Death Knell

Roy was holding two books, ready to run out the door to the Elf Academy. It had been raining for days, and the Da Nei River's water level had risen sharply, making the water in the entire river channel very murky.

As soon as he left his house, he saw two Elf Rangers standing on the street outside the courtyard, seemingly checking house numbers.

This area was on the edge of the Lower District, close to the port, where many buildings were makeshift wooden houses, making it look somewhat chaotic.

"Who are you looking for?" Roy asked the two Elf Rangers.

He recognized one of the Elf Rangers; he had seen him at the tavern a few days ago.

The Elf Ranger looked at Roy and asked uncertainly, "Are you Roy?"

"Yes, that's me."

The Elf Ranger immediately stood in front of Roy, scrutinizing him as he said, "Pelius is dead. We found his body in a sewer near his house. We'd like you to come and identify whether the elf you saw climbing over the wall that morning was him..."

"Can we do this quickly? I need to hurry to the Elf Academy for class," Roy said, patting the books in his arms.

The Elf Ranger pointed to a carriage parked at the street corner and replied, "It won't take up much of your time, just an identification."

"Alright then..."

In fact, whether Roy agreed or not, the end result would be the same.

Commoners in the Lower District didn't have any special privileges, unlike the nobles in the Upper District...

As Roy got into the Guard Squad Carriage, Sabrina happened to walk out of her house with books in her arms.

The Guard Squad Carriage traveled through the streets and alleys, driving on the noisy streets.

The morning sun was bright, and the elves living in the Lower District began their day's work.

Roy sat in the carriage, with two Elf Rangers sitting opposite him. They were wearing light leather armor, and their swords were hanging on the hooks on the carriage door.

He briefly recounted the encounter with the elf thief that morning to the Elf Ranger.

The Elf Ranger, who had met Roy once before, suddenly asked, "You were also there when Jefferson died, right?"

Roy answered frankly, "Yes."

The younger Elf Ranger commented, "What a coincidence."

Roy glanced at the Elf Ranger and said, "Everyone has bad luck sometimes, don't they?"

Then he fell silent, and the carriage became very quiet.

Fortunately, the destination wasn't far, a cemetery on the edge of the Lower District. Graves were scattered all over the hillside, and the grassy slopes around the graves were neatly trimmed.

The elf thief's body had already been transported here.

Roy thought he would be taken to the scene of the crime, but instead, he followed the two Elf Rangers into a cemetery in the Lower District.

Walking into a somewhat gloomy building, through a long corridor, they arrived at a morgue.

There was a strong smell of mildew at the door of the room, and it was extremely damp inside.

Roy followed the Elf Rangers inside. There was no light coming in, and there was a wall lamp every three meters, but the wicks had only bean-sized flames, emitting a faint light.

Roy smelled a stench.

The elf thief was lying on a mortuary bed, covered only with a linen cloth.

The Elf Ranger took the initiative to walk up and lift the part of the linen cloth covering his head, revealing the twisted face inside, devoid of blood...

It was a face twisted in terror, with a very clear arrow hole in the center of his forehead, probably the fatal wound.

The corpse had already begun to decompose, emitting a disgusting stench.

Both Elf Rangers were covering their mouths and noses with handkerchiefs, and Roy was also trying to suppress the urge to vomit, carefully identifying the body.

Although his face was distorted, Roy was sure that the elf lying on the mortuary bed was the elf thief, because his appearance was too ordinary, even an oddity among Half-Elves...

"That's the one I saw that day," Roy said with certainty.

The Elf Ranger nodded and directly pulled the linen cloth back over his head.

The three of them didn't linger in the morgue and turned to leave.

"So, was the Holy Grail found?" Roy asked curiously.

"Not yet. When we got to his house, it had already been ransacked," the Elf Ranger said.

Roy looked up at the sky; the coolness of the morning had begun to dissipate.

He then asked, "So, can I go to school now?"

"Of course!" the Elf Ranger replied.

Since it was still quite a distance from the Elf Academy in the Upper District, he said to Roy, "If you have any leads, you can come directly to the Guard Squad to find me. I'm responsible for the security of this area of the port."

"Okay, Ranger Sir," Roy replied respectfully.

Roy's eagerly anticipated reward for providing information was not even mentioned by the two Elf Rangers...

By the time Roy ran to the Elf Academy, the first major class was already halfway through.

The entire academy was quiet, except for the training ground, which was crowded with students.

At the Elf Academy, being late wasn't considered a serious matter.

Many teachers didn't even care how many students were absent from their classes. The Elf Academy's student management system was extremely lenient.

It was easy to get in, but difficult to graduate.

If the final exams and defenses were not passed, one was destined to repeat the year...

However, if a student rashly rushed in during a class, there was a high probability that they would be kicked out by the instructor.

The Elementary Martial Arts Training was an outdoor class on the training ground. Roy found the right moment and blended into the running group.

Klayr, who was in the group, saw Roy arrive and deliberately slowed down to come to Roy's side, saying happily, "I thought you weren't coming."

"Why would you think that?" Roy replied, panting.

"Steve has been looking for trouble with you these past two days. I was worried you'd be scared off..." Klayr chuckled.

Roy rolled his eyes at him, annoyed.

After everyone ran around the training ground twice, they began to prepare to learn some basic movements of Elementary Martial Arts.

At this moment, Instructor Abbott. Nora, standing in front of the group, put her hands on her hips and shouted loudly, "Roy, step out!"

Roy knew he couldn't escape this time and could only bite the bullet and step out of the group.

"Keep running!" Instructor Nora ordered.

Roy didn't hesitate and immediately continued running around the training ground.

The other students had already begun learning the disassembled movements of Martial Arts, while Roy was still running...

However, after Roy dutifully ran two laps, Instructor Nora called him back.

"Next time you're late again, you'll keep running until the end of class," Instructor Nora said sternly.

"Yes."

"Join the ranks!"

Roy studied the disassembled basic Martial Arts movements very seriously.

But he was somewhat frustrated to find that many Martial Arts movements that elves could easily complete were extremely difficult for him. Either the movements were not in place, or his hands and feet were uncoordinated...

No matter how hard he tried to practice, the movements were clumsy and stiff.

During the break, Klayr complained to Roy, "You really don't have any foundation at all."

Roy didn't say anything and lay exhausted on the grass.

Klayr asked him, "What else did you sign up for besides Elementary Martial Arts?"

"Geography and Modern Elf History."

Klayr sat on the grass, propping herself up with her hands, and said speechlessly, "It really does clash with all my classes, how did you manage to pick them..."