rry Christmas YOHOOHOHOOHOOHOO~
The elves of Velrond Forest had a custom of providing simple refreshnts to their guests. With it, refreshing herbal tea and a pie made from fruits gathered from the forest were also provided to the stagnant waters party.
However, unlike its appetizing appearances, the taste was sub-par. The herbal tea slled like toothpaste, while the pie tasted bland. Nevertheless, Da-jeong and Geom-in still said that it was delicious out of consideration of Alia as the houseowner.
But just like usual, the fool of the group had different opinions.
“It tastes awful.”
“It doesn’t taste good? It seems the taste is less stimulating for you.” Alia looked at Seokhyun with her curious eyes. Even though the questioning ti had passed, it was still a mystery why the person in front of her was dressed like that.
According to the report she received, the man had killed a zizektree by hugging it from behind. He was so powerful to the point it made her think that he was a lovechild of human and ogre, even though she knew that there’s no such thing as a mixed-blood ogre.
Her curiosity didn’t only stop at the strange man. She’s also curious about other people. From their physique, clothes, and weapons, she could tell that they were not citizens of the Ruat Kingdom. Alia had lived a long ti in the apocalyptic world, but she had never seen humans like them.
She put down her teacup and looked at the stag beetle and the scarab who was busy drinking the sap.
“I heard the story,” she said. “You guys are looking for a way to the capital of the Ruat Kingdom, correct?”
“We want to know the shortest way if possible.”
At Da-jeong’s words, Alia shook her head.
“It’s impossible. Between Velrond Forest and the capital of Ruat Kingdom, there is a vast sea of trees. I know you guys have great skills, but…”
“It would be okay if you can just tell us the general direction of the capital. We can just fly there with our gryphon.”
Alia’s eyes widened at the statent.
“Gryphon? You’re not saying that you’ve tad one, aren’t you?”
“Well, you could say I’ve tad it. I can prove it right now.”
When Da-jeong whistled, Alia hurriedly shook her hand. If she called a monster here, there would be an uproar.
As the story progressed, Alia sensed that they all had unusual powers.
‘Moreover, the Elderwood acted strangely…’
With no wind blowing, her branches had randomly shook. It was a phenonon that hadn’t happened before. With all the evidence present to her, Alia concluded that the party in front of her was far from normal people and decided to ask directly.
“You guys, you aren’t from this world, are you?”
“…”
Seokhyun quickly tried to say sothing, but Da-jeong beat him by pinching his thigh and gave him a deadly gaze.
“Uh, by ‘this world’, are you referring to Lotus?”
“Lotus… It’s a na given by humans. But since you all look human too, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, in my opinion, you are very different from the humans of Lotus.”
‘How should I take care of this…’ Da-jeong contemplated. She still hadn’t discussed with Seongho how far she should inform the indigenous people of Lotus. But, as long as there is no major problem caused, it should be okay to let them know in moderation, right?
At that ti, Seokhyun beat her to the punch.
“We’re from Earth.”
“Earth?”
“It’s the na of the planet where we ca from. It’s a world with several huge continents. There were over 200 countries in it. Though, there are none now.”
Alia opened her eyes wide at that point.
“Even though I don’t know about it, it seed to be located in a different dinsion that I’ve only heard about…”
“You’ve heard of different dinsions?”
“A little bit. The humans ntioned it when they were fighting Giudecca. I don’t know if it was the effect of his curse magic or not.”
“Just what is Giudecca? Are you talking about the monster trapped in the Great Labyrinth?”
“Seeing that you don’t know who Giudecca is, I’m sure now. You are not from here.”
Da-jeong decided to reveal quite a bit of information at this point. The reason being she’s afraid that Alia would not give them proper information if they kept hiding the information they have.
“As for what happened… the story will be a bit long, is that okay?” A smile crept across Alia’s lips.
After a long ti, she finally realized the full extent of the situation that happened. The two worlds, Lotus and Earth, were destroyed.
“It’s fair to say that the destruction process of the two worlds are almost the sa. Though, the appearance of monsters in your world was replaced by the rampage of monsters in Lotus.”
“Did a teorite fall before that happened? In our world, the zombie spores ca from a teorite that fell from the sky.”
“I don’t know that far. After all, we are a tribe of the forest.”
It can also be said that the world went dark. The war against Giudecca was led by humans, so it was reasonable to say that only they know the process and outco. Because the war was so intense, there were many areas that could not be reached even after a long ti had passed.
But if it’s them…
The stag beetle that was drinking the sap next to it raised its head. She was speaking with her eyes.
‘These people are trustworthy.’
Alia made her decision.
“I think I should hold hands with you guys.”
How does it work?
It was good to know the way to Ruat, but the direction of the story was changing.
Seokhyun tried to raise his thumb, but Da-jeong stopped him.
“Wait a minute. What does ‘holding hands’ an specifically?”
“It ans cooperating. We can provide you with the information you need. And vice versa.”
Geom-in hit his palm lightly with his fist.
“So the elven warchief is giving out quests?”
Alia smiled lightly.
“I’m not the warchief, and I’m not the kind of person to give soone a quest. It’s all about helping people who are going through hard tis.”
“I agree.” Seokhyun expressed his intention first, and Da-jeong nodded. She got the feeling that they would be able to achieve a lot by working together. Even if Seongho was here, he wouldn’t have objected; Da-jeong was sure about that.
Throughout the talk, Geom-in seed to be completely absorbed in Alia. It’s all apparent by how wide his mouth was open.
“What do you think?”
“Yes? You need my opinion for this?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The three of us should co to a conclusion first before answering anything. If even one of us objects, we will refuse.”
Geom-in thought for a second or two before also expressing his intention to consent. However, to Da-jeong, she felt like he was so engrossed in Alia that he couldn’t keep his mind straight.
“Calm down a little, wouldn’t you? She might be 200 years old.”
“Who is 200 years old?”
“No, nothing. Anyway, um… What do you guys do when an agreent is reached? We used to hold hands and shake hands, but we don’t do that anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s a possibility that the other party has the ability to brainwash others. If you hold hands with them, you beco their puppet right away, so the custom of shaking hands has disappeared.”
The smile disappeared from Alia’s lips.
“That’s really similar to black magic. However, all of the curse magic users t a miserable end.”
“There’s people who use that kind of power here too?”
“Not in the current tis. However, before the end ca, there were a lot of them.”
“Huuuaaaamm.” Perhaps bored, Seokhyun yawned.
Alia looked around the three of them slowly.
“There are many things I want to say and many things I want to hear, but you guys must be busy too. We will tell you the way to the Ruat Kingdom. The distance is over a month if you walk, but with a gryphon…”
Da-jeong received an old map from Alia. It was a gift from a rchant who visited Velrond Forest in the past. Then, the chief said an unexpected word.
“I’m just asking this just in case, but… Do you have any relationship with the Elderwood?”
Da-jeong and Geom-in looked at Seokhyun in an instant. If they told her what the madman did before, they were sure that the gentle Alia would be angry.
So, when Da-jeong told her the story minus all the crazy things he did, Alia let out a gasp.
“You got the feeling that she needs help?”
“I don’t know why, but it seed like she was hurt.”
“Uh…”
No matter how ignorant Seokhyun was, she couldn’t let it go. Alia looked serious and she let out a small whistle. A blue parrot appeared from the window and sat on her shoulder. Alia then whispered to it in a volu which the three could hardly hear.
“Yeah… that’s right. okay. Go back now.”
After the parrot flew away, Alia took sothing out from behind her.
“It’s a rope made from the stems of elderwood. It will never break.”
“You say it would never break? I will be the judge of that.”
“Hey, don’t I tell you to do it in moderation?”
While Seokhyun and Da-jeong quarreled, Alia handed over the rope to them.
“Please confirm it. It will never break.”
「Elderwood Rope: Indestructible」
It’s real…
However, this option only aroused Seokhyun’s desire for a challenge.
A human-like monster with the power of an ogre grabbed the rope and used all his power to pull it.
“Whoaa…”
“It’s really strong.”
Once he was done, the rope did not suffer any damage whatsoever. Alia, watching the sight nervously, let out a sigh of relief at that mont.
Da-jeong was happy and took the rope.
“Let’s give this to Seongho.”
“Who is Seongho?”
“He’s, umm…my husband. He’s seriously strong. Now that we’ve ntioned him, I advise you to tell… Who is that elf we t for the first ti?”
“Gryondel. He’s the patrol captain of this tribe.”
“I don’t know if they’ll ever et, but tell that guy that if he ever ets a tall and big man with black hair, he must do his best not to aggravate him. This is pure advice. Even for us, it’s hard to stop him.”
Judging from the fact that Seokhyun nodded without saying a word, Alia was convinced that the guy was truly strong. Well, in the first place, there’s no need for them to collide for nothing, so she needs to tell all the elves.
After sorting her thoughts. Alia opened her mouth. “Since you told that the Elderwood was hurt, I can’t stand still. With this rope, you will be able to enter the forest where Elderwood’s main body is located.”
“Where is it located?”
“It’s in the forest north of Ruat Kingdom… It’s a large forest where humans and even us are not allowed to enter. Please go there and examine the main body of the Elderwood.”
“How can we contact you to report the situation?”
It’s apparent from the Elderwood’s ropes case, the elves didn’t seem to be able to use the system. In other words, communication through the Auction House was impossible.
“You can do that with this…” Alia pulled sothing else out of her box. They were two aether stones of the sa size. “It’s called the whisper jewels, and as you can see, it’s made of aether stone. rchants who visited this forest said that the only place that could process these stones was the Ezekium Empire.”
“It’s a walkie-talkie.”
“Yeah…”
“The way to use it is passing the other stone to the other person. Then, you can just hold the jewel and think.”
Geom-in took the Whispers Jewels and Alia cupped her hands against her chest.
“You must have a reason for coming here and there must be a reason for our eting. I want to expect little things from eting you. That will change us.”
Even though both parties didn’t know exactly what the change was, it was clear that each of them had what the other needed.
The group refused Alia’s request to take a rest for a day or so. Only Geom-in seed to agree.
“We have a long way to go, you know?”
“Well, that’s right…”
“I think we’ll get along with the elves here, so you can just flirt with Alia later.”
“I-it’s not like that.”
“You know, your eyes were dripping with honey.”
Da-jeong laughed and called her Gryphon. After a while, the branches of the Elderwood parted and the gryphon descended.
The party left the forest with the elves seeing them off.
.
.
.
“Looks like the talk went well.” I said as I bought the Elderwood rope the three put from the Auction House.
As I read Geom-in’s report, I couldn’t help but sigh when I read that they told the elves that they co from a different world.
“Did they really need to say that…”
Well, I guess it was the conclusion they reached. I don’t know about others, but I can trust Geom-in if he was together with Da-jeong and Seokhyun.
“Investigating the main body of Elderwood, huh?”
Da-jeong said that Geom-in was excited by the quest. From his point of view, who enjoys playing gas, it would be like becoming a hero and receiving a quest from the chief of an elf tribe in another world.
Anyway, the three were currently heading to the capital of Ruat Kingdom. There, they would have to find an item to block the ntal attack of the guy nad Giudecca.
Investigating the Elderwood was nothing but a side job.
“Well, it’s fine because I was worried anyway…”
It’s not bad to do both at once.
I fiddled with the Elderwood rope. It is said that even with Seokhyun’s ignorant power, it didn’t snap, so it must be useful.
“Where should I use this…” Suddenly, sothing ca to mind. The habits of a drake. It has a habit of actively coming down to the ground and hunting. A cow would suffice to lure it.
“If I take advantage of that gap and put this rope on it, I can stop it from moving once…”
It was terrifying to see sothing as large as a drake moving wildly on the ground. In addition, it was very agile, so it was difficult to dodge its attacks. However, It would be easy to deal with it if I tie it with this rope.
“If I tie it up and set a bomb on the bolt and shoot it…”
Even with ballista bolts, a drake’s scales would be hard to pierce. But detonating a bomb will make things better. Anti-tank rockets were limited in quantity, so I wanted to save them as much as possible. Overly relying on such weapons can be dangerous.
I continued the simulation in my head while watching the video of hunting the drake. Fortunately, the Battle Royale battlefield no longer exists in areas where the drake often appears.
When I looked at the Auction House before, there was no such information regarding the end of the battle royale. But soone had sorted it out. He was the head of the Houston Braves clan.
“Didn’t he say he respects …” It should be nothing but a lip service, but it was clear that he had seen a video from Survival Life. He added that he regretted that it didn’t launch in the US.
“They really love things like survival, hunting, and exploring.”
In any case, the image of Korea, who led public opinion at the Auction House, was not bad at all. There is only a lot of swearing at the federal governnt for not responding properly.
-They definitely heard the Korean governnt’s warning. It’s just that the stupid president and federal officials ignored it!
-So, when will our Korean friends co? Is he really trying to hunt the drake?
-I honestly can’t believe he’s a ga changer. Doing sothing alone that 10 people can’t do? Ridiculous!
-He will have a friend who helps him.
-I really want to see them… It must be fantastic…
-Hey, guys…it’s Huxley, what if we fully cooperate? Whatever the outco, it won’t be bad for us.
-If our Korean friend catches it, we will beco a witness to an amazing sight, and even if he fails, we will gain a know-how.
-That’s right. The Houston Braves will help him. Anybody interested?
-! Shall we go sight-seeing?
-Shouldn’t he prove it before he cos? It’s more dangerous if he just makes the drake angry instead.
-Right. You have to catch at least one troll to be worthy!
-I’m against him coming. It’s not good for others to intervene when we have good enough skills.
The resident of Houston started fighting at that mont.
It seed like it’s ti for to intervene.
-Is catching an ogre enough for a proof?
As soon as I wrote that comnt, dozens of comnts went up.
-Surely people like you should have killed an ogre back in the ga!
-You don’t an in real life, fo you?
-No, I actually caught it.
-In Korea?
-Yeah.
-Do not joke around about that.
I’m sorry, but it’s real.
Although heavy weapons were mobilized and there were many casualties, it was an unshakable truth that I had killed an ogre.
When they heard that I had even obtained the ogre gloves, so of them suddenly got excited.
-Hey, buddy, show it to quickly.
-If you co downtown, you can et the Houston Braves!
-Is there anyone against it? No, right? Friend, co downtown. let’s et there.
Just like that, it was decided.
I rode my motorcycle through the middle of Houston with Sangshin.
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