Great Forest
by Afuhfuihgs
Locque, having confirmed Cormo’s death and ordered his subordinate to clean up the mess, approached with a smile.
,I really didn’t think he’d kill him alone. Is that how easily transcendents die? Heh heh.”
I answered curtly at Locque’s appearance, who was stroking his chin as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“Just keep your promise.”
“Of course. I don’t break promises.”
Locque wanted to completely eliminate the Order’s influence in Ludwig. The new Emperor is waiting to be enthroned. He judged that it would definitely not be good for Ludwig to be associated with the Order, which had become an enemy of the continent by attacking the capital.
I retrieved the Spear of Resolution from Cormo’s exploded head. Locque simply shrugged, as it had been agreed upon in advance.
“Since we’re connected like this, how about we have a real drinking session? The city of pleasure gets brighter as the night gets deeper. You can properly enjoy this city if you’re with me.”
I avoided him trying to casually put his arm around my shoulder and refused Locque’s offer.
“I’m alright. Luna is waiting. And I don’t particularly like alcohol.”
“Well, then come find me in the special district when you have time next time. I’ll contact you as soon as the promised reward is ready.”
Locque left with a smile. I put the Spear of Resolution in my spatial storage and walked towards the hotel where I had booked a new room far away for Luna’s safety.
Arriving at the hotel, I briefly looked in the mirror in the lobby and fixed my hair and clothes. I wasn’t hurt, and there was no blood on me. When I opened the door and went inside, Luna, who had been looking at Haring and the compass, looked up, met my eyes, and said.
“As, as I thought…!”
“…?”
I smiled at Luna’s happy face and shrugged, and Luna giggled and came to me to explain.
“The compass was pointing at Ross.”
“Huh?”
I thought the compass might be broken, but I didn’t bother saying it out loud at Luna’s happy face. Luna, holding the compass and walking around the room, reconfirmed that the compass was pointing at me and said with a happy face.
“Now I can know where Ross is with the compass, no matter where he is.”
I smiled and said at Luna’s appearance, who was narrowing her eyes and playfully glaring at me.
“I have no intention of running away from Luna’s side?”
Saying that, I naturally hugged Luna, and Luna, burying her face in my arms, asked.
“Did you finish the job well?”
“Yeah, perfectly. I used the advantages of space magic to win last time, but today was different. Cormo’s spear didn’t feel threatening at all. Thanks to that, I was able to win as planned with ease. I guess this is the power of talent.”
I had lost Gias’s power, but I was able to kill Cormo even more easily than the first fight. It was very easy to read Cormo’s attacks, and I could predict what reaction Cormo would show if I took any action.
There was also a way to kill Cormo in one blow without fighting him. If I used Dimensional Leap and Breath of the Void at the same time, Cormo would not be able to use [Battlefield] and would die immediately. The reason I didn’t do that was because I wanted to see for myself how much stronger I had become compared to before.
“It was thanks to Ross’s efforts that the quantum jump was possible.”
I caressed Luna’s soft butt, who was saying pretty things, and said.
“If you want something from Locque, ask for it as a reward. Is there anything you want?”
Luna smiled softly instead of answering, closed her eyes, and raised her chin.
“This is what I want now.”
“I can do this anytime.”
When I kissed Luna, the hatchling who was watching us from the side flapped its wings in dissatisfaction, puduk puduk.
***
The next day, I asked Locque to borrow a decent carriage and left Ludwig with Luna. The rest was enough. Then it’s time to work now. We, who are trying to ruin the hero’s salvation plan to save the world, had a lot to do.
The work to be done was decided. That’s why I came down to Ludwig in advance. We must obtain the Seed of the World Tree, which plays the biggest role in the plan to kill the Undead. If there is no Seed of the World Tree, Ellie will not be able to proceed with the plan even if she completes the magic.
So getting the Seed of the World Tree was the most important thing. There was even a condition that we had to secretly negotiate with the Elder of the Elves and obtain the Seed of the World Tree without Roel and the Undead noticing.
But I know the characteristics of the Elves better than anyone else. The Elves of the Great Forest participated in the Emperor’s crazy plan for the sole reason that they could plant the World Tree in this world. The death of countless humans was not a problem for the Elves.
Emperor, Demon King, Roel… If we use the Elves’ characteristic of being able to join hands with anyone for the sake of the World Tree, it will not be difficult to obtain the Seed of the World Tree.
While I was organizing my thoughts in my head, the coachman opened the small window connected to the carriage.
“It’s a canyon! We’ll be arriving at the gate soon.”
Looking out the window at the coachman’s words, I saw a large canyon. It was a canyon leading to the Great Forest. Before long, the carriage’s speed decreased. The carriage came to a complete stop, and the coachman opened the door of the carriage.
When Luna and I got out of the carriage, the entrance to the canyon, blocked by a large rock, came into view. I knew that Ian, Bella’s hunting dog, had destroyed the sacred gate to block Cassis and blocked the entrance to the Great Forest, but seeing it in front of me, the size of the canyon was enormous.
Whether they were temporarily building a base to replace the collapsed sacred gate and acting as a gate, I could see soldiers and knights on guard. After nodding to the coachman who said he would wait until we returned, I walked towards the canyon with Luna.
A soldier who had been on guard since the carriage approached shouted from afar.
“This place is off-limits to the general public. Stop there and take out your identification tags.”
It seems they don’t welcome strangers’ visits because of the Order’s attack. At the sight of the soldiers aiming arrows at us from behind the rocks and the knight with his hand on his sword on guard, we obediently took out our identification tags.
The soldier, who carefully approached and checked our identification tags, glanced at our faces, swallowed hard, and said politely.
“Plea, please wait a moment, and I’ll call the knight-nim.”
The soldier, who turned around with our identification tags, urgently gestured, and the soldier who had been aiming the arrow lowered his hand. The soldier, who approached the knight and explained something while pointing at the identification tags and us, the knight who received the identification tags from the soldier ran to us with a surprised face.
Looking at the knight and soldier’s uniforms, it seemed that it was not the Holy Knights of the Church but the Imperial Knights who were guarding the entrance to the Great Forest now. The knight, who politely returned the identification tags, looked at me and asked.
“Oh my, what brings such precious people to such a humble place…”
“I have business in the Great Forest.”
At my immediate answer, the knight stared at me with a blank look, scratched his head, and said.
“…I’m sorry, but only special people who have received permission from His Majesty the Emperor can enter the Great Forest-“
I interrupted the knight’s words by holding up the golden identification tag I received from Bella. This identification tag not only recognized me as having the same status as the Imperial Family, but also contained special authority to issue orders to the capital’s guards and the Imperial Knights. And the knight in front of me belongs to the Imperial Knights.
The knight, who looked back and forth between the identification tag and my face, gave a soft smile.
“Actually, I could tell at a glance from afar that you were noble people.”
***
The knight’s name was Canyon, a name that suited the canyon. After all, a person’s name is important. Does fate determine the name, or does the name create fate?
Canyon skillfully led the way to the Great Forest. It seems they somehow dug a tunnel leading to the Great Forest in the meantime.
While talking, I also learned that Canyon was a knight belonging to the 2nd Imperial Knights led by Theodore as the commander. When I pretended to know Theodore, Canyon waved the torch in the air and grumbled.
“Did you know the commander-nim? Tsk, some people are preparing for the coronation ceremony in the capital, and some people are stuck in a place like this… He said he would relieve me, but it’s been weeks here…”
Luna laughed softly at Canyon’s grumbling. I read the atmosphere and asked cautiously.
“Has anyone recently entered the Great Forest?”
Canyon, who had been cursing Theodore, stopped muttering and answered.
“Yes. A few days ago, the Grand General from the Imperial Palace headed to the Great Forest with soldiers.”
“Grand General…?”
Asking in doubt at the title I heard for the first time, Canyon smiled as if he didn’t know.
“You didn’t know yet. This time, the position of Grand General, who manages all the knights and soldiers, was created. The Grand General was previously a Holy Knight in charge of the sacred gate. He couldn’t protect the gate, but the Emperor… no, not yet. The Crown Princess-nim recognized his abilities and he became the Grand General.”
According to Canyon’s explanation, it seemed that Bella’s hunting dog, Ian, had become the Grand General.
…Something is strange. Bella hasn’t contacted us in any way since the Emperor died. But why did Ian head to the Great Forest with soldiers instead of staying by Bella’s side, who is preparing for the coronation ceremony?
It was thanks to Canyon’s shout that I was able to wake up from my thoughts.
“We’ve arrived. This is the place called the Great Forest from here.”
When I came out of the dark tunnel, a huge forest that suited the name Great Forest appeared.
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