(Lian Li POV)
"Ara, ara? I suppose the name Eternal Heaven Tree was justified after all~"
I climbed up the hill that Manami was standing on top of, looking straight ahead to see a giant tree that stretched high up into the sky, piercing through the clouds where its leaves were hidden above.
With a tree that big covering the skies, one might think the area below it might be shrouded in darkness but in reality it was the opposite.
The tree's roots seemed to have some kind of glowing veins running through it, illuminating the ground near its trunk and making it appear to be day time. I wonder what would happen when it's night time though?
Within these pockets of light were several settlements that no doubt belong to the elves guarding said tree.
"Well, it's stupidly big alright," I noted, looking up at the sky. "And this tree only bears fruit once every thousand years? How useless."
"Ufufufu~ Shall we go greet the guardians of the useless tree then?"
I shook my head, "There's no need, they're already here."
Just as those words left my lips, several elves appeared and surrounded us, all of them carrying a weapon of some sort, be it a bow or a sword.
Hmmm… It seems like all of them are female too. The 'males are weak' rule also extends to them it seems.
One of them stepped forward, "You two are standing at the border of Eternal Heaven Tree city, could I see a permit for entry?"
"Ara? There's such a thing?" Manami asked.
The elf raised an eyebrow at her, "Of course? How did you reach here without knowing this? The other elven cities would have informed you of this."
I waved my hand, "Oh we didn't go through any other city to get here, we teleported here directly."
She blinked at my answer, "You… Teleported here directly?"
"Is that such a big surprise?"
The elf furrowed her brows, "There's a teleportation shield set up around this area, there is no way you could have teleported in here. I'm not interested in listening to your jokes, if you do not have an entry permit, please leave now."
I tapped my chin with a finger, "That's a problem though… We're here to retrieve a fruit from the Eternal Heaven Tree for our Master and we aren't going to leave here empty handed."
The elf drew her sword, prompting her companions to do the same as well, "You seem to be misunderstanding something, I was not asking."
"Oh? What a coincidence, neither was I."
"Enough! Leave or we will have to remove you by force!"
I turned to Manami, "Shall I or do you want to do it?"
My fox youkai sister waved her hand dismissively, "Oh, you can go ahead, they seem pretty boring."
I turned back to smile at the elf, "I'm a very kind person. We need the fruit for our Master. Either step aside or get hurt, your choice."
The elf growled, "Force it is then... Capture them!"
Four of them immediately leapt forward to attack me. They managed to reach an arm's length away from me before they fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Eh?"
Unable to comprehend what happened, the elf leader let out a confused sound escape from her lips.
I looked down at the unconscious guards before tilting my head at the leader, "Rather irresponsible of your guards to be sleeping on the job, don't you think?"
She gritted her teeth and raised her sword, preparing to charge at me herself.
I prepared another Lightning Technique to blast her away when someone dropped down from the sky to land in between us.
The newcomer had long, platinum hair that covered one half of her face and despite looking young, her aura gave off the feeling of something ancient.
"Guard Captain, stop. You are no match for her."
The guard leader gasped, "El… Elder Freasia! Wh… What are you doing here?"
"Take your girls and go, I'll deal with them."
"That… Leaving Elder alone with these two intruders is…"
The newcomer waved her hand, "This is an order, Guard Captain, take your women and leave, now."
"Ye… Yes, Elder…"
I waited patiently for the guards to retreat with their fallen comrades, leaving just Manami, myself and this 'Elder Freasia' standing on the hilltop.
The elf spoke first, "Let me introduce myself. I am Elder Freasia, an Elder of the Elven Forest and resident of Eternal Heaven Tree city. May I know your good names?"
Manami smiled at her, "I see no reason to give our names to a nobody, though? We are only here for one purpose only, not to make friends."
"Did your Master ever teach you basic manners?"
Manami's eyes shone red, "Ufufufu~ You are a million years too early to even think about criticising Master. Similar to how you don't introduce yourself to every rock you find by the roadside, it is exactly the same case here. I would choose your next words carefully, elf."
The elf didn't seem to mind Manami's threat and simply nodded her head, "I see. I overheard you are looking for the fruit of the Eternal Heaven Tree?"
I nodded, "That is correct. Now, where do we go to get one?"
"This fruit only appears in our city once every thousand years… I hope you understand when I say that it is quite impossible for us to hand such a valuable fruit away without compensation of some sort?
Manami giggled, "Ufufufu~ How about this? You hand us the fruit and we don't burn your entire forest down, is that a fair enough compensation?"
The elf seemed like she wanted to say more but quickly shut her mouth when she saw the ball of flame that Manami had summoned at the tip of her tail.
We are not joking of course, both of us are prepared to burn this entire place to the ground to get the fruit we sought if we have to. Destroying an entire civilization is a small price to pay to fulfill Master's wish.
Does this make us look like bandits? Perhaps. But such are trivial concerns when it comes to the greater good of fulfilling Master's wish.
After all, for us, there is nothing more important than Master.
The elf sighed, "I unfortunately do not have the authority to grant you the fruit… If you would follow me back to our council and explain to them, they might choose to grant a fruit to you."
I raised my eyebrow at her, "This isn't an elaborate set up for a trap, right?"
She gave us a wry smile, "Does it matter even if it is? Both of you could destroy the entire forest if you wanted to, I doubt any trap would work at all."
At least she's not stupid.
Manami and I shared a glance and we both nodded.
I turned back to the elf, "Very well then, let's go see this 'council' of yours."
"Could I get a guarantee that neither of you will try to burn the entire city indiscriminately?"
Manami scoffed at her, "If we get what we want, we wouldn't have a reason to."
"Thank you for your mercy. This way please."
Oh? She actually agreed. I suppose our plan to burn down half the city as a show of force was unnecessary.
If she does try to pull off some kind of trick, I shall have a lot of fun torturing her though~
