Chapter 318: Gatherings

The Arcadian small ship Firefly flew with maximum speed above the forbidden forest, swiftly going past broad woodland areas simultaneously.

From the window, Tristan could finally see the palace they were looking for standing among the thick forest trees covered by the white snow.

"We have arrived at the Vanyar Castle," Zoe, the co-pilot of the ship, reported through the ship's voice communication device.

The ship then hovered toward the one side of the castle where there was a huge balcony and landed on the vacant space.

As soon as the rear door of the ship opened, Tristan walked out after briefly checking their surroundings' situation. Walking out following him were Serene, Siegfried, and Sterling in order. After them also came Rayna with her Kingsblade squad members. As for the others, he decided that it would be better to just leave them at the palace today since their objective this time was a little more formal.

From a few steps in front of the ship's rear door, they could see a few figures coming out from the palace and approaching them. Although they were quite far from each other, Tristan could immediately recognize them.

The person in front of the several figures was the charismatic golden-haired Queen of Vanyar, Queen Lenna. With her also came Elder Anmar as well as Master Laril, his master who taught him blacksmithing. Among them, he could also see Elroth, the Forlorn prince, walking toward them.

"Lord Monarch," Prince Elroth greeted and gave Tristan a full bow.

Hearing Prince Elroth's greeting, the queen quickly followed suit with a full bow and greeted,

"Hail to the Arcadian King."

Although there seemed to be nothing wrong with the two's greetings, he could clearly see that the Queen of Vanyar's greeting was that of teasing.

Despite noticing this act of hers, Tristan calmly replied with a similar greeting, "Hail to you too, the Arcadian Queen Mother."

The two's teasing only served to irritate Serene, who had been watching the two from the back. "Stop it, you two! Please behave how a king and queen should!"

Tristan only smiled in response. After all, despite those words, Serene herself was not a good example of how a queen should act.

After the small warm welcome, Tristan turned to greet Master Laril with respect.

"Master."

The petite elf gave a light nod in response, half-surprised as she observed him closely.

"Your progress is really close to a miracle, Tristan."

Hearing his master's words, Tristan's mood became slightly better. "Yes, Master. I would not be able to be who I am today if it weren't for your guidance."

"Huh! I never thought of you to be the modest type," Laril said. Even so, despite the casual remark, she still stared at him obsessively.

It was only natural for the elf master to be surprised. After all, just a few months ago, this elf in front of her was a complete newbie. 

Even now, even though Tristan was in front of her, she still could not fully believe it. It was just too absurd. However, at the same time, she did not believe that she would get it wrong.

Tristan's mouth curved into a smile of satisfaction from the recognition from his master.

After the short chat, he secretly used his scanner to check the stats of the elves in front of him.

First of all, he scanned Elder Anmar, the elder who was supposed to be the second-in-command of the kingdom after the queen.

[Male - Wood Elf]

[Saint-level mage]

[Battle Power: 155]

[Spirit Force: 875]

[Element Affinity - Plant, earth, and water]

Although he could not be said as weak, the elder was not nearly as strong as Tristan hoped he would be. On the other hand, Prince Elroth was already at the peak of saint realm, having successfully reached the magus level, or for an elf, successfully mastered Katra 5.

[Male - Wood Elf]

[Saint-level mage]

[Battle Power: 190]

[Spirit Force: 1,000]

[Element Affinity - Water and ice]

Next, Tristan wanted to know how strong his master was, as she was considered to be on the same level as Lenna, the Queen of Vanyar herself.

[Female - Wood Elf]

[Magus - Crescent moon]

[Battle Power: 210]

[Spirit Force: 1,450]

[Element Affinity - Plant, earth, and water]

Although she was a solid magus-level fighter, when he turned to check the queen's stats, his master was still not nearly as powerful as Lenna.

[Female - Wood Elf]

[Magus - Crescent moon]

[Battle Power: 280]

[Spirit Force: 2,000]

[Element Affinity - Plant, earth, and water]

Unfortunately, even the Queen of Vanyar herself had not yet passed through the crescent moon stage. However, she appeared to be at the peak of her level.

After Tristan finished reading all of the provided information one by one, he saw the queen glancing at him teasingly. When their eyes met, she lightly asked with a smile,

"Did you get a good look?"

The queen had always been attentive with such things, so Tristan was not surprised that she noticed.

Even so, Tristan decided to ignore her question and asked everyone present, "So, are we ready? Is anyone else coming?"

"Yes  we are good to go." said the Vanyar Queen

The queen, Master Laril, and Elroth jumped aboard the spaceship one at a time, and after the ship flew once more to their designated target.

When they had flew a distance from the Vanyar palace, Tristan asked the queen, "Who else will be coming to this gathering?"

The queen thought for a moment before answering, "Since it's a gathering set up by the High Elves, I believe everyone will come. At the very least, they will send someone important to represent the kingdom."

Tristan nodded, satisfied with the answer he received.

Just yesterday, Tristan received a message from Tobias, who was designated to contact all the elven kingdoms for a meeting.

When the old wizard reported the news to him, he appeared to be very excited that the High Elves themselves were willing to host the gathering.

The meeting was planned to be held at the kingdom of the high elves' palace, which was located at the east of Arcadia and north of the forbidden forest.

It had been almost a thousand years since the High Elves last hosted a meeting. As such, all seven elven kingdoms planned to come to the gathering. And of course, Arcadia was also invited.

Tobias had informed him beforehand that the threat of those space knights was going to be the main topic of discussion, so Tristan came prepared.

For Tristan, this gathering would give him a great opportunity to finally see the real power of the elves.

Zoe walked out of the ship's bridge and reported, "We will arrive in three hours latest."

Tristan gave a nod in response to Zoe's report, and the co-pilot went back to the bridge after seeing his affirmation. While waiting for them to arrive, Tristan sneakily approached Prince Elroth and whispered to ask,

"Did you bring what I asked for?"

"Yes, my lord, it's all in here," Prince Elroth handed Tristan a storage ring as he whispered back to answer. 

"Good." Tristan grabbed the storage ring from Elroth, and after silently checking the contents, he was elated.

This was the task he gave Elroth when he left Forlorn two months ago. In a good mood, he put the ring on his finger and complimented, "Good, very good."

Noticing their interaction, Serene looked at them with suspicion. However, in the end, she did not ask them about the matter nor say anything about it.

Almost three hours later, they finally went past the forbidden forest and reached the eastern mountain range, and not long after, they finally arrived at their destination.

From above, Tristan could see a dozen standing pillars sticking out of the mountain. He was not quite sure as to what they were or what they were used for, but they appeared to be some kind of watchtower.

As soon as they passed by the pillars, Tristan could see several elves chasing them, each with some kind of silver kites made of silver silk.

These kites make them look like a small plane. Tristan could quickly tell that these elves were all High Elves with the ability of using wind magic to fly.

Not long after, they could all see a white palace standing on top of a mountain above the cloud. The sight from where they were made it seemed as though the palace was floating in the air.

Even though they were still quite far from the white palace, Tristan could already feel a strong energy fluctuating from the whole palace. There must be some kind of strong energy protecting the place.

After a while, they finally arrived, hovering above the palace of the High Elves. Following their arrival, two dozen High Elves flew to surround them.

"We have arrived at our destination," Zoe reported, also using the ship's communication device as he previously did.

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Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,