Chapter 160: A Fleeting Peace (Part 2)

  Luya, who was leading the way, was silent. Her waterfall-like silver hair cascaded down her back like silk, a pair of pointed ears revealed, swaying slightly with her steps. Her slender, graceful figure, though incomparably beautiful, carried no trace of worldly air, like a scene naturally and harmoniously blended with its surroundings. Especially when she was being so deliberately cold and unapproachable, it made one subconsciously only able to gaze in admiration, unable to go any further.

  Ethan quietly admired her back from behind. In fact, Luya's enthusiastic attitude towards him at the very end of the battle yesterday had made him quite awkward. From the Whispering Woods to Kalendor, during that time of evading the Necromancers' pursuit, the two could be said to have depended on each other for survival. For someone as simple as her, that was probably the most unforgettable experience of her life. But after that conversation with Gru, she looked at him with eyes of disbelief, disappointment, and anger, which Ethan remembered clearly. Since then, she had not spoken to Ethan.

  The two walked forward in silence. Along the way, many elves respectfully bowed to Luya, while looking at Ethan with somewhat strange eyes. Although they knew he was Sedros's friend and a benefactor of the elven race who had once escorted a holy relic here, there were many things about this person that they found hard to accept. If it weren't for the two elders and Sedros personally confirming his identity, just based on that strange-aura-emitting weapon he had once used, the elves would have concluded he was either a spy for the Necromancer Guild or a spy from Nighon.

  Led by Luya, the two arrived at the very center of the Tulalion Forest, under a giant War Ancient Tree.

  The method of measuring how many people it would take to encircle it could no longer calculate the size of this tree. Because the first person who saw this tree would never think it was a tree, but would only think they were seeing a huge castle extending with countless branches and leaves, or a small hill, and absolutely no one would think of embracing a hill.

  Although the ancient tree was very thick and very large, it was not particularly tall. At least not tall enough to be seen from outside the hundreds-of-miles-spanning Tulalion Forest, and once inside the forest, the view was usually blocked by nearby trees, so one would not normally see this miraculous plant. But when a person stood under this tree and looked up, except for the occasional sunlight filtering through the sky-covering branches and leaves, one couldn't see the sky at all. Only then could one discover that they were like an ant next to an elephant.

  A staircase composed of countless small, side-growing branches extended from the base of the ancient tree to its top. Luya led Ethan up towards it.

  Although they had not yet reached the top, they were already quite high above the ground, and only the two of them were on the staircase. Luya, who was walking in front, suddenly asked, "Why did you defend that Drow?"

  Ethan was taken aback for a moment, scratched his head, and sighed, "Because it seems I'm the only one who can defend her."

  Luya didn't speak, nor did she turn her head, continuing to walk upwards. A short while later, the two arrived at a treehouse at the top of the tree.

  In the treehouse, the meeting of the elven elders had just concluded. Some of the elven elders nodded to Ethan, while others looked at him with somewhat strange eyes. Luya left with the other elders, leaving only Elder Lloyd and Ethan in the treehouse.

  "Please sit." Elder Lloyd pointed to a spot by the window. In fact, this was less of a treehouse and more of a tree hollow on the trunk of the ancient tree. He glanced from the window at Luya's retreating back, smiled at Ethan, and said, "It seems Elder Luya is still angry with you."

  Ethan shrugged and gave a wry smile.

  Elder Lloyd looked at him with interest. "But you were a bit unexpected yesterday. I had always thought you and Mr. Sedros must have a very good understanding."

  Ethan said with a wry smile, "I didn't react in time. And I'm not really good at playing these mind games."

  "But you understood later, so why did you still make that choice?" Elder Lloyd continued to ask, his face wearing an expression that was not quite a smile.

  After thinking for a moment, Ethan could only give another wry smile, "I don't know either."

  Cardinal and his party only took away Sylka, who was limbless, unable to speak, and like a mound of flesh. The other thieves were all left here for the elves.

  "Thank you so much this time. Thank you for bringing Mr. Sedros and the others here. You know, the way that Cardinal just now looked at the Leaves of the World Tree really scared me. If it weren't for you, I really don't know what that group of people would have done." Luya ran over and stood in front of Ethan. Only now did she show her joy and surprise. "What have you been doing all this time? Didn't I tell you to come see me when you have time?"

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "I've been busy with other things..." Ethan looked at the elven girl, quite embarrassed. The elder, who was so composed and in command before the elves, was now like a little child who had just seen a big brother she hadn't seen in years.

  Elder Lloyd looked at the bound thieves. These ruthless killers were still trembling in despair, after all, people as ferocious and inhuman as Sylka were rare. The elven elder sighed, waved his hand to the elves, and said, "They have all surrendered. And I swore in the name of Mafa that I would let them leave here safely. Release them all, let them go."

  The way the thieves looked at the elven elder was as if they were looking at a savior who had descended from the heavens. Even the greatest miracle now could not compare to the mouth of this old elf.

  Although the elves were extremely unwilling to let these people go, the oath their elder had made in the name of Mafa could not be violated. Helplessly, they could only release the thieves and let them leave.

  Watching the backs of the thieves, Elder Lloyd suddenly sighed to Sedros and said, "After these people leave, it's inevitable that they will talk to outsiders about today's events, and some of the secrets of the Tulalion Forest will be leaked. I really didn't want to let them go, but the oath cannot be broken... What a nuisance..."

  Sedros gave a knowing smile. "Don't worry, not a single one of these people is anything but a villain who has committed numerous evil deeds. Those who commit repeated injustices are doomed to perish. I see that they will fall ill as soon as they walk out of the forest, and it will be a serious illness. They won't have a chance to tell anyone about what happened here today." He paused slightly, chuckled, and said, "In fact, that group from the Church also anticipated that they would contract such a strange illness, so they didn't bother with them. Actually, if they had spoken out about today's events, it wouldn't have been without impact on Celeste. A Cardinal and a Paladin leading four Temple Knights and ten Templars came in great force, only to leave dejectedly. This is quite a blow to the morale of the Church's coalition army, which is about to begin its battle."

  "This matter will have to trouble you and your few new subordinates." Sedros looked at Ethan and made a very subtle gesture of drawing a thumb across his neck.

  Ethan sighed and nodded to show he understood. Luya's eyes darted between him and the two old men, as if she understood a little.

  The elves around who heard Elder Lloyd and Sedros's words, however, did not understand the meaning of this metaphor. Although these elves were all over a hundred years old, age and worldly sophistication are usually not the same thing. No matter how long one survives in a simple environment, especially while holding a simple faith, it's impossible to become worldly and mature.

  "Boss... your relationship with these two is..." Hilton walked over. He carefully pointed at Sedros and Gru and asked Ethan. Although he could see some clues, he still wasn't sure. And the combat power displayed by these two was almost terrifying, in his eyes they could no longer be classified in the category of "human."

  "You could say they're my employers..." Ethan said briefly. Now was not the time to discuss the details with them.

  "Wait, you come here." Gru suddenly made a gesture to Jessica.

  Jessica immediately obediently walked over. In front of Gru, she completely lost her usual defiant and untamed wildness, as if a female leopard had suddenly become a kitten, and a kitten that had been declawed and defanged at that.

  Gru's eyes swept over her once, and he said coldly, "Go die."

  Almost everyone was stunned. The sentence itself wasn't very strange; it was usually a declarative roar before the final blow in a fight to the death. But as a command, it felt very strange.

  As Gru's voice fell, the female Drow's whole body began to tremble. Those pitch-black eyes were filled with despair and fear, without even a hint of a desire to resist, like a rabbit in front of a ferocious beast.

  "Hurry up, do you need me to do it myself?" Gru frowned, looking impatiently at the Drow.

  Jessica was still trembling, her delicate and beautiful face becoming distorted by the twitching of her muscles, but she did not die as Gru had intended. Beads of sweat appeared on her face, and a flame of the will to live ignited in those black eyes. Her slender fingers spasmodically grabbed the two short swords by her waist.

  "Worthy of being a Drow who could escape her family and flee to the surface alone. Your courage seems not small. It should be the largest I have seen so far. I wonder if your kin should be proud of you or enraged by you." Gru did not get angry, but looked at Jessica and smiled. His smile was very handsome, though like a blade, it had a touch of soft, sharp beauty. On his firm, hard face, it had a kind of complementary, indescribable charm. His eyes were also pitch-black, but they were a deep sea. Under the gaze of this black ocean, the flame in Jessica's eyes was extinguished without even a trace of ash left.

  In fact, anyone could see that Gru now was not much stronger than the Drow. But this smile and aura had completely crushed all of Jessica's fighting spirit.

  The elves had been standing far away just now and had not heard Jessica's identity. Now that they heard, they immediately became agitated. For the elves, this race, which shared the same bloodline but lived underground and worshipped darkness, was almost synonymous with evil and enemies. In the battles with Nighon, the two sides had fought many times, and there were even Drow who came to the surface to hunt elves for live sacrifices to their worshipped gods.

  "She's a Drow?"

  "I had a feeling there was something strange about her aura."

  "What about her ears?"

  "It looks like they were cut off. These evil fellows are capable of anything. Look, haven't her eyes and hair also been disguised?"

  Ethan quickly stepped forward and blocked the Drow. "Wait, what's going on?"

  "Didn't you understand? She's a Drow, so she must die." Gru said lightly.

  "I knew she was a long time ago, but what does that have to do with anything? She is... is... my companion." Ethan, searching for the right words.

  "Precisely because she is your companion, I want her to die. This is the Tulalion Forest, don't you understand?"

  Ethan frowned, thought for a moment, then nodded and shook his head: "But..."

  "Drow are lewd and evil, selfish and cruel, the most untrustworthy people in the world and the least suitable to be companions." Luya pulled on Ethan's arm, lowering her voice. "The spell you used just now, and that weapon, have already made many of our kin feel very repulsed. If you have a Drow companion, they will never accept you."

  Sedros and Elder Lloyd remained silent at this moment, quietly watching from the side.

  Only then did Ethan realize. He looked at Jessica, and at that moment, Jessica was also looking at him. Although there was much despair and fear in those black eyes, as she looked at him, the only person who could possibly save her, there was not the slightest hint of begging for pity. This was not the look a woman should have; it was cold and stubborn, like a beast in a desperate situation with no expectation of any salvation descending from the heavens.

  This strange look, however, made Ethan feel a strange tremor deep in his heart. Although faint, it spread throughout his entire consciousness. He sighed, still standing in front of Gru, and said, "No, she is my companion."

  "Companion?" Gru smiled again. He looked at Ethan, and for the first time, Ethan felt his gaze was as irresistible as his words. "Have you copulated with her? Is that why you are defending her like this?"

  Luya stared at Ethan in astonishment, as if in disbelief that he had suddenly turned into an undead creature.

  "Let me tell you. For a female Drow, copulating with a man she fancies is no different from eating. And it's not uncommon to kill the partner immediately after copulation. You are just one of her dozens of men." Gru's voice was neither loud nor soft, without any posturing or deliberate suppression. Although it wasn't loud enough for all the elves to hear, at least quite a few heard it. He looked at Ethan with a strange, sharp smile in his eyes, as if preparing to watch a rare good show. This expression looked particularly out of place on him. "Knowing this, do you still want to shelter her? She is considered your person now. With just a word from you, I can spare her."