Chapter 28 is too easy! Woof! Woof! Woof!

Of course. How could it be Setiel?

Why and how could a young apprentice, confident in his medical skills and with a promising future, sneak into the main hall, which was heavily guarded by the gatekeepers, and steal the magic flute next to the throne?

The Queen's most trusted knight commander certainly had the ability and the excuse to take advantage of the situation and use the magic flute to save his dying mother.

Why has no elf ever found the Magic Flute?

As the commander of the knights, Tara led the search party. She certainly wouldn't search herself.

Lucas forgot to breathe. How could he be so stupid? The answer was right under his nose.

“It’s you,” he said in a breathy voice, though he didn’t say who it was, but everyone knew who he was talking to. “You stole the Magic Flute.”

Tara stepped back, while Elena and Setir stared at her in shock.

The knight commander's already short stature appeared even shorter.

“The truth will always come to light,” Lucas said. “Would you rather I accuse Her Majesty Melia? You know she is a fair and just queen, and even if the accuser is human and the accused is her own knight commander, it will not cloud her judgment.”

In truth, Lucas himself wasn't sure if that was the case. He knew less about Melia than he did about Aidan, and he hadn't even known before that Aidan was Melia's brother. Ilovia was so isolated that only Aidan's music was carried by travelers and bards from the cracks in the valleys all the way to the various territories of Dias.

As for how Melia viewed the betrayal of her confidante, Lucas had no clue. For now, he could only convince himself and pretend to understand.

Just like when dealing with those lords, he thought. One of the diplomatic tactics of the nobility is to pretend to know everything, so that others will readily believe your words. He always managed to get through those dull and tedious banquets in this way.

"Other elves?" Lucas pressed, trying to use a gentler tone. "You mean, other elves gave you the magic flute?"

Tara quickly shook her head.

Elena's face was first filled with surprise and sorrow, then with a sense of betrayal. She could have died peacefully; her current life was unnatural, and there must have been a terrible price to pay for it, and the one who brought it all upon her was her daughter.

Lucas was puzzled again. She had learned it? But Ashlin had mentioned that Tara wasn't an elf skilled in the arts, which was why she became a knight. How could she have learned to play the flute in such a short time? However, judging from Tara's expression, she wouldn't answer anymore.

“Oh, darling. You shouldn’t have done that. He said my time was right… You’ve broken the balance!”

"Where is the Magic Flute now?" Lucas asked, ignoring his injured shoulder, and stood up.

Tara pursed her lips again, and finally turned around.

“Right here.” She easily pulled a beautiful flute from a cabinet behind her.

The flute has a long, slender body and a flawless surface, engraved with the Elven script: Nokali.

Silver light flowed through the flute, and Lucas imagined that playing such a flute would release a silvery halo that would rise to the moon with the sound of the flute.

The representative of the wind element, a long song from the East.

He could hardly believe that he had completed the task so easily.

Is this too easy? Well, he shouldn't complain. Achieving the goal is the most important thing.

He stroked the flute with rapt attention, from beginning to end, as if soothing a child who couldn't sleep.

Whether Ashlin had won over Melia was no longer important at this moment. If necessary, they could head to the northern orc tribes as soon as they had the magic flute.

“We need to borrow it for a while,” Lucas finally said. “As for the theft… I’m not familiar with the laws of the elves. Perhaps Melia will forgive us, and we can make an exception for her. However, I suggest you turn yourself in first. You are her most trusted subordinate, and I think she would find it difficult to bear if someone else exposed you.”

Tara lowered her head. Even faced with such a blatant revelation and warning, she did not collapse on the bed or cry out loud, begging for their forgiveness.

There was no need for that; her guilt already filled the empty room.

She looked at Elena with unwavering determination. "I will not regret saving you, Mother."

Elena shook her head, tears silently streaming down her face. The immortal elves rarely faced death directly, especially after Ilovena was sealed off. Was this why Tara was willing to steal the magic flute and risk her life for it?

Setil stood to the side, bewildered, as if all of this was too much for him. He was just an apprentice who came for treatment, yet he had been dragged into a national-level serious crime of theft.

Lucas patiently waited for Tara to calm down before continuing, "Tara, why are you hiding it? After healing your mother, you could have clearly returned the magic flute and healed the divine tree."

"And you can't find an excuse or the right time, and you haven't figured out how to cover up your lie," Lucas guessed.

Tara nodded stiffly.

“I originally planned to return it today. I just wanted to see my mother again…”

“Oh, Tara.” The light that had been on Elena’s face vanished completely. “How could you do this?”

Lucas, however, was concerned with another issue.

Tara didn't answer immediately, but after a moment she said, "I don't know. Perhaps as the sacred tree withered, the magic of the elves weakened. So I just... took it."

Lucas had reservations about this claim, but Tara said no more.

"Does anyone else know about this?"

“No more,” Tara said.

Lucas narrowed his eyes. How did he know she wasn't lying? Tara wasn't an expressive elf; aside from the fleeting glances she'd just made out of guilt and unease, she seemed to possess no other expressions, as if she were born missing a few nerves connected to her face.

Any elf could potentially assist her in the theft. The strangest thing is that the theft of the Magic Flute certainly doesn't happen often, so why would Tara steal it at this crucial moment to save her mother? As a knight, she should be most aware of the principle of balance.

But he didn't have that much time; he desperately needed to know what had happened to Ashlin. The conspiracy behind the Magic Flute, though intriguing and tempting, wasn't his primary concern. Perhaps they could return to the Elven Valley later to solve the mystery.

So he tucked the magic flute into his cloak. In any case, they had completed half of the antidote, and now that their wounds were anesthetized, they could seek Queen Melia's permission. They held the upper hand now; even if Melia resolutely refused, she couldn't do anything to them.

But the moment he opened the door, a smell of rot, corpses, animal hair, and blood filled the room, as if dozens of people had died outside.

They retreated, bewildered and fearful.

Tara drew her longsword from its scabbard and rushed outside first, followed closely by Lucas, who unfortunately didn't bring any weapons with him.

A deep roar nearly shattered his eardrums.

Monster.

Lucas looked at it, and then quickly wished he had never seen it.

Or them?

Forgive his lack of knowledge, but he doesn't know whether such things should be used in plural form.

Under the moonlight, there are three heads.

More accurately, it's three dog heads.

However, they look more like pigs than dogs: broad snouts, wrinkled faces, and tiny eyes. Only pigs don't have such sharp tusks, nor do they open their gaping maws and hiss.

Obviously, neither pigs nor dogs would have a dragon's tail or eyes like lava.

The magic flute cannot be used carelessly. When the balance between the human and spirit worlds is disrupted, it may attract terrifying things.

Here it comes.

However, Tara had just played the magic flute to heal Elena. Logically, Cerberus should have arrived in the Valley of the Spirits then to punish those who violated the rules of the universe. At least that's what the stories say: those who deceive the dead will soon be torn to shreds by Cerberus.

Why did it appear at this time?

Lucas's first thought was that Ilovenia possessed protective magic, and the three-headed dog was likely kept out. Perhaps it had finally broken the spell?

He didn't have time to have a second thought.

Actually, between "fighting a three-headed dog to death" and "becoming a mentally impaired wild cat forever," the former sounds more honorable.

The problem was that he was unarmed and had no option to fight. He could only curse himself for being useless and quickly retreat back into the house.

Elena and Setir were pale-faced, unable to comprehend the situation before them.

“Go out the back door,” he told them, but they didn’t move. So he raised his voice, “Listen to me, Cerberus has come with a purpose, and any life that stands in its way will become a thorn in its side. Hurry up!”

After hesitating for a few seconds, Setiel moved first, but Elena pushed Lucas away.

“That’s my daughter. I won’t let her be eaten by dogs.”

"So I guess you don't want to get eaten along with them, do you?" Lucas forced her to turn around. "Listen to me, you can't help! Get out of here first, and I'll take your daughter and escape danger right away."

The sounds of swords clashing and claws clashing, along with the roars of wild beasts, came from outside. Elena glanced wearily out the window, then left through the back door.

"Come back quickly, Tara! You, an elf, can't handle it!" Lucas shouted at the knight commander.

However, Tara remained standing there, sword raised, ready to attack.

“It’s coming for me,” she said, trembling. “Then, so be it.”

Lucas reached out to stop him, but missed.

Tara charged forward, swinging her sword at the three dog heads. Her movements were swift and precise; she took a half-step forward with her left leg to steady herself, and then used the force of her body twisting to bring her longsword down hard towards the monster's eye sockets.

But the three-headed dog dodged faster than she could.

It did not attack her.

In fact, all the heads completely ignored her, as if she were a fly that annoyed dogs.

Lucas's heart was pounding so loudly that he could barely hear anything else.

The three dogs didn't even look at Tara. They slapped her with their paws and threw her onto the tree trunk.

He pressed his body tightly against the wall, staring in horror at the lifeless elven knight, then forced himself to look directly at the three ugly heads.

They turned slowly, as if moving slowly in the ice.

Six blood-red eyes were all fixed on Lucas.

Ultimately, the focus is on his cloak.