The next morning, three people walked along the road leading to the Dark Elf Village
Gramm glanced at Veyn with a grin
"So… should I start calling you Your Majesty now?"
Veyn laughed awkwardly
"No, no, please don't"
"It'll only make things awkward with this appearance"
"Veyn is fine"
Gramm chuckled
"Still… I have to admit; you really fooled us"
"I never expected the King himself to be the one guiding us around"
"Well… I also didn't expect your friend to figure it out this quickly either"
Gramm smiled and looked toward Auel
"Of course, there are no other person suitable for this quest except him"
Hearing that Auel just silent
After walking for a while, Gramm spoke again
"But that means you already know that the Cardinals were mean towards outsiders, right?"
"Then why didn't you stop them, or at least replace the Cardinals?"
Veyn scratched the back of this head
"Well, I'm not that type of person"
"I've always preferred solving things peacefully"
"So, I warned them"
"I hoped they'd understand"
He smiled bitterly
"Apparently that wasn't enough"
"Besides…"
"I can't simply remove the Cardinals because I dislike how they think"
Gramm sighed
"But we still don't have any proof they're behind this, right?"
"If you dismissed them now, you'd only create more problems"
"Exactly"
"That's why I'll try talking with them first"
"If I can convince them to talk with you guys again, maybe you'll find the evidence we're missing"
He smiled
"But I'll talk with them tomorrow"
"For today let's help the village first"
They kept on walking toward the Dark Elf village
When they arrived, Gramm immediately froze
The damage was worse than he had imagined
Several huts had collapsed
Black scorch marks stained the ground
Broken fences lay scattered everywhere while the Dark Elves silently repaired their homes
Children carried wooden planks almost as large as themselves
No one complained
No one cried
They simply rebuilt
Gramm slowly clenched his fist
"Damn, I thought they only kidnap the villagers"
"But I didn't think they would destroy the whole village"
Veyn looked around quietly
"Yeah, that probably because they were searching"
"They wanted those poisonous mushrooms"
"So, they tore apart every house"
Gramm frowned
"But that means, they are preparing to poison someone again"
"I agree…"
Veyn's expression darkened
"And this time… I think the target is all of you"
Gramm forced out a laugh
"Well, it's good that you managed to stopped them from kidnapping the Dark Elves, right?"
"But that doesn't mean we are safe" Auel finally spoke
"The Cardinals should already know about this, and maybe they are preparing another plan to shut us"
They kept walking inside the village, until one of them approached them
As they walked deeper into the village, someone approached them.
It was Tobari
"Ahh… Your ma-"
He stopped himself the moment he noticed Auel and Gramm standing behind Veyn
"…Veyn, what are you doing here?"
"It's fine they already know the truth"
Tobari blinked
"They know?"
Veyn smiled helplessly
"Yeah, it surprises me that they know the truth this quick"
"But, yeah, we are here just wanted to help with the village, that's all"
Tobari just sighed
"Fine, come here and help"
Then Tobari showed them what to do
While repairing the damaged houses, Auel explained his theory
When he finished, Tobari stood frozen
"Wait, you're saying…"
"The children who were kidnapped weren't taken to be sold"
"They were taken…"
"… to grow those mushrooms"
Auel nodded slightly
Tobari's breathing became heavier
"So…"
"They're still alive"
Auel silent for a moment
"I cannot guarantee that"
"But I think no"
Tobari slowly lowered his head
"That's why they attack this village again"
"Maybe they already dead and need the mushroom"
Tobari gritted his teeth
His fist slammed into the broken wooden wall
"DAMMIT"
The wall cracked beneath the impact
Veyn lowered his eyes
"I'm sorry…"
"If I had act sooner, maybe none of this would've happened"
"I should have stopped them before they could even do it"
Tobari immediately shook his head
"No"
"It is never your fault"
"It's theirs"
"Those fucking Cardinals"
After a long silence, Tobari looked directly at him
"But tell me something"
"Do you really think talking to them will change everything?"
Veyn didnlt answer immediately
"Well, I don't know"
"We know that they hate outsiders especially you"
"They've hated the Dark Elves for years"
"But again, we don't have any proof that they are behind all of this"
"If we accuse them now, they'll simply deny everything"
"That's why we are going to talk with them first"
"If we're lucky, we could get something from them"
"And what if it's failed"
Veyn looked away
"Then we have to find another way"
Tobari let out a tired sigh
"You always do this"
"You always wait"
"You always hope"
"How long are you going to give them time"
"You didn't want to take any action to stop those Cardinals"
He stepped closer
"You're the King"
"How will you protect this forest if you never take any action?"
The words made Veyn fall silent
After a while, he finally spoke
"I know…"
"But I don't know if taking an action is the best action"
Veyn lowered his head
"You know that Hiiro saved the world from the Demon King, right?"
Veyn stared at his own hands
"But at what cost…"
"The Demon King followers still spreads across the world"
"The bandits kept attacking small village"
"People still suffers"
His voice became quieter
"…does his sacrifices really saved the world?"
"What he wanted was to save the world"
"He wanted to save every race"
"But all of that has to be stopped, he had to sacrifice himself"
"Are there not a single way instead of him to sacrifice himself?"
"The world still needs him"
"I keep asking myself…"
"If someone like him couldn't create a world without suffering…"
"Then what can someone like me possibly accomplish?"
Silece filled the village
"But in other hands…"
"I know doing nothing is wrong"
"Because every day I hesitated someone pays the price"
He slowly closed his eyes
"But acting…"
"Doesn't guarantee anything either"
"What if I sacrifice people, only to change nothing?"
"What if all I achieve… is another meaningless sacrifice"
His voice almost disappeared
"I don't want anyone else to become another Hiiro"
"Not because his sacrifice was worthless…"
"But because one sacrifice shouldn't have been the answer"
"The unilateral dismissal of the Cardinals would only anger the people"
"…ultimately lead to a bigger conflict"
"And none of us knows the extent to which that might happen"
Tobari looked at him quietly
He understood why Veyn hesitated so much
He wasn't afraid of fighting
He was afraid that people would die
While the world would remain exactly the same
After a long silence, Veyn smile faintly
"But I promise…"
"If this talking fails…"
"Then I'll find another way to end this"
"…Even it has to sacrifice myself"
"That's enough, just don't shoulder everything alone this time"
Veyn smiled
"I'll try"
Then they continued to repaired the village
The next day came
The party were prepared for the result of Veyn negotiation
Helen tilted her head
"So… what did you three do yesterday?"
Gramm answered naturally
"We just help the Dark Elf village, that's it"
"Just the three of you? That's weird" Rikka frowned
"Yeah, why don't you ask us for help?" Helen crossed her arms
"Honestly..."
"We just happened to see Veyn heading there"
"So, we followed him"
"We didn't think much about it"
"Really?" Helen said
"Yeah, what else do we hid?"
"Beside the village was quickly repaired, it's fine now"
"Well… it's glad to hear that" Rikka said
"So now what are we going to do?"
Gramm's expression turned serious
"We've been talking about the Cardinals"
"And at this point..."
"...they're still our biggest suspects"
"So, we'd like to question them directly"
"At least we know if they are related to this case or not"
Ashley blinked
"Question them?"
"With what evidence?"
"Don't tell me that you are going to interrogate them without any evidence"
Gramm laughed awkwardly
"To be honest yeah"
"We barely have any"
"What!?"
"So, you're just going to interrogate them anyway"
Helen stared at him
"...That's an awful plan"
"I know"
"But waiting won't get us anywhere either."
"Yeah, let's just hope the best"
"Now let's wait for Veyn"
"Is he going to get the Cardinals approval or not"
Then he looked at Sylffie at the table
"Hey are you sure you're fine?"
"Yeah, I'm fine" she answered coldly
She was a little bit different now, as she sat far from Auel
Gramm didn't want something bad happened and stopped talking
Then they waited again
But this time Veyn came faster than usual
"So, how is it?" Gramm asked
"Well… it's bad news"
"They rejected it"
"What!?"
"Yeah… it seems they already know that we are suspecting them and tried to close contact from us"
"So, there's no way to interrogate them?" Rikka asked
"Are we going to search for another suspect?" Ashley added
"I don't think so" Veyn answered confidently
"What do you mean?"
"It's true that they reject to talk to us, but there is one way to talk with them without their approval"
"What is it?" Rikka asked
Before he could explain it, he notices Sylffie was there
"Wait what are you doing here?"
"Are you sure you're fine"
"Tch… Shut-"
Sylffie stopped for a moment and then fixed her tone
"J-just explain how we are going to talk with the Cardinals"
Veyn confused with that changed of tone, but he just ignored it
"As I said there is one way to talk with the Cardinals without their approval"
"Which is…"
He paused
The calmly said
"Brute force"