Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

"Then let's go?"

Ciel looked up at the crown of the giant tree for a while, then nodded:

"Ah."

Then the warp spell raised a light breeze again, and the figures of the five members of the brave team slowly disappeared.

The next moment, they appeared in the city of Lentiheim.

Then, Laciel finally understood why Fuvenna asked her to pay attention to the warp coordinates.

——Because the entire city-state that appeared before them had become devastated, and its former beauty and elegance could no longer be seen.

In just two months, Lentiheim has changed beyond all recognition.

[To be continued]

-

18. Something is wrong

It is no exaggeration to say that today's Lentiheim bears little resemblance to the elven city-state of the past.

It is in pieces.

Most of the houses that grew out of the land and were given by the mistress were demolished, and the few that were preserved became deserted places and no one would live in them anymore.

——The elves easily abandoned the residence that the mistress had arranged for them for thousands of years.

All the materials that might be used were gathered together, just like "selling all the iron that could be found" in the true sense of the word. In the vacant space vacated by the demolishing and flattening of large houses, blast furnaces were built, with fires burning fiercely, integrating all the materials that the elves had worked so hard to find.

Lacie looked at the blast furnaces that were as tall and majestic as mountains and were constantly spewing out thick smoke. She suddenly remembered that the elves almost never communicated with the outside world. So where did this race living in the trees find enough ore?

No one could answer her questions.

Because everyone's attention was drawn to the dark and huge object "parked" above the blast furnace... no, it should be said that it was above the entire Lentiheim.

It was simply the giant beast named Leviathan in the legend. Although it had not yet been completed and many parts were still not covered with skin, thus exposing its hideous and thick skeleton, but just this was enough to make people feel an extremely heavy sense of oppression, almost making it hard to breathe.

The shadow it cast almost obscured the entire elven city-state, and the blast furnaces used to rebuild it pale in comparison.

In order to provide it with a temporary home port, the elves cut off the crown of the giant tree and threw all the branches into the blast furnace, making it burn more fiercely. At the same time, the starship was placed on the platform created after the crown was cut off.

There it will undergo further repairs and commissioning.

——The elves did not lie.

They did rebuild the starship that crashed on Pangaea.

Lacie didn't know what to say for a moment. Her brain told her that this was absolutely irrational. How could such a thing happen in the world to repair a starship from the depths of the starry sky with just a few blast furnaces?

But her eyes told her that such an absurd thing had indeed happened. No matter whether the process was reasonable or not, and what the internal situation was, could it be just an iron shell with no substance...

But no matter what, the starship was docked above her head so clearly. It was neither an illusion nor a lie.

In fact, she could even see from a distance clusters of bright sparks flickering and "flowing" down on the dark surface of the starship, like blooming vines.

——Those are the elves using magic to weld the hull of the starship.

"Oh, yes, magic." Lacier thought in a daze, "It must be the omnipotent magic that allowed the elves to rebuild this starship so quickly?"

After all, there is no such good thing as magic in her hometown.

Or maybe, the elves not only inherited the legacy from the alien civilization from the mistress, but also got a limited wish-making machine from somewhere?

If it is a limited wish-granting machine, then it can probably explain why the elves were able to rebuild the starship at such an incredible speed.

Rachel clearly remembered that the last time she saw the starship, it was just a mass of unknown structures wrapped in various plants, with only the core area remaining. Even if it was transformed into a mad mother, including the dirty and deformed flesh and blood, it was far less huge than it is now.

"call……"

The witch let out a long breath, turned her head and looked at the hero beside her.

The brave man was still looking up at the starship.

A corner of the starship was reflected in his iron-gray pupils, and the sparks from the elves welding the starship's hull flickered in his eyes.

Perhaps he thought it was futile to continue looking, or perhaps he was aware of Rachel's gaze, so Charles lowered his head, met Rachel's gaze, and looked into her eyes.

“It just felt wrong to me,” he said.

Lacier nodded seriously:

"I think so too - it seems we need to ask Fuwenna what happened here after we left Lentiheim."

"Yeah." Charles agreed with Rachel.

But there was one thing he didn't say, which was...

"Is the governor of Lentiheim, Ms. Fuvenna, still trustworthy?"

He didn't know, but for the safety of his companions, he had to prepare for the worst.

Therefore, Ciel quietly placed his hand on the hilt of the holy sword at his waist, turned his head, and whispered:

"Be careful, here..."

He paused, and his tone became more serious:

"——This may no longer be the Lentiheim we know."

Lacey thought that we have never been familiar with Lentiheim. We didn't stay here for long last time and hurried to Diesel.

But since Charles said so, Lacie didn't intend to refute him. She just stood next to him, as if to support his statement with her own actions.

Seeing this, the remaining three people nodded in agreement at the same time.

After that, Ciel turned to look at Rachel:

"Then let's set off."

This time, Lacier really had an opinion. She shook her head:

"Let's just wait here. Didn't Fuwenna say she would send someone to pick us up?"

Then, the witch raised her head and, like the hero before, gazed at the starship that was silently anchored above Lentiheim.

"Who knows," she said suddenly, "the person who comes to pick us up may be someone we know."

Charles was stunned for a moment, but soon guessed who the acquaintance the witch was talking about, and nodded, saying:

"it is good."

Then he said to his companions behind him:

"Let's wait here for a while. If we don't get someone sent by Governor Lentiheim to pick us up, we'll make other plans."

Joseph and Godot had no objection to this, and Xi Rui slowly "floated" out from her brother's shadow and whispered:

"I'll go scout the surrounding area and come back anytime."

Charles agreed and gave an admonition:

"be careful."

Xi Rui didn't even answer, but turned into shadow again and "swam" to the side along the ground extremely quickly.

Xi Rui's reconnaissance did not last long. She soon returned to the team and reported her reconnaissance results to everyone:

"There is not a single elf nearby. I can't detect any breath of life."

Hearing this, Godot unconsciously raised his head and looked towards the starship:

"The reason why Xi Rui didn't find the elves is probably because the elves have already gone there?"

He pursed his lips at the starship.

"It's possible," Joseph continued, "To build such a big thing, even Victoria would have to devote all its national strength, and I think the elves would be the same."

The strong man narrowed his eyes:

"I guess all the elves are busy building that big thing. After all, there seems to be no old people or children among the elves. Every elf is the best labor force."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but wonder, looking at the starship that could accommodate all the elves, he couldn't help but ask:

"It's really strange. Why do the elves have to build this mothership? What are they planning to do?"

Upon hearing this, Lacie and Charles looked at each other.

They had a guess at the same time, but they all remained silent tacitly.

They both knew that the elves were not native to Pangaea, but were brought from the depths of the starry sky by the starship in front of them - so, the reason why the elves were so eager to repair the starship was perhaps because they wanted to use it to leave Pangaea and return to their homeland deep in the starry sky?

But new problems arise:

Repairing a starship is not something that can be accomplished by simply giving a few random orders. Even if the elves want to return to their homeland, they should not be so hasty. They can take it slowly.

Anyway, for immortal species like elves, time is the cheapest thing, isn't it?

But only after a long time, spending countless resources and manpower, and accumulating enough technology, will a young civilization have the possibility of leaving the cradle and setting foot in the starry sky.

But now the elves are trying to speed up the process.

Can such a thing really be done in a hurry? Rachel expressed her doubts, but if the elves insisted on doing this, then she...

She probably has no choice but to let go of her desire to help others and respect their fate.

Lacie thought about it and looked at the starship.

"What exactly caused the elves to rebuild the starship so urgently?" she thought, "What happened here in the two months since we left Lentiheim?"

No one could give her an answer now.

Maybe there will be one later.

Whether it was Ms. Fuwenna, the governor of Lentiheim, or Mr. Broda, the leader of the delegation sent here by the White Tower - they had stayed in Lentiheim since their mother was murdered, and they might know the truth, otherwise Fuwenna probably wouldn't have said that:

"Then please come to Lentiheim. Here you will get all the answers."

"But can we really get all the answers in Lentiheim?"

Lacie couldn't help but think in a daze.

……

Everyone waited there for a while, and finally, Charles, who seemed to be resting with his eyes closed but was actually aware of the surrounding situation at all times, opened his eyes and said:

"coming."

Upon hearing this, Lacie looked in the direction he was facing.

A figure gradually appeared at the other end of the street.

The figure gradually approached and became clearer - he had blond hair and blue eyes, and was extremely handsome, but it was not the face that the witch and the hero were familiar with.

Finally, the strange elf came in front of everyone, saluted gracefully, and introduced himself:

"The Archon sent me to greet you all. Please follow me."

Finally, Lacie couldn't help asking:

"Excuse me, where is Mr. Mula? Why isn't he here to greet us?"

The strange elf was stunned for a moment, and hesitated for some reason before answering:

"Mr. Mula...he's still busy."

"..."

Lacey narrowed her eyes and said nothing, pretending not to care:

"Okay, please lead the way."

And when the strange elf turned around and began to lead the way for them, she quietly tugged at the corner of Charles' clothes.

Ciel lowered his head, and the two looked at each other, and noticed the same guess in each other's eyes -

Something is wrong, very wrong!

[To be continued]