The night grew even deeper.
The person fleeing in the carriage was clearly extremely familiar with the city, as his route became increasingly secluded until he finally dove into the maze-like slums of the Old Western District, attempting to completely shake off his pursuers.
The carriage carrying Freya and Vera followed closely behind, its wheels rattling urgently as they rolled over the uneven ground.
Finally, the black carriage came to an abrupt halt, slowly stopping in front of a pitch-black alleyway.
When Freya and Vera caught up, they found the carriage was already empty.
"This guy... he's like a rat, he really knows how to hide!" Vera reached the entrance of the alley, pulling open her cloth bag and firmly grasping the wooden practice sword in her hand. "Hurry! He's about to get away!"
"Don't worry, he won't escape." Freya looked into the deep, profound darkness of the alley and reassured her, "Lord Ansu is also here."
The two of them exchanged a glance and stepped into the pitch-black alley together.
At almost the same moment, on the other end of the alley...
The darkness rippled with a subtle distortion as the effect of Shadow Stealth faded, and Ansu's figure silently appeared at a fork in the alleyway.
He slowly moved deeper into the alley.
Ahead, the sound of hurried scuttling was rapidly approaching. Ansu's mana perception spread outward, his gaze piercing the gloom to accurately lock onto a figure running at full speed.
It was Grey Rat, the mysterious supplier of crimson marrowstone.
He had finally caught this rat.
But just as Ansu was about to cast a spell to forcibly intercept the other party—
From the rooftops diagonally above, a very slight sound of footsteps on brickwork suddenly echoed from afar, drawing closer.
Ansu looked up alertly.
Under the shroud of the cold moonlight, a dark green figure leaped down from the heights.
The figure was agile, their movements possessing an elegant lightness. Even before the figure arrived, a fresh and pleasant scent of natural magic wafted over.
In the next second, four or five emerald flows of light transformed into darts and instantly shot toward Grey Rat.
The darts accurately pierced the hem and sleeves of Grey Rat's coat, pinning him firmly against the mottled brick wall.
What caught Ansu's attention even more was that Grey Rat's expression flashed with a moment of shock at the instant he was hit.
When he saw the emerald magical creations clearly, his eyes were filled with an expression of utter disbelief.
"N... natural magic?"
Ansu stopped observing and slowly condensed his mana into a Shadow Bolt, firing it straight at Grey Rat's thigh.
A scream echoed through the narrow alley. Grey Rat clutched his blood-soaked pant leg, his face turning pale.
Only then did Ansu slowly step out from the shadows.
The dark green figure turned her head slightly to look over, a hint of surprise flashing in her emerald eyes.
"It's you?"
"We meet again." Ansu nodded, considering it a greeting. "Your investigation speed is quite fast."
【Altina of the Forest of Decay】.
Ansu sized her up. Altina was the same as when they first met at the Mutual Aid Tavern, still maintaining that mysterious and sharp ranger image—her dark green travel cloak seemed to blend into the night, the longbow on her back had smooth lines, and a slender sword was tied at her waist.
Half of her face remained hidden in the shadows of her hood. The cold moonlight spilled down, outlining her gracefully shaped chin and a few stray strands of blonde hair that hung down.
"I've been investigating him in secret for some time. This guy known as Grey Rat is the supplier of Safe Magic Crystal No. 1 in Norvigel."
After Altina finished speaking, she looked at Ansu with a touch of curiosity in her gaze.
"However, I didn't expect... that you would track this guy down as well, and even move faster than I did."
"My information source might be more direct and accurate than you imagined." Ansu didn't explain further, turning his gaze to Grey Rat in the corner.
While the two were having a brief exchange, Grey Rat, who had been driven into a corner, suddenly pulled out a crystal shimmering with a dark red light.
"Die!!"
He stared at the two of them with a savage expression, immediately preparing to cast a spell in an attempt to trigger the power within the crystal.
Upon sensing the weak guiding force, the light inside the crystal became bright and active, followed by an uncomfortable dark energy mixed with a thick aura of corruption and death.
"Watch out!" Altina's warning and action were almost simultaneous.
Whoosh—!
The bowstring trembled slightly as an emerald arrow shot out of thin air, moving so fast it left an afterimage. It accurately pierced Grey Rat's wrist that was clutching the crystal, pinning it to the wall.
A shrill scream rang out once more.
Meanwhile, Ansu reacted almost at the same time, using Mage's Hand to steadily catch the crystal in mid-air.
"Is this... the legendary crimson marrowstone?"
Ansu controlled the Mage's Hand, making the crystal hover at a certain distance in front of him as he scrutinized it.
It was a crystal shimmering with a dark red color, looking like an irregular blood scab. Ansu could clearly see unstable flickers of light frantically darting around inside the crystal, as if an enraged living creature were imprisoned within, wanting to break out of its cage at any moment.
Even from a preliminary observation, he could feel the danger of this thing.
"You even know the name of this substance." Altina's tone was somewhat complex. "It seems you know many secrets..."
"Lord Ansu!!"
Freya and Vera finally rushed over to join them. Freya felt a sense of relief in her heart when she saw Grey Rat wailing on the ground, having lost his ability to move.
But immediately after, her gaze was drawn to the stranger standing beside Ansu.
"Lord Ansu, who... is she?" Freya sized up this mysterious and cold woman, curiosity rising in her eyes.
"Ah! Aren't you..." As soon as Vera saw the familiar dark green travel cloak, she immediately remembered. "Aren't you that... that demihuman we met at the tavern the other day?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Altina's expression changed instantly.
She furrowed her brows and swept a cold gaze from her emerald eyes toward Vera, her voice carrying clear displeasure:
"Who are you calling a demihuman? I am not a demihuman!"
"Eh?" Vera hadn't expected the other party's reaction to be so intense, and her expression froze slightly.
"But..."
Vera blinked in confusion, staring at the hood she wore to hide her identity, and muttered, "If you're not a demihuman, then what are you..."
"I..." Altina took a deep breath, but seemed to have some reservations. She suppressed the explanation that was on the tip of her tongue and repeated stiffly:
"In short, I am not a demihuman."
Watching this small conflict from the side, Ansu understood Altina's reaction quite well, because elves did not identify themselves as demihumans.
To this day, the concept of demihuman had indeed become somewhat over-generalized.
In the elves' cognition, they were a race carved by the gods themselves—noble, elegant, and beautiful, possessing an ancient cultural heritage.
After the Demon Calamity War, the elves chose to cross the sea and move to the legendary, secluded paradise of Elune. In the long thousand years since then, humans had risen rapidly, surpassing other races and dominating the entire continent.
Consequently, humans, representing advancement and civilization, disparagingly labeled all backward non-human races as demihumans.
If Ansu put himself in Altina's shoes, he would probably be quite bewildered too.
The elven race, who considered themselves noble and elegant, had come to the human world only to be inexplicably categorized as demihumans. They were lumped into the same category as tribal races with beastly features, like those with fuzzy ears who were half-man and half-beast...?
"Forget it..." Altina's gaze fell back onto Grey Rat, and the emerald arrow pinning him to the wall turned into points of light and slowly dissipated. "I'm taking this man with me."
But in the next second, Vera and Freya moved their feet almost simultaneously, flanking her to the left and right, blocking her potential path of escape.
"I'm sorry, but I am taking this man with me," Ansu said in a serious tone.
Altina's gaze swept across the faces of the three people in front of her, reading a faint sense of threat.
She fell silent for a moment, knowing she couldn't match them in numbers or strength. She looked at Ansu and explained in a low voice:
"I must take this man away. He comes from my homeland, and what he's smuggling isn't just dangerous goods like crimson marrowstone... there are even more important and precious resources."
"The mastermind behind this, that despicable person... is very likely still hiding in my homeland."
"He is a major threat and a hidden danger to our homeland. I need to get clues from Grey Rat's mouth to dig that guy out!"
"The dangerous goods he sells also threaten my homeland." Ansu's gaze was candid, and he spoke with righteous conviction, "Is my homeland not as important as yours? Is it not worth protecting?"
Altina's mouth hung open, momentarily at a loss for words.
Freya's gaze moved slowly between the two. She let out a chuckle and suddenly suggested, "Since we both want to protect our respective homelands, our goals are consistent... why don't we investigate together?"
Ansu nodded, as this was exactly the outcome he wanted. "I think that's a good idea."
Altina, however, seemed as if a tightly wound string had been touched, and she suddenly refused, "No... that's not possible!"
The secrets of the elven race must never be known by these humans!
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