Chapter 6: grim premonitions
Camus watched as the two twins and Ainz walked away before shifting his gaze back to the Elder. He opened his mouth to say something but was halted by the elder's hand rising to indicate that he should remain quiet.
The elder's other hand ruffled around inside his robe before taking out what looked like a black stone that emanated a faint purple glow. The elder gripped the stone tightly before a magic aura spread out from it and covered the entire courtyard in a veil like membrane.
"Now we can talk freely."
The elder must have been wary of that ranger elf boy who naturally would have good hearing and could obviously not be allowed to hear what was about to be said.
"Elder, why on earth would you agree with such a blatant request for total submission? Those children may promise us the heavens, but in the end it is their master who must deliver. Considering he is an undead like the priest has said, isn't it too dangerous to affiliate ourselves with such a figure?"
Camus had been anxious from the moment he had heard the elder's words. Right now, he couldn't be bothered about the human called Momon as this matter concerned the well-being of the entire tribe.
"Huhu… Camus, you are still just barely 250 years old. You have not seen enough of the world to understand just how vast and profound the world outside is. And also…
"You did not see the eyes of that elf boy when he thought that I was going to reject his master's proposal."
Even Camus could see that the elder slightly shuddered when he said those last words. The elder was a druid on the level that no one in the human world could compare to and even he was afraid for some reason.
"Listen well, Camus, and remember these words! Tomorrow you are to tell your men and especially that deputy of yours to treat that elf kid with the utmost respect and care. That child may look like a little lamb that just learned how to walk, but I can assure you that he is more frightening than you can imagine and I firmly believe he has the personal strength to back it up. As for that elf girl, something tells me that her magic power may not even lose out to my own. Although I am unable to sense even the slightest bit of earthly magic from her, it is precisely because I can't that I think that she is hiding her true strength."
Camus had been listening in disbelief to the elder's words but in the end had no choice but to believe them. Servants of a master that could massacre entire armies with a single spell would naturally not be ordinary either. Especially since the two of them seemed to possess some level of status with their title of 'Floor Guardian'. He decided to put his doubts aside and simply do as he was told regarding this matter. However, that still left plenty of other things to discuss.
"What about the demon beasts and their kin?"
Hearing this question, the elder's face lit up as a slight smirk broke his otherwise unmoving visage.
"As we suspected, the Crimson Half-Dragon that took over the mountain has begun to quarrel with the White Moon Wolf who previously ruled over our patch of the forest. It's as if something scared it away from the mountain and forced it to look for new grounds. Because of his new conquest, all the other beasts have become weary of everything, including us dark elves. I fear that a vicious struggle between those two monsters may burn our entire forest to cinders."
The power of the half-dragon was especially troublesome and dangerous. Although it had originally been just a hybrid of a giant rock-lizard and a mountain dragon, after its transformation it had obtained the ability to breathe demonic flames, which, if unleashed, would burn the entire forest down before dying out. Not even the elder could prevent that.
Originally, the elves had lived in a part of the forest that formed the neutral region between the borders of two demonic beasts, but now the half-dragon of the mountain had begun his search for new land and challenged the demon wolf which caught the elves in the crossfire.
Now the elves needed to deal with not just one, but two demon beasts or their entire source of food would be reduced to nothing. This was why even though the elder would prefer not to, he was forced to accept Aura's proposal and promise submission in exchange for safety.
Suddenly, the elder's eyes widened as if he had felt some kind of dark chill flowing through him as he anxiously stared at Camus and hastily spoke.
"Camus, whatever you do tomorrow… do not anger or provoke that human Momon. I know of your grievances with humans, but please, I beg you… don't bring calamity upon us."
Camus widened his eyes when he heard the word 'beg' from the elder's mouth. He naturally would never do something if the elder forbade it, but to see him asking something so pleadingly left him dumbfounded.
But when he thought about having to be polite around a human…
Kill it! Kill it! In the name of the God of Light, purge this filth and its kin!
Camus mind could not help but wonder to those horrible times. All the while, his hatred and killing intent boiled up again despite the elder's words.
"I will remember what the elder has told me."
Camus spoke softly as he bowed to the elder and left. Even if there were still other things to discuss, he felt that it would be a waste of breath as the elder and himself would not be able to come up with any solutions to their problems right now.
Watching him leave, the elder could not help but sigh. He was not stupid enough to believe that his words had gotten through to Camus, but his duty to watch someone as dangerous as Momon could not be handed to anyone else right now.
The elder looked up into the sky, or rather what should have been a sky and instead was only the ceiling of the cavern, dark and uninspiring and yet the elder's point of focus seemed to be something far beyond that as he softly spoke with a tired and slow voice.
"Great ancient elder… I have done as you asked. Have you truly made the right choice this time?"
Aside from him and a handful of others, not a single soul in the tribe knew of a secret so old that it predated their history in Lodos Forest. Before the fall of the ancient dark elf nation that ruled over all the western and central forest and ousted the elven kings from their thrones, twelve mighty dark elf elders ruled over their race and protected them from even the dragon lords. When the six beings renowned by humans as the Six Great Gods released humans from their satrapy status and freed them from the dark elves' hold, they killed ten of these great elders in the process. One had gone missing after the migration, but the last one hadn't. Even now that last elder had remained and continued to watch over the dark elf tribe from the shadows.
Usually this ancient entity was a bystander and remained quiet as time went on, but today it had sent a simple message containing six words to the elven elder.
"Momon is not to be provoked!"
These simple words had shaken the elder to his core and might have even shaved off some years of his lifespan. But it didn't matter. The ancient ancestral elder's words were like decrees from heaven. No matter what, they would not be ignored or taken lightly. Not while the current elder was still alive.
Of course, the elder had heard about what Ainz Ooal Gown had done in the Slane Theocracy and had unwillingly turned the event into a minor celebration for the tribe just because even back then they could use some good news. But even when Ainz Ooal Gown's name had been mentioned, the ancient elder had remained mute. So why would he speak up when the human Momon was concerned?
All of this left even the elder confused and dazzled while he hoped that soon everything would become clear. The divination priest of the tribe foretold that a great event that would decide the future of the tribe was coming and it made the elder wonder…
"Will it be Ainz Ooal Gown that changes our destiny? Or will perhaps this human Momon somehow change our fate?"
The future was clouded in uncertainty as the female caretaker closed her book and walked up to the elder with some medicine in hand. It was time for her to begin the elder's daily treatment and it was time for the tribe to fall in slumber as tomorrow…
A whole new day was about to begin.
AA: another day another chapter! so that we're all on the same page here: the tribe thinks that Mare is a girl and Aura a boy! if i make any mistakes regarding their gender please keeps this in mind. also for future reference: demon beast= one of the five original corrupted beasts that rule over Lodos, demonic beasts= their kin with demonic lineage.
please follow and favorite as i really really want this story to be able to crack top three. no matter how shallow that dream might seem!
anyways that's all for now and remember!
GLORY TO AINZ OOAL GOWN!