Chapter 47 - Planning and treasure
Silas stretched out his hand and a yellow leaf fell upon his open palm. He took back his hand and stared at the leaf with interest.
It had been four days since they resumed the journey. Now, everyone is used to it . Even Isvendar who usually stayed quiet was now opening up.
She talked a lot with Ice-pick. The conversation was random and unguided. She also got along quite well with Old Gin as they shared the kitchen.
Although Silas had never eaten her cooking, according to Old Gin, it was delicious. He was tempted but it would complicate things.
Before he took a step forward and revealed the deeper meaning of her marriage, he needed to know about her.
Silas crushed the lead and burned it with mana.
"Careful." Ice-pick blew the air to his hands, killing off the small flame.
Silas smiled and flicked his finger at her forehead with moderate speed. She grumbled and stuck out her tongue.
He looked down and dusted off the ashes from his hand.
He had already finished his lessons and had nothing to do. So, he played with his mana, creating various shapes he had seen in the game and from earth.
Ice-pick interrupted and asked. "Why are you doing this? I have been meaning to ask."
Silas held up his arms and showed the mana string he was powering. "This?"
Ice-pick nodded, followed by Luna. Even Isvendar was interested as her gaze lingered on his hand.
Silas smiled. "Nothing. I am just bored and decided to train my mana control."
"Doing this increases your control?" Luna asked.
He shook his head. "No. The mana control training is different from this. And you won’t get much from following me."
[Even so, following you requires high control.] Thamior sounded.
Silas ignored the old mage, treating him like a fragment of the imagination.
***
It was night time and everyone was sitting near the firepit, enjoying the warmth.
Silas ordered a meeting.
"How long before we reach the Palm Mountain, Old Gin?" He asked, looking at the old man.
"Two days, sir."
Silas nodded. "Alright, I will tell you why we are going to that place. You can already guess my motive but I will tell you everything you need to know."
"Finally." Ice-pick laughed and jumped up in high spirits.
Roland rested on the tree and listened. Since he was on watch duty, he also needed to expand his energy sense around him.
"The goal behind the Palm Mountain is a heist. We are going to steal something."
"Who and what?" Roland asked from the tree.
Everybody looked up. They didn’t voice out as they also wanted to know the answers.
"I will explain. There are elves living near the Palm Mountain. They didn’t make a village or anything like this but they guarded the mountain."
"So, we will be stealing things from them?" Luna asked.
Silas shook his head with a smile. "No. In the first place, the thing I am trying to steal doesn’t belong to the living. It is from the spirit world. To be precise, a giant snake. You all knew about the legend of the world serpent, right? How the serpent protected the world tree and gave it life."
Everyone nodded.
"We won’t get a curse right?" Roland asked.
"No. I can guarantee that." Silas said and picked up a stick.
He then drew the overview map of the mountain.
Five circles representing each finger of the hand, and in the middle was marked as a goal. He also added a few bases of the elves around the area while checking the map from Old Gin.
After comparing the map and the map inside his head, Silas nodded in satisfaction. Perfect.
He then drew the path they were taking.
"Our path led to the middle finger." Silas explained. "This is both good and bad news."
"The middle finger was occupied by the strongest elf around the area. And he is alone. In order to get to our destination, we need to reach the mountain peak and open the secret path."
"Can we attack him?" Ice-pick said.
"No. As I said, that elf is the strongest. We will be dead in an instant if we antagonize him."
"But we are going to."
Silas smiled. "No. We are not going to antagonize anyone. What we do is to instigate the problem and let them face each other."
"How?" Roland asked.
"The answer is simple. You just need to take into account the nature of elves." Silas smiled. "Elves are a proud race of nature. They believed themselves as the superior race of every creature. Even to the dragons."
Silas chuckled. "And they have the right because their strength is undeniable. But under pride, there is stubbornness. I will explain each important elves occupying the mountain peaks. Remember those because they are going to save your life in case the plan goes wrong."
Everyone nodded seriously. Even Isvendar.
Silas began listing all the names and factions. How they connect with each other.
It took him an hour to fully explain everything. Even then, there was a little information he omitted. He had to praise his brain for remembering this amount of stuff.
He always knew that he was different from regular slum kids but sometimes he failed to see how much that difference was. He was the only one of kind to manage to escape the slum life.
Silas sat alone near the fire and contemplated about his plan. Today was just the introduction of the force going in the background.
Tomorrow would be the real deal in ruining his mouth.
He had to use every bit of knowledge and power to break through those elves and got the treasure.
Slowly, the value of the treasure increased. Right now, without that, he couldn’t command the army.
Every things he planned, all relied on that treasure.
He clenched his shaking hand and smiled.
"Here, catch." A calm voice came from above.
A shadow fell into his direction. Instinctly he tried to dodge but he calmed his nerve and extended his hand.
Silas looked down and saw a fruit.
The fruit was similar to that of an apple but it was two time larger. The color was bright yellow. The fruit screamed poisonous at a glance but the sweet fragrance it emitted was enough from a drool.
He took a bite and sweet sensation filled his mouth. The texture was soft. He thought it would be a bit harder than apple but he was wrong.
As for the taste, he didn’t have anything to compare as it was foreign.
"That will help you calm your mind." Roland said.
Silas nodded and continued eating the fruit. "Where did you got it from? I can feel faint mana inside. Spiritual fruit?"
"I don’t know. I found it on a random tree and didn’t feel any danger."
"What? So you don’t know if the fruit is poisonous or not?" Silas yelled.
"Haha." Roland chuckled. "But now I know."
Silas threw him a rock and continued eating.
"Can you tell me about the treasure? It is important right? Considering, you dropped everything in the town just to come here."
Silas nodded. "Yes. It is. The treasure is.."
He paused and continued.
"The treasure is a gift."
Roland’s eyes widened in surprise.