Chapter 358: The Queen Stands

The gaze of the vine puppet holding the grimoire was on Walker and the party. He knew that this was meant for them, they were humans and a dragon who had come from nowhere and made such massive waves in their peaceful culture. "You act as their leader, the true hero title holder. Tell me, what will the kingdom you hail from do when we open our lands? Will they enter our forests for harvest? Will they come to steal away our crafting knowledge and magic? Will they demand we trade them our valuable items and resources?" 

The words were said in a way that showed the vine puppet already knew the answers, but Walker answered anyways. "Yes. Yes, they will. Humans are not all great beings. Some will stand firm and shake your hand while robbing you of your culture. Others will fight on your behalf when you do not ask. But some, will stand by your side and never leave it. I can't prove that your people are different or the same. I will use the power I have to make sure that you are treated with the respect you deserve, and the forest will be treated with the respect it deserves."

The vine puppet looked him hard in the eyes waiting for Walker to speak more. "Just because you release your illusion barrier and show yourselves to the world does not mean you lose the control of your domain. Your people have held control for a long time here, you can maintain that and slowly adjust to travelers and adventurers. Just partnering with the adventurers guild will bring many money driven individuals, but it will also bring those that wish to work for you and with you. It would be up to you to decide on who is who." 

"So you say that you don't expect an immediate change? Interesting, and what say you, arcane archer, in human form? What is to stop you from offering up the skills you have to forge arrows for archers that lack the ability to properly use them? What is to stop you from using the skills against us and sharing out strategies with your armies?" 

Gil felt an enormous pressure on him as he was asked these things. He had his own ideals and beliefs, and would not be throwing them aside for such things. "I am a hero title holder, I could never endanger a people in such a way. You may look at me and see a human who could ruin your way of life, I know this. But do you see the ranger father that taught me how to walk through the forest without leaving a trace trying to get me to unlock a system? Do you see the mother that taught me as much as she could about growing plants on our farm so that I could gather the herbs from the forest safely so they would not die off?" 

Gil's words held the steel of his beliefs and made the vine puppet shift toward the queen. "My queen, do you see merit in the future they have to offer? Do you see the loss of our privacy? Do you see the bond with humans that could change our growth, what about the insignia that the human party wears? The possible relationship with the demi-humans we have long ignored. Can you feel the strength of that little dragon there? She is young, but she has the potential to bring us closer to the stone elves in the mountains who hide away from us, their cousins in the forest." 

The vine puppet with the grimoire's words made many emotions flash on the queen's face. After some deliberation, the queen appeared to reach an internal consensus and fell back to her calm and closed eyed state. "I see you understand now. It has been some time since I deemed it worth interfering. Grow well, and remember the day you met the spirit of the first forest elf queen, the holder of the title; natural mana saint." 

The last of the vine puppets shrank away and so did all the vines that encompassed the room. The elders came back in to view flustered after being isolated in the vines. They had been trapped while everything happened and heard nothing of what went on. The enforcers were also thrown off since they had lost all sight of the one person they were required to absolutely protect, the queen. 

"My queen, have you and the spirits reached a conclusion? Should we have the enforcers bring these who choose to go against our ways to seclusion?" The elder that spoke looked at the group with disdain. He could not fathom where the three elves had gone wrong in life. All he did know was that the elven way of life was threatened. 

The queen's vine hammock showed signs of changing. It pushed her on to her feet and held her steady. "My queen, please do not stand. The decay could spread and cause your illness to worsen." Another elder had lept to their feet seeing the queen stand. 

"I will not let the mana bleeding disease keep me from calling my people to hear my decision on this matter. I have used my system and queen title to feed myself mana to remain in a healthy state. I can afford to speak with them for a short time." 

Remey grabbed Walker's shoulder, her grip tightening by the second. She was trying to say something but her words were coming out as shallow breathes instead of a full sentence. Gil and Su had also turned to look at Walker. They were remembering the herb that Remey had lost her mind over in the forest when they first arrived. "Remey, you tell her. You are the one who found it." 

The queen was moving slowly toward the group while the elders started to follow her in line. The group was still standing without any order to move, however, Remey stepped forward towards the queen. "Halt. You will not take another step." Every enforcer held their arrows on Remey. 

"If I do not take another step I could not assist in the problem your queen has. Walker pulled the crystal ginger from his inventory and handed it to Remey. "You see, we are young and new to being ambassadors."  Remey tapped the travel on her clothing. "We forgot that when we meet the leader of another kingdom like the queen here that we are expected to present a gift. We are sorry to be late, but we harvested this extremely rare crystal ginger during our travels. Please accept this before you greet your people." 

Remey held up the crystal ginger which one of the enforcers quickly took from her and fully examined. It was clear they were using an appraisal skill of some form. When they finished their examination the enforcer showed emotion. Not a single one of the party had seen an enforcer show a smile like this. 

The enforcer approached the queen ad whispered within her ear. The vines around her body became a flurry as they twisted and turned upon themselves becoming a solid vine walking stick. The vines twisted in to a branch of beautiful flowers and leaves. "It is customary for our queens to give up our names when we ascend the throne. It is a symbol of what we are willing to give away to properly represent our people. Many years ago my parents used to call me Reina. You may address me as such when you are here to visit in the future." Her smile was the purest thing they had seen from the queen yet. 

Alma was looking at the party with open faced awe. They had pulled an exceptionally rare herb out of nowhere and given it away. Not to mention the fact that they had brought the queen to such a state that she would reveal a name that her blood had given her. It was unthinkable for any elf to call her by her name, but the party had just received the honor.

"All of you will follow me to the highest branch in the main square markets. The people have only gathered there in hiding and evacuation. Today they will gather for another reason." The group had started to feel what the queen had decided after hearing the opinions from the past elve's spirits. The three elves had also taken a few hints and were quick to fall in to line behind the queen. The enforcers scrambled out the door of the hall. Many orders flew in the air as they made preparations to get every elf in the city possible to come and listen to the queen's speech. It was an exceedingly rare moment for the queen to walk about the city.

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