Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 194

In the spacious conference room, six other elven elders were seated and waiting.Around them, armed elven warriors stood guard, leaning against the walls like statues.

As the elder led his party in, all the elves stood up and bowed their heads respectfully.

Altair waved his hand and made them sit down again.

Elder Altair took the empty seat at the head of the table, and the other two elders took their places, followed by Laius and Llewellyn.

As the knights naturally stood behind Laius and Llewellyn, Altair opened his mouth.

“Please take a seat, you all. Tea will be served shortly.”

“It’s okay. We’re comfortable like this.”

When Richt answered stiffly on behalf of the other two, Altair nodded with regret.

“I see. There will be more opportunities to talk in the future, so I won’t force you.”

Altair, who spoke like that, seemed like the very definition of a ‘good person’.

Arendt quietly observed the elder, who had a gentle smile on his face the whole time.

He was thinking about this for a while now, but the elder was a formidable opponent.

‘I guess experience can’t be ignored.’

There was no gap at all to be found in Altair.

“These are the recovered spirit stones.”

Laius placed the box he had brought on the table.

Click.

The lock was released, revealing four spirit stones emitting a splendid light.

Only then did the elders’ expressions lighten when they confirmed that the treasures were safe.

“They really are the spirit stone. I’m really glad that there are no blemishes.”

“I think you must have been very worried lately, elders.”

Llewellyn took advantage of the moment when the ominous mood had slightly eased and quickly spoke.

“I heard briefly from Captain Sylvian about what happened. Oh, by the way, we asked her to do this against her will, so please don’t blame the captain too much.”

Altair nodded and smiled at his words, which were both witty and charming.

“We will need to hear the whole story from that child, but don’t worry too much. Captain Sylvian deserves praise just for bringing them back safely.”

“Thank you, Elder.”

Behind Llewellyn, who was smiling brightly, it seemed as if a puppy’s tail was wagging.

A smile briefly crossed Arendt’s lips as he watched the scene.

‘As expected.’

It was clearly intended as a joke, but they still didn’t hate it.

Llewellyn’s greatest strength was his ability to approach others without hesitation and lower their guards.

It seemed that their fondness for Llewellyn was not false.

The faces of the elders, who had been stiff the whole time, began to brighten up a little.

Llewellyn continued his rambling without missing a beat.

“I should have contacted you more often, I’m sorry. I didn’t know something like this would happen… How is the elder who was attacked doing?”

“He’s currently recuperating, but he’ll be back on his feet soon. Don’t worry too much.”

Altair, speaking as if soothing his young grandson, turned his gaze to Laius.

“Captain Laius, I owe you and His Majesty the Emperor of the Holy Empire a great favor.”

“No. I was just doing what was expected. His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince would be greatly relieved that I was able to safely return the treasures of the Elven Kingdom.”

The atmosphere became more relaxed with the serious answer that did not seem to have any selfish intentions whatsoever.

Then, Laius began to briefly explain how he discovered the spirit stones.

He excluded content about the evil cult that could be sensitive.

The elder listened to him with a serious expression as he told him only the concise account of what had happened at the lake in the mountains and at the dragon’s lair.

“…That’s how it turned out. First of all, I would like to apologize. I never expected that a deserter would cause trouble to the Empire like that.”

After a while, Laius shook his head at Altair’s quiet voice.

“No. I know that even the elders cannot do anything about it. Since this happened within the Empire, I think it is right for us to do our best to handle it.”

“It seems that Lord Llewellyn was also there.”

Another elder who had been silent all along opened his mouth.

Llewellyn nodded as if he had been waiting.

“Yes, I have a personal relationship with Lord Arendt over there. That’s why we started working together. There was also a request from His Highness the Crown Prince of the Caerleon Empire.”

“A request?”

“He said he wanted to safely return the spirit stones to the elves. That’s why he asked me, who is relatively familiar with the geography of the elven kingdom, to accompany them.”

At Llewellyn’s answer, the elders’ gaze naturally turned to Arendt.

Richt and Arthur couldn’t help but feel nervous.

But the next moment, the two of them began to doubt their eyes.

Arendt met Altair’s eyes and smiled gently.

“I am very glad that Prince Llewellyn readily agreed. I am very grateful to him.”

“Coolook!”

Arthur let out a dry cough without realizing it.

But no one pointed that out.

Richt and Llewellyn were similarly shocked.

Even Laius’ hand holding his teacup trembled slightly.

But Altair, who had no idea what they were thinking, simply nodded his head in satisfaction.

“I see. It’s always nice to see friendship between young people.”

“I am always indebted to Prince Llewellyn. He helped me a lot this time as well.”

Arendt responded succinctly to the elder’s words.

“…”

How could Arendt say he was indebted to him when Llewellyn was being mistreated, pushed around, and treated rudely, all while being told he was not worth the money?

Feeling a burning sensation in his throat for no reason, Llewellyn gulped down the tea in front of him.

Fortunately, the elders’ attention soon turned away from Arendt.

Even if he was Llewellyn’s friend, there was no need to have a long conversation with the apprentice knight in the presence of Laius.

That is, Arendt had just presented the image of a ‘humble and polite apprentice knight.’

Richt and Arthur looked at him with reproachful eyes.

Arendt tilted his head slightly and responded with a look of extreme wickedness, as if to say, “What’s the matter?”

Meanwhile, Laius changed the subject.

“I am tracking down the traitor of the elves, but I lost track of her midway. I will report back as soon as I secure the suspect.”

“Thank you. If there’s anything you need, please let me know.”

Altair nodded and got up from his seat.

“You all must be tired from the long journey. I have prepared accommodations for you, so first, please recover from the travel fatigue. In the evening, I will prepare a welcome party and a thank-you banquet. I would like to show my gratitude for safely returning the spirit stones.”

“Thank you for your kindness.”

As Laius bowed, Altair added playfully.

“I will tell them to prepare a lot of grilled fish, which is Lord Llewellyn’s favorite dish.”

“Thank you, Elder.”

Llewellyn quickly regained his composure and smiled like a child.

The short meeting ended in a warm atmosphere.

The elders gave them an entire building near the assembly hall as a place to stay.

The knights who had moved to a new location first searched the entire building where they would be staying.

They deliberately pushed large suitcases into gaps where people might hide, and checked the locks on all windows and doors.

Finally, after taking in all the furniture and arrangements of objects in the room, they gathered again in the living room.

“It seems like no one is eavesdropping.”

“What the heck are you doing…”

Llewellyn sighed deeply at Richt’s report.

“The atmosphere was definitely not good. It wasn’t like this originally.”

“Still, don’t you think we passed the first test somehow?”

In response to his words, Arendt muttered.

“It was pretty obvious they were trying to test us. Now we have to figure out whether they’re people we can trust or not.”

The elders, surrounded by warriors, looked at them with stern faces and suspicious eyes.

In the midst of all this, the only one who spoke properly was Altair.

It was like a stress interview.

Still, it seemed that some of their doubts had been dispelled thanks to Llewellyn’s passionate performance and Laius’ contributions.

Arthur’s unkind gaze fell on Arendt.

“Are you going to keep acting like that?”

“Do you have any complaints? If you’re dissatisfied, then I’ll just act like usual.”

“…”

His mouth closed immediately.

Arendt, who had immediately subdued his senior, crossed his arms and continued speaking.

“He left out all the important details. It seems like the Elder has no intention of cooperating with us.”

“In the end, he didn’t say a single word about the important story.”

Llewellyn also nodded, groaning.

In the end, Altair did not mention the core of what had happened.

It didn’t seem like he was going to talk about it later.

Arendt asked him a question.

“Who is the elder who was attacked?”

“It must be one of the forest tribe elders. He wasn’t in the conference room earlier.”

The answer came straight back from Llewellyn.

“The Second Kingdom is now comprised of eight cities, including the central city. The forest elves and fog elves are the main members.”

“Are the two races distinct?”

The prince nodded to Laius’ question, as he had been quietly listening until now.

“They are close races, but if you look closely, their appearances are slightly different. The elves with golden blond hair like Jin are from the forest race, while those with a silvery color are from the fog race. Anyway, one of the forest race elders was absent earlier.”

But no one there said anything about it.

It was as if they had made a promise in advance.

Llewellyn groaned and ruffled his hair.

“Now they’re treating me like a complete stranger… Well, I guessed that this would happen, considering the situation. They are all very cautious. What are you going to do now, Captain Laius?”

“First of all, I don’t want to ruin our relationship with the elves. We need to get their cooperation in the most amicable way possible.”

A perfectly sensible answer came back from Laius.

But in the current situation, that seemed distant.

If things continued like this, after handing over the spirit stones, there would be no choice for them but to endure surveillance here under the pretext of being escorted before being banished back to the Empire a few days later.

But there was always someone who came up with a way out of these situations.

“If we want to buy the elves’ cooperation, we have to offer them something tasty as bait. Something they would desperately want.”

As expected, Arendt blurted something out, leaning lazily on the sofa.

Arthur asked curiously.

“We already handed the spirit stones over to the elders.”

“That’s the price we paid to not be kicked out of here right away and to be treated like guests.”

“Then… is it Jin?”

This time, Richt spoke, furrowing his brows.

Jin was considered a traitor within elven society, and the spirit stones she possessed also needed to be retrieved.

But Arendt shook his head again.

“We are here, so how can we catch Jin and offer her up right away? The elves have more pressing matters to attend to right now.”

“So what is it?”

Arthur, unable to overcome his frustration, asked.

Instead of giving a straight answer, Arendt simply shrugged his shoulders.

The answer came from an unexpected place.

“A spy of the evil cult.”

It was Laius.

Laius spoke to his subordinates, who instinctively turned their heads toward him.

“We need to find the evil cultist hiding among the elves. Then we can offer that to the Elders as a negotiation condition.”

Arendt looked around, met the captain’s gaze, and smiled faintly.

As expected, Laius seemed to have figured that out.

“That’s it.”