Game of the World Tree

A female elf committed suicide.

It is said that after the slave trader bought her, the person wanted to use her as a maid, while expecting some personal enjoyment as well. However, the initially fully obedient female elf instead of obeying the command unexpectedly committed suicide on the spot.

Not only that, but after the female elf’s death, something bizarre also happened. That is…it was discovered that nearly one-third of the goods stored within their company’s warehouse have somehow also mysteriously disappeared not long after the incident.

Moreover, everything that vanished was the most precious commodities of the company alongside the elf’s dead body for which had also completely disintegrated into particles of light.

Hearing this, Caige’s unease grew more stronger.

“Their goods had vanished not long after the body of the deceased elf disappeared?”

He looked at his subordinate who delivered this news with astonishment.

The disappearance of bodies, whether they are alive or dead becomes a real question…

For a moment, Caige became increasingly uneasy as if he suddenly understood everything.

Why, this suicide incident…really sounds like some kind of escape plan!

The subordinate in charge of gathering information hesitated for a moment and added,

“Indeed…and it is said that all the items that have vanished were the ones the original seller of the dead elf had touched beforehand…”

“Touched? Everything touched by those who sold the tamed elves have disappeared?”

Caige was momentarily stunned.

Suddenly, he thought of something as his expression changed drastically:

“Oh no!”

“Quick! To the slave room! N-No! To the warehouse!”

Caige showed panic to the point where he didn’t even bothered to properly maintain his decorum. In his panic-stricken haste, Caige unceremoniously jumped off his chair, twisting his obese body like the wind, and rushed towards the company warehouse while fully drenched in sweat.

Alas, when Caige opened the warehouse door, what he feared the most actually happened…

The once full warehouse was now almost emptied, particularly the shelves that once hold their most expensive items. Instead, they were now completely barren, with not even a single trace of hair left behind!

Caige dumbfoundedly stared at the rows of empty shelves as his gaze gradually became dull and vacant.

“G-Gone! All gone!”

Their most precious potions within the company had disappeared…alongside boxes containing magic potion recipe books, valuable metals and expensive equipment…all gone!

D-Don’t tell me those things also—!

Caige then widened his eyes in utmost horror as he scrambled to his feet and dashed towards a section of the warehouse.

I-It’s not here!

A profound feeling of dread engulfed him as the box containing the spatial rings, just as he had predicted, now lay empty with not a single one left for him.

Seeing this unbelievable scene resembling a grand robbery, strength left Caige as his body plopped down onto the floor as if his strings had been cut.

It’s over.

He’s ruined…

He’s really done for this time!

Based on his rough estimates, he judged that probably more than seventy percent of the valuable items stored within the warehouse have vanished!

Those were worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins!

These goods were the combined assets of the company and the household, and he totally wouldn’t be able to cover the cost of these lost items if the higher-ups ordered him to bear the expense since this incident happened under his watch!

Now, not only is his position within the company was in jeopardy, but he might also have to face the wrath from his superiors…

Thinking of this, Caige’s heart turned icy.

After a moment, he gritted his teeth and let out a roar, as his voice intermixed with fury and despair resonated across the immediate surroundings.

“Demacia!!”

At the same time, the old steward hurriedly ran in from the outside, sweating profusely.

Pale-faced, the steward shouted,

“M-Master, Master Caige! This is bad! Those elves we got from yesterday…all committed suicide!”

Su…suicide…

Did they really commit suicide?!

They…really planned this all along?

Was he really…scammed?

Caige widened his eyes in sheer disbelief.

In an instant, he felt a sharp pain in his heart and couldn’t help but burst into tears:

“Those are the elves we obtained after exchanging all our slave collections! We lost dozens of elves for nothing! My hard-earned savings! Fuck I haven’t even touched them myself!”

While crying, Caige was assaulted by a dizzying sensation and inadvertently passed out.

— January 23, 1067, in the Eternal Era.

This exact day will be remembered for all eternity by every companies that operates within the blackmarket and every slave trader within Maple Leaf City as the day wherein all of them would suffer an unprecedented scheme like never before.

To think that only a day prior, everyone was thoroughly excited about the sudden influx of good business, but in just a blink of an eye, everything took a different turn the following day!

Warehouses full of expensive goods were emptied without remorse, and the elves the slavers obtained in exchange committed suicide one after another!

The ripple effect of this entire massive scamming incident spread wide within the blackmarket as several companies went bankrupt not long afterwards…

For a moment, the entire black market district of Maple Leaf City echoed with rage-filled shouts and mournful wails as every slaver who had been scammed scoured the entire city looking for those young southern nobles who had the sheer audacity to pull off this kind of widescale scheme.

“Those southern nobles are the problem! We must find them at all cost!”

“The elves they sold us are suspicious too! It’s really weird since their bodies disappeared completely after they died!”

“Oh my god! Is every youngsters from the south this ruthless? Fuck, our warehouse had been fully emptied by them!”

“Kill them! We must kill them all!”

“Damned southern nobles! This group of despicable and shameless bastards!”

“I knew it! Those southerners from the Kingdom of Aries are no good! Shiet!”

“Just why did this happen? I clearly made sure that I signed a blood contract before our deal! I was assured because an evil god usually binds the souls of the written participants, but now you’re telling me that even a blood contract like this is unreliable?”

“Hurry! They were sighted in No. 45 at the Civilian District! Just now, someone saw those southern nobles went inside that courtyard!”

Every major blackmarket companies and slave traders, furiously gathered as they all head towards the land property purchased by Little Salty Cat in Maple Leaf City…

However, when they arrived, they only found that the small manor within the courtyard was already deserted with not even a single furniture inside, and the only thing that remained was the inactive teleportation array in the garden at the back…

Elven Forest, the Chosen City.

Not long after they received confirmation that every players finally withdrew from Maple Leaf City, did Demacia and Li Mu finally chose to end their lives, before respawning later in the Chosen City.

“Hahaha! Brother Mu, we’ve hit the jackpot! We really hit the jackpot this time!”

Demacia laughed heartily whilst looking triumphant.

Li Mu also raised the corner of his mouth.

“This expedition was truly worth it!”

However, while they laughed merrily, Demacia showed a look of confusion.

“By the way, bro… you only told Salty Cat about this bug, right? How come it feels like in no time at all, the entire server suddenly knows about it? Almost all the two hundred players that went into this expedition immediately began doing the same thing to the point that even that bastard Tomato also involved himself in this mess!”

“I don’t know. I specifically told her to keep it to herself, but I guess Salty Cat told HootyBird, and then the latter maybe told someone else. You know, a secret… once a second person knows, is no longer a secret and all that.”

Li Mu shook his head.

Hearing this, Demacia wryly chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Hah, women!”

“Well enough about that! Let’s not talk about it anymore! This time we truly made a fortune; let’s carefully go through what we brought back!”

Shaking his head, Demacia began to inspect the items they brought back with them. However, when he actually looked around and check his inventory status, he couldn’t help but be stunned at what he found…

The items the was once listed as ‘bound’ in his inventory was now missing after they died and respawned.

It was all empty.

Except for the Lionheart sword lying at Demacia’s feet…

Demacia looked around utterly bewildered.

“…Where is our treasures?!”

— 282 —

【 WHERE IS OUR TREASURES? 】

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