Chapter 564 - 562: Journey to the Elf Forest

When the news came, Hilia was in Star Ash Town keeping Vanessa company.

Hearing from the bishop of the Dawn Divine Hall that not long after she left, cultists rushed into the Divine Hall and tried to blow up the Hall’s wishing pool, Hilia’s expression turned weird.

"So you’re saying they weren’t deliberately causing trouble just to force the bishop to come back and defend the place?"

Hilia scratched her head.

By that time she had already left; logically speaking, the cultists should have noticed.

Or did they not notice, and thought I was still there? Hilia wondered.

In the projection, the bishop of the Dawn Divine Hall burst out laughing: "Thanks to Miss Xilia’s earlier arrangements, we managed to capture a cultist last night. Finally vented some of our anger."

"Arrangements?" Hilia blinked. "Did I set anything up?"

The bishop said, "The Array outside the city. Last night those two bastards wreaked havoc in the Divine Hall and then left, and the direction they took happened to be where you set up the blocking Array. When the City Lord and I chased after them, those two bastards got trapped in the Array. We captured one of them; the other escaped by sheer luck, which is a bit of a pity."

"Uh..."

That Array actually had this kind of effect?

Hilia was stunned.

She’d laid it down and waited for the Dusk Sect people to show up, but they just took one look from outside and ran. Hilia had thought they’d even discovered the Array.

Turns out they probably hadn’t.

"How’s the Divine Hall?" Hilia asked.

"Some of the functional facilities were damaged, but it’s nothing major. Compared to catching a fifth-tier cultist, the price is acceptable."

Hilia: "..."

So in the end the Divine Hall still couldn’t escape its ’destiny’ of getting trashed?

Hilia grumbled inwardly.

Well, looking on the bright side.

This time things only went wrong after she left, so in theory, it had nothing to do with her!

Hilia quickly made peace with herself.

After asking the bishop about that cultist’s situation, Hilia ended the call and let out a breath.

"As long as they caught him, good. I don’t know if those two cultists had any way to track me. If they did, now that there’s only one person left tracking me, I should be able to slip away from him."

With that, affairs in Dawn City were over for the time being. Hilia stayed in Star Ash Town for two days, then said goodbye to Vanessa and slipped into the Elf Race’s territory via the Star Spirit Forbidden Land.

"According to the map, the Elf Race’s territory isn’t all part of the Elf Forest... Lord Rose, where are we going?"

Rose said, "To the north of the Elf Forest."

"Where in the north..."

Rose said irritably, "How would I know?"

Hilia: "..."

Rose gave Hilia a rough area and said casually, "Just travel in this direction. The general location is in this quadrant."

Hilia sensed it for a moment, then opened the map projection on her bracelet, carefully compared it, and circled the approximate area on the map.

"Hmm... looks like the Elf Royal Court is right next to it."

Hilia mused, then shook her head after a moment.

"Forget it, let’s not go bother Elina. If fate wants it, we’ll meet sooner or later; if not, even if I go knock on her door, she might not come out to see me."

Once she entered the Elf Race’s territory, Hilia changed her appearance to that of an elf.

In the Elf Race’s lands, humans were hated far more than beastmen.

The Beastman Empire and the Elf Race were basically like two brothers in hardship; the difference was that the Elf Race was a unified ethnic empire, while the Beastman Race was a multi-race federation—the Beastman Empire had it even tougher than the Elf Race.

"To avoid accidents, I’d better pretend to be an elf."

Having stayed with Elina for so long before, Hilia had learned some of the Elf Race’s habits and knew how to avoid people noticing she wasn’t an elf.

Hilia was confident she wouldn’t slip up.

The only big issue was her identity.

"Anyway, let’s get inside first and take a look. As for identity, generally speaking I probably don’t need to overthink it..."

She had a Space Ring, and to be on the safe side, Hilia always kept a full set of gear specifically for camping in the wild inside the Space Ring, along with portable Array Scrolls. Tear one open and it quickly constructs an Array; just slot in a Magic Crystal and it activates.

Of course, those portable Array Scrolls were drawn by Hilia herself. Scrolls were her forte; she wasn’t about to waste money buying them.

"As long as I minimize going into Elf Race cities along the way and only pop in to stock up on supplies, I probably won’t get found out..."

And even if she was... Hilia figured she could handle it.

The outer edge of the Elf Forest was no different from the Human Empire’s lands: either small woods, or hills and little prairies.

The Elf Forest was the core area of the Elf Race. Outside the forest, the Elf Race still had plenty of normal terrain, no different from other countries.

Following the map’s guidance, Hilia quickly approached the first city within the Elf Race’s territory.

This city, just like Southern Border City, was used by the Elf Race to interface with the Beastman Empire and the Human Empire.

"Perfect, I’ll go in and take a look, see if anyone notices anything off."

Thinking that, Hilia joined the back of the crowd and slowly queued up to enter.

Border Cities didn’t require anything special to enter, just some kind of proof of identity.

Hilia of course had nothing that proved she was part of the Elf Race.

But the Mercenary Guild badge was basically recognized across the continent—in other words, a badge obtained in the human world could be used in the Elf Race’s lands as well.

There were even elves who registered at the Mercenary Guild in the human world and got badges there; even if those were different from the Mercenary badges used within the Elf Race, the guards wouldn’t say anything.

Especially since—

When Hilia handed over her badge, she slipped a few Silver Coins under it.

The elf soldier guarding the gate felt the thickness of the badge, smiled, nodded, and let Hilia into the city.

Hilia breathed out in relief, entering smoothly.

"Looks like even in the Elf Race, there’s this sort of kickback culture."

The image of the Elf Race in Hilia’s heart slipped another notch.

The last time it slipped was when she found out what Elina usually got up to.

A peerlessly beautiful elf lady who, besides going on adventures, actually spent her time stealing money and stuff—hard to imagine.

"Could it be that the Elf Race isn’t as wonderful as the legends say, and this sneaky, underhanded behavior is everywhere?"

Hilia thought.

She shook her head.

"Whatever, it’s got nothing to do with me."

The girl looked toward Rose in her mind and asked curiously, "Lord Rose, were the elves like this a thousand years ago too?"

Rose said mildly, "It’s the same in any era. A race doesn’t represent individual will. In the elves’ eyes, humans are all crafty and treacherous, but do you think you’re insidious and cunning?"

"Of course I’m not insidious and cunning, I’m the very embodiment of justice and kindness!"