[First contractor, your wishes have been granted.]
Gnoass was talking about the purification of the forest. The amount of corruption was so vast that it would have taken a supreme-rank spirit days or even months to get rid of. However, a Spirit King, who was called nature itself, had the power to revert everything back to normal in a shorter period of time.
âGood work, Gnoass. Maybe you should appear in a smaller size next time. My neckâs hurting from how big you are.â
[You have never summoned a spirit before, but you still called upon me.]
In fact, Davey could call upon the Spirit King without the usual sequential summoning method because of one reason. He explained, âItâs because of the Spirit Kingâs essence that your original contractor, the elementalist, had made for me.â
[Are you telling me she really made the thing she used to just joke about?]
Well, technically, the Spirit Kingâs essence was made in the Hall after she had died, but it seemed beneficial to not tell Gnoass that Yuriana, the elementalist, was still alive as a soul.
Bypassing the entire process of going through the low-rank, intermediate-rank, and then high-rank spirits was impossible, even for Davey. Due to that reason, he had used the pearl with the Spirit Kingâs power.
Classified as a transcendental-level object, the existence of the Spirit Kingâs essence itself had a huge effect although it was consumable. It could ignore any kind of limitations and summon a supreme-rank spirit to make a contract with them.
The spirit Davey had contracted with was Gnoeanenn. It would have taken him a while to merge with it, but he was able to call upon the superior Spirit King if he tricked them. Although, the required power by all of this was up to Davey.
Of course, knowing the truth didnât change the fact that it was shocking and hard to believe.
âItâs truly the Spirit King⊠I still cannot believe it. I never thought I was going to see a Spirit King in my lifeâŠâ Yuria said.
âI told you. Itâs that kind of object.â
âThe world would go wild if they knew that something like that existed.â
Davey smiled bitterly. He thought it a good idea to hide the fact that he still had twelve more essences of Spirit Kings in his Pocket Plane, since it would allow one to easily summon for the Spirit King if it wasnât in a corrupt forest.
* * *
This was the summoning of a Spirit King and not a supreme-rank spirit. The conservativesâ short uprising was subdued in an instant. There was no way they still had the will to fight when the Ancient Guard had been lost after being killed by a single shot.
âGracious Savior.â
The dwarves called Davey âWise Teacherâ, and now the elves were calling him âGracious SaviorââŠ
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Sitting on the tree stump in the quiet forest where Myuuâs house was, Yuria pulled out a small marble and showed it to Davey. It was the marble that Elder Condae had used to suppress Davey.
âIt is a pearl of a nameless ancient spirit that has the power to transform all other kinds of power into spirit mana. I never thought he had something like thisâŠâ Unable to hide her bewilderment, Yuria sighed. âHe probably had this to weaken you.â
âProbably.â
Most power, including mana and holy power, would be forced to change into spirit mana once the pearl was activated. Of course, it wouldnât have had much of an effect on Davey even without the Spirit King, but it was something that wouldâve had a serious effect on an ordinary Swordmaster.
As Davey quietly released mana into the pearl Yuria just handed to him, it began to lightly vibrate. Although it had been used, it vibrated like it was alive. Then, someoneâs voice momentarily pierced straight through his brain.
ââŠâ Quickly throwing the pearl onto the table, Davey clicked his tongue.
âOf course, it wasnât just Yurianaâs spirits that have a crappy personality.â
âHow well do you know about the different spirit types?â Davey asked Yuria.
âTypes? Arenât there just the Six Spirits? The four basic types, and then the spirit of light and darkness. Not to brag, but I am contracted to the Light spirit and Undeen, the high-rank water spirit.â
âChaos,â Davey mumbled quietly.
âChaâŠos?? Yuria asked.
âItâs a pearl containing the high-rank spirit pandemonium, Chaos. I don't know what lunatic sealed him in there, but this object sealed the spirit alive.â
âA spirit of chaos⊠How could such a spiritâŠâ
The high-rank spirit of pandemonium, Chaos, had a simple ability. This oddball spirit changed all the power surrounding him into his own.
âThere are thirteen kinds of spirits. Didnât know that, right?â
âOh my⊠That is also shocking knowledge. Iâve never heard of such a thing, even in the ancient books.â Yuria picked up the pearl with wide eyes. Since she couldnât hear the crazy voice from inside, it was probably better for her to have it than Davey.
âYou keep it. Until we can free that lunatic in there.â
âLâŠLunatic?â
âIf you gain the ability to summon a supreme-rank spirit, you will be able to hear him. Youâll see why I called him a lunatic.â
Yuria fell into deep thought, then nodded.
âI guess I really declared war on the World Tree.â Yuria chuckled, then said, âYouâre going to protect us, right?â
âWeâll see.â
Yuria smiled in satisfaction as Davey joked around. She said firmly, âI will do my best to serve you, so I wonât disappoint you.â
âI donât know about anyone else, but I am yours,â Yuria mumbled very quietly, but Davey heard it clearly.
âSorry, but itâs easy for me to release that kind of force even without the Spirit King.â
Sometimes, ignorance truly was bliss.
* * *
ShwaaâŠ
The forest regained its original beauty after the corruption had disappeared. The spirit beasts wandering the silent fields were surprised by the human activity and disappeared.
A woman wearing a blue uniform appeared out in the field. She slowly put her hands together to cast a hand seal, then quietly muttered a spell in ancient elf language.
[La Prushella.]
Soon, a small hologram slowly appeared in front of her eyes.
âI meet the Mother of the First Tree.â
âHm. Did your mission go well?â
Upon hearing the womanâs relaxed and benevolent voice, the elves bowed their heads even more. They said solemnly, âIâm sorry. We failed the mission. AndâŠMiraâs dead.â
âDead?â The holographic womanâs eyebrow twitched.
âWe did not expect it at all; the human had set a trap. We blindly trusted the Ancient Spirit Pearl that Elder Condae used, but the human controlled its power and summoned a Spirit King,â the woman in the blue uniform reported.
The faint image of the woman in the hologram chuckled. âHa⊠Haha. Thatâs quite a scene. I didnât know that what I saw would be true.â
âWhat did you see?â The woman in blue asked.
âNever mind, I saw a monster whose existence cannot be explained by logic. Well, it is a relief that you came back alive. It seems like he did not notice you.â
âMy apologies. I think he already knew, but let me go.â
There was nothing but silence after the womanâs report.
âHow dare he test meâŠâ The woman in the hologram shook her head as the woman in blue lowered her head. The holographic woman then added, âCome back into Motherâs arms. We must leave them be for a while.â
âYou are not going to form an additional slaughtering squad?â
âA runaway daughter is bound to return to her parents. She will learn someday that sheâs in the palm of my hand.â
âI will not forget that, World Tree,â the woman in the blue uniform quietly replied, then slowly rose.
However, the two people did not know that the person who was listening in on their conversation had turned away without hesitation as well.
* * *
The dwarves called Davey âWise Teacherâ, but the elves were calling him something different.
âGracious Savior! This is a call a fruit. It is our forestâs specialty. My mother wanted me to give this to youâŠâ
âOh, you didnât have to.â
As Davey laughed exaggeratedly and pretended like he didnât care, the young elf boy sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He said, âElves⊠No, the residents of the Moon Forest do not forget our debts. Even more so if it is someone who rescued Lady Yuria.â
âWe heard everything from Lady Yuria. The person who corrupted this forest all this time wasâŠâ One of the male elves grit his teeth with reddened eyes.
The way Elder Condae and the conservatives had accelerated the corruption was simple: he had kidnapped elves, disguising it as an accident or that they had gone missing, and had thrown them in the origin of corruption while they had been still alive or barely dead.
âThey said my daughter lost her life after running into a monster in the forest. My daughter was close to the age of marriage, and just seeing her brought me joy.â
But that never happened; she had been killed because of the dark greed of Elder Condae and the World Tree.
âI just wanted to apologize for not trusting you just because you are human when I didnât know you. AndâŠthank you for helping us weak elves to take revenge on our enemies.â
âAh, I didnât do anything! You got the wrong person,â Davey said.
âHaha, I didnât know you would be this humble. The story that humans are all disgusting and selfish beings seems to be completely false.â
âItâs true,â Davey thought.
âHowever, we heard that we would have all died if you didnât help us, Gracious Savior.â
âThatâs right. We heard that they were planning on killing all of us after taking Lady Yuria to the Divine Tree. They said that the elves who defied traditionâŠwere worthy of death.â
Davey had gained four things from Elder Condaeâs overstep. The elder elf had been very hostile, but had ended up going to jail after giving Davey his everything. Oh, Elder Condae, was just amazingâŠ
The debate about how to punish Elder Condae, who had completely lost his will to fight and was locked up in jail, and the radical conservative elves who had contributed to the corruption raised some commotion for a while. The elves who found out their families had been wrongfully sacrificed begged for their revenge to be taken, and most of the others agreed with them, saying that they shouldnât let the people who had tried to kill them and had betrayed the forest be alive. However, Yuria could not easily make that decision.
âWhat are you thinking about? Just kill all of them,â sipping slime tea, Davey said to Yuria indifferently.
Yuria was sitting on the tree stump in the small garden on the outskirts of the village where there was a tree hole big enough for a little child to live in. This was Myuuâs home before she moved to the main village. She muttered, âIâm just a little sad.â
âGeez.â Davey was confident that he would give a firm suggestion. He said, âYou are able to show mercy when youâre not in a tight position. Will you simply let yourself be stabbed to death without fighting back if the forest was invaded because you want to be the bigger person?â
Giving illogical lunatics a second chance was just giving them a second chance to do the exact same thing. In fact, Condae, who was tied up and unwilling to fight back, just repeated one thing over and over.
âI did nothing wrong. Itâs all a sacrifice for the greater good!â
âI will follow if you say so, Gracious Savior.â
Yuria was the forestâs leader, but she and the residents of the forest had become residents of the Heins Territory. As such, it seemed like she was trying to consider Daveyâs opinions as much as possible.
âI like that you are giving me your everything, but donât forget what you asked for.â
Yuris stared at Davey in surprise. They had asked for a life that was free and a relationship built on logic.
âYou have become residents of the Heins, not slaves.â
âThen, we can exile themâŠâ
âKill them.â
âOh my, so straightforward. All right.â
Davey couldnât help but sigh when Yuria agreed so easily. What was wrong was wrong, end of story. He further explained, âLeading by getting your followers to fear you is dangerous, but your roots will be unstable if you lead while accepting everything without establishing any basic rules.â
âThat isâŠâ
âItâs proven by history. Remember that the position of a leader is nasty; sometimes you have to be mean and fierce.â
âAnd that is why I kicked out the Rowane Kingdomâs king.â
History showed the reason why the kings of Joseon, Koreaâs past era, had been all so short-lived.
Yuria sighed. âYouâre right. Maybe I was being a childish fool in front of you, even though youâre probably much younger than me.â
Well, Davey was probably older in terms of soul age.
âAnyway, what should we do about the barrier? The one that you shattered?â Yuria asked as she stroked Myuuâs cheek with a bright smile as the child slept in her arms. âYouâre going to take care of it?â
The way that a beautiful elf was asking Davey to take care of matters while cradling a sleeping little girl who was sucking on her thumbâŠ