On a bright sunny day that was no different than the rest of the days…
"NOOOOOO!" A loud angry scream bellowed from deep within the elven royal palace. Hearing something , every single elf in the vicinity of the royal palace became shell-shocked as they stood rooted in the spot.
All the royal guards immediately became tense that perhaps an assassination attempt was happening on the royal family with one of the other empires finally taking the next step and attacking them.
They immediately rushed to the area of disturbance, fully prepared to go to battle with their lives on the line, true to their oaths. However, when they arrived, they shockingly witnessed something else completely unexpected.
Prince Aranthor was standing stiff in his bedroom, in his leisurely clothes, with his face deathly pale.
He was staring at the space in front of him with the most desperate look on his face. He opened his mouth and closed his mouth again and again but no words were coming out of it.
"Your highness… what happened?" One of the royal guards finally mustered the courage to ask the prince. However, he did not get any reply.
Like a person who lost his very soul, the elf simply stood petrified.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the elven empire several key figures received notifications on their system interface at the same time.
Even though a good portion of the royal family and the main force of the empire had gone into the mystic realm to search for the treasures and inheritances, a part of the main force remained back within the royal palace to deal with emergencies.
And right now, every single elf who held a significant trusted position in the upper echelons received this notification.
Not knowing what it was, they quickly opened it with visible excitement in their eyes because it was around this time a specific auction typically took place and perhaps the dates for it had arrived sooner than they had expected.
However, the moment they opened it, their eyes went wide.
"How is this possible?"
"All our credits are completely maxed out? Our reserves are used up? Who made such a purchase? What the hell is happening?"
Confusion and rage filled their eyes as they instantly arrived at the elf who was at the center of all of this madness.
Prince Aranthor who was already akin to a corpse lifted his head lifelessly to see that all the big shots had arrived at his bedroom.
The expressions on their faces ranged from disbelief to fury, every single one of the powerhouses eyeing him with unbridled killing intent.
"Prince Aranthor, what is the meaning of this? Explain yourself immediately!" demanded one of the eldest council members, his voice echoing in the room, thick with incredulity and indignation.
Aranthor looked at them all, his face still drained of color, and finally managed to speak, "I...I… recruitment event… elven girl… but…"
"But what, Prince? Did you purchase some sort of powerful artifact?" interrupted another council member, his eyes narrowing.
"We are talking about the financial stability of the entire empire? Even if it was a powerful artifact, how could you commit such an act without consulting the council?"
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Open your mouth, Aranthor. Open your damned mouth and answer."
"At least show us the artifact. What did you get?"
Aranthor's head became dizzy and his vision started blurring as he was unable to face any of these men. "I… didn't buy anything." He mumbled lifelessly.
"Stop playing. This is extremely serious. It is clearly your token that has given the access. How could you have not purchased something? Do not come up with any excuses that your token was lost or stolen!"
Aranthor still looked dazed and broken, seeing that all the elders finally realized that the situation was far worse than what they had imagined.
"If you did not buy, then that means…"
Aranthor's thin body flew across the room as it hit the wall, the collision shattering the entire thing.
"OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND EXPLAIN EVERYTHING! NOW!"
In the next few minutes, the prince and his trusty advisor both were subjected to unimaginable torture as they confessed to the entire thing starting from top to bottom, even all the times he had previously repeated this exact same thing.
However, this only made the elders behave worse. "Are you saying that it is not your fault because all these days you did not face any consequences and today turned out differently?"
Aranthor shivered. He knew that he was only alive because he was of royal blood. His advisor was already killed.
After the investigation, all the royal guards who were standing outside the system shop were also mercilessly killed.
The entire royal palace was drenched in a bloodbath.
Meanwhile, most of the elven elders hurriedly unleashed their entire power to scour the whole empire for this so-called elven girl and the countless items and treasures she had absconded with.
However, even after searching for hours and hours, this seemed to be a futile process as they had little to no information about this newly minted royal guard.
With what details could they possibly search for her now and where would they even begin to do it? She was an insignificant insect and could be anywhere in the world by now!
As for how this insignificant insect managed to access these priceless items and treasures in the system shop…
A few elders barged into the shop furiously to question the fairies but none of them knew anything. The elves had even bribed some fairies in the shop and even they couldn't explain.
The only person who could answer them, the store manager, Miralen, simply crossed his hands and shook his head saying that he could not answer and give out information.
"Customer- Seller confidentiality." He simply answered.
Rage bubbled like a volcano but the elven elders knew that they couldn't touch the fairies in the shop. Unable to make heads or tails of this situation, the entire empire plunged into complete and utter chaos and madness.
Emptying out the system credit and their reserves meant that they were in a huge debt that they couldn't possibly settle for centuries to come.
Not only that, it also meant that their growth was effectively stunted.
Even if they all were to make progress in their daos and be eligible for some skill purchase or a concept purchase, they wouldn't be able to pay for it!
How was this different from a death sentence to the entire empire? In a single day, they had become the laughingstock of their whole world!
Someone had massacred them mercilessly without taking a single life or shedding a single drop of blood!