24. Guests come from far away (2)
Until early morning.
Lakhe created a real small forest.
Zeke was filled with amazing feelings as he watched the small miracle she had created.
“You are truly amazing.”
“What?”
“I can’t believe you made so many berries in one night!”
“If I were to grow my hands and feet and make flowers for hunting, I could do it in an hour or two, not a day.”
“Mr. Lake is a monster of mugwort… a creature, right?”
” that’s right.”
“Isn’t that the Demon World?”
“It’s a little different.”
“How is it different?”
“Zeek, do you know the structure of the world?”
“I have a rough idea of the map of the Jose Continent, but…
“The Jose Continent is a circular plate placed on a pillar in the form of a spiral passage leading to the Demon World.”
“I know the creation myth. “After the world was destroyed and the Silver Age ended, God made the ten roots of the Sephiroth bear the earth to make it better for people to live.”
“Even the continent of Jose and the surrounding sea. God lifted a huge continent into the air. “The land contaminated with mugwort… is left abandoned.”
“Ah!”
“Contamination of the land is also
the work of humans. Nevertheless, God created a ghetto for humans. Humans are God’s children. And the other beings…. strangers outside the fence. “That is the law of this world.”
“Humans are precious beings created by God as the lord of all creation.”
Zeke spoke out the doctrine he had been taught since he was young.
When humans talked like that among themselves, there wasn’t even the slightest suspicion. But…
now I regret saying it.
I was so arrogant. I can’t believe I’m talking about a warrant in front of a lake that is bearing fruit for
tens of thousands of refugees .
Lakhe did not reply to Zeke’s words.
The life cycle enjoyed by plants is different from that of animals.
It is not considered that people lived for hundreds or thousands of years.
Or, it is said that it has spent tens of thousands of years in the form of a seed.
It’s as if she remembers the rules from a long time ago.
In her eyes, it was too much to call Zeke a child. He was just an immature child who took my breath away
for 14 years .
There was no reason to be angry or emotionally shaken by his words.
Lakhe continued what he was talking about earlier.
“The Demon World exists right under the Jose continent. That small piece of land, uncontaminated by mugwort, was originally protected by a huge dome called the Enclave.”
“Then the land contaminated with mugwort is outside of the demon world.”
“is it so.”
“It’s not just Jose Continent. “This world.”
“This continent is such a small world. “It’s just a small island country with a diameter of 1,000 kilometers.”
Zeke looked at Lakke blankly.
Light green hair hangs like leaves, hiding the eyes. Because of that, it was difficult to see his expression.
I had a strange feeling that this also suited the plant.
At that time, I heard pounding footsteps from the other side.
Zeke tensed and turned his head.
There were two giants. It seemed like they were a scouting group.
It was dark and my son-in-law was in the dark.
The shadows fell like dusk on the dark gray ground.
Zeke took out a shield from his back and held it in his hand.
“Mr. Lakhe, I will protect you. “Please make at least one more flower bloom.”
“Zeke says a lot of interesting things,”
Lakhe smiled
. “Then please.”
Zeke nodded with a red face.
But the moment he turned his head to the giant, the innocent boy’s expression completely disappeared.
One who fights.
There was a warrior who had taken one step closer to the peak.
Zeke felt strange.
The Hollybitch family’s sword technique, which was so useless, Moonlight Bird, worked surprisingly well against the giants.
As swordsmanship teacher Scatul said, the Hollybitch family’s swordsmanship seemed to be specialized for fighting gigantic beings.
He raised his club with his shield to create an opening. He charged in between them and inserted his sword.
The giant was embarrassed and stepped back. But that was exactly what Zeke was aiming for.
He thrust his shield forward and charged with all his might.
The aura strengthened Zeke’s body as much as any other magic.
Moreover, the shoes he was wearing were an artifact containing the essence of the dwarves.
It contained magic that instantly increased its charging speed, allowing it to move like a cheetah at short distances.
The impact of the shield strike sent the giant flying backwards. Zeke used that power to do some somersaults and spray out sword energy.
The holy cross became the sun and illuminated the light.
The bodies of the two giants lay scattered on the ground, and Lakhe grabbed them by their roots and pulled them into the ground.
As always, all living things will become food for the roots.
Zeke sighed as he put away his sword.
Before I knew it, Lakhe had come to Zeke’s side.
“It’s really strong.”
“There is still a long way to go. Deus is capable of putting a dragon to sleep with a single blow.”
“He…
Lakhe trailed off.
It was because I felt that I should not reveal my identity carelessly.
“But it’s true that I’ve gotten a lot stronger. Of course, it is thanks to these weapons and armor provided by Deus.”
“Do you love him?”
“Yes? That love means,
“Is what I said strange?”
“Weird. In times like these, I think the word respect would be more appropriate.”
“sorry. “I thought you were quite good at animal language.”
“No, no. Maybe it’s similar. However, love is a word mainly used between a man and a woman or between family members.”
“is that so. “I’ll remember that.”
Lakhe looked around.
“Because we often don’t have last names. There are some species that are divided into male and female trees, but most are dioecious. Actually, there is no case where male or female trees fall in love with each other. “It is a meaningless act that cannot be corrected.”
“So, that’s…
Zeke’s face got red.
It was too explicit a story to share with a beautiful woman.
“I think the Eureum Forest is now complete, so let’s go back.”
Zeke left for the camp again with Lakhe.
I parted ways with Lake at the place where the group was and immediately went to find a high-ranking person in the knights’ corps.
“Riske.”
“Lord Zeke! “Yesterday’s performance was well captured in these two eyes.”
Liske was a man of kind character among the knight captains of Joryx Castle.
I was also friends with Zeke, saying hello on a regular basis.
“I’m embarrassed. I’m also happy that my hard training is paying off.
“Residents are wondering if the cross of light that Zeke created may be the Holy Cross. “It is the power of God that the warriors of legend use.”
“Haha, it’s just magic. Rather, I looked around this early morning and found a forest full of fruits.”
“It’s full of fruit?”
“yes. “There are many people among the residents who are hungry, so I thought it would be a good idea to share it with them.”
“good idea. Let’s go see the Lord right now. He
will also approve.”
However, Riske and Zeke were beaten at the doorstep.
The reason was that the lord was sleeping.
Risuke said, scratching his cheek as if he was embarrassed.
“I will stay here and wait until the lord wakes up.”
“Yes, please.”
Zeke turned around with an uneasy feeling.
It’s not that I don’t understand the heart of the disappointed lord, but now didn’t seem like the time to drink and oversleep
.
Deus appeared in front of me.
“Isn’t it going as well as you thought?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go and eat something. “It’s been a while since I wanted to eat your cooking.”
“Your ingredients are poor, though.”
“When did you change your mind? “It was the poorest meal in the neighborhood.”
“That’s right haha.”
Zeke was able to blow away his bitter mood by meeting Deus.
I remembered Lakhe’s question about whether I loved her and laughed like an idiot.
It was toward evening that the village residents began to experience the chill.
And that too under the pretext of being a gift from the lord.
Zeke’s achievements were not left anywhere.
But the rumors were like water trapped in a hand. All the water eventually leaked out, leaving nothing behind in my hand.
There was already a story going around among the people that the person who rescued Eureum was Zeke, an unknown warrior from Zoryx.
For two days, Lord Joryx, along with tens of thousands of residents, wandered the territory in search of a safe land.
From giant bugs and beasts to giants!
It was so confusing that it made me wonder if this was really the world they lived in.
The lord could no longer endure even a moment without drinking.
More than half of the numerous villages under his rule disappeared, leaving behind only ruins.
Man became food for beasts. People who could not bear the beast left their hometown
.
Then I finally found a place where the monster’s traces had ended.
Farming did not go well there because the land was sandy. Thanks to this, there was no village and we were able to survive the monster attack.
The bedrock was laid here and there like a rock, making it relatively safe even from underground insects such as ants.
It was a wasteland, but at least there were no external enemies that could immediately threaten one’s life.
For now, that was enough.
Lord Joryx
set up a temporary residence there and immediately sent a letter to the kingdom.
The pitiful situation that Joryx Castle was in was written in exaggerated rhetoric.
But I didn’t expect much.
The news brought by the knights who had gone on a far-off reconnaissance was despairing.
It seemed that this misfortune was not limited to Joryx’s territory. It felt as if the entire Kingdom of Gelon, or even the entire continent of Jose, was overrun with monsters.
Meanwhile, apart from the lord, there was one person who was not in a good mood: Deus.
“Damn, I tried to find a way to make money, but I couldn’t find it. “Because I moved with the lord, all my loot was taken away.”
“It’s for permanent residents.”
“Why does it go into people’s pockets and then flow to the residents in a condescending manner? “If you think about it, we were hunting.”
“That’s right, my lord, you are the master of Joryx.”
“What you are saying doesn’t work. “I don’t have that kind of owner.”
“Deus-sama is a bit special.”
“This idiot
deserves all his credit taken away.”
“I have received a lot of help from my lord so far, so I must repay him in this way.”
“What help? Is a house built by putting up a wall in the empty space under the stairs helpful? “The bathroom was also a problem that had to be solved by covering oneself with a veil in a ditch of the castle wall.”
“Why are you talking like that?”
Zeke was currently going hunting with Deus in a nearby forest.
It was the land of giant deer called big-horned elk, polluted by sagebrush.
With a shoulder height of 3 meters,
it was a monster closer to an elephant than a deer.
Just shaking the horn was enough to crush the knight’s heavy armor like a piece of paper.
Still, meat was meat.
After Zeke learned that the mugwort monsters were surprisingly not contaminated by mugwort, he began to become increasingly greedy about hunting.
Of course, I borrowed Yulgeum’s ‘mugwort measuring machine’ and checked it individually before offering it to the lord.
It was impossible to distribute poisoned meat to the villagers.
