The sunlight shone through the mist, leaving golden spots on the different shades of green. It made Nature's Residence seem dreamy and exuberant.
Jurisian and Felipe followed Iristine and Arcelion to walk under the treehouses with the other members of the delegation. They were watched by the bold and shy elves. Their pointy ears were shaking slightly, and their clothes made of leaves were tight and elegant.
"Everyone, you'll be living here for the time being. Don't wander around. Some elves are not friendly to human beings." Iristine pointed at a small forest made of dozens of trees. There were enough treehouses in the forest.
Hearing her words, Alferris wagged its tail and said seriously, "No problem."
It heard clearly that some elves were only unfriendly to human beings. It seemed that it could walk around and collect some souvenirs.
Jurisian smiled at Iristine and said, "Her Royal Highness, please give me the list of the fallen elves."
"They're all in the prison near the elven tree. Are you going to investigate it now?" Arcelion agreed with the sorcerers' attitude.
Jurisian shook his head, "In that case, Mr. Evans will definitely check it out. We'd better walk around in the forest and ask the friends of the fallen elves to know the details. So …"
His face was full of smiles, but he did not overdo it.
Iristine nodded, "I'll give you the information of the fallen elves and their friends."
"It's better to mark the ones who had contact with them the most before they fell." Felipe added. Although it seemed that the infection was caused by the air of the abyss, they could not rule out any possibility before they figured out the truth. Otherwise, they would be easily fooled.
Arcelion's expression changed a bit, and then he nodded slightly.
It was not because he was guilty, but because it was the most normal reaction of any elven leader after hearing Felipe's words. He suspected that something was wrong among the elves.
Under the sunlight, Felipe's face was very similar to that of a vampire who had been lying in a coffin for years. However, he did not explain that it was a normal investigation procedure. Instead, he let Arcelion and Iristine speculate. Maybe someone couldn't wait and jumped out voluntarily.
About ten minutes later, Annick and Sprint walked to the southeast of the forest with the list and the marked locations.
"Ulmer, a good friend of the fallen elf Kalette …" Annick read out the list.
Under the gaze of the handsome elves, both male and female, he couldn't help but blush. Therefore, he hurriedly cast Mechanized Mind on himself.
Sprint looked at him. "What's there to be shy about? We are the investigators, so we naturally have the initiative. They should be the ones who are nervous! "
"I always feel uneasy when facing strangers. I can't control my emotions." The redness on Annick's face faded, and his eyes became cold and emotionless, like a steel golem.
Sprint sniffed. "Uneasy? You're too unconfident. Saying or doing something wrong is a common thing. "
"Worried about leaving a bad impression? That's funny. We don't even know if we can come back to Stroop Forest. So what if you did something very embarrassing? Also, your shyness will leave a bad impression on them more than anything embarrassing. "
He had been criticizing Annick's personality for a long time. This time, he accepted Heidi's "request" to help Annick become more confident and bold, so that he could face his teacher better and leave the argument of arcana aside.
"How can it be? I like this kind of shy boy the most. This shows that his heart is very pure and simple! "Suddenly, a clear and gentle voice joined their conversation.
That was not necessarily true. The word "coquettish" that his teacher invented had been widely acknowledged. While complaining, Sprint looked at the source of the voice, only to see a beautiful elf with an oval face walking close. She had black hair and silver skin. She was wearing a simple dress made of leaves and holding a harp in her hands.
Observing her up and down, Sprint said to Annick in secret, "An elf has her eyes on you. Don't let go of the opportunity, or you will be destined to be single for the rest of your life."
He cleared his throat and asked on behalf of his friend, "Lady, how should I address you?"
"I'm a male." The pointed and soft ears of the beautiful elf waved, as if she was not unfamiliar with the situation.
Even with 'Mechanized Mind', Annick couldn't have looked more awful. Sprint even asked with his facial muscles twitching, "You're a male? And you said that you like boys best? "
The beautiful elf shook the harp in her hands and said in the vibe of a poet, "Love knows no gender."
Annick pulled Sprint back, suppressed his discomfort, and turned to leave.
"No wonder the files in the arcana library say that elves are fond of art and have all kinds of weird hobbies because of their long and leisurely life …" Sprint was deeply regretful and scared. He had almost pushed his friend into the abyss.
Before Annick replied, the beautiful elf behind him said with a smile, "Right, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Ulmer. I heard you calling my name just now."
As a moon elf, he boasted excellent hearing, especially when the wind was blowing in the forest.
"Ulmer?" Sprint and Annick stopped and turned around, both of them not in a good mood.
"Mr. Ulmer, we have something to ask you." In the end, Annick, who had been enhanced with 'Mechanized Mind', summoned his courage and asked.
With a smile, Ulmer said, "What's your opinion on the heptachord? Have human beings lost the essence of the harp through the improvement on it? "
"…" Annick and Sprint were immediately rendered speechless. Although their teacher was a great musician, they were learning arcana and magic from him, not music! They didn't even know what to do about such a professional musical question!
Ulmer shook his head with a sigh. "We can't be friends if we don't understand art, and we can't have a pleasant conversation if we don't understand art. Do you have any opinions on wax figures? I bought one recently and found it very interesting. Do you like it? "
"…" Sprint and Annick were dumbfounded again. They suddenly felt that their daily life was too unstylish.
"You don't understand wax figures, either? Well, what about the lost civilization? I'm told that the Congress of Magic found a relic of the steam civilization? "Ulmer said in disappointment.
Hu. Annick and Sprint both took a long breath in relief. Discussing history and lost civilizations was every arcanist's specialty, or they wouldn't be able to explore and identify things. Besides, it was their teacher who discovered the relic.
After a pleasant conversation, Ulmer finally relented. "You're here to ask about Calette, my guests?"
"Yes. We want to know if there were any abnormal signs before his corruption." Relieved, Annick hurried to ask.
Ulmer plucked the strings of the guqin with his long and well-proportioned hands, producing beautiful notes. He said gloomily, "Everything was fine. Calette even said that he had learned a special dance and was going to perform it for me. But then … he was corrupted and demonized …"
His voice gradually lowered until it was almost silent.
"A special dance?" Despite his shyness, Annick was cautious and meticulous enough not to let go of any clue.
"That was our agreement. We wrote poems, music, or choreographed special dances according to the records of different civilizations to please each other." Ulmer explained gloomily.
That did not seem to be a problem … Sprint continued asking, "Was Calette close to anyone except you? Or rather, which faction of elves was he close to? "
"We are both supporters of nature's balance. We both like music, sculpture, painting, and other things in human society." Ulmer did not hide it. He suddenly thought of something and said, "He had a few friends from Nature's Abhorrence. However, 'Nature's Residence' is not a large circle. Who doesn't have a few friends from Nature's Abhorrence? Right, before his corruption, he had just been stationed in the abyssal gap. That was perhaps the reason why he was demonized … "
That was the main clue provided by the Elven Court. Annick and Sprint were both well aware of it. Seeing that they could not get any other valuable information, they bid farewell to Ulmer and looked for the next elf on the list.
… …
Heidi and Katrina, also holding a list, walked in the forest guarded by 'Nature's Residence'. Now and then, they saw elves carving statues with dead roots or painting on the bark with special natural pigments. It was a scene of leisure and tranquility.
"Everybody …"
Hundreds of elves had gathered in an open space in front of them. A female elf of medium height was standing on a tree and giving a speech. The reason why Heidi could tell the gender of the elves was mainly because of the way they dressed. The female elves generally wore long skirts woven from fresh green leaves, while the male elves wore two sections of leaves wrapped in animal skins.
If they were dressed the same, Heidi and Katrina would have to be more careful to distinguish them. After all, the elves were relatively slim and beautiful regardless of their gender, and they could not impolitely identify them with magic.
Stopping next to the clearing, Katrina pulled Heidi's clothes and pointed at the other side. "Mr. Felipe …"
The gloomy Felipe listened to the elven girl's speech quietly below a tree with his hands in his pockets.
"… I am Nodanielle, and I am here to appeal to everybody to hunt more spotted deers." The elven girl said in a high-pitched but not high-pitched voice.
"What?"
"Forest animals as docile as spotted deers?"
The elves down below were all confused.
Nodanielle? Heidi and Katrina looked at each other. That was the target that they were going to look for.
Nodanielle said earnestly, "The loss of control of the abyssal gap made the hunters in the forest crazy and bloodthirsty. So, a lot of them have been killed by us, and their population has plummeted. Under such circumstances, the spotted deers will grow uncontrollably without natural enemies. Their fertility is comparable to that of rats."
"If the spotted deers surpass a certain limit, they will cause irreparable damage to the forest as their staple food."
"We have to maintain the balance of nature!"
Was that what 'Nature's Balance' meant? Heidi and Katrina listened with great interest.
After Nodanielle finished her speech and most of the elves accepted it, the two of them walked forward.
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