Chapter 45. The Fairy forest.

When it comes to festivals, eating and drinking was the main thing, but Lizardman’s festival was far from that.
Their taste buds were not very developed, so instead of getting pleasure from eating, they sacrificed their prey to the snake god Morna and enjoyed playing drums and singing.
Of course, their language is strange for humans to hear, so the song was also a bit strange, but anyway, everyone enjoyed the festival as it is.
As night fell, the festival ended with everyone soaking in warm water and washing up. It means to refine yourself with a clean body and mind.
It was truly wholesome compared to the everyday human festivals where they scattered on the side of the road while breaking something and checking what they ate yesterday.
After spending two days at the festival, Ivan, Delfino, and Ferocious Tooth went out of town.
The chieftain of the Red Valley tribe, Crouched Flame, went directly to the village entrance to see them off, but there was a quite shocking fact in the meantime.
“Goodbye, son.”
“Yes. Take care of yourself. Father.”
Ferocious Tooth and Crouching Flames greeted and embraced each other goodbye. So, it seems that the two were close.
“Were you the blood of the chieftain?”
When Ivan asked such a question, Ferocious Tooth asked as if he was really unaware of that.
“Didn’t you know that?”
“I didn’t know because you didn’t tell me.”
“Uhm, is that so? My father and I were so alike that I thought it was impossible not to know. I didn’t mean to hide it.”
At that, Ivan and Delfino kept their mouths shut. If they ask him how to distinguish a lizardman’s face here, the only answer is to fight.
“By the way, you have a lot of luggage. What did you bring with you?”
Ferocious Tooth were carrying a mountain of luggage. He is still bigger, but it’s a luggage that’s big enough to bury him.
“The old warrior who taught me the common language said that the Human Village is a very dangerous place. To prepare for it, I brought a lot of things.”
He scribbled out what was in the bag. As the story continued, Ivan and Delfino’s expressions changed strangely. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
“I understand about the insect repellent, but why are you carrying a bear trap?” (TN: Ivan)
“I’m even more surprised that there are so many different types of bath products than that.” (TN: Delfino. Anyway, FT and his bath is inseparable)
Since he only moved near the village, it was his first long-distance trip. He was used to hunting and wandering around the forest for a few days, but he had never ventured for months or years.
Behind the face of a seasoned warrior was the feeling of a clumsy country adventurer. Like the third son of a farmer who ran away from home to become a mercenary by stealing an emergency fund in the house.
Ivan greatly reduced his burden by giving a lengthy explanation of how the adventurer should pack. He shrunk the heaps of luggage down to the size of a suitable backpack and put everything else into Ivan inventory.
“I’ll keep these, so if you need anything later, just tell me. I’ll take them out.”
Ferocious Tooth, deprived of most of their burden, nodded in a strangely lost voice.
“Okay. Let’s do that.”
And he asked a question as if to change the subject.
“By the way, where do you plan to go after leaving town?”
“Um, well. Originally, I was going to try to find a hidden dungeon around here, but that doesn’t seem to be efficient now. It takes time and the Orcs are here too.”
“Then?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Ivan answered.
“I want to go to the fairy forest. Because there is an elixir there that can heal my eye.”
Ivan decided the way. The destination is the fairy forest, the realm of the elves.
Delfino expressed concern. Because it wasn’t an easy path.
“Will it be okay? Elves are a very closed race…”
“It’s not like I don’t have a relationship at all. I’ve been invited by them.”
And that it is a closed race, to be honest, there were hardly any races that were open to humans. In a broader sense, aren’t humans a rather closed race? It feels like they’re excluding every race, instead.
“An elf invitation, that’s amazing. At any rate, there seems to be no room for boredom when I’m with you.” (TN: Delfino)
“That’s a pity. I always dream of living a boring life.” (TN: Ivan)
This damn world didn’t let him play around. It pushed his back as if to do something whenever he stayed still. Whether it was a quest or the will of God.
Even if he took a break, he had to maintain his equipment, it was like a weekend duty administrator. In the meantime, it would just say that he didn’t touch anything if he did what he had to do.
Ivan, who was thinking like that, increased his walking speed.
“Let’s get out of the forest as quickly as possible. I must enjoy the taste of civilization before entering the forest again.”
“Wait! Go check in first?”
The soldier blocking the party at the castle gate, opened his eyes wide in surprise. No matter how you look at it, a non-human being was standing there.
Unlike the empires in the south and the western Alliance, it was difficult to see heterogeneous races living in human society inside the Roman Kingdom in the eastern part of the continent. Especially Lizardman.
“Why, is there a problem? Soldier?”
Ferocious Tooth asked in fluent common language, but the soldier didn’t seem to understand what he was saying. He seems to have lost it in confusion.
Fortunately, there was a soldier who recognized Ivan and Delfino who were next to him, so he was able to pass through the gate safely, but it seemed to offend Ferocious Tooth.
“It’s always like this. People start to be surprised when they see me.”
“That’s because there is also Lizardmen image in public. Humans are afraid of Lizardmen.”
“I don’t understand. Weren’t humans the ones who drove other races into the deep mountains, forests and wastelands? We should be afraid of humans, why are humans afraid of us?”
As Ferocious Tooth said so, Delfino tilted his head. Thinking about it, he thought it made sense.
“People have a better memory of getting hit than hitting. It’s not unusual.”
They first headed to the temple of Arun, the god of light. The goal was to find out how things are going here.
The priest of Arun Temple paused for a moment when he saw Ferocious Tooth, but then greeted them with a casual expression.
“I heard that you went into the mountains and suffered. Did you have any results?”
“Yes. With the help of the Lizardmen here, we cut off the advance of the Orcs. They will never cross the mountain range.”
“That’s a relief.”
Then he continued the story.
The fact that the Eastern part had already been completely eaten by the Greenskins, that the kingdom’s elites did not produce great results, and that the Southern Empire, which faced the border with the Greenskins was defeated and retreated. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
“The atmosphere right now is the worst. No one knew that the Greenskins, which had been ignored for so long, were hiding such a terrifying power. Rumor has it that a alliance against the Greenskins is being discussed.”
It wasn’t just a rumor. It is about now that the Alliance of Trust is formed to fight against the Greenskins, the Alliance of Blood.
When Ivan heard the news, he couldn’t hide his gloomy expression. Now the real chaos has begun.
The constant rush of blood and the image of himself struggling to survive the death made him feel bad.
Seeing Ivan like that, the priest of Arun Temple smiled awkwardly. It was because he seemed to have delivered only bad news to the person who had returned from a difficult mission.
“You must be tired. I’ll make a place so you can rest comfortably. Is there anything you need?”
At that, Ivan hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Meat, beer, a warm bed.”
Ferocious Tooth added slightly.
“And a bath.”
The priest of the Temple of Arun grinned. Because the requests were too simple for a hero who went to the mountains and fend off the orcs by themselves.
“Fortunately, everything is possible. We’ll prepare it soon.”
The food prepared by Arun Temple was delicious and plentiful. The bed was also warm and soft, and the bath was satisfactory.
However, Ivan’s spirit did not become lighter. Because he felt that the atmosphere had become very serious and heavy.
“It wasn’t a good atmosphere before we left, but now it’s the worst. Everyone’s faces are dark and full of anxiety and irritability.”
Delfino nodded in agreement with Ivan’s words.
“There’s no good news, it’s all dark stories, so people’s faces can’t be bright.”
“I don’t think it’s possible to rest comfortably in a place like this. Let’s leave when we’re properly prepared.”
The elven forest was a few days away from here. In fact, strictly speaking, the fairy forest that Ivan knew was far.
The forest where the elves stayed, that is, the fairy forest, was everywhere and nowhere. This is because there was a fairy forest somewhere between the material world and the spirit world, and only the entrances to it were scattered throughout any forest.
In principle, all forests in the world were connected to the fairy forest. Among them, the elven village that exists in the physical world is the gateway that guards the main entrance to the fairy forest.
Ivan began his search, starting from the place where he first met Elena Evenwood, and going deeper and deeper.
He didn’t expect to find it at once, but he was at loss. He couldn’t easily find a clue.
The elves were very light in their movements, so their footprints were not deep. There was no trace on the ground, as if stepping on grass.
Ivan had the knowledge and experience of a ranger, but even with that, it was difficult to track the elves. He has no choice but to trust his sensitive senses.
“Can we find it like this?”
“Even if we don’t find them, they will appear if we go nearby. They’re wary of strangers approaching the entrance to the fairy forest.”
It was boring. But on the third day after eating in the forest and repeating their activities, they finally appeared.
Whi-ing.
A warm wind blew past, and a soft scent blew out, unsuitable for the winter forest.
A strange scent that is felt not with the senses of the body, but with the senses of the mind.
Ivan lost one eye, but with a sharper sense than before, he could clearly recognize their existence.
Five elves were standing on the tree, pulling their bows, and looking at Ivan’s side. They were still beautiful, but they still had faces with no emotion.
They looked at Delfino, alerted of Ferocious Tooth, and checked Ivan’s face. And put down the bow he was pulling.
“At least one or two familiar faces. Do you recognize me?”
“Of course. Asgard’s warrior, Ivan. You are not alone this time.”
“I came here after being invited by the World Tree. Maybe I can’t get in if I have a friend?”
At those words, the elves shut their mouths. There was nothing outwardly revealed, but it seemed that they were sharing opinions with each other through the World Tree Network.
The neither short or long silence is over, and one elf opened her mouth.
“The invitation to the World Tree is still valid. I will guide you to our forest.”
The elves who jumped from the tree took only a few steps with the party. But that alone changed the scenery everywhere. All the bare branches of the winter forest had disappeared, and the trees were full of green leaves just like in spring or summer. The flowers were blooming and there was a sweet scent.
Without any sense of incongruity, they passed through the barrier and came to the Fairy Forest. It was a place that could not be reached easily if they had not been guided by the elves.
slip.
As the elf beckoned, the trees that were blocking it naturally moved and made a way. All kinds of spirits and fairies were wandering between them.
“Oh…”
A groan escaped from Delfino’s mouth. In the distance, a large, large tree appeared. It was so big he couldn’t even see the top of it.
The grandeur that seems to support the whole world, the greatness that seems to be the world itself. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
Slips.
Ivan stroked his leather eyepatch. His lost eye throbbed. It was as if the world tree was calling him.
‘Why?’
Ivan, who had a strange expression on his face, suddenly raised his head. He felt someone’s gaze.