This time, I won't be the devil.

Logically speaking, the elves, who have a lifespan of hundreds of years, should have a large population and expand into more territories. However, on the continent of Aiden, the population of the elves has never changed since ancient times and has always been only 3000 people.

This happens because the longevity of the elves is not innate, but is achieved through the power of the sacred tree.

The Holy Tree (Yggdrasil), this towering golden tree has existed since the ancient dragon era.

Over the past thousands of years, the rulers of the Aiden continent have changed several times, but only the sacred tree still stands tall.

The elves are the people of the sacred tree.

After birth, every elf will receive a life crystal from the tree hole of the sacred tree. It will serve as a symbol of the blessing of the sacred tree and accompany the elf throughout his life.

If an elf dies, his life crystal will shatter and return to the sacred tree.

There can only be a maximum of 3000 Life Crystals at a time. When the number of elves reaches 3000, the entire race will temporarily lose their fertility under the influence of the Holy Tree.

In this case, new elves will be born only after the existing elves die and the crystal shatters and returns to the sacred tree.

To put it in an analogy, the elves are equivalent to the organization given by the Holy Tree, the life crystal is the proof of the organization, and longevity is the benefit given by the organization.

There are only 3000 quotas, and the Holy Tree will only admit new people when there are vacancies in the existing positions.

This is roughly what Frey knows about the elves. Since the elves have a small population and rarely interact with other races, the information about them is not very detailed.

Today was the first time Frey knew that the life crystal could be taken off the body.

This thing can't be hot-swappable like the Sharingan, right?

Combining the details of the request Tidoris had just mentioned, Frey asked:

"Is it because some foolish elf lost his life crystal and needs help to find it?"

"The Life Crystal will never be lost. Thanks to the connection with the Holy Tree, every elf can locate their own crystal."

"So what exactly happened?"

In response to Frey's question, Didoris explained:

"There is an elf who has been confirmed dead, and her crystal has not returned to the sacred tree."

"You should understand what this means to us, the elves."

After the elf died, the life crystal did not return to the sacred tree, which meant that a newborn to fill its place would not be born, and the elf tribe had permanently lost one member.

"Is it possible that this is a misunderstanding, and the elf is actually still alive?"

"There's no doubt about it. Her body has been found and sent back to the country."

"Have you figured out why Crystal didn't return?"

Didoris shook her head helplessly.

"I don't know. This is the first time such a thing has happened. I've been searching everywhere for this missing crystal just to find out the truth." Having said that, Tidoris's expression became much more serious.

The elf population has decreased by one, which may not sound like a big deal, but if converted according to the population ratio, it is equivalent to a country with a population of 1 million losing people at one time.

More importantly, it is still unclear what the cause of the problem is. If this incident is not an isolated case and will continue to occur, then as Didoris said, it will concern the life and death of the entire elf race.

This is indeed a major event worthy of the princess's personal involvement.

"Did the deceased elf have any unusual experiences?"

"The elf's name is Laura."

Having said this, after hesitating for a moment, Didoris added:

"she is my friend."

Chapter 19 The One-Legged Thief and the Millionaire

Laura, the moment Frey heard this name, he thought of the fairy tale he read at noon.

"What was the cause of death of this Laura?"

"Shortly after her death, her body was discovered by the border guards of the Theocracy and sent back to the Forest Kingdom. The body was well-preserved, with no signs of injury or illness, nor any signs of a curse. The initial speculation is that she died suddenly from a heart attack."

Putting aside the cause of death, which was heart failure, what concerned Frey more was the location where the body was found.

"Discovered by the border guards, that means..." Frey stopped mid-sentence, and Didoris gave him the answer.

"Laura died in the demon territory."

"When did this happen?" Frey asked quickly.

"The exact time of death is not certain, but the body was found three years ago."

Hearing this, Frey breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from the timeline, the death of his friend Didoris had nothing to do with him, the Demon King.

"Do you know why she went to the Demon Territory?"

Faced with this question, Didoris shook her head helplessly, and then said:

"The last time Laura and I met, the Theocracy had just been established."

The Theocracy had just been established, about 100 years ago, and Frey was too lazy to complain about Didorice's 17-year-old setting.

"Aren't you friends?"

In Frey's opinion, even though the elves have a long lifespan, not seeing each other for 100 years is obviously a bit abnormal.

"We had a big fight that year, and then she left the Forest Country. When we met again, she was already a corpse." There was a hint of complaint in Didoris' tone.

But Frey noticed that when she said this, a look of frustration and regret flashed across Tidoris's face, and she seemed to feel a little guilty about the death of her friend.

This may be one of the reasons why she personally searches for Laura's life crystal.

Didoris didn't seem to want to elaborate on her past with Laura. After calming down, she continued:

"After three years of investigation, I have now determined the whereabouts of Laura's life crystal. If nothing unexpected happens, the crystal is in the maze city."

"To be precise, it's in a cemetery inside the maze."

Afterwards, Didoris told about the information she had investigated so far.

This sounds like a fairy tale.

It is said that at the beginning of this century, there was a millionaire in the Labyrinth City.

You have to know that when the Theocracy was just established, the purchasing power of one rupee was dozens of times that of today, and one million rupees was a huge sum of money at that time.

However, this rich man's daily life and behavior were extremely simple, no different from those of ordinary people. He also had no partner or children, so there is almost no record of him in history.

The reason why Didoris was able to find his information was because the rich man made a very strange move before he died.

More than 60 years ago, a wealthy man who realized that his time was running out suddenly spent a huge sum of money to hire a large engineering team and a large number of elite adventurers, letting them enter the second level of the maze (11th to 20th floors) to help him build a tomb.

After the rich man died, his body and a large number of burial objects were buried in a tomb in this maze.

Now, 60 years have passed, and all those who participated in the grave digging have passed away. Logically, no one would remember the specific location of the grave.

But before his death, the rich man drew a map recording the location of his grave, and then handed it over to the Hayek Foundation for safekeeping along with his inheritance.

The Hayek Consortium is an organization founded by big businessmen who believe in Hayek, the god of wealth and freedom. It has a history of more than a hundred years.

The consortium's business is all-encompassing, from conventional factory construction and commodity sales to financial investment, property management, and even weddings, funerals, and pimping. The consortium's tentacles can be said to have reached every corner of the free market.

The trusteeship of inheritance is naturally one of the businesses of the consortium. It is precisely because of the consortium's records that Didoris was able to find clues.

When entrusting his estate, the wealthy man left the following instructions:

"If there's an elf named Laura looking for me in the future, I'll give her these inheritances, along with the map recording the location of the cemetery."

"Her crystal is in my grave..."

After listening to Didoris's story, Frey asked:

"What's the name of this rich man?"

And Tidoris's answer was consistent with Frey's speculation.

"His name is Petrarch."

The rich man in the story has the same name as the poet Petrarch, the author of the fairy tale book that Frey read in the library at noon.

A poet and a rich man, according to common sense, should have nothing in common, but since they both mentioned Laura, and combined with the content of the fairy tale book, these two Petrarchs should be the same person.

Assuming that Petrarch knew Laura, he must have heard the story of Didorice from Laura and then wrote the book "The Snow Leopard Princess and Her Animal Friends".

"Is the information you just mentioned reliable?"

"Part of the story about the wealthy Petrarch is my own deduction, but the fact that he built a cemetery on the second level of the labyrinth, and what he said when entrusting his inheritance, cannot be wrong. These are clearly recorded in the foundation."

In other words, the commission this time is to sneak into the maze, find Petrarch's tomb, and find out the truth.

Grave digging, just as Didoris said last night, is indeed a job related to the civil engineering industry.

In this way, the reason why Didoris made the request became clear. Like the tavern owner Van, according to the rules set by the Church, this elf princess who has reached level 30 cannot enter the upper level of the maze (the first 20 floors), so she can only entrust it to adventurers below level 30.

Unlike the first level, which is called the dark level, the second level is called the earth level, which is characterized by hard geology and dense rocks.

Most of the monsters in the second level are level 2. Even if there are a few level 3 monsters, their strength will not exceed that of the Rotten Giant.

In addition, Frey had originally planned to go to the second level after the magic shell was forged, so this commission was just right.

But what puzzled Frey was that although the Life Crystal was of great importance, if the commission was only to find a cemetery, it would not be difficult enough to be a special commission.

As the saying goes, when things are out of the ordinary, there must be something fishy going on. To be on the safe side, Frey continued to ask:

"Can I take a look at the map that records the location of the cemetery?"

However, faced with this question, Didoris spread her hands and shook her head.

“No map.”

"Didn't you just say that Petrarch entrusted his maps and legacy to the Hayek Foundation?"

"That's right, but according to the consortium, these things were lost in the gold robbery 30 years ago."

"You've probably heard of the legend of Robin Hood, the culprit behind the great gold robbery."

Frey, who often visited the library, had naturally heard of the name Robin Hood, the phantom thief.

This was a thief who suddenly appeared in the Theocracy 30 years ago. His first act was to commit the famous gold robbery, stealing a large amount of gold that the Holy See of Light had entrusted to the Hayek Consortium at the time.

After the robbery, the Vatican dispatched countless people and tried every possible means to search for Robin Hood, but to no avail.

Not only that, in the next 30 years, Robin Hood committed a total of 50 thefts, and the victims were all high-ranking officials of the Vatican. The Vatican naturally hated him to the core, but they could never catch him. The only thing that was certain was that Robin Hood had no accomplices.