The Elf Journey In The Western Fantasy World-Chapter 55: Missing Coin, Missing Eoryun

In their group, one was a king with the wealth of a nation at his disposal, two were elves—widely acknowledged across the continent to be rich—and even the wandering swordman, who should have been the poorest, was still in his hired period, meaning he didn’t have to spend money at all.

In fact, he was even making a good amount of it.

And then there was Eoryun, the eldest young master of the Taeharin family from the border city of Haneulseong in Areuseon Kingdom.

Among them all, he had the least amount of money he could actually control.

Clutching his coin pouch, now missing a small corner of its contents, Eoryun silently wept tears of poverty.

The others all let out a collective: "Ew—"

Illiya didn’t believe a single word of what Eoryun said, and there was even a hint of contempt in his gaze.

The Taeharin family was in the business of selling magic stone—how could they possibly be poor?

Not to mention, Eoryun was the heir to the Taeharin family.

That meant his access to wealth should be even greater.

Could this be the kind of behavior his teacher had once mentioned—pretending to be poor while actually being rich?

"If you pretend to be poor long enough, you’ll eventually get scammed—" Illiya drawled ominously, "My teacher used to say that crying for being poor too often would bring divine retribution!"

"For example, you might run into a ’selling-themselves-to-bury-their-father’ scenario or a ’damsel-in-distress’ situation."

Eoryun: ????

"Wait, I know all the words you’re saying, but why do I have no idea what you mean when you string them together? Too many plot elements, damn it!"

Watching the young master jumping in frustration, Illiya’s lips curled up ever so slightly.

The gloom from being financially scammed earlier began to lift. freewebnøvel.com

He suddenly understood why Haneulseong’s city lord, Bearnard, enjoyed teasing Eoryun so much.

It really was quite stress-relieving.

Once the small interlude passed, Illiya turned his attention back to the main task at hand.

He still had to find a decent inn to stay in—that was the most important thing at the moment.

Anyone with eyes could tell that the city was unusually crowded today, and the number of inns in town was limited.

Still, it was early in the day, and there was no need to rush.

So Illiya and his group decided to look around while walking.

Along the way, they took the opportunity to chat with street vendors while purchasing various goods.

Illiya reached out and accepted the packaged food from one vendor, casually asking, "Hey? The city seems pretty lively. So many people coming and going—something good happening soon?"

The vendor, a friendly sort, didn’t hesitate to share. "You could say it’s a major event for our city. Word is the city lord is looking for a son-in-law for his daughter. That’s why there are so many strangers around lately."

Then the vendor glanced left and right. Seeing no one was paying attention, he leaned in slightly and lowered his voice. "To be honest, I think the son-in-law thing is just a cover. Lately, I’ve seen all kinds of people showing up who are clearly not ordinary folk."

"I’ve seen plenty of them. Their disguises don’t fool me. The way they move, that trained posture—you can tell they’ve been through special knight training." His tone carried a tinge of pride.

Illiya played along expertly, feigning amazement. "Wow, that’s incredible! You could even tell something like that? I wouldn’t stand a chance—if someone disguised themselves, I definitely wouldn’t notice."

The vendor looked extremely pleased with himself.

Clearly, being flattered by someone from a rare race like an elf was an exceptionally satisfying experience.

Maybe because he was in such a good mood, the vendor leaned in and whispered another piece of information to Illiya—this time with visible concern in his voice.

"I’ve been around the border for a long time. I’ve seen all kinds of people. But having this many knights suddenly show up in the city, coinciding with the whole son-in-law situation... It’s all just too suspicious. It’s feels like something big is about to happen."

"I’m just saying this offhand. Your Esteemed Elf, just take it as a heads-up—it may not be true. But either way, it’s always better to stay cautious."

"Here’s your purchase—thanks for stopping by."

Illiya took his items, and then pulled out more money than the original price from his spatial bracelet and handed it to the vendor. "Thank you very much."

Weighing the heavy silver coins in his hand, the vendor’s smile became visibly more genuine. "No need to thank me. Just come back often and support my business!"

...

Illiya relayed the information he had gathered to the rest of the group.

Like the merchant, he harbored the same concern.

A knight order gathering in one place—this was clearly not a good sign.

Seoryun remained silent for a moment.

He could guess what was going on. It seemed that Areuseon Kingdom wasn’t the only one with intelligence regarding unusual demon activity.

The other allied nations probably had at least some knowledge as well.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have dispatched a knight order to this area.

So now the question was—should they inform the elves about this?

As Seoryun wrestled with the decision, Illiya’s sudden exclamation caught his attention.

"Wait a minute, didn’t anyone notice Eoryun is missing?" Illiya, unwilling to believe it, counted their group again.

No matter how many times he did it, there were only four of them.

"Wasn’t he just walking behind us?" Seoryun raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

Since they weren’t in a rush to find an inn, their arrangements were fairly casual. Their pace was slow, too, so it was unlikely anyone would fall behind.

Could it be that something happened to Eoryun?

Illiya grew anxious like an ant on a hot pan, regret written all over his face. "I hope nothing’s happened to him. If only I’d paid more attention..."

Just as no one knew what to do next, Darius spoke up out of nowhere. "He is fine. But the situation over there... you could say he’s having a bit of a romantic encounter?"

Everyone else: ???