[195] At the Elven Forest; the Dilemma of the Archmage

[195] At the Elven Forest; the Dilemma of the Archmage

Chapter 195: At the Elven Forest; the Dilemma of the Archmage

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The Elven Forest was huge. Although it was far from the largest forest in the world, it was larger than the Amazon forest by a few times. It spread across dozens of millions of square kilometers.

Walking to the Sylvanwood, the elven enclave nestled deep within this ancient forest will take a long time. Especially since there were strategically placed illusion traps to stop us from finding it.

We had to find a guide, who could also act as a ride for Ruby and me.

“It should be here.”

“Onii-chan, are you sure your 300-year-old out-of-date memory is going to help us?”

“Shut up, I'm sure this is the place...” I knocked Ruby in the head and stared at the old tree ahead.

“Yeah? We've been waiting for half an hour here and there's nothing,” she rubbed her head and said.

I couldn't really argue back since she was right. I can ascertain that this was the oak tree where the local Dryad stayed. Why's she not responding?

Dryad. A spirit residing in trees. Dryads are tree nymphs or tree spirits, specifically associated with oak trees, though the term can be extended to any tree spirit, really. Dryads were typically depicted as beautiful and elusive female figures who protect the forests and the trees in which they reside. Ah, and they seduce human males and suck their life force and kill them.

There was a little brat here who tried that with me back in the day. I let her go since she was cute and small, warning her to stop acting up.

“Vaelwyn!” I shouted another time, finally able to remember her name. “If you're not in there, I'm leaving! Ugh.” I'll need to find some other Dryad, but then I'm as lost as ever since it's not easy to find them.

I turned around, as did Ruby, giggling to herself as if she had won a bet.

Just as I showed my back to the tree, I felt a pair of eyes on me. As if something that's been hiding all along, and waiting till my eyes won't be on it anymore.

I snapped around, moving at a speed beyond my control since I used my strength to cause it, and my hand slapped into the tree, grabbing a throat.

“Come out,” I shouted, yanking something out of the tree, and it took the shape of a lady in green. The dryad struggled in my grasp while wild vines slapped around. “Calm down,” I loosened my grip on her neck, still holding her in the air.

It was hard to notice her since if a Dryad chooses to hide inside a tree, it's practically undetectable. But I was sure she was in there, that's why I wasted half an hour waiting

“W-who the fuck are you?!” she shouted from my grip, and this girl in green skin sounded like she was in her late teens. She didn’t look as I had remembered. She looked a bit older than when I last met her.

“Behave if you don't want to get beaten up,” with my tone sharp, I warned her. She struggled a bit more when she realized it was worthless, and that Ruby was spinning a Firestorm Spell behind me as a threat, she calmed down.

“Man, what do you want?” She grumbled, not at all in the seductive tone one would assume from a Dryad. “I'll do anything, just don't burn me.”

“Good,” I smiled. “That's what I wanted to hear.”

****

I was surprised that she was not dead yet. When I met her last time, she was in her Level 10s. It was surprising how such a weak Dryad managed to live this long in this dangerous forest. Even in our little journey coming to the oak tree, Ruby and I killed a dozen beasts.

“So you're just Level 43 now? I'm embarrassed.”

“Man stop talking as if you've met me before, it's fucking with me,” the dryad growled as she sat in front of us on top of the thick vine. I sat behind her and Ruby sat behind me, riding a vine that moved like a snake across the forest. It was fast, too.

“Tell me about the current situation in the forest. It seems pretty tame compared to the stuff in the outside world.” I ordered her.

“Is that part of the deal too? Ugh, anyways, this place is kinda safe. I heard about the Outer Gods and the war, but it didn't reach here. I guess they're scared or something since the World Tree is here and the entire population in this forest would give up their lives to keep it protected.”

“You too?” Ruby asked.

“Duh.” Surprisingly, the tree spirit had loyalty to its mother. Every plant here was connected to that big World Tree in the distance, one way or another, so they're like children to it.

We spent the travel time chit-chatting until hours later we neared the destination.

“I'm saying this again because you two seem like good kids,” she said, “but if you really don't have a permit to enter the forest, they'll jail you. Don't try to fight them, you can't ever win. There is still time if you wanna turn around.”

“Thanks, we’ll be fine,” I patted her abdomen as I said so, finding the spot soft and warm since I'd been holding her for hours.

“Weirdo humans,” Vaelwyn the Dryad shook her head and our green vehicle came to a stop.

“Huh, why did it stop?” Ruby asked stupidly and blinked. “Oh. Wow. Damn.” There was nothing but more forest ahead of us, but I guess her eyes could see. Her Kagemimic merging with her Gold sign, the Nine Colored Eyes, could see through stuff that even I couldn't.

“Get off,” Vaelwyn said. “I'll return now, or else I'll get in trouble for bringing in criminals.”

“I'll compensate you when I get the chance,” I got off the vine, followed by Ruby. “Ah, and if you see anything suspicious or feel any threat, come here and look for me.”

Spoiler[collapse]

All of them generally had damp emotions to compensate for that so that they weren't chronically depressed.

However, Sieran had an Eidetic Memory. It was hard to just... forget those precious memories of hers that stimulated her the most in her long life.

So what could she do, but spend her days with his face flashing by her eyes?

...Elves lived long.

Three hundred years were like thirty for her, and it felt like yesterday that he was promising her that he would make a family with her. Until the next day, she found his corpse in his bedroom, dead with a smile on his face.

Why the hell was he smiling when that demoness betrayed him?!

“....” Sieran let out a breath. Such emotions were pointless when the world was about to end.

As she stood there, lost in her thoughts, a soft knock echoed against the magical barrier of her secluded garden. The sound pulled her mind from the thoughts, and she turned to see an Elven man phasing through the barrier.

"My lady, there are visitors.” He was a servant, his posture respectful as he knelt before her. “They claim to be from the Babylon family. The Chief is tending to them, but... they want to meet you, the Grand Chief.”

The Babylon family...

They wanted to meet her?

That request wouldn't have been humored at all if they weren't from the Babylon family.

Sieran's heart skipped a beat. She did not care much about that family, but it was still the blood of her husband. Just when she was thinking about him, she received a visit. How coincidental.

“Which side are they from?”

“Um...”

If they were guests from the Babylon family. That meant they were the descendants of her husband and Elara; there was a small chance they were the descendants of that demoness Lilithra too, since they were considered Babylon family as well.

“I'm not sure, my lady, I apologize,” her servant said. “They said you'll know when you see them.”

She frowned. “Ruhian, are you certain about their blood?”

“Yes, my lady. They used the Babylon Family’s secret code to enter,” he said, and she hummed.

Sieran cared for her sister-wives’ children as her own, in fact, she had raised that demoness’ kids as her own after she left them. That's why, 80 years ago, it made her more mad when that demoness sacrificed those kids into the fire of a spell. But before they perished, those demons had conceived their own kids, so their bloodline remained. Oh, and they were cross-breeding with humans, so they lost their demonic appearance on the outside.

By human years, it has been twelve generations since his first children with the princess. They've all died. So Sieran didn't bother to keep in touch with the newer generations of his and the princess’ children, they grew and died too fast. But she kept in touch with the Babylon Family’s demon side’s kids; after all, after the demoness left, she played the role of mother for those demons, and now for their life, she was like their grandmother. So those demons were close to her, and they were allowed to visit her anyway.

Yet since these guests did not give their identity, that meant they were probably from the princess’ side. What could they possibly want from her?

"Babylon family, huh..." she repeated, her voice barely a whisper. With a sigh, she straightened her posture and nodded. "Very well, Ruhian. Bring me to them."

....

Her servant led her to the meeting space in the chief's abode. It had been a couple of months since she stepped into this place, and she hadn't missed the needlessly strict atmosphere there.

She was offered the Chief's position many times, but because she would rather focus on researching magic, she never accepted it. Yet over the centuries, her achievements kept piling up, which put the elves in quite a difficult spot to just leave her without a proper political seat. So she was granted the seat of Grand Chief, a seat above the Chief’s in effect, although the Chief still did all the mundane work.

“Here,” her servant held open the door for her. She stepped inside with a nod.

Many eyes turned to her the moment she stepped in. Many awaited her. For a brief moment, she couldn't even find the guests; they looked quite elf-like themselves, and if not for their human ears she would have found them even later.

“Welcome, Grand Chief, I-...” The Chief began to speak, but Sieran decided to zone out and ignore the sounds.

Her eyes met with the two guests, the girl, and the boy. Something... was odd.

[Skill: “Third Eye of the Divine Yakhsha” has failed to see through and collect the entity's information.]

...A skill so powerful that it worked even against the Demon Gods, failed to work on this human. What the hell?

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