Chapter 15 Changes

"Eep!" A small exhale of surprise left Aoif as Ali started to pick up speed

Almost reflexively I grab ahold of Aoifs waist to make sure that she doesn't fall

I go to let go but Aoif feeling this leans her body backwards going limp on me.

"Hold me" She demands, giving me a pleading look all the while.

Nodding I agree with the demand holding her closer to me.

Slowly a comfortable silence falls on both of us.

Ever since that new skill activated my guard had been let down around Aoif. It was as if just as she implicitly trusted me, so did I. There was this connection between us that was only noticeable now.

Just holding her close like I am now, felt…

It felt right like this is what I would want to do for the rest of my life.

Looking at Aoif I raise one of the hands holding her

That gets her attention, an annoyed expression forming on her face before I slowly lower my hand to her hair petting it.

"Nn" a sigh escaped her mouth before she snuggled up closer to me closing her eyes as she did so.

…

It wasn't long before we arrived back at my territory.

I almost didn't recognize it.

Everything was different, upon the thick trees that hid my territory there were houses.

Like an elven forest all the houses blended in with the trees seeming as if they were a natural addition instead of man made structures. The only reason I knew they were man made was that I could see the men that the Ash trees produced working up there.

I continued to move towards the center of my territory where my house is only to find a complete overhaul of the surroundings.

Instead of the usual surroundings of grass and dirt, it was replaced by several mature ash trees. Each ash tree was strategically placed to both give room for further evolutions of the house and conceal it from watchful eyes.

It accomplished this by making the groves of ash trees grow in the right spots to make it seem like they were just a natural extension of the forest surrounding us.

While the ash trees did not look like the surrounding trees they made up for this by planting several of the same trees nearby.

Those trees were several times larger than the ash trees which helped to cover the sky in leaves.

Once we had passed the grove I finally saw the house.

To mild surprise the outside of the house looked the same.

'Most likely because I never gave them permission to mess with my house only to develop the surroundings' I reason

I hop off Ali making sure to keep the sleeping Aoif held firmly in my hands.

"Oof" I grunt slightly at the impact of jumping off Ali.

Nervously looking at Aoif, I sighed in relief when I saw that she was still sleeping.

After the slight scare I head inside my house where I head straight for my bedroom.

I tuck Aoif into my bed ready to go hop into bed myself when I realize that I had not summoned today at all.

I hurriedly hopped back on Ali's back then went straight to the summoning pool

While riding there I checked on the rankings of the event since I had forgotten to do that being distracted by Aoif.

'Not that that was a bad thing… it was so pleasant' I think to myself absentmindedly opening the rankings.

[Ranking]

1. Darwin (5100)

2. Aoife (1200)

3. Mihr (160)

4. Anael (100)

5. Antiya (80)

…

It seems having Tama kill the Gaul that entire time was terribly efficient.

In just the short time I had been napping Tama was able to kill enough Gaul workers and Gaul queens to earn 4800 points, enough that even the top five all put together would not have enough points to outrank us.

By the time I had finished reviewing the rankings Ali had made it to the summoning pool

…

[Summon]

Just like how the last 2 summons had appeared this summoning was no different.

6 beings that I couldn't identify yet appeared without any fanfare, just a quick flash of light.

[Species: Ceryneian Hind]

[Tier/Level: 6/1]

[Skills: None]

[The Ceryneian Hind are fast on their hooves being able to travel great distances in the span of minutes they can also snort fire.It is said that the goddess Artemis uses 4 legendary Ceryneian hinds to pull her chariot]

The Ceryneian hinds were larger than a bull and had golden antlers other than that they looked like a regular doe.

Striding towards the summons I reached out my hand to one of them.

The Hind sniffed my hand before giving it a lick.

"Can I ride you?" I ask

The Ceryneian hind lowered itself to a height where I could mount its back.

Taking this as confirmation I got on its back.

I directed the hind to Melia, gesturing for Ali to also follow.

…

It didn't take long to find Melia, the most time consuming part of the trip was actually waiting for Ali to catch up.

"Melia, can you have some of the humans under you take Ali to find a mineral deposit"

Thinking on it for a moment Melia answers, "Yes, however it might take a while for that to happen our sla… Ahem… Subordinates need mining tools and carts to transport them"

"Alright in the short term I want you to have some of your subordinates go with Ali tomorrow to find an Iron deposit and have Ali mine it so that we can use the Iron to make tools."

After saying that I left Ali with Melia then headed straight home on the Hind.

…

I arrived home at a record pace.

It did not even take 2 minutes to get back.

As soon as I was back I headed straight back to the bed where I left Aoif.

Aoif was still there but instead of the tidy bed with her whole body tucked in I see her arms outstretched to the right as if they were trying to grasp something she knew wasn't there.

Seeing this I snuggle right into her hands holding her close before I close my eyes ready to sleep.