Elves

'Well then, may I offer you an apple?'

While I said it with all politeness the apple I grew next to him was yellow. A little shock would be a fitting punishment for scaring me.

"Judging by the concentrated lightning magic in that apple I fear that only lightning practitioners could safely consume this apple. Sadly I must decline your generous offer."

He knew... Sad!

'Well, then how about these two?'

I offered both a nature apple as well as a vibrant apple next. Epli could hardly contain himself after seeing the nature apple. With an explosion of strength I hadn't thought him capable of, he propelled himself towards the apple.

I could hardly watch as he tore into the apple like a savage beast into a carcass. The apple was gone within seconds.

"Do you have more of those?"

'Sure, but what do I get out of it?'

"Well, since we elves will aid you in all future matters, shouldn't we be rewarded. You see, this apple is extremely beneficial to us elves, especially for the growth of our young ones. Wouldn't bolstering your forces be good?"

'So your loyalty will be mine alone? If I tell you to kill your king, will you do it?'

"We don't have a king. My mother, the queen has multiple... lovers but her crown will be given only to my little sister. And no, I wouldn't kill her on your command."

'Then you aren't part of MY forces and I have no need to bolster your power.'

He looked a little shocked. It would seem I had hit the nail on the head. They were here based on orders and a prophecy and had no intention of truly serving me.

"I... I cannot promise you my full loyalty but please believe me, we will serve you well."

This was developing into a serious problem. I didn't have people who were truly loyal to me. That was how it had been with Nerida and that was how it would be with these elves. So long as they believed following me was the best course of action they would support me. However, the second a more viable path presented itself, they would take it.

I couldn't blame them for being opportunistic. They had no reason to follow me to the bitter end. Nerida always put her clan first and the elves seemed completely loyal to their queen. They could only commit to one thing and in this case, that wasn't me!

\u003cYou might not have any followers now but you can change that. There are candidates that could become your followers, like Sven or maybe Aldi. Also, you should accept the elves, they will be useful until you have your own followers.\u003e

Another thing on my to-do list.

"Lord Eldar? Are you alright?"

Oh, I had temporarily forgotten about Epli. My internal monologue had taken too much time and worried him.

'I'm fine. I was merely lost in thoughts.'

"About those apples then... They would be of great use to us."

'I have decided that every elf will receive one such apple for serving me. Additional apples can be received through meritorious services.'

Now it was Epli's turn to fall into contemplation. He clearly wanted more apples but he needed to serve me for the time being whether I gave them to him or not. With a long sigh, he bade me goodbye and descended to the remains of the town.

That was another mess I should clean up right away. Miraculously not a single building had been destroyed during my unexpected growth. The buildings were just displaced on different platforms of hardened soil on various levels.

I had neglected the state of these affairs below me since my evolution and decided to first mess around with my new abilities. The town's people meanwhile had managed to calm down. In the beginning, they had feared the world was ending with all clamor and shaking going on. Only after the tremors had disappeared without a trace did they realize that the world was still intact.

Linking the chaos to my sudden growth was also something that they were still capable of doing. Some of them would no doubt think of me as evil, others might think I was avenging my petty grievances but the truth was they were just of low priority to me.

I gained no massive benefit from these people's presence here. Had they all died, Utgard would have sent others.

Still, I should extend a helping hand now that the initial chaos had subsided.