My Brother Pulled Me Into Another World

The one who spoke was Elan de Lunaris, the son of King Emyth with her first queen and the current crown prince of Valareth. His platinum white hair was a noticeable feature from the Lunaris elven Family.

"I am not sure, your highness. I have asked for advice from Priestess Ydrith at the temple, but she said that she had not witnessed any magic like that in her life." Takehiko replied. To be honest, Takehiko does not even know why he was requested to join the investigation party.

"That adds more reason why we need to investigate it." Prince Elan replied.

Ever since Takehiko arrived in Zariya, people have been good to him until recently. He was surprised waking up in a white space after he felt at peace when he lost consciousness after the doctor said that the treatment was not working. He was then chosen by the Goddess Sefie and God Hades to be their adopted son. It was a whirlwind of events, but he remembers his previous life and his brief stint in the divine realm. The next thing he knew was seeing the confused and shocked faces of the king and the priestess outside Valareth. Takehiko was thankful that he was able to live again.

Takei was the name that elves had called him since then. They had problems pronouncing Takehiko in one go. He had given up correcting them. He even quickly adapted to the elven culture though it was not an easy transition. Their monk-like lifestyle is far from the things that he was used to back in Japan. Even though learning elven culture is hard, he was really excited being an elf. If he is able to see his friends or even his brother from his former life, he would definitely boast about it. Not everyone gets reborn as an elf. His only wish was if he could see his older brother again. He always includes that wish with his prayers every night.

But having a college student's soul in a ten-year-old elven boy has perks. While being enthusiastic with learning the elven culture and magic basics, Takehiko is wary of the intentions of people around him. He developed this since he and his brother lived and not all the time his brother was there especially, when his brother was working with odd jobs all the time when growing up. Ever since the red-haired human woman arrived in Valareth and became queen, he started to put distance with people around him, especially the king of elves. He could feel something was not quite right whenever that woman was present. He stayed with the priestess Ydrith but he could feel something uncomfortable around the woman within Valareth. Takehiko's thoughts were disrupted when one of the elven warriors spoke. "Should we set up camp here Sir Alistair?"

"Let's camp here for the night. We will enter the Springs tomorrow morning." Alistair commanded and as if on cue, two elven mages set up <Mana Barriers> to prevent the fog creeping to their camping spot.

Takihiko watched the mages perform <Mana Barrier>. He noticed something swaying from afar. It was an eerie green glow like a firefly in the middle of the fog. He stood up and walked over to the direction of the dancing light.

"Black Saint!" Alistair quickly noticed the unusual fixation of the black-haired elf. He quickly looked at the direction and saw the eerie green light dancing in the air.

"Takei!" The prince noticed which prompted the rest of the elven party to stand their ground.

Being noticed by others, the eerie green light quickly darted further away and disappeared into the fog.

"Sir Alistair, Prince Elan, you seemed shaken." Takehiko calmly spoke. He felt ominous when he saw the light and it spoke to him.

"What was that?" Alistair asked as he sheathed back his sword. They are in the vicinity of the Spring of Origin. There is a dense fog in the area that is used by the slimes to their advantage. The fog is infused with mana that disrupts any senses of any living being while the slimes are immune to it. He was cautious because based on the reports surrounding the area, if anyone strayed too far, the slimes would take the opportunity to latch on to anything that wanders to their territory and slowly consume them by dissolving their prey into juices.

"A sprite." Takehiko replied.

"Sprites?" Prince Elan asked. "They usually are secretive creatures, but their territory is located at the northeastern part of the forest. They usually don't stray this far."

"I think they also are investigating the mysterious light, your highness." Alistair speculated. According to the intelligence he gathered before they left, the orcs and goblin tribes sent small parties to investigate but ended up in skirmish against each other. He never saw a fairy exist until today since they don't appear to anyone like the dryads. Once they were thought to have been extinct, but an appearance today may change the political landscape.

"Should we contact them?" Prince Elan suggested looking hopefully to the direction where the glowing light disappeared.

Ever since the appearance of Queen Eliseyah, the political structure of Valareth has been volatile. While the queen's power has been growing, it grew at the cost of breaking off with relationships like the goblin and orc clans which had gone instantly sour while ministers foolishly followed as she swayed them with her charm. But if one would view suggestions, it looked absurd and in fact unreasonable. Because other demi humans like goblins and orcs don't look like humans unlike elves and dwarves, she viewed them as mere wild monsters. Relations with the beastmen instantly broke down as well. Her careless words based on her opinions affected a lot of views on elves. However, he was powerless as the king of Valareth has been favoring that woman ever since her arrival. The king showed unnatural indifference to his children and even Takei whom the king treated like a son when Takei first arrived.

The appearance of sprite is a golden opportunity for Prince Elan. If he can secure a power that is not within the reach of the current queen of elves, he might have a chance to prove the minister's wrong doings. Prince Elan then spoke, "If it's possible we can re-establish communications with them. Their re-emergence would be beneficial to us."

"Maybe that's just a firefly." Galvalen nonchalantly commented. .

"Galvalen, watch your mouth?" Alistair glared at his son who had forgotten that he was talking to the successor of the King of Valareth. He is part of the elven army and he could not believe that his son who axed his etiquette lessons forgot basic formality with royalty.

"Don't worry Sir Alistair, he is my cousin after all." Prince Elan smiled.

"Oh right, I forgot, your highness." Galvalen shrugged as if it was nothing.

"I apologize for his rudeness, your highness. I would need to speak with Galvalen for a moment. Please excuse us." Alistair can't help but get mad and pull Galvalen to a side. But aside from being mad due to the disrespect, he was worried. He had noticed his drastic changes with his behavior after he was ȧssigned to the Queen's Pillar and it has been getting worse day by day.

"Act normal. The sprite is warning us." Takehiko whispered to Prince Elan as the father and son duo left.

"A warning? What warning?" Prince Elan whispered back. He was surprised but since Takehiko asked him to act normal, he decided to maintain his facial expression.

"A traitor. Golden leash. Blood. That's what the sprite said before it ran away." Takehiko whispered the cryptic message to the prince. This will be a pain for Takehiko because it was the first time that he may actually battle someone else.

"Blood… Someone would probably want to spill my blood. So, she had made her move." Prince Elan soon realized who wanted him dead. In a political sense, the next successor should be the princess, but she disappeared a year ago. The next in line would be him and Eliseyah's half-blood son, Veris. It would make sense if someone lost their lives during a party who went to investigate the mysterious light. "She is quite sloppy to plan this out, but I can't deny she is fast to make this up in a short period of time."

"Better for us to stick together since we don't know who among them wants your blood." Takehiko glanced at the elves who were fixing the camps.

"It's weird that I will be relying on a ten-year-old elf whereas it should be me that should be protecting you." Prince Elan smiled. He himself is eighteen years old but he knew it is wrong to ȧssume just by age alone. This ten-year-old elf is not the average elf either. This elf child in front of him is a holy being according to Priestess Ydrith. He who was blessed both by the God of Creation and the Goddess of Land, and a prodigy in magic.. A child of the gods they worship since immemorial.