Chapter 599 - 597: Came Up Empty

"Why haven’t we set out yet?"

In the Elf Royal City, under the Holy Tree, Elina asked Candia yet again, grumbling:

"I’ve been waiting so long even the flowers have withered."

Elina plucked off the last petal of the flower in her hand.

Candia’s face was wooden; she didn’t say a word.

So Elina added, "I really want to see you, once you get there, awaken your inner ’spirit of discrimination’ and start verbally abusing Hilia again, driving her away one more time."

Candia’s mouth twitched.

In Louis and Aiman’s accounts, Hilia received high recognition and praise; they believed that only with Hilia’s help could they quickly eliminate the hidden danger posed by the Demons within the pollution source.

Even with the Elf King personally coming this time, they still hoped the Elf King would highly value Hilia, and that the subsequent operation would revolve around her.

Because the reports they submitted also included their research on the Demons’ weak points.

Everyone had their own ways of discovering a Demon’s weak point, but the success rate was nowhere near as fast or precise as Hilia’s, as if an Ice Mage were the very weakness of Demons.

Even though Nature Magic could also restrain Demons, the "weak points" they attacked had a high chance of being fake and not the real thing at all.

This concept of a weak point was very abstract; it wasn’t that you could just attack the whole body and definitely hit it. It was a phenomenon of pollution fluctuations, not something that appeared constantly, so it needed to be induced.

And with all the methods they tried, their success rate stayed below ten percent; they basically had to attempt a dozen times to succeed once.

Maybe after a lot more research the success rate would rise, but if they kept guiding things that way, the Demons would evolve countermeasures; only a one-hit kill could prevent the Demons from evolving.

Even if the Demons didn’t evolve, the research needed to raise the success rate wasn’t something that could be finished in a short time.

Yet the number of Demons underground seemed endless; they didn’t have that much time.

Under these circumstances, Hilia was the hope of their entire forest.

With nothing better to do, Elina was really looking forward to the spectacle of Candia driving away the forest’s hope.

"Elder, let’s make a deal. When the time comes, you drive Hilia away, then I, in a fit of rage, will elope—pah, leave with her, and when I come back from my training out in the world, I’ll promote you to Elf King... under me."

Candia said coolly, "Elina, don’t say things like that so casually."

"Tch."

Elina curled her lip.

She genuinely wanted to find an excuse to run away.

But up to now, she hadn’t found one.

The last time Candia drove Hilia away, she had actually been quite angry. Back then she’d already thought that once this pollution issue was resolved, she’d say goodbye to the Elf Royal Court and find a chance to slip out in secret.

As a free-spirited Elf who loved relic exploration and a bit of robbery on the side, Elina found a life where a crowd of people stuck to her side the moment she stepped outside extremely suffocating.

"No matter what, once this is over, I’m definitely leaving."

Elina told herself.

Just then, an Elf walked in from outside and said, "You two, the Elf King requests your presence."

"Let’s go." Elina waved her hand.

Following the attendant to the Elf King, Elina recalled how Louis and Aiman had praised Hilia to the skies, and said seriously one last time, "My King, I believe that if we want to resolve this pollution, Hil’s role is crucial. Just as she created a miracle underground, she can also create a miracle in purifying the pollution."

Elina really wanted to tell the Elf King that Hilia had already created many miracles, the most famous being when she closed the Abyss Gate during the Mage League.

Back then, she’d only been Third Tier.

The Elf King smiled slightly. "Elina, tell me the truth: has Miss Xi also received the blessing of the Gods?"

Elina hesitated a moment, then said, "I’m not sure."

"Not sure?" The Elf King sounded intrigued.

"The Gods’ blessing isn’t like the blessing of the Elf Forest; it can’t be directly sensed. It’s like when I brought back a Divine Relic—if I hadn’t revealed it, you wouldn’t have known."

The Elf King nodded. "That’s true. I, however, feel that Hil has also received the Gods’ blessing, only she hasn’t shown it."

Although the Elf King’s information channels outside the Elf Race were relatively weak, he could still uncover some clues.

For example, he’d learned that Elina had once gone into an ancient ruin, and at that time, there had been another Elf who entered with her.

He hadn’t known who that Elf was before, but now he could confirm it was this Elf called Hil.

Of course, that was as far as the Elf King could trace it, and only because quite a few Elves had also been adventuring in that ruin at the time. After Elina emerged from that ruin, she returned to the Elf Forest and returned the relic to the Holy Tree, which had only then stirred his suspicions.

As for the fact that that Elf had actually been Hilia in disguise, no one knew except the two Prince and Princess of the Royal Mercenary Corps, and they had no intention of revealing it to others.

If the Elf King could get information out of the Prince’s mouth, the Elf Forest wouldn’t have been pressed into a corner of the continent in the first place.

The Elf King looked toward the road ahead.

Once they got there, they would know.

Before long, the Elf King and his entourage arrived at the pollution source.

Louis and Aiman personally came out to greet them.

Only, the two of them didn’t look very good.

After a round of cordial greetings, the Elf King seized the opportunity to ask, "Where is Miss Xi? Is she still resting?"

Louis hesitated, then sighed and said, "I’m sorry, my King, she... left."

"Left?" The Elf King’s brows furrowed. "You let her leave?"

Aiman sighed and said, "No, she slipped away. We don’t even know when she left."

Elina glanced at Candia beside her and muttered under her breath, "I told you not to let the Elder come, but no one listened. Hilia must’ve learned the Elder was coming, so she just left."

Her voice was very soft.

But with a whole bunch of Fifth and Sixth Tier people present, her voice was no different from loudly plotting. Candia’s face darkened; she turned her head away with a cold expression and snorted.

"Like hell it’s my business." She also "muttered" softly.

Louis looked at Candia, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

The Elf King said, "If you have something to say, say it."

Louis said, "When Miss Xi left, she left a letter. She wrote... she’s just an ordinary Mixed-blood Elf, and that the Elder Candia once sarcastically told her to stay away from Elina. Now that Elina has come with you, my King, she is fulfilling that promise..."

Candia’s face stiffened.

Wait, this really is because of me?

Candia felt Hilia had done that on purpose.

She probably didn’t actually not want to see her.

According to Elina’s constant mutterings, what that Miss Xi should have done was to go full-on sarcastic on her after being received by the Elf King.

Why would she leave?

And even dump the blame on her head.

Candia felt a bit vexed.

The Elf King gave her a sidelong glance and shook his head.

He didn’t really believe Hilia would leave over something that trivial, but he couldn’t completely rule it out either.

"It seems Miss Xi doesn’t wish to see us for the time being. So be it; let’s first take a look at the pollution source."

Just then, an Elf flew in from afar.

"My King, there’s a problem at the border!"