Volume 7 Chapter 12 Spirit King’s Audience and the Artifact Beyond Reason
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Strong saltiness and animal fat. After we all finished the Empire-style breakfast made by Erika and the others, I headed for the Manor’s entrance.
Leaving the women of the household lined up to see me off, I passed through the heavy wooden door and breathed in the air outside.
As if to push away the rough smells still in my stomach, the cold, clear forest air filled my lungs. There was no smell of blood or mud. From the green roof of the World Tree (the great tree that supports the forest), made of thousands, millions of leaves, several beams of light poured down, turning the thick moss at my feet golden. It was a garden of eternal spring.
I started walking, then stopped and looked up at the sky.
World Tree…….
Its huge size cannot be seen by a human.
Up and up, until my neck bones creaked. Countless twisting branches covered the sky, their tips disappearing into the thick morning mist. Did they break through the clouds? Or is that cloud cover itself the breath of this huge living thing?
Looking back, a huge wall of wood, shiny like amber, stretched out.
My home, spreading like a City Wall. Even looking up, the second-floor windows were far away. Real vines were tangled around the fancy carvings on the window frames, as if taking over, slowly swallowing the Manor to become part of the forest.
In front of the massive door, the women of the household stood straight, seeing me off.
Among them, only Erika was waving a hand slightly at her chest. The red color on her face and neck had not faded. Her knees were turned a little inward, standing in an awkward way, rubbing her thighs together.
Even after breakfast, the heat I gave her in the kitchen still seemed to pulse in her lower body.
I lifted one hand while walking.
”Fufu. Waving your hand… how sweet. You were quite busy with that child last night too, weren’t you?” Sylvia said, smiling beautifully.
”Yeah. Erika, she’s started asking for it herself lately, even while shaking in fear. Greedy thing,” I replied, my voice rough and short.
”Papa, what are you doing with Erika-oneechan?”
A bright voice came from the hand I was holding.
I looked down. Rene was looking up at me with a confused face. The hand holding my palm was still small. But those innocent lips looking up at me clearly remembered the feel of the hot, thick skin that had milked me just moments before.
”That’s… talk for adults. Fuh, yeah, that’s right. Shall we have plenty of adult talk tonight, you and me?” I said, my voice low and amused.
”Yeah! Rene loves adult talk!” the child chirped.
I messed the hair of that happily laughing child.
The thick roots of the World Tree were twisting and running in all directions, splitting the rock around them. Each one was thicker than a human house.
A small stream flowed between the raised roots, and a deer with big horns lowered its neck to drink. It listened to our footsteps but did not run away. A hare crossed the deep grass at our feet without worry.
The softness of the moss where our boots sank showed the difference between this place and the cold, hard hell of the outside world.
As I walked, smelling the soil and green, the place I was heading to came into sight.
One of the giant roots lifted from the earth, making a space to form a natural dome.
It was the Elder’s Manor (the home of the village elder).
Thick roots served as pillars, carefully twisted branches as beams, and green moss grew in clumps across the whole roof instead of tiles.
I pushed open the heavy door. The smell of thick tree sap and the cold of stone brushed against my face.
From floor to ceiling, it was a silent space where sounds from outside were completely shut out. Roots and stones were twisted together at the ceiling, and a single beam of light fell straight down from the small gap between them.
”Sylvia. Was the temporary storage space for the recovered supplies enough?” I asked.
”Yes. However, Erland (she/her)-sama was troubled for a bit. The amount was unusual, enough to completely fill one of the empty lots,” Sylvia reported with practiced skill.
”I see. Collecting them is a chore, but using them again is also tiring,” I noted.
I climbed the spiral staircase made of giant roots acting as steps. Real vines were tangled in the silver patterns of the handrails; you could not tell where the carving ended and the plant began.
At the very back of the second-floor corridor was the central meeting room.
When I opened the door, the white light coming through the root dome lit up the World Tree symbol carved into the center of the round table.
Everyone was already there.
The moment she saw me, Erland (she/her) stood up quietly and bowed gracefully.
”I have been waiting for you, King. The preparations for the war meeting are ready,” she declared.
I nodded shortly and moved to the upper seat at the far end.
At the entrance side of the round table, Gauz sat cross-legged directly on the stone floor. From that body like a fortress of flesh, a heavy heat like a wild animal drifted toward my feet.
Next to him, Lara sat with her legs crossed, her soft fox tail loosely wrapped around the back of her chair.
Right after I passed by her side, a white shadow crawled out from behind Gauz’s massive body.
”Master…!” Mimi cried softly, holding my leg.
I put one hand on Mimi’s chin, lifting it slightly to meet her eyes. When I pressed my thumb against her small lips, she started sucking right away, as if looking for safety. Her throat clicked softly, and I knew the tension left her body.
”Fuh. I’ll show you love later,” I whispered to her.
Right after Mimi nodded with her eyes half-closed in happiness, a bright voice broke the sweet mood.
”Ah, Mimi-chan! So cute!” Rene exclaimed.
”Feh…” Mimi squeaked.
Rene, who had come running, hugged Mimi from behind innocently.
”Hey, hey, let’s play with me! Papa, can I borrow Mimi-chan?”
”Yeah, sure. It’s going to be a difficult talk today, anyway. Go play outside,” I said.
”Yay! Mimi-chan, let’s go!” Rene cried, dragging the poor girl away.
The heavy door closed, and it was quiet again.
As I sat down, Sylvia waited at my right side with smooth movements. Serafina on my left had her eyes closed, offering a silent prayer.
Farrell sat still like a stone statue, and Elie-na was alone in her white coat, eyes looking down at a thick old book.
I put both elbows on the table and folded my fingers.
”Shall we begin? Erland (she/her), give me the recovery report on the supplies,” I ordered.
”Right away. As of yesterday, we have finished recovering all the remains and supplies of the humans left behind on that battlefield,” Erland (she/her) stated, her tone graceful.
”A little over one thousand six hundred Gold Coins. About nine thousand portions of stored food. Fifty of those iron tubes that fire lead balls, and three larger iron tubes. Besides that, blades, armor, surviving warhorses, medicine, tents… It is equal to one full supply line.”
”Hmm, that’s a lot of supplies. Good work, and make sure to reward the others as well. Also, the food is already thrown into my ‘Interdimensional Space (Dimension Buffer)’. It’s a waste to let it rot.”
”As you say. Inside the King’s barrier, the quality will not change even after several years, will it?”
”Next. I finished questioning and killing the thirteen prisoners on that day. I will share the information I got out of them. I’ve told Erland (she/her), but the others haven’t heard yet. …About why they sent an army into this trap.”
At my words, Gauz’s golden eyes turned sharply toward me.
A beam of light slowly moved over the symbol.
”It seems they figured out that the Magic elements of the Ley lines (lines of magical energy underground) flowing under the Empire have been leaking quickly since four or five months ago. They sent a large army to crush the cause of that.”
Serafina, who had been closing her eyes quietly, opened them slowly. Her eyes, like moonlight, caught me directly.
”…It overlaps with the time when World Tree-sama woke up from a long sleep,” she whispered.
”Yeah, that’s right. Around the time I came to this village.”
”…King. Does this mean that because we saved World Tree-sama, it caused those humans to come here…?” Erland (she/her) asked, her voice dropping lower.
”The cause of the past doesn’t matter. You could say the opposite: they were the ones stealing the World Tree’s food. I’m more worried about their weapons.”
I moved my gaze to Elie-na.
”The Empire can make hundreds of those iron tubes. They aren’t something a blacksmith makes one by one. They have a factory system: dig iron, melt it, pour it into molds, and make hundreds of the same parts. That kind of system.”
”I have Erika, whom I turned into my Slave. She knows the inside of those iron tubes well. I’ll have her meet with Elie-na next time.”
Behind the glasses of the chief researcher in a white coat, her smart eyes gleamed suspiciously.
”…Wonderful. Leave it to me, Master. I will take apart the way built into those rough pieces of iron, and the knowledge crammed inside that rude receptionist’s brain, without leaving anything behind,” Elie-na said with cold, careful precision.
”Yeah, I’m counting on you. …Don’t cut up Erika’s body, though.”
I looked away from Elie-na, who was smiling with a crooked mouth, and stared at Gauz and Lara.
”The problem is how the Empire will move next, now that five thousand soldiers have been crushed. Gauz, Lara. Let’s hear your thoughts.”
When I asked, Gauz shook his massive body. A low growl like stone floor creaking echoed.
”Those iron-smelling guys don’t know the forest of monsters,” Gauz rumbled, his voice thick with a hunter’s edge.
Gauz showed his sharp teeth and snorted.
”Our federation has lived next to monster nests. But the Empire is different. For them, war is forming lines on a clear, open plain and breaking down City Walls.”
There was clear dislike for the Empire army on the face of the man who once led thirty-five thousand.
”As Gauz-sama says~” Lara said with a light, graceful laugh.
Lara continued, her eyes, framed by long lashes, narrowed in a cold, thinking look that seemed to check the power on the table.
”Being able to make hundreds of those iron tubes. It is surely a huge power of terrifying size. …However, all that strength is built for big battles on the plains. In this ‘Magic Forest,’ where you can’t see, most of that strength is useless.”
She held up two slender fingers in front of me, slowly tilting her head.
”The first point: The Empire started attacking this forest, following the flow of the Ley lines, one week ago. The second point: one month ago, a unit from the Holy Pontificate (a religious kingdom) came too. Both, without any hesitation, headed straight for this village. In a straight line.”
Lara stopped there, smiling as she slowly flicked her fox tail.
”But both disappeared completely. The mainland will realize something is wrong when they are sure that their soldiers’ footsteps have stopped… at the earliest, in half a year. No nation on this continent could send another army of the same size right away against someone who killed thousands.”
”Aye. If they move again, it’ll be in the tens of thousands. They won’t have the courage in a year. The Empire won’t come.”
Gauz’s voice, echoing from deep in his gut, made the root dome vibrate low. It was the strong belief of a commander covered in battle-blood.
When I nodded silently to his words, the tense mood eased a bit.
Serafina took a breath before speaking. Her calm voice smoothed over the rough heat of the meeting room.
”…The children of man never change in any era. Blinded by greed, stepping into lands they do not know, and then being swallowed by the earth.”
No one answered. The words of a shrine maiden who has lived twelve hundred years make even a simple nod seem too much.
In the silence that followed, Sylvia, sitting to my right, tucked her chin slightly. Her back was straight, only her eyes sharp. …The stillness made her figure stand out.
”To think they’d come to destroy my garden of all places—a total act of suicide. In any case, we can consider that there is no danger right now,” I said.
”I leaned back in the chair.”
”Finally, the matter of the silver box and the junk. Elie-na, explain.”
When I urged her, Elie-na leaned forward in her white lab coat.
”Yes, Master. As I reported before, that box is completely different from existing magic technology. There is no method to change Magic elements. Yet, it brings out element powers. It is as if it is directly writing an unchangeable rule onto the world—that ‘monsters cannot cross this boundary’—a set of unknown seals.”
The research chief’s voice was hard and precise.
In that underground lab, we had already found one hard truth. The existence of old tools that work on a different set of rules, not Magic.
”Yeah. And the wind chime hanging in the office window. The white pot on the balcony. Both of them, I thought were just junk until now,” I said.
”That day, seeing the shape of the white slits on the side of the box, I remembered the pattern on the bottom of the pot. The cut of the clear crystal on the front of the box was exactly the same as that quiet wind chime.
”When I had them checked, they were made the same as that box,” I said.
”As you say, Master. The strange shine on the surface, the inside shape, the cooling system for letting out heat. All three are surely made by the same person. According to our Elven Magic ways, they cannot be explained at all.”
Elie-na turned a page of the paper in her hand and tapped the table with her fingertip.
”The wind chime feels the enemy and tells us by shaking. The pot pulls Magic elements from the air and makes water with spirit power come out. The box was the base of our defense, casting an invisible wall that keeps monsters away.”
The wind chime and the pot were just lying somewhere in this village. Even Serafina could only say, “They have been there since long ago.”
”This is my guess from here,” I said.
”I lowered my voice.”
”Those three tools. And Serafina’s Pearl (a special pearl with ancient power) as well, I think they are tools left by someone who existed before any race living in this world now.”
A deep silence fell on the meeting room.
The Pearl, placed at the altar in the stone hallway. That, too, is likely a relic of the same old civilization.
”…Indeed. Even before the Ancestors came, the Pearl was already in the Green Cavern (the cave where the Pearl is kept),” Serafina said.
Serafina’s voice fell heavily into the quiet room.
The beam of light had left the symbol and was touching the edge of the round table.
”It’s a mystery that even the long-lived Elves don’t know. It’s worth looking into. Elie-na, keep studying the Pearl. …And the matter of that, too.”
”Leave it to me, Master. Unknown rules that mock even time… ah, what a sweet mystery. I will surely pull it out for you to see. …I am also studying the stone tablet (an ancient carved stone) at the same time.”
Deep underground, a monolith wrapped by the roots of the World Tree like a seal. A black object, like a cursed item that drains the Mana of anyone who touches it. I felt that the strangeness of that thing alone was on a different level from the other relics.
”Then, Farrell. How was the real battle against the Empire’s army?” I asked.
”Understood. The wind chime was sent to Zeid. Even when we could not see because of the yellow mist, thanks to it telling us exactly where the enemy was, we were able to shoot down invisible opponents.”
”That was as expected,” I said. “And the combination of the box and the pot?”
Farrell paused, his handsome face becoming serious.
”The box keeps monsters away, and the pot keeps the caster’s strength returning. By using both, we made a fortress that could not be broken, firing endless arrows and spells. It is a terrifying thing that easily changes the common sense of battle that we have learned.”
”Well done. With those, the Elves won’t fall behind,” I said.
”Understood. I swear on my sword. I will protect the King and this village.”
I leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling.
A dome of massive roots. The beam of light coming through the gaps moved slowly.
Under this great nature, relics of an old civilization, older than the Elves, are sleeping.
That Pearl, the wind chime, the pot, the box. And the stone tablet. They were left by someone.
Who. And for what purpose.
The beam of light crossed over my feet and disappeared into the far end of the wall.
—
Summary:
The protagonist departs from his Manor, reflecting on the contrasts between the industrial Empire and his protected, verdant enclave. After a morning interaction with his household, he leads a strategic meeting with his subordinates to discuss the aftermath of a recent conflict. He reveals that the Empire’s invasion was spurred by the Magic element drain caused by the World Tree’s revival. The meeting turns toward technical analysis as he plans to utilize captured Empire technology to counter future threats.
The meeting of the council begins with a tactical assessment of the Empire’s military capabilities and the strategic advantage of the Magic Forest. The conversation shifts to the enigmatic relics—the silver box, wind chime, and white pot—as the protagonist and Elie-na reveal they are artifacts of an ancient civilization. Serafina confirms the antiquity of the Pearl, deepening the mystery surrounding these items. Farrell reports on the successful integration of the relics as weapons against the invading forces, leaving the group to ponder the origins of the civilization that left them behind.
—
Trivia:
- The protagonist maintains an ‘Interdimensional Space’ (Dimension Buffer) that preserves items in perfect condition.
- The Empire operates on mass-production industrial logic, unlike the artisanal methods of the forest dwellers.
- The World Tree’s revival and the protagonist’s arrival are chronologically linked to the energy drain perceived by the Empire.
- Gauz has experience leading large-scale military forces, specifically thirty-five thousand soldiers.
- The Empire invaded following the Ley lines one week ago.
- The Holy Pontificate appeared one month ago.
- The relics operate on non-Magic laws, which Elie-na finds both terrifying and beautiful.
- The monolith deep underground is described as a cursed object that drains Mana.
- The light in the meeting room moves across the round table as a timer for their meeting.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Erika – A thin, 23-year-old former Empire mechanic and soldier, she is now Ryuichi’s traumatized, submissive household servant. She features blue eyes, a flushed complexion, and long, unkempt dark-golden hair on an emaciated, scarred body. Deeply affected by the protagonist’s influence, she struggles with composure, often dissociating to suppress terrifying war memories.
• Man – A roughneck wearing a hat who participated in a group assault. He suffers the loss of his right arm and later his left arm during an experiment by the protagonist before being stored.
• Sylvia – A platinum-haired, jade-eyed Elven commander and advisor of disciplined posture and alluring smile. As Ryuichi’s sharp, devoted partner and liaison, she shares an intimate routine with her master while tormenting others. She ruthlessly deploys white heat rays beside elven archers, holds a sisterly bond with Lara, read Erika’s notebook, and remembers her village when it housed thousands.
• Rene – A fragile, timid Elf archer and innocent, curious child of the household harem. Characterized by a messy morning bedhead, she clings to the protagonist for safety. While fear triggers raw Mana bursts, she is designated as his “healing item” after intimate rituals. She enjoys his affection and now sleeps in blissfully stunned exhaustion alongside the other members.
• Erland – A 320-year-old elven Village Elder and sharp-featured tactician with glasses, long silver hair, elegant manners, and a bewitching voice. Accompanying Serafina, she guides and protects her deity, the Spirit King. Wielding a staff and folding fan, she uses earth magic and powerful barriers to capture prisoners, torn between maintaining village order and her intense devotion.
• King – A powerful, authoritative male lead who possesses immense physical strength and magic. He commands absolute loyalty and submission from the inhabitants of the Silver Moon Village.
• Gauz – A massive, steel-furred feline commander with a golden mane, brawny arms, and a deep, resonant voice. This battle-hardened, hyper-durable warrior wields the axe Agito, systematically obliterating the despised Empire army with deep tactical experience. Arrogant yet fiercely loyal, he submits only to the protagonist. Tied to a past security failure, he is now a scarred, charred runaway.
• Lara – An aristocratic Fox-kin strategist with golden hair, a curvaceous body, porcelain skin, and long eyelashes framing a cold, analytical gaze. Once a proud virgin defeated by the protagonist, she is now a submissive servant who calls him King. Sitting legs crossed with her lustrous tail wrapped around her chair, she evaluates threats to calmly orchestrate ruthless strikes with spatial awareness.
• Mimi – A petite, pale, long-eared Rabbit-kin tracker from the Hundred-Beast Federation. Wearing only an oversized shirt, her battered body is covered in white fluid and blood. Her sensitive ears detect distant heartbeats, though she shudders at violence. Traumatized by the world’s dying life force, this loyal lookout is submissive and affectionately clutches the protagonist’s clothing.
• Serafina – An elegant, silver-haired Elf High Priestess and shrine maiden with 1,200 years of history. Clad in white robes with moonlight eyes that captivate the protagonist, she serves Lady Pearl and Ryuichi as a devoted handmaiden managing his household. This calm, powerful sacred mage offers philosophical insights on human greed, yet fears advanced technology while guarding the sealed domain.
• Elie-na – This white-coated research chief has pale skin, bluish-silver hair in a chignon, and silver-rimmed glasses. She possesses a sharp, slightly sinister intellectual demeanor, analyzing ancient relics, magic laws, and unknown tech with rapid-fire tactical calculations. Fanatically focused on supporting her team, she resets her neurotransmitters for stability and secretly fears losing bathroom privileges.
• Farrell – Restored by the protagonist, this elf garrison captain and capable commander sits motionless like a stone statue with a mithril sword at his waist. Leading village security with grim resolve, he uses a green afterimage aura, combat relics, and vacuum wind blades. Driven to regain honor after a defeat by Ryuichi, he respects his King, loathes Gauz, and maintains a tense protagonist alliance.
• Elie – An eighteen-year-old virgin research director with pale skin, glasses, and silver hair hiding her eyes. Sold into slavery by her parents to reduce mouths to feed, she now wears a white coat, functioning as a cold, calculating assistant. Driven by an obsessive, mad fervor for forbidden magic, her chilling, detached attitude leads her to treat buyers and others as research specimens to be corrected.
• Zeid – An elven archer stationed in the tree canopy who excels at zero-range combat, using wind magic and a silent wind chime from the Spirit King to track and snipe targets through thick fog. He fires wind-clad arrows with extreme focus under pressure, famously attempting to strike Gauz’s eye.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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