The Sword and The Shadow Chapter 503 - Doub

Chapter 503
Doubt
"Eirinn," Leguna said as he knocked on the door, "It's me. Can I come in?"
"Come in, Big Brother Leguna."
He pushed the door open after receiving permission. Apart from her, there was another female dark-elf warrior inside holding her sword hilt guardedly. If Leguna made any suspicious moves, she wouldn't hesitate to strike.
Leguna smiled carefreely at the elf, who hid her face with a helmet. While she was strong, she alone wouldn't be able to deal with Leguna.
Eirinn was a mid-order priestess after all. Even though repeated testing had shown that Eirinn didn't know how to fight at all, she still didn't dare leave her alone in a room.
So, she had a female warrior posted there to monitor her the whole day. The elf was a member of the elite guard. In other words, she worked for Gassos.
House Elvin had 36 elite guards in total. Their strata averaged around the 13th and their three vice leaders were high-order warriors. Even more crucial was the fact that the forging skill of these dark elves could compare to even that of dwarves. The Dusk Zone was filled with rich mineral resources and dark elves were naturally better at enchanting items. That was why Leguna believed that this elite guard squad of House Elvin was probably a little stronger than Alissanda's 50-man brigade.
While Leguna was wary of a force of that caliber, he was happy about two things. The first was the fact that the leader, Gassos, was Brani's henchman and Brani was his ally, at least for now. Additionally, dark elves had low reproductive capabilities. If they could really multiply like humans, the Dusk Zone wouldn't be able to contain the dark-skinned exiles for long.
"Big Brother…" Eirinn paused for a moment before leaping in for a hug. "Is everything fine now?"
"Yes, it is." he consoled her as he stroked her hair and enjoyed the feeling of her body against his.
However, she didn't give him any chance to take advantage and took a step back. "Did you get Innie's antidote?"
"Of course." He took out a red vial from his dimensional pocket. He sighed and continued, "Come to think of it, it was quite a close call. Innie's poison was made by Sol and he actually didn't keep any spare antidote around. I almost assassinated him. If that had happened, I might not have a way to make such an antidote again."
"Sol?" Eirinn tilted her head.
"Oh…" It just occurred to him that she didn't know who that was. "Sol used to be a dark elf necromancer of House Andalir. He became a member of House Elvin after he was defeated by Angelista."
"I see…" Eirinn nodded and wore a bright smile. "It's great that we got the antidote! Give it to me to analyze its contents. We'll have it sent back after making sure it's fine."
"Alright."
Leguna didn't seem particularly happy when he handed the antidote over. While he knew that it was important, it wasn't that hard to get in the first place. An even harder task awaited him: how could he prevent word of Eirinn being the half-elf priestess and divinely favoured of a god of light?
The dark elves were an incredibly greedy race and according to Linq, the fact that she was a half alone was enough to get her hunted down and killed by the dark elves for the reason that she was a stain on their proud bloodline. She was a bastardization of what dark elves should be. They would no doubt be rewarded for sacrificing her to Ross.
The other two reasons were self-explanatory!
That was why what came ahead would be incredibly trying. He had to keep Eirinn deathly secret in Darklight. At the very least, he had to leave an informant here to pay attention to those who would seek Eirinn out for their profit.
He had come to check on her and to tell her about the antidote. After this, he was going to leave. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her; the time Sala gave him to see her had ended.
Based on that, even a fool could tell that Sala still had plans for her daughter. But Leguna couldn't panic right now. While all of those in House Andalir who knew of Eirinn had been eliminated, House Elvin was different. They knew Leguna's presence and the options available to an exposed assassin was far too limited.
So, he could only hope that things would develop according to his predictions. After leaving Eirinn's room, he encountered Angelista at the hallway. She had racked up quite a huge achievement for defeating the winter wight and gained the right to move about freely in the castle.
Leguna gave her a surprised look and greeted her before they walked together.
[I finally ran into you,] she said with her soul powers, [There's something we have to discuss.]
[What is it?] The benefit of speaking through a soul link was Leguna would be able to respond with his weak enthymema. Normal magic transference spells were only one way, after all.
[First, I believe this matter will be tough. I admit that you're a terrifying assassin. But I don't think we would've been able to deal House Andalir alone that huge a blow. How many did you manage to assassinate?]
[Four. I started with Elije first. After that, I went for the three elder priestesses.] While Angelista was quite the weird one, Leguna trusted her more than he did Brani. She had already sworn an oath to the goddess of magic, Mithra, for that.
Currently, she had no choice but to be in the same boat as him. She definitely wouldn't dare try anything stupid, especially with someone giving her instructions.
[Herein lies the question.] She stretched her hand out to Leguna's waist and pretended to seduce him. Otherwise, it'd be too fake for them to just be having a normal chat.
Leguna furrowed his brow but didn't say anything.
[Do you remember the scene where we attacked House Andalir?] Angelista asked, [Back then, those folks didn't seem to be resisting much at all.]
[Their matriarch was dead, so it's a given that they lost their will to fight.]
[It's not a given at all,] Gahrona and Angelista said in unison.
Angelista continued her explanation, [Even if in a house, the dark elves aren't as united as you think. For dark elves, one's self-interest is always the most important. However, the elves of Andalir were a complete mess. There's only one explanation for it: their leaders and many others in charge of defenses are definitely acting weird!]
Leguna also noticed the problem, but his head only got number the more he tried to steer his mind down that train of thought.
If something happened to all of them, who was the one who did it?
In an instant, he felt that there was an even larger trap waiting for him somewhere. The dark elves had gone about for two whole decades without appearing, so how did they find Eirinn all of a sudden? She had always been by his side and wouldn't catch the attention of others easily.
There was also the attack on House Andalir. As Angelista pointed out, it was going far too well that it didn't seem right. While she couldn't quite tell what was going on, Brani definitely could, but she didn't tell Leguna about it. Did she really not notice? Or was she trying to hide it from him?
All of a sudden, he was assailed by countless doubts. What he wanted to do now was to go back and have a good chat with Linq. He was the one who first said House Elvin was the one that found Eirinn. He wanted to know how they did it.
But Linq wasn't currently here and was near the mithril mines instead. As House Andalir's fall was only a matter of time, Sala 'intelligently' sent Linq over to try to recruit House Andalir's people. After all, Linq did have a relationship with one of the guards' leaders, Gurdir.
Sala trusted that with Linq helping her, it wouldn't take much to convince a hundred plus dark elves.
But that was precisely why Leguna had no way to find out the truth. He couldn't just go back and ask Brani about it as he didn't grasp any of her weaknesses. Doing so would only put her on guard.
"Darn it…" He couldn't help but curse.
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