Chapter 168 Traveling To Elfhiem

<Kiruya POV>

A few days had passed and Shaman's group was getting ready to leave the Freya forest. Currently, Kiruya was talking to Freja in her office about an issue involving Shaman.

"I need you to help Shaman with stopping Elysia from becoming some crazy yandere incapable of letting anyone near Shaman." Freja had planned to do it herself, but because of the pressing matters of the fox realm, it was hard to set aside time.

"Me? I mean sure, but you're the expert when it comes to this sort of stuff." Kiruya didn't have much experience and Freja was her second relationship she has ever had.

"Trust yourself a bit more, I even prepared a book for different kinds of scenarios. It's not like I can't help you at all, I just can't physically be there." Freja pulled out a book and a small black box.

"In the box is a small crystal that can communicate with me directly, so whenever you need some help, please use it to call me. You can even take out the crystal while something is happening so that I can give you some advice on the go." Freja pushed the items at the end of the desk and Kiruya stored the box in her inventory while opening the book to see what was inside.

"Wow, you really did cover everything." Kiruya flicked through the book, which was filled with a myriad of oddly specific situations, with different branches of things to say for different effects. There was even a page about herself and her personality.

"Fufu~ I have dealt with every kind of woman in my life, I'm sure my guide will be of great help." Freja was rather proud as she had worked on this book for several years and it had come in handy when meeting new people she was interested in.

"Aha thank you, but I'm still unsure how I'm supposed to approach this." Kiruya was happy to help Shaman, but the situation seemed so complicated.

"At the end of the book there should be some tips, but what I can tell you right now is, don't try to seem like you are breaking them up, otherwise Elysia will try to strangle you." Freja knew that for anything that seemed like a threat, the first thing that goes through Elysia's mind is how to kill or remove said threat.

Kiruya nodded and started to formulate ways to approach the situation at hand.

"Alright, I think I have a way to help, but I will definitely need that advice on the go." Kiruya planned to keep the crystal on her whenever approaching the situation, as getting live feedback would be extremely useful.

"Just be careful, I may not always be available, so I recommend trying closer to the evening as I will just be in my office unless something comes up."

"Got it."

"If you have no more questions, get going before they leave without you and enjoy your trip with your new friends." Freja smiled and quickly got up to give Kiruya a goodbye kiss.

***

<Shaman POV>

"Are you ready to go Elysia?" Currently in their room, Shaman was making sure they had put everything they needed in their inventory. Shaman also made sure they had plenty of spare clothes as they tend to get ruined quite frequently.

"Yep!" Elysia had come out of the bathroom wearing a red sweater and skirt and walked over to Shaman.

"Sheesh what was taking you so long." Shaman had been waiting for almost 30 minutes.

"I-I, uhhh… was busy." Elysia blushed as she knew they were going on a long trip and needed time to prepare herself for the lack of action during that time.

"If that's the case why didn't you ask me?" Shaman instantly knew what Elysia was doing and wondered why she didn't ask.

"B-because it would make it worse since it would only make me crave it more." Elysia put her fingers together, shy to fully admit why.

"Oh aha well, since you're done, let's not keep everyone else waiting." Shaman grabbed Elysia by the hand and walked out of the room to the front gate.

*

Silver, Kiruya and Clara were already waiting at the gate, with Clara looking rather impatient.

"We were supposed to leave 30 minutes ago." Clara tried to not sound angry, but was annoyed that they took so long.

"Aha sorry." Shaman didn't want to say why, but Clara and Kiruya had already made their assumptions about why they took so long.

"No need to be annoyed Clara, at least now there won't be a super clingy Elysia." Kiruya saw the light in the situation and figured it would be better if they weren't pent up while on their trip. Elysia had looked down at the ground, letting her hair cover her face to hide the blush.

*Sigh* "You're right, let's get going." Clara couldn't argue against Kiruya so she had to give up and move on.

"Why do you like to do it so much?" Silver, who had been in the other room when they were first together, didn't understand why they liked to do it so much. However, the comment had hit Shaman directly in the soul as she didn't want to remember how Silver was only in the next room over when he was a small wolf.

"B-because we enjoy it and have desires, now please try to forget you ever saw or heard anything." Shaman quickly spoke, trying to salvage the situation as she wanted to keep Silver somewhat innocent despite being able to murder people without mercy.

"Hmm okay, but it sounds fun."

Shaman face palmed as the innocence was still there and yet at the same time it was something she didn't expect to hear from her son any time soon. Elysia had covered her face with her hands as it was extremely embarrassing to think about how their son had basically seen or at least heard everything they did.

"Pfft, haha" Both Clara and Kiruya laughed, as watching Shaman desperately trying to protect Silver was entertaining.

"L-let's just move on." Shaman pulled Elysia by the arm and walked ahead of everyone.

*

Picking up a few lizard mounts for the 5 of them, they soon approached the gate where the battle had occurred.

"What about the wild beasts, or did Freja do her thing again?" Shaman was still concerned about the forest, hoping it was safe.

"Oh don't worry, the mounts are from the forest, so as long as you don't make too much noise or aggravate the beasts, we will be completely fine." Kiruya explained the situation, which put Shaman's worries at ease.

The gate was a large structure made out of wood and heavily reinforced with nature magic. The gate was then lowered into the ground, allowing them to pass through and exit the forest.

"You sure cleaned up quickly." only A few days had passed and already the entire front was cleaned as if nothing ever happened at all.

"Once again the maids came in handy. No matter the damage, they can still restore the forest to a certain degree as long as it isn't completely destroyed." Kiruya had led the repairs after her talk with Clara and only took a few hours to clean up.

Shaman nodded once again, amazed by the maid's capabilities to basically do anything.

Moving along the trail, the mounts had walked through at a moderate pace to avoid disturbing anything in the forest. Once out, they were met with hills and open fields as well as some towns that could be barely seen in the distance.

"We will be heading through the fox realm into Elfheim, so we should have easy passage until we reach the border." Kiruya explained their route and had taken the lead as she pretty much knew the entire realm off by heart.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Just as last time, Shaman and Elysia were on one mount while Clara and Silver were on another one together. Shaman wanted Silver to be with her, but because there were no bigger mounts and no way she could let Elysia be with Clara, it was better for him to just go with Clara.

The mounts picked up the pace and so the journey to Elfheim capital began.

***

<Somewhere in the Elfhiem royal palace>

A rather young elf boy was training with a sword and bow in what looked like a courtyard.

"Ren! Your father requests for you." An elf maid had called out from the entrance of the courtyard, causing Ren to stop his training.

"What does he want?" Putting away the sword in its sheath, he looked at the maid wanting the reason.

"He said we should be receiving guests soon and wanted you to greet them when they arrive."

"And why does that matter, I'm 19 now. Why do I have to stay cooped up in the palace still?" Ren had sounded rather annoyed still having to follow his father's orders and wanted nothing more than to get out.

"He wants to talk about something else, but he didn't say what and I heard the visitors are adventurers so it could be your ticket out."

Ren's ears twitched a little bit at the maid's words as it was rare for anyone aside from nobles to visit.

'Maybe he wants me to do dungeons with them.' Ren smiled, knowing that he might be finally able to leave without having his back constantly watched.

"Alright fine I will see him" Ren wiped away the sweat and walked out of the courtyard to his father's office.