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Chapter 186 - To the Elves\' Sanctuary (3)

"Yaaawn."

A small rowboat on the sea.

On it, a young man was fishing.

The young man had a very leisurely expression.

Though the existence of the Forbidden Lands had emerged, demons had descended to the earth, and the world was in utter chaos, none of it mattered to the young man living in a small rural village.

“Come on, bite already…”

For the young man, the most important thing was whether he could catch a fish for dinner or not.

His parents, their parents, had lived here all their lives, and he believed without a doubt that he and his children would grow old and die here too.

The young man leisurely swung his fishing rod.

At that moment, the sea began to ripple.

At first, he thought it was just a wave and ignored it, but the rippling grew stronger.

The young man squinted and looked out over the sea.

“…Huh?”

Something was approaching him as the sea parted.

“What the heck!”

Was it a sea monster?

The young man hurriedly tried to row away, but the parting sea quickly reached right in front of him.

Soon, the sea erupted in front of him.

Boom!

“Ahhh!”

The young man clung to the violently shaking rowboat and screamed.

As the sea finally calmed down, the young man cautiously opened his eyes.

“…Huh?”

His eyes widened.

A barbarian was half-floating on the water, looking at him.

“Huh, huh?”

He frantically looked around, but there was nothing else.

The only thing that had changed was the appearance of the barbarian.

‘…Wait a minute.’

Was the sea parting because this barbarian was swimming?

The barbarian, who had been looking at the young man, opened his mouth.

“I have a question.”

“Ask me anything….”

The young man, trembling, knelt down.

He acted as if he were facing a god of the sea.

“Is there a forest called Schwarzwald around here?”

“Yes, it exists….”

“Oh. Where is it?”

The young man pointed in a direction with his finger.

The barbarian smiled.

“Thank you. Here’s a gift.”

The barbarian threw something onto the boat.

The young man\'s eyes widened.

It was a giant pearl.

It was a very clean and perfect pearl.

Selling just that one would allow him to live comfortably for half a year.

The young man grasped the gem as if entranced.

And the sea roared once more.

When the turbulent sea calmed down again, the barbarian was gone.

“…Huh, huh.”

What was that?

Did he fall asleep while fishing and have a weird dream?

But the wet clothes and the pearl in his hand proved it was real.

“….”

After staring at the pearl for a long time, the young man finally returned to the village at sunset.

He told the villagers what had happened and was treated as a madman.

However, it was irrelevant to the fact that the man, who found joy in telling his experience, eventually left the village and became a minstrel.

* * *

Ketal departed after asking the mermaids for the direction to the sanctuary of the elves.

It was quite a long distance.

It took several hours to travel.

He asked a young man he met along the way to confirm if he was going in the right direction.

Fortunately, he got the correct information.

Eventually, Ketal arrived at his destination.

“Here it is.”

There was a forest in front of Ketal.

It was a forest made up of long coniferous trees.

A vast forest where those who entered would get lost and never return.

The forest was the size of a country.

Schwarzwald.

Within it lay the sanctuary of the elves, Elfo Sagrado.

Ketal joyfully stepped into the forest.

At first glance, the forest seemed very ordinary.

Trees were thick, insects buzzed, and occasionally the presence of wild animals could be felt.

It was an ordinary forest that could exist on Earth, but thinking it was a fantasy made walking through it enjoyable.

‘The sanctuary is supposed to be in here.’

It wasn’t visible yet.

But the forest was very wide.

It was natural not to grasp it when he had just entered.

Ketal kicked off the ground.

He ran through the forest.

Though the forest was vast, Ketal was equally fast.

He explored the forest\'s interior at high speed.

But he saw nothing.

Given that the place was under demonic invasion, he should have at least sensed some traces or power fluctuations, but there were none.

It felt as if this place was truly an ordinary forest.

That only piqued Ketal\'s interest even more.

‘It must be hidden.’

Indeed, if merely wandering around could reveal the sanctuary, it wouldn’t have remained undiscovered by now.

Considering it was under attack by dark magicians, it seemed it couldn’t be reached by ordinary means.

“Hm.”

After contemplating for a moment, Ketal changed his objective.

The sanctuary of the elves would feel like a royal castle if seen in the human world.

And near a royal castle, there would always be various villages, big and small.

So, he decided to find a village and ask for directions.

If that failed, he could always find a wandering dark magician and kindly ask for the location.

Ketal adjusted his goal and moved.

It didn’t take long before he found it.

A small elven village in the midst of the forest.

“Oh.”

Ketal looked at the village between the trees with interest.

At first glance, it looked exactly like the elven village he had first seen.

Despite it not being long ago, he felt nostalgic.

‘Will it be okay?’

If the monster from the white snowfield appeared, the elves who stayed with him could be in danger.

However, the likelihood of any major problem was low.

There weren’t many strong monsters in that direction.

The queen’s power would be enough to defeat them.

Ketal slowly approached the elven village.

“…Hm?”

As he got closer, Ketal realized something.

There was no sign of life in the elven village.

It was literally empty.

Ketal arrived at the village.

The village was half-destroyed.

“What’s this?”

Ketal entered the half-destroyed village.

The houses made of wood and grass were completely wrecked.

The ground and nearby walls bore traces of battle.

Along with bloodstains, elven corpses were scattered around the village.

Ketal silently observed the village’s interior in this gruesome scene.

‘Were they attacked by dark magicians?’

The bloodstains hadn’t dried yet, meaning the battle hadn’t happened long ago.

On closer inspection, there were signs of someone being dragged away.

Judging by the small footprints, it seemed to be elven children.

As he was trying to determine the direction, someone approached quickly.

“Ha, ha.”

The newcomer was an elf.

She was sweating, with green hair wet and panting heavily.

She glared at the sight of the village.

“…Ah, ah.”

“A survivor?”

“You bastard!”

The elf, seeing Ketal, twisted her face in anger.

“You damned dark magicians! How dare you attack our village!”

“Ah.”

Ketal realized the elf was misunderstanding him.

“Unforgivable…”

Just as the elf was about to shout, Ketal moved.

He disappeared and then subdued her, covering her mouth.

“Mm!”

The elf was shocked, unable to even react.

As he restrained the elf, Ketal thought quietly.

‘Why do things always start with a misunderstanding with elves?’

One barbarian in a half-destroyed village amidst elven corpses.

Objectively, it was easy to see how she could think that.

However, he had no intention of waiting quietly for an attack this time.

Ketal spoke calmly.

“I am not your enemy. I hope we can clear up this misunderstanding.”

* * *

Ketal subdued the elf and explained.

He had been invited and had come to help their sanctuary.

He also mentioned his acquaintance with the high elf.

At first, she looked at him as if he was talking nonsense, but when Ketal showed the red gem and spoke about Arkamis, her expression gradually softened.

Realizing she had misunderstood, the elf lowered her head deeply.

“I-I’m sorry….”

“No, I think it’s understandable.”

‘Are elves a race of misunderstandings?’

Every elf he encountered seemed to misunderstand him.

He even considered jotting down in his notebook that elves often misunderstand.

“This must be a village near the sanctuary.”

“Yes.”

There were various elven tribes, each with their own queen.

She was the queen of the Blossom Petal Tribe.

They were a tribe that had lived near the sanctuary for generations.

“What happened?”

“The dark magicians attacked our village.”

The queen gritted her teeth.

Currently, the dark magicians were attacking the elven sanctuary.

Naturally, her nearby village was also in danger.

So, they were preparing to evacuate to the sanctuary, but the dark magicians had already figured out their location and attacked.

To defend against the attack, they emptied the village, but it turned out to be a trap by the dark magicians.

They ambushed and devastated the village when she wasn’t there.

The queen bit her lip.

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t protect you.”

“But it seems there are still some you need to protect.”

“Huh?”

“Look at these tracks.”

Ketal showed her the small footprints indicating someone had been dragged.

The queen’s eyes widened.

“…Did the dark magicians take our children?”

“Seems that way.”

“Those vile slaves of evil! How dare they covet our children!”

The queen cried out in fury.

Her hand, gripping her bow, trembled with rage.

“Do the dark magicians have any reason to take elven children?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps those arrogant fiends, unable to penetrate the sanctuary, thought of taking hostages. Disgusting creatures.”

The queen grimaced.

Ketal stroked his chin.

“It seems like you’re winning.”

“They attacked the sanctuary but failed and retreated into the forest.”

“Ah. So that’s why I didn’t sense anything.”

“Those arrogant creatures. Not only do they target our sanctuary, but now they even take our children…”

The queen ground her teeth again.

Ketal asked,

“Are you planning to go after them?”

“Of course.”

She was the queen of her tribe, willing to risk her life to protect the children.

She intended to follow the tracks and find them.

Ketal, looking pleased, spoke up.

“Good. Then I will help you.”

“No, there’s no need for that. You are an invited guest. There’s no reason for you to undertake such a dangerous task of going to the dark magicians\' lair.”

“I am already struggling to find the sanctuary’s location anyway.”

“Ah… The sanctuary is hidden. It might be difficult for an outsider like you to find it right away.”

“To reach the sanctuary, I’ll need help, and you’re currently preoccupied with finding the children. So it seems more practical for me to help you quickly resolve this and then head to the sanctuary.”

Hearing this, the queen remained silent for a moment, then expressed her gratitude.

“…Thank you.”

Despite all the reasons given, this barbarian was willing to help her.

It made her feel embarrassed for having misunderstood him earlier.

Ketal, on the other hand, had no particular thoughts about it.

‘I just want to try tracking someone down.’

He felt like a detective.

Ketal smiled brightly.

“No need to apologize. I will definitely ensure the safety of your children and get your revenge.”

With a brief apology, the queen began to move.

“How should we proceed?”

“…I can’t use the spirits. The natural energy tracking is also blocked.”

The queen frowned.

The dark magicians had lured her away with a decoy.

They must have anticipated pursuit and thoroughly concealed their tracks.

“But I am an elf.”

She was a being of nature, more sensitive to its changes than anyone else.

Even if they hid the traces, they couldn’t completely cover up the physical signs of movement.

She would track those instead.

Ketal looked impressed.

“You can do that? Let’s follow then.”

She quickly headed in the direction the children were taken, and Ketal followed with a cheerful face.

‘I’m curious to see how an elf tracks.’

It was exciting to witness it firsthand.

As they continued, the queen suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

“…The trail ends here.”

The queen bit her lip.

Even as an elf, she couldn’t detect the traces.

She was surprised because she didn’t expect the physical signs to be concealed this perfectly.

“I need to look for the tracks for a while. Please wait.”

The queen began searching the surroundings for clues.

Ketal then spoke up.

“There’s no need. It’s over there.”

“Huh?”

“The trail continues in that direction.”

Ketal pointed in a direction.

The queen was bewildered.

“How do you know?”

“Look at this.”

Ketal reached down and picked up one of the many fallen leaves from the ground.

“There’s a footprint on this leaf. Judging by the direction, it’s that way. They must have missed this one.”

"Wa-wait. You saw that?"

"Indeed."

"..."

The queen looked around the area where Ketal had picked up the leaf.

But no matter how hard she looked, all the leaves seemed like ordinary, unmarked ones.

Finding a single leaf with a trace among tens of thousands of fallen leaves was like finding a needle in a haystack.

But Ketal had indeed found that needle.

"That\'s… incredible."

The queen was amazed at Ketal’s tracking ability.

She judged that with Ketal’s help, they could track without any problems.

And similar situations occurred repeatedly.

Every time the queen struggled to find a trace, Ketal pointed something out.

"There\'s a small nick on the end of that branch. Did you miss it?"

"...I did."

After a while, the queen started to feel something was odd.

Every time she had trouble tracking, Ketal found the clues quickly, almost as if he knew where they were from the beginning.

Naturally, one thought came to her mind.

\'...He seems to know the tracks from the start, so why is he letting me waste time?\'

From Ketal’s perspective, it was only natural for him to wait because he wanted to observe the elves’ tracking methods.

But from the queen\'s perspective, it felt quite strange.

\'Is he angry because I attacked him outright?\'

The queen glanced at Ketal.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing."

The queen shook her head.

\'It must be my imagination.\'

She tried to convince herself that Ketal was only noticing the tracks a bit later than she was.

Despite the oddities, the queen tried to put her thoughts in order.

This pattern repeated several more times.

"There’s a track there."

"...Indeed."

Although it was a peculiar situation for the queen, thanks to Ketal, they reached their destination without much difficulty.

They arrived in front of a small cave.