You've found the Gusha-hime Knight, so put your hair up in a bun!

After leaving the somewhat stifling slave shop, Shiloh used a shadow magic scroll to conceal his presence and instantly vanished into the shadows.

wow-

The two swam in the shadows like fish in water, eventually revealing themselves in a secluded spot outside the city.

"Sneaking around is not your style, High Priest."

After standing still, Shiloh straightened the slave's body, straightened his clothes, and looked leisurely at a dark place in the woods, saying jokingly.

Guga ga—

The woods were quiet, with only the sound of the wind and birdsong.

The slave standing to the side glanced at Shiloh with a puzzled look. As a demi-human, her perception in the forest was definitely many times better than that of a human.

But she herself didn't feel anything, so how did the human next to her feel it?

And what does "high priest" mean?

The demi-human woman pursed her lips, a hopeful light appearing in her eyes.

Seeing no response, Xiluo sighed, seemingly quite displeased with someone's evasive behavior, and then said, "At your age, why play hide-and-seek, something only children do?"

"High Priestess of the Elf Kingdom, Lady Serene."

Chapter 97 The Pull and Roll with the Mature Elf (Part 2)

As soon as Shiloh uttered those words, it was as if the facade of tranquility had been shattered, and the sounds of the wind and birdsong around them suddenly vanished.

despair--

Footsteps came from the shadows not far away, and the light sound made Shilo subconsciously imagine the image of the high priest.

The abundance of fruits and the full moon create a subtle, alluring atmosphere.

A delicate fragrance, lingering among the fruit trees, drifted on the breeze and was inhaled by Xiluo.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

A stunningly beautiful elven woman, draped in a white robe and wearing a hood, appeared before Xiluo. Her amber eyes seemed to flow like a mountain stream, exuding a serene pride.

Seeing Serene's hostile expression, Shiloh chuckled and said, "You don't need to be so hostile. I am not your enemy."

Upon hearing this, Serene's brows furrowed slightly beneath her hood. After a moment's thought, she opened her fair palm, from which a sliver of emerald light emerged and enveloped the surrounding area.

"What did you do by specifically drawing me out here?"

"Just a heads up, I don't want to hear any lies. The gap between us is like a chasm, so if you don't want to suffer, you'd better tell the truth."

Shiloh smiled slightly. Although he remained calm on the surface, the aura that Serene was intentionally or unintentionally releasing still made him feel somewhat blocked.

【The Rank of Corrosion】, this is Serene's extraordinary rank.

This was the first powerful individual, whose strength approached that of a demigod, that Shilo had faced from the perspective of a semi-enemy. Truly terrifying...

After calming himself down, Xi Luo didn't dwell on this feeling for too long. After all, one of the reasons he dared to use this method to provoke Serene to come out with him was the [Forbidden God Ritual - The One Who Lives] in his possession.

The [Divine Ritual] can be applied to transcendent ranks that happen to include the [Erosion Rank].

“Ms. Serene, please allow me to introduce myself first.”

As he spoke, Shiloh lifted his hood, revealing a handsome, godlike face beneath.

Upon seeing this "stunningly beautiful" face, the slave woman's vigilance instantly vanished, and a thought suddenly popped into her mind—if she were to be "played" by someone like this, it wouldn't seem like a bad deal.

Not only the slave women, but even Serene was momentarily stunned by Shiloh's face.

Elves are a race that reveres beauty, so when Serene saw Shiloh's face, which was more handsome than any of the male elves, her hostility subsided considerably.

"Such a rare beauty... I think I've seen you somewhere before. Are you from the capital?"

“I am Shiloh, the heir to the Wells family.”

Shiloh placed his hand on his chest, bowed, and smiled as he performed an impeccable aristocratic bow.

"The Wells family..."

Serene's gaze narrowed slightly, partly because she didn't understand why someone of Shiro's noble status would be here, and partly because she remembered when she had last seen him.

That was probably ten years ago. As the high priest of the elves, I naturally had to remember the faces of the important figures in the human alliance.

The young Shiloh surprised her; she never imagined that a human could be so handsome.

What are you doing here?

"To...help you."

Serene was stunned by the unexpected answer, then a look of bewilderment appeared on her face: "Help me? What do you mean?"

The little guy is young and not very strong, but he speaks with great confidence.

Serene stood there calmly, somewhat curious about what kind of answer Shilo would give.

"Has a lot of people mysteriously disappeared from the Elf Kingdom lately? Has the investigation yielded anything, Lady Serene?"

Upon hearing this, Serene's gaze instantly hardened, her amber eyes fixed on Shiloh, and she said in a deep voice, "How do you know this?"

Faced with the unintentional pressure released by a [Erosion Realm] expert, Xi Luo frowned, feeling a tightness in his chest, but he still endured the discomfort and continued, "I told you, I'm here to help you. Of course, compared to this trivial matter, there's another thing that I think will give you a bigger headache."

"The Elven race's reproductive crisis—"

sieve--!

A sharp whistling sound cut through the air, and Shiloh's voice abruptly stopped.

Thick vines wrapped tightly around Shiloh's limbs and neck, pulling him in front of Serene.

"How do you know all this? Who told you all this?!"

Serene's eyes were cold, and her hands, hidden in her sleeves, unconsciously clenched.

In Serene's view, at Shiloh's current level, he should absolutely not be involved in such secrets.

The only possibility is that someone instructed him to come here to make some kind of deal with him—which is still a relatively reassuring idea.

If the high command of the human empire, which is currently an ally, were to learn of such a crisis that could lead to the destruction of a nation and the extinction of its people, it would have a very unfavorable strategic impact on the elven kingdom!

"Are you thinking that someone instructed me to come and threaten you?"

Just as Serene was lost in anxious thought, Shiloh's calm voice came from above, causing her to look over instinctively.

Even though the vines were tightly wrapped around him, Shiloh's dark eyes remained serene... so serene that Serene felt as if she were looking into his own eyes.

"'Don't lose your composure, that's the core of nobility'—you said those yourself, and now you've forgotten them?"

Gazing at the regret in Shiloh's eyes, Serene bit her lip, gently closed her eyes to adjust her breathing, and loosened the vines binding Shiloh a little.

Fresh air rushed into his throat, causing Shiloh to cough a few times uncontrollably, his face flushing red.

"First of all, let me clarify one point. I am not like those foolish and ordinary noble children in the capital. Please do not doubt my intelligence network."

"Secondly, as I said, I'm here to help you solve your problems, so please give me some trust."

"Finally, I roughly know the reason for the Elven race's reproduction problem. Of course, it can also be cured."

The last sentence made Serene's eyes widen, and she looked at Shilo with some suspicion.

This problem had troubled her and Her Majesty the Queen for a long time, yet this young man confidently claimed that he could cure it?

Are you kidding me?

Just as Serene was about to speak with distrust, Shiloh's words silenced her.

"Forgive my bluntness, but your idea of ​​obtaining the [Wansen Mother Stone] is extremely foolish. Doing so will only worsen the current situation, nothing more."

"you--?!"

Serene was completely unsettled. Receiving the divinely bestowed [Mother Stone of Wansen] and using it to activate the River of Life, which allowed female elves to reproduce autonomously and regain their vitality, was a plan she and the Queen had secretly devised. There was absolutely no way a third person could know about it!

Serene stared at Shiloh in shock. Despite how hard it was to believe, she instinctively began to believe much of what the boy had said earlier.

"Okay, I'll believe you for now. But I still want to know your reasons for wanting to help me."

"Heh, before that, why don't you put me down first?"

Silo gestured with his eyes to the vines on his body and said with dissatisfaction.

Serene didn't hesitate for long. She lightly raised her finger and retracted the vine. Then she nodded apologetically to Shiloh and said, "I'm sorry, I got excited just now."

Xi Luo gently twisted her wrist and shook her head, saying, "It's nothing, but I think we should discuss the rest between the two of us. After all, I don't know if those people have done anything to her, like eavesdropping."

Looking at the alien woman that Shiloh pointed to, Serene knew that the woman did not have such tricks up her sleeve, but she still expressed her understanding of Shiloh's caution.

"Wait here for us for a while, then I'll take you home."

Serene spoke softly, her gentle gaze causing the slave woman's heart to ache, and her eyes to well up with tears.

Family?

This word already feels somewhat distant.

Now that things have come to this, the woman has realized that the handsome human man named Shilo didn't really want to buy her and play with her; rather, he was saving her in this way.

"Um, thank you..."

The woman from another race blushed slightly as she looked at Xi Luo and bowed deeply.

Xi Luo smiled and said, "I will not remove the restrictions on you for the time being in order not to alert the enemy. Please understand."

"Um……"

Before entering the deeper spatial compartment, Serene shifted her gaze from the alien woman's lovestruck eyes to Shilo, and said, "Now that there's no one else here, please speak."

"Hmm. According to my investigation, the organization behind the capture of alien races should be related to the soldiers of Clorenza. Only they have enough strength and background to capture a large number of alien races silently."

"If they hadn't made such a big move recently, you would probably still be kept in the dark."

The teasing tone in Shiloh's voice made Serena somewhat embarrassed, but she also knew in her heart that he was right.

As a long-lived race, elves enjoy traveling and passing the time, and it is quite normal for them to disappear for ten or twenty years at a time.

Furthermore, the elves, who worship the Mother of All Forest, have always revered nature and the primitive, and they hold the novel magical artifacts and technologies of the human empire in contempt, considering them disrespectful to the gods.

Against the backdrop of extreme rejection of magical technology, the Elf Kingdom has seen almost no progress in magical technology over tens of thousands of years of development.

Even with communication magic, the versatility of this magic varies depending on an individual's abilities, and its effectiveness differs accordingly.

Those elves of lower rank might not even be able to contact their relatives and friends within the Elf Kingdom.

“Generally speaking, the business of selling foreign slaves, which carries the risk of death, is all about high risk and high profit. But after my market research today, I discovered something amiss.”

Seeing Shilo hold up a finger with a mysterious expression, Serene chuckled and chimed in, "What is it?"

"The scale of arrests and the scale of buying and selling are completely mismatched."

After saying that, Shiloh clicked on his terminal and displayed the compiled data in front of Serene, and then began to explain the data on it.

"...In conclusion, many alien slaves have completely disappeared. Of course, I personally believe that they were placed in a secret location by the higher-ups of the Clorenza government for some ulterior motive."

"Among them, the Elf race is very likely to act as an extremely important 'glue'."

That was the end of his explanation. Instead of continuing, Shiloh turned to Serene and said, "There are some things I'm still unsure about and need to investigate further."

Serene raised an eyebrow, sensing Shiloh's underlying meaning, and asked in return, "You want my help?"

"No no no."

Shiloh shook his finger, denying it: "I've been helping you from the beginning, that's all. If you want to find those missing people and solve the problems of the Elven race, then you should have done enough."

Seeing Xiluo's composed demeanor, Serene smiled faintly and said, "Then let's get back to the point. As the heir of a chosen family, you've traveled all this way just to help the Elven Kingdom?"

“I don’t see you as the kind of selfless person.”

Faced with Serene's veiled sarcasm, Shiloh chuckled and said, "Of course I also have things I want to get, but... well, just consider it an act of kindness that led me to come all this way to fawn over a cold shoulder."

Shiloh shrugged, his expression somewhat listless, seemingly bored and... aggrieved by Serene's wariness.

Seeing this, Serene's slightly aggressive tone faltered. She bit her lip and said, "You, you boy, why are you speaking so rudely? I heard you browsing those slave shops; it didn't seem like you were going for the first time! You were using all sorts of coded language and luring me out like that. When asked why you helped me, you wouldn't even explain. You can't blame me for being wary, can you?"

Hearing Serene's helpless tone, Shiloh's lips curled slightly, but he quickly concealed it and said, "In short, you just need to know that I have no ill intentions. My time is precious. If you have thought it through, contact me using this before noon tomorrow."

After saying that, Shiloh threw an object, which Serene instinctively grabbed.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that it was a magical terminal developed by the Odrecia Empire.

"If you have any questions, just contact the terminal with your mind. Although the Elf Kingdom is extremely resistant to magical technology, I believe that Ms. Serene is not so outdated."

"My contact information is inside, so that's all."