Re: I must complete all my Missions-Chapter 28: Shall We Cultivate?

Upon returning to the Elf Village, Dimm wasted no time. He immediately ordered that all other elves should be gathered. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Gather everyone immediately," he ordered, keeping his voice steady yet commanding.

"Yes Leader!" uniformed two voices in response.

The elfin guards who stood in front of the palace doors immediately set out to carry out Dimm’s instruction.

Minxx and Khobba exchanged quick glances before following suit. Standing by the side wall of the palace, was Loriel. Beside her, were different farm produce which were gathered in an orderly manner. She made to get Dimm’s attention but he didn’t catch her attention, but began entering into the ajar doors of the big hall.

As soon as they reached the platform carrying the royal seats and throne, Dimm jumped onto it but didn’t take his seat. He preferred to keep standing.

Minxx and Khobba, however, climbed through the side stairs that led to the top of the platform and stood by the sides of Dimm.

Within moments, elves of all ages, clothed in humble garbs and radiant with curiosity, began trooping into the hall once again. Before them, stood their young leader and his companions by his sides.

As Dimm stood surveying the gathering crowd, Minxx noticed something odd—large bundles of produce, grains, and supplies neatly stacked near the Palace doors. She didn’t see it at first when they entered as she was busy amazed at what behavioral play Dimm was putting up in the moment.

Confused, she turned to Dimm. "How... how did you manage to retrieve all this? I mean, I guess you retrieved them."

A small smile danced on Dimm’s lips. "Let the goods be shared among everyone first," he said. "Then, I’ll explain."

Minxx obeyed. She ordered the maids around to start distributing the supplies fairly among the villagers who had gathered, happiness clearly written on their faces as they cheered and muttered prayers of thanks under their breaths.

As the elfin maids and guards shared the supplies, Dimm shouted from the podium where he stood.

"These are your supplies, which the Ogres stole from the West Farm," he said and recoiled himself into calmness. "Enjoy."

Once his voice settled, the uproarious cheer from the people filled the air. As they showed their excitement, Dimm turned over and went to sit on the throne, which now belonged to him.

As he sat, the screen notification appeared before him.

«Your Trust for the Elves has increased.»

«Trust SP: 97%»

«Unity Protocol | Validating...»

«... | ... | Validated»

«Unity: 20%»

«Note that your Unity score points will be graded out of 1000. As such, a score point lower than 100 will be termed ineffective, hence, unusable.»

After reading the notification, Dimm sighed and rested his back on the throne he sat on. Then, Minxx rested forward on his seat’s handle and asked again. "How did you retrieve the supplies?"

Dimm clicked his tongue and began to narrate how he had planned everything from the start.

"It was on our way out to meet the West Farm thieves that I saw Loriel standing by the extreme of the wall that carried the entrance doors," he began, his voice low and soft enough such that only Minxx and Khobba, who sat by his sides can hear him.

"You see, it’s common sense that when thieves enter a building that has more than one door, their exit is always not through their entrance door. Maybe not always, but most times, they tend to leave through other doors of the building," he said and turned to Minxx.

"When I saw Loriel, I called and she explained to me how the roads are connected to each of the seven clans you had mentioned," Dimm explained. "I came to understand that the Ogres only have two routes with which they were to return to their village and that is through the West and South direction."

Khobba nodded as Dimm kept his narration going. She secretly admired his way of handling situations, even though at times he acted unserious.

"Having known all these, I instructed Loriel to form a team, and head to the South direction quietly, while we followed the West. That was exactly what happened, and as you can see for yourselves, we only met a few of the Ogres on our paths."

"Well, to give Loriel and her team more time to recover the produce safely, I had to distract the Ogres," Dimm folded his fingers, and placed his elbow on the handles of the throne on which he sat. "My actions towards the Ogres and the illustrations I made to them was an act of distraction."

Minxx nodded her head in awe. She had thought Dimm only did what he did out of instructions given to him by the system.

But she was right. The system actually gave Dimm a quest to accomplish, but Dimm also used it to his positive detriment, hence, to their advantage.

The duo by his sides still listened for more words from Dimm who paused for a while, but they were disappointed as no more words came. Instead, Dimm stood from the throne and advanced toward the crowd who enjoyed the supplies being given to them.

Upon seeing Dimm come closer, the elves once again, erupted into grateful applause, some bowing low, others raising their hands in gratitude.

Dimm only stood in pride, beaming with a smile, and waited for calm to return before he began his short announcement.

"For a while, I must leave," he said when everywhere became a little bit quiet. But following these words, gasps echoed through the crowd.

"Minxx," he called, and she stepped forward, with pride in her eyes. "I shall delegate my authority to you until my return. You shall reclaim your position as the Queen of the land, and guide the people even more better than it had been in the past."

Minxx opened her mouth to protest but the crowd began to hail her.

"Return as our queen!"

"Return as our queen!"

"You will remain our queen!"

Minxx reclined to Dimm instead and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I will be leaving with Khobba for a while, and you know my reason, Minxx," Dimm said. "Please, lead the people with me by following your instincts."

The noise from the crowd had settled, left for the interactive voices of Minxx and Dimm.

"...she is capable. You saw proof from the little assignment you gave her," Minxx’s voice said finally.

"Loriel!" Dimm called out, and a young elfin lady began to pave her way through to the podium. When she reached the tiled pavement, she climbed through the stairs.

"Become their acting leader, Loriel," Dimm said to Loriel before facing the crowd.

Without giving her time to refuse, or make more sentiments, Dimm announced. "Having understood some reasons as to why your queen won’t also be available, I hereby delegate this authority to our Loriel here."

He shoved his hand to Loriel and added. "If anything happens, Loriel shall protect you. She has been deemed worthy, by me, your leader, and recommended by your queen."

The crowd began to make musing sounds as they murmured.

"Is Loriel not the tailor?"

"That’s the great tailor, Loriel."

"What has leadership to do with sewing."

"..."

***

That night, while the village slipped into an uneasy sleep, Dimm set out of his newly assigned chamber, well adorned with royalty.

He made his way silently through the quarters, reaching for the building where Minxx had taken him to get his attire.

The next moment, Dimm leaped into the chamber of an Elfin girl through her window.

Disregarding the astonishment in the girl’s eyes, who had been startled from her repose on the bed, Dimm softly closed the windows and turned his attention to her.

"Shall we... cultivate, Loriel?"