“This we promise!” The chorus of the rangers followed her declaration.
Goddess, did you really hate me gaining the Primordial Subjugator class so much that you placed me under some illusion? That’s just cruel…
How else do I explain today’s events? Free people wanted to be my slaves, my slaves didn’t want to lose their collars, and now people whose faces I didn’t even see up until now were swearing their loyalty to me…?
Anyhow, all I could do was respond. “Rise, Ambition and her team.” My command was met with instant rustling of their fabric, and metal in the tanker elf’s case.
“Ah! My sincere apologies.” Ambition stated with obvious alarm in her tone before fiddling around with her armor, and somehow, completely beyond my comprehension abilities, her armor fell to the ground in a mere second. Yes, from a few single pushes of her fingers, her bulky, overbearing armor easily slid off of her frame – and what a frame it was. Only her privates were kept hidden, and her shoulders as the shoulder guards didn’t fall off with the rest of her attire.
Completely going against the elven stereotype which was the lithe, fragile feminine frames I’ve come to know and love them for, she was sporting a chiseled six-pack and her thighs were bulging with firm muscles as well. She had pink eyes and hair that was a mix of dark blueish and purplish hair. As if to retain some of her femininity, a flowery hairpin was attached to her hair.
However, that is not to say that she looked like a man, not at all. Her thin waist was still there, it was just clear that she was a warrior and not a supermodel, a bit like my Ayame. She was extremely gorgeous just like my girls, especially for a man who had a fetish for strong women like me.
(Picture)
“… What’s going on?” Ayame asked just as flabbergasted by the tanker’s sudden desire to strip, but before the elf could explain herself, my elf shouted, “Miss Kaelira?!”
The blue-haired elf nodded with a small smile tugging at her lips. “Good to see you in fine health, Lady Seraphiel. I apologize for not revealing myself to you, but we were uncertain about your group’s trustworthiness, thus we kept ourselves hidden.”
“An explanation, please.” I interjected.
“She is Kaelira, the team leader of my army unit. I thought she got captured when I did, or gotten herself killed but…”
It was the woman who finished, “yes, I took these five with me and we managed to escape into the forests of the Ravenshade Dutchy, and traversed through it all the way until we came to the Greeinveil Dutchy. We wanted to run back to the Elvardia territories at first, but the humans were scouting the area for the remainder of our demolished army, so we had no choice but to move deeper into human lands… I’m sorry for leaving you to your fate.”
“Don’t worry about it… You had no choice, especially with only the six of you. The human king has one mighty army and his elite troops, the Aegis Vanguard, are no joke at all. We stood zero chance as soon as they arrived. Instead, it should be me who apologizes for using Luminara and the Eternal Forest to get you to play along with my master’s wishes.”
Kaelira chuckled wryly, clearly unhappy about Seraphiel’s lying. “It all turned out fine, but that was truly not something a noble lady of your standing should do.” Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire
It was the first time I saw the smug elf of mine have droopy ears. Who knew someone could chide her and instead of getting haughtily talked back to, only shameful silence would be her answer? It told me that this Kaelira woman was a person who commanded a great deal of respect in her team.
“I see. Well, Kaelira, could you explain yourself a bit more in detail? What do you mean by being guardians of my territories? Also, why did you strip?”
The sexy athletic elf eyed me for a second, giving me the serious army officer vibes, before she began. “It’s rude to greet one’s lord while dressed in ugly, bulky armor in elven culture. I’m an artificer by trade, so I made an armor specifically for myself and one of its perks is that I can take it off by pressing a combination of plates in the correct order. As for-”
There was so much news thrown into her two sentences that I had to cut the woman off before she could continue. “You’re an Artificer? Not a tank variety classed combatant?” She was such a beast on the battlefield, single-handedly keeping her five rangers alive until an entire alliance ganged up on them, at which point we swooped in to save them.
“I’m a magical blacksmith who specializes in tanking as well as artificing. I have an Epic-tier class, Runeforged Sentinel. It allows me to be a hybrid.” Her nonchalant revelation shocked all of us besides Seraphiel who seemed to be privy to this information.
I know that my journey thus far may’ve made Epic tier classes seem like they grow on trees, but only the mightiest people on the Iskaris continent had them. She was likely quite young, considering that she was near our level and that she was only a team leader back in the army, which meant she had command over only a dozen or so troops. A badass Epic-tier classed person like her should be much higher up the chain but in the first place… “Why did they send you with the invading force? Aren’t you too valuable?”
I couldn’t help but ask. If I were the one in charge, I would make sure that she only took place in less risky maneuvers while she spent the rest of her time crafting. Sending Healers like Seraphiel with an invading force was already risky, but at least they must’ve been integral to the army’s functioning. A crafter who could also tank was not… Just use a simple tanker, even if they are slightly worse at the job.
“Master… Elves can’t be crafters in the Alliance of Elvardia.” It was Sera who relayed this horribly illogical information.
I glanced at Kaelira and when I saw her gorgeous visage turn dark as she grit her teeth in anger, I knew it to be true.
“The dwarves have a monopoly over any crafting jobs in the Alliance of Elvardia. I’m legally prohibited from selling anything I make, neither can I purchase raw materials, own a smithy, have apprentices, or even buy tools required for the job.”
“I see… It must’ve been added to the lawbook when your two races teamed up. Elves as the forest-dwelling sentinels protecting the borders, and dwarves as the craftsmen.” freēwēbnovel.com
“You’re exactly right, Lord Quinlan.” The angry elf nodded.
Damn. If she was not allowed to be a crafter, then indeed her value wasn’t anything to write home about, just a tanker with a Rare rarity class, perhaps ever so slightly stronger, but her Epic rarity class was surely wasted.
“How did you even unlock the class in the first place?” Lucille asked curiously.