Pillars of Ita

Chapter 1169 A Clue

Derek Elwood knocked gently on the door of the Disaster Investigation Office, only to find that the door was not locked. The human man in a gray windbreaker simply pushed open the thick elven oak door and walked in.

When he looked up, he saw an elegant elf scholar sitting behind the desk. He was wearing his usual black scholar's robe with silver thread, holding a feather pen, and signing documents between a copper mechanical planetarium and a thick stack of books.

Kalandir knew it was his old friend who came to visit just by the sound of the door being pushed open. He looked up and saw the short beard on the man's face. He couldn't help but smile, "It seems that the long journey back from Ravenrir hasn't smoothed your temper, my friend. I thought you would at least go shave first."

"I don't have as much time as you do," Derek threw a stack of information on his desk. "As your poor short-lived mortal friend, I have already lived half of my life. If I go to shave first, I will at least waste one half millionth of my remaining life. And when I sleep, my life may be shortened by another one forty thousandth. It sounds like a lot, but it's actually very little - especially compared to the elves."

Kalandir smiled slightly, "Don't worry, when you rest in peace, I will engrave this paragraph on your tombstone to warn future generations." He looked at the pile of papers on the table and asked, "What is this?"

"This is the information from Nianlot. It's about the ash tree. You can take a look at it," Derek replied. "But you'd better put it aside for later, because before I came here, the disaster prevention department gave me another document."

He pulled out a few pages from the pile of documents and threw them in front of the elven scholar. "Not long ago, the Gray Branch Disaster occurred in the port, which produced elite Gray Branches. Near its sprouting branches, tree shadows appeared--"

He paused, "Still two ends."

"I know that," Kalandir nodded. "There are some special circumstances at the scene. This information was reported by a Chosen One named Dark Crow. He belongs to the Silver Wind Watcher and should be credible. Along with this information, there is also this thing -"

He raised the hand holding the pen and tapped a piece of dead bark beside him with the tip of the feather.

"Holy White Tree Heart?" Derek reached out and picked up the thing, looking at it carefully.

Although this action was theoretically against the rules, as this piece of evidence was specially delivered by someone from the evidence storage office and theoretically should only have passed through his hands, Kalandir took a look and did not remind him.

There was another soft knock on the door. "Come in." Kalandir allowed it, and then he saw his slim female assistant push the door open, holding a bunch of documents.

The elf lady couldn't help but roll her eyes when she saw the holy white tree heart in Derek's hand. She was about to remind her superior of the rules regarding evidence, but Kalandir had already taken the evidence from Derek and put it aside.

"That's against the rules, Derek," he warned.

"Oh," Derek nodded, "Remind me earlier next time. Good morning, Miss Lilithel."

Miss Elf looked at the two men unhappily.

"It's afternoon now," she replied coldly.

"Oh, that's because I haven't had lunch yet," Derek replied, "It's morning until I have lunch. How about I invite you to have lunch with me later?"

"Thank you, but no thanks," Lilithel refused with a straight face, "I've already eaten."

Derek watched Carandil flipping through the documents sent by the Elf Lady and asked, "Is the Silver Wind Watcher the only person present?"

"And his companions," Kalandir flipped through a few pages, and suddenly he stopped and said with some interest, "Oh, there is an interesting little surprise here."

"What's going on?" Derek stretched his head to look. But the elf lady blocked his view with her hand and looked at her unkindly. Kalandir had no choice but to say, "In fact, there were members of the Saint's Society at the scene."

"The Holy Ladies?" The man stroked the short beard on his chin. "I guess they must have nothing to do with this case, otherwise you wouldn't sit here and talk to me so leisurely. But why did you mention them specifically, if they really have nothing to do with this matter?"

"Indeed," Kalandir nodded, praising his old friend's sharpness. "This case has nothing to do with them. This piece of holy white tree heart has another origin. But there are some interesting things about this lady."

"Okay, stop keeping me in suspense, old friend," Derek became a little impatient. He looked at the elf assistant, "Miss Lilithel, if I can listen, you might as well tell me directly."

Lilithel snorted in annoyance.

"This unicorn girl named... Meryl Starlight has been in and out of many areas where gray matter has spread, and has dealt with a total of twenty-four gray branch disasters during the disaster." Kalandir stared at the opened pages of the document and said with interest.

"How much?" Derek asked in disbelief, picking his ears.

"Twenty-four, you heard it right," Kalandir replied, "These are the data they reported themselves, and the staff have verified it, otherwise they wouldn't have sent it to me. In addition, there is also an insect plague."

"If I remember correctly, there is no such outstanding unicorn girl in Silverwind Harbor," Derek asked, "Is it that Her Majesty the Saint came in person, or is this Ms. Merrill actually an alias for Her Royal Highness the Princess?"

"Neither. They are native people of Silverwind Harbor." Kalandir finished reading the information and gently closed it. "It is said that someone helped them, but those people voluntarily gave up having their names on the report, which means they voluntarily gave up the points. According to the rules, this contribution should belong to the Saint's Association-"

Derek raised his eyebrows. Although he was not interested in the power struggles among the upper echelons of parliament, he also realized something.

"Those old guys are going to have a headache. They tried their best to suppress the Saint Maiden Society, but this is what happened." He shrugged. "But it's not very decent for the Saint Maiden Society to hire people to do things for them. Does this count as a loophole in the rules?"

"Two tree shadows appeared, but nothing serious happened. I guess that was the work of the other party. These people are quite powerful." He thought of something, "Who instructed them to do this——"

"I don't know." Kalandir shook his head gently. "It's just that these two things happened together by coincidence. I guess there is some connection. If you are interested, you can investigate it and remember to tell me the result."

Derek looked at the Holy White Oak Heart beside him. "Compared to that, I care more about this thing. Every Holy White Oak in Silverwind Harbor is unique. It shouldn't be difficult to find out its origin, unless it came from outside."

"It didn't come from outside," Kalandir also looked over there, "but its origin is somewhat special."

"How special?"

"It's related to another case that happened not long ago."

……

Merrill looked at the numbers on the bulletin board and felt so happy that she almost fainted.

Everyone sat in a sofa area of ​​a spacious bar. The soft camel-hair sofa made people feel light and relaxed. The small round table in front was filled with a variety of snacks and drinks. The comfortable sofa area faced the bar counter made of rough oak and hard stone, and a huge information crystal was hung above it.

At this moment, a curtain of light was projected onto the crystal, on which was flashed information about recent disasters and their handling - some twigs spread to the north of the port, but were dealt with in time by the local guild; and another ordinary gray branch grew in the mage area, but did not cause much damage.

These are all information from months ago. The most recent one is of course the incident that happened in the port area a few days ago. An elite gray branch suddenly sprouted, causing the port guards and many guilds nearby to be involved in the incident.

In the end, the Dragonblood Knights destroyed the Gray Branch and eliminated the disaster. The personnel sent by other major guilds, the Adventurer's Association, and even the Craftsmen's Association all performed well in this disaster, but the most outstanding one was the Saint's Association.

Since Fang He had helped, Merrill was embarrassed to accept the credit, so he hid his name in the announcement. It showed that a team from the Holy Maidens of Silver Wind Harbor had promptly cut off most of the branches of the ash trees during the disaster.

And the parliament believes that they have played an important role and should be rewarded...

  Alisa was looking through the information in her hand and explained to everyone:

"...Tree Shadow is a level 32 gray matter sucker creature. It usually grows with elite gray branches, but there is usually only one such monster next to an elite gray branch. As for its branches, it is even less likely to produce enough gray matter concentration for Tree Shadow to sucker, unless there is human influence..."

"The Ash Bough Disaster is a secondary disaster of the 'Death Plague' that spread on the Holy White Giant Tree. Ash branches are essentially dead buds of the Holy Tree, so some products related to the Holy Tree itself will also have an impact on the Ash Bough Disaster. The Holy White Tree Heart is one of them."

"Ninimer, one of the three great disasters, was created by someone using the Terraka tree seed. Although it is not clear where the withered tree seed came from and who caused the disaster, the Holy White Tree Heart and Tree Shadow that appeared in Silverwind Harbor this time are most likely related to it—"

She gently closed the folder and turned her gaze to Fang He.

This bar is the property of the Tower of Stars and Moon, and is jointly owned by the Ring of Stars and the Investigation Society. Fang He originally planned to leave the port directly, but had to stay because of the permit issue.

He learned about the Investigation Society from the bounty hunters and wanted to see if he could find an opportunity to cooperate with them. In addition, after the disaster at Silver Wind Harbor, several ladies from the Holy Maiden Society proposed to entertain their guests, so they chose this place.

"To the survival of Silverwind Harbor," Ms. Papamo jumped onto the table, holding up a glass of flowing wine emitting a faint blue light, and shouted in a shrill voice: "—Cheers!"

There was a friendly laugh from the next table.

It was as if the port had truly been reborn after the disaster, and people raised their glasses in unison: “Cheers!”

"But in fact," the poet described truthfully with her quill pen, "the gray branch has not yet affected one-third of the dock area and one-half of the forest wind area. Even if it grows stronger, it can only destroy one-sixteenth of Silver Wind Harbor at most."

"It's no good to care so much, Miss...Martir," the Paparar said to her, "Besides, if they really want to feel at ease, why should they let us go to the front and risk our lives? Let those noble gentlemen go to the front."

"That's right." People cheered.

"The one who led the Dragonblood Knights into the central area was Sir Edmund Raynor, the Speaker of the House of Commons of the Silverwind Harbor Parliament, and the three councillors who accompanied him," Tracis sighed, "the noble lord you mentioned."

Of course, she spoke very softly so that no one else could hear her.

Only Jita picked up a snowflake-like muffin, tasted it, and found it so sweet that she couldn't help squinting her eyes and gave a little bit to Nini who was standing beside her and couldn't see.

The little guy was so sweet that he kept wagging his tail.

Miss Fairy was sipping tea alone, leaning against a small hill of cookies, undisturbed by the outside world.

Fang He was talking with Miss Nightingale and Merrill. He had just learned from the elf girl that the society's external audit was very strict and it was almost impossible to allow an outsider with no roots to join the investigation team.

However, there is always a way out. Merrill said softly, "But if Mr. Ed wants to investigate the gray matter, I might be able to recommend someone for you."

Shortly after the Gray Branch Disaster was resolved, Fang He told them that he was not actually Elion de Ferlin, but was mistaken for someone else at the port. Because the situation was urgent and there was no time for explanation, he just went with the flow.

Since several bounty hunters witnessed the situation with their own eyes, and later recalled it, it seemed to be just as Fang He said - plus he also saved their lives, so everyone easily believed his words.

Moreover, Fang He showed extraordinary strength in cleaning the gray branches and won the trust of everyone. With his strength, it seemed unnecessary for him to lie. Merrill believed it even more. Of course, for the elf girl, it was more because Fang He helped them solve a big problem.

Although one disaster response is not enough to prove anything, the top ranking, which is almost the same as the Dragon Blood Knights, is enough to make a name for the Holy Maiden Society.

The Unicorn Girls of the Holy Maiden Society are the reserve saints selected by the Goddess. Although they have little combat power themselves, as the rangers of the Holy White Forest and the girls favored by God, each of them actually has excellent auxiliary abilities.

If more people like Aljan’s team cooperate with them in the future, the reputation of the Saint’s Society will spread further and further until they truly prove themselves - by then, the rumors about the Saint and them will be self-defeating.

"So, Miss Merrill, does she have any solution?" Fang He asked.

The Investigation Society and the Silverwind Watchers are very at odds with each other. Although both are dominated by the Chosen, one is mainly active in the wild areas while the other mostly stays in Silverwind Harbor.

And because of the investigation of gray matter, the former has a very close relationship with the Holy Maiden Society, and Merrill has cooperated with them many times.

  Therefore, she actually has a say:

"It's like this. In a few days, the Investigation Society will send a team to conduct an investigation outside Silver Wind Harbor. They have already decided on the personnel, but they still need to recruit some guards."

"And since we need to investigate the gray matter, it would be best if there were magicians among the guards—"

She then asked, "If Mr. Ed is interested in this, I can recommend you to join this team and guarantee you. But that may take up some of your time, because this mission requires going to Sanshak--"

Fang He asked: "Can I ask what the investigation is about?"

A few days is nothing. There is still nearly half a month left before the agreed rendezvous time with the Second Regiment, and Sangshak is also on their route plan, so it is actually convenient.

Merrill nodded and replied, "It's a missing person case that happened more than half a month ago. There have been some new developments recently, and the clues point to the Sanshak area. Because this incident is related to the Gray Matter Disaster, the Star Ring has been involved in the investigation."

Fang He thought about it for a while and felt that it was no big deal, so he nodded. "Then thank you for your help, Miss Merrill."

"We should be the ones saying thank you."

Meryl said sincerely.

Although Fang He denied his identity, he was not naive enough to tell them his true purpose. He only said that he was a tourist who came to the Giant Tree Hill and was also interested in this "death plague" - because the gray matter disaster had actually spread outside the Giant Tree Hill.

He made up a story about his origins: "I come from near Saint Hugh's, and I am a descendant of a wizard family. Although the gray disaster there is not as serious as here, it is better to be prepared, so I decided to come here to take a look."

"As for helping you," he explained, "I am also helping myself, so please don't mind."

But the more he said this, the more Merrill felt that this wizard had a noble character, and his heart was filled with gratitude and trust.

But it finally looked like they had sorted out the matter of leaving the city, so Fang He finally felt relieved. While taking the folder from Alyssa, he asked another question:

"So where did the Holy White Tree Heart come from?"

Although the Holy White Tree Heart had little to do with them, the two monsters always made him feel a little strange. The military told him that the two worlds were intertwined and that the Shadow Society had a wide influence on the other side of the star gate, which made him subconsciously distrust some guilds and high-level officials in the second zone.

There might be some shadow behind this incident.

So he asked Miss Nightingale to investigate, but as expected, not much information was found.

"It's not clear yet. It could be inside or outside the port," Alyssa shook her head indifferently. She looked at Merrill beside her. "The Silverwind Harbor Council won't announce the result so quickly. However, because Miss Merrill was at the scene, they checked the temple where she was first. The holy white oak there was intact, so Miss Merrill was further ruled out as a suspect."

"But the bad news is," she looked at the information flowing on the crystal, "this matter has begun to spread. Just as Miss Merrill imagined, most of the criticism is directed at the Saint's Society. Fortunately, Miss Merrill's extraordinary performance has restored some of the reputation of the Saint's Society."

"Ordinary people are now roughly divided into two groups. They have linked the previous spread of the insect plague to the previous one, and believe that it was done by suspicious people who sneaked into Silver Wind Harbor—"

"The news spread so quickly that even ordinary people know about it?" Fang He keenly noticed something. "In order to prevent the spread of panic, this information should be kept confidential."

Even if the truth eventually comes out, it won't spread to the point where everyone knows about it in just two or three days.

Miss Nightingale sneered, "Tianlan told me that the people from the Silver Wind Watch passed the information out. Of course, they are not the real ones behind the scenes. There must be someone behind the scenes directing it. In fact, I can guess who it is."

"who is it?"

"In the Linoril-Sangshak Council, the leader of the Holy Maiden Council is Holy Maiden Attila Greenhill Stars, and the daughter of this generation of Elf King, Princess Lian Kuiya Alsana, is its actual leader."

"The purpose of the Elven Court's suppression of Attila Greenhill Stars is to seize the right to designate the next Unicorn Girl, but the existence of the Saint Maiden Association is actually in their interests. Their biggest goal is to eliminate the current Saint Maiden."

"But for the parliament, both of them are his enemies. Although the Silverwind Harbor Parliament was originally subordinate to the Elven Court, it has gradually become a secular regime after the alliance with Sanshak—"

"The nobles of the parliament are eager to get rid of the influence of the first two. Therefore, both the Elf King and the Temple can be regarded as their potential opponents. It is in their interest to use the method of tarnishing their reputation to attack the Saint Maiden Association."

Alisa put a grape into her mouth and licked her fingers.

Merrill was stunned. Although she was not from a noble family, she received a good education in the temple. She never thought that a daughter of a noble family would behave so...chic.

However, Miss Nightingale's analysis of the situation in Silver Wind Harbor was so insightful that she could not help but look at her with new eyes. Many of the principles behind it were only gradually understood by her after she was involuntarily involved in it.

And she had never actually thought that deeply about the part about the Elf Court.

"Even at this time, these people still don't forget to fight for power and profit," the girl herself couldn't understand why, "But shouldn't the imminent disaster attract more attention? The scholars of the Star Ring, the Saint, the Princess, and even those like-minded people from overseas are all working hard for this, but the doubts fall on these people. Why?"

She couldn't help biting her lower lip.

……

When Fang He walked out of the bar, it was already quiet outside. Night had already fallen. There were not many street lights, and from a distance, it seemed as if there was a circle of quiet, warm, soft light hanging in the air.

The night view of Silverwind Harbor is very beautiful. There is not as much industrial pollution as in Ainbrok. The night sky inside the port is like the countryside of Corin-Ishurian, with the sky full of stars.

Fang He raised his head and looked through the tree branches. The sky was full of faint twinkling stars, reflected on the dark sea not far away - actually on the wind element layer, under the clouds, it looked bright and beautiful.

Then he saw an elf girl sitting on a flower bed on the street, looking up at the sky like himself - two elf guards, Faela and Ellowin, stood not far away, carefully watching over their princess.

Fang He saw the two and walked over. Lian Kuiya Alsana turned around. Fang He then realized that the elf princess' face was full of worry. She apologized to him softly:

"I'm sorry to make you laugh, Mr. Ed."

"what happened?"

"Nothing, I always thought I was right and Mr. Ed acted a little too rashly," the elf girl replied, "but in fact, I am the naive one, I must apologize for my misunderstanding of Mr. Ed all along -"

Fang He looked at her in surprise. Although he had discovered that the elf princess was well-educated and reasonable during their time together, his previous attitude towards him was based on misunderstanding.

  But it was still a little unexpected for the other party to suddenly say such a thing. What happened?

Fang He suddenly thought of something and couldn't help asking, "Ms. Lian, are you still thinking about Meryl and the others?"

Lian Kuiya Arsana nodded slightly.

"My father once taught me to take responsibility for my own affairs," she replied, "I always thought I did that, but I founded the Saint's Society, and I hoped it would call on everyone to realize the belief of Lady Aimaya and protect this land and the forest."

"But I didn't expect that my naivety would bring so much trouble to others. Meryl and unicorn girls like them shouldn't have been involved in this political struggle. If you hadn't been there, Mr. Ed..."

She paused, her voice somewhat sad, "I dare not think about what will happen. If I killed them, how can I make up for my mistake?"

Fang He then remembered that Her Royal Highness the Princess was the real founder of the Holy Maiden Society. If there was a traitor within the Holy Maiden Society, Merrill and the others would not be held responsible - but Her Royal Highness the Princess would have to take the responsibility.

But he was somewhat dissatisfied with what Lian Kuiya Arshana said. The Elf King said it well, but did he do it himself? He just threw the responsibility onto someone else, onto the Elf Lady.

"Nonsense," he shook his head. "You are calling on them to run for this disaster. This is self-help, and it is what everyone should do in a disaster. It has nothing to do with you, but it is closely related to each of them. If you don't believe me, go ask them what they think?"

"As for those who dragged them into conspiracy and struggle, they are the real culprits. However, there are always some people who like to smear their own dark purposes on the lofty goals and ideals of others. I am used to these humanoid creatures—"

From Istania to the Empire, from Dolifen to here, he has indeed seen too much.

The elf girl found his term "humanoid" a little funny. She had never seen anyone around her curse like that since she was a child, but she still suppressed her laughter. "I'm not feeling sorry for myself, Mr. Ed. I just don't want to go back to the Elven Court for now."

Fang He looked at her unexpectedly - Faela and Ellowin on the side both looked at him for help. This elf princess was well-educated and well-mannered most of the time, but she could be really willful when she became willful.

"I am somewhat concerned about the matter of the Holy White Tree Heart," she replied. "I cannot abandon Meryl and the others to face all this alone. This matter was caused by me, so I must take responsibility."

"I heard from the City Hall that the origin of the Holy White Tree Heart may be related to an incident in Sanshak, so I plan to go there to investigate first," Lian looked at Fang He, "Mr. Ed, can I go with you?"

  what?

Are you going to Sanshak too?

……

(End of this chapter)