Game of the World Tree

The elves surrounding the golden-haired elf, who outwardly resembled a human around twenty years of age, regarded her with looks of apprehension.

“Milady, where do these slave traders intend to take us?”

Selena hesitated for a moment before shaking her head in a vague manner.

“I don’t know, perhaps…the Kingdom of Aries in the south. I saw them communicating with the merchants before, and they seemed to be southern aristocrats.”

“But, they said they’re here to rescue us, and… even though we’re still tied up like this, they’ve been treating us pretty well all this time,” another elf spoke after a brief moment of hesitation.

Yet another elf retorted, “Bruce, are you suggesting they are good people? Think about how we were rescued, will you? They traded other elves to get us out, and not only that, they also have a way to fully control our fellow brethren to do their bidding! Remember what they did back at the Slavers Den!? Such vile actions was an insult to our kind!”

“But, they said those ‘fully enslaved elves’ were merely feigning obedience and were, in fact, collaborating with them…”

“Tsk, you’re too naive, Bruce. Have you forgotten what kind of place the blackmarket is? Also, why did they risk trading some our fellow brethren just to save us? And… are those humans fools? They have ways to verify a person’s real identity! As a senior member of Oakhand, you should have realized this already!”

“But…” Bruce remained hesitant, “Why would they even do this in the first place? What do they gain from it?”

“I don’t know but I’ve asked some of our rescued brethren from the other carriages earlier and,” the disgruntled elf continued,

“It seems these southerners were able to gather all of us by exchanging one of those fellow southern brethren for two or even three imperial elves. Since they have a way to make us fully obedient, surely their plan is to take us back to the Kingdom and sell us there at a higher price after fully brainwashing us!”

“But…” Bruce still hesitated, “During our recent interaction with them, they revealed their real identities as elves, and… you should have sensed it as well; they were truly one of our fellow brethrens.”

“Our fellow brethren, you say? Hmph, since these slavers have a means to fully control our kind, naturally they’ll order one of our fully brainwashed brethren just to deceive us! Have you forgotten how our stronghold was destroyed this time—”

“Enough!”

As the two elves argued, Selena, the golden-haired elf whose been silent the entire time finally spoke and her words instantly silenced the ongoing debate.

She was one of the leaders of Oakhand and their direct superior.

Therefore, although these two elves have opposing opinions, they still have to give her some face as everyone there holds some deep respect and trust for this fellow comrade who has been for a long time the one leading the charge of saving their fellow brethren under the pressure of human oppression.

“Milady Selena…”

The two looked towards the blond elf with conflicted expressions.

Selena slightly furrowed her delicate brows and softly said,

“It’s still much too early to draw conclusions for now, as the current actions of these rather peculiar humans are too contradictory…”

She then paused briefly and added,

“Nevertheless, if they truly are slavers from the southern Kingdom who have a means to make our kind fully obedient, then there’s no need to win us over by tricking us, is it not?…furthermore, they also don’t quite fit my perception of a typical slavers.”

“But, if they really did come to rescue us, then why do they still control our freedom, and did those shameless things in front of the humans… If they really are genuine elves like they claimed to be, then they too should understand the importance of our dignity… and how it is much greater than our very life itself!”

Selena only seemed confused after hearing the elf’s argument and could only respond,

“However the case may be, what truly begs the question is, what are their true motives? Who are they, really?”

Hearing her inquires, the other elves exchanged uncertain glances, unsure of how to respond.

At this moment, a weak voice suddenly spoke up.

“C-Could it be true…that the World Tree has revived, and they are warriors from another world that came here to save the elves?”

It was a half-elf girl.

“The revival of our Divine Matriarch?”

The disgruntled elf who initially opposed the idea shook his head.

“The Matriarch has long since fallen, and this is something we elves had already confirmed beforehand. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have left the Elven Forest to join the Oakhand in saving our fellow brethren here in the human lands.”

“Moreover… Our Divine Matriarch was so majestic, kind, and just. If the Goddess had truly returned, the warriors she will summon wouldn’t act disgracefully like that.”

“If I remember correctly, the usual envoys of our Divine Matriarch are Oak Guardians, comprised of one hundred thousand treant warriors that make up the Legion of Nature.”

He spoke with a touch of reverence that mellowed down into sadness and belatedly added, “Alas… that’s all in the past.”

“But… didn’t those guys explained earlier that they only did those things back then at the slavers den to gain the human slavers’ trust?” the half-elf girl insisted.

“Hmph, we elves would never stoop low to such vile acts of deceit!”

“So, would you rather die instead?”

“You!”

Selina’s frown deepened as her companions began arguing once more.

However, she neither agreed nor refuted anything and simply listened silently while being preoccupied with her own thoughts.

Currently, a somewhat absurd thought kept fluctuating within her mind.

What if… these strange folks are actually telling the truth?

As one of the leaders of Oakhand and having spent over hundreds of years in human society, Selena had her own views on many things.

For instance, she believed that while the demise of their patron deity was the fundamental reason as to why the Elvenkind has fallen to the point where they are today, certain character flaws of the elves themselves are also partly to blame for their race’s subsequent rapid decline.

Hence, some of the things her comrades said were actually acknowledged by Selena.

Moreover, as a member of the Galewind Clan, Selena had lived in the Elven Forest since her childhood days and as such, at this moment, while everyone was busy arguing, she was the only one who noticed that the entire caravan was heading in the direction of the Elven Forest!

However… she isn’t completely sure either, considering the current route they’re traversing is a remote one, and while it is indeed the main path towards the Elven Forest, it is still a viable route to the kingdom as well, albeit a roundabout one…

Suddenly, the carriage came to a stop.

The door abruptly opened, as the light outside graced the the elves and half-elves tied inside the carriage.

The ‘humans’ who had traded them out of the slavers once again appeared before them. However, compared to their last encounter, this time around, their expressions were much more serious than before.

For a moment, everyone within the carriage instantly became vigilant.

What are these people now up to?

However, to their surprise, these individuals led everyone out of the carriage in a hurried manner.

In the astonished gazes of the elves, they then began to untie them one by one before handing each of the newly freed elves a human weapon.

….What is happening?

For a moment, regardless of their skepticism about the other party’s intentions or uncertainty about their real identity, all the elves and half-elves that were rescued were freed just like that, but the abruptness of it all left the elves utterly bewildered.

Afterwards, the confused elves saw the female leader among these ‘humans’ named Little Salty Cat came forward and began to speak:

“Comrades, I know you still don’t believe us at all, but there’s no need for you to do so any longer.”

“Our plan has been compromised by those humans and the people who have replaced you back at Maple Leaf City have been exposed. Now, the slavers from those blackmarket companies are chasing us and will arrive soon.”

“Now listen, everyone of you should quickly escape to the Elven Forest. Take these weapons we’re providing you for self-defense and focus solely on escaping! Once you reach the vicinity of the Elven Forest, then you’ll find out whether what we said is indeed true or not.”

“Rest assured, we won’t let anyone harm you again.”

The other players also drew their weapons, with serious expressions.

These Elven NPCs… not a single one is allowed to die!

After all, their previous attempt to exploit the bug for illicit goods had sadly led to failure; so now, all that was left for the players was these elves and half-elves and the subsequent rewards for successfully rescuing them through this whole operation!

— 285 —

【 ESCAPE TO THE ELVEN FOREST 】

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