Master Of None

Chapter 339 - 339. Smell Of Poison

"So what do you think they will be like? The queen said one already had a title like us right?" Remey was a little nervous but much more excited to meet another title holder. The party had only met royalty so far. The elf queen was different since she had a unique title compared to other elf queens, but it was still one acquired through their becoming royalty. 

"I would bet one of them should be after the speedster title. That is the most popular of the story books children read about elves." Su was recalling the story of the elf who had lost their family to a fire because they were too slow to warn the others for help. After the elf's loss, they tried to be faster and faster so that they would never be too late again. In their pursuit of this, they became the fastest creature on the planet and was given the speedster title. 

"Oh yeah, that should be nice. They can distract the small slimes while we deal with the massive one." Remey could only imagine a speedy elf jumping around poking slimes then disappearing in a gust of wind. 

"I hope one is training for an archery title. I would like to try and learn a few things." Gil knew that he would be limited in the skills he could use since the elves still had yet to figure out his system. He wanted to keep it under wraps so he would not put the party at risk. 

Walker heard the hope and worry in Gil's voice and wanted to try and cheer him up. But he knew that this would go on until they either were completely trusted by the elves or they bound themselves to certain rules about Gil's arcane marksman system. 

"Maybe one of them will be able to hide in the forest like an assassin. It would make sense that an elf who lived and trained in the forest would be able to somehow hide themselves to sneak attack." Walker was operating off of the fact that the enforcers had cloaks that helped them camouflage in to the forest while they patrolled. There was surely an elf that specialized in this. 

The door opened while the party was chatting about their theories. Midnight looked at the female elf that entered and stepped back a little ways. She could smell poisonous plants and knew that it was best to keep her distance. "Sister says that the woman has something poisonous on her." Onyx let the others know what Midnight had smelled. 

"Hello, It appears I am the first here. My name is Alma and I will be traveling with you to take care of the queen's request." Walker couldn't help but wonder why someone so polite would have poisonous things on her, especially ones that made Midnight back away. "I have heard that you all spoke with the queen on a few matters, but I am not sure how she came to her conclusions. May I ask you to clarify for me?" 

Her eyes were locked on Walker, she had not seen the party speak because the hall had been restricted to the elders and the queen, but she had been watching as the party entered. "That would depend on why you want to know. The queen and I had a rather private conversation to reach our agreement." This surprised Alma since she had already read the spoken words of the meeting. 

She had rushed to meet the scribe as soon as the meeting ended and read the entire encounter before it even reached the documents room. "I shall be the next queen trained by the current queen. I have a right to know any and all information pertaining to the elven people I shall protect." Her arrogance was not easily hidden in her words. She was standing tall announcing her position without shame. 

"So we are going to be joined by future elven royalty? That's kind of cool." Gil smiled and nudged Walker. 

"I would agree, a future queen...should I take it you are training under the queen then? That must be a lot of hard work. She has a lot of natural mana at her disposal." Walker did not want to say anything insulting, but with what he had learned from the queen unless the first completely died she would live forever. This meant that the queen could stay queen forever. This elf girl could never ascend to the throne if the current queen did not want it which it to be so.

"Of course, I was chosen for my system and began training at the young age of fifty." She sounded even more proud to throw around the high age she had begun. For humans, fifty was half their life, but for an elf, it was nothing but a moment.

"Well If you would like to enlighten us on your system and abilities we can start to strategize. We will be working together of course." Walker saw that Su and Gil were waiting to jump in to the different strategies they could use together with their new addition. Gil wanted to figure out what skills he should or should not use and Su wanted to decide on how she would position herself to protect all of them. 

Alma looked like she was filled with even more pride seeing the humans before her being so eager to learn about her and the system she boasted. She did not hold back in the least, I am the user of the Forest whisperer system. I can make any plant I whisper to bend to my will. The vines that the queen controls will even listen to me if I am polite." She said this like it was a world breaking achievement. 

"That would explain the smell then. I take it you use poisonous plants with you to slowly defeat your opponents?" Su saw the connection immediately. There was no other way to connect the dots. 

"I smell?.." Alma looked like she had been slapped, this human immediately insulted her. 

"Don't be surprised that Midnight sniffed out the poisonous plants you have with you. A dragon has an incredible sense of smell. Actually I can smell it too, not as well though." Walker sniffed a little picking up a toxic bitter smell wafting from Alma. 

"I had hopes of surprising you with my new blue ivy. "Come out my friend." a blue green vine slithered from under her robes wrapping around her arms. "I have grown and crossbred this ivy for the last five years and created my blue ivy. It only poisons people when I tell it to." She cuddled a leaf like it was her pet. 

Seeing the poisonous plant treated this way put the entire party on edge. They all made a mental note not to accidentally bump in to her when they were out in the forest. This future queen could be a terrifying enemy to have, they would be defeated with just a touch and not even know it.

The door swung open again, this time a taller elf man walked in dragging another shorter elf girl. "Sorry for being late, this girl just can't help but run away every time someone calls on her. It's like some foolish game." The man was still shaking his head as the shorter girl tried to pry herself from his grip. 

"I swear Wade when I get free I am going to run all the way to the ocean. Then when you walk all the way to get me I will run back." Her threat just made the elf holding her shake his head more. 

"As she said, my name is Wade. I am glad to see Alma has made it here ahead of us. Have you told them of our systems yet?" The elf by the name of Wade was ready to jump in to the main topic and get in the way after the massive slime. His can do attitude blew away the slightly creepy feeling from Alma and her blue ivy. 

"I was just showing off my blue ivy. It looks really cute right Wade? What do you think Calen?" Alma let the ivy slither towards the shorter elf girl. 

"No way are you touching me with any plants! The last time you made me paralyzed for a week!." Wade released his grip and the girl named Calen. 

In the moment Calen was free she started to flit about the room with amazing speed. She was not quite a blur but keeping up with her was a tiring endeavor. "Now that stupid blue ivy can't touch me." Alma's reaction to Calen's words were horror inducing to say the least. The blue ivy began to grow from under her robes. Small yellow flowers bloomed and dropped seeds as they wilted. 

"Who is worried you will run? You are still in the forest, are you not?"

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