455 King Erendriels Attitude (2/2)
Sometime later, Supreme Elder Haldir and King Erendriel were gone from sight.
Princess Faelyn approached Leon and said with guilt, ”I apologize for the cold reception my father has shown you, Leon. My father… is someone that likes to be obsessively clean and does not like being touched by others.”
Leon immediately smiled wryly.
Was that not implying that he was unclean?
Leon knew Princess Faelyn did not actually mean this. Thus, he shook his head ruefully and said, ”Don't worry about it.”
”Then… I'll show you around the tribe?” Princess Faelyn asked hesitantly, considering it was not really the time for that.
The tribe was under the threat of the rat tide, and the outskirts of the Great Forest was currently on fire, producing vast volumes of smoke.
Even the oblivious citizens will notice something wrong once they spot the conspicuous black smoke blowing past their tribe in the open skies that can be viewed from the center of the tribe.
”We should probably find out the situation on the front lines instead,” Leon suggested objectively.
”Mm, Mm. You're totally right, Leon.”
Princess Faelyn nodded fervently.
After Leon gave orders for the captain and the rest of the airship's crew to remain on standby, he headed down the spiral vine staircase around the Elder Tree's trunk with Aria and Princess Faelyn, leading to the tribe that lies at the bottom.
…
Elvengarde, ground level.
The elves continued to observe the wonders of the airship floating in their airspace as more tribesmen slowly joined them, gathering into a huge mass.
Suddenly, an elf noticed a glimpse of the black smoke peeking out from over the treetops on the edges of the tribe's central region where the Elder Tree's roots end.
”Everyone, look! There's smoke coming from the distance! The Great Forest is on fire!” The elf exclaimed in alarm.
”What? How can there be a fire in the Great Forest? There's had never been any cases of a forest fire before!”
”I remember the warriors came to collect all the cooking oil in the tribe earlier. The fire must have been deliberately started!” Another elf shouted in realization.
”What! Why would they do that?! Wait, I suddenly remembered the tribe's warriors were all mobilized much earlier as well! What exactly is happening outside the tribe?!”
”Yes! Why hasn't anyone told us what is going on?!”
The elven commoners were confused and began panicking with growing unease, ignorant of the unknown disaster that their tribe could be facing.
However, it was not long before they discovered a group of royal guards escorting the elf general back to the tribe.
'Why was the general being treated like a prisoner?'
All sorts of wild thoughts began running through their elven commoners' minds.