Path of light

Chapter 256 257. Tracking

When Roy woke up, the first thing he did after opening his eyes was to run to the next room. The room was empty.

There were several apples in the basket next to the table. In addition to the peels, there was a paring knife in the round plate. Some of Woods' personal belongings were still left in the room.

Roy scratched his hair speechlessly. It seemed that something must have happened next to Woods...

Walking to the terrace, instructor Nora walked out of a wooden house opposite, holding a cup of warm fruit tea, and asked Roy:

"Roy, did the kid come back last night?"

Roy shook his head, with a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Instructor Nora, I want to go to Fountain Square to inquire. Maybe someone has seen Woods."

Instructor Nora strode to the window of the cabin, opened the window, and shouted to Instructor Eleanor who was sleeping inside:

"Wait, I'll go with you, Eleanor, get up quickly and give you five minutes to wash up. The child didn't come back last night. He probably got lost. Roy and I want to go to Fountain Square to look for him. Look, you also come with us."

Instructor Eleanor appeared at the window with her hair as messy as a chicken coop.

"So early……"

When she saw Roy on the terrace of the tree house opposite, she immediately retracted her head, and then there was the sound of rushing water in the house.

Instructor Nora was expressionless along the way, and it was obvious that she was in a bad mood. When she arrived at the Fountain Square, there were not many elves in the square.

The early morning sun shines through the leaves and falls on the edge of the fountain pool. It is surrounded by neat apple trees. There are many benches for pedestrians to rest under the apple trees. The square is paved with exquisite stone slabs, and in the center is a group of statues. fountain.

The water in the pool is so clear that some elves even use it to drink...

Roy took Instructors Nora and Eleanor to a bench where he and Woods sat on the bench the day before yesterday, waiting until dark.

"Woods said that the view is best when you sit here..." Roy said.

Instructor Eleanor walked behind the bench and planted a row of apple trees two meters away from the bench. Instructor Eleanor pressed her hand on the trunk of an apple tree and drew some magic symbols on the trunk. , ending with a brief incantation.

Her pupils turned light green, as if she had lost all consciousness and could only stand under the tree in a daze.

If you look closely at her lips, you will find that her lips are trembling slightly, as if communicating with the young apple tree.

Roy had seen this scene before him in the Malaga jungle.

After a long time, instructor Eleanor regained consciousness.

"How's it going? Did you find any useful information?" Instructor Nora asked impatiently.

"The child did come here yesterday. Other than that, these trees didn't leave any useful information..."

Instructor Eleanor said with some frustration.

Instructor Nora discovered that Roy was missing at this time, so she looked around. On the opposite side of the square, Roy found that Roy had actually run to a bench opposite and asked the old elf sitting on the bench. He even took out a portrait.

The two chatted for a long time, and the old elf finally shook his head, and Roy could only leave with a stern expression.

Immediately afterwards, Roy ran to a young elf running and said to him:

"excuse me……"

Instructors Eleanor and Nora were looking for clues around the fountain square. When Roy saw a passing mixed-race elf, he would walk up and ask.

Although Woods looks unremarkable, his two arms are very distinctive. They are wrapped in bandages and cannot be bent, and his walking is very unnatural.

As long as any mixed-race elf has seen such an elf boy in Fountain Square, he will definitely be impressed...

"Roy, this guy treats his friends really well!"

When Instructor Eleanor was taking a break, she whispered to Instructor Nora.

"He also has a close friend in the academy, who is also a Silver Moon Elf noble." Instructor Nora said, obviously approving of Roy.

Almost all the people who come to the square here are mixed-blood elves.

When Roy approached to strike up a conversation, he always got a response:

"Didn't see..."

"I haven't seen it before. Ask other elves!"

"No……"

"without……"

"..."

Roy didn't even know how many mixed elves he had taken the initiative to chat with. When he heard the other person say, "I have an impression. That young man was sitting on the bench over there at noon yesterday. I saw that he was carrying a The kettle seems to be too convenient for my arms, and the way I drink water is a bit funny”…

He didn't react for a moment and was ready to find the next mixed elf.

Roy grabbed the elf's arm with both hands and said excitedly:

"Did you see Woods here yesterday at noon?"

The other party nodded: "It should be the young elf you described..."

"Did you see when he left?"

The mixed-blood elf said: "He sat on the bench for a while and then left with the two elves. He should have gone that way!"

After speaking, he pointed in a direction.

Roy quickly called to instructors Eleanor and Nora, and they walked toward the west side of Fountain Square together.

…

Following the clues given by Roy, instructor Eleanor actually found some clues from a ginkgo tree.

She obtained an extremely vague image on the ginkgo tree. This is the remaining memory left by the ginkgo tree. Instructor Nora needs to have a soul link with the ginkgo tree in order to obtain these intermittent images. She saw two mixed-race images. The elf sandwiched Woods and boarded a silver carriage together.

"They should not be Woods' relatives. They did not hug each other after meeting, nor did they behave very cordially..."

Soul Link consumes a lot of mental energy, so Instructor Eleanor cannot use it frequently. When the carriage arrived in the end, she also took a look at the intersection.

Instructor Eleanor chased them all the way. When he was looking for the slave traders, it was only with Instructor Eleanor's reconnaissance skills that he found them in the vast jungle.

After confirming that Woods was taken away by two elves, instructor Nora immediately returned to the hotel and called out all the members of the adventure group.

Everyone split up. Instructor Gru and Magician Scarlet went directly to the Thieves Guild to buy information. The remaining members followed Instructor Eleanor and followed the clues...

…

In an inconspicuous tavern, Magician Scarlett and Instructor Gru pushed the door open and walked in. The mixed-blood elves who were sitting in the tavern all stared directly at Magician Scarlett.

The two walked to the bar...

The magic robe on Scarlett reveals her identity as a magician.

The bartender put down the empty glass in his hand, raised his head and asked the two of them:

"any drinks?"

Scarlett Magic pushed a stack of Kohler in front of the bartender and said: "Two glasses of white wine, and we want to buy some news here."

The bartender handed two glasses of wine to Instructor Gru and Magician Scarlett, then wiped his hands with a rag, reached out and took off his apron, and led Magician Scarlet and Instructor Gru to the back of the tavern.

"Please come to the back to talk."

There was a small room behind the tavern, and there happened to be a young female elf sitting at the table. The light in the room was relatively dark.

The bartender sent the two of them here, then turned and left.

The female elf raised her head, smiled at Magician Scarlet and Instructor Gru, and then asked, "How can I help you?"

"We have a half-blood elf friend who disappeared yesterday afternoon. I would like to buy some clues about the missing elf here."

Instructor Gru placed several sketches in front of the female elf's desk. These portraits were drawn by Sabrina and were almost seven-quarters like Woods himself...

"It takes one hundred kolers." The female elf glanced at the portrait and said casually.

Instructor Gru quickly took out a pile of Kohler and placed it on the square table.

"Tell me what happened? The specific location of the disappearance, and when it happened..."

Instructor Gru told the story of Woods' disappearance.

"A young half-blood elf with broken arms is missing? Well, at this time tomorrow, we will provide you with a piece of information."

The female elf said to the two.

Instructor Gru and Scarlett Magician walked out of the tavern together, and then Instructor Gru sighed:

"This is my first time dealing with the Thieves Guild. It turns out that buying a message only costs 100 Koles..."

“They won’t tell us everything at once, and we may need to pay another amount of money later!”

Magician Scarlett squinted her eyes, looked back at the tavern, and said calmly.

"I hope the clues on Eleanor's side will not be cut off..."

…

Instructor Eleanor stood at the street corner, carefully identifying the direction in which the carriage was leaving.

Instructors Nora and Instructor Virgil were with her. This place was already a long way away from Fountain Square. Judging from the direction of the carriage, it should be heading to the outskirts of Padstow.

Roy, Sabrina, and Miss Christine stood across the street.

"I kind of don't understand why they wanted to arrest Woods?" Miss Christine whispered to Sabrina while holding the guardrail on the street with both hands.

"Maybe they will transport Woods to the human world. Those slave traders often do this! Maybe they will sell them to some mine owners. Since the dwarves left the Elf Continent, many mines are short of miners. It is difficult to recruit them through normal recruitment. Find the miners..."

Sabrina explained quietly.

Roy stared at Instructor Eleanor across the street, a slightly familiar figure speeding past in a carriage...

Roy recognized at a glance that the man sitting in the carriage was Benjamin Magician.

He raised his feet and chased after her.

There are no straight roads in Padstow City. Almost all roads are winding and the carriages do not run very fast...

Seeing Roy chasing after a carriage, Sabrina quickly followed from behind, and Miss Christine also caught up from behind, panting.

After the carriage turned a corner in front, it quickly left Roy far behind.

Roy panted and stopped on the side of the road.

Looking at the direction in which the carriage disappeared, he looked regretful.

This was the third time he had seen Magician Benjamin, but without exception, he had avoided them all. Thinking of this, Roy wanted to kick down a big tree next to him...

When Miss Christine caught up with her, she couldn't help but ask:

"What's wrong?"

"I met a fugitive. I saw him in Castletown. He was a member of a group of slave traders. I didn't expect to see him here!"

Roy said reluctantly:

"Let him escape right under your nose again!"

…

"Roy, hurry up and follow..."

Instructor Nora stood on the street not far away, waving towards this side, and Roy walked over quickly.

Under the guidance of instructor Eleanor, the adventure group followed a road, passed through several streets and several jungle tree houses, and unexpectedly walked out of Padstow City, with an orchard in front of them.

When you come here, your horizons become wider.

Instructor Eleanor took everyone around an orchard in front of them, and a wooden house with an attic appeared in a woodland...

This wooden house is located next to an unknown river. The yard is surrounded by low sunflowers. Today, these wooden houses are surrounded by a low fence.

Instructor Eleanor lay on a slope a few hundred meters away and introduced to everyone in a low voice:

"The carriage drove into the house in front and probably never came out again. When it gets darker, I can sneak in and check."

While he was talking, a carriage happened to drive out of the yard.

"Should we stop this carriage?" Instructor Virgil asked from behind.

"No need, there are no elves in the carriage..." Nora waved her hand.

Finally, when it got dark, instructor Eleanor blended herself into the shadows and walked towards the wooden house by the river.

The house was beautifully built and the yard was kept clean. Instructor Eleanor walked into the yard leaning against the wall...

…

Magician Benjamin was sitting in the carriage, still feeling frightened.

When he passed a street corner in a carriage, he actually saw Roy again. This guy was like a haunting ghost who could be encountered no matter where he hid.

Fortunately, he noticed it in time and urged the driver to go faster, leaving the young trainee priest far away.

He took a carriage to the suburbs because he wanted to return to the Elf Continent with the group of slave traders in Padstow City.

After a period of accumulation, these slave traders have captured many slaves. If they want to get rid of these slaves as soon as possible, they must transport them to the Elf Continent.

It's not easy to safely pass through the portal in Partington's plane.

There are a lot of relationships that need to be established here, and the portal guard must be one of our own...

The hiding place of this group of slave traders was built in an orchard on the outskirts of the country. Watching the sky gradually darken, Magician Benjamin urged the coachman to go faster.

The carriage drove all the way into the yard of the wooden house by the river. Benjamin Magic opened the door and stepped out of the carriage.

Several mixed-blood elves came out of the wooden house. One of the mixed-blood elves asked Benjamin the magician:

"Benjamin, are you going to return to the Elf Continent with us tomorrow?"