Chapter 102: Trappers

Captain Raika considered Serena's and Tristan's words for a moment as this could affect the entire group. After a while, she finally agreed to let the two on their escapade.

However, Tristan was strictly warned by the former to not do anything suspicious. Otherwise, he would be put down right at that moment and place. Furthermore, the Kingsblade would follow them from behind, to ensure that nothing went wrong.

Receiving the agreement from the captain, Serene swiftly took a dozen elven soldiers with her in order to solve the incoming threat. The selected elves immediately got off from their horses and gathered near her. Afterwards, they went ahead and made their way towards the said trappers in a slow, careful manner.

In the meantime, Tristan was right behind this group of people. He was fascinated by how effective and efficient these elves were. They were moving through the woods without making a single sound, following the hand signs Serena did.

The scene that unfolded right in front of him at the moment was exactly like those special forces movies back on Earth.

Tristan was glad to be allowed to join. Therefore, he also tried his best to be as quiet as possible in following them, lest their position be discovered by the enemy.

After slowly trekking through the intricate arrangement the forest had for a few minutes, Tristan finally saw a ray of light in the middle of the sea of trees.

He narrowed his eyes, using the enhanced senses he had to look far into the distance. And then, he saw that the light was coming from a campfire, which was currently surrounded by a dozen figures. 

Tristan discovered those who directly sat in his line of sight were humans, while he was not sure about the others who only showed their side profile and back to him.

Naturally, Serene had also spotted the figures in the distance. Without making any sound, she swiftly performed a series of gestures that instructed the elven soldiers to lurk and surround the enemy.

One minute later, Tristan, Serene and the elven soldiers were already in their positions, ready to lunge forward and attack the unsuspecting enemy. 

"Go!"

One word from Selene, and the elven soldiers immediately lunged towards the enemy, leaving no window for the latter to counter attack. All the elven soldiers lurked and trudged through the dark forest with ease, as if the darkness did not affect them at all. They struck the enemy and vanished amid the trees, making all the trappers fall into disorder and panic.

Tristan knows these elves are excellent archers, but they mostly send a warning shot and quickly follow it with the short swords that came out of nowhere and already pointed at their necks.

Even Tristan did not have the chance to move as all dozen panicked trappers were swiftly disabled and rounded up by the elven soldiers. He and the Kingsblade could only watch as the trappers were dealt with in a matter of seconds.

The voice of Serene was thundering in the air.

"You damned trappers have violated the law!" 

He could see the female elf cast a spell that made the plants creep up and bind the disabled trappers, acting exactly like a rope. The elven soldiers then began interrogating these trappers for information.

While the elves were busy with their interrogation session, Tristan silently approached Nyx and asked the talkative man about who these trappers were.

From him, Tristan found out that these trappers were basically humans who went deep into the Evergreen Forest in search of rare animals to catch or kill. To put it on Earth's terms, these people were hunters, smugglers, and traffickers.

The elves despised these trappers so much, as the king had written a law that forbade people from going deep into Evernight Woods and hunting the animals inside. But it was clear that the law was ineffective, given that the number of illegal trespassers and hunters had not decreased.

Well, after thinking it through, Tristan could understand the reason for these people. Actually, it was very simple.

These trappers must be looking for the rare items that they could harvest from those rare creatures. In short, they came here in search of wealth!

This kind of practice also commonly happened back on Earth, and its target was also the same - rare and precious creatures.

With the existence of a law that prohibited the hunting of these rare animals, instead of reducing the number of these kinds of practices, it would only increase the price of the related goods in question.

In addition, these people must realize that the risks were proportional, or even lower, than the benefits they could derive from this venture. 

Tristan could only shake his head in helplessness as he saw the elves only caught these trappers, doing their best to not kill even one of them. 

No wonder the law could not stop these people. These elves were simply too merciful!

What's worse for him, No killing means no blood to extract, this is really disappointing.

Tristan secretly let out a smile, as he took a moment to mock and criticize the king's way of handling this matter. In his personal opinion, the best method to handle these kinds of people was through complete suppression!

Not long after, one of the elven soldiers ran toward Serene and whispered something. Once again, the female elf showed a troubled expression.

Tristan was about to ask what happened when Serene suddenly ran towards the wooden cart parked right beside the campfire. Curious, his eyes followed the latter to the cart, only to find her furious.

This time, Serene approached the bound trappers and interrogated them herself.

Quietly approaching the friendly Nyx, Tristan whispered, "Do you have any idea what's going on there now, Nyx?"

Nyx turned to Tristan, glanced at the enraged elf, and said "I'm not sure, actually. It's quite rare to see the elf become that angry."

Upon hearing that, Tristan showed a puzzled expression, "Really? I just saw one angry elf yesterday."

While Tristan and Nyx lost in their conversation, Serene and Captain Raika made their way toward them, or rather, toward Tristan. Their movement caught his attention, and from the way they looked, Tristan assumed they wanted something from him.

"Sir Tristan, the elf needs your unique assistance." said Captain Raika.

Tristan was stunned by the unexpected words. "My.. unique assistance? I'm sorry, but what do you mean by that?"

Tristan could roughly guess what they needed. He just wanted to mess with them.

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