The Milestone the Full Moon Points To - 1
The Holden royal family had a chancellor who backed the Magic Tower, leaving them powerless to rein in its excesses.
So what of the Elf Forest, then?
Though it lay within the kingdom’s borders, the Elf Forest was, in truth, closer to an independent nation. As indigenous people who had lived there long before the kingdom’s founding, the elves paid no taxes and maintained no exchanges of any kind. The Holden Kingdom treated them with a hands-off indifference, caring nothing for whatever they chose to do.
Which made the elves the perfect force to declare war on the Magic Tower.
Even if the kingdom tried to intervene, the Magic Tower already had a track record of attempting to abduct the Saintess. The moral high ground belonged to the elves; the kingdom would have no choice but to step back. Should it still throw its support behind the Magic Tower, it would shoulder both public condemnation and open hostility with the elves. The losses would be too severe—so the kingdom would simply stand aside and watch.
With this, the elves should keep the Magic Tower in check for a good while.
[You’ll be free to focus on other matters now.]
Glad the persuasion worked. Honestly, I thought it’d be tough since I was dealing with a goddess.
[That’s just how far those Magic Tower bastards have gone.]
The most urgent problem was solved. Other issues remained, but the Earth Mother Goddess had already withdrawn from Marianne’s body.
“I’m sorry. My power was too meager to keep the Goddess with us any longer.”
“You don’t need to look so down. You did your best, and thanks to that, the most important matter is settled.”
Beyond stopping the Magic Tower, there was the Full Moon Stone, the unknown entity, and more—plenty I had wanted to ask the Earth Mother. But it couldn’t be helped. Even meeting a goddess placed a heavy burden on Marianne. I couldn’t drive her into the ground over my personal concerns. I had to be content with the results we already had.
“Marianne, if you’ve got time, mind showing me around the village?”
“Pardon? A tour of the village?”
“Yeah. There’s someone I absolutely have to meet.”
“Do you have an acquaintance living in our village?”
“Not exactly. More like someone who holds the key to solving one of my problems.”
“Who might that be?”
“I heard she’s called Granny Morx. Know her?”
“Yes… I do know of her, but…”
Marianne’s expression darkened in an instant. A vague unease settled over me.
In the end, I did manage to meet the Granny Morx that Master Chester had mentioned.
But meeting her was all I got. There was nothing else to show for it.
“I never expected she’d be in such a deep sleep…”
“It can’t be helped. The village elders always fall into a deep slumber around this time of year.”
Just as certain animals hibernate, elderly elves shared a similar habit. They slept through winter and woke in spring, then sank into deep sleep again at the start of summer and rose in autumn. With such long lifespans, they needed extended rest to remain active for so many years.
“But what about hunger or… other bodily needs in the middle of all that?”
“Every elf can draw nutrients directly from the earth. Likewise, we don’t need to expel waste separately—the ground takes our impurities and turns them into fertilizer. So sleeping for months is no problem at all.”
“Still, without moving, their muscles must weaken a lot…”
“Surprisingly, the muscle loss isn’t that severe. But it isn’t zero either, which is why only those who’ve already stepped away from active duty practice aestivation and hibernation.”
“I see.”
From Marianne’s escort I had already learned that Granny Morx had retired long ago. In other words, if I had wanted to meet her, I should have come much earlier. Until autumn arrived, I would have to set the matter of the stone tablet aside for a while. Investigating the unknown entity would have to drop down the priority list.
“So, given how things have turned out, what will you do? If you wish, you’re welcome to stay in our village until autumn.”
“I’d love to say I’ll impose on you… but I’ve got other places I need to visit. I’ll save the extended stay for next time.”
“I understand.”
Marianne wore a gentle smile, yet her eyes held clear regret. Part of me wanted nothing more than to linger in the forest for a bit of forest bathing, but right now I needed to keep moving. At minimum, three years. From the Demon King’s army’s revival until the final showdown with the Demon King herself, I might not get a single proper rest. Still, once those three years were behind me, I believed I would finally reach the happy ending I wanted. After that, no matter what I did, it wouldn’t matter.
“Then will you leave the village right away?”
“Not quite. I’ll need to impose for at least one night.”
“Sunset is still a long way off. You could easily reach the next village before dark.”
“There’s a place near here I have to visit after nightfall.”
“Somewhere you can only go once night falls… Ah! You might be talking about that flower field.”
“Yeah, that’s probably the place.”
Marianne had clearly thought of the same spot the moment I mentioned it. Calling it a flower field sealed it. The field of Moonlight Flowers, said to bloom fully only on nights of the full moon. Moonlight Flowers grew solely on the Misty Hills near the Elf Forest—and they were one of the key ingredients for lifting Hesha’s curse.
“So you already knew about that famous spot, Bern! It’s so well-known that every elf is aware of it!”
“Huh? Really?”
The Moonlight Flower field was supposed to be a place most elves didn’t even know about. On nights when the full moon rose, thick fog blanketed the hills and hid the flowers’ beauty. As far as I remembered, it was top-secret information known only to elder-level elves and above. Yet Marianne claimed every elf in the village knew of it. Had I been wrong all this time?
“Of course! Every single flower in that field is beautiful!”
“Well… the flowers are pretty, sure.”
Even Kang Junhyuk—and Hesha, who had zero sentimental bone in her body—had called the fully bloomed Moonlight Flowers beautiful. So a flower field under the full moon would be a true spectacle. That much I could guarantee.
“That’s why so many elves go there to play whenever night falls.”
“Then you’ve been there too?”
“Just once, when I was little. But I never went inside—I only circled the edges and watched from afar.”
“Why?”
“Because my body was so frail back then.”
Marianne had lived in constant pain, unable to fully contain the Earth Mother’s power. She couldn’t roam freely outdoors like the others; she spent every day in the temple offering prayers. She had endured such a pitiful childhood—but things were different now. I had taken a portion of the power that had been devouring her. From this day forward, I hoped she would travel the world and make her presence known as much as she pleased.
“Then how about coming to the flower field with me tonight?”
“W-Would that really be all right?”
“Your body’s better now, isn’t it? Everyone should get to run around a flower field to their heart’s content at least once in their life.”
“You’re right.”
Marianne nodded with a shy smile. Even though it was the middle of the night, the idea of going flower-viewing together clearly delighted her. I was glad I had invited her.
“Hehe! I’m already looking forward to tonight!”
“We’re just going to look at flowers.”
“Beautiful flowers always lift my spirits, no matter when I see them. And more than anything, I’m so excited that I finally get to experience something I’ve only ever watched from the sidelines!”
“Experience? What experience?”
“It seems you don’t know about that part. Earlier I said the nighttime flower field is famous among the elves, right?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s partly because the flowers are beautiful, but the real reason is that an incredible secret is hidden there!”
So the elves knew about the Moonlight Flowers’ effects after all. They cured all sorts of curses and restored the vitality of whoever consumed them. In the distant future they would even be called a panacea. They were so rare you couldn’t buy them on the open market—priceless materials.
“You pick the petals from the flower field and grind them with all your might!”
“Huh?”
I had always known Moonlight Flower petals were steeped in boiling water and drunk as a decoction. Grinding them into powder was completely new to me. Did the elves have their own secret preparation method?
“If you grind hard enough, you get a fine white powder, and the elves spread it out on a broad leaf.”
“And then?”
“They pluck a small nearby leaf, roll it up tight, and bring it to their nostrils.”
“Uh…?”
“Next they press the rolled leaf against the powder on the big leaf and inhale the powder through their noses! Then everyone starts grinning like idiots and gets all happy…”
“You crazy bitch! That’s not it!”
“Pardon?”
I had thought nothing could top remodeling spirits into onaholes or turning the bones of the dead into weapons. Yet here the elves were, gathering in the flower field every night to manufacture a substance no one should ever put their hands on from flower petals.
I had just taken a full-force hit to the back of the head. The elves were every bit as deranged as the Magic Tower and the dwarves.