NOVEL NEXT Chapter 157: Elf Kingdom (Part-2)
… Black?
{Yes, master?}
…
[Oi! How come you’re out while I am still here!? This shouldn’t be possible!]
Wait, so Pink is also here…? What is happening?
{Don’t worry, master. Nothing’s wrong. I just made some small changes while fixing the glitch, making it possible for both me and Pink to speak at the same time.}
Oh… that’s nice, I guess.
[But it has been a while since the system got fixed… So, you mean to say that you’ve been silently lurking around all along? Listening to everything we say like a creep?]
…
{You’re putting it the wrong way, Pink. I just didn’t have anything meaningful to say. Unlike you, I don’t enjoy wasting my time in nonsensical conversations.}
[… fuck off, you liar. A shit-ton of important stuff happened since we fixed the glitch, you could’ve at least said a word. Anyway, this is good, actually. I can now keep an eye on you, Black. I won’t let you trick Jacob into doing what you want.]
{Is that so? Well, my purpose in making these changes is similar as well. I don’t want Master to ruin his growth by listening to your brainless advice— especially since we’re going to be in the Elven country. This is an important opportunity for master.}
[Hmph! I have more brains than you, and you know it. And not only that, I am much more useful to Jacob than a scheming asshole like you. You can ask Jacob; he will agree to that.]
{I’ve already apologized to master for the mistakes I made in the past, and he has graciously forgiven me. Since then, I’ve done nothing to trouble master. I have only been trying my best to help him in any way possible.}
[Ohoho, so, you’ve done nothing to trouble Jacob, huh. Why do you think we’re in the Elf country right now? How do you think all the big-shots of every country became aware of the fact that Jacob has an affinity for Chaos magic? Who taught him that fucking spell without even telling him about Primordial Elements!? Any idea who that was!?]
{I do have a proper explanation for that, and I am sure you will be satisfied by it, Pink. But it can wait. As you can see, master is busy with something important at the moment. Let’s not disturb him any further. We shall talk later tonight.]
Black isn’t exactly wrong. Currently, Maya is clinging to me so hard that it seems like her life’s depending on it. As it was apparent from her scream earlier, she has an insane fear of heights— which is further intensified in the case of flying. If Maya had known that these cars could fly, she would’ve never entered one.
So, while I am also angry at Black and want to hear its explanation, the opportunity is too good to miss.
[… fine, but don’t you dare think that I will let you off.]
{Of course, you won’t.}
The black and pink letters stop appearing in front of my eyes. Focusing on Maya again, I start caressing her back while whispering to her.
“Are you alright, Maya? You can hold onto me as long as you want, okay?”
Looking up, Maya gives me a timid nod. Slowly, after a while, her breathing starts to stabilize and she calms down— though, without relaxing her grip on my arms or even peeking outside the window.
“T-Those idiots! They should’ve at least t-told us that we are going to be flying,” Maya says, her voice shaky.
“True, they didn’t even consider the fact that some of us might not be comfortable with flying. I will complain about it once we land,” I say soothingly.
“T-Thanks…” she mutters, burying her head into my chest.
Both of us fall silent for a few seconds before Maya speaks up again.
“Eh… can you please keep talking to me, Jacob? I need to distract my mind somehow, or I will start panicking again,” she asks with a begging voice.
“Oh, you want to get distracted? That’s easy. I can do it,” I say, seeing the chance and seizing it immediately.
“I really like you, Maya. Will you be my girlfriend?” I ask her.
“…”
With her eyes wide and her lips parted, Maya’s face freezes in surprise. Unexpectedly, even her grip on my arm slackens as her hands fall down.
Well, mission successful, I guess…
As Maya doesn’t reply even after I wait for a few seconds, I continue speaking while feeling a bit worried.
“I hope you can forgive me for taking so much time to ask you this. I just got so busy with everything that—”
But the next moment, Maya cuts me off mid-sentence by wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing my lips. I can feel her body shaking again, though thankfully, not from fear. She’s actually crying— crying from happiness and relief.
“Wait, wait…” I say, separating my lips.
“Should I take that as a “yes” or not?” I ask teasingly, raising my eyebrows.
“Yes, you idiot! It’s a yes!”
Maya hits my chest— looking angry but laughing at the same time—before pulling me into a kiss again.
And I cannot help but grin at her cuteness.
As Ilyrana told us, it took exactly an hour for us to reach the Elven city, Ieprolia. All along the way, Maya and I have been cuddling and kissing while exchanging a few words here and there— this greatly helped in keeping Maya occupied and also made the time pass rather quickly.
…
“Are we not landing yet?” I ask, looking outside the window in confusion.
I thought the cars will land once we reach the main city, but I was clearly wrong. We’ve been flying above the city for a while now and the cars haven’t shown any sign of descending.
Damn it… I was looking forward to seeing the city up close. But I guess I can only enjoy the view from up here— for now, at least.
Although it’s not very clear, I can notice the streets, people, and vehicles beneath us. Though, in place of houses and buildings, there are abnormally large trees that are magically modified to have living spaces inside them.
Elves, who consider themselves much closer to nature than any other species, prefer these trees over cemented houses. And thus, from above, Elven cities generally look like a forest with neatly arranged trees.
“Oh, here we go.”
After a few minutes, the cars finally start to descend. Looking ahead, I see that we are close to the biggest tree in the entire city— which, by the way, is more than thrice the size of the second-largest tree. It looks so huge and majestic that one can only look up at it in awe.
But well, I am not surprised to see it. I mean, I am very excited, but not surprised.
Why? Because, like everyone else, I’ve seen this extremely well-known tree multiple times on the internet, and I even know a lot of things about it.
It is the residence of the ruler of the Elves and the strongest person even among the ten most powerful beings; Ilsevel Grimzephyr.
