Chapter 82: [82] Trap (2)

A few hours ago…

Eliron was focusing on gathering mana in his core. It was already late at night, Yen was fast asleep in the same room as him, so apart from her quiet breaths, it was relatively silent.

Because of the utter lack of distractions, he was able to concentrate on his meditation a little better.

That was until he heard a loud banging on his door.

“Lord Eliron, Lord Eliron!!”

Eliron opened his eyes and sighed. ’Who could that be at this hour?’

Yennefer stirred awake as Eliron walked to the window and peered down, only to see a crowd of people in front of his house.

“Huh? What is going on?” Yennefer sleepily asked as she walked towards the window as well.

“Why are there so many people here? Is the village under attack?”

Eliron turned towards the door. “Well, we are about to find out.”

The moment Eliron got out of his house, a woman ran up to him, her face moistened with tears.

“My lord, my daughter is missing!”

Eliron felt his heart drop. Since the girls went missing in the forest, there had been no such disappearances.

He immediately turned to the woman behind him, who looked just as concerned as the crowd. “Yen, get me my sword.”

Yennefer nodded and retreated into the room.

“When did you see her last? Have you informed the guards?”

“She went out to get jerky. We left it to dry close to the forest. I told her to take a guard with her.” The woman sobbed. “But the guards said she never came.”

’Why would she allow her daughter to go out so late at night?’

Eliron wanted to caution her, but she was already too down, further reproof might only break her.

Once Yennefer brought his sword, Eliron strapped it to his waist and began walking to where the girl was last seen.

Along the way, Artie and Ash joined them, and they were briefed about what had happened.

Ash looked a little confused after hearing the story. “Missing? But that shouldn’t be possible.”

“What do you mean?” Eliron asked.

“We were at that part of the forest, we even packed up the dried meat already, and it is in our custody. No one came to that part of the village.”

Eliron breathed out tiredly. “Then what happened?”

If the girl never made it to the jerky, then she must have gone missing along the way.

But how was that possible when the guards were around?

Even if they were not strong, it would have been very difficult to get past them, at least they would have seen the monster if there was one…

And if there was a monster, would it stop at just kidnapping one girl? Unless it was intelligent, there was no way it would leave no traces behind.

“I don’t think any monster managed to slip past our guard,” Ash stated, watching Eliron with a serious look in his eyes.

“What if there was no monster…”

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice. Terra had come from the crowd and was now standing next to Artie.

Artie stared at her for a few seconds before nodding slightly. “There are no traces of any monster activity, the path looks clean…”

Then she folded her arms across her chest, her expression turning sour.

“Some bastard must have done this. Who would be vile enough to kidnap one of their own?”

Eliron glanced at her. ’She also thinks it was one of us?’

All his life, he believed that although there were bad eggs among them, none of them was truly evil.

Well, Drakili being the exception, of course.

But now that there was a chance that there was another person like that among them, his faith in the elves had taken a blow.

After some thinking, Eliron still could not make sense of it. “But what will be their purpose? Why would one of us kidnap their own?”

Artaris was an enclosed community, everyone knew each other. Wood elves were in danger of losing their lives if they left the village, so what would the plan of the kidnapper be?

Artie stared at him calmly. “Your mistake is trying to understand the mind of a criminal.”

’There is no point thinking about it,’ Eliron thought.

“We’ll trace her path from her house!” He shouted, his voice booming over the crowd.

“This time, we aren’t looking for monsters! Investigate anything that looks the least bit suspicious.”

They started right from the woman’s house and began to search the path.

What Eliron did not expect was that the missing girl would be found merely five minutes later.

The strangest part was that she was found in Drakili’s shed.

The young woman was tied up and unconscious, lying on her back on the cold dirt floor.

“What is the meaning of this?” Eliron breathed out, confusion marking his features.

Why would Drakili kidnap her? Why make such a stupid decision just a few days away from the confluence?

The girl was also completely unharmed, it was almost like she was carefully placed there.

Wouldn’t someone with bad intentions be a little more rough?

Nothing he was seeing was making sense.

While Eliron was busy thinking, the elves, on the other hand, were unsure of what to say or do. What action were they to take?

Drakili was the prime suspect in this case, but they knew how powerful he was.

He was the type of man that you would rather avoid than confront. Everyone was well aware of the depths of his wickedness.

But while they agonised, Artie walked up to the girl who had now woken up.

She was sobbing softly while her mother comforted her.

Artie leaned down and held the girl’s hand. “It’s okay, you are alright now…” she said, caressing her hair.

The girl hugged Artie, crying on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get justice for the evil that has been done to you.”

She then got up and faced the crowd.

“This is disgusting!” Her voice was louder than usual, raised purposely so that everyone could hear her.

“No matter your rank or class, our Lord, Eliron, would deliver justice to whoever breaks the law.”

Eliron immediately noticed the shift in Artie’s character. ’Huh? Why is she acting differently today?’

Artie was not the type to make such elaborate statements.

She turned to Eliron, a fierce expression on her face.

And it was at that exact moment that Eliron realised.

’Oh.’

Artie…

She had planned the entire thing.

Eliron sighed. ’What am I going to do with this woman?’

Still, she had created the perfect opportunity, Eliron would be a fool to not capitalize on it.

He unsheathed his sword, the elven steel gleaming underneath the flame of the countless torches.

Then he gave Artie a look to tell her he knew this was all her doing. Artie feigned ignorance.

“Find Drakili! Today, he will answer for his crimes!” Eliron declared.

“HYYAAAAAAAA!!!” The elves screamed out.

Some minutes later, the angry mob had surrounded Drakili.

Those of them who had been wronged by him in the past were itching to tear him apart, while those who bore grudges hurled insults at every opportunity, while hiding under Eliron’s covering.

“Do you know the consequences of accusing someone in my position without proof?” Drakili snarled, his jaw clenched hard.

Eliron smiled maliciously. “Can you explain then, what were you doing out in the forest this late?”

Drakili’s face immediately changed.

’I obviously can’t tell him I was meeting someone, if I do, they would brand me a traitor!’ Drakili thought.

’But if I remain silent, then it would look like I am guilty!’

From the very moment he had been accused, Drakili had been checkmated.

It didn’t matter what he said, although they could not prove his guilt, Drakili could not prove his innocence either.

Worst of all, because of the nature of the accusation, his chances at the confluence were now basically zero.

No one would want to associate with anyone accused of kidnapping!

Drakili ground his teeth against each other, his blood boiling.

“You bastards! You have set me up!”

Eliron raised a brow, then he leaned closer to Drakili.

“If there was a brain between those two ears, then you would know your fate is already decided…”

They were the very words Drakili had said to him on the first day of their meeting.

Drakili’s eyes widened, and in a fit of rage, he bit his lower lip so hard that he drew blood.

Eliron turned to Ash. “Take him away.”

They could only keep him locked up for a few days maximum without solid evidence.

But that was more than enough time.

After three days, the day of the confluence had finally come…

It was time for the elves to decide who would lead them for the next five hundred years.

..

A/N

There was a minor change at the end of Chapter 79, only a few of you probably missed it. But basically, the MC received a quest, so check it if you didn’t see it!

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