The village didn't have cells or a locker to hold down criminals. Hence, the elves were locked in the storeroom.
The storeroom wasn't spacious, but it could fit three people. However, despite it being able to fit three people if they squeezed together, Lina was locked in another place.
The room didn't have a light source, and a rather foul smell lingered in the room.
Due to the absence of the light source, it got extremely dark during the night. If it weren't for the moonlight entering through the cracks of the door, the two of them couldn't even see each other.
However, the elves weren't in any position to complain.
"Young master…" Elior called out for Valen, his voice timid. "What do you think will happen to us?"
He couldn't help but worry.
From the looks of it, it didn't look like the wolf-kin would spare them.
Valen's sword had been confiscated, his limbs still tied.
He had crouched in one of the corners of the room.
He picked himself up and turned to face Elior with a grim expression. The pain from earlier still lingered, making it difficult to sleep.
"Who knows?" Valen grunted.
Though he could have assured Elior by feeding him some lies, he couldn't bring himself to lie to him. What if this is their final moment?
If this was their final moment, then at least he didn't want to lie to his loyal servant.
Thus, he answered truthfully.
Though he had different speculations, he didn't know the exact answer himself.
"Do… Do you think they'll kill us?" Elior quivered, his voice tinged with fear.
Valen couldn't bring himself to respond. One of his speculations was death after all. Hence, he remained silent as he turned to look at the cracks of the door from where the moonlight was spilling into the room.
For some reason, he couldn't help but get this urge to stare at the night sky. But even the night sky he had taken for granted couldn't be seen from here, and who knows if he'd be able to see one anymore?
Staring dazedly at the cracks of the door, Valen muttered, "I could really go for stargazing…"
Elior felt perplexed at his words. How could he think about stargazing when their life was in danger? He couldn't understand what his young master was thinking at this moment.
Does he not care about their survival?
From the looks of it, it appeared as if he had given up on life.
This sight was depressing. Yet, he felt an odd sensation of calmness enveloping him. The turbid thoughts that ran rampant in his head calmed as he looked at his young master.
His once turbid heart calmed down as he responded, "Yeah, I wonder how the sky looks today?"
**** ****
Inside a spacious, lantern-lit room, a bunch of people were gathered.
In the middle of the room was a huge circular table, and around the table sat Kael and the others.
"So, what should we do with those intruders?"
One of the wolf-kin asked. He was wearing a magnificent purple robe, and a necklace of fangs hung on his neck. Some intricate patterns had been carved on those fangs.
"We should execute them," another spoke.
"No, we can't do that…" Lira retorted in defiance.
However, the rest of the folk gathered there snorted upon hearing her.
"What do you mean we can't?"
"Yeah, those elves are dangerous."
"Don't you recall those elves' bastard invaded our village before and killed a lot of our kin?"
The flame of vengeance burned deep in their heart as the older members of the tribe voted against Lira. Their blood boiled with revenge.
"Precisely because of that, we can't kill them. Who knows how large their force is?" Lira tried to convince the members gathered there.
"Then what do you suggest, we let them live?"
"Outrageous! I'd rather kill those bastards here and face their forces. Hmph!"
"Yeah! Who cares about their forces? We should kill those bastards…"
Lira looked in the direction of Thran, her eyes begging for help. But Thran averted his gaze as he refused her plea. Though he wanted to help her, he couldn't bring himself to side with her.
Just like some of them, he had also lost his parents in the elf invasion.
Hence, he averted his gaze as he refused to support her cause.
He agreed that she had a valid point. But even so, he held grudges against elves just like many others in the village.
Lira's breath caught in her throat as Thran looked away.
That single gesture— small, silent, cut deeper than any word could.
Her lips parted as if to say something, but no voice came out.
She stared at him, stunned, almost unbelieving.
She knew she was right. If just killing the elves would solve their problem, then she wouldn't be against it either. But she knew what they lacked was information, at present.
Hence, she wanted to extract information from them and then use it to their advantage rather than killing them blindly.
But this bunch of morons was blinded by revenge, unwilling to look at the bigger picture.
This infuriated her.
But she was helpless against them. Even the one whom she believed she could trust looked away from her.
'What happened to your rationality?' Lira clenched her knuckles as she glared at Thran.
Thran, however, didn't even look at her and ignored her.
'Fine! If you're not helping, then I'll ask Kael.'
She drew in a quiet, shuddering breath and turned her gaze elsewhere—toward the one person who hadn't spoken a single word since the beginning.
Kael.
He sat at the far end of the table, the lanternlight casting sharp shadows over his chiseled features. His silver hair fell slightly over his eyes as he leaned back in his seat, arms folded, eyes closed.
It seemed as if he was lost in deep contemplation.
The storm of voices clashed around him, but Kael remained still like a mountain untouched by the wind.
Lira stared at him with silent desperation.
She didn't want to make a decision that could harm their budding settlement.