The story of the black silk female knight

The workshop does have quite a few good things... high-quality ores of various kinds, processed silver and steel ingots, and even green radioactive ore that has been found in a lead box.

But the most valuable item was a notebook.

The notebook contained drawings of various ninja weapon manufacturing methods, some design sketches that were probably inspired by shami-ba, and a list of various forging raw materials.

The list details how to obtain nearly a hundred forging materials, including the location of the ore veins on Sword Island, the dangerous monsters nearby, how to collect them, and which merchant to buy them from and at what price.

Valensa carefully examined the list of materials and quickly found relevant clues, including two important ones.

[Green Demon Stone possesses a unique curse power that cannot be dispelled by purification spells or alchemical potions. It can cause fatal damage to Lighthouse-level cultivators who come into prolonged contact. It is the main material of the Demon Blade's blade and must be stored in a lead container. It can be exchanged for specially made Demon-Slaying and Armor-Shattering Arrows from the elves of North Blade Bay.]

The Green Demon Stone must be the radioactive ore that Valensa had been longing for, which she actually obtained from the elves through a trade between Sanweiye and the Green Demon Stone.

Sanweiye was the first to create the Radiation Demon Blade, but nearly twenty years ago... he had been in contact with the elves since at least that time.

As for the Demon-Slaying and Armor-Shattering Arrows used to exchange for radioactive ore, Valensa was no stranger to them; they were the same arrows used by the crossbows on the Imperial Family's large merchant ship to shoot down sea monsters.

This arrow not only contains anti-magic metal in its arrowhead, but also has a dual acceleration function of increasing air pressure and increasing explosion speed at the arrow shaft and fletching, which can give the entire arrow extremely strong penetrating power. When combined with a powerful bow or crossbow, it can almost kill any monster below the Radiant Rank with one arrow.

Therefore, it is quite troublesome to make this kind of arrow, so it is not surprising that Sanweiye could use this arrow to exchange for rare ores from the elves.

According to the book, elves specialize in ranged combat, excelling in magic and archery, but are relatively weak in melee combat. They also lack industrial capabilities, and while they can enchant, they are not skilled in blacksmithing.

For such an elf, using the Magic-Piercing Armor-Shattering Arrow is indeed the best choice when facing powerful monsters with high defense, high health, and high magic resistance.

The logic holds true, so the intelligence is likely accurate.

The elves are in North Edge Bay.

Valensa immediately took out the map of Sword Island that Granny Brownleaf had given her, and quickly found the location of North Blade Bay on the map, but her brows furrowed slightly.

There is indeed a place called North Blade Bay on the map. It is located north of the tip of the sword on Sword Island, almost exactly where the blade curves. Perhaps this is where the place got its name.

However... North Blade Bay is one of the places that Granny Brown Leaf highlighted with a red marker. It is a military restricted area of ​​Sword Island, and outsiders are absolutely prohibited from entering... Forcibly entering could even be regarded as declaring war on the Four Islands Alliance.

Valensa frowned, looking quite troubled, and decided to ask two locals first:

"Cao Cao, Miss Purple Leaf... Do you know North Edge Bay? According to the records of Three Flavor Leaf, it is very likely the location of the elves' nest."

Northblade Bay? x2

Thousand-leaf Grass and Purple Leaf exchanged a glance, each revealing a thoughtful expression.

Valensa observed them carefully and noticed that Thousand Leaf Grass was genuinely pondering, while Purple Leaf seemed to have already thought of some answers but did not answer directly, instead secretly observing Thousand Leaf Grass.

"I think I vaguely remember it, but not very clearly."

After a moment, it was Thousand-Leaf Grass who hesitated before answering:

"That seems to be a naval port where warships dock. My second sister mentioned it, and I even passed by that area on her ship, but I've never actually gone inside... I glanced at it out of curiosity, and it seemed like an ordinary naval port with two warships docked there, and some samurai and ninjas patrolling... It shouldn't be any different from other naval ports, right? If there really are spirits there, I am, after all, the third young lady of the Chiba family, so I should have heard some rumors or hearsay, shouldn't I?"

"Just an ordinary naval port..."

Valensa looked at the map again after hearing this.

Indeed, the location of North Blade Bay is very suitable for establishing military facilities, and it makes perfect sense for the Four Islands Alliance to have a naval port here.

Valensa could only look at Ziye again:

"Do you have any other clues to provide, Miss Ziye?"

"That is indeed a naval port."

Purple Leaf first smiled gently, affirming Thousand Leaf Grass's answer, then hesitated before saying:

"only……"

"But what?" Valensa pressed on relentlessly.

"……Why."

Zi Ye seemed quite hesitant, and after agonizing for a while, she sighed and said:

"I shouldn't tell these things to outsiders, but I'm also very worried about Brother Sanweiye's safety... If he's really been captured by the crazed elves, there's nothing I can do on his own."

After finding such a reason to convince herself, Ziye continued:

"North Blade Bay is indeed a naval port, but not all naval ports are the same."

I was adopted by the former head of the Chiba family when I was 6 years old, and have been serving the Chiba family ever since. For about 15 years, I have been in charge of almost all the diplomatic work of the entire ninja village... I am considered to have some status.

With my status and authority, I can freely enter and exit most of the military ports on Sword Island, but North Blade Bay is an exception... I do not have permission to enter there, and I do not have permission now.

Currently, the only people in the entire ninja village with a higher authority level than me are the eldest and second young ladies, and Granny Brown Leaf… Even the third young lady is only at the same authority level as me.”

"understood."

Valensa immediately understood what Purple Leaf meant:

"In other words, North Blade Bay is probably more than just a military port. There are likely other secrets inside, secrets that only members of the Chiba family with the highest level of authority can access, right?"

"Is such that."

Zi Ye nodded, her expression very serious:

"Therefore, I suggest that you all stop here... If it were any other naval port, you could sneak in for a bit and that would be fine, and at most we would issue a diplomatic condemnation. But North Blade Bay... Granny Brownleaf might really be provoked, and it could even escalate into an armed conflict with you all."

"...That is indeed a problem."

Valensa frowned deeply.

She was eager to explore the secrets of North Blade Bay, but Zi Ye was right; casually entering someone else's top-secret core area would definitely cause conflict.

"Actually, you're overcomplicating things."

Just as Valensa was struggling with her decision, Tia walked over, picked up the map that Granny Brownleaf had given her, glanced at it a few times, and then smiled:

"Grandma Brown Leaf only forbade us from entering the restricted area of ​​North Blade Bay, but she didn't forbid us from approaching the restricted area to conduct a brief investigation, did she?"

You see, Northblade Bay is about 20 kilometers away from that small village, which was attacked by elves a few days ago.

What does this mean? It means that the range of those elves is at least 20 kilometers, while the maximum diameter of the entire Northblade Bay restricted area, as seen on the map, would not exceed 10 kilometers.

Then we don't need to go directly into Northblade Bay. We should be able to find traces of the elves' activities by investigating the surrounding area.

Regardless of what secrets North Blade Bay may hold, as long as the younger sister wasn't lying, it's enough to prove that something unusual has happened in North Blade Bay.

After obtaining reliable evidence of the anomaly, we can return to the ninja village and tell Granny Brown Leaf.

Currently, the main force of the ninja village has been taken to Jade Island by Miss Chiba Rui. Granny Kuroe probably can't handle this matter on her own. Her best option should be to ask us for help... Then we'll have a legitimate reason to enter North Blade Bay, right?"

"Yes! Tia, you're so smart! Mua!"

Valensa was overjoyed. She first hugged Tia and kissed her hard, then smiled and looked at Ziye again.

"Miss Ziye, do you think Tia's method is feasible? We can investigate the situation near the outer perimeter of North Blade Bay first, just lingering on the edge of the restricted area without directly entering it. That should avoid putting you and Cao Cao in a difficult position, right?"

Chapter 64 Don't kill me! I was just pretending to be corrupt!

"Just doing some investigation in the vicinity... well, that's fine too."

Zi Ye pondered for a while with a complicated expression, and finally nodded.

Chiba said nothing; she hadn't cared at all from the beginning... Even if Valensa had only conducted a brief investigation near the restricted area, she would have simply kept it a secret.

After making the decision, the group first returned to the small village and brought the surviving girl to the Sanweiye forging workshop... The place was well-hidden and not easy to be discovered.

Being close to Northblade Bay would likely lead to armed conflict with the elves, making it unsuitable to take a defenseless survivor girl with us. Leaving her alone in the village would be too dangerous, so we could only temporarily house her in the forge. Tia and Harry worked together to set up a simple hiding barrier, and Valensa left her some food and a small revolver.

After settling the girl in, the group headed towards North Blade Bay according to the map.

There were indeed many drag marks along the way, which should have been left by the elves when they came into the village to abduct men a few days ago.

There were also bloodstains, torn pieces of clothing, and the corpses of dead monsters.

The monster corpses all had various fatal wounds, mainly puncture wounds, and their limbs all showed signs of being bound and restrained. Some monsters had their bodies mostly burned black.

"They must have all died from coordinated attacks by multiple people."

Valensa carefully examined the monster corpses and concluded:

"They were probably first controlled by 2-3 spellcasters using some kind of magic... Judging from the fact that the spellcasters were elves, it was most likely a vine-entangling spell, which matches the marks on the limbs of the corpses. After being firmly controlled by the entangling spell, they were pierced by multiple sharp weapons at the same time. Judging from the wounds, it is most likely that they were arrows, but the arrows were retrieved afterward."

This team is extremely skilled at killing monsters; they must have lived in this jungle for a long time, which explains their intimate knowledge of the monsters in the area and their effortless kills.

"So there really are elves in Northblade Bay? And they've been living there for quite a while?"

Chiba frowned deeply, finding it hard to believe:

"But why have I never heard of it? The entire Sword Island is clearly our Chiba family's territory... Even if I'm the least likely to inherit the family headship, I'm still a core member of the direct line."

"Perhaps these spirits have some secret deal with your Chiba family... Actually, I already have a rough idea of ​​what kind of deal it is."

Valensa sighed, stood up, and threw away the monster's corpse in her hand.

"These spirits were originally living a secluded life under the deliberate concealment or protection of your Chiba family, until recently they encountered some kind of change... Let's go, keep going. Since they can run 20 kilometers away to catch men, there must be more clues ahead."

as predicted.

After entering an area of ​​about 3 kilometers near Northblade Bay, Valensa and her group discovered a large number of monster corpses.

Unlike the monster corpses found before, this time they were mostly humanoid monsters.

Goblins, minotaurs, bear-men, jackals, apes, and all sorts of humanoid monsters littered the jungle with corpses.

Upon closer inspection, it can be found that these humanoid monsters died in very different ways.

The cause of death for the female individuals was mostly piercing or slashing attacks to vital organs, and some died from magic... In short, they all died in battle.

The corpses of male individuals, however, were only a very small number killed by direct combat injuries... Most of them died with their bodies shriveled and skin and bones, clearly having been drained of their energy and vitality.

Valensa had only seen this kind of death in the teaching materials of the Church of the Sun... Those humans who were over-preyed on by dark creatures such as succubi or vampires basically died in this way.

However, those dark creatures now worship the Sun Goddess, and even if they still use their racial talents to feed, it's mostly for fun and they would never harm anyone.

It's truly hard to imagine that such a way of dying would happen again in the world, and it would be because of elves.

"It's unimaginable what happened to these elves..."

Tia couldn't help but murmur in amazement:

"The book clearly says that elves are very aloof creatures, and you could even say that they have no natural physiological desire to reproduce, since they can get pregnant as long as they eat the fruit of the mother tree."

"It's either a physiological mutation or mental pollution."

Valensa thought for a moment and said:

"I don't know much about physiological mutations, so it's hard to say. But as far as I know, there are several evil gods whose divine arts can achieve this... The church has cracked down on similar cults before. All the cult members were women. They occupied a small mountain village and specifically attacked various male humanoid creatures. After capturing them alive, they took them back to perform extremely crazy and lewd rituals."

"Spiritual pollution by evil gods?"

Tia hesitated for a moment, then gently shook her head:

"I think it's unlikely... The elves here live in near isolation from the world, so they shouldn't have much opportunity to come into contact with cults. More importantly, the entire elven race worships nature; they don't even worship the sun goddess, so how could they possibly come into contact with an evil god?"

“I guess we’ll have to ask those elves ourselves… Let’s go, I have a feeling we should get some answers soon,” Valensa said.

The group continued towards North Blade Bay, and along the way they saw many more humanoid monster corpses that had been drained of their energy and life force by the elves.

Unfortunately, there are no further clues, and North Blade Bay is just ahead... We're really just hovering on the edge of the restricted area, and we could actually step into the restricted area at any moment.

"That's enough, everyone."

Zi Ye had already stepped in front of Valensa and the others, her face still bearing a gentle smile, but the look in her eyes left no room for doubt:

"The next area is our family's forbidden territory. If you wish to continue forward, please step over my corpse first."

"Don't worry, we won't go in... This is enough."

Valensa was not annoyed by Purple Leaf's behavior.

She first took a few steps back and waved her hand with a smile to indicate that Ziye did not need to be nervous. Then she closed her eyes slightly and focused all her attention on her hearing, carefully listening to everything in the nearby jungle.

A moment later, Valensa's face showed a strange and complicated expression, then she pointed in a direction tangent to the boundary line of the penalty area:

"Come on, this way, let's catch a Pokémon and ask them what's going on."

Want to catch a Pokémon?

Everyone was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood what Valensa meant.

It seems that some elf is currently active outside the restricted area, and Valensa, being a powerful Radiant-ranked player, discovered it with her exceptional perception.