Chapter 370

The delve team had enough time to get cleaned up and get a good night’s sleep before Aranor and the prince returned and they started their journey towards the Deepwood border. On the way there they were met by another two carriages that were coming from the capital all filled with retainers from the royal family. 

“Why did they send them?” Ajax asked, confused. 

“Since I am with you it is a good enough excuse that I have my own staff that will be looking after my accommodations, and yours by extension. That way they won’t have easy access to try anything.” Arianwyn explained. 

Ajax also noticed that quite a few of the retainers that among the housekeepers and cooks that showed up there were also two or three combatants, though their power level wasn’t anywhere close to Aranor.

With the number of carriages doubling from two to four their travel speed slowed down a little but they were still making good time. It had been two weeks of travel but they would soon make it to the border and another three days from there to the dungeon. Despite not stopping and relaxing for a good amount of the day every one of them also spent a few hours training each day. 

“It’s so close.” Lexi said as she ran her mana dry trying to create a Domain with Ajax’s help. “I can feel it.” 

“I’m not sure if I am getting any closer.” Ajax said as he also used up half his mana pool trying to unlock Vibration mana for himself. “I wish there was a way to tell how compatible you are with skills.” 

“Legendary skills almost always take extreme circumstances.” Elara said from besides them, she had also joined Ajax in trying to unlock the Legendary affinity. “Affinities even more so.” 

Ajax wished he could say that wasn’t true but he remembered just what kind of energies he was messing with and how close he had gotten to blowing himself up when he unlocked the Life affinity, did he need to try using the spells in combat for it to work better? He was hesitant to do so since his combat style didn’t mix all that well with chanted spells. 

One of the things the king had sent for Arianwyn and Elara was a sealed scroll that only Aranor could open that contained a few sonic combat spells for them; once they learnt them they could try using them in combat in hopes of unlocking the affinity for themselves. 

“What is the meaning of this?!” Aranor’s voice was heard from outside. 

Poking their heads out the carriage windows all of them took in the armed unit that awaited them at the border. Looking over them with [Inspector’s Eye] and [Judge Threat] Ajax found that each of the twenty elves were a major threat to him, the few he could get a level for were up in the late eighties, not something he had no chance against especially with the extra stats he had gained from his most recent dungeons but each was about as strong as Arianwyn, Elara and Darkclaw. And those were the weakest of them.

“Does this mean King Swiftleaf rejects the agreement made by his ambassador?” The prince asked as he stepped forward and came face to face with the armed unit. While they were all elite none of those elves posed a threat to him. 

“Queen Swiftleaf will be honoring the agreement.” A new voice answered. Ajax was surprised that he had completely missed the elf despite her openly standing in front of the entire unit. 

A quick use of his skills on her however and the only thing Ajax got back from his skills was that he stood no chance against her, even more surprisingly she stared right at him after he inspected her, letting him know she had sensed it. 

“Queen Swiftleaf?” Aranor. 

“His Highness stepped down three months ago.” the elven ranger responded. “Sylvaris Swiftleaf has taken the throne and now rules Deepwood.” 

A quiet settled on the forest as everyone took a moment to digest that piece of information. “Is this a good thing?” Ajax asked.

“Most likely yes.” Elara responded. “Sylvaris was always smart and starting a war right as you take the throne is never a good idea. From what father told me of her she also isn’t that strong of a believer in elven supremacy as her father was.” 

“That’s not to say she likes the other races.” Arianwyn followed up. “She was a general during the last war and she lost a few of her best friends to the dwarves. I’m not sure what her views on humans or beastkin is since they were fighting each other mostly for the last war.” 

“Long may she reign.” Aranor responded. “How is meeting us with an armed force meant to convey her support of the agreement?” 

“We are here for your protection.” the ranger said. “While she has publicly denounced any attempt on the lives of our visitors, not all high nobles are so quick to settle following a change in leadership, as I’m sure you are aware.” 

The last remark had a bit of bite to it. “What is that supposed to mean?” Lexi asked. 

“That was meant for us.” Arianwyn whispered, her ears drooping down a little. “A few of the more affluent nobles chose my father’s rise to the throne as the perfect moment to push and put extra pressure on long standing trade agreements. Our trade with Deepwood was most affected.” 

Aranor, the prince and the rest of the delve group congregated in one of the carriages. “I believe she is telling the truth.” Aranor opened first. “There is no reason to meet us at the border otherwise, instead of simply ambushing us after we crossed. Still it is your decision.” 

Elara, Arianwyn and Aranor wouldn’t be the ones at risk in Deepwood so while they offered their point of view the decision lay with everyone else.

“I don’t like this.” the prince said. “Sylvaris was always a great planner but her strategies were always more than a little crazy when the odds were stacked against her.” 

The prince had only met Sylvaris a few times, most of those times being during tournaments, while the princess had never been strong enough to take to the field herself; she had been there to coach a few of her friends. When the odds were stacked against her plans made almost no sense at first glance, about three quarters of them had also failed straight away. The last quarter however were successful and recognised as brilliant.

“We always knew this was a possibility before we came here.” Ajax said. “Does her now being queen change things? Also does it change them for the worse?” 

“It does change them.” Harold answered, as this change messed with a lot of the preparation house Silvertongue had given him before the start of the trip.

“I hate to say it, but things might be better.” the prince said as he let out a sigh. “ for our situation as a whole anyway, we will need to take extra precautions.” 

“How is our situation better if we need extra precautions?” Anna asked, the statement making no sense.

“King Swiftleaf ruled with an iron fist.” Aranor answered. “Anybody that I would have problems protecting you from would only be taking orders from him, this narrowed the options down to either we would be hit hard or not at all, there used to actually be a decent chance that no attempt on your lives would be made.” 

“With Sylvaris on the throne the chance that she orders us to be killed is close to zero. We will almost certainly be attacked however.” the prince finished. “I think we continue.” 

Ajax had no personal insight into the situation but he trusted the prince’s judgment, before he made a decision however he turned towards Lexi to see her take on all of this. Lexi met his gaze and after a short moment she nodded her agreement. 

“Then let's keep going.” Ajax said with a nod as well. 

“Don’t eat or drink anything that hasn’t been tasted.” Arianwyn said. “One of my maids has a very high level [Poison Resistance] and [Toxin Detection]. Don’t take any chances.” 

With their decision made the group finally entered Deepwood. Ajax was very much surprised to see that despite being joined by a group traveling mostly on foot with only a single carriage their speed didn’t slow at all. Their small convoy was constantly surrounded day and night as their new escorts slept in shifts as they made their way to the first dungeon.