(Priest's staff!?)
“Lyrei! What happened to you?"
Etch immediately approached the blue-haired elf while chanting healing magic. The elf who was called by Lyrei had a cough and was in a very emergency condition.
“You are alone, Lyrei?” Ruven while holding the priest's staff nearby.
“Y-yes… uncle. Everyone has been caught by the black rose queen- Cough cough!”
"Don't talk too much just yet! Your wounds are deep enough!”
Moritz was pacing around. He seemed to be wandering around with uncertainty in his mind.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Moritz?” Faegwyn confirmed. “You… look uneasy?”
"I will contact Mr. Bastle to open the front illusion-“
Ruven, who was about to touch his ear, was about to convey telepathically was stopped by Moritz.
"What's wrong, Mr. Moritz?”
“I feel something is wrong….”
“Tch! Does it matter, Mr. Moritz?” Esta protested while still healing the wheezing Lyrei.
Moritz looked at Lyrei. He paced around her to make Lyrei restless.
“Um… do you want to… talk?”
#ugh, cough!
Esta didn't like that method, his left hand seemed to block Moritz's intention.
“This won't take long, Miss Esta.” Moritz wiped Esta's hand lightly. Esta seemed not to accept. But when he turned and looked at Moritz's serious face, he had no other choice.
Ruven held Esta's shoulder to let Moritz do something.
Now it was as if Esta, Ruven and Faegwyn's attention was on Moritz.
Moritz begins the interrogation.
“Lyrei, what are you doing in this place?” Moritz asked kindly.
“I-isn't… that obvious?” Lyrei stopped for a moment clutching the wound in her stomach. “I want to convey a message….erhh….”
“Are you really being chased by the queen of roses? What's the queen of roses like?”
Lyrei nodded confidently. She explained in detail that the queen was a depressed woman wearing a rose dress and able to use natural portals of trees like dryads and moldrins. She added that she and two others who headed here had been arrested.
"Which is more important? Bringing the injured Lyrei first or those questions!?” Esta protested in a high tone.
Ruven separated his daughter. “Is there anything else to confirm, Mr. Moritz?”
Moritz looked back with a friendly face forgiving Esta. He held up his forefinger, as a sign that he only needed one more question.
“Fine, I promise I'll change my mind after this one, Lyrei.” Moritz held out his hand. “Can you show me the order report that came down from Pirn City?”
“A-report…? What shape?”
“Usually rolls, though,” Moritz replied.
For a moment the wind was blowing very hard. It was so tight, Ruven embraced Esta to protect her. Faegwyn cast protection magic for the three of them.
“Tcih! How could I possibly have scrolls, huh!?” Lyrei's voice sounded double and distorted. Then followed by roaring laughter.
Her smooth white body peeled off little by little, turning black like ash. The change was gradual until it was complete. On her back suddenly grew a black rose that was quite tall.
However…
Before the transformation was complete, Moritz swung his knife swiftly into the neck of the creature pretending to be Lyrei.
“Reap!”
#Criit!
#Jrooossh!
The scratch looked small like a crescent and thin, but it was enough to make the viscous black liquid gush out.
"YOU GODDAMN BASTARD, BITCH! ARRGGHH!”
The bamboos that had been creaking earlier were now silent. The pine tree leaves stopped moving. Something like a white barrier twinkling in the air suddenly appeared and cracked open. And sure enough, some of the pine trees suddenly disappeared. It now looked like a normal vaughtort forest, as Moritz remembered.
“Fuuh…. It was a close one,” Faegwyn said with relief.
“But… how do you know, Mr. Moritz?”
Moritz sheathed his small knife. The four of them returned to explore the forest to find Lyrei.
“That's not true. We even heard about it too, really.”
"What does it mean?" Ruven was surprised by Moritz's intentions.
"Didn't you guys hear the grizzly wolf?"
“Uh….” Esta looked sad.
“You can keep that sorry, Miss Esta. After all, we are also in a state of panic.”
"Wait. Shell dogs can make that sound too, right?” Faegwyn argued.
“The way they fight is the same, ganging up and biting and then running away, taking turns. But when it came to giving the impression of surprise to their prey, they differed greatly. The grizzly wolf roared and the Shell dogs dropped like a stone,"
“Hm… after you said that, I remember when I was hunting in the pirn forest. Something like a rock fell, and… boom! Turns out it's not a rock, it's a shell dog!” said Faegwyn.
“Ah, the priest's staff… is also a bit of a problem….”
The plains of the vaughtort forest are lowering. Moritz felt they were almost in near.
"I'm sure if Mr. Ruven noticed that too. Elves actually have healing magic. If armed with a priest's staff, it will be useless, "
“That's right, all elves have healing. Besides, earlier I heard the sound of an arrow too… that wound in her stomach….”
“Too small for a grizzly wolf's fangs?” Moritz smiled a little.
“Looks more like blade of grass than fangs! Hahaha! Ruven replied with a chuckle.
Within a few meters….
Theycan see a wooden house on the left. Moritz saw that in front of the road leading to his house, there was a lantern with a green flame placed on a pine branch.
(Nature Fireflies? Is anyone there?)
"We stopped by my house first to rest." Moritz pointed to the lower left of the two-storey wooden house.
When they got there, they met Lyrei and two other elves leaning on the terrace of the house.
“Lyrei!”
“Esta? Estaaaaa!”
They hug warmly. Everyone is relieved and comfortable. Moritz motioned for them to come inside.
-------------------------- A Light Sign ------------------------
Nature Fireflies – Lantern containing several green fireflies. A sign that someone stops by and anyone is welcome to join. The green light means it's safe and because of the Fireflies anyone can join. So far there are several types like those that have red, blue, yellow or white light and have their own meanings.
.Seven people gathered in the living room, including himself. Moritz serves improvised food items such as mutant strawberry jam toast, flying beef burgers and frozen orange juice drinks.
Lyrei said that the situation in the northern pirn forest is now in a state of being restricted from entering by the magician of pirn city. There was no sign of the missing people yet, including elves, dark elves, beastrians, and even spirit race tourists.
“Lyrei, have you seen who is throwing a tantrum in the northern pirn forest?” Ruven asked.
"Unfortunately, no, uncle. But… Qirel and Lixis were looking for something there.” She took a sip of the frozen orange juice, then turned to her two elf friends. "What did you see there?"
Qirel and Lixis are twin sisters. Qirel wears glasses, while Lixis doesn't. Both of them have pigtails that extend back with short black bangs. They explained that they had gone there to look for some herbs and to hunt down some shell dogs which had been a frequent occurrence lately.
“We heard the melodious chanting of the harp. Not long after that, spiked tentacles suddenly grew around,” said the twins who didn't wear glasses, Lixis.
Qirel added, “There are also fewer monsters around the pirn forest. Even when ghosts with long necks or umbrellas are rarely seen at night,"
“Wait, you guys also go to the forest at night? What for?" asked Moritz curiously. Moritz thought that the pirn forest monsters at night were supernatural monsters. Fighting them requires at least level 3 ability.
“Well, because missions at night are very profitable! The pay is more!” Lyrei said proudly.
"You dumb! Long neck ghosts can't be shot by arrows! Meanwhile, the umbrella ghost doesn't work on wind magic!” The worried Esta jerked towards Lyrei. Then she turned to the twin girls. “You guys too! Don't follow Lyrei if it's too risky!”
The two twin girls were terrified of Esta. They spontaneously hugged each other. “Ummm…. S-sorry, we don't know about that….” they said simultaneously.
“Phew… you guys!”
Ruven stopped his daughter who was being too motherly. Faegwyn was still holding her ear, waiting for her partner's information via telepathy. Meanwhile, Moritz, worried about other things.
“Hey, you two, Qirel and Lixis. Is it just your team of three on night missions?”
“Eh? Not really. We are with several squads led by the grenaldine mercenary squad. They said, they were power supply aid from the ruler of Grenaldine," Qirel replied.
Hearing that, Ruven's and Faegwyn's foreheads creases.
“Mercenaries… Grenaldine? I don't have a good feeling about that," Ruven said.
“Hey… do they always ask for the nonsense part?” Faegwyn lowered her hand for a moment. “For example, the other squads in the front row. While those who gang up?
“YES, YES! IT'S NOT FAIR! THEY ALWAYS DO IT!” Lyrei suddenly rose from her seat. “Me, Qirel, and Lixis always get one-eighth of the total! Yet we are always be in frontline! Those bastards always say that we don't have effective attacks, so our role will automatically be blockers or decoys! What the hell is that!?”
(Is the Grenaldine Kingdom know about this?)
Moritz held his chin as he asked himself.
(Whatever it is, I can't let it continue.)
Moritz looked pityingly at Lyrei, Qirel, and Lixis who were now arguing with Esta. Moritz shook his head in disbelief.
(So be it…. The fee in Pirn City is one of the cheapest in Docraltes. But that doesn't mean that making money there is easy….)
Moritz's eye glance drifted to Faegwyn who looked worried and uneasy.
(Regardless… I need to settle this matter first.)
Moritz went up to the second floor.
ns 172.70.134.26da2
