My Servant Is An Elf Knight From Another World Chapter 323
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Cue more the feverish state of festivity, sing more the glorious hymns to my wondrous feats… because surely we didn't have any more of those already.
Without sounding like an ungrateful overly-pampered prick that there ever was, my newfound stardom was starting to feel just that little bit too… exasperating.
You can smile through so many photo ops before you are no longer capable of it anymore, it was like repeating a word for the umpteenth time, eventually, you just lose all meaning of it… and in my case, people opted I stayed my lips neutral then risk another botch selfie where their hero looked more donkey than human.
The festival was a raging rapids, and I was on a dinky boat without a single paddle, resigned to just holding on to the edges for dear life as the river winded and steered me from one waterfall to the other.
Fame was wearing me down to the bone. How do they do it? Amanda, Tyler… Leon even, how do they have two seconds to hear their own thoughts when it was always constantly filled with the frenetic glee of someone else's?
Well, I certainly couldn't bear with the hectic tedium for any longer, so when I saw the chance to slip away - I took it. Some guy knocked out-cold on a nearby bench had my size, had my figure… so I plopped my hat onto his bald spot, clipped my gold crest on his chest… pretty sure I'm famous enough to warrant my own merry band of lookalikes, right?
I mean, who wouldn't want to wake up one day and be me for a day, amirite? If anything, I'm sure he wouldn't mind holding on to my things for me for a little while.
Like a plump, juicy rat in a realm of starving cats, I hurriedly scurried away… keeping my head down, weaving my way to the outer edges of the place, where folks were sparse, and the silence was plentiful.
Worst thing was about all this was I knew Ash and Amanda had joined the fray themselves. The tournament was over, meaning they were free to frolic and wander. If life was fair and just, I'd be right with them by now… it's not as if they were hard to find, they were just hard to approach.
Their beauty and reputation had cultivated them their own center of attention. They had their own lengthy circle of admirers and followers, so if I went to them and combined mine with theirs, I fear the universe might collapse in itself from the strain alone - that, and I'm a sucker for my privacy.
What I wanted to talk about with them… I prefer it if I didn't have a billion eyes scrutinizing my every move, and a billion ears misconstruing my every word. For now, I'll bide my time… wait for things to settle down… if they ever do, that is.
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And besides, I saw it again - the furthest peek from the corner of my sights - in a dark narrow slit between buildings, the familiar swirl of misty white eyes staring back at me.
Didn't take long before I found myself slinking into that narrow slit, and returning that silent gaze with a smile on my face that for once actually felt like a smile.
"Nice place," I said, resting myself against the long wall of hardwood. "Don't mind if I nest here for a bit? It's crazy out there."
Bread crumbs on her left cheek, sugar powder full on her lips, and sharp-pointed fangs tinged deeply in the crimson red… of strawberry - thank fucking God - from the very moment I got in here, all was made clear as to what the hell Adalia's been up to all this time.
Vampire tidbit #216 - Matriarchs are excessive food hoarders.
Makes sense, I guess… all those dead rats and birds piled up high back when I first met her didn't just sprout out from nothing.
"I see you have a sweet tooth," I said, eyeing her extra-large haul of baked goods stashed deeper in the alley. "Where did you get all that?"
Adalia slowly chewed, attempting to hide it behind equally sugar-glazed fingers. "I found… the… kitchen…"
"And so I see," I said, shifting my gaze back to hers. "Did you ask for permission?"
She quietly swallowed. "Per… mission...?"
Ah, well, whatever… so long as somebody's munching on those things, don't think their bakers would mind too much.
I changed the topic, "Well, I do hope you at least had the chance to watch the tournament in-between your foraging."
"I... got hungry… so not all… of it..." She admitted, sounding the slightest ashamed. "Only when… it's you… they showed…"
"Then you're all good," I reassured her. "You pretty much saw all of it anyway."
"Sera… watched it… all…"
"Speaking of," I whirled my eyes around. "Where is she?"
"Went to get… more cookies…" Adalia replied. "She likes… the cookies… more…"
"Oh, so you're a team now, are you?"
"We… take turns…"
"Of course," I said, sighing, shaking my head, then with another quick glance deeper, asked. "Can you pass me the chocolate muffin, please?"
For those few short minutes in that dim, drab little cramped space there, I finally attained what I sought after for so long… a peace of mind, and a peace that was mine, and the blissful silence on top of Adalia's comforting presence made every bite of the muffin in my hand only that much sweeter.
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Hero of the Kingdom, and here he was sitting in an alley, getting crumbs all over his fancy garbs. So much for glory…
"So, Adalia, I have to ask," I turned to her, crumpling the muffin wrapper in a closed fist. "We talked about love back then. From watching me, did you finally get an answer?"
Adalia was a slow eater, but I knew that already… whereas I take chunks off with every bite, she wasn't even halfway finished, just nibbling, and she was still nibbling when she answered.
"I'm… not… sure…"
I raised my brow at that. "You're not?"
"When I watch you… do what you did... when I watch you fight… when I watch you… get hurt... and... when I hear you say… how you feel about her… I understood… you did it… all for her…"
"That's right," I said.
"Because… you love… her…"
"Still right," I continued to affirm.
"But…" She stopped nibbling, lowering the muffin from her now narrowed lips, her misty-eyed thousand-yard stare somehow looking even more distant than ever before. "Even if… I knew that… that wasn't… what I felt… watching you do… the things that you do… for her…"
Adalia rarely ever strayed from sounding her usual vapid self, so when came the instances where there was even an inkling of something else, it was made all the more glaringly discernible.
"I know you… loved her..." She continued. "But I didn't feel… that you did… the feeling I got… didn't feel like... love… I think..."
"And how did that feeling feel?" I asked her, a suspicion brewing within me claiming that I might already know.
Adalia slowly raised her hand, clutched her chest, and in a silence that felt like forever, held on to it tight. "Pain...ful…"
Just as I thought.
"Unpleasant… suffocating… in...furiating..." She kept going. "I… never felt… feeling like these… even before… my condition… it's… confusing… to me…"
Yeah, I bet it is, Adalia. Even to us more sensible folks, it is ever the perplexing emotion… a feisty one too.
Vampire tidbit #217 - Matriarchs are prone to envy.
"I think you might be jealous, sweetheart," I told her, offering her another assuring smile.
She looked up at me, batting her eyelids in that same bewildered gaze. "Jea… lous...?"
"Happens to the best of us, nothing to be too hung up about."
She kept that confused stare. "Sweet… heart…?"
"When you care about someone, you like it when you have their attention and time," I went on to explain. "But when that someone is doing something for someone else, caring for someone else… and when you see it happen, sometimes you tend to get a bit possessive."
"I'm… possessive…?"
"And when that happens, you can get a bit agitated at that other person for taking that attention and care that could have been yours. I'm speaking in broad terms, but generally, yeah… that's what you call jealousy. You're jealous of Ash."
Genuine astonishment was not something I expected to see from Adalia's always dull expression, but her wide-open unblinking gaze reflecting back at me, and the fact that her muffin rolled right off her fingers without her doing anything to prevent it was plenty affirmation enough.
"I… I see…" She finally spoke out, stiffly veering her eyes towards the blank wooden wall. "So I am… jealous… of Ash… because you love her… so much…"
You know, when she puts in blunt terms with all the subtlety of creaky floorboards in a haunted mansion, it's kinda hard to take it all in without wanting to bury yourself in the sand - but I manage, thankfully.
It's a bit ironic too, now that I think about it. Anybody else, and she can pretty much read the mood like she was reading a children's book, but when it comes to her own feelings, she's as blind as bat, and unfortunately, I don't think she can read braille.
"But… why…?" She asked me, as innocent, as curious as can be. "Why… am i… jealous… of her…? I want you… to love… her… because… it's what you… want… too… I don't… understand..."
Like I said, blind as a bat.
"Well," I sighed, shifting in my seat. "Give it a second. Why do you think that is?"
Adalia gave herself that second, and when it wasn't enough, she gave herself another… then three.
She didn't try for lucky number four.
"I don't… know…" She whispered, looking down at her now empty palms in ponder. "I just want… you both… happy…"
"Then maybe that's the issue," I finally answered her. "Maybe you want yourself happy too."
Her eyes drifted back to mine once again, still reflecting back that same shimmer of confusion. "Huh…?"
"Maybe from seeing just how much I love Ash," I told her, smiled at her. "Maybe you want me to love you just as much too."
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The story of how a Cultivation Universe was Conquered by an Interstellar Weapons Platform
What do you get when you cross a world of Magic, Cultivation and Legends with one of Science, Logic and Overwhelming Firepower?\o\ Chaos! /o/Alpha is a sapient AI who's job (and Passion) is the exploration, exploitation and eventual colonization of new worlds for the Federation, a Galaxy spanning empire of Science and Technology. When an unexpected accident deposits this literal War Machine on a planet full of Cultivators and Wizards, chaos and insanity ensues. What Alpha and those around him don't know, however, is that he will soon become the focal point of a millennias long plot that holds not only the fate of the world in its balance, but possibly the entire Galaxy.Ancient Enemies awaken as the Powerhouses of the world converge with Alpha at the center. Get ready, its going to be a wild ride. ------------------------------------------------------- |_+) Come, Read the Story. Watch Worlds be Conquered. (ALL HAIL YOUR NEW ROBOT OVERLORDS!) See Arrogant Young Masters be slapped in the face (by a 170mm Rail-slug traveling Mach 3). Find Grand, Valuable Treasure (which gets put into storage, because what use does an AI have with pill herbs?) Explore Strange and wonderful lands (that will be shortly stripped mined and exploited for all usable resources) |_+) JOIN US!______________________________________ ALPHA-555-12-4412 (Designation: Star Conquer).One of the 5 most powerful and advanced AI-driven Interstellar Weapon Platforms ever built, was programmed with a very simple mission. Travel the stars.Seek out new and hospitable Alien Worlds.Establish a Forward based for their Master's eventual colonization.And, If necessary, crush any and all native resistance it might find. It was a Mission that Alpha took seriously and dedicated its entire being to.However, when Alpha flies a liiiiitle to close to a Blackhole and gets sucked in, it is thrown into a situation that no amount of programming could prepare it for. Now stranded on an alien, yet familiar world, full of dangerous beasts and strange phenomenon its database has no record or explanation for, Alpha must find a way to not only survive, but thrive.And eventually to do what he was built to do. Conquer._____________________________________________________Some things to expect from this Story 1): MC is an AI programmed with a very specific goal. Thus don't expect him to think or act like a human might. That being said, he/it is not bloodthirsty and evil either. He is specifically programed to work with, and indoctrinate Native species when possible. He is not a demon lord come to end the world as they know it, but a Conqueror come to subjugate. 2): MC won't be getting some kind of Humanoid form or suddenly start trying to think like a Human. Although an AI, he is perfectly Sapient, and fully understands both what he is and what is mission is. He is capable of adapting and changing his thought process, but at the end of the day, the Mission is what matters to him. He doesn't see the need or even WANTS to be Human. The only exception to this might be Humanoid body doubles or puppets used in places his main body isn't able to go. 3): This story is a mix of both Sci-Fi and Cultivation novels. MC with NOT be able to Cultivate themselves (for obvious reasons), but using his technology and knowledge, will be able to adapt and repurpose the strange and exotic resources you might find in a Cultivation World to increase his power and keep up with the powerhouses of this Universe. 4): The Intention of this story is to alternate between it and Parasite King, so I don't get burned out writing either one. As such, updates, while not slow, won't be to quick. Bare with me for awhile till the wheels get rolling.
8 203What if the world was an RPG?
What if the world turned into an rpg? Throughout my entire life I always dreamt about magic, fantasy and otherworldly stuff that could never exist in my world.I would constantly daydream about being a hero in another world or maby a demon king in another world. Not only would i dream these dreams for years on end, but i would also ask myself questions such as "what would happen if people got superpowers" or " What if there was a RPG-system that gave you a class and powers and so on". These were just some of the questions i would ask myself on daily basis, well rather than to ask myself questions about it. I dreamt about it, I wished for it and i begged for it, but to no avail. So what was to come now, when a bluescreen suddenly popped up infront of my face and my surroundings turned to white.
8 194A Curious Bird
One person awaking in body that is not his own. In order to survive he has to get stronger. For this bird will survive and evolve. He will also find out where he is and why he is here. But along the way his thirst for knowledge begin to grow.
8 146Wolves of the Apocalypse
Too many people fantasized about a zombie apocalypse for the world to be taken by surprise. The world didn’t end, society didn’t collapse, our moral values didn’t break down as years with undeath looming over us turned into generations; just us hiding in our cities from a dead world desperately clawing its way in. God, if only it were that simple.
8 84The Arcane Prince
Book 1 is complete and fully posted here on RoyalRoad. The story is on break as I work on Book 2, which will be posted once I have finished writing it. Max is a twelve-year-old boy from the slums who dreams of seeing the world, learning magic, and adventure. On the same day that Max learns his first spell, he meets Colt, a noble-born lad on his own path to power. Colt is kind. Oblivious to the world, but kind. By his grace, Max begins to learn under Colt's instructor, even hunting monsters in the forests to the north. Max is talented and grows in power quickly, but as he prepares for the first of his adventures, the kingdom faces the greatest threat in centuries. Posting Schedule: Every 3 days until the end of Book 1 (Chapter 45). IMPORTANT NOTES: 1) This is a story about an OP boy doing OP boy things. By the end of Book 1, there will be few fights that he struggles with, and he will rarely, if ever, find his life in peril. 2) This is a slice-of-life and adventure story, which means that there will be periods of chapters without any action or conflict, but also periods of chapters with battles and exploration/adventure (the latter mostly being Book 2+). 3) There will be NO petty squabbles or conflicts going on in this story, because it is meant to be a fun one, not a high-tension, drama-filled story. So it will NOT be that. If you want lots of action or lots of conflict, then find another story to read because this isn't it. 4) There will never be an overarching evil/villain/conflict to deal with in this story past Book 1. Ever. 5) Book 1 is entirely written and can be considered a standalone story on its own. Right now, the story may last 2-3 books, or it may last 7-10 books. It is guaranteed to make it through Book 2 or 3, and if I decide to go with the bigger journey I have planned after that, then it will be longer. There will be a several-month wait between Book 1 and Book 2. 6) The story contains the sexual content tag, but it will not contain any unless Max and his future boyfriend reach 18+ years of age in-story. If I decide to bring the story to a conclusion with Book 2 or 3, or they never reach that age in the full story for the long journey, then I will remove the tag. 7) There are currently absolutely no plans to make this story into a harem if I write the extended story. If I write the extended story and decide at some point to make it one, then I will add the appropriate tag and inform readers of this decision. However, there are currently zero plans to make it one. 8) This story takes place in its own story universe, with its own rules. Please keep that in mind when reading it and other stories.
8 83Games of Galdric
Have you ever thought what would it be to be part of a game? To escape this boring reality and enter a world of adventure?This is the story of a boy whose only dream is to play a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) good enough to make him think that he is in another world.One day he finally gets his golden opportunity when he is accepted in the beta of """"Gambling of the Gods"""" the VRMMORPG that is expected to break the barrier between reality and fiction for once. What he didn't know is that he was going to be part of something much bigger and important: a human experiment that made 200 teenagers involve in a game of death.
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