Volume 6 Chapter 48
by Golden DragonVolume 6 + Chapter 48: The Unprecedentedly Abnormal Elf Kingdom
“I, I… Forgive me, Your Majesty!!”
The Dragon messenger sent to deliver the letter to the Elf Kingdom broke down before Xia Yi.
“I did not deliver the letter to the Elves!!”
“You did not deliver it to the Elves?”
Xia Yi frowned.
At Tia’s enthronement ceremony, she had met Tia.
At that time, Tia had given her some rather extraordinary intelligence,
The Elf Kingdom had suddenly closed its borders, refusing to communicate with any foreign races, including the humans with whom they had previously cooperated.
It seemed the Elves were treating all other races the same way.
Had the messenger failed to deliver the letter to the Elf Kingdom because the Elves refused to receive it?
Regardless, this was a letter from the Dragon Royal Family. As a race seeking a voice in the world, the Elves had no reason to refuse to learn about the movements of such a formidable power.
“Why wasn’t the letter delivered? Is such a simple task beyond your ability?”
Before Xia Yi could respond, Karami was already somewhat enraged, interrogating the messenger.
“Do the Elves look down on us Dragons? If you had taken a sufficiently firm stance, how could the Elves have disregarded it?”
“I…” The messenger hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.
“Could it be that you were negligent in carrying out the task entrusted to you by Her Majesty?” Karami’s gaze had grown rather intimidating.
“I would never dare! Truly, I would never dare! Your Majesty, it’s not like that, it’s different from what you imagine…”
“Speak. What exactly happened?” Xia Yi remained outwardly composed. “Was your failure to deliver the letter to the Elven royal family because they refused to communicate with the Dragon race?”
“Your Majesty, I never even saw the Elves!”
“You never… saw them?”
Xia Yi sensed something amiss.
If the Elves were refusing to communicate with foreign races, then the messenger would have met with closed doors and been turned away upon arrival. But the messenger’s words suggested something else entirely…
It was as if he had not encountered a single Elf at all.
“Your Majesty, following your orders, I traveled to the Elf Kingdom to deliver the letter. But at the borders of the Elf Kingdom, I saw no Elves,” the messenger explained.
“Nonsense!”
Olga felt this was utterly absurd and could not help but rebuke him.
“Even if the Elf Kingdom had chosen to seal itself off, they would still have stationed border guards to drive away foreign races trying to enter, or to stop Elves attempting to leave. You’re saying you didn’t see a single Elf, does that mean the entire national system of the Elf Kingdom has completely collapsed?”
“It’s true, I swear!! When I arrived at the border of the Elf Kingdom, I saw no border guards. The area was empty, highly abnormal.”
The messenger still shuddered at the memory.
“At the time, I thought I had simply encountered an unusual situation, perhaps a shift change or something… But considering the need to complete Her Majesty’s mission, I entered Elven territory, intending to find an Elf, state my purpose, and negotiate with them.”
“And then?” Olga pressed further.
“After entering the Elf Kingdom, I came to a border stronghold. Still, I saw no Elven soldiers. The entire stronghold was deserted, as if all the Elves had simply vanished from the face of the earth.”
“Could it be that war had broken out among the Elves, and all the border guards had been redeployed?” Olga raised a question.
“Captain Olga, initially I thought the same as you, that it was due to internal conflict. So I pressed forward toward an Elven city. But as I ventured deeper, something strange happened. Mist began to rise in the forest.”
The messenger clutched his head, recalling the terrifying ordeal.
“The thick fog came from nowhere, spreading through the entire woodland, even covering the sky. Sunlight could not penetrate the dense mist, making it impossible to determine direction. I lost my bearings. In the fog, I saw things I could not believe, I even wondered if I was dreaming.”
“What did you see?!” Olga pressed.
“Giants! I saw many giants! Those giants stood within the fog, moving back and forth as if on patrol. I could not make out their features clearly. I thought I was hallucinating. But when I drew closer, the giants began to attack me. From within the mist, they let out roars unlike any normal creature, roars that made my head feel like it was splitting, that left me mentally dazed. Their fists slammed into me, knocking me down from the sky.”
Everyone fell silent.
Why would giants appear in the Elf Kingdom?
The territory of the giants was very far from the Elf Kingdom. Moreover, the giants and the Elves had never had much interaction. If the giants were heading to the Elf Kingdom, they would have to cross many countries, and many would surely have noticed.
Therefore, it was impossible for giants to be in the Elf Kingdom.
“It’s true! This is the truth! I truly saw giants. Those giants attacked me and nearly killed me. I fled with all my might, searching for the direction of the sun through the fog, flying for a long time before I finally escaped the mist. If not for my ability to fly, I could never have escaped from those giants.”
The messenger explained earnestly to the others.
“I was terrified, but remembering that I had not yet fulfilled Her Majesty’s task, I steeled myself and tried entering from another direction, hoping to avoid the fog. I flew a great distance but still found no Elves. When I went deeper, I encountered the fog again… In the end, I had to leave. I felt that I must report this to Her Majesty.”
“I will ask you one last time. Are you lying?” Olga narrowed his eyes. “Before Her Majesty, there is no room for falsehood.”
“Absolutely true, Your Majesty. I am willing to swear an oath. If there is a single falsehood in my words, I accept any punishment.” The messenger knelt on the ground, bowing his head to Xia Yi, his tone sincere.
“…I understand. You may go.”
Xia Yi waved her hand.
“Yes…”
The messenger left, looking dazed and dejected.
After he departed, the others all sensed that something was amiss and voiced their opinions.
“Princess, as far as I know the Elves should not have much involvement with the giants. The giants in the west have not interfered with the Elves in recent years either,” Karami said.
“But the messenger didn’t seem to be lying, did he?” Olga was quite perplexed.
“The Elves have never been like this before. It is highly abnormal.” Lucia could not fathom it.
“…”
Xia Yi fell silent.
She pondered the messenger’s words while recalling her conversation with Tia.
Closing borders, vanishing Elves, border mist, mysterious giants…
Could it be that an unprecedented calamity had befallen the Elf Kingdom?
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