The Sword and The Shadow

I'm Annlelotte

Leguna smacked his forehead. Brani was looking at him now like she would a traitor. Skin color aside, she looked really similar to Eirinn and he couldn't quite face her like that.

"Mister Leguna, care to explain what this is about?" Brani asked gloomily.

Linq wasn't a core member of the house and his departure wouldn't affect the house much. Angelista, on the other hand, was a top-class executor. She was a precious resource which was necessary to hold the whole house together.

Currently, House Elvin had three high-order magi, namely, Wesley, Sol and Angelista. As Brani's blood relative, Wesley was also the leader of the magi in the house, as well as one of Brani's right hands. Angelista and Sol were new entrants which could be considered to be under probation.

Regardless, there was no changing how proud people like high-order magi were. If possible, Brani would be willing to trade a thousand of the house's slaves for a single magus who just stepped into the high order, so the importance of them to the house couldn't be understated.

Yet, Leguna was so blatantly going to take that magus from them.

Among the three magi, Brani counted on Wesley the most, but Angelista could very well be the strongest individual in the house apart from the matriarch. Her departure would pose some problems when the other houses came to attack House Elvin for payback.

How could Brani not be mad about it?

"Actually, this doesn't really have anything to do with this cherry boy Leguna here," Angelista said with a chuckle.

"Hey! Just talk about your matters properly! Why did you bother to mention that?!" Leguna yelled with his veins popping. Though he was already 21 and had quite a lot of power on the human side, he still had something he was quite ashamed about: his virginity.

According to human customs, men usually got children at the age of 18. It was even earlier for women at around 16. For someone with power and authority, they should have at least enough children for a cheerleading team at the age of 20.

For one, Leguna knew that Geoffrey had at least four illegitimate sons outside the palace. While Leguna didn't get along with Geoffrey, he had never thought about using his illegitimate sons to get at him. Leguna thought that he was superior to Geoffrey in many regards, save for the aspect of sex. Geoffrey completely blew him away on that front.

What choice did he have? Before he made it big, he was only a vagabond. He didn't have anything to offer anyone. But when he finally gained power, Annelotte, Eirinn and Innilis were staring hard at his every move. Now, he didn't dare to have the slightest lewd thought towards anybody else.

As for the three girls themselves, Annelotte was so fierce and there's no question that she'd turn him down. He couldn't even force his way given her strength.

Eirinn, on the other hand, was too pure. Before she was mentally ready, Leguna didn't want to do anything to harm her, especially if the fierce Annelotte had something to say about it.

And finally, Innilis was far too young. Though she had grown past 1.6 meters lately, her slightly childlike face still hadn't matured yet. If Leguna really made a move on her, he'd no doubt think of himself as a deviant scum. Not to mention, the fierce Annelotte would never let that happen.

It could be seen how much of a tragedy falling in love with a woman who could best him in a fight.

I knew I should've rolled in the trash piles with Eirinn when I had the chance back then! That was something he'd always think with despair whenever he was reminded of it. He should've had his way with Eirinn before he met Annelotte!

And as far as he knew, apart from him, only Alissanda was still pure and untouched. However, Leguna wondered why he would leave the obedient Lisana alone the whole time, choosing instead to lock swords with the other burly men in his unit every day. He reasoned Alissanda was either impotent or disinterested in women.

"Oh? Look who's unhappy? Want big sister here to school you on that then?" Angelista shot him a tempting gaze. Though she wasn't as pretty as Brani, she was still far above average among dark elves.

A single gaze from her was enough to daze Leguna somewhat, putting his inexperience out in the public for all to see.

"Stop changing the subject! If not because of Leguna, then why?!" Brani yelled, not being able to stand the charade any longer. However, she did regret not trying harder to seduce Leguna after hearing about his… condition.

Gassos and Jayla unconsciously put their hands on their sword hilts. It appeared that if Angelista's answer didn't satisfy Brani, the warriors would come to slay that traitor. Leguna wouldn't stand a chance if he had to fight them both at once.

[Are you still going to hide it at a time like this?] Angelista asked through her mental link.

[Whatever. If this can help you leave with no problems, I won't mind exposing myself. We're about to leave anyway,] Annelotte replied.

So, Angelista puffed her chest out proudly and proclaimed, "I'm going to the base plain to be a teacher! I'm also going to study magic with my teacher!"

Angelista's personality was quite off the rails just like Marolyt's. The way she made that announcement made it sound like she was expecting a huge round of applause.

Much to her surprise, however, everyone including Leguna and Annelotte kept silent. Their gazes told her she was being seen as a madman. She had often seen similar gazes cast at her.

While Angelista was confused at the response, she didn't know Brani and the rest were even more puzzled.

"Miss Angelista, you're saying that you're going to teach magic in the human realm?" Wesley asked hesitantly.

"That's not the point! I'm going to learn magic from my teacher!" As she said so, Angelista pointed at 'Eirinn'.

"Learning from Eirinn?!" Wesley felt an impending headache.

It appeared that the woman was crazier than they thought! Two years back when she broke through and became a high-order magus, she proclaimed confidently that she would take over House Kaert of Darklight. While it wasn't one of the seven houses, it was still a considerably powerful one.

It only ended with her being defeated and pursued with her tail between her legs. Ever since then, those of the seven houses saw her as a fun little circus animal. Perhaps her little antics could even benefit them surprisingly, so they extended a hand to protect her.

Now, two years later, did Angelista's pride cause her insanity to swell even more? She was going to learn magic from a priestess? She might as well learn swordsmanship from the matriarch then!

"I'm not Eirinn." Annelotte thought it too troublesome to let Angelista explain things. Since she no longer had to keep the secret, she stopped using Eirinn's bright, clear voice to speak. Instead, she spoke with her usual, deep voice.

She swept her gaze at everyone and removed her disguise. Since there were many magic practitioners among dark elves, she didn't rely on a magic glamor disguise. She listened to Leguna's suggestion and let Leguna help with her disguise.

As the disciple of the saint-realm assassin, Wayerliss, Leguna's skill with disguises was among the best. Not to mention, he was quite familiar with Annelotte and Eirinn's faces, so the make-up work was as easy as breathing for him. As for the initial divine miracle test Sala used on Annelotte, she managed to trick it using magic. As there wasn't that fundamental a difference between magic and divine miracles, the dark elves didn't notice the difference.

Their cooperation made the disguise practically perfect. Not a single elf could tell it was faked before Angelista revealed it.

First, we have Linq's escape. Then, Angelista decided to leave us. And now, even Eirinn isn't real. Today's surprises just keep coming…  Brani thought.

When she finished removing her disguise, Annelotte made a magus's salute to Brani. "Please allow me to introduce myself, Matriarch Brani. I'm Annelotte Ladis."