Chapter 582 – 582. Preparing for the Opening of the Forest
Eun-hyun, who was separated from the three for a while and took individual action, moved straight away with the guidance of the elven guard elf.
“You are the queen. The ‘savior of the forest’ has come to visit.”
“Ask me to come in.”
Beyond the huge door made of dark oak, the voice of a gentle elf woman allowed Eunhyeon to enter the room.
At the end of her corridor, which is magnificent and full of nature’s gentleness, the elf queen Regina, who was sitting in her most prestigious seat, smiled and welcomed Eunhyun’s visit.
“Welcome. Teacher.”
“Okay.”
Eun-hyeon also responded to Regina’s welcome with a small smile on her face.
Regina’s slender hands made small movements in the air and pointed with her palm to one of the chairs at the round table in the center of her aisle.
As she visited this place several times, Eun-hyeon immediately recognized that Regina’s meaning was her kind consideration to ask her to sit there.
At Regina’s urging, Eun-hyeon sat down in her seat and shook her hand, biting all the elven guard elves escorting her in her corridor.
At least one would insist on maintaining her escort for her Regina, saying that it couldn’t be done, but not a single Elven Guard elf showed such an action.
To that extent, as Regina is the only gift, her Eun Hyun has deep respect and admiration for her, and it also means that all the elves, the inhabitants of the forest, believe in Eun Hyun, who is called ‘the benefactor of the forest’.
Sometimes, there are times when this trust is very heavy, so Eun-hyeon smiled a little bitterly.
“Thank you. Thanks to that, she was able to properly negotiate with the dwarves.”
As Eunhyeon wrote her letter of introduction, she thanked Regina for helping her contact the dwarves.
She also explained the circumstances so far that she had decided to come out through some kind of negotiation with the dwarves and resumed exchanges with the outside world that had been cut off for a long time.
It was purely thanks to her grace and skill that she was able to gain recognition from the dwarves and relocate the entire race, but the reason she was able to do it in such a short time was because Regina’s letter of introduction saw her mediate. There were many virtues.
“Okay.”
Regina listened intently to Eunhyun’s words with her serious face.
There is no way that her intelligent woman, hearing the circumstances of her story, would not notice this next step.
“Next… It will be our turn.”
“I must prepare.”
Dwarves began to interact with humans as they migrated to the borders of Mograf or the Duchy of Armitas through the intervention of Eunhyun.
Following the Dwarves, their race, the Elves, also had to prepare to appear outside.
The gap between ways of thinking and lifestyles due to differences in culture and race was so wide that it could be said to be very different, but this is a problem that only time can solve.
If that’s the case, at least grabbing the starting point quickly would be a not-so-bad choice for later.
“Teacher. As I said before, we…”
“Know. I don’t want the entire race to migrate like the dwarves did. Your fundamental reason for living is to protect this forest and the World Tree.”
The World Tree is a divine tree that plays a very important role on this continent.
Eunhyeon didn’t want to impose unreasonable pressure on the elves, whose lifelong mission was to protect the world tree.
“Release the barriers protecting this forest and trade with humans. And not controlling the elves who want to see the world from the outside. These two are enough.”
“Hmm…”
For the first time, Regina, who always listened to Eun-hyeon’s request, put it on hold without immediately responding.
It is only natural to think for a moment with a pensive expression on your face.
Although it is the mission of all elves to live in this forest for a hundred or a thousand years and continue the mission of protecting the world tree, Eun-hyeon knew that there were not a few elves who wanted to see the outside world.
Therefore, the second condition is not so difficult to allow.
On the other hand, the first condition is not.
Releasing the barriers of the forest to allow humans to enter means that the elven forest becomes defenseless against external threats at the same time.
It is a matter that cannot be easily decided by Regina, who sits in the seat of the queen who is responsible for the fate of the Elf race and the World Tree.
‘In fact, I’m really thankful that I don’t control the elves trying to advance outside.’
So, Eun-hyeon secretly hoped that the first condition was to just throw it away, and that the second condition be accepted.
“The second suggestion doesn’t matter too much. Because, there is already the case of Derkin.”
Derkin had already taken her wife and daughter out of the woods once with Eunhyeon.
And talking about that experience to other elves, aroused their curiosity, and recently, young elves who don’t know much about the outside world have often come up with an agenda that they want to see the outside world.
The second condition doesn’t really matter because Derkin’s case unexpectedly went in a pretty good direction in the interior of the forest.
“But the first condition… This is a matter that needs to be persuaded by the elders.”
“Hmm?”
However, Regina’s answer unexpectedly puzzled Eunhyun.
“Uh? Why are you like that? Teacher?”
“No… I was surprised to see the first condition more positively than I thought. This… As a queen, she’s a problem you have to think about.”
“Ah, whoops.”
Realizing what Eunhyeon meant, Regina covered her mouth with her hand and let out a small laugh.
She realizes that the elf girl she taught has only grown into a graceful queen after hundreds of years have passed.
“That’s the teacher’s suggestion. In fact, you prepared a way to make up for the problems that arise when disabling the barrier, right?”
“… It doesn’t.”
However, no matter how much she prepared the materials to persuade her, she could not have thought that the risky proposal would be viewed favorably from the point of view of Regina, the queen in charge of the race and world tree.
So, she thought of Eun-hyeon as a discard card.
However, contrary to Eunhyun’s expectations, Regina shook her head with a friendly smile.
“If it had been someone else’s proposal, she would never have thought about it. But… It’s your suggestion.”
Regina was sure that if it was Eun-hyeon, of course she would have prepared the proposal as well as supplementary measures to prepare for the problems that would arise afterwards.
“If the teacher’s plan goes wrong anyway… Being dangerous will lead not only to humans, but also to the destruction of us elves and the world tree.”
Previously, when Eun-hyeon consulted Regina about this matter, she readily accepted the same story.
“Then I’d rather go to the teacher.”
As the queen of the elves, she reiterated that she would entrust the fate of her race and the world tree to her eunhyeon.
Eun-hyun’s shoulders, which already felt heavy with her responsibility, drooped even more, causing her to smile bitterly.
“Sometimes the thought of you or your unconditional trust is really scary.”
I sigh because the weight of what I have to give back is so heavy.
“Because the teacher always gave back to me as much as he believed.”
That’s what it says.
Eunhyun had never betrayed Regina’s trust that she had always believed in.
Even during the struggle against the Dark Elves 200 years ago.
The rematch with the Dark Elves last year and the revival of the World Tree.
Thanks to Eunhyeon and his wives, the current elves and the world tree can survive the battle with the ancient witch beast.
If so, Regina was sure that her own judgment of betting on her Eunhyeon would not have been wrong this time as well.
“For now… If the barrier is broken and we start trading with humans, of course there will be problems.”
The ‘difference’ that comes from differences in ethnicity, culture, way of thinking and thinking is very easy to develop into conflict.
In particular, in the case of trade, since the advantage is limited, it happens easily and frequently even among humans, so if there was a lot of trade with the elves, it would be much, by no means not small.
“For this part, you, Regina, and the person from the Kingdom of Pernias, where exchanges are scheduled to begin, must meet in person to make a treaty, enact laws, and create rules.”
Eun-hyeon is going to make the details and clauses for this, but Yuria is busy learning royal studies from Alex to become the queen of Pernias Kingdom.
Perhaps, this complicated problem must be postponed to Eun-hyeon, making various excuses.
“And… It is necessary to strengthen the fighting power of the elves.”
If the barriers protecting the forest were lifted, it would be natural to be exposed to threats from the outside.
Of course, the strong protective barrier that Illyana had installed is still in place, but there is nothing wrong with improving the individual strength of the elven guard elves.
In the realm of this forest, it was advantageous to be able to use tactics that make the most of the Elves’ specialties of archery and spiritism, but that alone was not enough.
Archery is a skill that uses arrows as consumables, and Elves are gifted with agile physical abilities and superior magical power, so they show exceptional talent for long-range attacks.
However, it is very weak in close combat.
“To the elves… Are you teaching me swordsmanship?”
With Eunhyeon’s teaching, the current Elven Guard elves learned basic swordsmanship, but that alone was not enough, so they needed to take the next step.
However, it was not Eun-hyeon who took on that role this time.
“However. It’s not me, it’s my friend.”
The reason why Eunhyeon brought Riod and Cha Hanseong here was to introduce them to this sacred mountain that has the magic of the World Tree to help them train.
It was also included in the elves’ swordsmanship training to make the two of them match.
In order to make the so-called mutual aid.
In addition, as evidence of the beginning of exchanges with humans, the positive effect of improving the elves’ combat power with the swordsmanship learned from humans can be aimed at.
“Indeed…”
“I will vouch for your skills. It’s because he’s also an old colleague of Alice’s.”
“Alice’s… If so, that’s for sure.”
If Alice’s colleague, who was not an elf, but could use spirit magic equivalent to that of an elf as a human, would surely be a swordsman with exceptional talent in the realm of swordsmanship, Regina nodded her head, convinced.
As the best knight in the kingdom and leader of the knights who run one knights, Liode grumbled, saying that he did not know that he would be used in a place like this, but he must have listened to Eun-hyeon’s request as much as he had received.
Regina continued to listen to Eunhyun’s story for a moment, but she suddenly had a question and put on a puzzled expression.
“By the way, teacher. If the teacher and Alice’s friend were in charge of swordsmanship… Do you have any special schedule?”
“… Yes.”
Seriously appealing to various parts for interacting with humans and explaining her plan, Eun-hyeon finished her explanation, and she sighed slightly and affirmed.
She put on a very tired expression, as if just thinking about something was giving her a headache.
“Actually, I am Regina. After I finish talking with you, I plan to go north with my wife who came with me.”
“North? Why are you going there?”
Regina, who had spent her entire life in this forest from birth to queenhood, was intrigued by the story of her outside world.
The stories of the outside world told by Eun-hyeon, who taught her since she was very young, were full of adventures that stimulated the innocence of Regina, an elf princess.
Receiving Regina’s curious gaze for the first time in a while, Eunhyun smiled bitterly at her and answered her question.
“That is… To find materials to make a sword.”
“Yes? The material of the sword?”
Regina made a puzzled expression at Eunhyun’s answer.
It was because she didn’t understand why she had to go so far to get the materials needed to make a single sword.
For the elves, a sword was not such an important weapon, so it is natural that they did not understand it.
“Are you trying to make and use it yourself?”
“No… There was someone who asked me to make a sword…”
I couldn’t refuse this, and as a blacksmith, I couldn’t tolerate making a sword that couldn’t satisfy the swordsman.
But her greatest fear is when her own mentor, Siete, doesn’t like her when she makes it really hard by grinding her own stamina and soul into her best ingredients.
Should I say, ‘Make it again,’ I’m really afraid of that.
“How old are you and still… Ha…”
Seeing Eunhyeon sigh rapidly, Regina made a surprised expression.
Oh my God, it was the first time I had ever seen Eunhyun make such a tired expression.
‘Who the hell could make the teacher so tired?’
Regina looked very curious.
