Aftermath and misconception

"What-?!"

The woman's voice was filled with rage, her exclamation laced with a sense of serenity. The situation she was currently in entailed that reaction of hers. What exactly might it be?

It was unexpected news that the few people who returned a while ago had brought along with them. The details she heard weren't enough, yet she could determine what had actually occurred.

"He escaped safely?"

"That's what we can read through the reports we got..."

The man spoke while feeling unsure about what to do next. The woman in front of him hid her face under the white veil so perfectly that his nervousness only piled up.

Thud

The loud sound echoed throughout the room, which was occupied by the two people. Flowing down his wounded head, the red liquid touched the ground drop by drop.

The crystal ball she had thrown at him shattered while being drenched in his blood. He stood in his shoes without making a sound, even after getting hit. The woman's anger-filled voice made him shudder.

"And just what the heck were you 'Numbers' doing when I had ordered you to create trouble for him?!"

Queen yelled at the man, who was a member of the newly appointed 'Numbers'. He had simply come to deliver the reports that the higher-ups within their group had asked him to.

Had he known that he would need to go through something like that, he would've definitely passed on it.

The contents of the report said that Ace had managed to escape safely. The presence of Adrienne Agustus was also confirmed during the events.

That irregular fact alone was more than enough to overlook his failure to achieve their main goal.

[Kill the world tree]

The worn-out, old-looking, brownish paper had those words highlighted in black. The Terminus Consortium had a task list provided to them from the very beginning.

And some minor tasks were created by the members with the highest authority within the organisation. Then how were the tasks provided for the top individuals?

Lower individuals discussed them, calling for a joint meeting between 'Zodiacs' and 'Trumps'. Then the tasks listed would be voted on anonymously to finalise the decision.

As easy as it sounded, it was totally opposite of it. The internal conflicts for power would always end up dividing the members into three groups.

First, the one who supported the King and Queen. Second, the one who wanted to usurp the power for themselves. These two groups were always at the necks of each other.

And lastly, those who preferred to remain neutral while acting in accordance with their desires. They merely sided with either one of the former two groups based on how much it would benefit them.

Sigh

"Calm down, Queen."

The voice of the man sitting in front of her spoke in a polite manner. Queen flinched at that voice and let out a light sigh.

That situation wasn't really good for her, who had expelled a member of their organisation with no valid reason. Though Queen covered it up as 'the member chose to resign by herself', Ace and Jack wouldn't buy it.

Knight and those two shared a quiet past with each other. Queen, of course, had only a vague picture about it, and that's all.

Her worries only increased when she heard that before her newly appointed 'Numbers' even took any action, Ace had escaped from the Elven Forest.

Left with no choice but to retreat, 'Numbers' returned with a detailed report of what had unfolded within the forest.

"How do you expect me to be calm? You 'Zodiac' b*stards also caused a mess."

Thud

She grumbled at the man while slamming her palm right into the table between them. The two cups of tea trembled due to the violent vibration through the surface of the table.

A black symbol of 'O' with another horizontally cut half 'O' placed above it just below the corner of his left eye. The typical symbol represented one of the 12 zodiac signs. Taurus.

The strongest person amongst the 'Zodiacs', who acted neutral during every joint meeting, had been in cahoots with Queen for a long time.

The bulky, tanned, muscular body seemed to be well-maintained. His brownish-yellow hair and golden eyes complimented his looks quite well.

The white short-sleeved lace-up shirt he wore had some golden bordering. His eyes made a frown before he clicked his tongue.

Tsk

"It's not like I was the one acting up, right?"

"T-that's not what I meant."

Taurus was very well aware of what the Queen intended to say. Yet he decided to act as if he were clueless. The reason was simple—he wanted to dig more into that matter.

Queen saw Taurus as nothing but a pawn to keep an eye on Zodiacs' actions. That's how she was the first one to receive news that Pollux and Castor—the 'Gemini siblings'—had interfered with Ace's task.

If Ace had argued while putting the fact that the twins of Gemini had interfered on line, no matter what, the punishment would have been lessened.

But then again, this time Adrienne's unexpected appearance had a major impact on everything.

That one single person who appeared out of nowhere thwarted their task. Since Adrienne was a high-priority target on their hit list, they couldn't put the blame on Ace.

The involvement of Jack and the members of 'Shapes' was still a fact unknown to everyone else. Queen would never even possibly imagine that the two were plotting something behind her back.

"And? What now? Those two won't stay quiet after what you did, you know?"

Ace and Jack must've surely heard the news about Knight by then. The fact that Ace returned alive was already bad news for Queen.

Even after trying to look into Knight's location, there were no results at all. Ace and Jack would come for her as soon as Ace recovered.

"I do have a plan..."

'What a sly woman.'

Taurus knew that asking her about it wouldn't yield him any good results. Even if he looked like a musclehead, he was smart enough to understand that much.

He couldn't help but stare blankly at the air while imagining what Queen could be up to. But was there even a way for him to find out?

--------------------

"No... There was none."

The balls of light floated around the room they sat in to discuss something crucial. The two men's foreheads had wrinkles visible because of the frowning of their eyebrows.

The blonde-haired woman had said those words confidently. Despite that, the others in that room had their own doubts about it. And the proof of that was the question that followed.

"Did you use the spirit of wind to scout the rest of the forest?"

His emerald-green eyes had a serious, calm look to them. He gulped down his own saliva nervously while glancing at other people's faces.

Sigh

The black-haired man had almost no expression on his face. As if he were not bothered by whatever was going on at all.

While covering the lower half of his face with his interlocked hands, he calmly heard what Diona said. It had been about an hour since they returned to the Elven Village.

"That's right. Precisely, we can say that we've eliminated all threats for now."

The first one to return was Diona, and Adrienne happened to meet her right at the entrance. Jaden and Blaise, unlike the other two, fell behind, so the rest had to wait for them.

Since they returned, the four of them didn't waste any time and straight away headed to the room that linked itself to another dimension. That's how the meeting began, where they explained whatever had happened.

Obviously, some details were hidden by Adrienne from everyone else. The more one knew, the more their lives would be in danger. No, the Elven Village was already being targeted.

There was a chance that Ace and Jack would attack the village again, but surely that would take them a while to recover.

Not to mention, Adrienne, Jaden, Blaise, and Diona had killed off all the monsters they had gathered. It was obvious to Adrienne that those beasts had been captured a long time ago. If not, then there was no way that Ace would've asked the hesitant Jack for permission.

"We should increase the security around the edges."

Diona caught on to how their enemies had taken advantage of unguarded forest borders to release monsters. If they had kept an eye on the whole forest since the beginning, this situation wouldn't have arisen.

Placing elven guards over those places wasn't the only option. There was an alternative that was even better than what one could imagine. Sierra smiled lightly before speaking up.

"No need for that... We can count on the surveillance I set up for that."

When everyone was busy talking, Sierra had already spread her magic all over the elven forest. The moment someone tries to enter the forest, she will be able to get alert. Its only limitation was that the intruder must be either in contact with ground or trees.

Usually, using that kind of magic would've been impossible. But since being freed from the restrictions, some of her powers have gradually been restored.

Sierra would've been able to interfere with the earlier battle too, but she couldn't do it. There was only one one reason behind it—she had no desire to leave the village.

Sierra, who had watched cruel wars break out, had no more interest in taking part in fights. She simply wished to live in peace.

Her dream was far from coming true, given what had been going on lately. The people who had been targeting her for over ten years had already started plotting her death.

What was the term that defined it correctly? Assassination? Sierra glanced at Adrienne calmly.

"Did you figure out their purpose?"

"No... but I have my assumptions."

The assumptions he made were almost accurate every time. There might've been some things different here and there, but those assumptions were far better than nothing at all.

Sierra knew Adrienne was the type of person who would think logically rather than make blind guesses. Yet his continuation left everyone with a confused face.

"A war."

"What?"

No one could comprehend what Adrienne meant by 'war'. It didn't seem like he was saying just whatever he could. Not to mention, he was a serious person most of the time.

In fact, he actually meant it when he said those words. How exactly, you ask? Adrienne stared at the sword on his waist while speaking.

"They want to fuel a war."

A war between elves and humans. That was the hidden intention behind the task Ace received. No one had a single idea that Queen had proposed that task on purpose.

Even Ace and Jack were under the misconception that they were playing well behind Queen's back, but in truth, she couldn't care less about what they did.

The death of the world tree would be beneficial in four ways to the Terminus Consortium. They would be able to start igniting flames of war between humans and other races once they push the blame on humans.

Using their sheer power, it would take them no time to usurp the treasures the elves had on them. The third was that they could eliminate one of the divine beings.

The last was that it would mark the beginning of what they had aimed for for a long time. Of course, Adrienne had no idea why exactly they intended to fuel the war.

"Why would they?"

Diona couldn't find it believable at all. After all, it was beyond absurd. To think someone would want to start a futile war. But was that the case?

No, that notion of war was truly terrifying. By killing the world tree, the elven forest would lose its protection. That would inevitably lead to the elves defeat.

And if they were to lose such a war, the outcomes wouldn't be any good. The other races will see the wipeout of the neutral elven race as a sign of a threat to them.

Adrienne finally managed to understand what they were after once he was done analysing all the facts. A cunning smile rose on his lips.

After the war against dragons ended, there was a certain race that rarely bothered getting tangled up in any worldly affairs.

They would get involved only when the balance of peace between the neutral races was shaken. As if he had found a new toy to play with, Adrienne spoke coldly.

"Ah... do they want to get 'them' involved?"