Great Harmony (3)

“Have you heard the news? About the elves. I never dreamed such a thing would happen in my lifetime.”

“If you don’t know about that story now, you’re living with your eyes closed and ears shut.”

The rumors spread quickly. Regardless of faction, border, or continent. Journalists willingly bore the cost of traveling via spatial jump points to spread such news everywhere. After all, that’s how they make money too.

Thanks to this, when an important event happened somewhere, there was no one who didn’t know about it. The elves’ official diplomatic activity was also a scoop worth bearing such costs.

“Here and there, ominous rumors are spreading one by one, and now elves are coming out into the world. Is something really about to happen?”

He was no exception. Yoris, a priest at the Order’s headquarters. Yawning, he handed the newspaper he was reading to his colleague.

“Isn’t the headquarters busy enough already? The Holy Knight Order…”

“Hush, stop. That’s not something to talk about outside.”

When he grumbled, his colleague covered his mouth. The way he even glanced around cautiously made his colleague’s attitude look even more suspicious.

The place where they were sitting now, having dessert, was an outdoor seat at a restaurant, with quite a few people coming and going around them.

“Hmm?”

But then. As he closed his mouth at his colleague’s words and picked up his teacup, something caught his eye. It was a group that looked like adventurers, consisting of one man and three women.

Of course, adventurers were a dime a dozen here, but the reason they looked special was just one thing.

They were approaching, looking straight at him.

“Priest Yoris?”

“Y-Yes!?”

Indeed, the big man who seemed to be their leader recognized and called out Yoris’s name in one breath. Surprised without realizing it, Yoris started hiccupping.

“Could we talk for a moment?”

As his colleague was trying to slip away discreetly, Patrick leaned over and placed his hand on the table to prevent Yoris from holding onto his colleague.

“S-Sure. Hic…”

In this situation, Yoris, unable to suppress his hiccups, had no choice but to nod.

‘Help me!’

Yoris’s desperate plea couldn’t be answered by his colleague. In the end, they had to enter a nearby pub for a more private conversation.

“How on earth did you know about me? What is this about?”

“We received a recommendation.”

Still, Yoris was somewhat relieved to see that Patrick’s group didn’t show any hostility towards him. However, he tilted his head at the mention of a recommendation.

After all, he was just an ordinary low-ranking priest, nothing special.

‘I can’t say he’s the most vulnerable human.’

Patrick smiled bitterly at Yoris’s appearance. The reason Yoris was recommended by Ethan’s informant, who had investigated this area in advance, was because he was picked as the easiest person to manipulate.

“Gasp!?”

Indeed, Yoris’s eyes widened when Patrick pulled out a bag of glittering gold coins from his chest. At the same time, Arisa, who was sitting next to Patrick, slightly lowered her hood to properly show who she was.

‘An elf!’

Yoris, whose eyes were stolen by the gold, was on the verge of fainting when he saw Arisa’s identity. An elf, currently a hot potato, had appeared right before his eyes.

“Arisa here is the deputy representative of the elven delegation and has come with a very important mission. You understand what I mean, right?”

Patrick instilled the situation into Yoris. A large amount of gold, and an elf who came secretly. Moreover, this elf was not just any elf, but a figure who came as a representative of the elf confederation. In fact, if one had any sense, they could understand that they had come with some purpose.

“What exactly do you want from me?”

“True holy water. That sacred object of the Order is absolutely necessary for the future of our race.”

Arisa answered Yoris, who asked with a trembling voice. At the mention of holy water, Yoris’s hiccups, which had just calmed down, started again.

“T-That’s impossible. True holy water is not something someone like me can approach!”

“We know that. But you know, don’t you? The method, I mean.”

Yoris naturally jumped up, but Patrick shook his head with a face that said ‘why are you acting like this when you know everything?’

“I heard that even if elves officially request it, the chances of it being granted are low. Honestly, I was a bit shocked. The world is in crisis, but they’re busy fighting over their own rice bowls.”

“That’s… because the internal situation of the Order is a bit chaotic right now…”

Yoris couldn’t refute Arisa’s sigh. One of the things that Ethan’s investigators found out was the complicated situation within the Order.

Of course, they, even Isilia, believed that in a situation like this, they could seek cooperation from the Order, but the reality was worse than expected.

“There’s a factional fight going on inside the Order. Two factions are trying to take the initiative. In this situation, if elves request holy water, they will never give it up easily. Because they can use it.”

Still, Yoris did a good job as an informant. Yoris, whose eyes were blinded by the gold in front of him, began to easily divulge internal information and testified how complicated the current situation in the Order was.

“Plus, there’s talk of reorganizing the Holy Knight Order, reducing the priest training process, the appearance and disappearance of the hero’s star. Phew… these days, unmanageable things are pouring in.”

“So it means it won’t be easy until the internal affairs of the Order settle down.”

Patrick sighed. The saying ‘there’s always another mountain to climb’ was not wrong.

They had to complete the mission, but they had encountered a barrier that couldn’t be easily overcome.

“What should we do now?”

“First, we report, and then we have to wait. The talks should still be ongoing.”

Patrick made a decision in response to Lina’s question. This was an issue beyond what they could resolve on their own.

Of course, this news was immediately conveyed to Isilia, following Arisa who had hurriedly left via a jump point.

* * *

“The state of the world is ridiculous. In a situation like this.”

“They don’t seem to know properly about the erosion yet. Otherwise…”

Ellua was furious upon hearing the news. Her emotional torrent was even greater because she had personally experienced how severe the damage from erosion was.

Even Isilia snorted as if it was absurd for such a nonsensical reason.

“High Elf, please give us a chance. We will let those arrogant bastards know the reality.”

“No, that would rather be poisonous. The elves have just come out into the world. If we clash with existing powers right from the start, it will have adverse effects.”

Ellua said she would crush the Order if given the authority, but Isilia blocked that hot-blooded proposal.

From Isilia’s point of view, the elves needed to move with a greater future in mind.

“Elves should become peace messengers leading to great harmony. I mean harmony to save the world facing the crisis of the end times. If that happens, the status of elves in international society will rise rapidly.”

Isilia had her own accurate grasp of reality. The world was in an uproar due to the appearance of elves, but in fact, it was a commotion based on curiosity.

There were still not many who properly knew about elves. There were not a few who saw elves as just uncivilized primitives who lived holed up in forests.

Isilia, who was already well aware of this fact, hoped that her descendants would earn proper honor by making contributions, now that things had turned out this way.

“Ellua, you proceed with the talks normally. Go and explain about the elves, share information about erosion. While doing so, naturally take the initiative and bewitch the people of this world.”

“Then, High Elf, you will…”

“I’ll take care of the Order’s business myself.”

She grinned at the bewildered Ellua.

The smile spreading brightly on her beautiful and cute face was certainly radiant, but to Ellua, it somehow looked like an unmanageable mischievous child.

It was the same face as when she gave a strong shock to them who had been stagnant for a long time, while simultaneously making them move on their own.

‘For this matter, I have no choice but to borrow the power of the organization. The scale is bigger compared to what we’ve done so far, but we’ve been steadily growing in size, so it should work out somehow, right?’

In fact, Isilia had already decided how to act. Things that would take a long time and be troublesome to resolve in the light could be dealt with at once without restrictions by going into the shadows.

This was also why she had been nurturing Ethan and his organization until now.

“Damn, I feel like things are getting bigger and bigger. Getting involved in the power struggle within the Order.”

Ethan closed his eyes tightly upon receiving her letter delivered through his confidant.

Surely, he had been diligently growing the organization and solidifying his position within it for his own advancement, but somehow things started to go strange.