before everyone's looks.

"I'm sure you know what to do," Lifa's sister coldly ordered.

The officer kowtowed. "Yes! I'm sorry," he left the room in hurry. He knew that he would be punished later, he couldn't allow himself to disobey the princess anymore.

***

Back in the forest.

Arima was sitting face to face with Night on wooden chairs made out of magic. Between them was a stone table with a fancy chessboard on it. Arima was the white side and Night the black side.

"A5 to B3," Night said and the cavalier moved on its own to the specified case.

"Queen to F5, check," Arima followed and one chess piece moved again. Night's eyebrow twitched. He began to ponder with all of his brainpower. Even the elves around became interested in the game.

"King to E7."

"Rook to A3, checkmate."

"Dammit," Night was infuriated and Arima just laughed in amusement. They had been playing chess for almost thirty minutes now. At that moment, the officer who went to see Lifa returned, panting. He politely greeted Arima and beckoned him to follow. The other elves around were shocked as they didn't expect this to happen.

Arima snorted internally. 'Don't underestimate my range circles. I can form them five miles away if I want.' To create the black cat from earlier, he had used a range circle to directly summon it inside the mansion.

When they reached the city, Arima observed it one more time. Although he already saw it through his bird, being there was a very different experience. The air was particularly pure and one would feel cleansed when breathing it.

Arima was being escorted by soldiers while he was in the middle of the streets. Every elf who happened to see them would either be surprised or afraid. Arima didn't look away and carefully observed the expressions and reactions of everyone.

He was led to the mansion Lifa was in guided to the room she was in.

"Arima, you can sit here," Lifa greeted Arima with a smile the moment he stepped inside. The other elf frowned, the fox girl smirked, and the guard behind her kept a stony expression. The soldier who brought Arima was dismissed afterward.

Arima made himself comfortable on single-place sofa and Night sat down on the floor beside him before yawning.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Arimane Blade. You can call me Arima."

The elven woman nodded. "I'm Elia Drein. Lifa is my little sister."

"Hi, little human. I'm Niria Feil, the first princess of the Free City. The cold guy behind me is my personal guard," the vixen lifted the corners of her lips and acted curtly.

"Um, Arima?" Lifa raised her voice. "Sorry, for what happened earlier"

"Don't worry, I understand. Be lenient on that officer too. He just wanted to protect you and his fellow elves. I sent that cat for a reason after all," he waved his hand and the black cat reappeared from a magic circle and jumped on Lifa's shoulder. Her eyes brightened and she began to gently pat the little cat. Arima chuckled and looked at Elia.

"You said your name was Elia, right? I can safely assume that you're the First Princess of the Elven Kingdom then. You're pretty famous, you know? To even appear in human books"

Elia only responded after a few seconds. "...Yes, it's indeed me."

"To be honest, one of the reasons I came here is to meet you," he said while lifting a cup of tea and some of his sweets.

Elia was surprised. "Why is that?"

"Because I want to help you in your cause. You're trying to make peace with humans, right? Then I'll help you," Arima paused and smiled. "Do you accept?"