Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Han Jin got a lot of information out of Louise without much trouble. Of course, Louise deemed this information to be safe enough to tell outsiders too. Her sister Lola had sensed that something strange was happening to Nicola’s army. At the same time, a governor had happened to find a herd of unicorns inside the forest and had immediately reported it to Lola. This then gave her the idea to form a personal vanguard composed of unicorn knights. She found an opportunity to send out Panven and Louise, along with her double, to capture unicorns in the forest, while she herself remained hidden in Moonlight City the whole time.
In reality, Lola’s double was not this weak, or else she would have been exposed long ago. She had only been greatly weakened during their hunt for unicorns, during which they had encountered a suicide attack where she had been cursed. The deacons within the team could do nothing about it, and they could only wait until they returned to Moonlight City and seek the help of a cardinal to lift the curse.
Louise was not a good storyteller and often went on a tangent before midway through her retelling of each incident. Her whole recount of her experience was a chaotic mess without any sense of order. Luckily, Han Jin had good comprehension skills and managed to understand the gist of the situation.
Poor Panven had to cast Special Teleportation three more times under the persistent demands of Louise. Though that reassured her, Panven’s stamina and magic were both completely exhausted. He didn’t even have any strength left to stand on his own, and since all the unicorns were only freshly tamed and still did not accept humans on their backs, someone had to carry him.
When night approached, the procession neared a mountain. In Han Jin’s eyes, that was a dead end and they should circle around. However, Louise, who was in the lead, continued on as if she didn’t notice it. Han Jin realized it must have something to do with the Elven Village and decided to quietly follow without any questions.
Once they had reached the tall cliff wall of the mountain, the trees grew increasingly dense, and the grass beneath their feet was like a verdant green lake; even the rocky mountain side was covered in dense vines.
As Louise glanced around, a shape suddenly jumped out of the vines. If you examined it closely, you would realize it was a female elf. Her dress and leather armor were all green, and she could hide practically anywhere within the forest; it was no wonder no one noticed her. Unless one was extremely sensitive to life forces or had some other special power, it was impossible to discover her with raw eyesight.
Louise affectionately exchanged a few words with the elf. With a wave of her hand, the vines on the cliff slowly opened, exposing a small gap that could fit only a single person. Louise turned and told everyone to proceed before walking into the gap first.
After thirty or forty meters, the area suddenly opened up, and a small open field appeared in front of everyone’s eyes. With the moonlight, Han Jin could clearly see a dozen huts in the center of the field that were surrounded by hundreds of gnarly, withering trees, which appeared quite jarring in an area that seemed so full of life. It seemed the Elven Village did not have many residents; Panven was clearly exaggerating their power. The elves here couldn’t all be high level professionals, could they?
A strange noise attracted Han Jin’s attention, and as he looked toward the source of the sound, he found an enormous cave that was somehow thirty or so meters above the ground. It was about twenty meters wide and pitch black, and Han Jin couldn’t see anything within it.
Lights lit up within some of the huts, and a female elf that looked around twenty walked out with her clansman to greet them. Of course, elves were extremely long-lived and the guess on her age was purely based on human standards.
Louise ran up with a big smile, and the female elf also grabbed Louise’s hand and started chatting with her in a low voice. Judging by the female elf’s friendly demeanor and gleaming eyes, they should have met before..
As they spoke, a couple of even younger-looking elves laughingly ran out from deeper inside the village. Louise instantly let out a shriek when she saw them and immediately joined them like old friends. It must be said that Louise’s personality is truly… special. She shrieked when she was angry, and also shrieked when she saw her friends; it was truly baffling.
The female elf in the lead led Louise into the village. Shockingly, those withering trees were actually alive and stepped aside to make way for the procession. Han Jin was truly startled by this; only then did he notice those withering trees were in fact Treefolks!
The unicorns, which had been docile until they had arrived in the village, suddenly became agitated. They suddenly started neighing with joy and ran around the green field. Some even galloped beside the Treefolks and tentatively studied them. A few muscular guards among the procession hurriedly charged out to restrain them, afraid that they were going to cause trouble.
Under the lead of the female elf, everyone walked into a tall hut. Living conditions wise, this place appeared rustic but organized, and the scent of nature filled the air. Everything also emitted a refreshing fragrance.
There was no furniture in the hut, and instead only had a few delicately carved tree stumps which were covered by cushions sewn from verdant grass. However, there were too many guests and not enough seats, and most were forced to stand. Han Jin was lucky enough to receive a seat, and he sat down cross-legged in a respectful manner.
The female elf leader called in a younger elf and ordered something in a whisper. The young elf then ran out and soon returned with a wooden bucket, while another sat some cups in front of every stump. These cups were the only resemblance to human civilization that Han Jin had noticed since arriving.
The younger elf left with the bucket again once she had filled every cup. Louise held up her cup with a giggle and asked, “Blanche, how many Moonlight Wells do you have now?”
“Ah child.” The female elf leader smiled. “It is difficult enough to maintain even a single Moonlight Well. You must know that some bigger gathering places of elves don’t even have a single one.”
“They are just useless.” Louise shrugged and finished her cup.
Blanche shook her head with a helpless smile. She was used to Louise’s sharp tongue and didn’t say anything.
Han Jin wanted to drink too, but suddenly stopped when he heard there was only one well in the whole village. The elves that had come in after had water dripping from their hair; this couldn’t be what they had showered in, right? Though elves were usually clean, it was another matter entirely to drink their bath water.
Han Jin was about to put down his cup when he noticed Panven not only finish the whole cup but even try to lick the droplets of water left in the cup. He only stopped and embarrassingly put down his cup when he noticed someone looking at him.
Han Jin was not sure about Panven’s power, but he did remember what Louise had said. Lola had told her to ‘listen to Panven on everything’ else, which clearly implied Panven was one of Lola’s most capable aides. If someone like him somehow valued the water this much, it must be special in some way.
With that thought, Han Jin stopped hesitating and took a swig. His eyes immediately widened in shock as a jet of extremely pure Moon Qi wafted through his throat and cycled through his central elixir field. Though there was not much energy within it – only several times more than the Thunderbird meat he had eaten a while back – this was the purest form of Moon Qi! It could probably match the Ichor and Ambrosias of gods in the legends!
After draining the cup in a few gulps, Han Jin likewise tried his best to clean every single droplet of water. Panven, who watched from beside him, let out a low laugh in revenge.
Han Jin slowly put down the cup on his tree stump. If he knew the elves, he would have begged for more water, even if he had to pay. Unfortunately, this was not his place to talk, and he should really consider himself lucky to even receive a cup.
Louise rolled her eyes and smiled. “Blanche, don’t be so stingy! This is an esteemed guest from afar. It seems… he hasn’t had enough.”
Han Jin smiled and didn’t try to appear modest; he wasn’t very modest to begin with, after all. However, Louise did suddenly become way less jarring in his eyes.
“Is that so?” Blanche smiled, then gave another elf a look. “Your sister recruited another powerful ally? Then I really should congratulate her.”
“Him? Oh no, he doesn’t work for us.”
“What? He’s not one of yours?” Blanche’s face instantly turned.
“He…” Louise realized she had misspoken again and hurriedly tried to explain, “Sister Blanche, you… you misunderstand! He’s not an enemy!”
“You silly child!” Blanche shouted in anger and abruptly stood up. The elves, who were smiling a moment ago, instantly became hostile and drew their long bows. Ten arrows were pointed at Han Jin in no time.
Han Jin was awestruck in place. He didn’t know whether he should stand as well or remain sitting; he had never expected a drink of water could cause this much trouble.
“Speak! Who sent you?! Why did you sneak into the Elven Village?!” Blanche sternly demanded.
“Sister Blanche! Please let me explain!” Louise became anxious and grabbed Blanche’s arm. “He’s Aude’s friend! He came all the way here just to find Aude!” Louise said as she gave Han Jin a look.
Han Jin blinked. It was true he was trying to find Aude, but didn’t Louise know many templars? Why specifically pick Aude? But the situation did not leave him any time to think, so he slightly nodded without any hesitation.
“Aude?!” Blanche finally relaxed a little. “You are friends with Aude?”
Blanche desperately tried to send Han Jin looks, and if she could, she would have nodded for Han Jin already. However, Han Jin sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t try to pretend here, or else if Blanche started to ask him questions about Aude and he couldn’t answer, the misunderstanding would be inconciliable.
Louise stomped her feet in anger and gave Han Jin a look of helpless anger, then shouted again, “Blanche, please, this is all a misunderstanding! He’s really our friend! He killed so many of Nicola’s dogs this morning, it’s true! I saw it with my own eyes!”
Blanche humphed coldly. “Louise, you are too naive!”
Han Jin’s body suddenly sunk down, then completely disappeared. A moment later, some elves outside exclaimed in shock. The elves inside the hut hurriedly charged outside, yet Han Jin had already risen behind Blanche’s back. Blanche reacted extremely quickly and kicked backward at Han Jin’s chest, then took out a longbow from her space ring. By the time she had started to turn, her bow was already fully drawn.
Han Jin leaned sideways and patted Blanche’s shoulder before he fell into the ground again. The next moment, he appeared where he had been sitting and silently looked at Blanche.
The hut was deathly quiet. Maybe Han Jin was only able to succeed so easily because of the surprise factor of his ‘magic’, but it was undeniable that if he meant harm, Blanche would have been dead by now!
“Ahem…” Han Jin coughed. “Is there anymore water?”
