All mages were supposed to have a good relationship with their summons. They were like family.
However, Elowen needed to teach Knox a lesson. That had been too much for her.
"Leave us alone for a moment," Elowen said, her voice loud and clear to all the other elves present.
No one said a word. Everyone bowed their heads and left the room, leaving Knox and Elowen alone.
"I'll be direct with you. You're a humanoid summon—do you know what that means?" Elowen narrowed her eyes slightly.
Knox was completely lost. This world was new to him.
Noticing his silence, Elowen took the liberty to explain.
"All creatures, all summons, live in the Dream Realm. That plane is their habitat. Practically all creatures there are monstrous—there are few humans or humanoids. Generally, all humans there were mages who were cursed and trapped inside that place at some point."
"I'll be straightforward with you: practically no one respects humanoid summons in this world. I'm giving you the chance to serve my family and take care of my daughter. Do you want to go back to the Dream Realm and die by some beast in there? Is that what you want?"
Knox was lazy, but he wasn't stupid. He'd spent little time in that so-called Dream Realm, but it had been enough for him to realize the place wasn't safe.
The darkness of that place had given him chills, and if there was one thing he didn't want, it was to return to that place.
"Sorry for the joke," Knox said, sighing as he looked at the floor. "I guess for things to work out, we need to have good harmony."
Elowen sighed as well, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't treat this as a matter of subordinate and leader. We here in the family treat all summons very well."
Knox liked how things were going. It was strange for him to think that an unknown elf from another magical world was treating him better than his adoptive uncles who made his life a living hell. That planted many doubts in his mind.
Elowen was confident that the brief conversation had been enough to shift Knox's thinking—until he dropped another gem.
"But tell me, since we're so close now, your daughter is a cutie, right?"
Elowen didn't know if she should punch him in the face or jump out the window.
"Unbelievable..."
*
Elowen showed Knox around the house before introducing him to her youngest daughter, Thala, who was studying in her room on the third floor of their mansion.
Knox was impressed with the place. There were many rooms, a beautiful garden with a water fountain, and even hot springs.
What made the place even cozier were the fireplaces scattered throughout, and the absurd amount of greenery everywhere.
Besides showing him around, Elowen had to explain a few things—after all, she couldn't leave him completely lost.
"Since you're a humanoid summon, and I have no idea what your type might be. Who knows when you were cursed..."
Knox reflected on that. "Maybe my curse is laziness?"
Of course, those were just thoughts—he didn't say them out loud.
"Elves are refugees nowadays. We live among humans, using magic to hide our true appearance. To the outside world, we're human too. Do you understand the gravity of this?" Elowen said, gesturing for him to sit on one of the wooden benches in the garden that sat in the middle of the mansion.
"More or less. You mean I can't say anything about elves, and if they find out, you guys will be killed or something like that, right?" Knox deduced.
Apparently, these problems happened in every kind of world, even the fantasy ones.
"Exactly. At the moment, our priority is to stay in the shadows, recover our power, and find a way out of here. There are other elven families in the same situation."
"And yes, before you ask, all elves are women. We're a completely matriarchal race born through the Tree of Life."
All that information entered his mind, drifting him to a flow of thoughts.
Knox was excited to be in a new world of magic, but he quickly realized his identity wasn't so simple. Being a summon was already tough enough—now being a humanoid summon with a unique classification, in a family that was being persecuted? Now that was a complication on his side.
Just thinking about it made him lazy. Knox lay back on the bench, belly-up, both hands behind his neck.
Elowen was about to scold him, but noticed something strange.
"Wait a second, your energy is rising?" Elowen asked, activating her own mana to understand what was happening.
"Ah, yeah, it's one of my skills. I thought you guys saw that when you analyzed my body," Knox explained.
"Of course not. Summon skills are secret, even from the mages who summon them. Actually, you're not obligated to tell me your secrets."
This made Knox a bit more at ease. He didn't want to leave Elowen in the dark, of course, but he also had no reason to give her all the details. Their relationship was still in the beginning stages.
"Let's just say I'm a rather lazy summon, but I get stronger as I rest. Does that make sense to you?" Knox explained while bringing his hand to his mouth to yawn.
Elowen shook her head. "If I wasn't feeling your mana increase while you're lying down, I'd think you were messing with me. Damn, what kind of summon did we find... Anyway, how about we go talk to my daughter?"
The two left the garden bench—after Elowen nearly had to drag Knox before he fell asleep there—and made their way to the top floor of the mansion.
The top floor was where the quarters of the most important family members were located, such as the matriarch, and of course, her daughters.
One of those daughters, the youngest, Thala, was in her room studying nonstop, focused since she would be trying to get into a magic school and needed to pass the initial test.
Before knocking on the door, Elowen warned, "Try to make little noise, let's not disturb her, alright? Today will just be a quick introduction, we'll talk more with her tomorrow."
"Understood," Knox replied.
Elowen was apprehensive, afraid Knox would make some snide comment when he saw her daughter.
However, as soon as she opened the door, before she could even finish her first sentence, Knox had already entered the room and jumped directly onto Thala's large double bed, lying on the soft mattress and feeling the blanket envelop his body.
"Ahhh, marvelous. Elowen, I think I'm going to take a little nap here, cool?" Knox said, a snore appearing the very next instant.