Is it wrong to be an Elf in a Dungeon?

...

Ember Pov

I dashed through the bushes, holding my bow in the arm and nocking the arrow quickly, I aimed at the moving target in front of me and released the bowstring. The arrow whizzed through the air and pierced the head of the deer, the animal released a painful howl before falling down and dying. I took a deep breath, joyful with my successful hunt.

"That was amazing!!", Riveria said as hugged me from the behind and started patting my head," I can't believe it! That was your first time on top of it!", she said with joy, I smiled and replied," Indeed sister! It went better than what I had expected", she looked at me with pride and said," Hmm, well you are my little brother, of course you would perform excellent!"

" Indeed, that was spectacular! His Highness not only managed to hit a fast-moving target like deer on his first try, but also did it while maneuvering through the bushes and piercing through deer's head!", Noel said, some other Elves who were with us started clapping as well, singing praises for me. I chuckled a bit embarrassed, but I was proud of my skills.

My race indeed has given an advantage when it comes to Archery, but in the end, it was my own hard work that made me to perform the kill with such precision. For myself from previous life it would not have been possible, sure one can expect to solve problems that would take the entire space of the board to solve in minutes but expecting me to do something Athletic was a pure fantasy for me back then.

With my first successful hunt I didn't stop yet, previously Elven soldiers had discovered a target for me, but this time I used what I had learned to discover targets and kill them, I managed to kill twelve animals, mostly deer, but some huge ass boars and other agile animals were there too. I also only shot fourteen times to kill the animals, one of my arrows missed, while other wasn't that fatal as I expected.

It did provide experience to me but well, others seemed impressed." Thirteen! You successfully hunted thirteen animals on your first hunt will using mere fifteen arrows! That's it! My brother is an Archery genius!!!", Riveria said from behind as she suddenly grabbed my shoulder with excitement, I laughed awkwardly before I was subjected to a flurry of kissed on my face.

' Sister!! Everyone is watching! What are you doing?!! It is so embarrassing or what I would like to say ', I thought deadpan as I wiped my cheek using a handkerchief while Riveria pouted," Ember! Your actions hurt your poor older sister", she complained, and I thought,' And your actions made me embarrass I can think of some rumors already making their way from the royal palace.'

I glanced at other Elves who looked away, with slightly flushed faces pretending to not have seen anything,' These guys ', I clicked my tongue in annoyance. " Well, your Highness you have hunted enough animals for the banquet ", Noel said to me as he bowed," Well, I guess Ember, you did hunt some huge animals that are usually hard to hunt even for adept Archers", my sister said agreeing with Noel.

We elves loved nature and trees, Elves did eat meat, but they always made sure to only kill animal if they are trying to hurt them, or when they need food. Elves tend to never kill more than unnecessary, but I am a Prince of Alf family, if I want, I can continue with my hunt, and only my elder sister will have power to stop me.

" No, it's unnecessary, though instructor Noel, I would like to see the monster hunt", I replied, I have already seen how my archery is, and I can say it was more than enough. I hadn't tested my Swordsmanship skills in real hunting; however, I have regular spars with soldiers honing my sword skills, thus I can lay it off from my list for today.

" Ember, I think it is still too early for you- Monsters are very powerful, even a weak one needs a group of Archers and Soldiers to put it down", Riveria said to me, nervousness and worry for me was visible in her eyes. I smiled and looking at her I replied," Sister, I know you love me. But I refuse to remain weak, I know what my position entails, but there are Elves who start fighting monsters as early as they are ten. So how can I cower when I am in the protection of an Elite squad, nonetheless?"

She hesitated," But Ember, it is still dangerous", seeing her hesitation I hugged her much to her surprise and looking in her eyes I said," Sister, I also want to see you in Action! Please let me come with you! Pleassseeee?", I tried my best, my shota power has weakened considerably, however I gained an equal amount of Handsome boy power, so my attacks are still deadly.

Riveria's ears turned red slightly at their end, and in the end, she nodded," Fine", I smiled and started jumping with happiness, Noel looked at us amused, while other Elves seemed to be moved? Weird, their expressions were weird, but I decided to ignore it, after all sometimes even I found it difficult to know what is cooking in their mind, never doubt the craziness of fanatics.

(A/N: Wondering what they are cooking in their mind...)

Thus, under Riveria's care and Noel's protection I was escorted to a fortress. There we met the Commander of Fortress, upon seeing me and Riveria, he and some other soldiers knelt, while the rest of them saluated us. " I greet His Highness and Her Highness", he said with respect and loyalty, Riveria nodded accepting his greeting and so did I, and Noel said," Sir Juriuf, Her Highness is here to join the monster hunt as a Magician, while His Highness is here to observe the bravery and skills of Elven soldiers, archers and mages!!"

The Elf, whom Noel called Juriuf gave a nod," I see, Her Highness does come here, so it wasn't surprising however for His Highness to come here it was a surprise for all of us... His Highness I promise on my Elven Honor, I would protect you during the hunt!", he said bowing to me, I said," Heads high, Sir Juriuf, I would like to present my gratitude for you providing me safety despite my impromptu decision."

He stood up, and said," Surely you jest, Your Highness, as an Elven soldier it is our duty to protect the Alf Family and the people, not to mention your life holds much more significance than us, which we will sure to protect", I narrowed my eyes hearing his words and sighed inwardly, yes, I totally get the reason why Riveria hated the attitude of Elves, in their eyes, we Royal Elves are the chosen ones to lead their race, to them, our lives matter more than them, sometimes even more than their families.

' But I would take this devotion over followers who can betray anytime ', I thought, I wasn't Riveria, and I preferred their attitude, it was my selfishness, but it was what it was. Thus, after small talk we finally departed under the safety of Elite Elven warriors, I decided to put up a small talk," Sir Juriuf, if I am not wrong fortress like this are built all around the Alf's forest, right?"

" Indeed, your Highness, around three hundred seventy-nine fortresses surround the entirety of Alf's forest stationed with countless Elven soldier, protecting the people from the monster. They don't form a circle; however, they do surround the entire Alf's Royal Forest in a zig-zag manner, on top of that seven great fortresses lie in the outermost perimeter of the Alf's Royal Forest", he said pausing for bit letting me ponder about his words.

I nodded after verifying that everything was as I have read in the book, and so getting my signal he continued," The Outermost Great Fortresses are around an Elfen City and are filled with High Level retired Elf Adventurers, and highly trained soldiers, with countless Elf Mages, they are the first line of defense of Alf's Royal Forest, and kill all the stronger monsters that usually approach the Forest, though many lower level monsters manage to slip through them, and the fortresses like ours in the inner area take care of them."

" Sir Juriuf, I assume this defense also works against invaders?", I asked with interest, while I was sure of the fact, I still asked to broaden my horizons. Juriuf with a nod replied," Indeed, Your Highness, they also work against invading armies, though most of the countries don't dare to attack us."

Yes, who would be foolish to attack a country filled with Magicians and excellent Archers, even if their magic is weaker than Adventurers' due to not having blessing of Falna, a group of well coordinate magicians can still unleash attack equivalent to Level 3s and even Level 4s, although they need a long-ass throat pain chant, the soldiers and Archers can easily grant them that time.

Most importantly, Elves are a very united race, at least White Elves are, all Elves respect Alf's Royal family, and if we are in trouble, all White Elves will come flocking back towards us to finish off the invaders, and if Orario's high-level Elves come here, then invading country is pretty much as good as doomed.

I again felt how good it is to be a Royal Elf belonging to Alf's family, soon we arrived at our destination and Juriuf said," We have arrived, soldiers take your position!", everyone heeded his command," Sir Juriuf, I will begin with my chant then, Ember please stand away", Riveria said, and they nodded, and I was taken away to stand.

"Efish Vir Meru Hshhimi...", Riveria started chanting the spell in Alfen, there were no Magic Circles forming around her, however I could feel the air around her behaving weirdly, she pointed her staff forward and soon a monster was running towards us, it was gravely wounded with several arrows piercing his body, my sister had completed the chant and quickly released the magic through the staff.

A huge beam of fire released out of the tip of the staff and shot the approaching monster blowing it to smithereens, the Elves started praising her as the monster fell dead, and vanished leaving a Magic stone, it was purple in color, and fairly big, I think. " That was amazing as always, Your Highness", praised Juriuf, and Noel nodded.

Riveria though just gave them a nod and looked at me with a smirk," How was it, Ember? Your Big Sister is amazing right?", she asked, I chuckled seeing her and said," Indeed that was amazing! You annihilated that monster with a single strike!", she giggled hearing my praise, pride appeared on her face. " Your Highness, that wasn't just any monster, it was a Level 2 monster", said Noel from my behind.

" Level 2?", I asked surprised, and Noel said," Indeed your Highness, Her Highness's Magic is indeed exceptional. There are 36 congenital Magics, out of which White Elves can use 12, her Highness has already mastered the strongest spells, I assume that in a little over two decades, her magical prowess will rival a Level 3."

Noel's words made me look at Riveria who seemed on cloud nine from all the praise,' Indeed, Riveria is not labelled as the Orario's strongest Magician for nothing ', I thought, while congenital Magic has a big-ass chant, has higher chance of Ignis Fatuus, and overall weaker than a magic used with Falna, it is still impressive to reach the prowess of Level 2 or 3 without Falna and while I read it in the books, seeing it in real life blows my mind.

Again, that made sense, if that wasn't the case the Elves would have been wiped away long ago when the Ancient Monsters had attacked us, after that we hunted a few more monsters, Riveria wiping away three more with magic before hitting her limit and had to drink a Magic potion to recover, the soldiers gracefully killed five more monsters themselves with no injuries whatsoever showing their skills.

Finally, we returned home at late night, after having a bath and dinner, I fell on my bed tired," Today was truly a wonderful day", I said to myself, tomorrow I will be fourteen, and in the celebration of my age coming ceremony a banquet was to be held, I yawned tired and decided to not think about it any further and fell to sleep.

To be continued...

(A/N: Sorry for the late chap! By mistake I timed this chapter to be uploaded at 12th instead of 11th Feb. Yeah, my mistake.)