Man En didn’t say anything. He simply left in silence.
Valentilny didn’t make things difficult for him from behind, as if she bore no hostility toward him.
This also let Man En breathe a sigh of relief.
Based on his speculation, the matter of the Armor of Time was inevitably connected to the Heretic God Sect.
But a rough estimate of the Elf Race’s strength told him it wouldn’t be easy for the Heretic God Sect to obtain the Armor of Time through forceful means.
Besides, it was clearly a Holy Relic, yet they were actually being overly passive.
This point was corroborated by what Yi Laisi had said earlier at the academy.
Perhaps they had struck some kind of deal with the Heretic God Sect. That was the only explanation.
Was it revenge against the Empire?
Maybe the Heretic God Sect choosing to cooperate with Kris did factor in that consideration.
But such conditions could never convince the Elf Race.
The Empire was indeed full of hostility toward Demihumans, but the Elf Race lived in seclusion, and the two had no interactions. They shouldn’t have a reason to target the Empire.
Man En dismissed each possibility, leaving only one guess he himself found hard to believe.
That the Elf Race had approached the Heretic God Sect on their own.
But that was just a thought, because it really was too absurd.
In the end, it was just a guess without any evidence. He’d have to investigate the specifics himself before he could be sure.
Perhaps if he could figure this matter out, he might even gather a lot of information about the Heretic God Sect.
He had to investigate this, if only for the sake of confronting the Heretic God Sect later.
As for Valentilny… it was impossible to expect her to tell him the truth.
Still, judging by her attitude, she didn’t seem to care if he noticed anything off. If she really had a secret, she could have simply refused him entry into the Elf Village.
So as long as he didn’t go too far, she’d probably turn a blind eye.
“In any case, I’ll investigate as much as I can before leaving. As for how much I can find out… that depends on luck.”
Man En thought silently, already forming a rough plan in his mind.
“Lord Mann.”
Cui Si, who had been waiting outside the hall, smiled and approached when she saw Man En come out.
“How did it go? The restoration of the Armor of Time?”
“The King said it might take a very long time.”
Man En replied calmly, not intending to reveal the content of their conversation to an outsider.
This was both to keep a low profile and to avoid unnecessary suspicion.
“I see. That’s a shame.”
“By the way, where’s Yi Laisi? I don’t see her.”
“Oh, her? She’s being punished by the elders.”
As soon as Man En heard this, he became instantly interested.
He happened to want to investigate, and the elders were definitely suitable targets. Plus, he could watch Yi Laisi get put in her place. There was no reason not to go.
“Please, take me there!”
“Uh… huh?”
Cui Si was a bit surprised by Man En’s reaction.
“Lord Mann cares that much about my little sister?”
“Naturally. She’s my dearest friend, my own flesh and blood!”
Hearing this, Cui Si’s gaze toward Man En held a bit more approval.
“So I have to go mock her face to face.”
“So that’s why?! Then you and I think alike.”
Man En smiled, turned his head, and glanced meaningfully behind him, as if he had noticed something. But he didn’t dwell on it. He turned back and followed Cui Si toward the elders’ location.
After Man En had gone quite far, two elves in full armor emerged from where he had been looking.
It was the two guards.
“Qinna, I always feel like that guy is hard to read. That look just now… maybe we should just give up?”
The brown-haired elf grabbed the pink-haired elf’s arm and pleaded.
“What are you afraid of? I’m here, aren’t I?”
Her tone was clearly impatient.
“Listen, Kruya. The King scolded us severely because of an outsider like him. Can you swallow that?”
“Well…”
Qinna gently squeezed Kruya’s arm.
“So, we need to find evidence and drive that filthy Imperial out of the Elf Village!”
“And what about the King? Have you thought about what to say to her?”
“As long as we have enough evidence, I’m sure the King won’t say anything.”
“That’s just completely unprepared!”
Realizing this, Kruya broke free from Qinna and tried to slip away, but the other had anticipated her move and grabbed her back.
“Listen to me, let’s go spy on him together!”
“Sigh… I can’t do anything with you…”
—
Man En and Cui Si walked along the road, vaguely seeing billowing steam rising in the distance.
“What’s that?”
“Her punishment.”
Cui Si said casually, piquing Man En’s curiosity even more.
As the two approached, a huge water boiler came into view.
Along with it came intermittent shouting.
“How many times have I told you? You need to purify your mana to the extreme. Look at you, you have a huge amount of mana, but it’s all dispersing!”
“Absolutely no improvement…”
An elf woman dressed in silk and wearing a huge magical hat was supervising Yi Laisi. She kept clutching her head, looking extremely distressed.
As for Yi Laisi, she looked like her soul had been sucked out, mechanically repeating mana operations.
Every mistake she made caused the water in the boiler to boil violently, sending bursts of steam shooting into the sky, as if mocking her relentlessly.
“My mind… is blank… I can’t think anymore…”
Yi Laisi muttered to herself, unaware that Man En and Cui Si were watching from the side, barely containing their smiles.
“You see, the elder behind my little sister is one of our clan’s elders, Zhita. She’s also our only Grand Magister.”
Man En nodded, sensing the mana on this elder.
In terms of sheer volume, she might not match Sophien, but her mana was exceptionally refined.
The elf guards nearby saw the two approaching and immediately went to report.
Yi Laisi, being closest, naturally heard. She looked at the two and almost started crying.
“Dare to lose focus again, and I’ll add more training!”
Zhita glared her back into line with a single look, then walked toward Man En and Cui Si.
“You must be the Man En that girl mentioned. A pleasure.”
She nodded to Man En, which counted as a greeting.
She seemed the type to be quick and decisive, not bothered by trivialities.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Nothing much. Just came to see Yi Laisi.”
Man En replied calmly. To avoid provoking her, he didn’t intend to directly ask about the Heretic God Sect.
“But I do need to trouble you with something. I have a matter I’d like to consult you about.”
As he spoke, he used his finger to write something in the air. Before long, a strangely shaped character floated in space.
At first, Zhita was dismissive, but as the character gradually took shape, exuding a mysterious aura, she slowly widened her eyes, showing disbelief.
“This is… Rune Script?”
“How did you learn it?”
Seeing her reaction, Man En felt a little confident.
But the fact that this script could have such a huge attraction for a mage surprised him a bit.
Still, it mostly went according to his plan. Next, he just needed to hint that this script was related to the Heretic God Sect, and he might be able to probe some things.
But the situation turned out differently than Man En had anticipated.
Zhita’s hand trembled. It was as if she had lost her mind.
In her eyes, only that character seemed to exist.
“Hey… Elder Zhita, I know Rune Script is rare, but it’s not that…”
Before he could finish, Man En felt gazes from all directions converge on the character.
Looking around, all the elves seemed to have been possessed, staring fixedly.
“Rune Script… yes! It’s Rune Script!”
“This character belongs to me!”
“Anyone who gets close to it… must die!”
Realizing something was wrong, Man En immediately tried to retract the character. But the next moment, his body was pierced by a massive surge of mana.
Blood flowed continuously.
“What… is this? Why the sudden attack?”
With a metallic taste in his throat, it felt as if all the strength had been drained from his body.
He clutched his wound and collapsed weakly.
‘No… I have to recover before I lose consciousness…’
“Retro… spection…”
But nothing happened, except the increasingly blurred scene before his eyes.
‘The… the skill is unusable?’
Man En could clearly feel his life slipping away.
He frantically called out the skill menu, called out to the Evil God, but there was no response.
The next moment, an arrow pierced straight into Man En’s forehead.
In his final moments of consciousness, he saw the elves killing each other, and also Yi Laisi, who had already been caught in the crossfire and killed. He couldn’t understand the situation at all.
Valentilny’s voice sounded softly in his ear.
“I told you, didn’t I? Everything is based on the rules.”
“This is the punishment for breaking the rules…”
She continued to say something, but Man En could no longer hear.
When he came to his senses again, he was still standing outside that peculiar palace.
A fair hand was waving in front of his eyes.
“Hey! Hey! Lord Mann, why did you suddenly space out?”
Man En looked toward the voice. The person beside him was Cui Si.
He lowered his head. There were no signs of injury on his body.
“So… I’ve gone back to before?”
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