Investigation

Roy had grown used to eating dinner alone.

The elves' dinners were simple, usually just a plate of fruit or a fish. Tonight, Roy had only eaten an apple.

The little elf from Ms. Jillian's neighboring house was incredibly mischievous. He treated the tiny conches he picked up from the shore like pebbles, tossing them into Ms. Jillian's yard before darting back into his own without looking back.

The brat did not dare provoke Roy too much, because Roy had beaten him up twice.

His grandmother was an elf woman not to be trifled with. The last time she went to Ms. Belinda, Roy had been punished by Ms. Belinda and made to scrub floors for an entire month.

Pointed little ears poked up over the wall as he secretly watched Moira, who was crouching in the yard picking up conches.

Moira turned to look, and he bolted back into the house without looking back, like a startled rabbit.

"Hey, Katie Werner, if I catch you again, I'll kick your butt so hard it bursts!" Roy shouted through the window.

Katie Werner had been born around the same year as Roy, but Roy's childhood had been much shorter than Katie Werner's.

Now Roy already looked like a young man, while Katie Werner still looked only seven or eight years old.

"Roy, I'm not afraid of you..."

Katie Werner screamed loudly at Roy across the yard.

Moira stood in the yard, silently smoothing her hair that had been blown messy by the sea breeze and placing the conches she had picked up into a wooden bucket by the wall.

It was as though life had returned to how it used to be.

It was rare for Ms. Belinda to get home before dinner.

No matter where she went, she was always so full of energy...

Standing by the entryway, Ms. Belinda saw Roy sitting on the living room sofa nibbling an apple. She took off her Crystal Sandals, hurried over to him, wrapped him in her arms, and kissed his forehead.

She was a Silver Moon Elf only three hundred years old, still considered young among elves.

Only after having Roy had she gradually begun adapting to the role of a mother.

"Roy, how have the last two days been? I heard there was a murder on Brown Street. Public safety in the Lower District really is worrying..."

Roy closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Ms. Belinda's lower abdomen. Only that eased his embarrassment a little.

Roy still enjoyed this maternal affection.

"Everything's fine. It was just that when those sailors killed someone, I happened to be nearby. I was acting as their guide at the time. I never expected them to clash with Jefferson..."

Roy described what had happened to Ms. Belinda, frightening her until her face turned pale and her lake-blue eyes filled with worry.

"You're going to Elf Academy next week. How about we rent a room in the Upper District? You can move there directly, and it'll be closer to the academy," Ms. Belinda said.

She felt that living in the Upper District would at least guarantee their safety.

The reason Ms. Belinda had moved here in the first place was not only because life here was less stressful. Another reason was that many Half-Elves lived here, and only they would not discriminate against Roy for being a Half-Elf.

If he lived in the Upper District, who knew how many disdainful looks Roy would receive? He might even become introverted and withdrawn like Moira, Ms. Jillian's youngest daughter next door.

Thinking about his work as a Novice Priest at the Goddess of Freedom Temple, Roy shook his head firmly and said to Ms. Belinda, "It's fine living here. I can take care of myself."

He did not want to dwell on the subject, so he quickly changed the topic.

"How's work at the Art Gallery going?"

At the mention of work, Ms. Belinda's attention was immediately diverted. She leaned tiredly against the sofa, pounding her sore shoulders with one hand as she said,

"The Art Gallery is rushing to prepare for the opening exhibition of Buenos City's art festival. Two sculptures are still only rough forms. Another two weeks of work should be enough..."

"If you're busy, I can report to Elf Academy by myself on Monday," Roy said.

Looking at the young man before her, it was as though he had suddenly grown up.

Ms. Belinda vigorously ruffled Roy's hair and said with satisfaction, "My Roy has grown up. Not only does he have his own thoughts now, he's become much more independent too."

While Ms. Belinda was bathing downstairs, Roy went out onto the terrace.

Every evening after dinner, as long as he had time, Roy would come up here. It had become a habit.

Moira would also appear on the terrace opposite his. Roy did not know when it had begun, but he had earned Moira's trust.

This introverted and withdrawn elf girl was willing to chat with Roy for a while after dinner.

Moira told Roy about what had happened at the docks today: the Five-Masted Sailing Ship had hurriedly departed during the afternoon high tide.

Roy knew that the Captain had probably been worried that the Elf Rangers would cause trouble for those sailors, which was why he had sailed out of the harbour in such a hurry.

They had slipped out for drinks as soon as the ship docked, and they had even generously chosen to stay at an inn. No matter how he looked at them, those sailors could not have been ordinary crewmen.

The ship probably had not even been loaded with its daily supplies, let alone goods for trade at Castleton Harbour.

Yet those sailors had killed a Half-Elf and still managed to leave calmly. Clearly, they were exploiting loopholes in the Silver Moon Elf Kingdom's laws. It had to be said that the laws made by elves were simply that "lenient."

During the investigation and evidence-gathering period, criminal suspects would not be detained. On top of that, those sailors were protected by diplomatic immunity, allowing them to hide aboard their ship.

Now that they had sailed away from the docks, arresting them would likely become even more difficult.

Moira leaned against the terrace railing, resting both hands on it as she said in a very low voice, "I heard he was only drunk..."

"He was used to petty theft. He really didn't have to live such a miserable life."

"Mother said he wasn't like this before. He was a Dark Moon Elf noble exiled to Castleton. For the first few years, he waited with hope, hoping the north would pardon his crimes. Maybe he waited too long and gradually gave up. Later, he became addicted to alcohol. Whenever he got drunk, it was like he became a different person."

Roy was somewhat speechless.

From what Moira had said, Jefferson sounded exactly like Moira's father. This father was simply far too irresponsible.

Then Roy thought of how Ms. Belinda had also raised him alone, and he felt a little puzzled. Were all men in the Elven World like this? Moira often came to him to confide in him like this.

Sometimes, on moonless nights, she would secretly ask him to take a walk along the beach. Her beautiful feet would leave a string of shallow footprints in the sand, only for the incoming tide to swallow and erase them.

Only at night did Moira become a little bolder.

Sabrina always felt that Roy was deceiving Moira, so she had never been willing to show him a pleasant face.

Roy suddenly regretted that if he had stepped forward at the time, perhaps he could have prevented that completely unnecessary conflict...

That night, Roy had some bizarre dreams.

He barely slept at all, and when he got up in the morning, he had huge dark circles under his eyes.

Before leaving, Ms. Belinda had left him breakfast.

When he entered the Goddess of Freedom Temple, perhaps because the theft case there had not yet been resolved, the entire temple felt unusually deserted.

Normally, there should have been a gathering that morning.

It seemed to have been cancelled at the last minute.

Novice Priest Jasper was holding a Hand Net beside the pool in front of the Goddess of Freedom statue in the temple courtyard, scooping leaves from the water.

The courtyard had already been cleaned spotlessly.

When Jasper saw Roy entering through the gates, he smiled and greeted him. "Good morning, Roy..."

"Good morning, Jasper! Need a hand?"

Roy strode forward as he spoke.

"No... no! There's only this little bit of work. There's nothing going on today anyway, so I can get a little exercise before prayer class."

After speaking, Jasper smiled and winked at Roy, declining his kind offer. It seemed he truly liked this job.

Seeing that no help was needed, Roy went to his lounge and changed into his Novice Priest robe.

Priest Anderson was on duty in front of the Main Hall today, and Roy took the initiative to greet him.

Priest Anderson pointed to the second floor of the row of small buildings behind the clock tower and told Roy, "Priest Reid will be teaching prayer class in that room today, Roy. You can go straight to him."

Roy went up to the second floor and heard Priest Reid's voice coming from inside the room as soon as he stepped into the corridor.

Since he could make a ball of Holy Light appear in his palm, Roy was full of anticipation for learning divine spells.

He stood outside and knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in..."

Priest Reid's voice came from inside again.

Roy pushed open the door and entered the room.

Priest Reid stood before a desk. Novice Priest Abbott sat directly opposite him, holding a thick book in his hands with his head nearly buried in its pages as he obediently recited the Holy Prayer.

When Abbott saw Roy enter, he poked his head out from behind the book and winked at him.

Priest Reid pointed to the empty seat beside Abbott, indicating that Roy should sit down.

Roy had only become a Novice Priest yesterday, yet he had come to study today. This made Priest Reid feel quite gratified...

"Roy, you came at the right time. I was just about to teach the two of them some prayers today, so you can listen as well. Of course, you're a beginner, and these prayers are still too profound for you. You can start with a few simple ones," Priest Reid said to Roy.

After saying that, he took a sip of red tea before continuing, "Mages gather mana through meditation, while we priests obtain Holy Light Power through devout prayer. Therefore, prayers are an indispensable part of our daily lives as priests."

"Your spiritual power is still weak, so you cannot learn divine spells yet. You only need to train and strengthen your spiritual power. Reciting this Holy Prayer should be the most helpful for you."

Roy accepted a copper-bound book. It was extremely heavy. The cover bore an image of the Goddess of Freedom, and its title was Holy Prayer.

This must be the introductory book for Novice Priests... Roy thought.

In truth, Priest Reid was not entirely sure himself. Recently, even he had been unable to establish contact with the Goddess no matter how he prayed. He could neither receive her guidance nor her Divine Revelation, and even casting divine spells had been greatly affected.

"Will gathering this Holy Light strengthen my spiritual power?" Roy asked.

"Indeed. It's just that each person chooses different prayers to recite. You don't need to fixate on any particular prayer. Try reciting all the simple ones first. As long as you can gather Holy Light, that is good. It also means that particular prayer is highly compatible with you," Priest Reid explained.

Seeing how attentively Roy was listening, he continued, "When you recite prayers, they turn into tiny balls of light and are stored within your body. Generally speaking, they are hidden throughout your body. When you cast divine spells, you consume this Holy Light Power."

"And once the Holy Light inside your body is exhausted, you will no longer be able to cast those divine spells."

"Later, I'll focus on explaining how divine spells are used. But what you need to do now is gather and accumulate this Holy Light. Only once your body becomes a vessel capable of carrying Holy Light will you be able to cast more powerful divine spells."

"The Holy Light in your hand is too little. When you gather the Light Flame in your palm until it is this large, you can barely begin learning a simple divine spell, Glimmer Illumination." Priest Reid held out his hand, and an egg-sized Light Flame appeared in his palm.

"The main purpose of this divine spell is to dispel darkness. Naturally, it also has a tiny bit of healing power, but it is so weak that it can almost be ignored."

Roy glanced at Priest Reid and asked seriously,

"Priest Reid, when reciting Holy Prayer, am I supposed to draw the tiny light clusters into my body?"

"That's right..."

So for the entire morning, Roy sat in that room holding a copy of Holy Prayer. His mouth went dry from reading, yet he could not gather even a trace of Holy Light Power.

The prayers were all in Elvish, so they were not difficult for Roy.

The only thing that irritated him was that he could not sense the power of Holy Light in any of those prayers.

Instead, when the faint glow in his right palm lit up, the tiny drifting light clusters around his hand were all drawn into it.

It had to be said that the rooms in this Goddess of Freedom Temple were filled with a great deal of Holy Light Power.

When he was at home, he could not gather these light clusters so easily.

By noon, the Light Flame in Roy's palm, which had only been the size of a firefly, had grown slightly larger than a chickpea.

Moreover, the ball of light in Roy's palm looked remarkably like a germinating seed, even revealing the faint tip of a sprout.

"Not bad..."

When Priest Reid saw that the Light Flame in Roy's palm had grown a little, he praised him.

When class ended, Priest Reid stopped Roy.

"Roy, are you going to Elf Academy next week?"

"Yes, Priest Reid."

"You can call me teacher in class."

"Okay, Teacher!"

Priest Reid hesitated for a moment before finally saying,

"If you have enough free time outside class, I'd like to ask you to investigate something for me. You've probably heard about it already. The Holy Grail in front of the Holy Water Pool at the temple was stolen a few days ago. It still hasn't been recovered. If you discover any clues at Elf Academy, you can tell me privately."

"I'll investigate it seriously... Teacher."

Roy readily agreed.