Elves Have Migrated to My Planter

Chapter 48 – Change of composition (8)

Chapter 48 – Change of composition (8)

“Ethan. Here it is. A village where the entire population has disappeared.”

“This is ridiculous.”

A seemingly ordinary town. But if you look closely, it’s a little different. Traces seen here and there clearly showed that some time had passed since this place was neglected.

The leader of the investigation team, Edan entered the village and looked around.

Strawled furnishings and neglected fields. Anyone could have predicted that he hurriedly packed his things and left overnight.

“The only trace of resistance is that house with a broken wall, and the rest have no traces of fighting. It’s not like kidnapping or raiding. They all left voluntarily.”

“It can’t be. Aren’t you threatened?”

“I don’t know that.”

One of the members of the investigation team who heard him raised a question in disbelief, but Ethan shook his head.

‘Even for ordinary residents, there’s nothing that can’t be changed at this point.’

He looked at the fields near the village while the other members of the investigation team scattered and searched for clues.

If you just think conventionally, it doesn’t make sense for elves to start farming. So it was not strange that they, who voluntarily accepted the change, as well as other elves who were forced to accept this change, disregarded the custom and behaved like them.

“Is it difficult to find traces? Think they might have left this place voluntarily.”

“I think it will be difficult to track accurately as time has passed.”

“I heard that the number of residents going missing has increased in other villages recently. Even as a family unit.”

Ethan frowned. The clues were surprisingly few. Everything was questionable to think that he was simply subjected to an unknown outside invasion.

‘What kind of town was this?’

He took notice of the town, where all the inhabitants had disappeared, and received the information.

This small village, led by a recently elected chieftain, was just an ordinary elven village.

“It is also the homeland of Serenian, an exiled high elf. In reality, the chieftain here was an elder of her village who became her chieftain instead of her who should have been her chieftain.”

Meanwhile, he clicked his tongue when he heard the identity of the village. Because he knew who Serenian was.

“What kind of people did you say the missing family members were?”

“Keuheum, don’t ask too much about that. There is no one in this town who likes you.”

Ethan took only some members to a nearby village.

It was a village where several families were said to have disappeared overnight. And the village chief looked them up and down in uniform, unfamiliar to elves, and hurriedly took them into his house.

“To be honest, I couldn’t say anything even if I ran away. Everyone was so shocked and out of their minds! So why don’t you say something. How can I endure when my family is taken to a place where I don’t know what to do with them?”

“That’s none of my business. But I assure you, they were never recruited for anything bad. All for the sake of our family, for this Great Forest…”

“That doesn’t work. So just tell me your business.”

The chief sighed at his horse. No matter how much he was in a position to cooperate with the central meeting, it was not a law. No matter what Ethan said anyway, he shut his mouth, realizing that he couldn’t be persuaded now.

“Has the runaway family contacted you by any chance? I’m not here to capture or harm them. You can also believe that it ran away on its own, so you’re just trying to figure out what caused it. Aren’t you the one who reported to the superiors that there was a missing person right away?”

“That, that is…”

The chief flinched this time at Edan’s words, which brought up the main topic instead.

“You secretly let a stranger into the village? Is it the same elf?”

And the testimony of an elf warrior brought by the chief was rather shocking. He was told that a strange elf who claimed to be from another village had secretly offered to let him into the village.

The timing of the testimony of the warrior who was caught by the chieftain for using salt received as a bribe was the night just before the family disappeared.

Ethan got a faint sense here.

“It’s hard to believe. There’s no way that kind of evil that sells out people…”

“I’ve said it many times, but it just makes no sense for us to wear these clothes and walk around like this.”

Ethan laughed as he heard one of the investigators who had fled the village after hearing a fairly conclusive testimony muttered in disbelief.

They came to a conclusion by combining the testimonies and evidence collected so far. There are other elves who induce the elves to deviate.

I was still not sure who the subject was. Edan thought to the point that perhaps an elf who had been instigated by a human force had appeared.

“The Elder has already prophesied these things. Growth always comes with a price. Not everyone in our clan can change in the right direction alone. Faze, it looks like humans will need tracking magic now.”

“That means you found something to track. What to track.”

“All the elves who roam the forest alone or in small groups.”

Ethan, who joined the members, gave an order to the one who was waiting. The one who received the order nodded his head, saying that he knew in a voice full of laughter.

The man whose face can’t be seen properly is none other than a human wizard, wearing a robe that covers his entire body and even a hood.

In the first place, some of the investigation team led by Edan were humans.

“Hmm? There is one right next to…”

“What happened?”

However, this human wizard called Faze flinched right after he raised mana and cast magic.

Ethan asked why, but by then it was already too late.

“Keah!”

“A raid!”

As they stood in the middle of the forest road, an arrow flew through the wind towards them and pierced the neck of a human knight wearing a hood.

Of course, immediately, the frightened investigators drew their weapons and aimed in all directions.

***

“Here! It’s an elf!”

‘I must not direct my attention to Eden, just in case.’

Leon, who shot and killed one without hesitation, put on his hood, and when they found themselves, he turned around and started to run away.

The goal was one. To divert their attention away from Eden, which they had already begun to doubt.

If the enemy knew the identity of the operatives anyway, I decided that it would be best to run amok and distract them.

“Kuh. To hold hands with the likes of humans.”

The magic bullet that broke through the branches of the shrub that stood in the way and flew through the air landed on his shoulder, but thanks to the beast bug’s armor covering his shoulder, it was offset and his shoulder was not broken.

This is the first time in my life that this attack is human magic. He gritted his teeth in anger.

“Damn it! It was definitely right, but how the hell!”

On the other hand, those chasing him gnashed their teeth at his back as he fled even after being hit by magic bullets. I ended up missing him because of the distance.

“…”

The humans who lost their comrades in an instant were resilient immediately after giving up the chase, but Edan did not follow them and pulled the arrow out of the neck of the human knight who had been pierced by an arrow.

“Ethan?”

“I have to catch what kind of guys they are. And who the hell is behind it?”

Ethan looked down at the arrow and muttered in a cold voice.

No matter how young he is, even though he’s a warrior, the arrow he’s holding in his hand is the first time he’s ever seen it in his life.

An arrow shaft made by splitting and trimming toothpick wood, a feather made using coated paper, and a metal nib made by carving cutter blades. The power that penetrated the strong body of a person who had trained mana at once came from this.

Of course, Ethan didn’t even know what a toothpick or coated paper was. However, the crude metal arrowheads were recognizable.

It’s odd compared to the steel arrowheads made by human blacksmiths in his quiver, but it’s definitely made of iron. It also had nothing to do with the ordinary elves living in the Great Forest.

“Obviously another human force is behind it.”

“I can’t jump to conclusions. I guess I’ll report this to the chieftain first. The ‘impurity molecule’ he expected has already appeared.”

Elder Ersilla has already predicted this. If they try to fix the elven society in Great Forest, which has been rigid over the past years, there will surely be a force that opposes them.

Ethan asked if anyone would dare to challenge them when they obtained the World Tree, but Ersilla laughed at him and shook his head.

They have already been called traitors and degenerates, breaking customs and common sense. And after seeing it, he came to an understanding and predicted that those who would fall likewise would appear.

That was the price needed to awaken the elves. It was no longer possible to unite the elves with the world tree and customs alone.

That’s why Ersilla always said like a habit that he needed more power.