abcnovels
Chapter 307 - Secret Operation
Chapter 307 - Secret Operation
Elvaraden Palace
The moment Empress Una sensed the Dark Lord's return, she shortly began pulling out drawers in the king's bedchamber.
The opened drawers quickly revealed expensive jewels and high-quality silk clothes, but the empress did not show the slightest interest in them.
Rather, she was looking for something else.
A short while later, her eyes brightened at a quality sandalwood box containing several rings of different designs.
They were interspatial artifacts.
"E-empty? How can they all be empty?" Empress Una frowned after checking the contents of each ring with her spiritual energy.
A short moment later, her eyes fell on the ring worn by the charmed Elf King.
'All the cultivation resources and treasures must be kept inside the Elf King's personal interspatial artifact…' Empress Una thought.
However, the Elf King's interspatial artifact cannot be taken.
Forget about erasing the Elf King's spiritual binding. Just touching the interspatial artifact is enough to disturb the Elf King's dream and wake him up.
'Forget it. Just acquiring these spare interspatial artifacts is enough. I still have backup plans,' Empress mused.
Shortly after binding a gold interspatial ring, Empress Una stored all her luggage inside before flipping out her phone and dialing a number.
Ring… Ring…
The call briefly rang before the other side picked up and answered with a question, "Your Majesty, why have you called this subordinate? We weren't expecting a call so soon from you."
"I didn't intend to call so soon either, but there's been a change of plans. How's the progress on your end?" Empress Una inquired.
"In the past two days, we've only managed to secretly smuggle 500 elves and 2000 spirit herbs out of the tribe. The next batch of goods should be arriving in the next hour."
"So little… As expected, two days was too short to get much done, huh?" Empress Una muttered with a frown.
It was all the fault of the Dark Lord.
If the person did not come so soon, she would have been able to abduct more talents from the Elf Tribe and steal more of the resources.
The more elves they abduct, the more knowledge pertaining to cultivation they would have been able to accumulate after interrogation and torture.
Alas, nothing went ever goes according to plan.
Although Empress Una wanted to blame her bad luck for running into the Dark Lord so quickly, it was something she should have expected to happen.
The World Tree was too conspicuous.
It would have been strange for such a large tree to attract the world's attention, let alone the Dark Lord.
"My apologies, Your Majesty. We are already operating at our best without exposing ourselves to the higher-level elves," the subordinate replied after sensing the empress's disappointment.
"Haiz, never mind." Empress Una sighed before she ordered solemnly, "Prepare the choppers and suspend all ongoing operations and recall the men immediately. We are pulling out from here."
"Understood, Your Majesty. I'll inform everyone as soon as possible." The subordinate promised.
"Get it done immediately. I expect the choppers to be ready by the time I reach our designated point," Empress Una sternly stated with a hint of urgency.
"Yes, Your Majesty! Right away!" the subordinate answered more seriously.
Although he was very curious about the abrupt changes, he knew better than to question the empress's decisions.
There had to be a good reason for it.
…
After Empress Una ended the call, a sudden knock came on the door.
"Who?"
Empress Una's gaze sharpened as if she could see through the door and lock onto the person knocking outside.
"I-It's me, Your Majesty," a palace maid responded before informing, "The elders are requesting the king's presence to discuss matters related to the Dark Lord."
"I see."
Although it was brief and unofficial, Empress Una was still regarded as the new queen of the tribe after snaking her way up the ladder and kicking out all the Elf King's other wives.
As the palace maid waited outside the king's bedchamber for further instructions, the door suddenly swung open.
"Ah—!"
The elf maid gave a short startled cry as Empress Una abruptly dragged her into the bedchamber and robbed her clothes.
A few moments later, Empress Una exited the bedchamber alone. She closed the door on her way out and left under the disguise of a palace maid.
Unfortunately, the poor palace maid was not spared.
Her neck bent on a weird angle, and her naked body was dumped to one corner of the king's bedchamber.
Not even a single strand of blonde hair was left on her head.
…
Sometime later, Empress Una managed to slip out of the palace before she secretly abducted another elf in the tribe and switched into ordinary clothes.
Fortunately for the female elf caught by Empress Una, she was only knocked out cold.
Not long after, Empress Una made her escape from the Elf Tribe as she bypassed the unsuspecting elves in the tribe before entering the deep forest.
Half through the forest, Empress Una began to frown.
Her escape had been very smooth—In fact, it was too smooth that it bothered her.
Even so, Empress Una did not stop running as she continued to escape at maximum, following a secret route with unique flower markings left on the trees.
Swish—!
Empress Una's figure shot out from the great forest several hours later and reached the open land, where dozens of large choppers and hundreds of men could be seen gathered with several crates lying around.
"Your Majesty, welcome back!" a high-ranking subordinate greeted.
However, Empress did not bother to acknowledge the person's greeting as she quickly ordered, "Start the engines. We're going!"
"Going? Where do you plan to go, hm?" Albion's voice casually sounded over from a nearby forest tree.
Empress Una's expression immediately froze.
In the next instance, she quickly drew further distance from the great forest before shooting Albion a sharp look as he casually stepped out.
Although Albion's current appearance was that of a pointy-eared elf with long blonde hair even touches the ground, Empress Una instinctive recognized him as the Dark Lord.
She immediately understood why something felt off during her escape.
"Since when did you start following me?" Empress Una inquired with a grim look while taking a defensive stance.
Albion casually replied with a shrug, "Since you left the palace, obviously. Did you think I wouldn't know?"