[Vol 3] Intermission 2: Hidden Village Of Elf

As soon as Saito and the rest entered the ⌈World Gate⌋, they quickly emerged from the other side of the portal. In just the blink of an eye, they have arrived at the border of the village.

Saito, Louise, and Siesta walked in the dense jungle leisurely, as if they are walking in their own backyard. One can see from a glance that they come here pretty frequently. When the gatekeepers saw Saito and the rest walking towards the hidden village, they were not alarmed in the slightest. Instead, they saluted respectfully and reported, “Lord Saito, we have an emergency, please go meet the chief immediately!”

“An emergency? Is it regarding the princess?” Saito looked at the gatekeeper and asked suspiciously.

“Sigh… It is as you suspected…” The gatekeeper heaved a sigh dejectedly, then he asked, “Did you hear it from the Priestess, Lord Saito?”

At this time, Louise suddenly stepped forward and ask, “Priestess? Did Tiffania depart already?”

The gatekeeper stiffened when Louise speaks to him, not because he is afraid of Louise, nor was it because of Louise’s beauty, but because Louise, and the rest of the void mage for this matter, are revered as living gods.

The gatekeeper yelped, “Y-yes, Your Holiness! The Priestess just departed yesterday!”

Just around this time, they saw a familiar face from beyond the gate. It was Luctiana, an elf with light blonde hair and bangs. She has a fair complexion and bright, sky blue eyes. Her bust is average sized. She was deeply fascinated by humans and their culture, and still is. She kidnapped both Saito and Tiffania a few decades ago for that purpose, wishing to observe their behavior.

Being an elf as she is, a few decades are nothing, so she hasn’t really changed that much, appearance wise. When she noticed it was Saito and the rest standing at the gate, she immediately ran over while waving her hand, “Hey~! If it isn’t Saito and Louise! What are you guys doing here?”

“Ah… Luctiana, good timing, can you lead Lord Saito and Her Holiness to the village chief?” One of the gatekeepers who saw Luctiana requested her to take Saito and the rest to meet the village chief.

Luctiana just nonchalantly said, “No problem! This way please~” and lead Saito, Louise, and Siesta into the village.

On the way to the village chief’s quarter, they had a small talk with Luctiana, mostly reminiscing of the past events. Luctiana bid her farewell after they arrived in front of the village chief’s quarter.

Saito and Louise looked at one another, both of them nodded at the same time, it seems the both of them thought of the same thing. What they feared had indeed come true! They took large strides and entered the living quarter of the village chief.

As soon as they entered the room, they found all the elders are sitting around the village chief loudly discussing something. Listening closely, it was most likely about the missing princess. Most of the elders look like middle ages man, around the same age as Saito, but do not be fooled by their appearances. They are the long-lived elves after all, all the elders here are at least ten times the age of Saito.

When the village chief lifted his downhearted head, he saw Saito and revealed a hint of smile, then he opened his mouth and said, “Oh! What a rare guest, what brings you to our humble village today, Lord Saito?”

Saito answered straightforwardly, “I came here in regards of the princess.”

The village chief’s face twisted for a moment, then he laughed mockingly, “Hohoho… Words sure travel fast… So you already know…”

Saito silently surveyed the entire room, the village chief seemed to understand what Saito was implying so he decided to end the meeting now, “Everyone, that is enough for today, I have to receive a guest.”

“But Chief Gustav!” Some of the elders are unwilling to leave it at that and raised their voice.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said this is enough for today!” Gustav, the village chief, fixed his gaze at the elders solemnly.

“Gulp…!” The elders swallowed their saliva, and did not dare to make another sound. They all know the temper of the village chief, so they quietly left one after another.

After the last of them was gone, Gustav finally heaved a sigh of relief, and said, “Phew…… They’re finally gone, you saved me there, Lord Saito. I thought they were going to stay here forever. Hohohoho!”

Saito nodded and laughed, “Hahaha… Seems like a lot had happened here. I heard most of it from Luctiana.”

Gustav tilted his head to one side, “Luctiana? Not the Priestess?”

“Yes…” Then Saito began explaining his side of the story, about how he found someone who looked exactly like the princess when he was secretly tailing his daughter in the dungeon town of Swinford.

Saito also passed the biography he received from Mister Milton to Gustav, the height, the eye colors, the hair, the skin tone, even the age, everything fit right on the bill, all except the race. Gustav frowned when he browsed through the biography.

“A Spirit?” After briefly reviewing the report, Gustav raised his face to look at Saito dubiously.

Saito nodded solemnly, and said, “This is the reason I came to find you today.”

“Sigh……” Gustav heaved a sigh, and shook his head a few times, then he said, “My guess is as good as yours, this is undoubtedly… my daughter… It is a great news to find out that my daughter is in good hands, but… I am slightly worried about the Spirit…”

Saito suddenly revealed a grin, then he tried to ease Gustav by telling him, “Don’t worry, I have already given Elwyn a Blessed Armor just in case! If the evil spirit try to do something funny, the armor will zap her.” Elwyn is the name of the missing princess, and the original owner of the body Sylvia is currently possessing. At this time, Saito obviously doesn’t know the Blessed Armor that he gave Sylvia was actually a never seen before Saint Demon Armor!

Then Saito’s expression suddenly turned serious, “But you are right, I am also slightly worried about the Spirit, is there anything we can do about it?”

Gustav closed his eyes for a few seconds, and is in deep thoughts for a while. Then he suddenly shook his head weakly, and said, “We can always try to exorcise her but…”

Saito raised one of his eyebrow and ask, “But what…?”

“But we might end up hurting Elwyn in the process……” Gustav speaks with downcast eyes. Seeing how Saito and the others do not understand the situation, he stood up and after a brief moment of hesitation, he said, “Come… There is something I need to show you…”