With Raviata’s arrival, Dilaila felt as if every hair on her body stood on end.
Dilaila was just an occasional member of the expedition team, but Raviata who led the team directly must have harbored resentment towards the dark elves.
In fact, her expression was extremely fierce, but the masked man greeted Raviata without any pressure.
“The main character has arrived.”
“Well, I guess you knew I was coming?”
“Not quite. It’s not that I knew you were coming, but that I invited you.”
“Invited me…? That’s strange. I don’t remember receiving an invitation.”
“Didn’t I kill the most annoying guys first? That was the invitation.”
“Ha!”
At Shane’s words, Raviata finally relaxed her expression.
“So, there was a reason you only killed the imperial folks?”
“Huh?”
When she heard this, Dilaila tilted her head in confusion.
Imperial?
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, in the last battle, the only ones killed by the dark elves were the imperial guard knights.
“So, I guess you also deliberately set off that smoke bomb.”
“Well, that’s right. I noticed those guys were obviously focused on that elf. I didn’t know what they were up to, but I wanted to keep an eye on them.”
Just like that. During the last battle, Raviata unleashed a huge explosion spell as if in a fit of rage, but its actual destructive power wasn’t that high.
Instead, the resulting smoke spread so much that it obscured their vision.
“So, what’s the reason for this invitation? By the way, I have a natural distrust of people who hide their faces, so you better speak well.”
“Why are you so edgy? That can wait until after you hear the story.”
“Hmph.”
Then Shane spoke to the dark elves standing behind him.
[I would like you to leave for a moment.]
[Are you sure? The magical power I sense from that person is quite unusual.]
One of the dark elves asked Shane that.
Well, elves are sensitive to magical power more than anyone else.
The concern of the dark elf who sensed the aura of Raviata’s magical power was not unfounded.
Of course, it wasn’t out of genuine concern for Shane that the dark elf spoke.
After all, wasn’t Shane their hope to eliminate the root cause of their plight?
[This person will bring freedom to your race as well. It’s a necessary task.]
[Understood.]
Then the dark elves stepped aside, and Dilaila also followed them and stepped aside as well.
“Well, I must praise your courage if nothing else. To think you’d stay alone with me. Looks like I’m gonna have to take you on a date, huh?”
“No need, Raviata.”
Unlike the voice that had been buried in the darkness, Shane’s voice was familiar to Raviata.
And her eyes widened at this.
“Oh… even I’m a bit surprised.”
Raviata said this as she looked at Shane who had taken off his plain white mask.
Raviata was an uncontrollable entity.
Shane had always perceived Raviata that way.
In terms of strength, she was not inferior to Klein in his previous life, and in terms of pure firepower, she even surpassed him.
Was that all?
Her knowledge compared to current humanity was as vast as the difference between a lake and the ocean, and her strategy was by no means inferior.
The name Raviata carried that much weight.
That’s why she was considered the most threatening enemy by the organization.
If she hadn’t fallen for the organization’s schemes, it might not have been Klein who killed Shane in his previous life, but Raviata.
However, Shane had no hesitation in revealing his identity to such a person.
Raviata was certainly not someone who could be controlled by force, but conversely, she was more than qualified to be an ally if needed.
“Uh, excuse me. What exactly is your identity?”
“I am Clayton R. Shane, the eldest son of the Clayton family and the one who uncovered the secrets of the Great Mezaiya Forest. That’s me.”
“Shouldn’t there be a few more titles? Like the nobles killer or something?”
As if to prove that she was indeed very resourceful, Raviata immediately inferred several things Shane had done just by looking at his face.
“How did you know?”
“Isn’t it obvious with that elf around? Honestly, I had my suspicions. But it sounded a bit far-fetched even for me.”
She was referring to Orca. Shane nodded his head at Raviata’s words.
“And that non-human Dilaila kid is also by your side. Isn’t that enough?”
“Yes, it is. I can’t argue with being called the nobles killer.”
“Ha… right. Things are a bit complicated. Could you explain a bit?”
“You already have some idea, don’t you? About who’s doing vile things in this forest.”
“Nameless. That was its name, right?”
The name of the organization Shane had been part of in his previous life, Nameless.
It came from Raviata’s lips.
“Yes, that’s correct. And the foolish ones in the imperial family are joining hands with them.”
“I knew that old man was up to something… but with what courage?”
Raviata’s words were not unfounded.
Shane’s thesis had brought the Great Mezaiya Forest back into the public eye across the vast continent.
And with a living legend like Raviata personally investigating it, all eyes and ears were on them.
If the imperial family made a wrong move, even the coalition for humanity could be shaken.
“The imperial family probably isn’t too concerned about that.”
“Tch. It’s because of that damn bastard.”
Shane nodded his head at Raviata’s words.
“Then this matter must also be the doing of that madman.”
“Yes. But Raviata.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s stop this needless probing. You already knew these facts. After all, you have your connections with the imperial family.”
“Wow… it’s been a while.”
Flames began to rise from Raviata’s clenched fists.
“I’m quite proud. I absolutely hate having anyone stand over me like this.”
Shane had already anticipated Raviata’s reaction.
“What a coincidence. I feel the same way.”
Then, at the same time, the dark spirit in Shane’s body began to cry mournfully.
It was a tense, hair-trigger situation.
Raviata was the one who broke the standoff.
She extinguished the flames on her fists and let out a deep sigh.
“Haaah. It’s not that I dislike being famous, but it does bring a lot of hassle.”
Raviata shrugged as if to say she had merely threatened him once for the sake of it.
Shane, however, knew why Raviata had made such a threat.
She probably wanted to see if someone was above me.
The age known to the public for Shane was only 18.
Because of that, Raviata would have obviously thought Shane who knew so much about her was under someone’s command.
But with Shane’s recent actions, Raviata had finally made her judgment.
“Really strange. You really seem to be moving alone. How did you know I was connected to the imperial family?”
“The Crown Prince’s imperial guards, the second princess’s Lampert adventurer party, and there aren’t many who could become the first princess’s daytime sparrow.”
“Daytime sparrow. Haha, it’s not wrong.”
Though the expedition team seemed entirely unrelated to each other, the reality was different.
With the Crown Prince, the first princess, and the second princess involved, this expedition was chaotic enough to consider that the imperial family’s power struggle had moved here.
Shane had also realized that fact long ago.
In the subsequent political situation, the imperial family was an indispensable force.
“Well, never mind. After all, I just accepted a request. And I’ve gained enough as a reward.”
Raviata shrugged as if it was nothing.
In fact, from Raviata’s perspective, it was just a single request.
Of course, if this fact were revealed, it would pose a significant threat to the first princess.
The fact that the Raviata adventurer party had accepted a request was never to be taken lightly.
The first princess who was still under the Crown Prince’s watchful eye would likely detest any attention on her for such a reason.
“Anyway, let’s get to the main point now. You wouldn’t have invited me for something trivial, right?”
Shane nodded his head with a slight smile.
There was a particular reason why Shane had revealed his identity to Raviata.
She took pride in her reputation as the world’s greatest adventurer and made sure to repay any debt she incurred.
“I will hand over the complete Dragon Heart before this expedition ends.”
“The complete one… What do you mean by that?”
Raviata’s fierce smile turned into one of genuine interest.
At the same time, Shane was confident that he had achieved half of the goals for this expedition.
“What? Dark elves are disappearing?”
The voice of a shabby old man echoed through the dark wooden cave.
He looked so shabby that he merely appeared to be a grumpy old man.
But the subordinate standing before him struggled to suppress the fear that made his whole body tremble as he opened his mouth to speak.
“Yes, Master Gordon. The dark elves who go out into the field keep disappearing.”
“How on earth are you managing things? Didn’t I say they were valuable test subjects?”
“They definitely didn’t encounter any enemies. However, they vanished without a trace when we thought they would return.”
“Unable to accomplish even the simplest task. You’re so incompetent that you’re barely useful as materials for a chimera. Tsk!”
All of a sudden, the world’s attention was focused on the Great Mezaiya Forest, and at the same time, the famous Raviata expedition team entered the cradle.
As a result, the organization intended to send various support for Gordon, but he dissuaded them.
Receiving too much support might attract the attention of the Elf Queen.
It was sure to interfere with his experiments.
Therefore, the organization has succeeded in stalling for time by secretly manipulating the imperial guard knights and using various methods so far, but that is where a problem arose.
“If it weren’t for this situation, I would have used your head for experiments and the rest for materials… Consider yourself lucky. Right now, I even need the hands of someone as useless as you.”
At those words, the subordinate sighed in relief.
“So, the dark elves are disappearing? Who dares to meddle with my creations… Hmph. It can’t be helped. For now, make sure to secure what’s left. What on earth is the organization doing that they can’t even manage information properly?”
Clicking his tongue once more, Gordon continued.
“And find out where my precious test subjects have gone. If you fail this time… Yes, I’ll make you quite useful.”
“…I will follow your orders.”
The subordinate shuddered at Gordon’s words, nodded his head, and went out.
“You need to prove your worth. If you don’t have value under me, you’ll be used as material. Hehehe.”
After saying this, Gordon looked at the corpses of the expedition members brought by his subordinates and gave a shabby smile.
“With such excellent materials already here, I wonder how useful that one will be.”
The old man even hummed as if he hadn’t been angry at all. It seemed like he considered this incident to be a trivial anomaly.
Meanwhile, there was another person besides Gordon who was flustered by the unexpected situation.
“Damn it!”
The imperial guard knights who were separated from the expedition team swung their swords with deep fatigue from the repeated non-battles.
However, their opponent moved like a shadow. They dodged the sword’s path and hid in the darkness, then sliced the arm of one of the knights with their dagger swung from right beside him.
“Aaargh!”
As soon as the knight felt the magical power concentrating in his arm, he immediately cut off his own arm that had been slashed by the dagger.
He knew well what it meant to lose an arm as a knight, but he had seen too many times what happened to those cut by their blades.
Sure enough, a black flower bloomed from the wound of the severed arm on the ground. The arm soon withered and turned to dust.
“You damned pointy-eared bastards! What the hell are you trying to do?!”
In yet another battle with numerous injuries, Dominic shouted in frustration but no response came.
The dark elves who were hidden once again left Dominic’s knights unable to move from their spot.
For some reason, even the knights’ magically enhanced senses couldn’t detect the enemies.
Every time the imperial knights tried to advance, they were hit by short, sudden attacks before the dark elves vanished again. This had been going on for four days.
They couldn’t sleep comfortably, and the fear of having their throats targeted at any moment was unbearable even for the valiant imperial guard knights.
This was clearly not a battle. It was more like being hunted.
“Damn these non-human bastards!”
Dominic who just narrowly missed catching a dark elf once again shouted in anger, but the dark elves hiding in the darkness only watched the knights with cold smiles.
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