Under the guidance of dim moonlight, Drayce headed to the designated meeting place outside of the Crystal Palace where his guardian knight, Slayer, was waiting for him clad in a similar black garb as him. Shortly after,  Aureus landed in front of them, his golden appearance strikingly bright in the darkness in comparison to the two.

For the sake of investigating the identity of those hooded figures, these three men would be forming a reconnaissance group.

“You can fly and lead the way towards the route the enemies took. I and Slayer will follow and search the ground for traces,” Drayce instructed.

Aureus was aware of Drayce’s teleporting power and Drayce knew he didn’t have to explain anything to Aureus about anything. That meant he didn’t have to purposely slow down for them.

The pair of majestic golden wings behind him opened once more as the young Divine Eagle flew in the direction of the forest where he saved Seren. Drayce put his hand on Slayer’s shoulder. “Are you ready?”

Slayer nodded, and the next moment, the two men disappeared from the outskirts of the Crystal Palace, leaving nothing but a strong gust of wind behind.

A second later, they appeared on the other side of the lake where the two men found an abandoned boat on the lakeside. It was the very boat Seren took when she followed Drayce’s illusion. From there, Drayce looked up at the night sky where he saw Aureus’ golden form still flying ahead.

Once again, Drayce and Slayer disappeared from there, and after a few more stops, they finally reached the vast glade where those mysterious people had captured Aureus and Seren.

The empty circular place surrounded by trees still bore traces of rocks and soil upturned.

“This was the place where I saved the Queen,” Aureus told them as he landed behind the two.

The glade still had traces of black magic that was used there. Drayce and Aureus could easily sense the destructive nature of the magic, while Slayer could only look around the place that bore traces of a fight no human was capable of. With his limited eyesight, he tried to inspect the place to find anything that could be useful.

Drayce observed the ground. “This isn’t a single cast spell. From the leftover traces, I am sure there was a trapping formation placed in this part of the forest, once that would require them planting enchanted medium in advance. They seemed to have prepared for this abduction for a long time. They had been lingering in this forest for a while, but we had no clue.”

“They have managed to hide themselves well. Their leader was more powerful than me, and after tasting her powers, I can say it was not a difficult task for them to evade your senses,” Aureus replied.

Slayer saw something on the ground and picked it up. To an untrained eye, it looked like a twig, but the experienced knight recognized it to be a broken body of an arrow. It was due to the nock of the arrow– a small finely carved nock made of white bone–still attached to the end of the stick.

He brought it to Drayce. “Your Majesty, I found this remnant of an arrow that seems to belong to them. In our kingdom, arrows don’t have such a nock since we use wood.”

“It has carvings on the body.” Drayce held the broken arrow and observed the nock. “The symbols are in the ancient language ‘Eltharin’ spoken by elves. Though it was simplified in Arcane language, seeing how the person has still used the ancient version, that means they have an elf which is around a thousand years old.”

Aureus, who was busy inspecting the place, caught the word ‘elf’ and saw the broken arrow in Drayce’s hand. “Your Majesty, remember when I told you someone interfered with the Black Witch? That elf was an archer. This belongs to that elf who helped us escape the barrier made of black magic. He is not the enemy but someone who helped us.”

Drayce did recall Aureus telling him about that savior, but it surprised him to find out that not just any elf but an elf with seniority was roaming so close to Blackhelm. If his guess was not wrong, that savior might as well be the same silver-haired elf he had dealt with days back.

“You said you have gone to his place–” Drayce stopped speaking as his ears caught something and his hand gripped on his sword. But before he could even take it out, he heard someone speak.

“Do you think you can deal with me with a mere sword?”

Everyone looked at the silver-haired newcomer who had a casual smile on his elegantly handsome face. The man with pointed ears walked leisurely towards them with both hands folded behind him, and his long hair moving along the night breeze as if it was materialized moonlight.

Drayce recognized him at first glance– it was the very same elf who followed Seren. Slayer also gripped the handle of his sword, ready to deal with the newcomer while Aureus was calm but alert at the same time. He knew this elf so he was somehow sure there was nothing to worry about.

“Are you looking down on me by only pulling out your sword? I bet you have more in you to show,” the elf continued as he continued to walk towards Drayce.

Drayce’s hand let go of the handle of his sword and threw a meaningful gaze at Slayer to instruct him that it was fine.

The elf stood in front of Drayce, “So, this time you plan to fight or once again throw me in the mountains. But let me tell you it is of no use.”

“Before deciding what to do with you, I would like to know who you are, elf,” Drayce asked in a dignified manner. “Why did you follow us here from Abetha?

“Why else? I got curious about the powers residing inside your wife,” the elf said without any hesitation. “Last time, did I not tell you already? If you want to know who I am, then in exchange, I would like to know your wife as well.”

His red eyes held a darker hue. “There is nothing to know about her. Stay away from her. I already have enough to deal with to protect her.”

“I might be of help. You don’t know why she is in danger, do you?” the elf asked with a playful smirk spreading over his face.

Drayce had a vague idea from the clues he gathered so far.

Seren’s father, the King of Abetha, didn’t tell him the entire thing and only expected him to suppress the essence of his daughter’s power with the help of the strong power Drayce himself possessed. He did find it odd that the older king did not tell him the identity of those people who were after Seren or why exactly they were after her. Drayce took it that her father must have decided it would be safer to withhold some crucial information.

“I don’t wish to know what she has inside her. All I need to know is that I have to protect her. If knowing about the power inside her can put her in danger, then I have no interest in it.”

“Such a dedicated lover,” the elf smirked. “I hope you will find who you are looking for, but if you care enough to listen to my words, then let me tell you that those people are not real threats to your wife. The ones you need to fight are much stronger than you can imagine.”

“What do you mean?”

The elf crossed his arms over his chest. “You cannot expect me to tell you stuff without gaining anything in return.”

“Name your price,” Drayce said with a cold tone.

“I already told you. What I want is to know that mysterious power inside your wife.”

“Then there is nothing for us to talk about,” Drayce said in dismissal. “We would like to continue our search.”

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