Ed remained silent. Writing "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info he felt that Payne was probably not referring to the "accident" that happened today.

"More than four years ago. Payne cast his gaze into the dark night, "he appeared in the Tower of Silence...... That's a place that most elves can't get close to. ”

More than four years ago—Ed remembered in a trance, that it was exactly what Alan had guessed, when Scott had "woken up" from the crypt of Charlene, the ancient temple of Sawyer, the god of death.

The innocent grave keeper's daughter...... Was it one of the prices he paid to return to this world? Ed never wanted to think about it.

From then until he was reunited with Ed and the others in the ruins of the Far North Light, Scott was silent about that time, and Payne's low voice traveled back in time.

Thousands of years ago, the Silent Tower was known as the Tower of Omer. It was the Holy Tower that the elves had dedicated to the supreme god Umer, the only magnificent structure in Grivar built entirely of stone, rising above all the canopies of the forest and standing proudly for hundreds of years...... But it was easily destroyed by Ankland.

After the civil strife, the rebuilt Tower of Omer still has a rare thickness and solidity in elven architecture, but it is no longer as tall as it once was. The elves claimed that this was more in line with the calm and forgiveness of the High God, while the dwarves, who left a different record, bluntly stated that "the elves do not have the strength to build the same towers again"...... It's mean, but it's not necessarily true.

In addition to worshipping the gods, the Silent Tower is also a meeting place for elven elders, and it hides many secrets from the elves' long history, which are perhaps more heavily guarded than the empty court from the inside out. Scott was spotted the moment he showed up - but he never tried to hide his intentions.

The elders sit in a circle during their deliberations, leaving a circular open space in the middle. Scott appeared in the middle of the clearing without warning, proud and aloof, like a summoned god...... or demons.

The consternation and confusion that can be imagined were lightly brought to light when Philee informed Payne. What is certain is that there was no fighting, and Scott only stayed in the elders' dull gaze for an extremely brief moment.

“...... Where is he?" he asked.

Before he could get any promise, he disappeared as abruptly as he had appeared, leaving behind a dozen elven elders who had never been so calm that they had almost forgotten what "surprise" was, and no one could believe what they had just seen.

The whole thing is inexplicable and unbelievable. Elves don't talk about boasting like humans say "no one can cast spells in Lockburg", but the Silent Tower, once destroyed by magic, has a strong prohibition, and no one can come and go like this.

Luckily, one of the guards of the Silent Tower recognized Scott, who had been a stalwart with the knights of the water god a few years earlier, and Scott was one of the most prominent paladins.

The long-slackening intelligence network is busy again. Although I don't want to admit it, the elves are secretly looking for clues and finding out the news. It only took a month or two for them to find out even about Scott's tragic death and strange rebirth, and even earlier, what happened to Scott and his companions in the Weeping Forest, except that by then Scott was far away in Anktan, the cold northern country, where the elven whip of the southern dwellers had long been out of reach.

The elders carefully passed on some information to Sean Freicher in the hope that Felicity would do something, but they never waited for that day. They fearfully suspect that another soul is present inside Scott, fearing that the nearly forgotten nightmare will return. After all, the compelling momentum that Scott showed at that moment, the innate arrogance...... It really doesn't look like an ordinary human being.

And, almost the same as Ankland...... Scott has a dragon that will obey him.

The elves try to find clues in the far cry of reality to confirm their fears, until they hear of Scott's powerful but somewhat singular power—the power to manipulate fire.

That's not what Ankland is good at, but it seems to correspond to another part of the lore.

The scrolls of paper, which were already fragile even under the protection of magic, were searched again, and this time, they finally found a plausible explanation...... A name that has been forgotten even more completely.

This discovery disproves their suspicion that the power that had manipulated Casagrande might not be the one they thought it would be.

More suspicions emerge in the search more closely, and the elves finally find their true enemies.

"But you already know. ”

Payne calmly spat out the words, "You know who Scott is...... You have even taken advantage of the ritual that summons it. ”

Ed looked down in embarrassment, deciding not to dwell on where he had shown his flaws. But there was one thing he couldn't figure out anyway.

"So...... You already knew?" he muttered.

"Yes. Payne admits apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't tell you all last time...... I didn't really believe in prophecies or curses or anything like that, and Scott seemed to be deliberately staying away from you, I thought......"

Ed shook his head. That's not what he cared about.

"Did you know it for a long time, but you didn't do anything?" he asked incredulously, "even if you knew it wasn't a god......

"What do you think we should do?" Payne asked retorted, somewhat helplessly, "The elders don't make any decisions lightly. They're not stupid, Ed, though it's easier to think so...... They have too many secrets, and they always have too many concerns, and even if they can find out the cause and effect in the shortest possible time, and come up with the closest answer to the truth, they will be afraid of accidentally breaking the arrangement of the gods, and they would rather sit by in silence than dare to make any changes...... 'cautious', they describe it, and they demand it from me. For a long time, I saw it as cowardice...... No, I still see it as cowardice, but it's not incomprehensible. When your life is long enough to see the consequences of your every decision, long enough to have to bear all the failures...... You'll lose your courage. ”

Ed raised his eyebrows disapprupsly.

“...... I know what you're trying to say. Payne smiled wryly, "Yes, they ordered Norway to be killed, more than once. It wasn't a wise decision - for that matter, the name 'Ankeland' might really be a curse, and he could easily make the normally unapproachable elves completely lose their minds...... I don't want to argue for them, but dwelling on the mistakes of the past won't help. In any case, at least one thing is certain - we have a common enemy today. ”

. (To be continued.) )