Fishing
“That… is not possible,” the dwarf couldn’t help interrupting, “gnomes are a kind, gentle race. There must be some sort of mistake.”
“There were five, six witnesses,” the chief shook his head, “so to prevent further loss, we expelled them from the village.”
“By sealing the entrance to the gnome burrow?” the elf asked lightly.
“Hem… the youngsters in the village did that, I wasn’t too sure myself.”
“Then what happened to the gnome that caused it.”
“It was executed.”
“Then, could we examine the body?”
The chief looked at the elf, after a while, he replied slowly, “the body of the gnome was hung out by the poisoned field, as a warning.”
“Please take us to see it.” the elf nodded slightly, replying.
“As you wish,” the chief shook his head again, “I just don’t see how that would help.”
At the north side of the village, there really was a barren field, next to a sign hung a small, dried body, the sign said ‘field destroyer’.
The elf silently examined the body. After the first shock, the dwarf bravely came forward to observe as well.
“If there’s no problems, my lords,” the chief said coughing, “I must take my leave. It gets cool at night, and these old bones isn’t what it used to be. If you plan to continue on to the Mage’s Ring – Academy, you should rest soon as well.”
The elf didn’t reply, but the dwarf cried out in distress.
“This… isn’t a gnome, it’s a goblin!”
“How do you explain this?” the elf looked at the chief, his face calm as usual.
After a moment of shock, the chief finally said.
“Ahem, that… very sorry, I don’t really know the difference between a gnome and a goblin as the sir here calls it. Perhaps it is as he says, there is some misunderstanding.”
“Perhaps one or two infected gnomes became goblins?” the elf said, “I hear that magical creatures have a high mutation rate.”
The dwarf seemed to want to argue, but the expression in the elf’s eyes stopped him.
The chief released a breath, “Y…yes, that might be it.”
“But this might still be a misunderstanding,” the elf nodded, “how about this, the loss done to this village, allow us to make up for it, of course we will also help prevent further damage to the fields. Let’s end this today, tomorrow we will help arrange for the gnomes to leave this village, would that be a good solution?”
“That… that would be best,” the chief hesitated for a moment, before replying.
“Good, thank you for your hard work,” the elf smiled slightly, making a ‘please’(1) gesture to the chief, “let’s head back.”
When the returned to the inn, and the doors were closed, the dwarf could wait to speak.
“Mr.Ellen! Gnomes can’t mutate into Goblins! Those are two different species altogether!”
“I know,” the elf smiled, “Julian, can you lend me a piece of paper and pen?”(2)
“Yes, Mr.Ellen,” the dwarf handed his notebook over, “but what is it for?”
“When he heard about the compensation, he didn’t seem happy at all.” The elf took the notebook from the dwarf, tearing out two pages, and started to write, speaking all the while, “additionally, I have known only one other person who called the Mage Academy the Mage’s Ring, and that was the Mage Anna.”
“I know that too,” the dwarf nodded “but it’s just an older way of calling it, is that a problem?”
“It’s not that big of a problem, but I still want to try.” The elf smiled, “To see if I can hook a fish.”
He took the notebook and walked out.
The chief heard the knock on his door.
“Please come in, the door is not locked.” He said
“Excuse me,” the elf walked in smiling kindly, handing him a note, “I have estimated the loss and written it down, if you could sign this, we will take responsibility for sending the reimburs.e.m.e.nt request.”
“Thank you for your concern.” The chief nodded, looking at the note, he immediately frowned.
“Fireball Spell… that’s wrong? This is – ahem.”
“Ah, sorry, that’s the wrong page,” the elf looked at the note, looking as if he suddenly realized something, and took another page out of the notebook, handing it over along with the pen, “this should be the correct one – please sign down on the left.”
“Al, alright. – Will this do?” the chief signed the page quickly, then returned the note to the elf.
“That should do it, then I’ll see myself out.” Without looking at the note, the elf turned and left.
“How’s the fishing?” seeing the elf return, the knight grinned, asking.
“I think he took the bait,” the elf returned the notebook to the dwarf, “thank you for the bait, Julian.”
The dwarf received the book in confusion, taking out the note, he looked at it, frowning.
“Mr.Ellen, that’s wrong. Below the t.i.tle Fireball Spell, it’s clearly the incantation for a Wind Spell.”
“The chief also said something similar – more precisely, he was planning to say it, but stopped just in time.”
“Interesting,” the knight nodded, “why would he know that?”
“Exactly,” the elf smiled, “as a ‘normal person’ who can’t tell the difference between a gnome and a goblin, he knows a little too much.”
“So the chief is a mage,” the dwarf said in a small voice, “but why would he want to kill the gnomes… unless…”
“Probably it is as you think, for ‘that’,” the elf said, “but, I told him that the gnomes would move out tomorrow. If he wants to act without anyone noticing, tonight is his last chance. – As for now… hmm, we should take a rest and sleep.”
“I’m not tired at all.” The siren complained, “Ellen, can I use illusions tonight? – I can’t forgive a bad guy who makes people starve!”
“Depending on the situation,” the elf patted his head, “at the moment I still wish for you to be able to protect yourself.”
“Since there’s still time,” the dwarf said, “I can modify Mr.Frank’s shield. What design would you want on it?”
“A Unicorn.” The knight replied.
“Eh? Wh… Why a unicorn?”
“Because we are the ‘Unicorn Legion’,” the siren interrupted, “the organization that specializes in protecting magical creatures!”
The dwarf looked at the knight and the elf, the knight nodded, and the elf just smiled. – But neither disagreed with the siren.
“The Unicorn Legion…” the dwarf raised a hand, and pinched himself hard, “I’m not dreaming, right?”
Nighttime at the Gnome Village was silent, the last lights in the ‘Gnome Inn’ were turned off.
The man crept down the hall, lightly approaching the room’s door, and listened for movement inside.
–Good, those annoying people were sleeping soundly.
So he straightened, holding the unlit lamp, and ‘cane’, he silently left through the front door of the inn.