Chapter 385 – 385. The Threat of the World Tree (2)
After finishing the story, Eun-hyeon went straight into the guest building next door and found Alice and Derkin, who were recuperating after surgery.
Upon hearing Regina’s circumstances, the Elf Queen, Derkin hardened his face.
“That… I see.”
“I am not forcing you to follow me. It must be an important moment for you too.”
Derkin, who had a lot of thoughts in his head, couldn’t get his words out easily.
Alice’s eye surgery is over, and now that she is watching her progress, it is natural for her husband to be reluctant to vacate her position.
However, the concern did not go deep.
“No. I’ll go. I am… He’s also Alice’s husband, but he’s an elf. And it is also the body that was the leader of the Elven Guard search party. Furthermore…”
Derkin looked at Eunhyeon with a face hardened in his thoughts and continued.
“If the ancient demons started reappearing after nearly 300 years… It is a big problem in our species, even in the forest.”
Derkin, along with Eunhyeon and Regina, is one of the older elves and an important military force who has a history of witnessing the existence of the ancient Witchbeast.
“Okay. If you… I knew you would say that.”
“… Eunhyun.”
Hearing Eunhyeon’s meaningful tone, Derkin got caught in something and called Eunhyeon back.
Realizing the meaning of what he said, his face hardened.
-I am… He’s also Alice’s husband, but he’s an elf.
-Okay. If you… I knew you would say that.
The meaning of the word refers to the way of thinking that the elf race has as a community.
A race that prioritizes the well-being of the tribe over individual well-being and is willing to risk its own life to protect its habitat.
That’s an elf
Even though Derkin heard of the threat to the safety of his species, the fact that he hesitated without immediately giving an answer is proof of how much he loves a mortal woman, a mortal with a relatively short lifespan.
Moreover, Eun-hyeon had experienced the loss of a precious elf 300 years ago.
Of course, this was a fact that Derkin also knew, and it was a story he was thinking about.
“If… Still doing Sylvia’s work…”
“No. It’s not like that. It’s fine now.”
To Derkin’s question mixed with concern, Eunhyeon calmly shook his head and answered.
“Because I finished it right.”
He took Illyana and Eleanor on their honeymoon and made their own arrangements in front of the World Shroud where her remains were buried.
Memories with Sylvia, which filled her heart with guilt and sadness just by thinking about her, have now turned into good memories that can be recalled with a smile.
After Eunhyeon finished talking, she stood up from her seat.
“Then prepare. Because we are leaving tomorrow morning. Give her wife and her daughter a proper explanation.”
“All right.”
Eun-hyun leaves, and Derkin sits at her desk where she had a conversation with Eun-hyun, deep in thought.
The faces of her wife and her daughter, Alice and Eris, came to mind, creating a situation in which she had to leave now, at an important time.
I was sorry that I had to tell them about my current situation.
The conundrum of ‘Which should be given more priority between the happiness of the family and the threat of the tribe?’ Was a problem that could not be concluded that easily.
After a while, she got up from her seat and moved her steps towards Alice’s room.
Squeak
“Are you here?”
Alice, who was brushing Eris’s hair as they lay together on her bed, greeted Derkin with a smile.
As she experienced her miracle and restored her eyesight, her brightly shining green eyes dazzled as she tried to capture as much longer as possible of her snoozing, slumbering daughter.
The fact that she can see herself and feel herself through those eyes is the second happiness she has given Derkin since the birth of her daughter.
“…”
“Honey?”
Alice tilted her head at Derkin’s gaze, who was staring at her without saying anything.
She said, “I heard that she came to talk with Eun-hyeon, what happened?”
Alice, sensing that the atmosphere around Derkin was unusual, immediately asked with a concerned expression, and Derkin then opened her mouth.
“… I think I should go to the forest with Eunhyeon.”
“Is it a forest? Why all of a sudden?”
Alice also knew that the word for forest that Derkin spoke of meant the ‘Forest of Elves’.
Why was Alice worried about now?
“The Queen asked for help from Eunhyeon.”
After hearing Regina’s request for help, the fact that the World Tree sensed danger, and the explanation about the ancient Witchbeast, Alice’s expression also darkened.
“… It must be very dangerous.”
“Sorry. I am… I think we should go.”
“Are you okay.”
“Alice…”
Seeing Derkin’s apologetic expression, Alice laughed and shook her head.
“I’m OK. Honey. I am your wife.”
Alice is only a human woman, but she already knew enough about the elves’ way of thinking and society as she took an elf as her husband.
Alice was not such a foolish woman when she heard her story that the elves’ home might be in danger, and caught her husband in her dilemma.
“I want an apple salad with bay leaves.”
“Uh?”
Alice’s sudden words made Derkin widen her eyes.
“I ate often in the forest. After coming here, I thought about it again.”
“…”
“When you come, can you bring it?”
Derkin was momentarily at a loss for words and put on her dazed expression, but when she realized what Alice was saying, she smiled bitterly.
A complex mood mixed with various emotions, such as admiration and gratitude, sorry and regret, at the wit of her wife who cares for herself so that she can easily make up her mind.
Holding that feeling in his heart, Derkin smiled and nodded her head.
“I’ll be sure to bring it.”
“Yes.”
She then shifted her gaze to her daughter, who was sleeping in her caressing arms in the arms of her wife.
“I wanted to tell you I love you before we left…”
“Shall I wake you up?”
“No. Are you okay.”
She didn’t want to force herself to wake her daughter, who was sleeping in an angelic beauty.
“While I am gone… Rely on him.”
Maybe it’s because her husband’s face crumpled in an instant, as if he had bitten an insect, and the face of her husband, who was grinding his teeth, was quite funny.
An arc was drawn around Alice’s mouth.
It was because he knew that ‘that guy’ Derkin was referring to was none other than Elvin.
“You trust him quite a bit too.”
“Yeah… Because Eris follows him.”
It was a mystery that only Derkin or Alice could understand how the homunculus, as a non-human, artificial spirit, with an artificial body as its vessel, came to like his daughter.
It has been like that since before.
The half-elf girl, the daughter of the two couples, has a unique eye that makes even her own eyes strange.
“I really don’t like him, but… Since it was Eris’s choice, there must be a reason.”
As he muttered to himself, he really hated the artificial spirit that pushed out his existence and settled in his daughter’s mind.
Her skills alone are excellent enough to make her think that she can entrust her daughter to her.
Carefully, he reached out and stroked the head of his blood relative, a young half-elf girl.
“Yes…”
Perhaps feeling Derkin’s hand, she tossed and turned a little, and the figure of Eris hugging Alice’s arm was so pitiful and lovely that a smile naturally bloomed on Derkin’s lips.
She was determined to keep seeing this face and to be by her side as she grew up, that she had to return to this place herself.
Derkin removed his hands from his wife and daughter and raised himself.
“I will be back. Even bay leaves and apples grown in the forest. I’ll bring a lot this time.”
“Yes. Bye.”
Received an encouraging send-off from his wife, Derkin left the room.
◆ ◆ ◆
“You are here. I was waiting.”
Using Illyana’s teleport, it was the Elven Guard’s Elven Ranger who was standing guard to greet the three of Eunhyeon, Illyana, and Derkin who arrived at the entrance of the Elven Forest located at a very long distance.
Perhaps because they had already put in contact before departure, the elves also showed a quick response to greet Eunhyun.
“Regina?”
“The Queen is already waiting.”
Their attitude towards humans who did not hesitate to call the name of the queen representing their tribe was infinitely polite.
The elf ranger who came out to greet Eunhyun belonged to the very young axis.
In the last incident with the dark elves, Eun-hyeon and his wives showed respect and respect for the grace they showed as members of the tribe.
Besides, who could be dissatisfied with the fact that the queen’s master, who had grown the elven queen into her queen and created her foundation, called her apprentice by name?
“Time is running out, so let’s move quickly.”
“Are you all right?”
The young elf ranger’s question was not a question he had in mind for Eun-hyeon.
It was a question about his wife, Illyana, who was behind him as he glanced over.
Even if Eun-hyeon was like that, there was no way that a wizard who was not suited to the physical group could follow the movements of the elves.
“Are you okay. Because he will do it.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
The young elf ranger was slightly taken aback by Illyana’s proud attitude as she pointed at Eunhyun with her finger.
Even though they didn’t talk about it separately, after seeing the natural skinship while being carried on Eunhyun’s back, I belatedly realized that they were married couple.
“Egg plant.”
“Yes.”
“I will take the lead.”
Before leaving the forest with his wife and daughter, Derkin, who was in charge of the Elven Guard search team’s leader, volunteered to step forward.
“All right. Search leader.”
The Elven Ranger immediately nodded and agreed.
“Get up.”
“Huh.”
Unlike the last time, the process of entering the elven forest after being officially guided was very easy.
Originally, Eunhyeon and Illyana, who were guests visiting the forest, were invited to take a rest for the night and attend the meeting the next day.
Eun-hyeon shook her head, and she announced her intention to attend the meeting right away.
“I’ll make sure to see Regina right away.”
“All right.”
In the first place, the two arrived at the forest of elves in about 3 hours by teleport, and there was almost nothing to unpack.
I moved my steps and went straight to the corridor in the forest where Regina was.
The atmosphere of the elves around them was not very good.
The atmosphere is also very stagnant due to the fact that they are not laughing at all and are nervous.
Illyana had felt that she was in a quiet forest when she visited once before, but since she wasn’t in such a low-key mood, she couldn’t help but wonder.
“Is being an ancient witch beast really that dangerous?”
“It’s not dangerous.”
Of course, at least it is different from other monsters that appear on the continent, and above all, it is unusual that the World Tree directly sensed the crisis and informed the elves of this fact.
“This has happened in about 300 years.”
It’s so rare that it doesn’t happen easily.
“I thought I would never reappear after that…”
“What the hell is an ancient magic beast?”
“You know that the cause of the demonic beasts currently appearing on the continent is an overflow due to an overload that exceeds the dungeon’s capacity, right?”
“Know.”
And all of those monsters are the beings of harm coming from beyond the void of ‘Pandemonium’.
“Ancient monsters are like the starting point of monsters currently appearing on the continent.”
“That again…”
This is the beginning of a story that is quite troubling just to hear.
