The ancient wooded forest west of the Duchy of Lothair, surrounded by endless wilderness and hills, keeps human footsteps out of the forest. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Lush ancient trees shade the sky, quiet mist wafts through the jungle, and rugged forest paths connect the entire forest into a whole.

No one ever knows how vast the whole ancient forest is, because no one can reach its end, and no one can know everything about this forest, because there are always secrets hidden in the depths of the forest;

After leaving the Deepwoods, Loren, as the Count's emissary, finally entered the forest with Luca, who had returned, and headed for the land that belonged to the elves.

More precisely, it is the Morning Star Forest, the easternmost of the entire Ancient Wood Forest, and it is also the most powerful of the elven settlements adjacent to the Duchy of Lothair.

Of course, there were also the little wizards who insisted on coming with them, as well as a certain black-feathered eagle named "Asriel". Visit these elves with a gift from Leuven Fried.

From the moment he entered the forest, the little wizard never blinked again, and his blue eyes were forever filled with curiosity—the shadows of the trees were dazzling, the colorful flowers and plants were dazzling, and the birds hidden between the twilight and the trees seemed to hear their songs.

The black-haired wizard's gaze kept looking around. The forest with no end in sight was beyond his imagination, the towering ancient trees were so huge that they resembled the pillars of some grand hall, and the path beneath his feet was only a path, winding and winding with no end in sight.

Not to mention the cavalry, even lightly armed infantry can only advance in two people side by side, not to mention these complicated trails, without a guide, you will only get lost in the endless dense forest.

The elves who walked on the ground in the path, and even laughed and talked, never seemed to worry about getting lost. He looked as calm as at home, and walked leisurely in the woods.

It is conceivable that even if a human army did break into the forest, these elves would be able to slaughter the intruders as calmly as they would a herd of deer.

This should be the real reason why the elves are fearless enough in the face of humans and have never worried about being invaded.

Loren, who was in a state of contemplation, completely ignored the gaze of the female elf beside him, which made Leya, who had always been next to him, extremely dissatisfied with the expression of the black-haired wizard.

This human, who had never entered the Ancient Wood Forest, did not even have the slightest expression of shock or curiosity, as if these scenes were just accustomed to his eyes.

Or was he deliberately putting on this face, hoping to not fall behind in front of the elven elders of the settlement? This wizard was so cunning that it was right for Lukka to take him with him.

The female elf, who thought like this, nodded secretly, faintly proud of her decision.

"May I ask a question?" Loren glanced at the female elf behind him, and said helplessly, "If I'm not mistaken, you said that this place has already been invaded by ogres. ”

"That's right, just a few months ago. Leah nodded, not surprised that Loren would know that he was right behind him: "At least a dozen ogre colonies are invading at the same time, and we held out until winter before they slowed down their attack. ”

"If that's the case, why didn't we see the corpse of an ogre along the way?" Loren asked, turning back and asking, "I've seen and killed one of them, and if there were, the forest around here would have been in shambles!"

"You've ever killed an ogre?"

Leah asked rhetorically, a look of disbelief on her face. However, he still answered Loren's question: "That's because this is already the hinterland of the Morning Star Forest, and it is not the direction of the ogre invasion." ”

"Every year the monsters attack from the south, and the rest of the settlements are pretty much the same. The elf explained, "And in the south, there is a great wall of trees to keep them from storming our settlement. ”

"The Great Tree Wall?"

"It's a very old cliff of woods and rocks, and Lukka says the ancient trees have been there since the birthplace of the forest - they are one after the other, like the walls of your human race. Every time we were invaded, we fought the ogres under the protection of the Great Tree Wall. ”

Before she finished speaking, there was a little more confused look in Liya's eyes: "So if there are really ogres in the south, they have to cross there, but it's impossible!"

"Why can't it?" Loren asked rhetorically with a smile, "Since it's a wall, there are bound to be dead corners and unprotected places - maybe not enough for hundreds or thousands of ogres to pass through, but if there are very few, only one or two crevices in the big tree wall need to be destroyed......"

"You won't say that until you actually see the big tree wall. Leah retorted unconvinced: "You will definitely not be able to close your chin by then!"

"I'm really looking forward to that day. ”

Loren's answer was so calm that the elf frowned in annoyance—though that was what she had done to convince the elders of the settlement.

"Lukka told me that you recommended him for me to be the Earl's Emissary. The black-haired wizard spoke again: "I never expected that my opinion in your heart would be so high. ”

"I just think you're good at persuading people, especially honest people who aren't good at lying. Leah shook her head: "The wizard who came with you also specially reminded me not to be deceived by you. ”

The corners of Loren's mouth twitched when his smile froze, and the black-feathered eagle "Asriel" on his shoulder raised his head and learned a few crow calls very appropriately.

"But...... You shouldn't be bad as a person. The female elf's words were very direct: "Otherwise, you actually had a chance to escape from the castle that night, but you still tried your best to protect the people around you." Luca also told me that you alone blocked the enemies who broke into the castle. ”

"That's because my lord is in the castle. Loren, who sighed, explained to her: "If the Count dies, the Duke will definitely not let me go, and I will not be able to stay in the Duchy of Lothair at that time." ”

Liya seemed to think about it very seriously, and then shook her head again: "A cunning guy like you will definitely be able to live well even if he goes somewhere else, right?"

"Is it in your eyes that I'm just a villain who never tells the truth and is good at deceiving honest people?"

"Do you really want to know?"

“...... Forget it, I already know. ”

Loren, who looked a little depressed, shrugged his shoulders, he had followed the elves for three days, and he hadn't even encountered a single elven settlement along the way, which meant that even the nearest settlement was more than three days away.

Or are they deliberately avoiding certain settlements so as not to be discovered by themselves? Considering the unfriendly attitude of the elves towards humans, this is not impossible.

"Here we are. ”

The female elf behind her suddenly spoke, and her slender but powerful right hand pointed to the towering ancient tree not far away: "Ahead is the Morning Star Forest, which is our settlement. ”

Uh-huh—he didn't see any sign of the settlement, no fences, no walls, not even houses, only the trees that covered the sky.

"Right there, haven't you seen it yet?" the female elf's calm tone was obviously a little more sneering: "On the top of the cloud canopy tree, is our settlement. ”

On top of the trees?!

With wide eyes, Loren stared intently at the lush canopy of the ancient tree, like a ladder of stairs, cascading into the dome.

"You're so surprised, I thought you knew. ”

Finally seeing Loren's surprised expression, Liya couldn't say how happy she was in her heart, and she still didn't let him go: "Didn't some people once say that elves sleep on trees." ”

"So you guessed it, just a slight difference. Each elven settlement has a cloud-canopy tree. The elf's face suddenly became a little more proud.

"And the one in the Morning Star Forest is the largest tree in the entire Ancient Wood Forest!"