How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 236

“Is this the cave?”

Standing before the cave where I had teleported, Lurdane’s voice cut through the silence.

“Yes. Do you sense anything?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Asking? Aside from Lurdane and me, there was no one else here. That meant he was going to ask a non-human entity.

Soon, Lurdane closed his eyes and began to chant softly. It wasn’t in a language I recognized.

A strange thing happened shortly after. The ancient trees nearby all began to shake their branches at once, even though there was no wind.

Afterward, Lurdane opened his eyes and smiled faintly.

“I know the direction.”

“Direction?”

“Yes. Which way they went.”

“How? I haven’t taught you how to read the Dark Elves’ signals yet.”

“It’s not the Dark Elves’ signal. It’s the story of the forest that watched them.”

“The story of the forest…?”

“If we follow what they remember, we might find the signal.”

Lurdane turned and started walking. Following behind him, I asked the question that came to mind.

“Can nature tell you anything it has watched?”

“Yes.”

“Then, shouldn’t we ask for more details, not just the direction…?”

“Nature is more of a bystander than a watcher.”

Lurdane cut me off. Then, he stopped walking for a moment, turned to me, and asked,

“Hey, kid. What did you have for breakfast this morning?”

“Uh, what I had for breakfast?”

What did I eat today?

“Bread, stew, bacon, and milk.”

“How was the bread baked? What shape were the chunks in the stew? How many slices of bacon were there? Was the milk cold, hot, or lukewarm?”

“…Well, I don’t usually check those things while eating.”

“It’s similar to that. Seeking answers from a bystander is foolish. That’s what nature is.”

“I understand. So, the trees where the Dark Elves left signals would be different.”

“If they left a signal, it would give the answer of a watcher, not a bystander.”

After speaking, Lurdane turned again and began to walk briskly.

I felt like I had become a fool.

I must have unknowingly perceived elves and nature as ruler and ruled. How foolish.

I chuckled bitterly and followed Lurdane.

It wasn’t long before Lurdane stopped again.

“Is it here?”

“Yes.”

The place where Lurdane stopped was the beach I had first discovered when I teleported here.

To be exact, the boundary between the beach and the forest.

Standing there, Lurdane nodded.

“Speak the signal.”

Was it now?

I nodded and recited the runic words that Blaue had whispered to me before leaving the Forgotten Castle.

As a non-elf, I couldn’t understand the meaning of the sequence of words. But upon hearing it, Lurdane chuckled and began to recite the runic words I had taught him.

It was strange. Even though it was the same words, when an elf spoke them, they sounded like an ancient spell.

And it seemed that it wasn’t just my thought.

Swoosh….

A flurry of blue light began to scatter. The light, which felt like small grains, soon settled on a particularly thick old tree, and what appeared was a being I had never seen before in my life.

“……”

A small girl.

But she wasn’t human. The deer antlers extending from both sides of her head and the hair made of vine leaves proved it.

Her skin was green, and her eyes were blue. Her frail body was adorned with flowers here and there, giving her the image of a mountain village girl.

“A dryad?”

At my questioning, Lurdane nodded.

“They left a signal in a tree with a spirit.”

Dryad. A spirit of the tree. They share the joys and sorrows of the tree they inhabit, and their disposition is relatively gentle.

However, if there is a being that harms the tree they inhabit, they become more ferocious than anyone else.

Recalling the settings in my head, I moved away from the tree I was leaning against. For some reason, the dryad’s glare felt sharp.

On the other hand, Lurdane slowly lowered himself and knelt on one knee. Then, he reached out his hand to the dryad with the most gentle expression in the world.

How ridiculous. Lurdane making such a face.

The dryad cautiously touched fingertips with Lurdane with a wary expression. Then, they began to exchange words that I couldn’t understand.

Probably something like, ‘Don’t be afraid, I have no other intentions,’ right? It’s not like he’s saying he’ll burn down the tree if she doesn’t give up the information.

While filling my head with such wild imaginations, Lurdane slowly stood up as if the conversation was over.

Seeing him, I asked anxiously.

“When did they leave the signal?”

“It seems like too much time has passed, and she forgot exactly how long it’s been.”

“No, she forgot something that important?”

“Because she’s a spirit. She can’t remember forever like humans.”

“Humans also have forgetfulness.”

“You fill your forgetfulness with records.”

What kind of Zen riddle is this? Well, now that I hear it, it’s not wrong.

“Anyway, if she was in charge of being a watcher, shouldn’t she do her job properly?”

“You stupid kid. I used the word ‘watcher’ as an easy-to-understand analogy, but in reality, it’s not something that can be defined that way.”

“Yes, yes. I’m sure.”

I sighed deeply.

“So, does she not even know roughly?”

At my urging, Lurdane exchanged a few more words with the dryad.

“She said the leaves fell and new buds sprouted.”

“Hmm, it’s right to interpret that they visited here in late autumn.”

“Probably.”

“Now it’s early summer, so it means it’s been more than half a year.”

About 7 or 8 months ago….

That roughly matches the time when Blaue said the Dark Elves were last drafted.

“Well, we’ve buttoned the first button correctly. Now, the important thing is how they took the Dark Elves, but she wouldn’t not know that, right?”

“Should I ask?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

At my answer, Lurdane shrugged and made eye contact with the dryad again.

What kind of answer will come out?

If the Dark Elves were taken out of this hunting ground by carriage, the problem becomes difficult. Finding a witness who remembers what happened 7 or 8 months ago is an absurd task.

I’ll probably have to narrow down the people involved and interrogate them. If necessary, I might even have to consider infiltrating Count Adrian’s mansion.

The preparations are ready. I even had Peter compile a list of suspected individuals.

But that method has many risks. I don’t know what kind of counterattack I might face, and decisively, the fact that I started the tracking will inevitably be known to the enemies.

‘The best ending is separate….’

I watched Lurdane’s mouth with a glimmer of hope. From Lurdane’s mouth, which opened shortly after, flowed the answer I wanted.

“She said they left by boat to the sea.”

Yes. That’s why I waited quietly until the elf came. Praising my own patience, I asked again.

“Direction, memorable features.”

When Lurdane conveyed my words, the dryad raised her finger with a cautious gesture.

The place that finger pointed to was the vast night sky spread over the sea.

What? Did they fly over the sea?

Just as I was about to express my frustration at this ridiculous sound, something particularly shiny caught my eye.

A constellation.

A cluster of stars shining more brightly than other things around them, drawing a pattern.

“……”

It didn’t stop there. The dryad soon crouched down and began to draw something on the dirt floor with her fern-like hands.

The result was crude. But despite its crudeness, the characteristics were clearly alive.

“What is it? Is this a skewer? What’s stuck in it?”

At Lurdane’s puzzled words, I blurted out.

“Trident, Siren.”

“Huh?”

At Lurdane’s question, I relaxed and smiled slightly.

“Please thank the dryad.”

It was crude, but I could clearly see it.

A trident piercing the wailing siren that the dryad drew.

* * *

A few days later.

The group, who had separated with their own large and small missions, gathered again at the brewery and began to check in.

It started with Jescal and Taylor.

Since all they had learned was swordsmanship, there was nothing special I could entrust to them. So, I entrusted them with the basic but important task of arranging ships and setting up the situation.

“How’s the ship situation?”

At my question, Jescal answered with a calm face.

“We contacted the trading ship of the Blue Wind Merchant Guild that entered Maluga a few days ago. When we secretly presented the guild leader’s token and made the offer, they initially agreed to give us the ship.”

“What about the crew?”

“We took them over as is. When we offered the promised reward, they didn’t seem to have any major complaints about the additional schedule.”

“Good. How are the preparations?”

This time, Taylor answered.

“We’ve set the operation period to within a month and prepared supplies. To make it look like a trading ship to the outside, we also loaded disguised goods.”

“Surveillance?”

“Jescal and I have been watching the captain’s every move. Unless he’s a wizard, there would have been no chance for him to leak our proposal. Judging by his behavior, he doesn’t seem to have any relationship with the pirates either.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Nodding, I looked at Fleta this time.

“Schedule?”

At my question, Fleta picked up a piece of paper placed on the table.

She managed the schedule of the upcoming chase.

If we couldn’t find any special traces, we would have to search the archipelago like crazy, so she was calculating in preparation for that case.

“I calculated based on the route heading to the constellation you told me. I made a list of the islands we’ll encounter by sailing date, the time to allocate to exploring each island, and formed groups considering the characteristics of each person. Check it out; I’ve organized it here.”

“There’s no need to review it.”

At my answer, Fleta raised her eyebrows.

“Are you sure?”

“Because you did it. How could you not have done well?”

“……”

I looked at Peter last.

“What about the investigation of the Siren pattern?”

Half exhausted and slumped in his chair, Peter answered in a hoarse voice at my call.

“The Count’s prediction was correct. The Siren pierced by the Trident is the pattern of a pirate group that has recently emerged.”

My prediction was correct.

Then the next answer was obvious.

“Scale?”

“I don’t know.”

“Base?”

“I don’t know.”

“Area of activity?”

“I don’t know.”

Taylor frowned at the words exchanged between Peter and me.

“Is it possible not to know everything?”

“It is. There’s no reason it can’t be.”

Thump!

Peter, who put his hand on the table, smiled.

“It means all the guys who would know are dead.”

At Peter’s words, I also smiled.

“Then what did you investigate, Peter?”

“Count, come on. Isn’t it obvious? I found out about the pirate groups that were eaten and disappeared like that.”

Peter raised his hand and pointed behind him. There was a pile of worn-out papers stacked there.

Seeing him, I nodded.

All preparations were complete.

I looked around at the people.

“Departure is tomorrow. Get plenty of rest tonight.”