The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 92: Continued Connections (1) (Part 1)

Forest Keeper.

Protector of the forest, the elf who guards both its borders and its inner sanctum.

The Forest Keeper preserves the ecosystem and acts as a sentinel, defending the forest from intruders.

Because it is the most important role, it is customary for the most outstanding elf to assume the position.

The Forest Keeper, Rielyn, moved with the grace of someone about to take flight.
Her sentinels followed closely behind.

Past the sweeping forest scenery—

“Silmaryen!”

They could finally see the elf who had truly gone missing—Silmaryen.

The sentinels caught up and surrounded her.

“Do you know how worried we were when you disappeared?”
“Where were you this whole time?”
“What happened to you?”

They bombarded her with questions while checking her condition—

“Well, the truth is…”

Silmaryen alternated between expressions of joy and guilt, slowly opening her mouth.

“I was just… too curious about the outside world, so I snuck out for a bit…”

It wasn’t unheard of.
Even though leaving the forest was strictly forbidden, curious elves often broke the rules.

“But then I ended up getting kidnapped by some bad humans…”
“What?!”

The sentinels shouted in shock.

To humans, elves were extraordinarily beautiful.
So it wasn’t uncommon for them to be abducted by malicious humans.
There wasn’t a single elf who didn’t know what that meant.

In fact, that was the very reason why elves had isolated themselves from human society.

“But how did you manage to return safely?”
“Here—Lumis helped me.”

At that, a golden fox-like creature peeked out from behind Silmaryen’s shoulder.
Slightly larger than a fist, it was a spirit of light—Lumis.

With Lumis’s power, one could manipulate light to blur their form, enabling stealth.
Though it wasn’t a perfect invisibility—

“I managed to escape during a commotion caused by a human.”
“A human caused a commotion?”
“Yeah! Whoosh! Bam! He beat up those bad humans and the terrifying monster!”

“What kind of human was it?”
“Umm… he was super scary! Even Lumis was shaking with fear!”

Elves, by communing with spirits, gain the ability to perceive the soul.
That allows them to discern a person’s essence, but—

“But you know… he was also really warm and kind.”

It wasn’t exactly the kind of thing others could easily understand.
In short, it was a story only she truly knew.

“Do you know his name?”
“Yup. Lumis knows it.”

After whispering briefly to the fox spirit on her shoulder, Silmaryen spoke up.

“Adrian Whitewolf.”
“Adrian Whitewolf?”
“Yeah.”

The sentinels furrowed their brows and thought hard.
But no matter how much they searched their memories, nothing came to mind.
After all, it had been ages since the elves had severed ties with human society.

It was only natural that the name of a human wouldn’t ring any bells.

“Adrian Whitewolf…?”
“Forest Keeper, do you know this human?”

At the question, Rielyn fell deep into thought.
But in the end, she shook her head.

No matter how much she pondered it, nothing surfaced.

“Anyway, what matters is that you returned safely, Silmaryen. But from now on, don’t ever go outside the forest alone again.”
“Okay… I’m sorry for worrying you, Forest Keeper.”

And so, Silmaryen was able to safely return to the village with the sentinels.

Thus, peace returned once more to the Forest of Sylvandir.

Rielyn felt a sense of relief—
Yet, she couldn’t shake off a strange feeling of déjà vu.

She couldn’t explain it, but—

For some reason, the name felt familiar.

“Adrian Whitewolf.”

Somehow, that name etched itself deep into Rielyn’s mind.

Meanwhile…

In the middle of the endlessly stretching snowy fields stood the County of Whitewolf.

Behind the county lay a chain of snow-covered hills and mountains, like someone had placed a white cap upon them.

Thick castle walls were built to withstand the harsh weather.

Ice and snow filled the cracks in the stone, and atop the walls stood guards clad in thick fur-lined garments—

“Sir Adrian has returned!!”

The soldiers on the wall leapt with joy.

RUMBLE!

Soon after, the massive wooden gates creaked open with a thunderous roar—

The first to rush out was Bernard, panting heavily.

Judging by his haste, he must have been standing guard alongside the soldiers.

But why would Bernard be guarding the castle walls?

Up close, Bernard looked utterly exhausted—his face was haggard, as if he hadn’t slept a wink all night.

Something had clearly happened.

“Bernard, did something happen at the County?”

It seemed something had occurred while I was away.
Sure enough, Bernard hesitated to give a direct answer—

“What happened?”
“Well…”
“What is it?”
“It’s about…”

After a brief pause, Bernard finally spoke.

“Not long ago, a royal investigation team visited the county regarding the Viscount Benneron incident.”

I’d been away from the county for about a month.
That was more than enough time for the royal court to catch wind of the matter.

“What was the outcome?”
“Fortunately, there wasn’t enough clear evidence, so it didn’t escalate into a major issue, but…”

Bernard trailed off again, then continued.

“The royal investigators still seemed quite suspicious. They especially scrutinized the records of our exchanges with Viscount Benneron’s territory.”

“Hm.”

They were more persistent than expected.
Well, the murder of a noble was a serious crime.
The investigation team had every obligation to uncover the truth for the sake of royal honor and authority.

It wasn’t for nothing that Isolde tried to have me killed back in Baoless.

“There’s a good chance they’ll return to the County for another inspection.”

Still, we managed to avoid disaster—for now.
There wasn’t any conclusive evidence, after all.

“How about Serapia?”
“Lady Serapia…”

This time, Bernard hesitated even longer.
His expression grew grim.

“She is in critical condition.”

…What?

“Did the medicine not work?”
“That’s not the issue.”
“Then what?”
“The medicine… still isn’t ready.”
“It hasn’t been completed?”
“That’s correct.”

Translatin_Otaku

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