A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 266 The Danu Clan

"Rorschach." "Singrev, Gold-rank adventurer."

Seeing that the other person was an elf, Rorschach couldn't help but ask, "I see this exhibition trying to convince visitors that grey elves are a barbaric and ignorant race. Don't you, and your fellow elves, feel offended?"

After shaking hands with the two men, Benedict put his gloves back on. "Mr. Rorschach, you've identified the problem, but you don't understand Istani and the elves." He flashed an exaggerated smile. "For most elves, what you just said is offensive. For the elves of the main island of the kingdom, we cannot be compared to the grey elves. Those barbarians of El Island have another name, 'swamp elves,' or more bluntly, 'mud-bloods.'"

As Benedict spoke, his relaxed and cheerful expression vanished: "The exhibition has strayed from my original intention, and so far you're the one who's discovered the problem. Neither of you are old stalemates in Storm City, so you don't know I'm an actor."

"Aren't you a curator? How come you're an actor too?" Singhlev didn't have a good impression of this bean sprout.

“Mr. Dwarf, interrupting someone is not being frank, it’s being rude.” He simply looked at Rorschach and said, “Most of the people on the main island of Istani don’t understand their neighbor on El Isle. After the conquest, they just treated it as a plantation, eating the food grown by the Grey Elves, and despising them for only knowing how to drink.”

"I'm an actor, and I'm fairly well-known in the theater, so I used my connections to organize this exhibition about the Grey Elves, asking celebrities and dignitaries to lend their private collections to everyone. It's a pity, a pity, that one person's influence is ultimately insignificant. Under the guidance of 'professionals,' this is what was presented—all prejudice and ignorance."

Rorschach could only express regret at Benedict's sentimentality. More than the failure of his efforts, he was concerned about the information revealed: "Mr. Benedict, you just said it was the 'Danu Slab,' and 'Danu' is..."

"The native deity of El, the mother of all gods," Benedict briefly introduced the mythology of the Grey Elves, a classic tale of a female creator. The goddess Danu had many children, all possessing divinity and power, able to traverse the mist and draw strength from nature. The Grey Elves primarily worshipped and served the Danu gods.

"In the end of the myth, Danu and his offspring were defeated by a god from the sea and vanished without a trace. Some of the grey elves still believe that Danu will return to save them. As for the god who emerged from the sea..."

"Is?" Benedict was addressing the god of the sea and storms.

The actor placed his finger in front of his lips; his upper lip was thin and pale, almost invisible: "Exactly."

Could Danu be related to Mother Earth? The characteristics match up almost perfectly, and Rorschach hesitated whether he should go to El Isle.

As if he could read minds, Benedict immediately asked, "Do you want to go to El Isle to see for yourself? I advise you not to. The kingdom is extremely vigilant about anyone sneaking into its granaries or muddy back gardens, especially non-citizens. You don't want to be arrested on charges of espionage, do you?"

After saying that, Benedict pulled out a business card, and Rorschach took it and saw that it was for a "Detective Agency".

The actor told the monk, "If you are interested in the Grey Elves, you can come find me. As long as it's not a performance or rehearsal, my address is on my business card. If I'm not there, please go to the 'Golden Harp Theatre,' which is known to everyone from the elderly to children."

Singhlev glanced at him and scoffed, "You're not some ticket salesman, are you?"

"No, you seem to have taken the wrong business card. This is a detective agency." The three of them had already strolled to the entrance of the museum. It was a weekday and the middle of the day, so there was no one else around. The three of them stood on the high platform at the main entrance of the museum.

"That's right." With the heavy topic over, the elf resumed his flippant demeanor and expression. He picked up the business card and flipped it over; the gold-embossed name was Benedict Conch, the same name he used for his self-introduction. "Actors can play countless professions, and I personally excel at playing detectives, even to a professional level. If you don't believe me..." Benedict looked Rorschach up and down again:

"Oh, you are the spellcaster."

Singerev was curious when he heard this. Rorschach was not showing any signs of being a spellcaster and was dressed in plain clothes.

"Look, Mr. Rorschach is now gripping the end of his cane tightly. But you are a young man who walks with great speed, so we can first rule out its function of supporting your walking. Your clothes are in the Valois style, but they are not fancy, which is different from the pattern and style of the cane, so we can rule out its decorative function."

"So it's for self-defense? But when Mr. Rorschach got into a tense state, the way he held it was neither the starting stance of a gentleman's self-defense technique nor the grip for wielding a rapier, which only led me to think of one possibility: it could be a staff. I would like to ask you, why are you suddenly so wary of me?"

Rorschach remained poised and ready. As he approached the elf before him, he suddenly sensed an anomaly in the flow of ether. Although his Arcane Vision failed to detect it, he still noticed something unnatural about the man who called himself Benedict, who was subtly disturbing the ether in the environment.

Without Rorschach's control over the ether and his close contact with it, it would have been difficult to detect this slight discord.

In Rorschach's mind, the other person was either a spellcaster or possessed a special item that could conceal magical aura. Furthermore, this person's excessive enthusiasm and initiative compared to the Istanians inevitably aroused Rorschach's wariness.

"You are not an ordinary person."

Rorschach pressed his thumb against the pattern on the cane head, while Benedict gently touched the raven's head on the ring.

"I told you from the beginning that I am an actor. And there's another obvious fact: I am an elf. Besides the power system called 'Druid,' elves have other lineages, such as 'actors.'"

"Very well, having revealed so much to you on the territory of 'Great Is,' is enough to prove my sincerity. Because you possess a sense of justice that surpasses those of civilized gentlemen, I am happy to become your friend. I look forward to seeing you again, Mage Rorschach."

Benedict left a graceful silhouette as he descended the marble steps and disappeared into the hurried flow of pedestrians, as if tap dancing.

Rorschach examined the business card from both sides and then stored it in his storage ring. He didn't follow them down the stairs but turned back to the museum.

Singrev had come to the museum mainly to visit a friend's relative, and now that he had achieved his goal, he wondered what else was interesting inside: "Master Rorschach, why are you going back?"

"Copy the pattern on the stone slab and similar designs on other vessels."

After doing all that, Rorschach was led by Singrev to a fish and chips shop called "Cindy's Mama" for a meal. The proprietress had a huge waist and a terrible temper. The food was indeed quite good. Rorschach discovered that the shop's specialty was the sauce, with the pickled cucumber pieces being the finishing touch.

After a satisfying meal, the two parted ways. Singrev needed to go to the Adventurers' Guild to find short-term commissions to earn some money to buy more wine. Rorschach doubted whether the dwarf, in his current "overpowered" state, could scrape together the travel expenses for the Istani-Empire-Dwarf Confederation.

As soon as Luo Xia stepped into the inn, the receptionist's eyes lit up as she looked towards the door: "Master, could you do us a favor?"

(End of this chapter)