Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Ch. 47 .｡.:✧ Unexpected Company (2) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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After taking a short nap for about an hour, the cargo wagon had already arrived at a small way station.
It seemed they were going to let the horses rest here and take a short break before continuing.
“Wow. They’re doing business even at this hour.”
Even though it was early morning, long after sunset, the market at the way station was quite active.
Was it because most of the customers stopping by here were people who briefly came and went at dawn like this?
As I got off the wagon and looked around for a bit, white rabbit ears followed behind me.
She kept tilting her head, as if searching for something.
“What are you looking for?”
“A laundromat.”
“Right. Because of the wetting…”
“Ah, please be quiet… I’m begging you…”
Alicia pleaded with a sob.
I was going to tease her a bit more.
But I felt too sorry to tease her any further.
“We’re leaving in 3 hours anyway. There’s no time to leave laundry.”
“Ah…”
“You can hand wash it. And dry it with magic.”
“I can’t use magic right now. Because the fan I used as a magic tool is broken…”
“If it’s a magic tool, you can just buy a new one.”
“It’s not that simple. I need a magic tool that fits my body perfectly.”
“So picky.”
Right.
This was her setting.
Living up to her setting as a noble lady, she had a very sensitive personality.
“So you’re going to keep carrying it around without washing it? It’ll start to smell.”
“Ah, I know. So for now, I’ll temporarily use a magic tool… Hmm.”
Alicia, who had stopped in front of a general store, frowned.
Staffs, orbs, wands, etc…
There were plenty of magic tools that looked plausible, but they were all just flashy in appearance with poor performance.
Even I, who knew nothing about magic, could tell.
There was no way they would catch the eye of Alicia, who had even been to the Magic Tower.
“Ugh… What is this…”
“Just buy anything. You’re going to use it once and throw it away anyway.”
“I can’t waste my sacred mana on this cheap junk. Let’s go to the next store.”
“The stores here are all similar. Just use this.”
“…?”
When I tossed her a ring, it drew a parabola and fell onto Alicia’s palm.
Alicia glared at the ring with a displeased expression for a moment, then put it on her finger and her eyes widened.
“Is this a mid-grade mana stone? Rather than using a ring like this, that cheap wand from earlier would be… Huh?”
“How is it?”
“This isn’t mass-produced, is it?! Is it a highest-grade mana stone? How can such a small mana stone have this much mana capacity…?”
“Do you want it?”
“No? It doesn’t seem to suit my constitution, so I don’t particularly want it.”
Wipe the drool from your mouth before speaking.
“But I do want to know the name of the craftsman who made this ring.”
“I’ll introduce you.”
“What? Really?!”
As soon as she saw this ring, Alicia must have also realized.
The engraver who made this could process any mana stone for a magic tool.
No matter how picky and sensitive the conditions, Tay could meet them.
The perfect engraver for Alicia’s needs.
“Let me hear your magic lessons first. If I’m satisfied, I’ll tell you then.”
“Ah!”
Of course, it couldn’t be done for free.
“Is it tasty?”
“…”
Undecided just nodded her head without answering.
It had become a daily routine to expose my neck like this and feed her blood.
I never thought I would go this far with her.
I was going to get a trait or two, find a decent companion, and then sell her off.
But somehow, she had awakened and become an indispensable core member that I could no longer get rid of.
“Hic, eek.”
Alicia, who had brought her luggage, flinched in surprise upon seeing us.
She still wasn’t used to accompanying a blood ghoul.
She would see a lot of scenes like this from now on, so she would quickly adapt.
“I thought she was a slave…”
“She is a slave.”
“You seem too close for that. I can see deep trust in the blood ghoul’s eyes towards you.”
“…Not. A blood ghoul.”
“Huh?”
“…Undecided. Name.”
It seemed she didn’t like being constantly called a blood ghoul.
Undecided removed her mouth from my neck and challenged Alicia point by point.
Dumbfounded, Alicia couldn’t even respond and just froze.
“The more I look, the more amazing it is. How can a blood ghoul follow a person so well…”
“If you’re done, give the ring back.”
“Ah. Right. Here. I used it well.”
As if she had forgotten, Alicia hurriedly stood up and took the ring out of her pocket to return it.
Judging by her luggage, it seemed she had finished her laundry well.
There was no need to worry about the stench coming from the luggage bag.
That was a relief.
“Did you eat?”
“No. At this hour…”
“You should eat something.”
“I’m going to eat when we arrive.”
“Do you know where we’re going?”
“Ah, right. Where are we going?”
Only then did Alicia look straight at me and ask.
I thought she had gotten on the wagon knowing the destination.
But it turned out she had recklessly gotten on just to follow me.
“Elvenguard.”
“…”
Our destination was the elven homeland, Elvenguard.
Upon hearing my answer, Alicia’s expression gradually distorted.
It couldn’t be helped.
Elves and demihumans were archenemies.
No, to be precise, elves were at odds with almost all races.
Because elves tended to look down on and despise other races due to their long lifespans and magic affinity.
Even elven culture was quite different from other races.
If humans, demihumans, and dwarves felt like distant foreign cultures, elves felt like aliens on their own.
As a result, their food culture was also unique.
I was used to it, so it was quite edible, but for a novice, it would be hard to even put it in their mouth.
“Well. You’ll get used to the food there if you keep eating it. If it’s your first time, bay leaf konnyaku or pine bark stew would be the most…”
“I-I’ll go eat quickly and come back!”
In a flash.
Alicia, whose face had turned pale, hurriedly ran out.
We were leaving soon.
I wondered if she would make it back before the wagon departed.
It would be better if she didn’t.
‘I hope she doesn’t get kicked out. I’m suddenly worried.’
There were three reasons for going to Elvenguard, bundled together.
The first was to meet Mia, the priestess of the World Tree, and hear her prophecy.
The World Tree’s prophecy was quite abstract, so it wouldn’t be of much help.
Still, if I could know the future, even slightly, there was no reason not to hear it.
I knew the power of knowing the future better than anyone.
The second was to train.
The air in Elvenguard was filled with mana, making it the optimal environment for recovering mana just by breathing.
In other words, it was the perfect environment for training while using mana to my heart’s content.
And the third was…
“Please make way! It’s urgent! Urgent!”
Bang.
The door of the way station opened roughly, and a man staggered inside, holding the reins of a horse.
Then he lowered his mask and plunged his head into the drinking fountain, gulping down water hurriedly.
White skin, blonde hair.
And even long ears.
An elf.
And judging by his attire, he was definitely a messenger delivering official orders or news.
Moreover, the direction he had come from was Elvenguard.
What news would a messenger urgently deliver at this hour…?
No matter how much I thought about it, nothing came to mind except for a war or disaster.
I immediately detached Undecided and approached the man to ask.
“What’s the matter?”
“Huff, hah… Who are you?”
“I’m heading to Elvenguard. Did something happen in Elvenguard?”
“…”
The man avoided my gaze and closed his mouth.
He seemed to ponder for a moment, then finally looked straight at me and spoke.
“Ha. There’s no point in hiding it. It would be better not to go towards Elvenguard.”
“Why?”
“I can’t give you the details because it’s confidential, but… Elvenguard is currently in a national state of emergency. A huge fire has broken out, and Elvenguard is at risk of being completely burned down.”
This was a bigger deal than I imagined.
“Elvenguard is on fire?!”
“Yeah. We have to hurry.”
Elvenguard had a big fire.
An ominous feeling was already looming.
Because during the past 12 rounds, there had never been a single major fire in Elvenguard.
There were two possibilities.
Either that messenger was lying to me.
Or a new variable had emerged in the 13th round, and a fire had really broken out.
The latter was more likely.
“What are you going to do when you get there?”
“Assess the situation. And put out the fire.”
“What?”
Leaving behind the dumbfounded Alicia.
I put Undecided on the cargo wagon and quickly got on as well.
It took some time to persuade the coachman, who refused to go after hearing the news of Elvenguard burning.
If we didn’t hurry, a catastrophe would occur with a horde of elven refugees.
“How are you going to put out the fire?”
Reluctantly getting on the cargo wagon, Alicia asked.
It was a natural question.
Originally, Elvenguard was a forest where fires rarely occurred due to the dense mana in the air.
The fact that a major fire broke out in such a place meant it was absolutely not a natural situation.
Moreover, the elves, famous for their great mages, had failed to extinguish it in the initial stage.
In other words, it was nearly impossible for us to put out the fire, whether by spraying water or using magic.
“There’s a suspected culprit who started the fire.”
“Who is it?”
“The Great Spirit, Ifrit.”
As far as I knew, there was only one being capable of committing such a massive arson.
The Great Spirit of Fire. Ifrit.
If it was a fire that burned mana, started by him, it was understandable that it had grown to the point of engulfing Elvenguard.
However, if asked why Ifrit had done such a thing, I had no way to answer.
Although he was known for his crazy personality, he wasn’t the type to do such a dangerous thing.
Perhaps he was being controlled by someone else.
‘Could it be that Kali already…?’
It wasn’t that I had no inkling.
My third reason for heading to Elvenguard.
It was to prevent the corruption of the World Tree that would occur in 6 months.
During the past 12 rounds, the World Tree had always been corrupted and transformed into the Tree of Death without fail.
The corrupted World Tree shed all its green leaves and bore white flower buds.
And the moment those flowers bloomed.
Seeds of plague spread in all directions, becoming the main culprit for destroying countless cities.
The culprit was one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Kali.
A former druid.
Using the characteristics of a druid, she had parasitized the World Tree, controlled it, and corrupted it into the Tree of Death.
‘Did Kali come 6 months early?’
It was a powerful ability to control the World Tree, which even had divinity bestowed upon it.
If it was Kali, making a spirit go on a rampage would be nothing.
If the Great Spirit Ifrit was being controlled by Kali, who had come to Elvenguard 6 months early?
“There’s a way to stop it.”
If we caught Kali, the rampage would end.
We had to hurry.
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