1.1

When the breeze had stopped hitting his sable black hair and the Elven Palace was before him, he alighted himself and got off the horse.

The palace was a twenty-meter tall piece of art. Solid chunks of polished marble as the flooring and stairs, along with bright white pillars with golden accents, aside from being magnificent, it was also where he lived for the past 7 years.

Once he entered the palace, he climbed the stairs, navigated through multitudes of people and went straight to the royal scribe’s office.

“I’ve been expecting you Master Sarvod. You have the documents the queen requested yes?” the royal scribe had his head downcast, not sparing a second to look at him.

“Yeah.” The frantic movements of the quill on the man’s hand had no signs of stopping, it was rare to see the royal scribe to be scrambling with his work. “You seem busy, need any help?”

“No, you might make things worse for me. Just leave the documents by the table there,” the scribe gestured with his chin.

“Right…” he proceeded to remove the pile of papers from the leather bag that slung beside him. Just when John was about to leave, the royal scribe spoke.

“Leave one for me, Master Sarvod.”

“Hmm?”

“Leave one of those baked stuff you have on you for me. I can smell it, it’s that little girl’s cooking, she always makes good cakes.”

“She’s going to reach two hundred—”

“And? She looks no younger than 14. When you are as old as me, everyone who is younger than you is a child.”

That’s not how it works.

John wanted to retort at the old man but he simply rolled his eyes and placed a cupcake that he had beside the pile of papers.

“Oh, that reminds me. Princess Raina came by earlier and wants to see you. Other than that, your work for today is done, you are free to go.”

“Thanks.”

John decidedly went towards his room, figuring that was where Raina would most likely be waiting for him. Just as he was about to open the closed doors to his room, a hand touched on his shoulder and turned him around before he twisted the silver knob.

“Hey, get your hands—”

He bit his tongue when he saw an indulging smile from the person who so suddenly touched him.

“Queen Veissa, forgive me!”

As if all his ligaments were severed, he fell to the ground, pushed his left knee onto the cold marble and sunk his head low. The Eleven Queen who saw his flustered reaction simply dismissed his worries with a wave.

“How was the elf, John? Did you manage to cure him of his stroke?”

“Yes. It was thankful that Mr. Pester’s stroke was a minor one,” he said stiffly while he maintained his one legged kneel.

“Raise your head when you are speaking to me, kneeling is unnecessary for earlier.” the queen said gently.

“Yes!” he erected himself as told.

John’s eyes drifted away from the queen as he stood silently in front of her.

“What is the matter? Did your magic not work like it always do?”

“Yes, it did. However, he remained in his bed after I was done and seems to be unusually tired. I was sure that my [Heal] worked but…”

“You carried out your duties diligently. There’s no doubt about that. That elf simply overworked himself for A’vetheas, he went as far as to increase the production of his crops by twofold with the unused land nearby the borders of A’vetheas.” The queen then continued with a lamenting voice, “He did his part, and so did you.”

“T-that’s true, I suppose,” he nodded.

As timing would have it, the door to his room suddenly swung open and out came a girl with a joyous smile leaping into his arms.

“Johnny!”

Her crinkled eyes and buttoned nose, all of it displayed her youthful fervor that she bore when she smuggled up to John. This girl, Raina Valindra Eridi was the next-in-line to inherit the title of the Elven Queen was one of the youngest elves within A’vetheas. Aged only three years younger than John, she was the person closest and dearest to him.

“I see that you were waiting for him, Raina. I shall leave you two children to be and won’t disturb John any longer,” the queen spun and walked away, evidently, she had other matters to attend to after she learned of farmer Pester’s recovery.

“Wait.” John called out to the retreating Queen with an outstretched hand. “Before you leave, Queen Veissa. I was wondering if I can get my magic appraised once more… You see, I want to be more useful… and…”

“Your ability to completely heal someone at an instance a gift that all people would spill blood over for. Despite your inability to use any other magic than [Heal], your contributions to A’vetheas is more than enough. You do not need to undergo another series of appraisal and obtain the same results once more. Is that clear, John?” the queen’s voice echoed throughout the wide hallways.

“U-understood!”

When he was sure that the Elven Queen was out of sight, he let out a long groan and dropped his shoulders. It was obvious that the queen would react that way to his question but he still wanted to give the appraisal procedure another go.

Just one more time, maybe it’ll be different. I know that learning other magic than [Heal] is possible even for people who do not have the affinity. I-it will just take me longer…

Raina who saw the dejected John placed a hand on his head and began patting him.

“There, there, I am sure mother did not mean anything from that. She simply was tired of you bringing up that topic every time you get the chance. Believe it or not, even I’ll get tired of you if all you ever bring up is appraising your magical aptitude.”

John swatted her hand off his head and straightened himself. “Stop it with the patting. It’s not like I am desperate about it. I just want to make sure that I really can’t do anything else besides healing people.”

“Yeah, sure,” Raina rolled her eyes at him. “I am confident that the results will change after five appraisals that gave the same results,” she then poked at his sides with a cheeky grin.

“Come on! Hands off, or you won’t be having these for lunch!” John threatened, dangling the basket full of baked goods in front of the elven princess.

The brief scent that lingered from the basket cause her to wrinkle her nose and lean closer. Raina’s eyes shot wide open before she tried to reach for it.

“Gimme. Gimme,” like a kitten, she reached and reached at the lure John dangled in front of her.

John had one of his arms to stop the princess from reaching the basket while she struggled to break free of his blockade.

“Look who’s not so tough now.”

No matter how hard she tried, with her elfin figure, Raina was unable to take the basket for herself. After failing her repeated attempts, she gave up and puffed her cheeks in frustration.

John had the biggest grin on him face as the cute Raina stared daggers at him with her turquoise eyes, it caused him to lower his arms and offered the goods to her.

“Alright, alright, I’ll share it with you. I could never finish the whole basket myself.”

“Hmph!” Raina fold her arms and turned her head to her side.

“Come on, Raina. You knew I was going to give them to you one way or the other.”

“Liar.”

He let out a sigh, then quickly grasped her hand, got close to her face, and whispered, “I did it because I want to see that adorable reaction of yours.”

“Wha… What are you talking about! Don’t go around dropping stuff like that, especially when you are the one who h-hates this kind of stuff,” her face became a ripe tomato, while she desperately tried to hide her embarrassment.

“You’re so easy to please.”

“Are you saying you don’t mean that!?”

“Hahaha! It was a joke, come on, let’s—”

Just when he was about to end their little charade, a booming shout followed by the sound of aggressive footsteps entered their eardrums.

“Sarvod! Come with me, now!”

No sooner than the male elf had appeared to him, John’s wrist was tightly gripped and almost got dragged away. John quickly struck the hand that was on him with a chop and released himself from the repulsive elf.

“What’s your problem, Declan!? I am not your slave that follows your commands. If you have a problem with me, go speak to Queen Veissa about it.”

“Just come with me, human! Stop asking questions!” Declan made another move and grabbed at his arm.

“Huh!? Are you for real!?” John planted his feet on the ground, prepared to launch his free hand at the rude elf if he was dragged forcibly again.

“Declan! Are you forgetting your place in front of the Princess!?” Raina’s outburst calmed the heated dispute between the two. “State your business with John or I’ll order you to back away from him.”

“Tsk, always hiding behind the queen and Princess… My merciful Princess, your loyal subject is in dire need of this human’s power. At this moment, another elf’s life is at stake, forgive me for my rude behavior,” Declan bared his teeth, eyes twitching as he presented his artificial smile to John.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear you just because—”

Raina raised her hand and silenced John before he got another word in. She gave him a look reassuring him and said, “Go with him, there must be a good reason he needed you. He won’t do anything stupid now that asked you to go.”

John softened his vicious scowl and drooped his narrowed eyebrows. He understood what the Princess meant. If Declan who detested him the most had come and asked him for help—forced him to help, if Raina was not around—it must be something serious.

“Fine, I’ll go with you, Declan. Just don’t try grabbing me like earlier.”