Zoella

Part 50

Something told him that there was something wrong with this situation. At that moment, Hayes had decided.

"Explain the rest tomorrow on our way. We will spend the night here but we can't release you. Just play along until then."

"Teacher, what are you planning?"

"We'll go to his forest. There is something I need to check."

"Who said I agree to that?"

"Take it or we'll throw you to the villagers."

The elf shut his mouth after he heard Zoella's threat. And so, the three of them spent the rest of the day at the inn.

In the morning, Hayes and Zoella went to the village's chief with the elf as their hostage. However, it would cause trouble if the villagers found out that the thief was an elf. So Zoella covered him completely with a robe and hood with his body still tied up.

"We will hand him over to the guild. They will know what to do."

"Thank you so much for accepting our request. Ah, here's the payment."

The chief gave Hayes a bag of money.

Hayes and Zoella bowed as they took their leave. After the village was far enough from their eyesight, Zoella released the elf from the rope.

Now that she looked at him closely, their height wasn't that different so maybe she and the elf were close in age.

Compared to his shabby appearance yesterday, the elf now looked fresh because Hayes told him to take a bath. He was also kind enough to share his meal with the elf.

"Explain now. What happened to the Silevea forest?"

Hayes asked as he continued to walk. In all honesty, the elf didn't want to tell them about the situation in his forest. However, he was also in debt because they already helped him.

"As you might already know, the Silevea forest was known as an enchanted forest. There were a lot of plants, animals, and even wild beasts. But somehow when the winter was about to end, the plants dried out and the animals died suddenly. We don't know why this is happening. We lost our food source."

"That's really weird."

Hayes knew that there was something special within the Silevea forest that make the living things in it live longer than average. A sudden death like this wouldn't happen unless there was interference.

However, humans never went to the Silevea forest as it was a secluded place. It was also really far that Hayes thought they would at least arrive in four days.

Unlike Hayes who was deep in thought, Zoella didn't really understand what the elf was saying.

All she knew was the elves were a brilliant race and didn't like to be in contact with humans. This was also her first time hearing about the Silevea forest.

"Anyway, you... what's your name again?"

Zoella asked the elf. She didn't realize that the elf never gave them his name.

"It's Tyrael."

"I'm Zoella and he's my teacher, Hayes."

"Say, how did you come to that village when the distance is so far?"

Hayes let out his voice again after he fell silent for some time. Tyrael looked around to make sure there was no one around them.

"This way."

Tyrael led them to a cave. As they entered the cave, Zoella could see a familiar pattern on a flat stone.

She was certain after she looked at it closely. It was the same thing as the one beside the mercenary guild's building.

"Magic circle."

Zoella said in awe whilst she kneeled to observe the stone.

"Yes. The other pair is located near our forest. Strangely enough, we don't need mana to activate it."

Hayes also knelt beside Zoella and touched the stone. He closed his eyes for a moment. Hayes grinned after he felt mana beneath the stone. He was astonished by the person who had this idea.

The elves couldn't do magic at all. So it was impossible for them to perform the teleportation magic. But that person came up with the idea of channeling mana stone to the magic circle so the elves wouldn't need any mana to activate it.

"That old man. I should thank him after we get back."

Hayes mumbled. Within the stone, he could feel a little bit of Edwin's mana. There was no doubt that his teacher was the one who made this.

He also remembered that Edwin once mentioned that he had an elf as a friend. But Hayes didn't believe him back then.

"Alright then. Let's go."

The three stepped onto the stone and within a second their surroundings changed. The dark and humid cave scenery turned into a beautiful bluish forest.

"Welcome... to Silevea forest."