Day ▊▊ - ▊▊:▊▊ ▊▊ - Secret Room, Stone Fortress, Eastern Mountain
Inside the Stone Fortress, several small hidden passages connected the Throne Room, eting Room, The Room of Knowledge, and the Armory. These passages were hard to see as the entrances were not only small to fit a Duende but were concealed with various layers of protection.
At the end of these passages, a hidden room could be found. It was a place that only the royals of the Duendes in the Eastern Mountain, and their close and trusted aides knew. Right now, there were four people inside the hidden room. The Rey and Reina of Eastern Mountain, Morana, and the Heneral rio.
Morana, who had just arrived back here in the fortress, had to report to the king and queen about what had happened. She did not accompany i and the others just to assist as a guide. The royal aide was there to observe the mbers of their group individually.
Furthermore, she was not just an aide, by role, she was a person trained to fight, and protect the queen when necessary. She was a calm person and serious about her work. Even during the ti they were surrounded by the Tikbalangs, she was not totally startled and still took the chance to observe everyone closer.
Her report was not really that urgent and was scheduled during nightfall. However, the situation when the group returned made the king call her to report. After all, everyone in the Stone Fortress witnessed the guards dragging the captured Tikbalangs. It would not be surprising if they were just so regular Tikbalangs. However, it beca a huge issue when the captured ones were known to be the strongest and most unruly of the Tikabalang Tribes that gathered around the fortress.
That was sothing that not even the whole fortress working together would be able to do at all. And more than that, all three golden hairs were taken away from the mane of each Tikbalangs. While this would not grant the capturer their loyalty, it guaranteed their absolute obedience.
The king needed to address the situation. Of course, they would not make i return the golden hair strands from the Tikbalangs. However, he needed to know what really had happened.
Morana reported everything from the start. She told the details from when they went out of the Stone Fortress, the ti they browsed the items on stalls in the trade area, the attention they gathered as they walked around, i and the other's disappearance, and lastly, when they encountered the brigands.
The whole report sounded fine and normal, except for the two last parts.
i' and the others vanishing in the way Morana described was quite astonishing. While they heard of so individuals stealing in the Trade Area as the security was quite lax, sothing like this was never heard before.
And lastly, the situation with the brigands. The goals of these brigands were not surprising. i and the others looked above average. Furthermore, i even had the beauty that could be compared with the Diwatas. It was hard not to expect to see so of the races with lustful tendencies to co after her.
This was one thing the king worried about when he sent guards to be with them. In fact, the number of guards around i's group at that ti was more than the number that was guarding the safety of the whole trade area. This was the particular reason no one in the Trade Area tried to ss with their group despite the great number of people there.
However, it seed that the worry was unnecessary. Hearing how i dealt with the Tikbalangs in a blink of an eye, the king managed to feel relieved about Mark volunteering to deal with the threat in the Kingdom of Sylphs. The wife was strong and talented, what more of the husband?
Furthermore, according to Morana's observation, their whole group was ready to fight rather than flee during the ti they were surrounded. Even the little girls was not an exception. Furthermore, there was also that blob of reddish-black sli that appeared out of nowhere and released Miasma to cancel the illusion of the Tikbalangs.
"In my assessnt, this group of humans is not to be looked down upon." Morana gave her thought. "Even though so of them are Blood Demons, as their leader claid, the abilities they have shown so far are not among what they should have as people belonging to that race. Furthermore, we have yet to see what the other mbers could do aside from Miss i, Miss Amihan, and Miss Aephelia."
"This ant that they can be best as allies and the worst as enemies. There are a lot of unknown factors to them, but it did not matter as long as they are on our side."
King Hieromano surmised.
"Yes, my Rey."
Morana affird.
"How about you, my dear wife?" The king of Duendes turned to his queen. "Did our unfilial daughter told you anything?"
Those words, however, caused the king to receive a heavy glare from the queen.
"I already told you multiple tis to stop calling our daughter that. Continue, and you will also lose a wife."
Queen Malabinia said with a serious expression. She was not joking at all, which made Heiromano reconsider his thoughts. Still, he could not get over the fact that Felenia left the Kingdom and eloped with that womanizer.
The king had great plans for his daughter. Tying her knots with the current general that was loyal to the throne and was hounding achievents was already good. However, she fell in love with soone else. It could have been fine if the person was soone from their kingdom. However, Teremillio was not. The worst thing was that...
Teremillio was a 9th Prince of the Kingdom of the Black Duendes to the south. Although their race was not totally evil, they were known for their wicked tendencies.
As for the Duendes of the Stone Fortress, they were not total enemies with the Black Duendes. In colors, they were categorized as the Brown Duendes, that specialized with earth magic. Even if that was the case, the Brown Duendes did not like the Black ones like how they were hated by the White Duendes.
Heiromano sighed.
Seeing that, Malabinia reminded the king.
"Rember that Teremillio saved your daughter from harm. Without him, we won't even have her anymore. You kept pushing her to the point of leaving. Don't ever think that I have already forgiven you for that."
Those words did not only struck Hieromano but also rio, who was in front of them. He was the supposed husband of Felenia before until Teremillio appeared out of nowhere. Thinking about the queen said, his hate for Teremillio lowered a bit. He was just overwheld to see them together for the first ti after dozens of years.
"I apologize." The king sighed. "I an it. Although I can't say that I will accept that bastard."
"That is fine enough."
The queen seed to be satisfied with how dismayed the king looked.
"Then, did our daughter say anything?"
Hieromano went back to the topic.
"There is." Malabinia nodded. "Currently, Teremillio ford a Tribe of different races and had other wives besides our daughter."
"That bastard!"
The king made an outburst and stood up.
"Shut up."
The queen glared fiercely.
"..."
Heiromano fell silent and slowly sat down.
"I'll continue," Malabinia said. "Their tribe right now is working with humans for safety. Rember what had happened when the King of Sylphs sent people to investigate what is happening in the Mortal World? It seed that it is affected Spirit and Elental Races in there, losing so of their abilities, primarily, making themselves invisible to the eyes of Mortals or being able to enter their ho trees. That is why our daughter is with these humans."
"Is that so..." The king caressed his beard. "Their leader did not ntion anything about that..."
"No one asked him," Malabinia said. "He only gave us what we want to know about the cause of this catastrophe and the state of the mortal world. He probably did not know about the scouts they sent, and no one asked him about the races in the Mortal World."
"That is... I guess you're right." The king agreed. "What else?"
"The place they currently reside has many people with strange abilities. Although most of them seed to be Physical, there are those with Magical and Psychic abilities. The people in this group, apparently, they are the strongest among them."
"I see." The king nodded. "Then, we could assu that we will get good news about that thing in the Kingdom of Sylphs."
"The chances are high if we look at the current evidence. My Rey."
rio agreed.
"And also one more thing." The queen added. "Felenia ntioned about their leader being able to gather pure energy into crystals. She said that he uses those crystals to increase the strength of the Sylphs directly under him. It would justify how strong that Amihan is."
"That's..." Not only the king, even rio and Morana was stumped, after hearing that.
"No, wait..."
Morana realized sothing.
"What is wrong, Morana?"
The king asked.
"I just rembered that when Miss i and the others vanished, I said that she returned with so rare things that they traded with a mysterious old man. Thinking about it, they should have nothing to trade with that would interest any of us. Unless they actually traded those crystals."
Those words caused the other three to ponder. That was very likely.
"Should we try to trade for so of those crystals?"
The king suggested.
"My Rey," rio replied. "It is better that we confirm it first before we do so movents. They might not take it positively. If that happened, it will be bad for our relations with them."
"That is also true." The king nodded. "Then, we will do this. We will wait for the return of their leader, and I will personally talk to him about it. Felenia might not lie to us, but I still want to see those crystals and assess its worth. Just in case..."
The king turned to his queen and his aide.
"Prepare so of our treasures for exchange. Choose so that might take the interests of humans."
"Yes, my dear."
"Yes, my Rey."
Malabinia and Morana replied respectively.
Then, the king turned to rio.
"Also check for the slaves. Morana ntioned about Miss i speaking about their leader wanting to ta or having slaves."
"Yes, my Rey."
rio replied.
The eting continued and unfortunately, they were not able to co up with anything to do with the brigands. Thus, they decided to ask the Representative of Anggitays and Tikbalangs later on. She should know what to do since the brigands belonged to their race.
***
The long day had passed and sunset was about to co.
At this ti, Silhouettes appeared from the mountain to the west. The sentries imdiately reported to the King as they saw Diwata Danaya and Mark returning. However, they could not see the fat giant anywhere, and instead, there was an orange armored giant with them carrying a large box made of tal on his back.
The news imdiately spread in the whole fortress. After all, many anticipated the outco of this. The greatest threat they were facing now was the drought caused by that water-absorbing carpet of pulsating flesh.
Thus, their return was faced with more people. They were led by the King and Queen of the Stone Fortress, together with the representatives of the races. Lastly, i and everyone were also present.
Danaya and Mark erged from the illusion covered forest and saw the commotion. Mark could only sigh and turned to the tired-looking Danaya.
"It's your duty now."
He said as he led Aephelia and Logan towards i and the others. The others were confused about his conduct, and leaving Diwata Danaya, who was looking a bit ragged, to face everyone.
Danaya bitterly composed herself. In front of everyone, she said the news.
"Everyone." She smiled. "The threat in the Kingdom of Sylphs is no more! We can now stay in this place with less worries!"
The news caused a commotion in a very positive way. The king and queen fo the Duendes and the other representatives could not wait to hear the details. Of course, they approached her positively and respectively.
Everyone was happy, and the situation was like a festival that night. A small occasion was opened, and everyone had a share of good food that they never had for weeks.
Well, that was fine for everyone, except the brigands that faced the glare of the reaper, and the representatives of the Anggitays, Amayana, begging not to kill them, as they could serve better purpose alive than just a pile of corpses.
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