Chapter 49

Calian changed his mind, Elder Zer grinned. Kalian felt a little embarrassed after seeing that. Until then, he had been acting stiff, but his attitude completely changed when he heard that it was a path in the forest.

In the first place, I sat down as soon as Ger finished speaking, so I had nothing to say. Therefore, Calian looked at Zer and spoke honestly.

“Yes. I’m doing it for the forest path, so make sure to keep your promise.”

“The king of the human clan has no secrets. Don’t worry. Elves are a race that values promises.”

Calian frowned.

It wasn’t because he said he would keep his promise, but because the constant calling of names from earlier was very annoying.

“I told you my name, so don’t call me whatever you want anymore.”

Ger smiled and nodded without saying another word.

Calian asked Zer.

“The missing elves. Is there anything I can refer to?”

“They are all male elves in their early to mid-20s.”

“Are these people who know how to fight?”

“I’m no match for your knights, but I can do it to some extent.”

Calian, who had heard the story up to that point, looked a little like he did not understand. This is because no elf who knew how to fight came to look for Sia, who had disappeared for a longer period of time.

“Then why didn’t you find Sia?”

“Luca said he saw you protecting him.”

“Aren’t you trusting people too much? Even so, you said he was your son.”

Ger responded by pointing his finger at his face.

“Sia’s face said she wasn’t scared, so I believed her.”

I briefly remembered Sia’s frightened face when I first met her, and Zer continued speaking.

“And all the young elves in this village are my sons and daughters.”

After hearing that and realizing that there had been a misunderstanding, Kalian let out an “Ah” sound. The term “son” did not mean that Sia was his real biological son. Calian, who understood it as ‘my little Young Jimin’, nodded.

“Then what did that elf named Luca do when he went out?”

Ger suddenly shook his head and sighed deeply.

“It must have gone out to make money. Once it went to a human village, it became possessed and ran away out of the village to make money several times. But it has never failed to come back like this.”

Calian laughed when he found out why he sold the sculpture and stole an expensive-looking sacred object. Come to think of it, isn’t Luca the real culprit who got Calian involved in the Ratran incident? Calian told Zer the truth with some resentment.

“Do you know that that elf named Luca stole things from humans?”

Then Jer’s face turned very serious.

It’s worth it. Wasn’t Calian quite surprised when he first found out that the elf had stolen the goods?

“If you come looking for me, educate me properly. I was quite upset because of the stuff that elf stole.”

“I understand.”

“Anyway, it’s rare to find elves selling sculptures. We’ll look for them starting tomorrow.”

Then, Ger raised his finger and pointed to the right and left respectively.

“First of all, there are two cities on either side of the forest. They are called Nerika and Sting. If you search from there, it will be a little better, so take note.”

Calian, who remembered the names of the two places, nodded. After thanking them for their help, Zer told another elf to prepare a place for the group and dinner.

* * *

The dinner served by the elves was better than expected.

I was worried that they only ate raw grass, but that wasn’t the case at all. While I was eating black bread with the unique sour yet dry taste of rye, spread with orange jam, I suddenly felt a strange feeling.

It was because of the topic of conversation that began to be heard around Kalian.

Among the knights, what happened in Latran some time ago was a hot topic. It was something he didn’t want to think about again, but he couldn’t stop the words from coming out, so he just listened to the story in silence.

But the words took a slightly strange turn.

‘How can I shatter the sword?’

The discussion about this started as if to ask Kalyan to listen.

“You must have blocked the magical bullet.”

“There were no scorch marks on the sword. Moreover, the magic bullet did not explode. You saw that it was cut cleanly.”

The voice gets louder. It seemed that Calian, who had heard that, wanted to explain it himself. Calian pretended not to hear and just ate the bread.

After looking at Calian and seeing no sign of an answer, the knights looked at Arsene this time.

“What would you do?”

Calian’s hand stopped for a moment.

Actually, I was curious about Calian too. Didn’t the sword, which had not broken no matter how much aura was used in the past, break into pieces with a single gesture of Arsene’s hand?

Arsene, who received the question, instead of answering, focused his magic on the knife in his hand. Immediately, the knife froze with white frost, and a long crack appeared along with a ‘Zeng’ sound. Arsene, who was looking at it quietly, said quietly.

“Of course, since the method of smelting these knives and swords is different, it is impossible to freeze and break them as quickly as this. Still, I am thinking that they might be destroyed in a similar way.”

It seemed like he hadn’t figured out how to do it yet.

At those words, one of the knights burst into laughter and said.

“I can’t believe I broke the sword. I could catch the Sword Master if I wanted to.”

okay. Caught.

While Calian was firmly remembering the name of the guy who had just spoken, the eyes of the other knights all fell on Calian.

“sword……?”

These are Slayman’s knights. Since the word “sword master” came up, how could it not be reminiscent of Calian’s broken iron sword?

Therefore, Calian naturally smiled and ate the bread once more.

Anyway, if you meet Slayman, you will be immediately caught using Aurors, so it doesn’t matter if you find out a few days sooner or not. Well, that’s how I felt.

* * *

Fortunately, after that, the knights did not persistently follow Calian and ask him the truth or challenge him to a sparring match. This is because Calian sent them all out of the forest to investigate on his behalf.

Therefore, the knights walked around in plain clothes without even seeing Calian’s face, and first checked to see if there were any cities that looked suspicious. The reason Kalian didn’t come forward in person was because he needed to look carefully first.

The first thing Calian thought of when he first heard Zer’s words was elven slave trafficking. He was a young, sturdy elf, and from what Zer said, he knew how to fight, but he didn’t seem to be an outstanding elf, so I thought he could be a good target.

It was clear that if it were known that the prince would personally step forward and look into the slave trafficking situation, everyone would hide or run away, so only the knights were sent out.

“It doesn’t seem like slave trafficking is taking place in this area in particular. There were times when people appeared to be mercenaries, but it was difficult to see them as having anything to do with crime.”

Yuran, who returned to the forest after completing the investigation, said this.

So the next day, Kalyan himself came out. He was only accompanied by Kiri, who had not yet participated in the investigation. The knights who had already searched the village did not go with them because they could recognize their faces.

“Which way do you want to go first?”

After leaving the elf village, Kirie asked me this. It was a question of which to go first between Sting and Nerika, which are located on opposite sides of the forest with a forest in the middle.

After receiving the question, Kalian recalled what Jan had explained. Since the two cities were similar in size and the lords of the two cities were viscounts of similar ages, the competition between them was fierce. As a result, it was difficult to choose which of the two to go first.

“Let’s go to the place with the short name first.”

There was nothing to worry about.

If you start from the closest and shortest place and expand your horizons, you will find something. This was the thought.

After riding silently through the forest for about two hours, we arrived at Sting.

Calian immediately put on his robe and put on his hood.

Sting wasn’t a very big city. Even from a distance, it was a completely different scale from Latran.

Still, it was well organized and there were more people coming and going than expected. Judging by their behavior, it didn’t seem like they were having any major financial difficulties.

As Yuran said, there were no special problems from the outside, so Kalian decided to take care of his hungry stomach first. Calian looked at Kyrie and spoke briefly.

“Meat. I want to eat meat.”

Kirie smiled more clearly than usual. The first thing I said after thinking so seriously about coming here was meat. Calian, who pretended not to see that, continued.

“After eating meat, go to the weapon shop and buy a useful sword. Then, let’s look around a little more.”

“Why don’t you get a better sword?”

“Do you need a better sword?”

“An ordinary sword cannot be used for a long time, Prince. It cannot contain aura.”

Kyrie was learning sword skills from Calian.

Therefore, Calian had to explain to Kyrie how he could control Aurors, and Calian, who was not good at hiding things, eventually told Kyrie some of his secrets. Of course, they did not tell us when or why Bern and Kyrie met their deaths.

“If I go back to the palace, I won’t be able to use it anyway.”

After saying this, Kalian raised his finger and pointed at the sky.

“I think good ingredients will drop from there soon.”

Kirie’s gaze was directed to the sky, but it was difficult to understand just those riddle-like words. Calian moved Raven without another word. This is because I did not feel like making a prophetic statement that a real meteorite would fall early next year.

Anyway, after going to a restaurant and having a meaty meal, the two went out and found a weapon shop. They had to look at each other’s faces and tilt their heads when they heard what the shop owner said.

“I don’t have a sword.”

“There are no swords. Are you saying they are all sold?”

“A mercenary? It looks like he’s still young.”

The owner glanced at Kalian and asked this instead of answering.

Calian nodded slightly and answered roughly, pointing to Kirie and himself in that order.

“This is a swordsman and I am a wizard. Anyway, I need a sword, but won’t it be difficult to get one?”

Then the owner crossed his arms and began to think about something. It was clear that he was torn about whether to speak or not. Calian, who knew very well what to do in times like this, took out two silver coins from his pocket and handed them to the owner.

The owner who accepted it hesitated a little longer and finally took one more silver coin before looking around and speaking quietly.

“It seemed like mercenaries were secretly gathering for a while.”

“Secretly? Without notice?”

The owner nodded. Then he opened his mouth in a quieter voice.

“Then today, during the day, two soldiers came and told me to put all my weapons away because they would take them away tonight.”

Calian frowned slightly.

The owner continued speaking while a bad feeling was creeping in.

“So, if you are a mercenary, go over there.”

The owner who said that gestured with his chin and pointed somewhere outside the store. The place his eyes landed on was Yeongju Castle.

Calian’s eyes lit up slightly.

If two small cities of similar size were nearby, secretly gathering mercenaries, and the weapons within the castle were collected, it meant only one thing.

“…… You’re trying to start a war.”

Calian, who figured out what Yuran couldn’t figure out in three days after eating a meal, lowered his head and scratched his cheek. “That’s right.

”

Where is the elf who wants to make money and fights in moderation? I felt like I knew what was going on. I felt like I knew better that I had dipped my toes into something strange again. The

Hiriska Forest elf village was between the two cities. If a fight broke out between the two, of course there would be damage to the elf village as well. .

So, I could understand why Zer bothered to ask Calian for help.

‘The Prince of Kairis, who came to the elf village, asked me to prevent a fight between the two cities.’

Calian’s eyebrows, hidden under the hood, were very frowned.