“So, there were actually two gods who descended upon the Natural Forest during the War of Divine Fire? Aside from the Sacred Tree, there was also a monstrous bird covered in spider eyes? And the source of the Light Elves wasn’t even the Sacred Tree, but that strange bird?”
This news was a bit too explosive; Isabella needed a moment to process it.
First was the identity of that strange bird.
Isabella was certain that among the four gods currently worshipped, none of them possessed an avian avatar.
In other words, that bird was likely a fifth god wandering outside of recorded history.
But with such an evil appearance, would it really help the Elf race withstand a catastrophe?
“At least, that is what I saw.”
Winnidith felt much lighter after saying it.
Even if someone were truly plotting against her in the shadows, she now had someone to confide in and rely on.
That was enough.
There was a clear discrepancy between what Wendy saw and the current records.
However, knowing that the records had undergone a major revision and that Dark Elves did indeed exist, Isabella was certain that what Winnidith saw was the true history.
This confirmed one of her previous theories — the Dark Elves were indeed twins who had descended alongside the Light Elves.
Based on that, her theory that the original Dark Elves were within the Council of Elders and that the Sacred Tree brought forth a pair of Light and Dark Elf twins every time was also likely correct.
As for the other issues, she couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation for the time being.
She needed more information to make a judgment.
But if she were alone, she feared she wouldn’t be able to gather that much information in a short time.
Isabella hesitated for a while before deciding to relay Alvain’s words to her.
Previously, she had chosen to keep them hidden to prevent Winnidith from falling into danger.
But now that Winnidith had already proactively stumbled into this trouble, if she still didn’t understand what kind of enemy she was facing, her situation would become even more perilous.
Having reached a decision, Isabella acted with great efficiency, grabbing the other girl’s arm.
This startled Winnidith, who had just breathed a sigh of relief; she thought Isabella was about to do something “bad” right then and there.
‘No, she wouldn’t, right? Arns is still here! If someone is around, I won’t cooperate with Bella no matter what!’
She, a little Mage, was no pushover!!!
That said, as she looked into Isabella’s eyes, she still lowered her head shyly, waiting for the next move with a mix of shame and anticipation.
‘I’m so pathetic!’
Winnidith screamed inwardly.
“Wendy, I’m going to tell you some things now. If you feel scared, you can lean into my arms at any time.”
“Huh?”
Hearing this, Winnidith looked up blankly.
Somehow, this felt a little different from what she had imagined?
Isabella had no time to focus on her shyness and awkwardness.
She turned and gave Arns a look.
The Royal Knight, who had experienced that night just as she had, understood immediately.
He stepped outside the door, releasing his Douqi to envelop the entire room to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.
Winnidith instantly realized she had been overthinking, because Bella would never make such an expression if she were about to do something naughty!
‘What the heck? Doesn’t this make it look like I’m looking forward to being bullied by Bella?!’
Winnidith was embarrassed and annoyed by her own thoughts.
She quickly pushed Isabella away and turned around to fix her facial expression.
“Alright, I’m ready. Go ahead.”
A moment later, Winnidith turned back, her expression restored to a calm state.
At the same time, since it was obvious from Isabella’s face that she was about to say something major, Winnidith had prepared herself mentally.
For example, maybe the Alendine Kingdom’s delegation and the Empire had finally lost patience and started a fight, or the Orc tribes had unified and were going to war with the Empire, or maybe Olivier was actually a girl.
Oh, wait, that last one didn’t seem particularly surprising.
Winnidith had tried her best to think of things as serious and incredible as possible, but as it turned out, she was still underprepared.
After listening to what Alvain had said to Isabella and Isabella’s own deductions, Winnidith’s mind went completely blank.
‘Who am I? Where am I? What is the meaning of life? What’s for dinner tonight? Abba, abba, abba…’
Winnidith’s reaction did not exceed Isabella’s expectations.
Even someone like her had lost emotional control the moment she heard it, let alone the naturally lazy and straightforward Winnidith.
Thus, she waited quietly for Winnidith to return to normal, even finding the mood to brew her a cup of her favorite sweet red tea in the meantime.
Winnidith was stunned for a full 10 minutes before she finally reacted, her finger trembling as she pointed at herself.
“So, I’m actually the savior?”
Winnidith was a bit excited; some things she had almost abandoned were starting to flicker back to life.
“Is that the first thing you focus on?”
Isabella’s expression twitched.
She suddenly remembered that Wendy was only a 15-year-old, an age that loved fantasy and adventure.
The “world savior” setting was simply too tempting for her.
She hadn’t expected Wendy to like these tropes just like any normal boy or girl.
Isabella had a bit of a headache, but she managed to explain that this wasn’t one of the storybooks she had read.
“Wendy, reality isn’t a beautiful fairy tale. The savior doesn’t smoothly defeat the dragon and marry the princess. Your enemy is too strong — so strong that even the Elven King is afraid. How much more so for you? You have absolutely no obligation to face an enemy you can’t handle, you know?”
‘Actually, the savior in fairy tales isn’t necessarily that happy either. They might just be starting a cycle of reincarnation,’ Winnidith muttered in her heart.
She was long past the age of “middle school syndrome”; she had just been reminiscing about her childhood dreams.
“Alright, alright, I understand. But Bella, this isn’t something I can avoid just by hiding, right? You know I have my Spirit Perception as a warning system. It told me before that if I fled back to the Empire, I would die immediately. Staying in the Natural Forest at least offers a glimmer of hope.”
Isabella was speechless.
She hadn’t expected Alvain’s words at the time to be true, but who could hurt Winnidith in the Imperial Capital?
Or was it that the Alandin Kingdom or the Orc tribes had already laid an ambush on the way back to wipe them all out?
“Besides, there is some good news, isn’t there? Since Alvain was willing to tell you these things, it means he’s on our side!”
Winnidith said, her voice growing more excited.
“That’s the Elven King! One of the strongest Saint Realm powerhouses alive! With him around, we don’t need to worry about the fighting part at all!”
Isabella hesitated for a long time before squeezing out a single sentence.
“I don’t think he’s an ally.”
“If he weren’t an ally, he’s had plenty of opportunities to take me away, right?”
At the very least, considering Alvain’s performance yesterday when he entered her room without anyone noticing, if he wanted to act, he would have done so long ago.
There was no need to wait.
Isabella knew this as well; she was simply being stubborn and trying to find a microscopic sliver of hope.
“Hey, it just occurred to me — can’t we just go ask Alvain for the truth directly? You don’t have to rack your brains so much anymore, Bella. You’ve lost quite a lot of hair these past two days.”
“Wasn’t that all for you?”
Isabella shot her a resentful look.
She also felt her hair loss had been a bit serious these past two days.
Fortunately, she had plenty of hair; otherwise, it would be so ugly to go bald.
Furthermore, Winnidith was right.
They could indeed go directly to Alvain to ask for the truth, and she wouldn’t have to worry about so many things anymore.
Thus, the two of them discarded all the twists and turns and chose a path that the protagonists of historical storybooks had never chosen — they abandoned the side quests and headed straight for the main quest!
Then, they learned from the palace guards that Alvain was currently at the Holy Ground preparing for a ritual and would not receive any guests until the ritual officially began.
Hearing this news, Winnidith felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
A few large words couldn’t help but flash across her mind:
“Insufficient side quests; main quest temporarily locked.”
Damn it!
“It seems the Elven King is determined to only tell us the truth at the critical moment.”
Isabella was also helpless regarding this.
Now, only two paths remained for them.
One was to return to the Silver Moon Palace and wait for Alvain to tell them the truth; the other was to continue with Isabella’s previous deduction and try to obtain real information about the War of Divine Fire by contacting Evian.
The two of them unanimously chose the latter.
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