Hearing Erend's words, Saeldir turned to him.
"You're going home?" Saeldir asked.
Erend turned to him. "Of course. My problem there seems to be over."
Saeldir stared at Erend for a longer time than he should have. Erend tried to find the meaning behind Saeldir's flat face. But he couldn't find anything.
In the end, Saeldir turned his face away.
"Alright. I have to thank you for what happened earlier," Saeldir said.
Erend blinked his eyes quickly. "Wow, you're grateful. Looks like you're the only Elf who wants to thank humans for."
Saeldir glanced at Erend, then sighed.
"I know our nature looks cruel and immoral to you," Saeldir said. "But that's just our nature."
Erend snorted. "Does that mean you don't want to change for the better?"
Saeldir did not answer. Instead, just stare at the Magic shield core.
"Forget about it. I don't think you will ever be able to change. But at least one or two of you are better than the rest," Erend added.
Then, Erend walked towards the door and exited the room. Leaving Saeldir who was finally lost in frantic thoughts.
Saeldir threw himself on the chair and clutched his head. The name that came out of the Dark Elf created a huge shock in Saeldir's mind.
He did not expect that name would come out as the name of the traitor.
A traitor who had caused them a lot of trouble.
And he almost made it. If Erend wasn't there to get in the way of his plans.
Sometimes Saeldir thought, about how Erend could be there at the right time when something happened.
For Saeldir who was an Archmage, nothing happened by chance.
Everything in this world works under certain laws. In even higher cases, there are times when an entity is able to penetrate the boundaries of space and time so that it is not impossible to know what has not happened.
But sadly, Saeldir hadn't reached that stage yet.
Erend seemed to be at the right time and place when something big happened.
Has the Dragon's power been able to reach the stage of space and time?
But then Saeldir shook his head. Erend can still miss when his friends are kidnapped by the Daemon of Calamity.
If he could see the future, he definitely wouldn't let that happen.
"(Ah, that doesn't matter now,)"
Saeldir shook his head to dispel all his speculations about Erend.
Right now there were many more important things for him to think about.
Saeldir was confused. Should he tell Aerchon? He obviously had to tell Aurdis about this but about Aerchon... Saeldir felt very doubtful.
Maybe the worst will happen. What if Aerchon would instead behead him for calling someone very close to him a traitor?
For now, Saeldir had to tell Aurdis first.
Even for Saeldir who was an Elf Archmage, he couldn't act freely because of Aerchon.
"Hhhh...." Saeldir let out a long breath.
There was no use thinking about Aerchon now. Saeldir already installed so much protective Magic around this Magic shield core so he can leave it for a while.
He wanted to see Aurdis immediately. But for now, it looks like Erend is still seeing her.
~~~
It was already dark when Erend returned to the Elf palace. He exited the Magic shield core room which now seemed to have become Saeldir's room and walked towards his room.
As he had expected, Billy and Lt. Boartusk are gone already.
Erend took a deep breath. There was a kind of sadness in his heart when he got to know the fact that Billy and Lt. Boartusk had already left to go home.
It is just because they have always been together. Erend just found out that there is a lonely feeling that appears when Bily and Lt. Boartusk wasn't around.
He only realized it when the two of them had already left.
But Erend immediately drove away the sense of unreasonable sadness and loneliness.
Wasn't he going to catch up with them soon? why did he have to feel sad as if he would never be able to see them again?
Erend also immediately packed up his own things. Which is not too much.
Tomorrow, he will ask Aurdis to open a Portal to the human world so he can go home.
Finally, he was able to return home from this Elf palace. But Erend wasn't sure that he would be able to leave this entire fantasy world.
There's a chance he'll come back here again.
Suddenly when Erend was almost lying on his bed, there was a knock on the door.
Erend opened the door and saw Aurdis smiling at him.
"Ah, come on in," Erend said.
As soon as Aurdis entered, she immediately sat on Erend's bed. Erend sat on a chair.
"I've already taken Billy and Adrien back home," Aurdis said.
"Oh, and Anna came back with them too."
'I almost forgot that there was Anna too.' Erend thought.
"I see. That's good," Erend said.
Aurdis looked at Erend with a sorry look. "I'm sorry that you had to stay to sort things out for us."
"Don't think about it. Let's just say that I did it to pay off your debt for saving the three of us," Erend said with a smile.
Aurdis smiled again. But soon Aurdis' face turned serious.
"Have you guys found anything yet?" Aurdis asked in a serious tone.
"Yes, we did," Erend replied. "But you'd better ask Saeldir for more details."
Erend felt like he couldn't express such a shocking thing through his own mouth. It would be better if Saeldir himself revealed it.
Aurdis bit her lip. "Apparently, what you guys found was something big."
"Oh, yes. It is really big." Erend looked at Aurdis with eyes that were no less serious. "Therefore, you should discuss this with Saeldir. I think this is a private matter for the Elves."
Aurdis was again biting her lip nervously. If they found a big problem, it meant they had found out who the traitor was.
And the traitor is someone who is quite surprising.
"Uhmm, so... When are you coming home?" Aurdis asked to change the topic.
Now, that question was more important than the traitor's problem for her.
"I'll be home tomorrow," Erend replied with a happy smile. "Actually I want to ask you to open the Portal now. But my body is still a bit tired."
"A-Ah, tomorrow, huh? I see." Aurdis looked down. "I think I will miss you."
Erend was surprised to hear those words coming out of Aurdis' mouth. He looked at Aurdis in disbelief.
"W-What?"
Aurdis slowly raised her face towards Erend. In Aurdis' sapphire eyes, there was a feeling of sadness that was conveyed to Erend.
"I thought I was going to miss you," Aurdis repeated the sentence.
Erend again still couldn't believe it when he heard it. Was it true that he had just heard an Elf princess say that she would miss her once he returned?
Erend blinked rapidly a few times. His mouth opened slightly. His face felt hot now too. Was this due to the influence of his Dragon power? Erend wondered.
"Uhh... well... we can still meet again later," Erend said while avoiding Aurdis' gaze.
Aurdis still put on a sad face. Even now, her eyes were starting to water.
But then Aurdis looked away from Erend. Her hand moved to wipe away the tears that were about to fall.
"You're right," Aurdis said with a sudden smile. As if forced.
"Then I'll go first. Sorry to interrupt your rest."
Aurdis moved quickly to get up and out of Erend's room.
As soon as he closed the door, Aurdis immediately leaned against the door with a long sigh.
Erend will be leaving soon. Even though he said he would come back, but, how often can he come back?
After that Aurdis had to face the problems that occurred without him.
Aurdis didn't know what she felt. Why did this short amount of time create such a deep impression on her?
But again, Aurdis had to give up and accept all of this. Like she always did. Surrender and accept everything that is not in her favor.
A few moments later Aurdis walked unsteadily to her own room.
~~~
The Elf was walking restlessly in his own room. The moon was starting to rise from outside but word from Mithes had yet to come.
Even though she should have brought good news by now that she had finished killing the Dragon.
He was sure that Mithes would succeed because of the power to seal the human soul and power.
That way, that human wouldn't be able to use his Dragon power anymore.
He was already feeling desperate to catch the human alive.
With that much power, even when he deployed the Ogres Kingdom and the Daemon of Calamity, he was sure that it wouldn't work.
'Should I think of a plan to escape now?'
He had begun to worry to the point of suspecting that Mithes had failed.
Even if it seemed impossible to him. But caution is more important.
'Yes, I have to prepare a plan to escape!'
~~~
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