Chapter 368 - 368. Love Story
"That\'s because they would be here to try and unlock their system. I would not go and clean the fields anyways. I am not under orders to do such a thing." Sierra had a response ready, almost as if it was said often.
"Fine, fine. In short, my father was a human that accidentally found themselves here in the city. He was hunting for a mushroom that was said to grow and feed on a gold ore vein. The mushroom would be the ideal ingredient for an elixir that expelled any toxin no matter the strength. He was chasing a dream though, it is a false tale spread by dwarves."
Sierra was leaning towards the unicorn keeper listening to every word. Walker could easily see that this little story was one she did not tire of hearing. "He managed to walk well in to the forest without being noticed and even walked right through the illusionary barrier. When another elf saw him they were shocked. The enforcers that came to him were equally shocked and he was soon brought before the queen. Thanks to him a path through the forest that was not well patrolled was found. He had seen the city running at its normal life and he would be locked away."
Walker had almost befallen this fate as well and was not entranced in the story. He did not even notice that Midnight and Onyx had joined him as well. "When he was told this he had one answer, sounds good to me. If I was alone there I can be alone here too." This, of course, made the elders a little more curious and they pried in to his life. His parents and siblings had lost to starvation in a horned rabbit outbreak, one from before your kingdom had even come together, long forgotten in your history books I am sure. I understand your kingdom played a large role in preventing one though, thank you for that."
Walker nodded finding the coincidence to be amazing. "They decided to put him to work instead of just leaving him in the prisons. He was not some poacher after all, and it was only fair to give another living being a chance." The unicorn kept paused for some time. He took a deep breath and started again.
"My mother was an animal breeder for the endangered forest animals. Not many people in the world unlock systems that deal with regular animals and not monsters. Most of the time regular animals struggle to survive much like those without a system. My father was a treasure hunter system, hence the reason he had chased such a foolish tale. My mother saw the regular animals as treasures that persisted in survival no matter what, and my father hunted for them to bring to her to protect. They worked very well together and soon fell in love."
"Every squirrel, every rabbit, every finch, almost every normal animal that you see in this forest is because of my mother. I wish she was still alive today, but she was very emotional. My father and she watched me grow faster than the full blood elf children, but my father was too old by then. He passed away and my mother\'s broken heart took her to him. Luckily I get to live pretty long now, it\'s a blessing given by my mother and father to stay with such beautiful creatures like the unicorns."
Sierra let out a held in breath. She had heard the story many times and always fell for it, she was moved by the tale of love that she heard between a human and an elf. If she could find time away from her duty as an enforcer commander she would be one of the first to visit the human kingdom.
"That is pretty amazing. Of all the things to happen and all the ways to meet. It was a fairy tale treasure hunt." Walker hadn\'t expected such a great love story to be hiding here, he had the feeling that if it was ever written it could move many people\'s hearts.
"It is pretty amazing." The unicorn keeper laughed along. "I would say it is only my fifth best story though. Between the first unicorn I found and the time I went out to find an herb and managed to find myself face to face with a moss scorpion." Walker heard him mention a monster he had yet to learn about. The thing he did know was that any species of scorpion was a frightful foe that could catch someone off guard with deadly poison.
"Have you ever thought about writing any books?" Walker had to ask.
"Huh? Write? Why? No point in learning that, I don\'t need it to take care of my friends here." Walker was stunned, this guy couldn\'t write.
"The more you speak to him the harder it is to understand. Don\'t worry." Sierra was used to this. "We should leave things be as they are for now, your friends look like they are getting along pretty well over there." Sierra was motioning to Midnight and Onyx who were bouncing around the unicorns.
"Looks like you have met all of them in the herd by now." Midnight just looked at Walker and gave him a huff.
"Sister and I are going to stay here for the day. They have a lot of knowledge and said they can share some food." Onyx sounded excited when he communicated in Walker\'s head. He knew that this was motley because Onyx wanted the light elemental mana that they could provide, he had become a glutton.
"Well in that case I guess we will try and find what Gil is up to. I am curious to see the other arcane archers working on their skills. It will help me know the new limits Gil has. I also have a feeling Alma will be there to act as a guide." Walker laughed a little at his own joke.
Onyx gave Walker a knowing look before turning back to the unicorns. Sierra was a little confused by decided it was no problem leaving the field. "I thought you two would want to stay longer, I could use some help-" Before the unicorn protector could finish speaking Sierra had already pulled Walker away. She knew that if they stayed any longer the half elf would somehow make them do all his chores for him.
Sierra pulled Walker towards the points of light again and before he knew it Walker was looking at the elf city again. He was pretty amazed by the spatial magic skill that the unicorn protector had. This made him wonder if this was how people would feel when they saw him using inventory. He would need to get better at showing surprise at amazing skills like that.
"The archery range is the largest training area we have in our city. We grew the trees specifically so that they can protect the rest of the city from the magical attacks of the arrows from an arcane marksman. They are commonly known as hungry wood. They absorb any access mana to grow making them very strong. The downside is that they will lose their strength when they are mana deprived."
"If you have one for archery is there one using the same trees to make a magical training area?" Walker had already put the pieces together.
"Yes, we have a large training area on the opposite side of the city for magic. It is the same tree species and the same set up. We have many more mages so it is a very popular place for people to go." Sierra was already planning to take Walker there after hearing about the elemental magic skills he had.
"There are so many places to see, how am I going to get to each of them before I\'m stuck with assisting everyone." Waker could see the growing to do list in his head and knew that he was much too limited by time. He also had the ticking countdown to when he would have the freedom to leave and go towards the dwarven city. If he didn\'t stay focused he could end up spending months learning all about the new things that he could have never learned back home.
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