Chapter 207 – Glinda’s Identity
With the help of Margaret, we managed to hide ourselves from being chased by the security forces who raided the inn.
“Come in. The inside is wider than expected.”
The place she took us into was a semi-basement building.
The price of land in Elven Wood is abnormally high, and high-rise buildings cannot be erected due to city policy.
Dwarves who originally live under the ground live in apartments, and elves who live on trees live in semi-subterranean areas.
“What are you doing here? It doesn’t look like an ordinary family home.”
To the question I asked as I went down the stairs leading to the basement, Margaret, who had gone down earlier, turned around and said,
“Remember what I said before? My father considered me a handy chess piece.”
As I listened to her words, I remembered her past in Nidavellir.
“Surely, you said Lucas von Astraea.”
“That’s right. He’s one of the most influential people in the Astraea family, one of the 3 noble families in Elven Wood.”
Margaret nodded and continued her explanation.
“Under the Senate, there exists a unit of assassins called ‘crows.
“If you mention that unit now, you mean it has something to do with you, right?”
“That’s right. I’m originally from the crow unit. The skills I used when I was a phantom thief were originally learned for assassination. And this place isn’t the same as when I was an assassin.”
I remembered the elven assassins I attacked in the alley earlier.
It was fortunate that the commander was stupid, but all the assassins gathered there had highly trained movements.
Perhaps if I had spent more time there, I would have struggled no matter how hard I was.
While chatting with Margaret, we descended all the stairs, opened the cellar door, and went inside.
Awesome!
The door opened with an unpleasant clank, and a familiar face greeted us inside the cellar.
“Glinda!”
“It’s been a while. Kaldrash, was it exactly three days?”
Glinda, who looked the same as when we parted, pushed up her round glasses as she muttered that with a calm face.
Sitting next to her was a middle-aged woman whom she had never seen before.
Circumstances suggest that she is Margaret’s biological mother.
It seems that with the help of Glinda, who was originally a high-ranking member of Elven Wood, they succeeded in rescuing her mother safely, and both Margaret and her mother had a good complexion.
“Sit down. I’ll give you something to drink.”
Following her advice, we sat around a table with a table in between.
Everyone was in a state of disrepair as they rushed out of the inn while preparing for bed.
Glinda took a good look at the group and asked me.
“What happened after you broke up with us?”
“That’s a bit long to talk about.”
I smiled awkwardly and scratched my cheek, then gave a brief account of what had happened in the three days since I came to Elven Wood.
And Glinda, who heard all the stories, said with a heavy expression.
“I see, Mayer seems to have moved first.”
“Does Glinda know much about Mayor Griffith, the Archon?”
At my question, Glinda nodded her head slightly.
“I met him once when he was young. There was a time when the social world of Elven Wood was buzzing about the birth of a child prodigy in the Griffith family.”
As Glinda said, her face changed as if she was reminiscing about her old days.
‘How old is this elf?’
It’s famous that elves age very slowly, but older elves will show some signs of it.
However, despite Glinda’s outward appearance not much different from Mayer Griffith’s, she treated the current generation of archons as children.
However, since it is not important in the current situation, it is ambiguous to ask openly.
But Glinda, who doesn’t know my thoughts at all, told me all the information she knew about Mayer.
“Mayer Griffith is a man who can be said to be a dreamer at best, and a maniac at worst. In the past, he even wrote a thesis to the effect that in order to prove the superiority of elven blood, we must thoroughly exclude the heterogeneous race.”
As I listened to Glinda’s explanation, I felt it contradicted what he had said in private yesterday.
He clearly said that he was trying not to racially discriminate as a politician, but if Glinda’s words were true, it would sound like a deep-rooted racist.
Of course, over the years, he might have changed his original thoughts, but to be honest, that was highly unlikely.
Rather, it would be the correct inference that he lied to appease me.
I asked Glinda, who seemed to be familiar with Elven Wood.
“I said before that there is a secret society in Elven Wood called ‘The Serpent of Wisdom’. Is Mayer Griffith also a member of that society?”
Extreme purism.
In a sense, there was something in line with the idea that Mayer Griffith had in the past.
And Glinda did not deny my suspicions.
“Probably so. The Serpent of Wisdom has been around for a very long time. Of course, we don’t know what position he holds within the Serpent of Wisdom.”
The worst assumption was that he might just be the Wisdom Serpent’s puppet, or scarecrow.
The development of an enemy who was thought to be the final boss turned out to be a mid-boss appears a lot in comics and novels.
“The reason they set themselves up as a secret society is probably because they are well aware that their ideology is too radical for the general public to accept. That statement proves that the ideology of pure-bloodism is deeply rooted in elven society.”
“…It’s embarrassing, but it’s true. Among the elves, there are many people who think that they are the only noble life on this continent.”
“Of course, I don’t think all elves will be like that. But from an outside perspective, I think it’s unavoidable that people with loud voices stand out.”
Even if only a small percentage of elves are purists, after all, if their voices are loud, all elves will look like purists.
To prevent such an unavoidable situation, society must go through self-purification, but it seems that Elven Wood has already lost that self-purification ability.
Otherwise, a man like Mayer Griffith would never have been able to sit on the throne.
“…Great analysis. I don’t think I need to explain further.”
Glinda nodded as he said that, then he asked me.
“So, Kaldrash, what do you plan to do next?”
“First of all, we have to escape from this city. Only then can we return to the Demon King’s Army.”
“The primary goal is the same as ours. Thankfully.”
“Is it your goal for the two of you to leave Elvenwood too?”
“Yes. Even if it were me, Margaret and Margaret’s mother could not guarantee her life if she remained in this city.”
Glinda said as she pointed to the two people sitting next to her.
Margaret’s mother lowered her head slightly as our eyes met.
Aside from her half-elven pointy ears, she looked a lot like Margaret, probably because she was a mother and daughter.
She must have been a great beauty in her youth.
“Then, we’ll be together again on the way back. We’ll be relieved if Glinda, a powerful mage, joins us.”
“Huh, I’m glad you thought of it well.”
Saying that, Glinda covered her mouth with her hand and smiled shyly.
“Then, is it our turn to plan an escape now? As you know, we don’t have any connections in this city. At least Heald knows a little bit, but in the current situation, it seems difficult to ask for help.”
“That’s fine. I can ask someone I know.”
“What if it’s an acquaintance?”
“He’s the head of the West Gate Police Force. It’s been quite a while since I last saw him, but he probably won’t refuse my favor. He owes me a debt.”
As she said that, she leisurely drank the date tea that Margaret had brought.
That laid-back look of hers seemed to come from her confidence that her own plans would never fail.
More than that, this elf, what was he originally doing, so his feet were this wide?
When I questioned Glinda with these suspicions, Glinda, who was in the middle of enjoying refreshments, tilted her head and said,
“Huh? Didn’t I tell you before? I’m actually a high elf.”
“”What?!”
Hearing her words, we all screamed at the same time as if we had promised.
