Chapter 229

Chapter 229

“Well, for now......”

Leeha quickly took off his necklace. It was a fraudulent item that increased intimacy with the dark elves by 100%, but it had the penalty of decreasing the intimacy with the wood elves by 50%. In the dominion of the wood elves, he would not be able to say anything even if he got stabbed with a knife while recklessly wearing the necklace.

“Buying Tinto fruits, stems, and leaves! We will buy all of them at market price, so please come!”

“Looking for a 4-man party to catch the polluted zelkova tree, only those who can use a longbow and can shoot alternately!“

“Who wants to teach me a skill for the water spirit! Something that has a haste effect! I will pay you 10 gold.”

Judging from their appearance which was tall, with pointed ears, and a slender body. And in terms of skills, magic, spirits, and bows.

Leeha was able to see all the types of wood elves at a single glance.

‘Of course, there were some warrior classes, but most of them were ranged damage dealers.’

There was no one who used a crossbow.

All of them had jobs using basic bows such as the composite bows and longbows, so he thought that this might be the most ‘game-like’ village.

Compared to the large buildings of the Shazrasian Federation, and the small buildings of Hell Anvil, the buildings of Elm had a modest feeling. Compared to the humans that gave off a sense of splendor, the calm pastel tones were rather unnatural because only the colors green and yellow were used.

Leeha headed to the pub, walking among the wood elves who mingled with the humans.

It was expected that, in any town, one must enter the pub first in order to collect basic information. However, Leeha, who had just left the warp gate and started walking, felt suspicious movements following him .

‘Two, no three.’

There were slow footsteps that followed him while keeping a distance.

One on the left, right, and rear. They were surrounding Leeha.

However, unlike the frontier, this was not a lawless area. It wasn’t like Leeha was going out of the town anytime soon. Leeha guessed that what they could do would be limited.

“Excuse me. Can we inspect you for a moment?”

“What?”

However, Leeha’s guess was completely wrong. As soon as the crowd lessened, they quickly approached and blocked Leeha’s escape route. They were fully armed wood elves.

“We are the guards of Elm. Please cooperate with us.”

“W-what’s going on?”

“We could feel the dark elves’ energy coming from you. We don’t want to see a cursed aura circulating in this sacred city.”

“Dark...... elf? What are you talking about?”

Why? As he spoke, Leeha looked at his own neck. Didn’t he take off that necklace already? However, the Elm guards did not come to inspect Leeha because of the necklace. A sword that looked like it was made from long leaves, an impressive fluttering blade pointed at Leeha’s bag. (ed: I don’t know how impressive a floppy leaf sword could be.)

“Can I check your bag for a moment?”

It was then that Leeha realized . It was not the necklace that was emanating the dark elves’ ‘energy’.......

‘Damn it, Kaztor’s Orb...”

He didn’t know he would get caught by something like this. As Leeha hesitated, the Elm guards become more agitated with him.

“Open it now.”

“In the autonomous city of Elm, if you reject the request of the Elm guards, we can take you away -”

“I will open it. Okay. You can open it. Why are you scaring me like that?”

He couldn’t fight here. And running away wasn’t an option either. And what about the wood elves? It was already a part of their description. They were a tree-loving race.

[The bargaining skill has been activated.]

[The chances of persuading the target have increased by 41%.]

With his skill expert bargaining level 6, Leeha nonchalantly opened his bag and took out an item.

“Look. Do you know what this is?”

“Hmm......? What is it?”

“No, wait...... this......”

It wasn’t Kaztor’s Crystal Ball. The size was about the same, but they were looking at a completely different item.

It wasn’t the dark elves’ crystal that glowed when near Kaztor’s lab, but it was the small dark turquoise fruit.

“Isn’t this...... [The Seed of the Polluted World Tree]?”

It was the first time the Elm guards saw it, but they were not ignorant. Leeha also continued with even more confidence now because he was aware of the basic settings of the world tree.

“Yes. The world tree! The home of the wood elves! However, it was a place that was defiled and corrupted and cannot be reached! It is one of the seeds of the world tree.”

“Where did you get such a thing? Did you buy it?”

The Elm guards looked at Leeha with half-doubt, and half-surpise. He didn’t expect to get their trust buy showing it, but their expressions had softened.

“I’m an old man, I am already over 350 years old, so that’s kind of true. In any case, come in.”

“350 years old....... You sure look young.”

“You’re exaggerating. Come on in.”

Praising one’s looks seemed to work regardless of their race. The wood elf smiled and guided Leeha.

“Right, what did you come to see me for?”

“There’s one thing I would like to ask you.”

“Hmmm, and what would that be?”

“In the previous war ...... you were part of the pursuers right? The pursuing party to chase after the fragment of the demon king as well as the retreating army of the demon king.”

“That’s right. Speed and stealth were an essential part of that mission, so many were not able to go, and I have been honored to pursue them as a representative of the wood elves. Among those who fought at that time, a plaque was given to the most outstanding wood elf-”

With just a few words, the character of the wood elf was shown. Leeha worked hard to match the wood elf’s rhythm by adding sounds of confirmation time and again.

“Just looking at the data, we could see how important the role of wood elves was in the pursuit at that time.”

“Hmm, the humans....... For some reason, I’m worried that I have overly praised what I did. In fact, it was a rather insignificant role.”

“Your too humble”. But what Leeha really wanted to say, I don’t really give a damn about even a single line from your story. but Leeha strongly held back those words.

Leeha only brought up his true purpose after giving the wood elf enough time to brag.

“Actually, I also wanted to ask you about the chase at the sea.”

“The sea? What about it?”

“In our records, it said that ...... an unknown force stopped the pursuit from 5 to 6 nautical miles.”

“Oh, yes, even looking back at it now, it was an absurd inccident. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the first time I saw the power of the [Matan’s Shooter].”

Matan’s Shooter! Leeha’s expression became serious.

“Was that really the Matan’s Shooter?”

“Even the greatest wood elf magician cannot shoot at that distance. They would not be able to put enough mana. Of course, I heard that an Archmage was able to devastate a city with magic, but that is just a legend. And the magic was a meteor shower from the sky.”

(ed: In theory the meteor shower magic thing sounds cool but I’m pretty sure if you were to apply a little logic. A meteor shower should do a little bit more than just destroy a city.)

It was a overly long speech but Leeha understood the important parts.

“In other words, we didn’t feel any mana, and there was no magic that could be shot as far as 10km away-”

“It is certain that the unknown enemy was the [Matan’s Shooter].”

“Is the identity of [Matan’s Shooter] a dark elf?”

As soon as he heard the question, the wood elf’s expression hardened. It was completely different from the way he had been proud of himself with a smile on his face.

“I know that wood elves do not lie. Much less a wonderful person like you would give me a false answer-”

“Of course. I am not that kind of elf.”

The wood elf slowly leaned back on the sofa and opened his mouth again.

“......I am not really sure.”

“Yes?”

As soon as Leeha heard the wood elf’s hesitant answer, Leeha answered back with confusion.

“At that time, I was sure that the [Matan’s Shooter] was a dark elf, but now that I think about it, I don’t know.”

“But from our records-”

“I obviously said that. I said....... I mean there’s nothing that could have such evil energy but a dark elf. It’s a little different from the meaning “Matan’s Shooter” if its a dark elf...”

The wood elf shrugged off his words.

Leeha felt like the answer came from a politician.

“Sir, are you saying that [Matan’s Shooter] may not be a dark elf?”

“It could be a dark elf, but I am not 100% sure -to say the least- anyway, I don’t know what kind of existence it was. The only thing that I am certain of is that his two shots came from a distance of 10km.”

“In other words, the person who shot from a 10km distance was not a dark elf.”

“Well, if you have to interpret it tenaciously, that’s what it means....... Cough, cough.”

The wood elf coughed, meaning “Do you really have to keep doing that?”. Looking at his face, Leeha was convinced.

‘As expected.’

[Matan’s Shooter] was not a dark elf.

If that is the case.

Who else could it be?