NOVEL FROG Chapter 695 – Back to Elven Lands
“Many of the tall tales about how elves and dwarves did not get along could be traced to the relationship between the Kingdom Down Under and the elves of the Great Emerald Forest, at least prior to the separation of Alfheim.
The dwarves always hated intruders, while the elves during their tribal raider days viewed the dwarves who hunkered down in their caverns as cowards and often targeted them as a result. This led to many generations of animosity before the unexpected separation of Alfheim changed things and started mending bridges with their neighbors.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Professor of Socioeconomy for the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, circa 642 FP.
The group continued on their way after the meal, though not before Aideen bought some of the merfolk woman’s stock of salted squids she had imported from the shores. The small squids – the largest was only as thick around as Aideen’s thumb – were preserved in salt and it was a common food amongst communities that lived near the shore.
Aideen bought it because it brought back memories of her youth. La Fiachna, where she grew up on, was so far inland that seafood was rare, and what few they did get tended to be things that were considered imported luxuries. Her mother, as a Ptolodeccan, liked her seafood, however, and regularly snuck in some preserved seafood for the family’s perusal as a result.
One of Aideen’s childhood favorites was precisely that sort of small squid preserved in salt. Her mother would fry the salted squid in oil before shredding it over a bed of warm rice or mashed potatoes or the like, the strong salty flavor of the squid being a nostalgic memory for her. She especially loved the ones that had eggs in their bodies, the eggs having turned into a solid mass from the salt curing process with a strong briny taste.
Such creatures were seasonal and not necessarily available everywhere, though, especially the kind that had eggs contained within their bodies, so when Aideen saw that the merfolk woman had some, she bought them on the spot without hesitation.
Aideen even took the time to cook up some rice of the sort that was grown in her homeland and fried up some of the salted squid before she crumbled the eggs and shredded the fried, preserved squid flesh over the warm rice later that night. She enjoyed the simple meal with a wide, nostalgic smile on her face, together with the rest of the group.
For the rest, they found that it was a simpler meal than what they usually cooked up, but something about the taste had an addictive quality to it that made one want to keep eating more. In the end, they all ate more than they usually did that night, something Aideen clearly expected given that she cooked up plenty of rice from the start.
The road between Alfheim and the Kingdom Down Under was not the best maintained out there, but the regular mercantile traffic made it easy to spot in the open grasslands that covered nearly the entirety of Alfheim’s territory. The prairie itself was far from the safest, and only people who were completely certain of their ability to defend themselves would walk through it without joining a caravan.
Rather than have people ask them about why their group was traveling on their own every time they ran across others, Eilonwy just directly displayed her undead constructs which ranged out around the group and formed a secure perimeter a distance away from them. While there were only eleven of the constructs, anyone sensitive to mana would easily notice the power contained within each of the constructs, especially the one that Eilonwy fed with enough mana that it reached the power level of a Death Knight.
Even if one wasn’t sensitive to mana, just taking a closer look at Eilonwy’s undead constructs would have done the trick all the same. Partly due to their design, the constructs excelled at evoking a sense of mortal dread on those who watched them too closely, though the group, used as they were to undead constructs, were themselves unaffected.
There were occasional wild beasts too dumb to understand that they were dealing with things far beyond their capabilities that attacked the group at times, but such beasts were swiftly dispatched by the constructs. Most of the time, they ended up as the group’s dinner instead, except for that one time when they got a mangy wolf-like creature that looked diseased, which the group just left by the roadside instead.
Compared to a caravan, Aideen’s group actually traveled faster, the unliving members tireless and the three elven siblings naturals at sustaining a rapid pace for long distance travel. When one of the three got tired they could always hitch a ride on one of Eilonwy’s larger constructs anyway, helping recharge the mana consumed by the constructs in return.
They traveled by the day, and rested up once the sun started to set. The group’s journey was arguably more relaxed compared to most others, despite traveling the same dangerous roads. Part of it came from a confidence in their own power, and the security that it afforded them. Most wild beasts and monsters were smart enough to know not to mess with “creatures” far above them and left them alone, after all.
After all, predators tended to be aware of each other keenly and Aideen’s group, with their mana left on display, must have felt like some sort of monstrous predator going through the prairie to the keen senses and instincts of such creatures. The smart ones gave them a very wide berth, while other, more cautious ones hid themselves in their lairs.
As for the ones that were too stupid to realize the power disparity, they also generally posed no threat whatsoever to the group, and naturally posed no trouble whatsoever. In such a way the group made good time and saw Alfheim in the distance only a week and a half after they departed from the Kingdom Down Under.
