novelGreat Ancient Mage, Acknowledge (4)
| β Ch.423 | Ch.425 β |
"Haa! Hiyaaa! Haaaaa!"
"Pant, Pant...what's the reason for moving this much?"
"I'm not sure, but just move! It's the order from the queen!"
"Our precious values as elveeeees...!"Ζπππππππoπ·el - π ½π ½novel
It was the scenery that must be saved through a picture. All the elves that lived in the ancient forest were practicing the movements of the Tiger Hunt in unison! It looked silly when just one person was practicing it. Still, when hundreds and thousands of elves were doing the same posture, it reminded him of a religious act. Evan had work to do, so he wasn't able to witness such an amazing sight, and that was very regretful.
"Zero, is it necessary to differentiate the Men's bath and the Women's bath?"
"Yup. They will have to use the baths without waiting for the other gender from now on."
"Well, they would have to use the baths often to relieve their stresses with that intense training..."
Mirole got tired of observing the elves' training, so she approached Evan and looked at his work. The hot spring was formed near the roots of the World Tree that came above the ground. Its basic effects already surpassed the Brotherhood Bathhouse due to getting mixed with the sap of the World Tree, the aura from the spirits, and the clean underground water.
Evan added more effects of the medicinal herbs through alchemy and purified the aura of the hot spring by setting up a bathtub crystal from the dragon lair near the previous hot spring village (each of the fragments contained the immense aura of the hot spring). Drawing out the best effects through harmonizing different auras that were subtle yet fierce. Evan sublimated the hot spring of the World Tree using alchemy!
"Good, done with the partition. Next will be the dressing room."
A hot spring near the giant tree, a mysterious sight as if it were taken from a fairy tale...everything was being modernized by Evan. Even the mysteriousness couldn't win over comfortability!
"The partition is too thin...w-wouldn't someone try to peek?"
"No worries."
Based on Mirole's suspicious actions, there was a high possibility that she might be the someone in question, but Evan decided not to tell her. Including the fact that the partition had an anti-crime ability, which caught those who tried to do something funny to the partition between the Men's Bath and the Women's Bath.
"Done with the dressing room. Lastly, there's an important thing to install here."
"What is it?"
"It's called the vending machine."
Evan spoke in a very serious tone, and he took out a large object from his inventory pocket. It was the center of attraction in Sherden's Brotherhood Bathhouse, which was in charge of dealing out joy after a bath! The Milk Vending Machine!
"It might be a bit difficult to supply its ingredient, the milk."
'Should I catch a bunch of minotaurs and breed them? Minotaur milk can only be acquired from the females, and they are very rare creatures. '
In fact, the Mino of the minotaur signified the Minos island in Greek Mythology, and Taurus meant female cow, so having minotaurs here completely went against its name! Mirole saved Evan from getting lost in thought on the new name that would define the female minotaurs.
"Ah, milk can be acquired from the fairy cows, too. Thankfully, it's one of the endlessly supplied food."
"I think I recall it. Time to thank the comfortable game setting..."
After thanking the easy-going ideas of the game developers, Evan installed the vending machine without a problem inside the fully built bathhouse (although he just took out things from his inventory and assembled them in order). Then, he received the crude milk of the spirit cow from Mirole and mixed it with the ingredients that he had on hand, which then resulted in different kinds of milk, and he put them into the machine.
"And beer...Mirole, do you drink it?"
"What is beer?"
It seemed like Mirole didn't even know about the existence of beer. He thought that beer, unlike wine, was too petty for the noble elves, but he also put beer into the vending machine without any hesitation. What was there to stall time after installing the bath?
"Good, it looks pretty all right...from now on, let's call this the Brotherhood Bathhouse World Tree branch."
"What's that?"
"Ah...never mind, let's call it World Tree Hot Spring."
After sounding very foolish, Evan regained his senses and became quiet. Mirole tilted her head, but she changed the topic as if she gave up on asking further.
"Since Zero has cleaned the bath, I want to get in right now..."
"No, not until the training quota is met."
"Training quota!?"
An ambitious plan to turn all the forest fairies into stronger beings. And even Mirole couldn't be exempted from it. Rather, she had to be an example for everyone.
"Nooooooooo..."
"I've installed a device at the entrance of the bath which won't allow people who didn't train to get in. So, Mirole, continue with your training."
"I am amongst them...?"
"Do you really want to stand out? It can't be helped. Since you have a lot of mana, train for the Iron Barrage instead of the Tiger Hunt."
"That looks even weirder!"
However, Mirole failed to defy Evan and ended up training with the Iron Barrage. In just two hours after Evan had entered the Mother Forest, the Forest was filled with Elves groaning!
"Umm, it's the sight I wanted to see ever since I've started playing Yo-Ma Great War Zero."
After finishing the hot spring, Evan had free time to sit near the roots of the World Tree and smiled widely as he watched the scenery. He recalled that he was upset in the past regarding how none of the elves trained their skills. Oh, the anger that arose from looking at how they easily got swept away by the Demons despite their fancy description!
If they trained hard from the early stage of the game, the difficulty of the Yo-Ma Great War Zero would have drastically changed. How many times had he thought about that? But such events were no longer an issue. Evan felt very relieved. For now, he decided not to think about how the future of the elves would change through their training. Well, there was nothing to think about since they spent most of their time in the Ancient Forest!
"Hmm?"
That moment, a leaf from the World Tree fell on Evan's shoulder. Perhaps the World Tree was also satisfied with the scenery. He smiled lightly while patting the root and asked a question.
"You've mentioned harmony with different races. Is it alright if I bring others into this place?"
Another leaf fell on him. He caught it gracefully and stood up while putting it into his pocket and nodding.
"Thank you, Mother. I'll be right back."
Elves were jumping while holding their bows, and Mirole was doing a side-step while pretending to pluck the arrows from the ground in front of those elves. Evan saved such a shocking sight once again into his eyes and kicked off the ground. The next moment, he was in front of the base camp which he previously made.
"Master!"
Maybell, who had been waiting for him outside until now, jumped on him in an instant. Evan received her easily as he expected it to happen.
"I've finished negotiating with the World Tree. Let's bring everyone over."
"By any chance, did you make even the World Tree your captive with your charm?"
[Huh? He did what to the World Tree with charm?]
Fayna, who seemed to have been alerted against Maybell, approached Evan as terrified by what she had heard. Evan giggled and shouted so that others aside from the girls could hear him.
"From now on, we will enter the Mother Forest. We will fight against the Demons and the monsters with an alliance from the forest fairies!"
* * *
The transfer was simple. First, he sent all the humans and the dwarves in the base camp to the Necklace World, and he retrieved his magic tools and tents from the base camp.
"Here, we just need to get into the forest and bring back the people."
[That artifact, it's truly amazing...]
"Sometimes, items which even the gods didn't expect get dropped in the dungeons."
Miraseul's necklace was the first-ever artifact dropped in the Sherden dungeon after its first opening to the players. Probably, it was due to the aura of the Devil who created the dungeon and the aura of the gods who struggled to enable the humans to survive within the dungeon that such an incredible artifact was created...was the conclusion made by the hardcore players of Yo-Ma Great War series who tried to analyze the Miraseul's necklace. But now, Evan could conclude. That this masterpiece couldn't be made coincidentally!
'Well, I have to find out the origin of this necklace...'
"Master, are you all right?"
"Huh? Ah, umm. I was just thinking for a moment."
"Mwuuuuu..."
Maybell let out a strange voice. Evan turned back, and Maybell suddenly jumped on him and hugged him tightly.
"Even if you want to see Belois, I'm the only one here with you, so you have to be satisfied with me, Master. Alright?"
"Huh?"
"Wait and see; I'll make you forget about Belois later on."
"Hmm..."
In fact, he wasn't thinking about Belois. Still, since he liked the sensation from Maybell, who was strongly hugging him and looked cute as she was conscious and jealous of Belois, Evan decided to stay silent.
[...Pl-please refrain from showing such actions in front of me. ]
Besides, it was quite enjoyable to see Fayna becoming shy. She wasn't familiar with the love between the opposite sexes. Evan laughed.
"Then, we will set off, so follow us well."
[There's no need to worry about me. Go ahead first. ]
"All right."
Evan set off his foot. By the time his foot landed, they were already in the middle of the Mother Forest.
"The king has returned!"
"...Huh? Wasn't it just a few moments after he left this place?"
While ignoring the forest fairy guards tilting their heads, Evan entered the Forest with Maybell and Fayna. The elves raised a commotion at the sight of the Demon and the Angel moving together. Still, there were others who praised Evan for his kingship in the Forest for bringing in the most difficult races.
"Here, create a space for the humans and the dwarves. They will live here, too."
"In this Forest along with the other races..."
"Of course, it's not forever, but until we solve the crisis of this Forest."
Additionally, Evan planned on resigning from the shameful position of the king of the Forest when that time arrived.
"Can we really solve the crisis?"
"Yup. If you guys train hard on the Tiger Hunt."
"This isn't a hunt, and I've never heard of a creature named Tiger..."
"That's not important."
The elves were very surprised by the news about living together with the humans and the dwarves. Still, later on, nobody minded it at all. Due to the effects of the hot spring, which relieved stress and increased skill training speed.
Evan decided to train them harder.
[Covid shot today, taking time to rest, sorry guys. ]
| β Ch. 423 | Ch. 425 β |