Master Of None

The elves in the square and trees were amazed to see the humans and little dragon beside the queen. There were many pointing and murmuring amongst themselves. They had known that they had guests because the enforcers guided them in to their safe havens. However, they also knew there was a threat of large proportion so they just assumed that the guests were long gone and they had been evacuated just because of the threat.

Every time Midnight would stand taller she attracted more attention. Some shouts of how cute she was or how there was a real dragon in their city could be heard. Walker made sure to keep a hand on her back so that she wouldn't do anything too audacious to gain more attention, her pride as a dragon was a dangerous thing. 

On the exact opposite of Midnight, Su was semi hiding behind her shields. She had not realized how intimidating the crowd of elves would be. When they started to come this way she had been able to easily accept the possibility of the worst happening. But now that they were in front of an entire city's people she was stuck.

 Walker was very amused to see the change in Su. She had faced down many monsters with a cool and collected composure, yet now that she faced a large number of people who were not trying to attack her she was scared. Gil on the other hand had thrown caution to the wind and visibly displayed his quiver of elemental wither spike arrows. He was drawing a rather large amount of attention from some of the young elven archers.

The only one that was keeping themselves back was Onyx and Remey. The two of them were standing out much less. Remey and Onyx had not bonded much, but faced with such a crowd the two were paired up in the back of the others. Onyx would have preferred to hide away in the shadows or on Walker's shoulders while Remey preferred to be in the alchemy lab. She had inherited the distaste for crowds from the old master alchemist.

There was an arrow shot straight up in to the air and a small flash of light. One of the enforcers had used this to signal silence and the elves followed suit. The only sound that could be heard was the drifting leaves as a soft breeze blew through them. The queen felt the moment was right and the vines that made her resting space pushed her to a standing position yet again. 

The elves were murmuring slightly as their queen was about to address them. This was a rare occurrence and they were amazed to see the forest assisting her in such a way. It only reinforced their beliefs and love for the forest that they lived in. 

The enforcers stood tall and the elders raised their heads high. Alma, Calen, and Wade looked worried but also held true to their beliefs. The party may also be in a precarious situation but for the three elves, this was a life changing moment. This was everything they had ever dreamed being crushed or being raised up.

Natural mana surfaced and made the entire forest shiver, the queen opened her mouth to speak. "Today we nearly lost many things. We faced a threat that even I felt, but the forest felt it the most. We lacked the strength to leave our city and defeat the foe on our doorstep, but we were able to send our title holder along with two other promising youths. They joined up with the hero title holders from the human kingdom. Our bonds without allies have been reinforced through battle and today, despite some damage, the forest now has room to grow brighter." 

Her words made the elves agitated. Many of them had felt the slight damage to the forest through the natural mana around the city. Others had heard the whispers and rumors. The queen had just proven that they were indeed threatened along with the entire forest. What was more was the fact that they had needed the help of another kingdom to stop the threat. This was something the elven people had never done before.

"With my standing as queen, I watched through the forest and witnessed not two races fighting an enemy, but instead one powerful force of protection. In the short time since these ambassadors came, they have grown a bond with the future queen, a potential title holder, and our current dead eye title holder. This is not something I can overlook." 

Alma felt the water in her eyes start to come as the queen addressed her as the future queen. It was a signal that she had not been taken from the position. Everyone standing beside the queen heard this cue and knew what it meant.

"Today I conferred with those who have passed and those who stand with me now. As queen, it is my duty to protect the forest and my people. But I fear I have made us weak. We have hidden away for generations and missed the world grow. This has become so prevalent that the future queen, a potential title holder, and our current dead eye title holder were willing to leave our city." 

Her words had shaken the crowd of elves. Hearing that they may have lost the three that would stand at the height of their people was a radical notion. Even more so the queen was speaking as if she was in the wrong, something that did not show off her strength and elegance. 

"With the words of our ancestral spirits and the words of our future leaders, my eyes have been opened. The world had turned without out input for too long. As of today, we shall stop guarding our secrets and instead spread them. We will be remembered in the world's history books. Not as stories to be forgotten but as the beautiful protectors of the forest. We shall join hands with the humans and the heroes that they raised. We will see the world and it shall see us." 

The queen raised her arms and a massive amount of natural mana surged through the giant tree they were standing on. The mana flowed through each branch and made the leaves rustle like they were in a torrent of wind. The illusionary barrier that had been around the elven kingdom fell and allowed the massive tree to be seen from outside the forest. The elven people were shocked by this. 

"We will welcome the king of the human's crystal kingdom and their city; Diamond. We will send letters to the demi-human king Rorick. The adventures guild will have a new home to begin bringing work and trade here to our home. We will maintain our laws but we will also start anew. Today The forest elves take a step on to a new path to spread our branches wide." 

This last statement made a shock flow through the elves. Many who had long supported their ways up until now heard of how things had happened with the threat and could not fathom the situation here now. They could not accept the fact that their kingdom had become weak and did not care how they would strengthen it. The younger elves heard her words and found that the entire world was now open to them. The dreams of visiting far off lands were not just dreams, they were paths that had not been walked for hundreds of years.

The roar of the crowd overtook the group's ears while the built up stress from them waiting for the queen's decision dissipated. Meanwhile, there was a flurry of system notifications throughout the country.

'The forest elf kingdom has opened its trading routes to the human city of Diamond. 

The ambassadors of the human's Crystal kingdom have strengthened the bonds with the forest elven city.

The king of the diamond city has been invited to visit the forest elven kingdom.'

The king nearly fell from his thrones seeing this, the castle was sent in to disarray.

At the adventurers guild…

'Expansion quest- forest elf city

The silver tier adventurer party; Omnipotent, has created an unshakable bond with the forest elves. They have secured a path for the adventurers guild to expand and create stronger ties with the forest elves.

Requirement:

Send a representative to build and foster the new forest elf branch of the adventurers guild.

Reward:

Upon successful expansion, the adventurers guild will be able to deploy elven parties on quests.'

Ibis spit out the tea he was drinking all over his desk. He swept the papers from it and screamed for every available person to come and help.

In the main castle of the demi-human kingdom…

'Kingdom quest- New allies and old friends

The heroes that have assisted the kingdom in the past have taken another step in uniting the races of the world. Join hands with them and share the prosperity with the forest elves.

Requirement:

Send ambassadors to forge relations with the forest elf city within the deep sun hollow forest

Reward:

Unbreakable bonds and trade routes with the forest elves. 

Increased binding of humans and demi-human people.

Knowledge sharing between the traditionally magic oriented forest elf race and the traditionally physical oriented demi-human race'

Rorick stopped in his sword stance, he had been flawlessly training but now was frozen on the spot. "Scylla, get Scylla in here!" His yell held no room for argument and like the others, his castle was thrown in to chaos.

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