Since they sent a message beforehand of their arrival using this unorthodox path, they were able to cross into the Wood Elf country safely and without disturbances.
They continued without stopping, leaving the sea of trees into an open clearing filled with endless grasslands and farmlands.
The capital of Thalivielle came within view after they left the forest path and in the distance was the majestic golden tree, casting a divine glow over the lands.
Further east of the World Tree and its surrounding forests was the shoreline and, on that shoreline, was that wretched dungeon that used to spit out offspring later in the story.
Arnold felt bitter looking at it. Since no anomalies took place, it'd seem that the Elves had some temporary measure to seal the dungeon for now.
Will it stop a dungeon storm from spawning in an offspring? Who really knows? The dungeon appeared abruptly in the game.
The group continued marching for about an hour before they arrived at a fortress guarding a tall wall that encircled the kingdom.
One adventurer remarked about how quickly they came to the kingdom. Arnold merely said that there was a "space pocket" somewhere along the way that warped them all as a group. This turned a three-day trip into a 12-hour trip.
Anyway, there was a small camp set up on the main road leading to that fortress, consisting of elven knights and magicians. Spotting the large group of adventurers coming, a horn resounded. In the distance the fortress' gates opened and a sea of elves flooded outside the walls to welcome the adventurers. besides the knights and mages, there were also common folk who were anxiously waiting for the humans to come.
They were humanity's strongest humans so it's only natural that they would inspire awe in others, even those of other races.
The knights and magicians came up to the adventurers and bowed deeply, all speaking in sincerity:
"Welcome, travelers. Thank you for taking our kingdom's request."
**
A large parade welcomed the adventuring parties in the Capital City of Tharinthudd with cheers coming from both sides of the highway road. In front of the adventurers were the captain of the knight division and the royal knights of the Thalivielle Kingdom.
"I hope you didn't encounter trouble on the journey here." Said Captain Socralle, of the knight division, to Arnold and Daraia who were travelling in front. He's apparently going with the group with his own battalion as backup and guides. While they don't know much of the roots region themselves, the forest itself is still dangerous and easy to get lost in. "The demihumans have been a major hindrance to travelers. It's become so bad that we've had to abandon our centuries-long decision to open the borders to any humans trying to flee the Theocracy."
"Trouble was avoided thanks to Nova's efforts," said Daraia, "He found a hidden path for us to follow and we managed to evade any detection even with our group being this large. The journey was also cut in half since we took a different path than the highway and border."
"Haha, such a convenient route would be terrifying for your opponents if you were in war. They'll never see you coming and won't have the time to prepare. Not only are you strong, but resourceful too. I was skeptical of Her Majesty's words when she said she'd seek the humans' help but now I see my worries were unfounded." Socralle laughed heartily atop his horse.
'Kissing my ass even in this situation…'
"Since you mentioned it, I noticed there's more humans among these people here than I expected. Is the war that serious?" asked Alice who caught up to them.
"Yes… Casualties have exceeded almost ten thousand and corpses are littering the lands of the Theocracy. The Pope seems hell-bent on keeping his land and there are even whispers that he intends to attack us next…" there was a dark shadow over his handsome face.
"Shouldn't the Emperor do something about that?"
"Her Majesty informed the monarchs separately, without the Pope's knowledge, that he has sent word to the vassal kingdoms under the empire's rule to amass all their armies. I think they're preparing a march across the country to put an end to the war once matters are resolved in the Republic of Zrek."
"Should you really be telling us that? Sounds like secret information that Her Majesty should've kept to herself."
"The Pope won't be able to respond to the combined armies of the empire and its kingdoms. They're already struggling with the demihumans." Socralle's horse slowed down when he pulled on the reins slightly as they approached the palace's gates. Beyond those gates was a small artificial forest and grassland but further into the large estate was the majestic palace where the royal family and High Elves reside.
Many spiritual beasts called this estate home. Arnold could spot a lion-like creature with a long torso and a flaming mane.
Then there were a bunch of blue-skinned topless druids, their hair as weightless as a burning blue flame, just swimming in the pools, without a care in the world that the humans could see their bare blue breasts that glistened in the setting sun. Some of the adventurers already fell in love with that sight. Pure fools will be in for a rude awakening when they find out there's nowhere to stick it in.
Standing in front of the gates was the Elf Queen and a high Elf.
"Your Highness didn't need to come great us personally." Noticing her, Daraia spoke.
"Apologies but I couldn't wait until all of you got settled in." she said with a wry smile before gesturing to the person next to her, "This is Laethea, my closest friend and advisor."
"It's a pleasure to meet you brave and kind souls." The white-haired High Elf bowed deeply, allowing Arnold to get a peek down her voluptuous breasts.
Unlike Setariah, who was dressed more conservatively than her countrymen, the High Elf seems to not have a care in the world, wearing a skintight dark green outfit that exposed most of her cleavage and had unnecessary holes where they served no purpose.
Arnold caught himself looking to the High Elf's voluptuous chest, speechless at the perky fullness of those majestic things. It didn't even look like they were being held up by anything yet they stood perked up as if artificial.
Isn't this woman thousands of years old!?
He can't be ogling other women right now! His mission is the most important! Thinking about seducing her—if he even can—comes later!
'Okay, what do I know about this woman… Laethea is one of the oldest High Elves. Not much is known about her but she's always been beside Setariah. First, she was Setariah's nanny then she took on the role of advisor, helping the Elf Queen lead her people.' she had longer and droopier ears, slanted eyes that reminded him of Asians from Earth. Instead of a white sclera, High Elves had black sclera. In addition, High Elves have longer necks, fingers, and legs.
Both may be Elves but Laethea is a second generation of the Nature Goddess' first descendant. The rest of the four High Elves were the third generations. She's like a great aunt of theirs.
Basically, this woman is almost as old as the Dragon God.
Laethea made eye contact with Arnold briefly, a strange sadness forming on her expression for a moment.
What was that about, he wondered.
"Please come inside. There are tents set up for at least a thousand people so rest assured that there will be lodging for all of you." Setariah spoke to the crowd, "While you rest and feast, I will be speaking to your leaders."
No one complained. After almost a full day's walk, rest is what they needed.
As such, the group followed behind Setariah and the High Elf, before being divided into smaller groups by attendants who saw htem to their lodgings.
In the palace…
The party leaders gathered in the banquet hall without a chance to freshen up. They weren't exactly famished due to the kindness of the citizens who saw them off at the capital with gifts and supplies so not everyone immediately chowed down when presented with a feast.
A few looked drowsy—Elora, especially. She was sitting next to Nova, her head nodding up and down every few seconds.
Looks like they won't be making love tonight.
"I can't thank you all enough for accepting this dangerous task… I am truly grateful…" Setariah bowed once again. Her voice was a little shaky.
"Your Majesty, I feel like something is wrong." Daraia pondered out loud.
"…Yes, we have some news to share with you. Good news and bad news. The good news is that we've been able to confirm that most of the monsters in the upper level of the roots are controlled by evil spirits. This means that we can defeat them easily through powerful exorcism. Fortunately, our country has several powerful artifacts that can help with that."
"I heard the monsters in your country are usually docile unless you attack first or pose a threat to their young."
"You heard right, Guild Master. That's why the spirits are good news. We don't have to fight to kill the monster, only subdue it so that mass exorcism can be cast." She glanced around the table, "Judging by how none of you seem worried, am I correct to assume you have the adequate forces necessary for such a task?"
"Yes, from head count we were able to confirm we have 30 priests, 50 paladins and 100 magicians (most of whom are from the Mages Guild)." Answered Admeera.
"Mass exorcism is possible but if we only bet on the possibility that the monsters won't attack us after the spirits are banished, we'll be in danger. So, I hope you will share a detailed report of what monsters are docile and what are aggressive."
"Oh, of course." Setariah gestured for one of the knights to come forward, holding a book in hand, "This is the encyclopedia of the monsters in our country. Many can only be found in our vast forest. To make it easier to understand, we've had our scribes summarize the monsters' behaviors, habits, and weaknesses so that it saves you time."
"Good." Daraia took the book. "We'll go through it after dinner."
"Okay. Please let me know if you have further questions. Fighting a unfamiliar monster can be a daunting task without proper guidance. If you need practice, we can provide the locations of creatures you don't understand."
"You want us to fight the forest creatures on your soil?" Cameria scoffed. "Funny. In the past, this would be met with heavy consequences. Now you're just letting us do as we please."
"…Such a way of thinking was foolish," Setariah admitted. "We understand now why adventurers are important. They don't just kill monsters; they study them to help the next generation. So far, we've only observed the creatures in our country, never fought them. That is why we are launching our first adventurer guild soon. If anything can show us the importance of this profession, it is being faced with threats that can cause global disasters."
"So, if you're abandoning your non-violence policy, does that mean you'll allow humans into your country as well?"
At Cameria's question, Setariah lowered her gaze. "I'll be frank… We have witnessed the depravity of the human race for centuries. We could not bring ourselves to live among people who cannot suppress their desire for destruction." She glanced directly at Cameria. "Tell me, how did you overcome this prejudice and integrate into their society?"
"Hm? Well, human dicks are better."
Silence stretched between them.
"Ahem." Cameria cleared her throat, shifting her weight. "And, you know, I wanted to explore their cultures. Besides, it's not like I had a choice. As a martial artist, I would've gained nothing staying in a country where my craft is banned. Only your royal knights and mages are allowed to learn how to fight. The way I see it, that's just a different flavor of oppression."
Setariah's already diminishing royal elegance broke further as her shoulders drooped. Though her eyes kept their strength.
"…We will change. It took a disaster as big as Ragnarok for us to see how wrong our tradition and policies have been. Within the next five years, we will be opening our borders to humans who wish to migrate legally. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask for the help of the Adventurers Guild Headquarters to help us start our guild?"
Everyone looked at Daraia.
"Alright. We can handle the paperwork and official hearings later. Let's focus on the present for now."
Setariah, despite being the queen of a nation, bowed her head and thanked Daraia for her kindness.
'Why is that woman staring at me…?' Inbetween their conversations, Arnold noticed the High Elf Laethea staring at him.
Her breas—uncanny beauty was hard to ignore, especially that fierce alien-like stare.
"What was the bad news?" Alice cut in and asked after the topic about the guild and humans ended.
"We are unable to proceed any further down one of the safe passages due to the horde of monsters crowding the depths of the roots. It's almost as if… something is trying to keep us out. We judged it wasn't safe to continue going further."
"So, something sentient is down there."
To Daraia's remark, the queen nodded gravely.
"We believe something with powerful mind control abilities might be the cause. That might also explain why all the creatures are so corrupt by the spirits as spirits don't normally take possession of something so easily."
That's true. If that happened, you wouldn't stop hearing of priests being sent out to exorcise spirits every single day.
"That's not bad news to me. It comes with the job so we'll organize a raid team and slowly clear the monsters out. We can also split up to cover more ground. Hopefully there will be another safer passageway into the roots."
Everyone at the table nodded, clearly expectant that this quest will require them to be here for the long-term.
"Just to confirm, can we not break the ground or dig our way through the roots?" asked Elora.
"The mana is very dense near the tree, which hardens the ground and the roots converge farther away from the tree. As such, we can only enter through already broken ground. Taking advantage of this, the creatures are blocking every entrance down there."
"Alright, we'll do some recon tomorrow to plan our move." Said Daraia.
Since the conversation went back to other unimportant stuff, Arnold just zoned out until he was escorted to his room.
He spoke to Elora about a few things and, deciding tonight wasn't a good time to have sex, they decided to go to separate rooms.
Back in his room. He was monitoring Norn's signature on the system map. She was still in the estate in the capital. He also looked at Ekterina's signature, confirming that she's on the move.
Starting tomorrow, the capital will experience a bloodbath none of them will be ready for.
Anyway, he should probably use these extra hours to go report to Ladiath, who's still using that abandoned ruin as a hideout in the World Tree forest.
A knock came from the door while he was using the system.
"Guild Master, do you have a moment?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
She came inside, dressed in a nightdress and gown, looking quite defenseless and seductive with that outfit.
'! Is this…!?'
After the door closed, Galadriel began speaking before the perverted thought could form in his mind.
"Guild Master, I apologize for disturbing but there's something important I must do…" fidgeting with the straps of her nightdress, she spoke hesitantly.
A confession!?
He steeled himself to break this maiden's heart, regretting that he has to turn down such a beautiful young woman. He's always seen Galadriel as more of a reliable subordinate and hasn't had any indecent thoughts about her. She's everything a knight should be: honorable, dutiful, loyal and most of all, kind.
He'll be sullying her soul by accepting her confession. Here he was knowing full well a demonic invasion was on the verge of happening in the capital and more than half of the second-year students will die just for plot progression, and basically ignores it all, not even caring to intervene.
He's not a monster so he doesn't want to taint this pure maiden's soul with his villainous deeds.
That being said, it's not a bad thing to test the waters to see how deep her love is, right?
"I'm sorry Galadriel but—" he was getting ready to have a heart-to-heart conversation about how he's not the right man for her. Then she would say none of that matters and finally disrobe and say that she wants him regardless.
They spoke at the same time but when he heard what she was about to say, he became speechless.
"I…I was hoping to get your feedback on my techniques. Just like what you did for Tenma and Shealis! It feels like my brain was filled with the techniques of previous warriors who mastered this class but I'm afraid to go into battle without a little experience."
"…oh."
So, she came for guidance…
He cleared his throat and turned away from her, hiding his embarrassed blush.
"I'm going to take a nap first. We can start in a few hours and train until sunrise." in truth he was going to conjure a new clone to teleport to the capital then transfer his consciousness to it completely. He wants to monitor the situation there then go see how things are going with the second-year students.
"Okay, thank you for learning to my selfish request. I promise I won't burden anyone in the raid and won't let you down, Guild Master."
He smiled at her resolve to be the perfect knight.
"Ah, there's one more thing to discuss before I leave, if you don't mind."
She went to the door and opened it, "Come inside."
"Hm?"
Galadriel brought a silver-haired girl inside. This girl was someone Arnold knew well.
'Bethany?' that girl from the orphanage who worked in his palace for a short time before he brought her to the capital with him.
"She's one of the citizens who snuck in with the adventurers. There were many others but she approached me first to ask if she can speak with you, Guild Master."
He silently looked at her.
"Hello, sir…" she bowed her head, "My name is Bethany. I-I don't know if you remember me but I was one of the people you saved in Nuaria city when it was overrun. You escorted us to safety and for that I must offer my gratitude." She bowed further.
"…Did you come here just to apologize? This place is no different from a warzone."
If whatever's keeping the monsters contained in the World Tree roots decides to flatten this kingdom, they'll need to prepare for mass casualties. A regular human would be of no help to them.
That said, there were quite a few helpers who wanted to volunteer as porters, squires, etc… just like Idalia and Shaun. Having an extra pair of hands will be useful to anyone.
"No, I came to help! I'm sorry for coming on my own but I'd like to serve the party too!"
Well, it's not like she'd be burdening them in any way by being here. She can do chores, carry out orders and other miscellaneous things.
"Alright. Galadriel, since you brought her here, she'll serve under you. See to it that she carries out orders given to her without fail."
"As you wish, Guild Master."
Bethany blushed for some reason and stuttered as she said she'll do her best.
After that was over, the two left.
'Should I go and see Lian now?' she didn't come out to greet him so he's a little worried she's acting cold. 'No, I gave her a task: create a new cultivation pill that can rival the Ascension Pill. Something like that would need her full attention.'
He'll wait for her to come out on her own. fortunately for him, that buff with Tenma only works in the middle of a fight. Yet another indication how the game's code can somehow function properly, to the point where it can detect hostility.
He'll probably never find out what's going on in this world and find out why something like that is possible.
When Arnold was just about to climb into bed to get started, another knock came from the door.
"—Sir Nova, it's Laethea. There is something important I must discuss with you."
"Tch. Another woman." he won't be fooled by some misunderstanding again.
Grumbling of that earlier interaction with Galadriel, he opened the door.
"If it's important, shouldn't it be brought up with the queen as well?" he said, her chest right in his face. He didn't notice it before but this High Elf was way taller than him.
"…May I come inside?"
Is it a confession after all!?
"Sure…" he said coolly, not jumping to conclusions.
After letting her inside and closing the door, he was about to ask what was this important thing but Laethea placed both hands on his cheeks.
Tears streamed down her eyes as if she saw the saddest memory she could've ever lived through in her life. Her long slender and cold fingers touched his face as if it was something precious to her.
What's going on?
"…You've struggled so much even though you're only 18… Arnold."
"…What?"
How does this person know his name? He was using one of the most powerful illusion artifacts in the game and can take on any person's appearance, even women or children. How is it that Laethea could see through that?
"I-I'm sorry for startling you. Please do not be on guard." She wiped her tears and stepped back a few steps.
"…I am the new Destiny Goddess from the future, the same future when your battle with Luke and the Heroes concluded—with you sitting on a throne atop ashes… dead."
"…!?"
"But perhaps you will know me better as Melis' former oracle… Angelica."