Free Web NovelChapter 27: Out of the Frying Pan
The heat radiating from beneath Vince’s bare feet wasn’t a hallucination.
As his vision cleared, he realized he was bound tightly to a massive, rune-carved wooden stake. The ground beneath him had already been lit, a circle of emerald-tinted elven flames licking at the dry brush surrounding his ankles. Standing in a wide semi-circle before him were dozens of elven warriors clad in elegant, leaf-shaped silver armor, their bows drawn, eyes cold and completely devoid of mercy.
An elderly elf with a long, braided silver beard stepped forward, holding a glowing staff. "Human upstart," the elder proclaimed, his voice echoing across the ancient clearing. "Long ago, during the Battle of Races, an absolute truce was signed in blood. No human shall tread upon elven roots, and no elf shall walk human soil. The penalty for breaching this sacred boundary is absolute: death by the purifying flame."
Vince grunted, secretly flexing his forearms. He tried to tap into his Micro-Kinetic Harmonic to shatter the bindings, but the ropes were woven from ancient iron-vine—completely immune to external kinetic disruption.
Display Vince commanded urgently in his mind. Purchase a localized strength burst or a teleportation scroll. Now.
Silence.
System! Respond! Vince snarled internally. The translucent interface didn’t even flicker. The system had completely snubbed him, leaving him entirely to his own luck.
Realizing his cheat code was offline, Vince forced a calm, arrogant smirk onto his face, relying entirely on his wits. "Let’s be reasonable here, elders," Vince called out, his voice smooth despite the rising heat. "I am no agent of the human crown. In fact, I am a fugitive from the Owen Duchy. If it’s resources, intelligence, or tactical knowledge of the human military you want, I can provide it. Name your price."
The elven elder didn’t even blink. "The dirt of the human world holds no value in the wildwoods, upstart. Your life is forfeit."
The flames leaped higher, the intense heat beginning to scorch the edges of Vince’s stolen trousers. He tightened his jaw, preparing himself to face the worst.
CRASH!
Suddenly, the solemn execution ritual dissolved into pure chaos. A hooded elf, sprinting frantically through the back lines as if in a massive hurry, tripped over a protruding root. She went flying forward, crashing directly into the structural foundation of the stake. The impact shattered the lit braziers, scattering the volatile emerald fire outward into the surrounding dry tents and sacred shrubbery.
"Fire! The ancestral brush is burning!" someone screamed.
The disciplined elven lines instantly broke. The magic users in the crowd immediately rushed forward, chanting incantations to quench the spreading magical blaze before it consumed the canopy. In the absolute pandemonium, the structural ropes holding Vince to the tilting stake slacked just enough.
With a brutal twist of his torso, Vince slipped out of the iron-vine bindings, dropping to the mossy ground. He didn’t look back. He sprinted toward the edge of the clearing, ready to put miles between himself and the stake.
But as he broke through the perimeter, he spotted the hooded elf who had caused the accident. She was huddled behind a silver-leaf bush, clutching her ankle, her breath hitching in pain. She had severely sprained it during the fall, and with the guards rushing around, she was bound to be caught and punished for ruining the ritual.
A rare, uncharacteristic surge of sympathy hit Vince’s chest. She did technically save my life, even if it was an accident.
Before she could even register his presence, Vince scooped her up into his arms in a fluid, athletic motion. She let out a muffled gasp as Vince used his top physical speed to vault over a fallen log, plunging deep into a remote, isolated clearing miles away from the execution grounds.
He set her down gently against a mossy boulder. Safe from immediate danger, Vince let out a ragged breath and tried his luck one more time. System. Open shop.
`[Ding! System Shop Active. Available Balance: 500 System Tokens.]`
"Oh, so you answer now?" Vince muttered through his teeth, silently cursing the interface. "Where was that prompt when my feet were being roasted?"
He didn’t waste time. He pulled up the inventory screen. Purchase: [Low-Tier Rejuvenation Potion].
`[Transaction Successful. -100 System Tokens. Current Balance: 400 Tokens.]`
A small vial filled with a shimmering translucent liquid appeared in his palm. Vince knelt before the stunned elf, gently taking her delicate, swollen foot in his hand and popping the cork. He rubbed the cooling liquid directly over her bruised ankle. Within seconds, a soft green light glowed, the swelling vanished, and the bone seamlessly snapped back into perfect alignment.
The elf blinked, rotating her foot in astonishment. "Why... why did you help me?" she asked, her voice soft and melodious. "You were the prisoner."
"Is it bad that I felt the urge to help someone in need?" Vince replied, leaning back against a tree trunk with a casual shrug.
"But you barely know me," she countered, tilting her head.
"Do I need to?" Vince replied, offering a faint, confident smile.
There was a long, quiet pause. As if feeling suddenly shy under his steady gaze, she reached up and slowly pulled down her hood.
Vince’s breath caught in his throat, his usual composure failing him for a split second. She was stunning. Her face possessed a literal, faint ethereal glow, framed by cascading, silken yellowish hair. Her eyes were a vibrant, deep emerald green, and her long, pointy ears twitched slightly in the breeze. Her elegant forest robe covered most of her body, but even the loose fabric couldn’t completely hide her magnificent curves and a perfectly shaped, medium-sized chest that rose and fell with her steady breathing.
"You’re... gorgeous," Vince said honestly, completely staring.
A deep blush instantly flushed across her flawless cheeks. "Don’t... don’t say things like that out loud!" she whispered defensively, looking away. "I am Lyrielle Everwood."
"Ummm. I’m... I’m Vince," he said, clearing his throat to find his words.
"Well, thanks for helping me, Vince," Lyrielle said, quickly dusting off her robe and standing up. "But I really gotta go before the sentries track the mana from that potion."
As she turned to leave, Vince quickly stepped into her path. "Mind if I come with you? Seeing as I don’t exactly have a place to go, and the locals aren’t exactly throwing me a welcome party."
Lyrielle crossed her arms, looking him up and down. "You were almost burned at the stake, Vince. For all I know, you could be a dangerous criminal. No offense."
"Fair enough," Vince conceded, holding up his hands in surrender. "But just for tonight. I promise to be out of your hair first thing tomorrow morning."
Lyrielle looked at her perfectly healed ankle, letting out a soft, defeated sigh. "Seeing as you healed me... I guess I owe you one. Follow me."
Before Vince could even answer, Lyrielle’s form blurred, and she vanished in a brilliant flash step, leaving only a few swirling leaves behind.
"Woah, hey! Wait up!" Vince yelled, his eyes widening. "Not everyone can just vanish or whatever the hell it is you just did!"
Tracking her lingering kinetic displacement, Vince sprinted after her.
An hour later, the pair found themselves sitting in the dim, lively corner of a rustic elven tavern located in a neutral border settlement. The tension of the morning had completely melted away as they ate some strange, exotic wildwood fruits and talked at random about the forest geography, laughing off the absurdity of the morning.
As the twin moons began to rise over the canopy, Vince wiped his mouth and leaned across the wooden table. "It’s getting late, Lyrielle. Is there a plan for where we would be sleeping? For me, specifically?" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"For me? Most definitely," Lyrielle said. A mischievous, playful glint sparked in her emerald eyes. She smoothly stood up from the table, tossing a few copper pieces down, and began walking toward the stairs of the adjoining inn without looking back.
Vince blinked, watching her retreat. "Hey! What do you mean ’for you’?!" he called out, a look of comical exasperation crossing his face as several elderly elves at neighboring tables turned to glare at him for making a scene.
Desperate to avoid drawing any more unwanted attention, Vince quickly rushed up the wooden stairs, finally catching up to her at the landing of the second floor just as she checked in with the elven innkeeper.
Lyrielle snatched the single room key from the counter, turned around with a flushed face, and before Vince could say a word, she reached out and firmly grabbed him by the ear.
"Ow, ow, hey—!" Vince hissed.
"Shh! Shut up and get inside before you get us both executed," Lyrielle muttered, dragging the supposedly terrifying ’no-talent upstart’ by the ear straight into the room and slamming the heavy oak door shut behind them.
