Chapter 8 - War Elves (1)

Although the salad tasted bad, Hwid smiled as it ate the fruits and cookies.

Its lips were raised up like humans.

"So interesting. It should be difficult to create a relations.h.i.+p with a drake. Even more so with a Gold Drake."

"It was all a coincidence."

"That's true. Life is a series of coincidences. How old is it?"

"It's about 13 months now."

Clara appeared slightly surprised by Jade's response.

She was unable to believe that it was barely 13 months.

No matter how quickly babies were said to grow, the amount of energy the drake currently had was beyond that.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Burp!

Different from the surprised Clara, Hwid burped as it tastily ate the food Jade was giving it.

Now that it had drank a cup of water, a burp naturally came out.

Then, with eyes full of curiosity, it stared at Clara.

Steven and Laney tried so hard to appeal to it and yet it had ignored all their advances, yet for the first time ever, Hwid appeared to be giving interest first.

"h.e.l.lo?"

Clara introduced herself with a smile as she felt Hwid's clear eyes stare at her.

As she did, Hwid left Jade's arms and slowly walked towards Clara.

"Woah!"

Laney was unable to hide her envy as she watched Hwid approach her grandmother.

She was surprised and jealous to see Hwid interested in her grandmother when everything she did was ignored.

Sniff sniff.

However, Hwid didn't care how Laney felt. It just slowly approached Clara as it continued to sniff.

He was interested in her because it was his first time meeting a half-elf.

-Hwid should definitely be interested in her.

-She's a completely new race and also has half the blood of a race that's loved by nature.

-But her affinity to spirits is quite low.

Most elves had a spirit by their side. Even if a contract wasn't formed, the spirits usually stuck around them – yet this wasn't the case with Clara.

Despite the fact that she was a half-elf.

Rustle.

Clara extended her arm, unaware that two spirits were talking about her.

Although she had already lived for over 300 years, Hwid was still cute.

Clara rubbed Hwid's head while smiling.

Stiffen!

Hwid momentarily stiffened as its forehead was an area that only Jade could touch.

However, it soon gave itself up to the soft touch caressing its head.

"Oh, how cute."

Reptile-like scales covered Hwid's body, yet it wasn't cold to the touch.

If anything, she enjoyed the slight roughness it gave and continued to stroke Hwid's head.

"I want to pet it too…."

Swoos.h.!.+

Hwid quickly turned around as soon as Laney extended her arm.

It coldly turned around and quickly flew back to Jade.

"As I thought."

"Hing!"

Lloyd didn't think much of it as he had seen this scene many times throughout their journey.

Nothing had changed.

On the other hand, Laney appeared as if she were about to cry.

She had tried to secretively touch Hwid, but it had immediately detected her and ran.

"I heard you were going to be helping out my grandchildren."

"Yes, we were somehow able to come to an agreement."

"I leave them in your care."

"I will do my best."

Clara laughed as Jade calmly responded back.

She honestly couldn't believe it when she heard that Jade was at most an advanced-level summoner. Even though those words had come from Heinze himself.

Because, as a half elf, she knew exactly how important it was to have an affinity with the spirits. So, when she heard that Jade might be a high-level summoner, she just quietly shook her head.

However, this was a miscalculation.

The world was wide and there was a human here that had the same amount of affinity with spirits as an elf.

'He's not only at the advanced-level. He could be higher.'

Clara's affinity to spirit's was below average.

That's why it was impossible for her to completely measure Jade. Even more so for Heinze, because spirits weren't his specialty.

'Either way, I'm relieved someone like him is on our side.'

Clara sighed a sigh of relief.

Although she was their grandmother, she was unable to interfere with family business.

Not only was she hiding herself from the public, but it wasn't right for Arhan to interfere with Paulstein.

However, if it were Heinze and Jade, they would easily be able to flip the current situation.

'Even more so since the other side doesn't have any information regarding Jade.'

She was sure they would at least know that a strange summoner had joined the group, but only to that extent.

Furthermore, even if two summoners were of the same level, there was a huge difference in power depending on how they utilized their spirits.

'High-level spirits were strong enough to be considered Master's themselves, and their strength was more apparent when fought in large-scale battles.'

As a half-elf, Clara understood a spirit's strength more than anyone, so she stared at Jade with trust filled eyes.

"I'm sure Lloyd and Laney will do well, but if you ever need any help, don't hesitate to reach out to me. If it's a request from you, I will do whatever I can to get it done."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Finis.h.i.+ng their short conversation, Jade left the room.

Their initial goal was to just introduce themselves, so Jade went back to his room.

However, even after he left, the conversation in the room was still regarding him.

"What do you think Grandmother?"

"We really got hit with a stroke of luck. We were able to meet someone like him, and it shouldn't have been easy to have him join our group. This means the heavens is still on your side. However, don't be too relieved. The enemy will have their own secrets, just as you have yours."

With Clara's words, the siblings nodded their heads with stiff expressions.

They had already been keeping this thought in mind.

The second prince should know where they currently were and was most likely making plans to go against them.

"Of course, it's best you both resolve yourselves before that happens. Are you guys confident?"

The kind expression Clara had was now completely gone.

Not only was she their grandmother, but she was once the queen of Arhan. With that in mind, she was now staring at her grandchildren with a stern look.

Lloyd swallowed his saliva with his grandmother's sudden change; however, he did not look away from her eyes.

"Yes, I will no longer share or run away from him. And I want to go back and regain my position."

"You might die."

"I know. However, I can't live like a coward anymore."

"Good. That's my grandson."

Clara brightly smiled.

This was exactly what she was hoping to hear, however Lloyd wasn't finished.

"Even if I die through my failure, I will make sure that my sister at least survives. So, promise me that you'll at least take my sister in if something goes wrong with the plan.

"What are you saying!"

"Be quiet sister."

Lloyd continued to stare at Clara and didn't bother to even glance at his sister.

Feeling Lloyd's intense stare, Clara laughed and nodded her head.

"I promise."

"Thank you."

"Keep your resolution until the end. Even after you become the king."

"Yes."

Clara couldn't stop smiling with how different Lloyd had become and truly believed people grew stronger through experience.

"However, wouldn't it be better to believe in Jade rather than me? It'll be safer for her to stay by his side instead of mine. I'm not even the queen anymore."

"……Grandmother!"

"My ears are going to fall off. Just to let you know, my ears haven't aged at all."

"As I thought, you went and said that to Jade?"

Seeing Laney's blus.h.i.+ng face, Lloyd clenched his teeth as he asked.

He knew this had only happened because of how weak he was.

"I completely approve of it. I met him for the first time today, but his soul is rather good. Humans can lie, but summoners can't. There are evil summoners out there, but it's very rare to find a summoner that spirits love.

"What level do you think he's on grandmother?"

"He's at LEAST advanced. He can summon high-level spirits."

"He's at LEAST?"

"Yeah."

Laney's eyes grew wide with surprise as did Lloyd's.

This meant that Jade had at least made a contract with a high-level spirit.

"It seems like it's with wind and water spirits. Their scent was the strongest."

"Water? He's never summoned a water spirit yet."

"There's no reason for him to show you guys. Do you think he would lay all his cards on the table just because he's joined the group? It should be the same for you guys as well."

Completed - Chapter 8 (1)