Life As An Overpowered Dark Elf

Gift 11: The Village of Priests

As daylight faded, we found ourselves walking along a gravel road, placed here by the humans most probably. I held my wrist behind my back loosely, tugging the glove up.

I yawned and looked back, seeing Ether, Zena and Aurora sluggishly trotting a few paces behind. I stopped and idled a moment, allowing them to pass before me.

I looked behind again and saw a sliver of brown on the horizon. A cart approached us, pulled by two black horses with a young man holding the reins.

The cart stopped a few metres away, the boy rushing out and running towards me. He halted and pulled back his arm as if he was holding a bow. A white rod materialised I'm his hand held forward as a glow appeared. I held my hand out to the others and they stood still, a little fearful of what might happen. 

The glow existed for a mere moment before it sparked before me. I barely had time to react, pulling my arm up to wrap my fingers around the bolt and crush it. Sparks flooded from my palm for a second before light returned to normal.

The man ran forward and held my wrist, pulling me behind him before pulling out a dagger from his waist. "You- where did you come from?" He glanced back at me and looked at Ether, gritting his teeth. "How did you get here?!"

I tapped his shoulder and tried my best to smile. "I appreciate it sir bit these are my servants." He stood still for a moment before looking at me. "Forgive me, I thought the animals had escaped their cage." I saw Zena flinch and edge forward, her eyes stabbing the back of his head. "No, it is okay. Where I come from, many nobles have slaves like these."

The man looked at them with disgust before exhaling. "Make sure you chain the disgusting beasts up when they are outside." I looked behind him and lifted my hand a little to signal they should stand down. "What's your name?" I asked, looking at the man in curiosity.

"Entor. Entor Venadis." He glanced up and down my body, clearly taking note of my clothes. "My name is Itami. Itami Kurai, a noble of the Northern Valley." I had recalled a map Ether had shown me, seeing a river to the north of the continent. That should suffice for now.

"Forgive my impoliteness, Sir-"
"Itami is okay. Now, where are you headed?" The man looked at Ether and Zena and grimaced again before pointing past them. "The city, do you need a lift?"
"Yes, my carriage was hauled over by some bandits where I found these useless animals."

He looked at me in sympathy before walking to his carriage. "Here," he sat at the reins. "I'll take you there free of charge."
"I appreciate it, thank You." It felt peculiar to act vaguely human after putting on the act of the Demon Lord for so long.

Ether, Zena and Aurora sat at the back of the carriage with some cloth bags full of what I could only guess was wheat. "Are you a farmer?"
"Oh," he glanced back and smiled. "Yes, I farm for my mother whilst making some money at the guild council."

So it is like a game...

"And how would I register with this guild?" He chuckled, "judging by how you stopped my Lightning Flash Arrow with your bare hands, rather easily" He held the reins tighter and looked up as the sun began to peak above the mountains ahead of us. "We are almost there..." he looked back and frowned. "You might also want to get your slaves here collared before a priest kills them..."

"This city has priests in it?" The man looked at me with inquisition before chuckling. "Indeed, full of them. Does your town not have any?" I thought for a second before formulating a lie, one which came oddly natural. "My father was a priest who left for the capital...but he never returned."

"Ah...sorry," I shook my head and looked forward. "No No, it's okay. The wealth was mine but I had only used it for books and magic spell runes."

He smiled "Well I'm glad someone shares a priority of magic over weaponry." I smiled and exhaled, spotting a large, grey wall in the distance. "This is it?"
"Yes, sir." He nodded and whipped the reins, the horses trotting faster in unison.

As we approached, a few guards stopped us, pointing their spears at Zena and Ether. "Forgive me, Priest, these slaves have not yet been branded, they belong to this noble here," he gestured to me.

The Priest was rather old, with grey hair and a light beard growing. His stature was small with a slouched back, leaning on a large staff. "Get them branded sir."
"Thank You," I said nothing else as we were allowed to pass.

Entor huffed as he dropped from the carriage. "Do you have money?" I checked my inventory and found a bag of crystals Fella had given as a gift. Supposedly the land the Dark elves thrived on was a mineral mine, filled with diamond, emerald and gold.

"I have these," I opened the bag a little to show him the glistening gems that had been dug up outside of the gate. "Wow, those are incredibly rare..." he looked up and back to the crystals. "May I inspect one?" With a moment of thought, I picked a small red stone (that I could only guess was ruby) from the bag and placed it in his palm. He pulled out a small eyepiece which displayed the same features as a monocle and a magnifying glass.

"Do you know what this is?!" He shook, smiling and looking closer. "Pure ruby!" Rejoicing, he placed it back in my hand and began walking. "Please sir, we must sell these."
"What about your cart?" He chuckled and began walking "one of those rubies could pay for a manor in the capital! What is one cart worth?!" I followed reluctantly, signalling for Ether, Zena and Aurora to follow behind.