Chapter Thirty Four, Lord of Pyom.

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  "Did I come off too strong?" The voice spoke once more, echoing inside of her mind as if she was thinking the words herself.

  "In the name of the gods, who are you!?" Esmerelda shouted. She was shocked, confused. She was still on her ass, sitting on the ground, gazing up at the man before her.

  The... Human? She truly couldn't tell.

  "Ah... Perhaps I did..." He chuckled. Then he extended a hand.

  "My name is Jora. Just a... Wandering human... Is this the Romar forest?" His voice bounced around inside. Embarrassingly, she tried to shake it out, but that obviously didn't work. It only warranted another chuckle from the man.

  "Alright... My apologies!" His hand retreated, and he threw his palms up in defeat.

  Esmerelda cleared her throat, and she pushed herself to her feet.

  "How did you get here?..." She asked, her face scrunched in bewilderment?

  How did a human just... wander here?... The Romar forest was invisible to the outside world. Shielded by powerful spatial distortions, masked by the elements, hidden from the rest of Yara.

  "Ah..." The man nodded. "I was in a Dungeon when it collapsed. I was spit out here, just over that hill." He pointed backwards, near where she had first saw him.

  Her mouth fell slightly agape at those words.

  "You were... spit out? Here?... Of all places? The Luck...." She murmured to herself.

  "Yes, I agree." His head shook, "But, from what I can infer, as you are elf kind... That is indeed the Romar forest, correct?" He pointed back towards the tree-line behind her.

  This was a difficult situation.

  Romar was hidden away for a reason... There was countless treasures within, valuables, magics! Opportunities, and communities. The elven kind didn't necessarily enjoy mingling with outsiders much, for they often caused trouble...

  Though humans were usually among the population that took the kindness of elf kind, for what it was. The type to reciprocate, respect, and understand... Dwarves were hit or miss, sometimes they held respect, sometimes they were sneaky bastards. Orcs were savages, wild and madly disrespectful. They didn't respect the rules of the forest, and didn't listen to nature.

  Goblins were similar, dumb pillagers that tried to sneakily get their way while feigning ignorance.

  Gnomes were respectable people, on the level of humans, but better. There weren't any instances of Gnomes turning their back on the rules of the forest, but there were times when humans had.

  Giants were... They were of similar background. Loved, slightly hated.

  There were many races, and many of them had differing perceptions to the elven people. But some ruined it for the majority...

  The elves would always be wary of outsiders...

  However, there was a race that was completely respected among those of Ramor. The High Race that had the utmost respect from the elven people, were the dragons. Due to their power, and their personality.

  Of course, there had been instances of evil dragons, wreaking havoc through Romar. But the respectable dragons, were held to the highest. The most trustworthy, reputable, and honorable.

  Dragons were always allowed passage into Romar, half because of the fear of their power, and half for their status.

  But those were the old standards.

  Romar forest has been backed by an ancient old dragon for thousands of years now... No dragon would dare cause any damage.

  Esmerelda bit her lip.

  This was a situation for a higher power anyway... Better if she led him to an important figure.

  "Yeah. That is Romar forest." She replied, glancing back over her shoulder.

  The man smiled at her reply.

  "Lovely! I actually have some business here!" He clapped.

  She furrowed her brows. She wasn't sure if that was good or not. This human... He wasn't sent. No seal of anywhere. He just appeared.

  "Business?" She asked, warily.

  A slight blip of shock appeared on the man's face.

  "No, no, nothing... Despicable? I just would like to take a dive into your World Dungeon! I love a good challenge." Her head tilted.

  "That's it?..." She questioned.

  "...Yes?..." The man replied, confused.

  "That's all you want?" She rubbed the back of her neck.

  Surprised, to say the least.

  Everyone knew of Romar... From what she was taught, the outsiders treated it like a sacred sanctuary. Truthfully, it was...

  But all outsiders saw it as some place of fiction... Myth. A realm where dreams and treasure lied. If there was something you wanted. Something you dreamed of. It could be found in Romar.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  And this man only wanted to enter a World Dungeon?... There were at least five more of those in other locations on the continent... Tairn was massive, and World Dungeons were a few, but Romar was one of one...

  Maybe this man was just stupid.

  "Yes. I want to visit the World Dungeon here! I want to fight. Get some more experience!" He crossed his arms, each word being perfectly sounded throughout her head.

  "I see..." She flared her brows. "Well... Now that you're here, you're stuck. You can't leave without a key, so... I'll take you to my town's lord... He should be able to arrange all of this, and listen to your odd request." At that, she let out a small chuckle.

  The man smiled back at that.

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  Jora strode by her, staying in her peripheral as he followed her lead through the forest.

  'She's trusting.' He thought.

  "[In a way. I think she was decently cautious. But then again, she is rather young, just a girl. She can't do much anyway.]" Ana replied.

  'Indeed... Glad it worked out.'

  "[Good idea. Acting like a battle weirdo... Not lusting after their treasures should make this exchange a lot easier. Letting you enter their Dungeon is a simple enough request.]" Ana commended.

  "No killing animals. We have designated areas for that. The normal Dungeons, and monster zones." The girl, Esmerelda, listed more things.

  Jora didn't pay full attention, considering he was conversing with Ana, but he still gave responses and noted all the things she said.

  "No damaging nature. Unforgivable. You are not of this ecosystem, so you aren't allowed to effect it in any way. If you were accepted by nature, then you could hunt, but that won't happen." She explained deeper.

  "I see..." Jora nodded, his words filtering directly into her mind. Telepathy and Psionic Energy Control came greatly in handy in a situation like this. The language barrier was easily crossed, he entered her thoughts, and manipulated them. Communicating with her by making her think his intended thoughts, in his voice.

  Unfortunately, he didn't speak her language, so traditional Telepathy wasn't very helpful.

  Thankfully he was still able to read and control her mind, able to easily understand the words coming out of her mouth.

  In fact, he would likely need to speak her language to commune with the higher ups... He couldn't infiltrate their mind in the same way.

  On a whim, without much less than a quick thought.

  Jora flicked his finger.

  Concealing his power, a dark essence leapt out of his body, surrounding Esmerelda's head. Of course, she didn't notice, nor could any possible observer.

  He controlled himself, knowing his exact goals.

  Without any telling signs, he accelerated his time, and quickly used his Psionic Energy Control to rip her mind out of her body, eating it in one quick swoop.

  In the same instance, he consumed all of her memories, knowledge, and mental experiences, Bestowing them back onto her before her foot could even touch down on the ground.

  She continued to spew her words, and they continued to walk.

  Ana simply watched from the sidelines, cursing him out for the gall he had to do something as outlandish as consuming Esmerelda's memories in such a way.

  "[You're so stupid... I guarantee you that any elf official surely speaks the common language... That was just unnecessary! Think smarter! Come on!]" She yelled.

  Jora only smiled.

  'Did anything go wrong? No? Oh so then shut up!' He laughed mentally.

  Ana snarled, and he didn't take her one bit serious.

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  A man fell to the floor, a massive beast looming over.

  His life was over surely...

  A behemoth of a monster, dozens of times larger than he... Large enough to crush homes with a stomp... Adorned with thick fur, of a golden-green shade. Its massive maw hovered above him, jagged teeth spreading open.

  Saliva dripped near his feet, the bestial eyes that stared down into his soul, made him quiver.

  "Go back! Go back! This needs to be reported!" He wanted to turn towards the voices, but he didn't. Too much fear.

  He could hear the fear in the voices of the guards as well, just in the distance. Their feet scurried away, perhaps leaving him to die.

  Since when did Kynae travel so close to Pyom?

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  He closed his eyes.

  He chose to submit to his fate.

  An unlucky elf... One that chose to adventure out at the perfectly wrong time...

  Thud!

  Wind blasted through his body, making his face scrunch.

  His arms were thrown up, trying to block the dust that had impacted up into the air.

  Slowly, it all receded.

  His eyes reopened.

  A figure. Like a knight in shining armor!

  "Do you smell that good Worren?" A man playfully questioned. He stood atop the head of the beast, a sword dug into its skull. He smiled, his ears sticking through his sun-kissed blonde hair.

  He didn't look very old, some years into adulthood likely, but he was aware that wasn't accurate.

  "My lord!" Worren screamed, happiness in his voice.

  This figure, this shining knight, was Lord of Pyom, Lafayette! A young man in his second century, and a high S-ranker!

  Of course he could take out an S-rank Kynae with one blow!

  And he looked so cool doing it!

  Worren blushed, scrambling to his feet.

  Lafayette dropped down from atop the massive beast, sword in sheathe, equipped with a smile.

  "Next time, don't be so eager to leave town when I've issued a beast tide. Alright?" A hand was placed on Worren's shoulder, and the young adventurer froze up.

  "O-Of course Lord sir! I-I just thought it would be safe to leave from the north side! The beast tide warning was issued for the south side, was it not?" Worren stuttered.

  Lord Lafayette only laughed.

  "A beast tide is issued for the entire settlement, Worren. Sure, the tide actually occurred on the south side. But the migrations, the movements... Countless beasts get pushed out of their natural territory, either when consumed by the tide, or trying to avoid it. As you can see, this Kynae... they're usually pretty deep on the west front, but it ended up right here on the north side... Pyom is quite literally less than three minutes away!... Dangers lurk everywhere, always stay cautious!" Lafayette gave a good explanation, and Worren could only stare on in awe.

  The lord chuckled.

  "Pick up your jaw and get back to Pyom... Don't wanna lose a good man so early on to something so avoidable!" He pat Worren on the back, spinning the boy around and ushering him towards their town.

  "Ye-Yes sir!" Without much more hesitance, Worren dashed off for home.

  Lafayette watched him go, a smile on his face.

  And then he sighed.

  "So what do we have here?" He questioned, turning around.

  From a ways behind the corpse of the Kynae, foliage ruffled. Bushes parted, and a party of two entered the clearing.

  Lafayette tilted his head, and a surprised shout came his way.

  "Lord Lafayette! Thank the gods you're here! I am so sorry! This Kynae!..." The girl yelled frantically, her eyes rapidly darted back and forth between the corpse of the beast and the man who accompanied her.

  Lafayette's gaze hardened.

  It was a human...

  As the girl, who he knew to be Esmerelda Ashpalm, struggled to find her words, the man she was with stepped forward.

  "You are the town lord, correct? It's nice to meet you. My name is Jora! I sincerely apologize for this little mishap with this beast... It ran from my presence, concealing my strength slipped my mind..." The human bowed in sincerity.

  But that didn't mean much to Lafayette.

  The fact that the human knew how to speak Elvish, meant a lot more.

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