A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 57: The Runaway Princess

Chapter 57: The Runaway Princess

Swish!

In a quick slash attack, Elaina decapitates one Kobold before it can even react. It was then followed by Julia firing multiple Icicle shards that immediately pierced through the kobolds attacking. This caused the attention of the kobolds to shift from the bear and the girl to Elaina and Julia who rapidly reduced their numbers.

"Julia!"

"Got it!

Julia proceeded to summon a big icicle into the air and fired it into the air then Elaina used one of the kobolds as a stepping stone and jumped into the air to reach the ice. As soon as the ice is now within her reach, Elaina proceeds to slice the ice into pieces which is soon divided into pieces. Julia then proceeds to control the broken pieces of ice and let them rain down like hail on the kobolds.

The kobolds who had no means of protection from the ice slowly got wounded, fatally wounded, and then killed after the thousand pieces of ice pierced through their bodies. Elaina then landed beside Julia as all of the kobolds were now lying dead.

"Great work, Julia. Now, we have to deal with the bear while it is wounded and rescue the girl behind it," Elaina flicked the blood off her sword as she waved it to the side, causing the blood to splatter to the ground.

It seems the girl heard Elaina as it quickly went forward and spread her arms while blocking both Elaina and Julia’s way.

"No! Don’t hurt Zaza! He is a good bear!"

Elaina and Julia were both taken aback. The girl then proceeds to look for the wounds of the bear who seems to be having a hard time from the wound.

"Looks like the bear is poisoned. Is this your companion?" Elaina asked as she approached. She sheathed the sword back to the scabbard and stayed not too near nor far from both the bear and the girl to not spook or alarm them.

"Mhm, Zaza protected me from the monsters but as a result, he was wounded and is in pain."

"I see. Can I see the wound of your bear? Will he attack?" Elaina put down her rucksack on the side and glanced at the girl.

"Don’t worry, he won’t let me talk to him for a bit, okay?"

Although Elaina was expecting the girl to just calm the bear by making sure it wouldn’t get mad, she spoke to it.

"Zaza, don’t worry. They won’t hurt us, they have come to save us from harm!"

Not sure if it understood what she said or not but the bear immediately lies down on its back where most of the wounds on its body were currently located, possibly due to Zaza protecting the girl.

Julia also approached. "Let me help as well, Sis. I can cast some Pain-relieving magic on the bear. I don’t have any healing magic so I can only do this much."

"That should be fine, Julia. Alright, let’s get into it."

Using the herbs that Julia and Elaina gathered earlier, the two worked together to patch up the wounds of the bear. Elaina also used her knowledge of herbal medicine to relieve the bear from the poison. From the looks of it, the bear suffered from some poisonous slices that were done by some of the kobolds.

Although the bear suffered a lot of wounds, all of them are not so deep wounds and will heal in time. The only reason the bear was a bit sluggish and seemed to look weak was because of the poison. As Elaina put the final touches and started bandaging the wound of the bear, the girl bowed down to both Julia and Elaina.

"Thank you, to both of you for helping us out of the predicament! We will not forget this kindness!"

Julia blushed as she was not used to this kind of interaction. On the other hand, Elaina observed the girl from head to toe.

Her face is a bit small but her face is pretty, draped with her brown hair that reaches to her shoulders. She wears a red headband on her head with a cute bear design on it. Based on Elaina’s estimate, the girl should be around 13 to 14 years old. The girl is wearing a blue dress and she looks stylish enough that her presence in the forest is kind of out of place. Her shoes are also looking expensive, allowing Elaina to deduce that this girl is perhaps lost. Her clothing alone suggests that she is not well equipped to even come to the forest.

"Girl, are you lost by any chance?" Elaina asked.

"Huh? Why do you ask?" the girl was surprised.

"This forest was not some place that a girl like you should be visiting without a capable companion and proper gear. Sure, the bear of yours might be a companion, but it is not well-versed in dealing with the dangers present in the forest," Elaina explained.

The girl was speechless at first and she goes silent as she thinks of a way to reason things out. But her thought process was cut short when Julia started to speak.

"Ah, no wonder you looked familiar! I saw you in the newspapers the other day that you are currently missing!" Julia snaps her fingers after realizing it.

"Missing?" Elaina frowned.

"Yeah. This person right here is the young princess of the Darcero Kingdom’s Royal Family, Princess Margaux Darcero. She was reported to have been missing since yesterday and is currently being searched by people all over the place."

Elaina immediately realized what sort of predicament the girl was currently suffering right now especially since she is currently wearing noble clothing.

"Oh, a runaway princess?" Elaina tilted her head as she observed Princess Margaux.

"Please, please don’t hand me to my guards. Please, I beg of you!"

"Why? Surely, your family must be worried right now."

"No. I won’t be coming back," she then pouted.

Elaina smiled and shook her head. "Don’t worry. We will not hand you over to the guards. But we cannot stay here for long. The forest is a dangerous place for all of us especially with the Kobolds currently scattered around the forest. We needed to go back to the farm and tend that bear of yours there. You will be safe from any danger there."

"Farm? Are we going back to the city?" Princess Margaux asked.

"Don’t worry. We are not going to the city and my farm is far from there, it is instead near this forest and you can stay there for a while," Elaina reassured her.

"But Sis, we still haven’t done hunting for our supply of meat. You promised Shardu for meat, we can’t just say we forgot!"

"Oh, yeah. But what about them?" Elaina looked at Princess Margaux.

"Don’t worry about me and Zaza. Zaza said that he is fine now and can walk at least. Just don’t leave us alone here."

"Eh? Zaza said?" Elaina frowned.

Although Elaina is confused, Julia immediately understands what is going on.

"Hoh, that’s a rare ability you got there, Princess Margaux. To think you are capable of understanding talking to animals. That is a unique gift. I heard of it before but this is the first time I have seen it in action."

"She can talk to animals?" Elaina was surprised.

"Yeah. From the looks of it, she is innately gifted with this ability and therefore, she can converse with any beasts or animals just fine," Julia explained.

"If she can speak to animals, how come she didn’t manage to talk to the kobolds?" Elaina looked at the dead bodies of the kobolds littered on the ground

"Sis, although Kobolds are similar to dogs, they are monsters that cannot be considered animals. Her ability should work on normal beast monsters and normal animals but monsters that are like the Kobolds, won’t work since they are in the category of humanoid monsters."

"I still don’t get it much but I won’t make much of a fuss about it. Anyways, if the bear can still walk, then following and joining us while we are hunting would be the ideal action here."

"No worries, we will not burden you all. I can help you track down a few prey in the forest that you guys can hunt."

"Huh, that’s a great trick that I wish I had," Elaina muttered to herself. She looked at the sky to estimate the time and nodded.

"If that is what you can do while we are looking for our prey, then let’s get going. We are burning daylight here."

Princess Margaux nodded and she pointed in the northeast direction. There, I detect a big deer."

Elaina was a bit reluctant at first but she followed the girl as soon as she pointed the direction. The four continue to move and it didn’t take long for Elaina to spot a deer indeed.

"Sis, you deal the final blow. We will support you on the sidelines," Julia nodded.

Elaina smiled. Based on the size of the deer, it seems this will be a good haul for the day.

"Time to hunt it down," Elaina smiled as she slowly unsheathed her sword and slowly approached the deer.