Chapter 13: A day in Lodos with Aura part 2

"What is even wrong with you? How dare you bully someone so beautiful and fragile?!"

A small group of six elves was walking on the path that led to the outside as one of them shouted those accusing words.

At the front was Mica who was still angry at Aura for hitting Mare. Just behind her were the twins with Aura walking right behind Mica whilst having an annoyed expression on her face. Behind her back was the cowering Mare who was actually using his sister as a shield from Mica.

Right after Mica had heard him getting hit, she had stormed into the room and grabbed him away from his sister whilst giving his sister a thorough lecture. In the meantime, she was hugging him ever so tightly to her chest to the point it became incredibly embarrassing and uncomfortable for him. Of course, she would never be able to actually suffocate him as that would require immense physical strength or some kind of high tiered spell, but the very sensation of being "squeezed" by this elf girl made Mare incredibly weary of Mica.

So at least for now he would keep as much distance as he could from her.

"Mica-sama, you mustn't be rude to the emissaries. Besides, they're clearly siblings so it's usual for the older sibling to educate the younger one. It would be best not to get mixed up."

Behind the twins, at the very back, walked the three elves who had escorted Mica all the way up to the twins' chamber. These three elves all were part of the demon troupe and had to somehow get along with Aura for the rest of the day as they took her with them. So naturally they would put in some effort to try and get on Aura's good side, even if it meant getting in the way of Mica's tantrums.

All this did however was earn them a meaningful glare from Mica saying something along the lines of "you three will get it later." or something like that…

The three elves all looked ruefully at each other and decided that it everything considered it would be best not to risk something like that again. After all, Mica was the granddaughter of the tribe's grand elder. And even he did not receive much respect from her so what would he say if she decided to bash them up.

The answer was "probably nothing".

After this, there was a fragile moment of silence as the group finally left the dark elves' cave and entered into the forest where the rest of the Demon hunting Troupe was already waiting for them.

Aura's senses hadn't been wrong as the small group of elves stepped outside of the cave. The sun had already risen and was shining upon the somewhat impressive company of demi-humans that stood outside waiting for them. About twenty well-built dark elves awaited them in front of the cave. Amazingly, some of them were even mounted on what appeared to be a giant wolf, but much more ferocious. The beast's color was mostly white with some grey in the mix, but that didn't diminish its imposing look and bloodthirsty aura that repelled any and all who dared to approach except for its riders.

Besides the five or six elves on its back, there were also supplies and backpacks strapped to it as they hung from the wolf's saddle. What stood out most were the numerous bows and quivers that stuck out from various places on the saddle. Evidently, these elves used ranged weapons as their primary tool for hunting as few of them seemed to be armed with swords.

All the elves that were waiting for them were armed with bows and quivers and all had at least a small dagger or knife strapped to their waist. All were wearing what looked like leather armor, although what the leather was made from was impossible to determine. Of course, to Mare and Aura their equipment didn't even warrant a passing glance as in Yggdrasil terms it would be difficult to even rate this garbage as "common" level equipment.

Standing at the head of the group was a dark elf that possessed a much more dominating aura than the rest. He wasn't particularly well built compared to the most muscular elves of the bunch. But he gave off a sense of danger that none of the others did which seemed to stem from his experience as a veteran of the forest and its many dangers.

This was Arthon Red Leaf. He was the second son of the Red Leaf Clan, which was one of the five biggest clans inside the tribe. His older brother had been named the clan's successor and replacement for the current clan head. So he had been forced to become a proper contributor to the wellbeing of the dark elf tribe whilst his brother stayed inside the clan's main home and concerned himself with logistics and petty matters.

He himself didn't let it get to him as he trained hard and about forty years ago became vice-captain after the previous one had died during an ambush on the troupe by a demonic kin. One would think that he would be frightened by taking a job where his predecessor had been mauled so badly that what was left of him they could burry by a quarter of a normal grave. But he was thrilled as one did need a purpose in life, especially in a life that lasted as long as an elf's. Otherwise you were liable to go insane from the passing of time. He had found his purpose in climbing up the ranks of the hunter troupe and rising to one day become the greatest ranger in the tribe, the one that all other tribesmen would look at with veneration and respect as they would praise him for being their shield and knife in the dark against the demon beasts and their kin.

As such, when he heard about how he was forced to spend the day with some foreign elf child, he had become rather depressed. This to the point that he was planning to reject the mission until Camus himself had come and talked to him personally about how the elder had insisted.

Haah… guess there's nothing to do but go along with this facade. Oh well we might as well go out hunting while we're at it. No reason to let this child drag us down no matter what the elder says. Since that child wanted to come along so badly, I'll show him a good time.

Seeing the giant wolf that some of the elves were riding on, Aura got excited as she hurriedly started running towards it to get a closer look. All to be stopped midway by Arthon who blocked her path.

"You're Aura?" asked Arthon coolly as he tried to size up what caliber of ranger this elf child was.

"Yup," was the indifferent reply that Aura gave as she almost didn't notice Arthon and instead was fully focused on the giant white wolf. All this irked the vice-captain greatly as he looked at Aura with a venomous gaze. This child had actually finagled its way into forcing him to take it with the troupe and he was actually being so disrespectful towards the one in charge?

Ridiculous!

"Aura-sama! We will be going to the ritual site of the tribe now! Do come find us when you have returned. Don't worry, I'll take good care of Mare-sama whilst you are gone!"

Aura twitched as behind her a shrill voice rang out and called out to her. When she turned around, she saw as Mare was actually being pulled along by Mica, this was happening as he looked at his sister with teary eyes similar to someone in dire straits.

"Oi, you brat, you dare do anything funny to Mare and I'll come and find you personally! Be prepared!"

"Yes, yes, I heard you loud and clear, Aura-sama! Now, Mare-sama, why don't you tell me all about yourself as we walk to the ritual site. Like what kind of hobbies do you have and what do you like or dislike…"

"Oi!"

Aura was still enraged as she watched Mica almost completely ignore her as she and Mare walked along with him still half uncertain whether or not he should just run.

In the meantime, Arthon had just about enough of the spectacle and grabbed Aura by the collar as he threw her onto the giant wolf.

"Get on kid, we don't have all day!"

Surprisingly, Aura did not land on the beast with a large "plump" sound and instead twisted her body in midair to land gracefully on the beast's back.

"Fine, fine, let's go then… stupid brat, where does she get off being so arrogant?"

Arthon's brows furrowed a bit as he was slightly surprised by Aura's athletic ability to be able to land so perfectly after being thrown by him, but decided that at least this much should be expected from a brat that had the gall to request to go along with their troupe.

"Oh, this one's fur is surprisingly soft, although not as soft as Fenrir's it still doesn't lose out much. Well, that is to be expected from something so cute."

Hearing those words from Aura, Arthon couldn't help but chuckle. That just now was a very obvious bluff aimed directly at him in order to put on a brave front. But as if he wouldn't see through something that stupid. After all, who in their right minds would call their "White Death" a cute beast?

This wolf was a demonic kin that they had painstakingly obtained from its dying mother and then raised as the tribe's guardian beast. Without this wolf acting as their transportation, it became basically impossible to traverse the parts of the forest that contained other beasts with a demonic lineage. It was comparable to humans using an elephant to traverse the forest when other options failed. But this beast was more than transportation. The tribe had been truly lucky with this find as this particular wolf was powerful enough to claim part of the forest as his territory which the elves used as farming grounds and for the ritualist site. Without his markings, there would never be a part of the forest that would be safe for long.

"All right, enough jokes! We're setting off! Everyone get on the wolf and let's make for Bear claw. If we're lucky, we'll find some good prey today!"

With those words, all the elves hopped onto the wolf's back. Some climbed onto the giant saddle whilst others just grabbed onto the fur as best they could. Not long after this was done, the leader then took out a small silver whistle and blew it.

Immediately, the wolf responded as it lead out an incredibly deep howl that shook the very trees around it and sped off into the heart of the forest.

The hunt had officially begun.

AA: consider this extra-large chapter an apology for missing out. From now on I am completely free and will be posting these chaps much more regularly and will make them bigger than the last ones.

And as always

Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown