Chapter 209

PHA – Chapter 209 – The Process of Making a Mobile Figurine

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TL Notes:

Changing “Forest Crystallization” to “Forest Crystal.”

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Currently, the inside of the cubicle, dark-green crystal was packed to the brim with tree branches. Meanwhile, every one of these tree branches originated from the figurine located in the crystal’s center. It was without question a very strange sight.

The fact that her body was made out of wood had become Andusia’s biggest downfall. This made it possible for taboos that could influence plants to affect her body directly. Meanwhile, because of Alice’s Forest Crystal and Hubert’s Tree, Andusia was now robbed of both her physical and magical capabilities. The only thing she could do was watch as Alice moved closer and closer to her.

“Capturing you really is a troublesome process. It took only a short moment for you to turn this entire villa district into ruins,” Alice said, voicing her complaints as she walked up to the Forest Crystal. Then, as she looked at Andusia’s immobilized body through the translucent crystal, she smiled and continued, “Thankfully, all of the villas here have received basic magic reinforcements. There would have been severe casualties if this were a normal residential area.”

“Hmph. Who cares if there are casualties? Humans are not worth protecting,” Andusia said, snorting when she heard Alice’s words. “Do you think you are making this world more peaceful by protecting these humans? Stop joking. Humans are beyond salvation. The only thing they are good at is capturing and enslaving other races. Humans are many times better at evildoing than even Demon Kings.”

The fact that the Demon Kings harbored malice toward humans was something Alice knew. However, not all Demon Kings had the same reason for hating humans. Meanwhile, by the looks of it, Andusia’s reason for hating humans was most likely related to the slavery system humans employed in the distant past.

However, slavery had long since become a thing of the past. Many years ago, humans had already abolished its slavery policy and made the appropriate reparations to the various races. The various races had also gradually come to forgive the humans’ actions over the past thousand years. Although there were still some beastkins working as maids or butlers for humans, they were all working under normal employment.

Of course, Alice did not plan to preach about freedom and equality to Andusia right now. She doubted that the Ninth Demon King would be convinced by words alone. Rather than wasting time with words, she figured it’d be better if she allowed Andusia to personally experience the changes that had taken place in the human realm instead. Before letting Andusia explore the new world, though, she’d have to figure out a way to seal Andusia’s strength.

Moreover, if Alice could seal Andusia’s strength, it’d become easier for her to pry some information regarding the Demon King’s Power out of the party. Compared to a half-baked Demon King like Luna, Andusia definitely had a much deeper understanding of the Demon King’s Power.

However, if there was no possibility of having a proper conversation with Andusia, Alice wouldn’t go easy on the other party, either.

“But I really didn’t expect your figurine body to be capable of movement,” Alice said as she scrutinized Andusia’s miniature body. Then, teasingly, she continued, “Don’t tell me you’re interested in this character? If Hikari’s fans online find out that there’s a mobile version of Hikari’s figurine, they’ll definitely be very interested to see you.”

“Do you think I want to look like this?” Andusia glared at Alice. “Do you know what kind of material my body is sculpted from?”

Although Andusia wore a disgruntled look on her face, it looked like she was still open to communication. Seeing this, Alice breathed out a soft sigh of relief.

“What material? Isn’t it just normal wood?” Alice asked out of curiosity. Andusia was in a conscious state of mind when Alice picked up the other party’s figurine body. So, she couldn’t inspect the other party’s information with her right hand. It was also why she was certain there was something wrong with the figurine.

“Normal wood…is it? Do you really think that?” Andusia gnashed her teeth, an indignant expression on her face. “Listen well! My body is made out of ‘Living Wood’! It is the treant race’s treasure! It is a special type of plant that can house souls, and it can be used to birth powerful treants!”

Treants were a unique race incapable of reproduction. Instead, treants were born from dead wood that could serve as spirit mediums. Once such wood was left alone long enough, a sapling would grow from it. Then, the sapling would gradually grow into a treant, a creature that looked very similar to humans.

Similar to elves, treants possessed a strong affinity for natural mana. However, unlike the elves, treants did not have long lifespans. In exchange, though, their talent for magic was much greater than both elves and humans.

Treants typically lived in primeval forests, and nobody has discovered the location of their settlement even until now. It was only possible to receive news about the treants through wandering humans or the treants living in the demon realm.

“When I started clashing with the Hero, I quickly realized that the bastard is stronger than me, and I might be defeated. So, I wisely hid my soul in a piece of Living Wood before that happened,” Andusia said with a chuckle, feeling no shame of her desertion. “With the power of my soul nourishing the Living Wood, it would have taken only two thousand years before a treant would grow from it. Once that happened, my soul would take over the treant’s body.”

Similar to Grant, Andusia must have had a few screws in her head loosened after spending so many years in solitude, as she did not hesitate to share her scheme with Alice. It would also seem that Andusia realized that it was unlikely she could secure a Seed of Nature for herself, so she had switched to using a different method of reviving herself.

“If everything went smoothly, I would have resurrected in this world as a treant in a few hundred years from now. The Hero would have long died by then, and there’d be nothing the humans can do to stop me.” After speaking up to this point, Andusia’s expression suddenly changed. Then, while gnashing her teeth, she begrudgingly said, “But…! But!!! A group of imbeciles treated my Living Wood as a piece of normal wood and dug it up!!! Moreover, they even carved it into this despicable form!!!!”

Alice finally understood why Andusia, a Demon King who had existed a couple thousand years ago, would be attached to the figurine of a magical girl. She also couldn’t help but pity the other party a little.