*VOL.5 CH.292 TESTING THE CHILDREN

The Cleric and the two Priestesses hurried over to Rya after her announcement to everyone in the hall.

"Um?... Favored One—"

"Call me, Lady Rya," Rya interrupted.

The Cleric's mouth was agape, and shook his head before continuing, "Yes. Of course, Lady Rya. We appreciate that you showed these poor souls your gift of healing and graced is with your presence, but you shouldn't get their hopes up... They are all lowborn and will go on to do nothing but remedial work and live a short, unfulfilled life. It would be best if you didn't waste your time and go back to the palace."

Quinus and Rya looked at the three of them with a skeptical looks as a bunch of the children looked sad.

"I'm sorry, but what was your name?" Rya asked while crossing her arms and giving them a cold stare.

"I am, Father Simeon... And this is Sister Thalia and Sister Selena, Favored One," Simeon introduced.

"Okay. Thank you, Father. But I think I can make that decision on my own, but I appreciate your concern. Or do you lack faith in me," Rya stated as she was still looking down at him.

Father Simeon started to sweat profusely, "No. Not at all, Lady Rya."

"Then don't put down these children. Most of them will have common mana veins but that doesn't mean they have to like a life of poverty. I will show them another path. I can't force them, but I can open the door," Rya said with a smile and then walked off towards the large group of kids who didn't know what to think after the dark elf spoke so positively.

Simeon looked at the elf and couldn't believe his ears. He was a devout follower of Iyomelka and was worried the elf was going to bring chaos into his peaceful temple. But Iyomelka's Idol lit up for her and Mother Astra and all the other Higher Priestesses that were at the ritual witnessed Rya's connection to Iyomelka's astral domain. He had no authority over her and he would be a fool to try to tell the Dark Elf what to do.

Simeon, Thalia, and Selena stood there and watched as Rya walked away and went up to the children.

"Alright... So, this test is simple," Rya reached into her cleavage and pulled out the demonic looking monocle and held it up for all the children to see. "I'll look through my artifact to see what type of Mana Vein you all have and if I find something in one of you I'll tell you to go to the right side of the room or the left. Sounds good? Then line up. Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt any of you," Rya said and smiled at the kids.

The kids all looked nervous and scared but they were still willing to get tested by the dark elf. Fennic and his guild members were staring at Rya's artifact and they couldn't believe their eyes.

"S-She created an artifact that can see someone's mana vein? Hajdah! Did you know?" Fennic asked the Dwarven Arch-Mage who was just as puzzled as the others.

"No. I did not, lad. This is amazing," Hajdah replied.

Rya put her Seer Stone up to her right and channeled her mana into it as the dark lens lit up and glowed a slight purple. She put the device to her eye and scanned the first child and saw his mana vein and saw it was a common vein. She didn't say anything as she moved along and scanned the other kids.

'Common, common, Master with no mage vein,' Rya thought to herself as she pointed to the young boy to go to the right side of the room. The boy was about eight years old and was wearing rags. His skin was a bit pale and his hair was a little longer. His eyes were a bit red and his face was dirty.

"M-Me?"

"Yep, just stand over there until I go through the rest."

"Yes, Miss!" The boy replied and then ran over and stood with the Sir Richard and Lady Rachel.

'Next, Next,' Rya thought as she continued scanning each child. 'Master, Common,

Grand Master, Common, Common, Common, Master, Common... Huh? Their we go, a Master with a Fire vein.'

"You go stand to the left," Rya said, and the little girl got excited. She was 9 and she had brown hair and eyes.

"Thank you, Miss!" The girl said and ran off. She stood next to Saffron, Hajdah, and Fennic.

The Grand Master looked at his colleges and they seemed intrigued.

Rya continued going through the children and seemed to pick a child every so often.

'Grand Master with a water vein, nice... Common, Grand Master... No Elites yet—hold on... What do we have here,' Rya stopped in front of Mary who had the most hopeful look on her face.

"Miss, is there something wrong?" Mary asked.

"Hmm, no. Nothing's wrong. Go to the left side of the room, please."

"Yay! I'm special! I knew it!"

"Quiet, Mary," Theresa scolded.

Mary didn't care and happily skipped off to the other side of the room.

'She's an overly excited one,' Rya thought.

Sid was trying not to get his hopes up and Rya was coming closer to him. He started to fidget a little.

'It's okay if I have a common level Mana Vein. I got my leg back and that's all I need,' Sid told himself. While he was lost in thought Elaine panicking, she feared what the dark elf would do when she examined her and she grabbed ahold of Sid's hand, which made him jump a little.

"Huh? What's wrong, Elaine?"

"I'm scared," She said, her eyes watering.

'Oh, shit,' Sid thought.

"Hey... I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise," Sid said as he squeezed her hand and smiled at her.

"Y-you promise?"

"Yeah. If anyone tries to hurt you. I'll protect you."

Elaine was touched but she knew that Sid couldn't beat the dark elf. But Elaine liked Sid's optimism and his smile.

Rya came up to them and stopped. She was looking at them holding hands and it brought a small smile to her face.

"Love birds? At such a early?" Rya teased them, which made Elaine push Sid's hand away as she stepped back.

'Hm?... She's a skittish one. She must have bought into all those, Dark Elves are evil crap... Haah... I still have along way to go to change that narrative... Let's see what the boy has first, shall we?' Rya thought and walked over to Sid and looked at him with her Seer Stone. When his mana vein came into view Rya's brows went up in surprise. She removed the monocle and looked at him for a second and brought the Seer Stone back up only to see the same thing.

'Holy shit... A Purple Mana Vein... I wasn't expecting a Demi-God level vein. Lucky kid.' Rya was happy for the kid. Sid was a very lucky young man.

"Your Sid, right?"

"Um?... Yes, ma'am," Sid responded as he wasn't sure why the dark elf was giving him more attention than the other children.

"Hm. I'll remember that. You can go to the right side of the room," Rya told him.

"Thank you, Ma'am, but can I stay by my friend before I go?"

"Hm?" Rya looked at Elaine who was trying to a brave face but her nervousness was giving her away.

"That's fine with, but head to that side once she's done," Rya stated.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Alright," Rya put her Seer stone up to her eye and looked at Elaine. She did her best not to run as Rya moved in closer.

'N-No! She going to use me for her horrible experiments!' Elaine was panicking as the dark elf was coming closer.

Sid saw that Elaine was on the verge of bolting. So, Sid grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Elaine's head whipped to the side and saw that Sid had a smile on his face. Elaine couldn't help but calm down.

"You'll be alright, Elaine," Sid told her, which made her squeeze his hand back and nodded her head.

Rya put down the Seer Stone from her eye and tilted her head as she examined this girl with narrowed eyes. It finally hit her why this girl in particular was so afraid of her.

"Hey, Nieren... Take a look," Rya said without looking away from Elaine.

"Huh? Oh?" Nieren said as she came over and looked through her Seer Stone. She then lowered it and looked at Rya as she moved in closer to Elaine. The young girl wanted to move back when Rya's face was only a foot away. Sid didn't know what was going on and watched as Rya reached out for Elaine's hair that was by her ear. The girl snapped her head back, but Rya looked at her and used a command tone.

"Don't move," Rya commanded the young girl.

Elaine's body locked up in fear and couldn't move, not even her head. Rya then grabbed the girl's hair and gently brushed it behind her ear, which had a pointed end to it.

"What?" Sid questioned as he was surprised.

"Shh..." Rya whispered while covering the half-elf's ear. She then moved her hand from the young girl's ear and looked at Sid, who was looking at his best friend with a shocked expression.

"Do you think we should bring her to Mom, Nier?... She needs training in the Green Word and I'm busy right now," Rya asked as she glanced at Nieren.

"Well... That's up to her, Sis. She's been busy trying to find the perfect place to plant her Elder Seed," Nieren answered while looking at the half-elf.

Rya tapped her chin, 'Haah... Mom... I offered to find a spot to plant that thing but she said that she knows what she's doing... I fear that if I plant my Elder Seed before her's then she'll see herself as a failure. But as far as I know, I'm the only person who has Omni eyes, so I can see Spirit Springs in the ground, while she can only sense their general locations... Whatever, I'll plant mine once this marriage business is done.'

Rya glanced at Nieren, "I think Mom would be thrilled to train another pupil, even though she is a half-breed," she smiled while thinking of her mother.

Nieren thought about it for a moment, "Yeah... Mom would be the best to train her since she has the time—"

"And you still are a novice yourself," Rya chuckled.

"Shut up, you!" Nieren said with a grin, and her eyes narrowed on Rya.

Rya looked at her sister and smirked, "Heh, well... You've gotten better over the last week, but you still have a long way to go."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Nieren scoffed as she rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep a small smile from appearing on her lips.

Elaine was too scared to speak but Sid spoke up, "Where are you taking, Elaine?"

Rya glanced at him, 'Hmm?... He seems worried about her. Maybe he likes her. Heh, a human and a half-elf huh... I guess Quin isn't the only human that has a thing for elves.'

Rya then put on a reassuring smile, "She'll be joining us at the Royal Palace. But don't worry, she will be trained and protected. Plus, I have a feeling that we'll be seeing you around the palace as well."

Sid was confused, 'What does that mean?'

He was about to ask a question but Rya stopped him, "Alright, you need to go over to the right and Miss Elaine will come over with my Sister and me. And Sid, I promise you that she will be taken care of and she won't be harmed."

Sid's shoulders slumped, 'Shit, I can't believe we have to part ways with Elaine... I never knew she was a half-elf... But that doesn't change how I feel. But I have to trust Princess Rya. She healed my leg, and she did it for free, so I can't distrust her... Fuck, why is it always the pretty ones?'

Elaine's eyes teared up, 'I don't want to leave Sid! Especially with this Dark Elf, she looks like she's gonna eat me... Oh Goddess! Will she?'

Rya saw her tears and smiled, "Geez... Am I really that scary kid?... Come on. If I bite you then you have free reign to bite me back. Alright?"

Elaine swallowed her spit and slowly nodded, 'Well, at least I'm not being sold into slavery or anything like that. This will be okay. I hope... Please, Goddess Iyomelka, keep me safe...'

Sid reluctantly released Elaine's hand and he walked over to the other side of the room while Nieren took Elaine's hand and brought her by the Crown Prince.