The Life of an Overpowered Elf

The Town of Greenwater was on the horizon, and the group stopped in awe.

"Is that a fucking castle?" Gale demanded when she saw Bree's home resting on a little island in the lake, a stone bridge with large wooden pillars connecting it to the mainland.

"That is a mansion," Billie said.

"Like hell," Vern shot back. "That thing's big enough to fit like three mansions inside of it; there are even towers on it!"

"At least one tower doesn't look connected to the main structure," Zoey noted. As their travel companions attempted to find a reason for the mansion in the lake, Billie's eyes turned yellow, and she spoke to all of her followers.

"I will be passing through the town; I am undercover, so do not approach me; if you do, you must pretend you don't know who I am," She heard all of her minions confirm, and she groaned before adding, "Not you Zoey,"

"Of course," Zoey replied with a blush, having been about to introduce herself to Billie as though they had never met.

"It looks like old Belin got himself an upgrade," Gunter decided. "Remarkable. I leave for two months, and so much changes…"

"Why don't we track down your wife and ask her about it?" Vern recommended, "I bet she misses you,"

"You just want me to go because it will give you time to try and track down that pretty little thing you were flirting with the last time you were here," Gunter chuckled back. "What was her name again? Marry, was it not?"

Vern let out a sigh and made a face Billie had yet to see him make; Vern, the man she had only ever seen be irritable and grump, had a face of pure bliss, "Oh, my darling Marry, I long to hold her in my arms,"

"I do not mind," Billie said happily. "In fac,t I insist we stay the night,"

Over the four days they had traveled together, Gunter had developed a secondary theory on who Billie was. Based on their casual conversations, the trio felt it was the more likely option but kept the slave trader thing as a possibility just to be safe.

"It's entirely possible," Gunter had said to his friends, " That Ms.Zoey is a runaway slave, and Billie is either guiding her to sanctuary or was the one who freed her and their escaping the country together." After saying that, Gale and Bern glared at Billie with a softer but stern gaze.

 "She seems fairly nice, but she somehow talked the guild into letting her pay 13 coins for us; slaver or not, she's gotta be good at talking her way around others, so there's no real way to be certain till we get to Reopes and have her investigated,"

"Surely you must have a friend here as well," Gunter noted. "After all, to get so many live crabs is no easy feat,"

"Why, I had the pleasure of meeting the former owner of the town, Belin," Billie replied.

"Former?" Gunter asked. "So old Belin finally gave in, did he?"

"From what I heard," Zoey interjected, "He traded it to an elf to regain his youth," The trio responded with laughter.

"That sounds like the kind of yarn Belin would spin," Gunter said through his laughter. 'It seems he's finally gone off the deep end." The trio walked towards the town but again stopped when they realized a fight was raging in their path.

"Is that Olu?" Gale asked. Vern visibly seized up in fear at the name while Gale clutched her sword. "If he's fighting alone, it must not be serious, but we should still…"

"I do believe the person he is fighting is his commanding officer," Billie noted as Jaden swung her mace at Olu, who sidestepped the attack and, holding his sword in both hands, seemingly disappeared only to reappear behind Jaden, who turned on the spot and halted the strike with her shield.

The Chain mace shot back to her, and she swung it at Olu, who once again rushed out of the way at such speed most onlookers would have sworn he teleported.

"You're getting slow, old timer," Jaden cried out as she shot her chain at Olu, who managed to dodge it. Jaden swung her arm, and the head of the mace lit on fire. She swerved back around at Olu, who jumped over it.

"If I was your enemy, I could easily cut this mace of yours," Olu noted calmly.

"Feel free to try," Jaden shot back as she ran up to Olu with her shield ready. Olu jumped over her and sliced his Katana down. Jaden once again blocked, but upon hitting her shield, it burst into flames, and his sword stuck in place as she swung at Olu. The chain wrapped around his feet this time, and she turned and swung him across the air and into the ground. After a moment, Olu picked himself up and brushed off his shoulder.

"Seems I'm not yet ready to take your place as leader," Olu noted. "My skills are still too heavily tilted towards killing my foe over incapacitating them,"

"You'll figure it out," Jaden declared confidently as she let go of her mace and Shield. They both exploded into flames, and Jaden absorbed the fire into one hand while using the other to catch Olu's sword and hand it back to him.

"That is Jaden!" Gale realized in shock, "When did she become a fighting mage!" Jaden and Olu noticed the approaching group and recognized them.

"Is that Abigale I hear?" Olu asked, turning his attention to them. "My, it's been quite some time; I was starting to think you three were avoiding me," Olu looked at them happily before his eyes went dark; even Billie shivered a little as he turned to Vern. "Where's your sword, boy?"

"Oh, my sword?" Vern asked with the fear of god etched into his voice. "The guild repossessed it to pay off my tab," a dark aura enveloped Olu, who began slowly drawing his blade. Vern's fear visibly increased, "But it's ok; once I finish this job, I'll have enough gold saved up to pay off my tab and get it back; it's not like I would let the katana you gave me rust in someone else's collection,"

Before Olu could speak, Billie looked to Vern as something clicked in her mind. If Olu gave someone a katana, it would have to be good, and she had seen only one katana worth having in the guild.

"Did this katana have gold trimming with ruby eyes in a dragon-shaped hilt?" Billie questioned as she recalled the katana she had purchased at the guild.

"Yeah, let me guess, you saw it on display, right?" Vern said nervously, "With how much they're asking for it, there's no way anyone would pay for it. Anyone with that kind of money makes requests to the guild in the mail, so it's…" Vern stopped talking when Billie reached into her inventory and pulled out the very topic of conversation.

"You mean this sword I bought at the guild was originally yours?" She questioned. The dark aura coming from Olu grew so intense it became visible to the naked eye.

"I will give you literally anything for that sword," Vern begged as Olu stared at him silently.

"Oh," Billie noted, sincerely not wanting to part with it, "I was gonna give this to a friend of mine as a present," During the trip, Bree had spent amble time musing over the sword, switching from using it for decoration to giving it to one of her followers, she had just decided to give it to Silver as a present since the Dullahan had a built-in love for swords even though he was specked to be a ranger. 

She reluctantly sighed, "I do not care to watch an innocent man die, so I suppose I'll give it back to you; just know you now owe me," Billie handed it to Vern, visibly not happy about it. Vern looked like he was about to cry as he bowed to her.

"Thank you," he said, nearly in tears as she shivered with terror, "Thank you so much," he held onto the sword and turned to Olu, who still looked pretty pissed, "See…nothing to worry about, no harm no foul,"

"You should be grateful your new friend is generous," Olu said as he began sheathing his sword. Before he could put it away, Zoey saw her chance to get vengeance on Vern for decking her mistress in the face.

"I sincerely doubt Billie sees him as a friend," Zoey noted, "especially after he decked her in the face," Olu's death aura returned with a vengeance. "I suppose she's just a very forgiving person,"

"I can see you're not," Billie noted as she scratched her cheek awkwardly. Olu drew his sword and pointed it at Vern.

"Since you have been without your blade for some time, allow me to give you a refresher course," Olu said.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly cut into your time; we are in a hurry after all, so…"

"I say," Gunter began running his fingers through his beard as he spoke, "Didn't Billie say we were spending the night?"

"Seems you have time now," Olu suddenly appeared behind Vern and put his hand on his shoulder. "Come," Olu walked away, and Vern followed, looking as though he was on his way to his execution.

"I see you hold a grudge," Gale noted to Zoey.

"I do not forgive easily," Zoey replied.

"Jaden, it's been too long," Gunter said, walking up to Jaden, who had silently laughed at the ordeal before her. "I see you've finally got your hands on your dream weapon, and they're enchanted, too,"

"A gift from the town's new leader," Jaden said. "They're out on business at the moment and aren't expected to be back for several more days, so I doubt you'll be able to meet them today,"

"So Belin did sell?" Gale said, shaking her head. "Seeing as monsters are still here; I'm guessing you're now a part of Ozama?"

"We are not," Jaden informed. "We are still very independent," Jaden motioned to the town. "I have duties to attend, so I can't stay much longer, but Belin has been hanging around the Crab stand since he no longer needs to run the town; I'm sure he'll happily answer your questions,"

"Gale?" Gunter pleaded, "Could you go get some information from Belin? I would like to spend some time with my wife,"

"Sure, dump all the responsibility on me," Gale said with a groan. Gunter thanked her with a bow and then rushed down the street, turning down a side lane and disappearing. "Guess you two are with me," Gale said with a groan. "Come on then, let's go say hi to Belin,"

The trio went down the street, and Billie instantly recognized Belin. He wore the same outfit as before: a Robe with a sash, which was more form-fitting and made of material that could withstand his movements so he didn't have to walk around shirtless.

"I was told Belin would be here," Gale said, looking around. Belin turned away from his Crab legs at the sound of his name. "But I'm not seeing him,"

"Why if it ain't Abigale," Belin said, making Gale freeze before turning to look at him, "How have you been?" He said with a grin.

"Belin!?" she demanded in shock, and he stood up. " What the hell happened to you?"

"Ah, yes!" Belin proudly hit his chest. I gave ownership of the town to my new Mistress, and in return, she restored my youth!" Belin laughed at the look on Gale's face.

"What kind of crazy sorceress can do that!?" She demanded before gasping, "Did you swear to serve under Demon Lord Mimzy? I heard he can his subordinates younger or something,"

"Oh no," Belin said, his eyes shining, "I sold out to a far more majestic creature; I now serve an actual elf,"

"Bullshit," Gale shot back, "Elfs are just fantasy stories that the Demon lords made up to keep humans away from their nations under threat of being turned into trees and what have you,"

"It is true!" Belin replied, "This elf was protecting the last of the natural population of Axol-lights when Jacob Razzor, son of Arlow Razzor, right-hand man to King Odren, Killed most of them off while she was away. She did to them as she did to me, Granted them great power, and turned them into Axol-Mights," at that exact moment, there was a crashing sound, and they turned to see Bertram and a few of his fellow Axol-mights apologizing as they helped clean up an upturned cart and returned the items to it.

"That was so staged," Bree realized when she saw Bertram give the cart owner a thumbs-up and realized it was Annie in a long cloak. Why they had felt the need to stag it was beyond her, though.

"Holly crap!" Gale turned back to Belin, her eyes demanding he tell her more.

"After teaching him a lesson, the elf freed his Centaur from their soul bind and left Jacob with the Centaur; upon finding Greenwater, she offered to return my youth and make some of my protector stronger if I allowed her to bring all those under her protecting to live here," 

On cue, Silver cried out loudly to clear the streets, and they watched as Orion came bounding around the corner on all four, with Silver riding in his saddle.

"Olu is training some rando," Silver declared. "I gotta get in on that action!" 

"A Giant cat and some kind of Cloaked Oni thing?" Gale demanded, dumbfounded.

"I believe Silver is a Dullahan, although I'm not sure what exactly a Dullahan is." Belin scratched his chin in thought before shaking his head. "But back to the story, as she was setting up to move here, one of my protectors betrayed me and revealed themselves to be a subordinate of Odren's; upon trying to kill the Elf, he was killed by an army of enraged monsters, even though he admittedly failed even properly to grab her attention," 

Belin chuckled at the memory of seeing Doren attempt to Soul-bind Bree and being scared and witless for a second before watching him repeatedly fail even to get her to notice he was attacking. 

"You're serious?" Gale demanded, "An actual Elf lives here?" Gale looked at him in shock before looking around and leaning in. "Is...is she as hot as the stories say Elfs are?"

"Her Beauty is stunning," Belin declared. "And she is very kind so long as you don't try to kill her or her subordinates," Gale suddenly seemed more interested in the mysterious elf while Billie chuckled before clapping to gain Gale's attention.

"As fascinating as this is, Zoey and I will go to the inn. Do try to meet us back here in the morning, won't you?"

"I'll inform Gunter and Vern," Gale said, waving them off. "So, how long are her ears?" Bree and Zoey left Gale to question Belin, and instead of going to the inn, once they turned the corner, Bree tapped her staff and was rendered invisible.

"Zoey, you may return to the Mansion until tomorrow; you're free to undo your Glamor and return to your usual clothing; just remember to re-do your Glamor; if you forget about the clothes, just say the Inn gave you some, and we should be all fine,"

"Happily, my Lady," Zoey said before zipping past her. Bree stood silently before floating up and racing to see what Olu was doing to Vern. Upon arriving, she found Olu had already finished with Vern and was now teaching Silver the art of defending against a faster opponent. As Silver and Olu classed their blades, Orion cheered them on, and she spotted Vern sitting to the side with a fair amount of bruises and lumps.

"Oh good," Bree let out a sigh of relief. "I was afraid Olu was going to use his blade, but he seems to have used a wooden sword on him," Upon looking at him, she noticed that the strap that once held the knife he had lost during the Boar Goblin attack had been replaced with his sword.

Bree was about to leave Vern to nurse his wounds when she saw a woman in a yellow sundress and sun hat holding a med kit walking towards him. She recognized her as similar to Daisy in race, a Minotarlike Equine. Upon getting a closer look, her long gray ears showed her to be a Minotorian Donkey Centaur.

"Marry," Vern said, his demeanor changing upon seeing her. The sigh of you is all I need to help nurse my wounds." Mary chuckled and smiled at him, showing off her crooked smile, which only made Vern swoon harder. She sat next to him and began nursing his bumps and bruises while he fawned over her.

"Hu," Bree looked at the scene in silence. I see he's a man of good taste," she decided before flying away to check on Gunter. Finding him took a fair bit longer, but his choice of apparel eventually gave him away. He was in the housing district; the home looked like any other building. 

He was being chastised by a tall, angry-looking Woman. Upon closer inspection, Bree identified her as not human but couldn't place her species.

She had long, pointed ears, black hair, and orange skin with darker red splotches around her body. To say she was stacked with muscle would be an understatement. She wore a plain white tank top and shorts and looked like she would take on Minerva in an arm wrestling contest.

"Do you know how worried I've been?" She demanded angrily. "You haven't sent me a letter in weeks,"

"Eileen," Gunter said as he stepped back, "I sent a letter last week; you know how long it takes for the mail to come out this far," Eileen crossed her arms and gave an irritated huff.

"I don't like how long you stay away," She said in a hurt voice. "I haven't seen you in months,"

"Don't worry," Gunter said, setting his staff down. "If the stories I'm hearing around here are true and an Elf has moved here, then I might just have to ask Jaden if her offer to have me join the Protectors is still valid,"

"You mean it!" Eileen sounded elated, "You're leaving the guild,"

"I have to finish this last mission and take my client to the Capital of Ozama, but after that, I think I'm done," Gunter smiled slyly. "More importantly, I think it's time we finally come together and start that family you always wanted," Eileen grabbed her Husband, and Bree flinched as his large wife nearly squashed him

"Oh, I've been waiting for years to hear you say that," Eileen leaned in close and whispered something to him; Gunter turned red at the words.

"Well," He said nervously, "my client is planning to stay the night," No more words were said as Eileen opened the door to their home and carried him inside.

"This is not something I need to be spying on," Bree realized, quickly zipping away from the couple. Upon landing, she activated her communication spell and spoke to Jaden.

"I would like to make it known that as thanks for being my guide, all three of the humans who traveled here with me are welcome to join the Protectors,"

"I am more than happy to oblige," Jaden replied. "We could use more people with some experience on their hands," Bree decided to check in on Gale and found her still talking to Belin. They had moved past talking about the 'mysterious elf' and were now talking about Gale's armor.

"My wife and I put a lot of gold into this sucker," Gale declared proudly. "Thanks to the communication spell, I can talk to her every night regardless of where I am," Gale sighed. "Gods, I miss seeing her face every morning,"

"Ah, but you are heading to Reopes, are you not?" Belin asked before blinking and shaking his head. "I can't help but notice you've been demoted in rank again,"

"Yeah," Gale replied, "our last client was talking shit, and Vale decked the bastard; come to think of it, he almost always ends up beating on whoever hires us; it's a wonder Billie didn't decline us, even after being told we were liable to run out on her,"

"This Billie woman seems to be fairly nice," Belin noted. "Yet I sense you don't like her for some reason,"

"Ah, that Zoey person she's traveling with is a Glamored monster," Gale said. Bree stood in silence as she looked at Gale "and obeys her every word, telltale signs of an enslavement charm, at least that's what we think,"

"Oh God dammit," Bree face palmed herself in irritation. "Zoey must have let her tail slip,"

"But you found them in Irenfell and are taking her to Argits Domain," Belin noted while Bree panicked above. "Would it not also be possible she is attempting to take a runaway slave to safety?" Bree silently thanked Belin as Gale shrugged.

"We thought that too, but can't tell for certain," Gale shrugged. "But I told my wife and the guards will use magic to confirm if Zoey is a slave or not, so if all's good, I'll just have to find some way to apologize to her for calling her a slave trader,"

"Well, great," Bree groaned. "Now I have to figure out how to deal with all of this," Bree floated over the town as she tried to think of a way out.

"If they appraise me, they'll either find out I'm an elf, and this entire thing will have been for naught, or they won't be able to appraise me and might attack, and as Gale just said, even if I have Zoey undo her Glamour they'll still check for the spell just to be safe," 

"Oh well," Bree decided, "I suppose I can still make this work somehow,"

With the sun slowly rising, Bree summoned Zoey to her, and she appeared, now wearing her Maids outfit; Bree herself was now wearing a white trench coat with a purple fur shawl on her shoulders, a white undershirt, a pair of black pants, dress shoes, and a single red velvet glove on her right hand.

"I am ready to be glamoured," Zoey declared with a bow.

"Oh, no need," Bree said with a wave. "Your glamor had been found out somehow." Zoey was silent momentarily before changing from a bow to a groveling stance.

"I'm so sorry," She said, "The Crab legs were so good, and while I was lost in flavor, I let my tail wag like that of a lowly dog,"

"Oh, well, no worries," Bree said, waving her apologies away. "In retrospect, I should have had you act more human or have told them you were my sworn servant. Sadly, they plan to appraise you upon entering the city, and when that fails, they'll attempt to do so on me, and that will also fail, and I'm not one to surrender myself." Bree got up and smiled at Zoey, who looked like she would cry.

"Don't worry," She said, lightly patting her on the head to soothe her nerves, "On the bright side, if they think you are a slave, then the force in which they attempt to deal with me should prove enough of a judgment of character to answer my question of worthiness,"

"May I ask about your current clothing? Zoey inquired.

"Just figured I should spice up the human disguise, is all," Bree replied as she pulled on the trenchcoat, "now let us make haste to the Crab stand,"

"Happily, Mistress!" Zoey cheered in response. The two reached the stand and found Vern eating a few crab claws.

"Man, this stuff is good," He said as he failed to notice Zoey and Billie sit on either side of him.

"I agree," Zoey declared as the stand owner instantly gave Billie crab legs, having been asked to do so by Belin. Vern looked over at Zoey and nearly choked upon seeing her and Billie. While he succeeded in not choking, he failed to stay upright as he fell backward and onto the ground. Zoey propped her stool back up with her tail before wrapping it back around her waist and eating.

"Why, of all things?" He demanded as he looked at Billie and found her in a new outfit as well, "Is she dressed like a Maid?" he asked.

"That is my job," Zoey replied flatly.

"Oh, sweet heavens," Gale said, cutting Vern off from saying anything else as she ran to Zoey with a shine in her eyes. "Look at your little ears; You're so cute I could just eat you up,"

"Isn't she," Billie added, making Zoey blush at the compliment.

"So," Gale said, turning to Billie, "Care to explain why your friend was in a Glamore?"

"You're joking, right? You expect me to let her walk around Irenfell out in the open?"

"I hoped as much," Gunter declared, marking his arrival. "That said, I'll still be keeping an eye on you, but I see you took Vern's advice and upgraded your wardrobe,"

"Oh no, we had these all along," Billie noted, "But walking around in a maid outfit would make Zoey stick out, and she refuses to wear anything else, so me walking around like this with her in disguises just made me feel bad,"

"Yet you kept the staff," Vern noted as he picked himself up.

"I dislike being unarmed," Billie informed him curtly.

"Well then," Gunter said as he looked at the path before them. "Shall we be off to Reopes then?"

"Indeed we shall," Billie confirmed as the group set off from Greenwater.