Chapter 112: Forest

"Hand over the Fragment of Chaos."

"Don’t underestimate me, Human." This Dark Elf’s strength was indeed a cut above the rest, not only did he block Ethan’s attack, but he even managed a few counterattacks.

However, he was still no match for Ethan, although he had been known as the Farming King in the Ascendant Tower, his wealth of combat experience was nothing to scoff at, if he couldn’t even win a battle of this caliber, wouldn’t all the experience he accumulated in the Ascendant Tower have been for nothing?

Ethan easily slit the Dark Elf’s throat.

"Ugh...!" The Dark Elf let out an unwilling roar of fury and slumped to his knees.

Ethan glanced over at the elves who were currently battling the monsters, then turned to Elara. "Are you alright?"

"I’m fine, speaking of which, your swordsmanship is incredible, this is the first time I’ve seen such amazing swordsmanship, what did you do before this?"

"I just learned a little bit of the basics."

Elara stared at him.

’...You call this a little bit of the basics?’

Hearing Elara’s curiosity about his swordsmanship, Ethan offered a nonchalant reply to brush it off, then he turned and began searching the Dark Elf’s corpse.

As expected, he found a Fragment of Chaos on the body.

’How many more pieces do I need before I can assemble a complete one...’ He held the shard up and studied it, turning it over in his fingers.

Pearl patted his arm. "Meow, don’t worry, just keep collecting them slowly, meow, you’ll gather enough one day, meow~"

Pearl was right, the Dark Elves’ attacks wouldn’t end here. As long as he kept at it, he would eventually collect enough Chaos Fragment shards.

Ethan looked at the Dark Elves lying in pools of blood, his expression flat and unreadable.

Leon walked over. "Good work."

"It’s nothing. I just didn’t expect the Dark Elves to attack us using methods like this."

"They were likely forced to resort to it." Since Ethan’s strongest area-of-effect skill, Wrath of the Earth, was effectively sealed in such a tight space, this was the only approach that gave the Dark Elves any hope of success.

The Dark Elves themselves weren’t much of a threat, but if they kept harassing the caravan like this, sooner or later they’d find an opening.

"We should hurry to the royal capital as quickly as possible." Leon suspected the Dark Elves’ true objective was to prevent Ethan from delivering the Mana Grass to the royal family.

"I was actually hoping to take you to some interesting places along the way."

"Can’t be helped — business comes first. We can sightsee after we’ve finished our tasks. It won’t be too late." He glanced over.

"What do you think, Miss Elara?"

"Oh hahaha, I have no objections."

Everyone was in agreement, they climbed back into the carriage without delay.

Leon gave the order decisively. "Take the shortest route to the royal capital."

On the road to the capital, Ethan’s group encountered several more ambushes, he successfully collected a fair number of additional Chaos Fragment shards, but the continuous battles left everyone worn down, both physically and mentally.

Fortunately, Ethan made a point of preparing meals after each skirmish to help everyone recover their strength, between the food and their combined abilities, they managed to fend off every attack without any major disasters and arrived safely at the royal capital.

"Phew..." Through the carriage window, Ethan saw a vast expanse of forest stretching before them, towering, ancient trees pierced the clouds — lush, verdant, and bursting with vitality, the sight was strikingly similar to the Great Forest, and an overwhelming sense of familiarity stirred in his chest.

"What’s wrong?" Unlike Ethan, Elara’s expression was anything but cheerful, did she dislike the royal capital? Or the forest? Perhaps a bit of both.

When Ethan asked, Elara sighed. "There are too many annoying people in the royal capita."

"Annoying people?"

"I’m talking about the House of Nobles." The House of Nobles was the gathering place for the elven aristocracy and the primary faction opposing the royal family, it was currently controlled by Marquis Karloitz’s people.

But what did that have to do with Elara? Ethan looked at her in confusion.

Elara explained in frustration: "To us merchants, those people in the House of Nobles are the most troublesome, they’re always making all sorts of laws and restrictions to hinder our business, they probably already know about our trip to the royal capital, and who knows what kind of trouble they’ll stir up this time."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I don’t even know how much bribe I’ll have to hand out just to deal with them..."

"We are about to enter the city."

"Does the royal capital not have city walls?" Ethan noticed the capital looked different from the other territories they’d passed through, there were no walls in sight.

Leon smiled and pointed at the forest. "That forest is the best wall there is."

"What do you mean?"

"That forest possesses a sacred power that blocks anyone harboring hostility toward the elven race, not even monsters dare to approach it easily."

"I see... anyone harboring hostility toward the elven race... does that include Dark Elves?"

"Of course it does. Dark Elves are born from Chaos — entirely incompatible with the elven race, which reveres harmony, the forest will block them as well."

’What a pity.’ Ethan had collected quite a few Chaos Fragment shards in the recent battles, but Pearl had said those shards still weren’t enough to synthesize a complete Fragment of Chaos, he had been hoping to collect a few more, he hadn’t expected the royal capital to have such formidable defense measures.

Still, this was a good thing. Safety had to come first.

"Halt! Halt!" As soon as the carriage entered the forest, it was stopped, several elves armed with bows and longswords dropped from the trees.

"Entering the royal capital requires identity verification. Everyone, please step out of the carriage for inspection."

"Routine inspection. Let’s step out." Leon took the lead, followed closely by Elara.

Seeing a Count like Leon and a prominent figure like Elara cooperating so readily, a look of gratitude appeared on the lead soldier’s face.

However, when his eyes landed on Ethan, he froze. "A human?"

His eyes widened as he looked Ethan up and down. "Good heavens, I am actually seeing a legendary human with my own eyes..."

"Didn’t humanity go extinct?"

"That’s what I heard too... This must be reported to the royal family immediately."

"I have already notified the royal family," Leon interjected calmly.

"Ah? Is that so?" Learning that Ethan was here at the royal family’s invitation, the soldiers’ attitudes shifted at once to respect, they finished the inspection quickly, put away their weapons, and turned to Ethan.

"If you are willing, we can provide you with an escort."

"Although the power of the forest can block monsters and minions of Chaos, it’s hard to guarantee you won’t encounter some elves harboring ill intentions."

"Thank you for the offer." Ethan was confident his own strength was more than enough, he smiled and politely declined.

The soldiers shook their heads in regret, turned, and disappeared back into the trees.