Shock and awe.
The jaws of those watching collectively dropped as they looked in the direction of the warehouses to see a massive plume of smoke floating into the air.
For a few seconds, it was as if time had stopped.
To the Eldinorians watching, it felt as if all was lost.
Why…was this happening? Hadn't they listened? Even if the locket was the trigger, why did Eldra press it?
As these and many more questions spiraled in the minds of the people, a few elves who were at the edge of the clearing turned around to see a group of Elf children walking towards them while excitedly observing the surroundings as if they were seeing them for the first time.
The sight of so many happy, smiling faces initially startled the elves. After a few moments, even their faces lit up into smiles of joy as they realized just what was going on.
"The children are back!"
"There was no one in the warehouse! Everyone is safe!"
Exclaiming in delight, the elves made way to allow the group into the clearing.
Although the massive crowds somewhat scared them, the man who had saved them had said that their parents were waiting somewhere inside. Thus, with the singular goal of finally seeing the faces of those they had missed for so long, the children hurried across the path while desperately looking in all directions.
"Timmie? Timmie! Kal, it's Timmie, there he is! Thank the gods!"
A female elf with sunken eyes and an emaciated frame shrieked these words as she saw the crowd of children approaching her. As she ran forward, she stumbled and almost fell as she hadn't eaten properly in weeks due to the grief of losing her son.
Seeing this, her husband who had been standing beside her with tears of joy on his face hurriedly moved forward to catch her before walking towards the group.
Before they reached it, a kid who seemed to be wearing multiple underpants ran out of the group and made his way towards them with a wide smile on his face.
As soon as he reached them, the woman who had stumbled before fell down on her knees and took him into her arms before kissing him everywhere on his face. She did not care that he was dirty and hadn't bathed in weeks; all she wished at this moment was that this wasn't a dream.
The man also knelt and took them both into his arms, letting out the tears that had hidden in his heart for so long. He had often blamed himself for being the cause of his son's disappearance, as he felt that he should have been with his family more to give them the security they deserved.
Of course, his wife had never blamed him, yet their family had almost broken apart due to the many unspoken things that lingered between them.
Now, with the soul of their family returned to them, the man felt as if life was worth living again.
As the smell of pee drifted up into the couple's noses, they couldn't help but laugh even while the tears still flowed unabated from the boundless happiness they felt.
Indeed, this was their Timmie who soiled himself when he felt strong emotions, be they positive or negative.
Although they had scolded him many times before for doing something like this, now, all they did was hug him even tighter, afraid that he might disappear if they let go even for the briefest of moments.
…..
Many such scenes of happy reunion could be seen all around the clearing. With the tension and the fear of the situation finally resolved, Eldinor collectively relaxed seeing that the children were, indeed, safe.
"H-how?"
This was the question on Eldara's mind. Just a few moments ago, the soldiers had reported that these assets of hers which were currently joyfully reuniting with their families were still inside the prison under lock and key. How could they escape all of her countermeasures?!
Standing at the spot where he had just teleported to before letting the elf children run towards the crowd, Daneel observed the expression of frustration on the former Queen's face before smiling to himself.
Resisting the urge to collapse on the ground from the burning pain in his forehead which signified an overdraft of his mageroot, he teleported again to the cave he had prepared beforehand.
Although his job was mostly done, he still wanted to stay close in case something unexpected arose.
Arriving in the cave, Daneel first took 2 Ker Gems in his hand and conjured his clone.
Giving it one, the both of them sat down and absorbed the energy to recover so that he could be in a fighting state if needed.
After activating the absorption technique, he thought back to the events that had taken place since the time he had left the inn this morning after making the breakthrough.
Since the moment Daneel had initially infiltrated the prison, he had known that the key was to catch the former Queen red-handed.
As someone who had been elected by garnering the support of the citizens of Lanthanor, he knew very well that the thing which resonated with people the most was direct, visceral proof.
Back during his rise to the throne, it was the act of directly killing the King which had resulted in the overwhelming support that put him on the throne.
Instead of choosing to do so, if he had captured the King or done almost anything else that wasn't as direct, the support he would have gotten would definitely be much lesser.
Thus, when it came to matters of swaying people, it was all about shock and awe.
Daneel's plan completely revolved around three key points: first, the little elf had to tell her story to the people in order to bring their emotions to a boiling point. This had to be done in a way that wouldn't alert the soldiers who were tasked with guarding the prison.
Second, the former Queen had to be caught red-handed while trying to activate the failsafe, and the one doing the catching had to be someone well-known. This was to lend credibility to the entire act in the eyes of the people.
Third, irrevocable proof had to be shown right away that the confiscated failsafe was, indeed, the trigger.
Daneel had had to think long and hard for this plan. There were so many ways in which it could have gone wrong: Eldara could have decided to blow the warehouse anyway regardless of what the soldiers said, making it so that Daneel wouldn't have managed to escape with the children after the soldiers had done their checking. Katerina might have been too slow to stop the former Queen. Eldra might have become completely flustered and ruined the whole thing.
In fact, the last had almost come true. Thankfully, he had taken the precaution to tell Olfax to slip a communication trinket into her dress, just like he had done on the stage with Katerina.
As for the others, Daneel trusted his analysis of Eldara. Putting himself in her shoes, he had tried to imagine what he would do.
From everything Eldra had told him, her mother was someone who was meticulous in all things. Thus, he knew that there was no way she wouldn't have a final failsafe on her person, as there was no one else she trusted more than herself.
This was the bane of those who depended on themselves for the most part. Also, after seeing the situation develop in the way that it did, if Daneel were Eldara, he would choose to use the explosion to distract the people first, before using that perfect moment to shift the blame.
It didn't matter if his thinking didn't match the former Queen's.
All that mattered was that the Queen had to activate the failsafe and be caught doing it.
And after the moment where Daneel had given Katerina the message, it didn't matter when the former Queen activated the trinket.
Taking out the metal bands that had just been around the necks of the little elves, Daneel couldn't help but smile, relieved that their torture was finally over.
Relaxing and enjoying the feeling of absorbing the energy, he asked the system to replay the introduction of the tool which had enabled him to piece together the entire thing.