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Chapter 209
It was as if the resonating Falling Blossom was saying to me, "You can't hold out any longer, can you? Why don't you surrender now?"
But to me, it just looked pathetic.
I slowly walked through the flower field and crouched down in front of the great sword.
"Do I look like I've run out of spiritual energy to you? Are you coming to your senses now?"
At my taunt, the resonance paused for a moment.
It seems to have realized something is wrong.
But it’s already too late.
You insolent sword.
"You've only been stuck there for a few hours. Why don't we have a little standoff for a few days?"
Sensing that something was wrong, the spirit sword, Falling Blossom, resonated differently than before.
But I simply tapped the blade made of light with my finger and said,
"Disobedient kids need to be disciplined."
Leaving the resonating sword behind, as if it were begging me to stop, I walked away from the place.
And then—
It was only after a full day that I returned to the place with Luna.
"Wow."
Before us stood a massive tree, easily a hundred meters tall.
I casually pulled the Falling Blossom out of the ground.
The sword’s body weakly resonated.
It was like a newborn throwing a tantrum before, but now it no longer resisted.
"If you act out again, next time I'll work you ten times harder."
The sword no longer resisted, and I stored it back into my subspace.
"But... this thing is way bigger than I thought."
It used to be a tiny, pitiful sapling, but now it had grown into a colossal tree that spanned the entire area.
A tree that's a hundred meters tall?
Even with the power of Falling Blossom, this should be impossible under normal circumstances.
Of course, there are tree species that can grow that tall, but the species of this tree normally wouldn't grow to even a tenth of this size.
Which means...
"Ah, this must be a High Tree."
Occasionally, saplings influenced by the World Tree are found—rare, but not unheard of.
Of course, they aren’t truly sprouted from the World Tree.
But trees influenced by the World Tree’s power can sometimes grow to enormous sizes.
These kinds of trees tend to be more expensive than their normal counterparts, simply because nurturing them is extremely difficult.
And you can’t even tell whether it’s a High Tree until it’s grown.
In any case, the important thing is that such trees have a much larger growth potential than normal ones.
A tree that grows this massive can circulate the life force in the surrounding air, making nearby plants greener and imbuing the land itself with vitality.
It’s not particularly profitable to cut and sell them.
It's better to just leave them be, as they benefit the entire ecosystem.
Elven forests are usually built around these kinds of trees…
Though, honestly, it’s not like the elves really care about that.
At least now, the Falling Blossom has proven it has the power to properly nurture a tree.
From the sword’s perspective, it might be throwing a fit, complaining about being treated like that, but who cares?
As I was looking at the tree, I sensed someone approaching from behind.
"You crazy bastard. What the hell did you do to the tree?"
"I told you yesterday. I had a brat that needed to be disciplined."
"This is that tree?"
"More accurately, the sword that grew the tree."
I showed her the Falling Blossom, now sheathed and dormant.
"What the heck is that..."
"Long story. Just think of it like your big brother picked up another handy trick. If things go well, maybe I'll even make you a spirit sword suited for you."
It wouldn’t be an easy process, but with some work, I could probably craft a sword fitting for Melissa, one that would pair well with her Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.
Of course, she'd need to go through training to handle spirit energy properly, and she wouldn’t be able to wield something as powerful as the Falling Blossom right away.
"My god. A tree… It’s not even the World Tree."
"The real World Tree is dozens of times bigger than this."
"Yeah, like I didn’t know that?"
Melissa gave a dry laugh.
"Thanks. Thanks to you, I got to relax for the first time in a while."
"What about the Academy?"
Looking at her reminded me.
"You didn’t know? It starts in a few days. I'll be going back and forth between the Academy and the territory for a while."
"Good idea. Oh right, speaking of Aurora..."
"Aurora? What about her?"
I wondered if Melissa knew about Aurora’s real identity.
"Do you know who she really is?"
"Nope. I don't know her family name or her status. She never really talks about that stuff."
"Be nice to her. She's our cash cow."
No need to go into details.
"What the heck. What, are you saying Aurora's some noble lady from the Lavren family or something? That’s ridiculous."
"Yeah."
"What...?"
Melissa stared at me, dumbfounded.
"She’s the Lavren family’s heiress. The official successor. And she seems to be on pretty good terms with the Emperor of Pascalia too. Your 'friend.'"
Melissa opened and closed her mouth wordlessly.
"That stingy miser... is the Lavren heiress?"
Melissa gasped and muttered over and over, "That crazy miser? Lavren?"
Her reaction was normal.
The 13 Great Houses of the continent are recognized by every nation and empire on Lazarus.
Mielephon for martial prowess, Lavren for wealth, and 11 others—what they all share is their supranational influence.
Which meant Aurora, being the legitimate successor of the Lavren family, was a gold spoon of unimaginable level.
Not just a prestigious house either—Lavren basically controls the money across the entire continent.
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Anyway, the Paradise Artifact alone isn't enough for stability.
"What are you worried about?"
"I'm thinking about ways to make more money."
"Isn’t the Paradise Artifact already bringing in enough?"
"That’s temporary. Sure, it’s explosively popular now, but it won’t last."
Expensive goods always follow that trend.
At first, everyone rushes to buy them, but after a while, the customer base shrinks drastically.
“That’s why we need a steady way to earn, even if the unit price is low.”
Melissa seemed to quickly grasp what I meant.
“You’re right. It makes sense. It'll be fine for a year or two at most, but after that…”
Fundamentally, Cascadia is close to a wasteland.
Mining?
Sure, it can make money.
But it’s also a surefire seed of trouble.
There were still too many delicate matters to handle to exploit it openly.
“A specialty product of Cascadia, huh… It’s not like we can sell monster hides…”
Just as I was watching Melissa deep in thought, a noisy commotion came from somewhere.
“What’s that noise?”
“Screams?”
Melissa also turned her head toward where I was looking.
Normally, hardly anyone enters this forest.
Without hesitation, Melissa and I headed toward the source of the sound.
I’ve heard the cries of monsters and wild animals plenty of times, but this was clearly a human scream.
We dashed through the forest and soon arrived, Melissa panting behind me.
“Haa… Haa… Crazy bastard. How are you so fast?”
“Melissa. Have there been illegal slavers operating around here?”
At my question, she flinched.
“You knew?”
“I got reports. But unless we catch them, there’s not much we can do.”
Among slavers, the illegal ones are the worst, drawing contempt wherever they go.
For example, there was this incident:
Illegal slavers once secretly captured elves from a small territory of a kingdom and turned them into slaves.
The furious elves declared war, causing massive damage to the kingdom.
That story was what sparked the rumor that the elves of the Lazarus continent, despite their delicate appearances, were actually highly aggressive.
Beyond the dense forest, several elves dressed in rags were fleeing in terror, with numerous figures chasing after them.
Even though elves are said to be agile in the forest, it’s not easy to run away with restraints shackling them.
“Lord, your orders.”
There was no need for lengthy explanations.
At least within the Count’s domain, such acts were illegal.
“Even if we hardly manage it, this is still within the Count’s territory. Subdue them all and figure out the situation. If they resist…”
She finished coldly,
“Crush them.”
* * *
“Hurry… Hurry! Please!”
A male elf grabbed the arm of a terrified elven girl, urgently pulling her along.
“Just a bit deeper, and they won’t be able to chase us easily!”
“Haa… Haa…”
The girl, her breathing ragged and labored, finally stumbled and fell, her face going pale.
“Lady!”
“Leave me! If you try to help me, you’ll all be caught too—”
“Don’t say something so absurd! How could we abandon you, my lady?”
“That’s right! Even if we all die, we must at least get you out safely!”
Even the spirits weren’t responding.
Their light, elven agility meant nothing in this situation.
The damned restraints were cruelly binding their bodies.
At the very least, they had to get their lady to safety.
They had miraculously found a chance to escape, but those cruel humans had no intention of letting them go.
Whoosh!!
At that moment—
Weighted hunting bolas flew in, wrapping around the elves’ legs and knocking them to the ground.
“Gah!”
“Damn it!”
“Kyaaa!”
The men pursuing them were experts — in no time at all, they had the elves subdued.
“Damn. They're a real pain.”
“Filthy pointy-eared bastards. Did you really think you could get away from us?”
Thunk!
“Guh?!”
One of the fallen elves groaned in pain as he curled up from a vicious kick, while the pursuers swarmed, mercilessly kicking and beating them.
They didn’t look like much based on their clothing, but these men were masters of tracking, with considerable skills.
The shackled elves were no match.
“Kyaaa!!”
One of the pursuers yanked the elven girl’s hair, dragging her up.
“Agh!! It hurts! It hurts!!”
“Bitch, do you even know how much you’re worth? Running away like that, huh?”
“Aaagh!!”
“My lady!! Gah!”
The pursuers showed no mercy.
It was as if they were saying: if you resist, they'll gladly break a limb or two.
“Let’s hurry up and haul them off. We’ve got a deadline, and we need to move. Especially since we’re in Cascadia territory.”
“Tch. How the hell did this area become such a danger zone…”
“Between the monsters and the strange phenomena happening around here lately… something’s definitely up.”
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