Chapter 104: How Could There Be Birdsong?

“Whoosh—”

The escort squad passed through the flat forest, and the Night Elves, riding horses, pricked up their ears, carefully listening to the whistling coming from the carriage.

“The king’s whistle is so beautiful…”

“A tune I’ve never heard before—light and joyful!”

“I wonder what song that is.”

The Night Elves chatted about the whistle all along the way, their faces free of any tension. They believed this was a simple escort mission and did not realize the heavy thoughts weighing on the other two.

“Hera, have you spotted any signs of the enemy yet?” Irei asked Hera. This time, they were escorting Lin Lei to the Kingdom of Victoria, and Eve had warned them of possible dangers along the way.

Knowing that the demigods intended to set a trap, Lin Lei naturally remained vigilant.

He had brought three hundred elite royal guards, along with two generals, Irei and Hera, to protect him—no demigod could so easily approach him.

After all, demigods were only half-gods, not true deities. Fundamentally, they were powerful beings with immortal lifespans, but Lin Lei had many ways to guard against them.

Hera’s prophetic abilities combined with Irei’s martial prowess were more than enough to ensure the group’s safe retreat in case of an unexpected attack—unless multiple demigods struck at once.

But that was impossible. Lin Lei had intelligence from Xiaobai revealing that the demigods had chosen a single representative to handle the matter. This demigod did not want to leave any traces and would not attack directly but planned to frame him instead.

Lin Lei’s team was more than capable of handling this.

“No signs so far,” Hera replied through a spell-based conversation with Irei. She had been raising her guard constantly but so far only sensed vague, fleeting gazes without any dangerous aura.

“That’s odd,” Irei muttered. He could hear the gentle sound of flowing water and some horse calls. They had reached the human welcoming point. Were the demigods really not going to make a move?

With this doubt in mind, Irei joined up with the human forces.

It was the Night Elves’ first time participating in a human alliance meeting, and the Kingdom of Victoria took it very seriously, sending a lord to greet them.

“Your Majesty, the Supreme King, I am Christopher Dumas, Lord of Xinrant. Welcome to our realm!”

Christopher placed a hand on his chest and bowed—a human gesture for welcoming distinguished guests.

“Greetings, Mr. Stud,” Lin Lei nodded slightly. As the Supreme King of the Night Elves, this was sufficient etiquette for him.

“You have an easy-to-remember name.”

Christopher was a bit embarrassed. “Your Majesty, could you please call me Christopher?”

Being called “Stud” on their first meeting was a first for him; he had never encountered such a straightforward king before.

Lin Lei patted Christopher on the shoulder. “Just kidding, don’t mind me, Mr. Chris-Harvard.”

“Your Majesty, it’s Christopher…”

“Mr. Chris-Dover, what a memory I have!”

“Christopher.”

“Chris-Dover, that’s right.”

Christopher gave up. This Night Elf king might be a fool, unable to remember even a name properly.

“Why are human names so long?”

At the same time, Lin Lei muttered to himself—he didn’t mean to say it wrong, the name was just too long. Even if he memorized it, he would forget it.

He decided to give humans more nicknames in the future to avoid mispronouncing names.

Christopher no longer argued about the name and led Lin Lei into Victoria’s territory.

The distance from Victoria’s capital to the border was 500 kilometers, but the terrain was rugged and difficult, so their progress was slow.

As night fell and stars appeared in the sky, the group set up camp and lit a fire, choosing to rest in the forest.

“Your Majesty, we should set out early tomorrow and reach the capital by afternoon,” Christopher said, eating roasted meat and inviting Lin Lei, “Please be sure to visit my home when we arrive.”

Half a day later, Christopher had forgotten his earlier discomfort and was won over by Lin Lei.

The Supreme King was friendly and warm, without arrogance, and even willing to share his roasted meat—it was incredibly delicious!

Christopher also saw Lin Lei share the meat with other Night Elves. As a ruler, he was willing to give his subordinates roasted meat. No wonder the Night Elves adored him so much.

“This Supreme King could become a good friend of His Majesty,” Christopher thought, knowing how much his own king loved good food.

“To be honest, Your Majesty…” Christopher smiled broadly, “After escorting you back, I plan to retire and enjoy my old age.”

“Ah? Retire?”

Lin Lei stopped devouring the meat mid-bite and turned to stare at Christopher. “Mr. Stud, you’re setting yourself up for failure!”

“Failure?” Christopher looked puzzled. What was that?

—“It means you’re going to die,” thought a leopard nearby, pulling its ears away from the ground.

“Sivi, did you hear what they said?” a gray leopard asked.

“Nothing worth noting,” Sivi looked at the gray leopard. “What did you hear?”

The gray leopard shook its head. “No, too far away, but I smell something…”

“What smell?”

“…Roasted meat.”

The gray leopard swallowed. What kind of roasted meat was this? Why did it smell so good?

Sivi felt a little hungry too. “Shall we eat some rations first?”

“Lord Bailey is still watching from the sky. What if he finds us slacking off?” The gray leopard hesitated, but Sivi had already transformed back to her original form, sitting on a rock and taking out the rations.

“We’re here to assist him, not his subordinates. Do we not have the freedom to eat?”

Sivi chewed on the rations.

The gray leopard thought for a moment and agreed. She transformed back into an elf and sat beside Sivi, chewing on the rations together.

“Really wish we could have some roasted meat…”

They both found the rations unappetizing. They were over a thousand meters away from the Night Elves’ camp, and from there the campfire was barely visible to the naked eye. Roasting something wouldn’t be noticed.

But the elf thought better of it and gave up, not wanting to mess things up.

An eagle circled in the night sky, watching both the Night Elf camp and the Druids’ movements.

It noticed Sivi and the other sneaking a bite and flickered with displeasure.

“Youngsters these days, can’t endure even this little hardship.”

Since the other side had already camped, the Supreme King would not leave tonight. It was indeed time to take those Druids to eat something.

“I want to eat roasted meat too.”

That aroma was unbearable…

The eagle opened its beak, and the sky echoed with a sharp cry.

“Why are there birds calling so late at night?”

Lin Lei, chewing on roasted meat, glanced up briefly before looking away.

Too far to catch—otherwise, it would have been dinner for bird soup.