Yesterday's chapter...
...
Bloed's group plus Regina, Eve, Aya's father, and the lionkin general returned to their base silently.
But despite the silence, the group was in a good mood. It was obvious that as the young B-Ranks as the demigod representatives were very satisfied with the blow that they inflicted on the Sun Kingdom.
In the end, both countries could be considered as long-time enemies. Plus, Rana, Rhone, and the others were still holding a grudge after they were attacked by assassins and Greta was seriously injured.
Bloed, however, was unable to share their mood.
Quite the opposite. He had his brows furrowed since the moment they left the place of the battle.
Currently, he had replayed the fight of just now several times in his mind, even including the images Oculus caught from the sky to confirm his suspicions. And the results were not something good.
Regina was the first to notice that something was wrong with Bloed.
Wrinkling her brows, she transmitted her voice directly to his mind.
[Master, you have been frowning since a while ago.]
Bloed did not reply immediately. Instead, he thought for a moment before replying.
[Regina, you have been in contact with the elven demigods for the last few days, have you noticed anything strange with them?]
[Master?] Regina was surprised. Furrowing her brows, she tried to remember the behavior of the elven demigods.
However, even after thinking for a while, she failed to find anything wrong.
[… I don't think so.] In the end, she could only reply like that. [… Master, have you noticed anything?]
Bloed nodded. [I did. Regina, the day we were attacked by the assassins, Atai was not with us, right?]
[… He was not. Do you think that is suspicious?]
[… A bit, but that is not enough to think he is a spy or something like that.] Bloed said after deliberating briefly. [But during today's battle, I noticed a very suspicious point.]
[What is it?] Regina looked at Bloed curious.
[The two arrows he shot at the end. He killed two of the humans with these. But… Why did he not kill the human he was battling?]
Regina frowned. Now that she thought about that, that was strange.
That was the suspicious point Bloed noticed. When Atai killed the two humans that Liu Ying, Rhone, and he were battling, Bloed remembered that Atai's enemy was already incapacitated. In fact, he was kneeling on the ground.
In other words, Atai could have killed him easily. Much more easily than killing the other two.
However, for some reason, he chose to kill the two more difficult targets instead and left his opponent alive.
[Certainly, that is suspicious.] Regina nodded, sending her voice inside Bloed's mind. [What do you think is the problem?]
[There are two options I find the most likely.] Bloed said after thinking for a moment. [The first is that Atai knew that young man beforehand and they were acquittances or friends, so he decided to spare him in the end. To be honest, though, I think this option is very unlikely.]
[You are right. Something like that is very unprovable. What is the second option?]
[… What if there is a third party trying to sow discord between the Sun Kingdom and the beastmen? The reason Atai did not kill that human is that they were part of the same group. As for the other two humans, killing them would make the situation between the Sun Kingdom and the beastmen tenser… Of course, there is also a chance that I'm overthinking everything.]
Regina was startled. [… So that was the reason you asked about the behavior of the elves.]
[Yes.] Bloed nodded. [No matter how I look at this, they are the ones that benefit the most with this conflict.]
Regina fell silent. Looking at it from this perspective. Bloed's reasoning seemed very probable.
However–
[Some things don't fit, master. Firstly, I remember the elves reported that they were also attacked by assassins. Of course, they could have been lying to not raise suspicions. But then, when we used one of your dragonflies to spy on the conversation the assassin I let go had with the mysterious man, they mentioned a god. And elves usually don't believe in gods.]
Bloed nodded. He had also thought about that.
There were very few elven gods.
Usually, the faith of elves was centered on their great trees. And even the elves that believe in gods put the great trees above their gods.
That was the reason Bloed could not confirm the elves were the ones behind this.
Even so, it was enough for Bloed to know there was something fishy with the current situation.
[… In fact, now that I think about it, elves usually don't care about mines, but this time, they decided to participate in this competition for the mines in this territory. That is suspicious in itself… I'm still missing something, though… I feel like there is something I have not noticed yet.]
[… What are you planning to do, master?] Regina asked after a moment of silence.
[Nothing for now.] Bloed said and glanced at Atai briefly. [My promise with Eve was to help her to win this competition. As for if there is a plot behind this, to be honest I don't want to be involved. Of course, I will have to be more careful of Atai in case he is truly an enemy.]
That was everything Bloed could do for now.
[… I'll help you to keep an eye on the elves then, master.]
Bloed nodded and stopped speaking. He would have to do with that.
In truth, he was not even sure if the elves were truly plotting something. At this point, this was nothing more than an assumption based on circumstantial evidence.
But it was enough for Bloed to raise his guard.
He did not want to be caught off-guard in a dangerous situation.
When the group returned to their base, Eve, Aya's father, and the lionkin general left some last instructions for the group before returning to the pavilion together with Regina.
At almost the same time, Rhone found traces of a B-Rank monster nearby.
Using this opportunity, Bloed asked Atai to hunt it.
Atai nodded, finding nothing wrong with Bloed's request. But when Atai left, Bloed called at the others and spoke up in a grave voice.
"Be careful of Atai. I think there is something wrong with him."
Just in case, he wanted to be prepared.
…
At the same time, several kilometers away.
Elwha Aerin, Princess of the Elves and Priestess of the Boerner Tree, opened her eyes and looked at the five young elves accompanying her.
"The elders have sent a message. The humans and the beastmen just fought a fierce battle so they are not paying much attention to us right now. This is our opportunity. We are going to start our operation tonight. For the great tree."
The five young elves around her looked at each other and nodded.
"""For the great tree."""