184 Chapter 184

"Do you hate us?" As Sayiva asked this question a large eerie shadow began to form behind her whilst taking a humanoid form.

The guards who had their spears readied looked confused at the question and didn't immediately respond, however Sayiva still showed a small smirk. "You don't need to say it, I know you do." She muttered and in the next moment the eerie shadow took the form of a mana demon with a feminine outline before showing a gory bloody smile at the guards.

It's gruesome looking mouth opened and it instantly sucked the mana from the guard's bodies dry, leaving them to fall to the ground as dried up husks.

"!!"

All this had happened in an instant and it brought great shock towards everyone gathered, most especially the King and Queen herself.

"How dare you?!" The king was the first to react as he quickly stood up from his throne and looked ready to reach for his rapier, only to be stopped by the Queen. "Wait!"

That one word from her brought him and the guards that wanted to rush in to a halt while Sayiva showed a confident smile on her face.

"Judging from that look on your face it seems you recognize this being before you, don't you sister?" Sayiva asked with a brow slightly raised.

This question caused the many elves gathered to look in the direction of their queen in confusion.

"Everyone who isn't a member of the inner court leave!" Just as the Queen looked ready to speak, an old looking elven woman leading a group spoke first.

Without questioning her words, one by one many individuals began to leave the palace until only a few remained and all looked at Sayiva and the creature hovering behind her in silence.

"I Erileth, the eldest of my people pay my respects to your excellency." The silence that had befallen the throne room was ended as the old woman stepped forward and bowed her head towards the mana demon behind Sayiva, bringing even more confusion to everyone gathered.

"Although many of our records have been lost, I can never forget the greater beings that assisted our people. I was but a mere child then and much remains a foggy memory but your appearance is one I can never forget, back then you stood behind our former Queen." Erileth revealed bringing great surprise to everyone except Sayiva herself.

As for the mana demon behind her, it simply glanced at the bowing odd woman for a moment before vanishing.

[ To think, someone remembers us although only vaguely… ]

,m [ It is enough, ask your host to question this woman about all she knows! ]

[ We can finally learn just what happened after we were trapped ]

Just like the the echoey voices desired, the mana demon with which Sayiva had made an agreement with relayed instructions for her to ask about the history of what transpired when their king had vanished.

"She wants to know what happened in Pesia after their disappearance." Without wasting time Sayiva turned to the bowing Erileth and passed on the message.

At this point the King and Queen both looked rather bewildered as to what was going on. They had numerous things they wanted to ask but didn't dare speak upon seeing the most respected member of their race bow to the unknown entity that had appeared briefly before them.

"Forgive me but I too do not know…" Erileth revealed with slight hesitation as if ashamed before continuing to speak. "Our kind has always been isolated to this continent where much of the world's affairs didn't reach the ears of the public."

"I was much to young and unimportant at the time to be informed of any important matters that occurred. It was only when I finally joined the council and looked through our records that I found a great many things had been missing or changed… when I asked my mentor at the time she only said that I shouldn't question "their" will, since then little by little the old era was forgotten."

After speaking Erileth went silent and kept her head lowered while the King and Queen who remained standing looked towards Sayiva awaiting a response.

"If that's the case…"

….

While Sayiva brought revelation upon the elves, the Astroda had encountered a problem while freely roaming the skies.

The exact details of this problem were brought to Aron's attention by Scarlett before an emergency meeting was called in the airship's war room.

Overlooking the gathering was Henry who had a very concerned expression on his face. He took a moment to sigh and rub his temples before facing everyone seated around the central table in the room.

"As you all know we've encountered a rather tricky problem. As our scouts were observing the now not too distant continent, they saw what looked to be miniature fortresses all along the coastline of the Veldra Community." Henry revealed whilst Lady Rose studied the rough sketches of the fortresses seen.

"I see, they knew their aerial defenses were lacking so they strengthened their boarders instead. Judging from design alone it is quite clear that these fortresses were created for the sole task of countering both air and naval ships, as for what weapons they have I'm unsure." She explained before tossing the papers back at the center of the table for anyone who was interested to look at.

Juliet was the one to pick them up next before giving a small nod in agreement with Lady Rose's words. "It's highly possible they possess weaponry we are unfamiliar with that could be more advanced, it's quite risky but our only chance is still going forward. Don't you think Aron?"

Aron didn't immediately answer and chose to ponder a bit before agreeing she was right, however how they went about this plan would also determine their chances of success.

…

The plan wasn't put into action until the following day when the Astroda could be seen making it's way towards the Aethela continent under the cover of a heavy fog.

And although the airship was without a doubt the Astroda, those on the outside could only see an airship that looked to be of Aethelian origin.

The Veldra were a protectorate of Aethel and although Aethel didn't directly intervene with their internal affairs it still held great power over them. So much so that once the airship was vaguely spotted by the Veldra within the fortresses, they began to hurry out and prepared to welcome the approaching airship.

Of course some did remain in the fortresses just in case of anything but Aron had taken such a move into account as the ones who revealed themselves on the deck of the airship where the elves they had brought along.

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Since the number was quite large they could easily pass for a crew, what's more their young age couldn't be discerned due to the elves unique physiology.

Once the Veldra saw this their guard was slightly lowered as it wasn't at all odd for them to receive occasional inspections from Aethel.

Once the airship docked, a group of elves began to descend with Ariel taking the lead as their spokesperson. When approached by Aron with this plan she didn't even need to be given instructions as she knew how to handle it far better than he could due to the lack of knowledge and interaction he held concerning Veldra.

"Who is in charge of this segment?!" Upon descending the platform clad in armor, Ariel proceeded to speak in a domineering tone that the Veldra seemed all too familiar with as many lowered their heads and looked to their leader.

An old looking man of short stature with a muscular build and thick hair with a beard to match. "Y-Your excellencies I am the one in charge of this segment, I apologize for the lack of preparation but I hadn't received word of your visit… is something the matter?" The old Veldra asking while glancing at the crew Ariel descended with in the corner of his eye.

The man was quite suspicious of their arrival but just in case he was concerning himself over nothing he chose to play the part as he would normally. Anyone would grow suspicious since their usual inspector wasn't the one who arrived but instead this unfamiliar one.

"May I ask what happened to the previous inspector?…" Before Ariel could answer the old man proceeded to ask this of her causing her to furrow her brows in anger.

"We are at war! What do you think happened? Tsk, useless things. I am not here as an inspector, I am here because your inspector hasn't reported to us superiors leading to us being tasked with investigating. We strongly believe you have committed treasonous acts…" Ariel revealed in a heavy tone causing the old looking man to look at her more fearfully, rather than with suspicion.

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"That would mean you are enforcers! Your excellencies I have served you loyally all my life please be-" The old man began to panic as most would in his position but this breakdown was what Ariel needed to capitalize on.

"Silence! It's not like you would admit it if you were, however I looked over the records of this segment and it does seem you are loyal but whose to say your subordinates are the same?" After saying this Ariel could see the old man had fallen into thought and had now began questioning his own people. 'Who would be so foolish as to betray the Aethelians…' he thought in confusion.

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"I'm not here to waste time, quickly gather everyone working in this segment before me, I have other tasks to attend to. Quickly now! We cannot have you leaving your posts for long." Ariel waved her hand and her words truly made it seem like she was being truthful.

It didn't take long for the Veldra to gather near the docking area with their heads lowered while waiting for Ariel to speak. "Is this everyone? If I find you are concealing someone you and your families will be branded as traitors" Ariel warned and the old looking man confirmed that everyone who worked in the segment was present before her.

Rather than speak she instead turned to look up the platform where a dark silhouette could be seen through the mist. This belonged to none other than Aron who confirmed that they were indeed all there.

"Begin."