Ch.149Chapter 149 – The Alpenrium Raid Incident

“Alpenrium,” the Elven city built around the World Tree.

Unlike cities in the outside world, this massive city with thousands of years of history had almost no stone structures.

Instead, they created wooden buildings using the power of spirits.

The wood cultivated directly by the elves possessed characteristics far superior to any tree on the continent—much harder, resistant to decay, and not easily ignited by fire.

That’s why in Alpenrium, one could frequently find wooden high-rises over ten stories tall, something difficult to find in the outside world.

While dwarves were known for their craftsmanship, elves too possessed skills rivaling dwarves due to their long lifespans.

The difference between the two races was that dwarves excelled in precise, mechanical perfection, while elves emphasized aesthetic and artistic elements.

Thus, Alpenrium’s streets viewed from afar resembled a single work of art.

Perfect and beautiful streets where nothing was excessive.

—BOOM! KABOOM! KWAGANG!

That’s why the explosions in Alpenrium’s streets must have sounded louder than ever before.

“What’s happening?”

“There’s been an explosion at the central plaza!”

What threw the elves into confusion were the multiple explosions at the central plaza.

The sound of explosions echoing through the quiet and peaceful Alpenrium left the elves bewildered.

“Urgh…”

“P-please… save me…”

“Healer! Quickly bring a healer!”

The scene of the explosion at Alpenrium’s central plaza was nothing short of hellish.

Elves with wounds on their faces or bodies were considered among the luckier ones with minor injuries.

“M-my arm!”

“My leg, my leg is gone!”

Some elves had their arms or legs torn off in the explosion.

But even they could be called fortunate for surviving.

The closer to the epicenter, the more horrific the state of the elves.

Those who lost arms or legs could at least hope to survive.

Elven healers could restore severed limbs much faster than humans could.

But the condition of elves near the epicenter was extremely grave.

“…”

“…”

The explosion was so powerful that some elves had their backs torn off, while others were instantly killed with their upper and lower bodies separated.

At least these victims were far enough from the epicenter that their bodies could be recovered intact. Those at the epicenter had long since been reduced to mere chunks of flesh.

Elven healers rushed to begin treatment, but with so many injured, elves were dying faster than the healers could save them.

“Damn it! Who did this? Who dared attack our kin?”

The elven guards who rushed to the scene upon hearing about the explosion stomped their feet in uncontrollable rage.

“Everyone spread out and begin investigating! Quickly transport the victims, and find and arrest whoever caused this explosion!”

“Yes, sir!”

At the guard captain’s command, the guards dispersed.

Some quickly moved the injured to where the healers had gathered, while others summoned spirits to examine the explosion site.

The elven guards knew how to investigate accident scenes using spirits.

“Spirits, I ask of you, please show us who placed explosives here.”

[Wheeee! Whee!]

Lower spirits lacked the ability to communicate through physical vocal language.

However, elves with their exceptional ability to commune with spirits could use mental resonance to understand what the spirits were saying.

“What?”

The elven guard was extremely surprised by what the spirit told him.

He immediately ran to the guard captain to report.

“Captain! I have a report!”

“Yes? What is it?”

“According to the spirits, nothing has been done to this location in the past month!”

“Is that true?”

The elven guard captain showed a troubled expression at the guard’s report.

There was a blind spot in investigations aided by spirits—lower spirits could only remember what happened in their location up to a month ago.

This meant that the incident had been planned at some point far beyond a month ago.

“A-attention!”

“Greetings to the Grand Elder!”

At that moment, Shreka appeared at the explosion site, accompanied by Pathos and Eterna.

“Eterna and I will go help treat the injured elves.”

“Please do. Save our kin.”

With Shreka’s permission, Pathos and Eterna rushed to where the healers were to assist with healing.

After watching the two head toward the healers, Shreka approached the guard captain.

“Captain, can you tell me what happened?”

“Yes, Grand Elder. A short while ago, there was an explosion at the central plaza…”

The guard captain told Shreka everything that had been discovered so far.

Shreka nodded after hearing the guard captain’s explanation.

“I see. Then I will conduct the investigation myself.”

“Y-you personally, Grand Elder?”

“If this was planned from a month ago, we’ll need to summon high-ranking spirits at the very least.”

With those words, Shreka pushed through the guards and approached the epicenter.

“Ugh…”

“Argh…”

Leaving behind her groaning kin, Shreka continued walking toward the epicenter.

Upon reaching it, she summoned high-ranking spirits.

“Spirits, answer my call. I command you to show me from your memories what happened here.”

[All is as the Master wishes.]

[If the Master desires it.]

[Yes! I’ll show you! Because Master wants it!]

[…Command confirmed.]

The spirits of water, fire, wind, and earth appeared at Shreka’s call.

The four high-ranking spirits showed her what had happened in this area according to her command.

“Impossible… Nothing happened?”

Shreka was shocked.

Based on the memories of the high-ranking spirits, she had read the history of this place going back a full 100 years.

But despite reading through 100 years of history, no suspicious presence appeared in her memory.

This could only mean one thing.

“So it happened more than 100 years ago?”

Shreka was astounded.

If her guess was correct, this explosion had been planned at least 100 years ago.

It was about 500 years ago when those who betrayed the clan revealed themselves.

And though she couldn’t remember exactly, it was around that time that Eldran had passed the position of Grand Elder to her.

She recalled that around that time, major construction work had been done on Alpenrium’s roads.

It was a large-scale project to pave stone roads like those in the outside world over the existing dirt roads, complete with drainage systems.

The construction period alone lasted five years, making it significant enough to be recorded in history books even by elven standards.

Shreka remembered that the one who led that construction was Eldran, the previous High Elf Grand Elder.

At that moment, Shreka felt a chill.

What if Eldran had planned everything from the major construction 350 years ago?

What if he had already planned to betray the clan from the moment they first met?

It was a conjecture close to intuition, difficult to readily accept.

But to her thinking, there was no other conclusion to draw.

Those who had been betraying the clan since the time of former Grand Elder Eldran had been operating in secret.

Following Eldran’s orders, they buried something during the road repaving project that would explode 350 years later—right around now.

This was the best she could deduce from the current situation.

She immediately ran to Pathos and Eterna.

“When you two finish the treatment, please come to my office. The guard captain will tell you. I have urgent business to attend to first.”

“Understood for now.”

“Be careful. There might be more explosions elsewhere.”

Leaving behind Pathos and Eterna’s worried gazes, Shreka ran toward the library.

The reason she ran to the library was simple.

It contained all records related to the elves.

This massive structure built right next to the World Tree was one of the rare buildings in Alpenrium constructed using stone materials.

Shreka ran toward the library, gasping for breath—

—BOOM! KABOOM!

“Ah, aah…”

Before her eyes, the library collapsed, engulfed in a sudden explosion.