Chapter 87 : Chapter 87
Chapter 87: The Elf Race’s Rejection
The one who appeared before everyone was none other than the chieftain of the Elf Race.
He looked to be in his thirties. His figure was tall and straight, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and well-proportioned limbs. He stood out clearly among the crowd.
He had pure golden hair that was long and smooth, reaching his waist. It was not tied up in any way and simply fell naturally down his back and over his shoulders.
The strands near his forehead would occasionally slip down, covering part of it, and under the sunlight, his hair gleamed with a fine, scattered luster.
His ears had the typical pointed shape of the Elf Race. The tips tilted slightly upward, and the edges of the auricles were covered with an extremely thin transparent membrane, upon which fine silver patterns were distributed.
He wore a dark green robe, with a wide belt fastened around his waist. The belt was made of brown leather, and its surface had irregular textures.
On his feet was a pair of soft-soled leather boots, their shafts reaching the middle of his calves.
“Adventurers, greetings. Welcome to Tree Sea Village. I am the village chief of this village, Kurt McIntyre.”
“Village Chief Kurt, hello. I am the adventurer Ryan, and they are my companions,” Ryan introduced himself.
“Mm... Lia, are you still insisting on your own idea?”
Kurt frowned and looked at his second daughter.
“Father, please believe me. There must be a problem with the barrier. If the barrier breaks, our village will definitely be attacked by the monsters in the forest!” Lia said urgently.
“Enough, Lia. Let this end here. I have already sent someone to inspect the barrier, and there is no problem. Your worry is unnecessary!” Kurt said coldly.
“But, Father...”
Lia still wanted to insist, but Kurt interrupted her.
“There is no need to say any more.”
After Kurt finished speaking, he turned toward Ryan.
“Adventurer Ryan, I apologize for making you come all this way because of my daughter’s willfulness. We of the Elf Race are not accustomed to receiving outsiders, so please leave as soon as possible!”
“Father, how can you say that?”
Lia was extremely angry.
Ryan and the others had come to Tree Sea Village at her invitation.
Yet now, her own father was actually trying to drive Ryan away right after meeting him.
What was Lia supposed to do?
Ryan also frowned.
Even though he had a good temper, faced with Kurt’s contempt, he still felt displeased.
However, this was the other party’s territory.
Directly opposing him here would not be a wise choice.
“Mm, all right. Since Village Chief Kurt does not welcome us, we will leave.”
Ryan nodded slightly.
“No, Mr. Ryan.”
Lia quickly ran in front of Ryan, then turned to face Kurt.
“Father, I will not allow you to drive Mr. Ryan and the others away. They are guests I invited here. If they are to leave, it must be with my consent. That is the proper way we of the Elf Race should treat our guests!”
Lia’s voice was filled with determination.
“Lia...”
Kurt looked at Lia and frowned.
A moment later, he sighed and said, “Fine. In that case, you will be responsible for receiving the guests. Aside from the altar, they may visit any other place.”
Faced with Lia’s insistence, Kurt ultimately compromised.
He had tried to drive Ryan and the others away only because Tree Sea Village generally did not invite people of other races inside.
However, Ryan and the others had Lia’s invitation, so of course they were allowed to enter.
Kurt had just been about to turn and leave.
Then Lia called out.
“Wait, Father!”
“Mm?”
Kurt turned back and looked at Lia.
“Father, you said just now that you had already sent someone to inspect the barrier. Who exactly did you send?” Lia asked.
“It was Erich Karlheinz,” Kurt said flatly.
“What? It was actually Erich?”
When Lia heard the name of the person Kurt had sent to investigate, she cried out in surprise.
She could not be blamed for being so shocked.
She had never expected her father to send Erich to inspect it.
Among the younger generation of the Elf Race, Erich Karlheinz was very weak. He was a complete good-for-nothing.
If Kurt had sent Erich Karlheinz to inspect the barrier, there was no way he could have obtained any concrete results.
“What?” Kurt asked.
“Father, Erich is so weak. What could he possibly inspect? Even if something truly was wrong with the barrier, with his ability, he definitely would not be able to find it!” Lia said hurriedly.
“Heh. It seems Lia has quite a few complaints about me.”
At that moment, a voice reached everyone’s ears.
Ryan had already sensed someone approaching long ago. He had simply not told anyone else.
Everyone turned their gazes toward the source of the voice.
A young male elf slowly walked toward them.
He looked to be about eighteen years old. His figure was rather slender, but straight and upright. He was around one meter eighty-five tall, with moderately broad shoulders and long limbs. Among elves of the same age, he did not count as tall or imposing, but because of his relaxed posture, he appeared neat and capable.
He had bright golden hair. Compared to the elders of his race, his hair looked even softer, and it reached his shoulders without being tied up.
He wore a light green short robe, with a narrow belt fastened around his waist. It was made of pale leather, its surface smooth. The belt buckle was a simple round piece of copper without any pattern, and a small vine-woven pouch hung beside the buckle hole.
On his feet were light, soft-soled shoes. The uppers were made of pale beast hide. They had no shafts and only reached his ankles. A ring of thin hemp rope was sewn around the opening, and the soles were made from a single layer of beast hide.
Ryan frowned as he looked at the newcomer.
He did not know what this fellow’s identity was, nor why he spoke so casually to Lia, the chieftain’s daughter.
Mira saw Ryan’s confusion.
She slowly moved closer to Ryan and introduced him in a low voice. “This is Erich Karlheinz. He is arrogant and believes that the Elf Race is the strongest race on the continent. He also shamelessly pursues the Second Young Lady.”
Another troublesome fellow.
Ryan thought to himself.
He had only just entered the inner territory of the Elf Race, and he had already encountered trouble.
It seemed the reward for this mission would not be so easy to obtain.
“Hmph! Erich, others might not know what kind of person you are, but do you think I don’t?” Lia snorted coldly, giving Erich no pleasant expression.
“Speaking of which, I have doubts as to whether you truly investigated this matter.”
“Erich, did you really investigate it properly?”
After saying that, Lia fixed her eyes firmly on Erich.
“Of course I did!”
Erich’s gaze wavered slightly, but he still answered with certainty.
He still wanted to maintain his good image in front of Kurt.
When Lia saw Erich’s answer, her brows knitted tightly.
The current situation was very troublesome.
Her father, Kurt, did not believe there was a problem with the barrier.
This Erich was also a good-for-nothing. He definitely had not properly inspected the condition of the barrier.
After a moment of silence, Lia thought of a method.
Delay for time!
As long as she could delay until the barrier completely collapsed, that would be enough.
Before then, she had to keep Ryan in Tree Sea Village.
She was very clear about Ryan and the others’ combat strength.
She believed that as long as Ryan was in Tree Sea Village, then no matter what happened after the barrier was damaged, whether it was a monster tide or an attack by an enemy race, the matter could be resolved.
If Ryan knew Lia thought so highly of him, he would definitely tell her there was no need for that.
Ryan did not want to draw attention from others because of his strength.
He still wanted to keep growing quietly for a while.
Develop in secret, then amaze everyone!
However, according to the results of her investigation, the strength of the barrier was weakening at irregular intervals.
She was still not clear when the barrier would completely break.
She could only prepare for danger in advance and try to keep Ryan in Tree Sea Village for as long as possible.
Thinking of this, Lia no longer looked at Erich and instead turned toward Kurt.
“Father, Ryan and the others are guests I invited here. I will be responsible for receiving them. When they leave is up to me!”
Kurt had not yet spoken.
Erich became anxious first.
“No!”
“This group of outsiders must leave Tree Sea Village within ten days. Lia, have you forgotten what happened a hundred years ago?”
Erich roared angrily.
A hundred years ago, Tree Sea Village had once experienced an invasion by outsiders. The incident was recorded on leather scrolls within the race and passed down orally by the elders from generation to generation.
At that time, a group of humans had arrived. There were twelve of them in total, and they claimed to be merchants from a southern city-state who had lost their way and mistakenly entered the forest.
The leader wore an elegant silk robe and held a letter that was supposedly written by the lord of a city-state with an old friendship with the Elf Race. The letter was written in elven script, and its contents requested permission to stay temporarily.
The chieftain at that time saw that they had brought many specialties from the city-state, including spices, cloth, and metal tools. Since they also had the letter, he allowed them to remain in the village as guests and arranged for them to stay in an empty tree house at the edge of the village.
According to the rules of the race, outsiders could stay for at most one month. During that period, two elves would keep watch over them, and they were not permitted to approach the altar at the center of the village.
At first, this group of humans behaved very properly. Every day, they only moved around near the tree house, occasionally using the cloth they had brought to exchange with the elves for herbs and fruit.
They always spoke very politely, and they even taught the children in the village to recognize human writing.
However, ten days later, the hunters of the race began to discover abnormalities.
During patrols, some hunters saw humans secretly leaving the tree house late at night and heading deep into the forest, carrying bags filled with powder.
Other elves smelled an unfamiliar odor in the soil around the outskirts of the village. It seemed like a mixture of sulfur and metal, but no one thought too deeply about it at the time. They merely assumed that something the humans had brought had leaked out.
The one who truly discovered the problem was the prophecy Mage of that time.
While the Mage was meditating near the Sacred Tree, he sensed faint mana fluctuations underground. They had not formed naturally, but had been deliberately arranged by someone.
Following the fluctuations, he investigated and discovered that something had been buried under seven ancient trees around the village. When he dug them up, he found metal plates engraved with runes. The runes on the plates were human dark magic symbols capable of absorbing natural energy.
The prophecy Mage immediately summoned the elders for discussion, while also having people secretly monitor that group of humans.
The elves in charge of surveillance reported that every night, those humans would gather in the tree house, speak quietly in the human language, and draw strange diagrams on the walls that looked like the layout of a formation.
On the night of the fifteenth day, the humans began to act.
They split into several groups and headed toward the ancient trees where the metal plates had been buried. Holding staffs in their hands, they began chanting spells.
The metal plates buried underground lit up with red light, and pale red patterns emerged on the ground. The patterns connected into a massive circle, surrounding the entire Tree Sea Village.
This was a trap-and-kill magic circle. Once it fully activated, it would absorb the energy of the Sacred Tree, causing the elves within the circle to lose their mana. Then the humans would launch an attack with magic.