I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

83. Belated regret

‘What on earth is going on? ‘Why is the elder of the branch here?’

Shion’s normal thinking stopped working when she saw the scene before her eyes.

A branch elder who disappeared a long time ago.

I searched not only the land of the elves but also the outside world, but I couldn’t find it and eventually gave up.

But one day, he suddenly found the elder of Gazi in an unexpected place.

The whole body is tied to the roots of the world tree, and blood and saliva are half-dripping from the eyes and mouth.

‘No, let’s calm down. ‘I have to check the status first.’

Even at first glance, it was not a normal condition.

The beautiful elf-like appearance of the past has disappeared and now he seems completely exhausted and unable to express himself properly.

Furthermore, the current branch elder’s entire body’s magical power was being exploited by the roots of the World Tree.

It absorbs just enough magic power to barely die, and maintains its life through the water coming from its roots.

It must have been like this for quite some time.

‘Why on earth would the elder of the stem do something like this? No way.’

Then a thought comes to mind.

Children locked in iron cages.

All of the children possessed a vast amount of magical power within their bodies, comparable to that of high elves.

If I think about it, the magic stone I found a while ago couldn’t have filled all the children’s magic power that much.

If it was just the first time, it might have been possible with just magic stones, but the stem elders have been around for over 100 years.

The story is that there must have been several instances where children were replaced due to natural death or breakdown.

‘First of all, I can’t leave the elder of the branch alone like this.’

From Noble mtl dot com

Even if the breath was still there, that was all.

Currently, it would not be surprising if she died at any time.

Having been exploited for a long time, his body was extremely weak, and his mental state was so damaged that it was doubtful whether he would be able to recover.

However, if you steal the branch elder now, the stem elder may catch you.

Shion was deep in thought.

†††

“I guess everything everyone ordered has been prepared.”

“…”

A few days later, the elder of the stem summoned the elders again and went to inspect the sacrifice.

“If there is an elder who cannot prepare a sacrifice, he must scrape together magic stones within the tribe. If he cannot even do that, he will not be able to avoid disciplinary action at the tribal level.”

A word that is no different from an absolute command.

Nevertheless, the other elders simply remained silent without any response.

All of the elders were glaring at the stem elder with eyes full of disgust and contempt.

“…Why is there no answer from everyone?”

There was no way the stem elders would not have noticed that.

“And why is the Root Elder nowhere to be seen? “I’m sure I would have ordered everyone to gather no matter what.”

There was a bloody atmosphere.

The stem elder must also have felt that the other elders were in an unusual state.

Kkiik-!

“Elder of the Stem, we hereby inform you that our Presbyterian Council will revoke your qualifications as an elder as of today.”

At that time, Zion opened the door and came in, saying so.

“What does that mean now? “By what authority do you dare?”

The stem elder showed a harsh look in his eyes.

Not only did he show up on time for the meeting, but he suddenly announced that he would be revoked as an elder, so it was natural.

“We confirmed that you violated the teachings of our ancestors and committed crimes worthy of the death penalty, and made the right decision accordingly.”

“What crime are you saying I committed?”

The elder of the leaves stood up and said.

“First of all, these are human children imprisoned underground. Definitely our elf. “In particular, there is no way the elders would not know that they should not be greatly involved in the lives of outside races.”

However, the stem elders kidnapped hundreds of human children over a long period of time and used them as test subjects before killing them.

If humans had known about this, the elves would have been as hostile as the demons.

“Foolish, that was given to me by humans themselves. “What’s the problem with bringing in young humans who were sold as slaves at a fair price?”

“In the first place, our ancestors had nothing to say about slaves-“

“Enough is enough, Elder of the Leaf. “Don’t you already know that now is not the time to discuss such matters?”

When the elder of the leaves was about to raise his voice, Zion stepped forward and decided to take his place.

“Everything else didn’t matter. Elder of the stem. “To be honest, it doesn’t matter what you do, Elder, if you kidnap or kill humans.”

“But what’s the problem?”

“…Are you playing a role now? You imprisoned the branch elder underground and exploited his magical power. And did you think we wouldn’t know that the High Elves who have been missing for the past 100 years have gone missing since coming into contact with you?!”

Shion said, biting his lip so hard that blood flowed.

High elves who have been missing for the past 100 years.

What those high elves had in common was that they all lost contact with the stem elder and then lost any news.

In addition, the Elder of Ghazi, who was also a high elf and had gone missing, was also found imprisoned underground.

“I kidnapped them? “That’s funny, is there any evidence of that?”

“Proof? “The proof is here!”

Then, behind Zion’s back, other elders brought in the half-dead elder of Gazi.

When the stem elder saw that, he fell silent for a moment and asked in a surprised voice.

“Why is the elder of the branch here? I definitely saw it in the basement again today-“

“It was a clone created by the magic power of the elder of the branch. “I already rescued the Branch Elder from your clutches a few days ago!”

Zion shouted loudly and said.

When the Branch Elder was found underground a few days ago, Zion thought that if he took it out right away, the Stem Elder would find out, so he made a simple decision.

Perhaps it worked better than expected, as the stem elder reacted by being punched in the back of the head.

Is that why?

“You fool!”

“Whoa?!”

Boom!

“Do you know what you have just done!”

He immediately grabs Shion’s neck and becomes very angry.

The force went beyond simply strangling Zion and could have broken his neck.

“How dare you do this to the elder of the root!”

“Ugh…!”

But fortunately, due to the other elders’ interference, no further harm could be done.

Starting with the elder of the leaves, when he lightly touched the floor with his foot, the roots of the tree bound the elder of the trunk, and various magics were unleashed, including a barrier that blocks magic and a barrier that isolates space.

They are all high-level magic that ordinary magicians can barely imitate their appearance even after training for thousands of years.

This was possible because everyone was in a high position as an elder.

Judging that depending on the situation, there may be a conflict between the stem elders and the armed forces, the elders were fully prepared.

There were already no elves in this tomb except for the elders.

“Are you okay, Root Elder?”

“…Yes, thanks.”

Shion touched his neck and stood up, leaning against the wall.

High elves accumulate a lot of magical power through long experience and time, and become able to use magic that ordinary elves cannot dare to touch.

‘I can’t believe it, that’s the power of an old man who is thousands of years old.’

However, this is the same as aging, and it is normal for physical abilities to decline rapidly.

However, although the elder of the stem was a high elf and the oldest, the strength of his grip was terrifying.

Just in case, Shion destroyed the various defensive magics that had been placed around his body and strangled him with his bare body.

If the other elders had not prepared, he would have been killed in an instant.

It is understandable that the same branch elder was captured by the stem elder.

“I don’t know about anything else, but you shouldn’t touch people of your own kind. Elder of the stem.”

Shion said, shaking his fists.

I’m not done talking yet.

“Could it be that you were the one who murdered my grandfather…?”

As if the other elders didn’t know about this, they started muttering.

“Didn’t the Supreme Elder die of old age?”

“…I found out during the investigation. The night before the Supreme Elder passed away. That you visited the Supreme Elder late at night. But you said nothing about it, and you never let anyone know.”

“…”

That was before the Grand Elder of Zion passed away.

While Sion was investigating this incident, he learned that a long time ago, the Elder of the Stem secretly met alone with the Supreme Elder late at night.

After the stem elder returned, not long after, the highest elder collapsed and died.

No traces of magic or poison were found right away, but it would have been very easy for a stem elder to deal with it without using such things.

In particular, since the highest elder trusted the stem elder very much, it would not have been difficult to find a loophole.

“Say something! Elder of the stem!”

Zion cried out and cried.

He asked how he could betray someone who trusted him twice, and how he could commit such a terrible act as an elf.

“Ha, this is ridiculous.”

“What now-“

However, all that came back was the stem elder’s bewildered reaction.

“You disgusting bastard! “I’m so ashamed of being part of your own race that I want to kill myself!”

The elder of the leaves became very angry and made the roots stronger.

“Ugh…!”

It wouldn’t be surprising if his body exploded right away, but the stem elder held on with his strength and continued speaking.

“Now, do you think that someone like me can assassinate the Supreme Elder? The one who can single-handedly annihilate not only elves but also demons and humans in an instant?”

“…What are you talking about now?”

For a moment, Shion could not understand what the stem elder was saying and asked back.

As he was certainly the highest elder, he must have had power that was incomparable to that of other elders, but his body had aged over dozens of centuries and he would no longer have been able to produce that much power.

Nevertheless, the stem elder said that someone like him could never murder the highest elder.

“You’re foolish, Sion Magus. “I believed you would have already noticed… But it seems I overestimated it.”

What an enemy!

“W-what kind of power?!”

“This is ridiculous! “I’m sure I can’t use magic!”

The elders began to panic.

“I have been practicing following the Supreme Elder even before you guys were born. “How dare you think you, so young, can stop me with your magic?”

Despite the fact that they did everything they could, the stem elders used their power to split the roots of the World Tree and push the barrier to the brink of shattering.

It was so bad that several of the elders who were maintaining the barrier were so overloaded that they vomited blood from their mouths.

Sharp!

“Ah…”

That sight is a living horror itself.

Shion was overwhelmed by the stem elder who was glaring at her with fierce eyes in front of her, and her legs gave out and she fell down.

The air in the conference room was hot and heavy, like hell, and even if I tried to use magic to respond, I couldn’t because the magic was scattered for some reason.

It was all done by the stem elders.

“Elder of the roots! You must avoid it! “I can’t hold him back any longer… Wow?!”

Boom!

Eventually, the roots that held on to the elder of the stem were cut off.

The elder of the leaves was thrown away and was unable to move.

“These foolish things… How dare you return favor with vengeance…”

Now all that was left was Zion.

All the other elders had already collapsed and were unable to move, and even Sion couldn’t even think about running away.

Maybe it was because he knew that even if he tried to run away, he couldn’t.

“Yes, Zion. Let me tell you the last words of the Supreme Elder. “Those will be the last words I say to you.”

“Ah, ah…Don’t come…”

Shion sat down and crawled backwards.

But soon it was blocked by a wall and it became impossible to even do that.

“The Supreme Elder called me late at night and only told me one thing.”

The elder of the stem approached Zion.

And stretches out his hand.

From Noble mtl dot com

“Oh, don’t come…”

The hand that could cut off Zion’s neck in an instant, if he wanted to, was right in front of his nose.

Shion looked at the elder of the stem with trembling eyes.

“I’m asking you to take care of the pitiful elves and my poor granddaughter.”

Her eyes seemed sad for some reason.

“…Goodbye.”

Next, an outstretched hand pushed Shion and made him fall somewhere deep underground.

Boom!

“What?”

Shion fell and hit her butt.

She just thought she was going to be killed, but she fell down out of nowhere and was so embarrassed that she couldn’t figure out what was going on.

“…What is this blood?”

Something poops at the end! It seems like a voice was heard.

There was a drop of blood on Zion’s face that was unknown to whom it belonged.

I was confused because I didn’t know whose blood it was.

“Ah, you ended up committing it? “You poor ear.”

The pink-haired girl I saw one day spoke to me.

The girl rested her chin on her knees and greeted her with a wide, innocent smile on her face.

“You…”

“Thanks to you, it’s been a while since I’ve seen something interesting, but that old ogre was so bored.”

Shion looked at her girl.

The girl also looked at Zion.

The girl’s eyes showed light like stars in the night sky.