Chapter 324: Return to the Forest of Dreams

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

I barely recognized the Forest of Dreams when I returned.

The moment I stepped off the Ivy League, I noticed a large number of airships parked at the docks. These ships bore all sorts of flags, indicating that they were from places all over, including Auland, East Mist, the Mage Country, and even the Bardi Empire. It would seem that the Bardi Empire had no intentions of giving up on this place as they must have taken quite the circuitous route to get here.

The docks were packed with people busy either loading or unloading cargo. Most people’s attention, however, was attracted to the adventurers who came from far and wide. Their equipment revealed that each team had at least one “Contract Hero” who possessed a Hero’s Armlet.

To be honest, the Forest of Dreams was more appealing a place than the battle-wrought Auland Empire for adventures who wished to earn Justice Points. The battles here were of a smaller scale, and the perfect “safe zone” in the Forest of Dreams made this place all the more popular.

Most adventurers were humans, but there was no lack of other species. After all, other species possessed numerous physical advantages on humans, and their lives as adventurers would be easier. I recognized some Northlands barbarians and beastmen, as well as a couple of lizardmen from the desert region far, far away.

“This place seems quite popular.”

Even greater changes met my eyes when I left the docks and headed inside the forest. Clusters of people amid a flourishing marketplace and a lively administrative district were embellished with wood spirits who were crossing their rope bridges which dotted the treetops. This place was no longer empty.

Quite the commotion was caused earlier when we returned in the Ivy League. Most airships were smaller, wooden ones capable of only carrying thirty to fifty passengers. Such a massive divine tree airship gave the bystanders a deep impression.

We immediately began doing business in the docks just moments after disembarking.

“Thorn Garden’s branch store in the Forest of Dreams is officially opening! Don’t miss our opening sale!”

The Ivy League was quite large to begin with, which meant that we had plenty of space to carry cargo. So, I decided to modify it into a merchant transport ship. As for the main goods we were selling? The combat mechas from Thorn Garden, of course!

The Ivy League parked horizontally on the docks, and all the cargo hold doors automatically opened, transforming into storefronts right on the spot. The wood spirits who had come with me to the Mage Country instantly commenced their business upon returning home.

We had Iron Horses (with training wheels), simple self-propelled mechas, engineered cannons, and all sorts of other items for combat. Of course, we also possessed some experimental weapons and equipment.

A sawtoothed sword that constantly buzzed, the newest dwarven rifles, portable dwarven handheld cannons, and mechanized shields with defensive energy barriers. All sorts of new products were waiting to be tested in combat.

An excellent weapons merchant would test their weapons on the battlefield while raking in profits at the same time. They would then use these profits to improve their products and attract even more customers. The only difference between me and a pure weapons merchant was that I was slightly more conscientious. After all, I only sold weapons to one side.

Judging from our first day sales, the adventurers were rather hesitant about purchasing our products. The gnomes and dwarves had too poor of a reputation because of their explosions. The sales were especially affected by the fact that Jinya Beyar insisted on acting as the demonstrator and sent himself flying in the sky with a boom in front of all the spectators… I told him not to use the “Safety Brand” rockets! That brand name is cursed!

“As expected, these bastards are too unreliable. Forget it, forget it. There will be a few daring adventurers who will try our new products. Let’s prove the mettle of our products with time and accomplishments in battle.”

Obviously, we hurried back to the Forest of Dreams for reasons more important than conducting business. We had left as envoys for the wood spirits, and we returned having successfully allied with the Mage Country. However, there was now a new troublesome issue that had returned together with me.

“The Mage Country is sending her as an official envoy to the Bardi Empire to negotiate a ceasefire? How troublesome.”

Instead of me, Cher became the envoy. Some higher-ups apparently learned about the relationship between us. There was an obvious problem with using her as the envoy: I would naturally have to get involved as well. After all, it would be tantamount to suicide to leave diplomacy to someone who was merely a “novice” in the Gold rank.

“Well, I suppose it’s fine. I wanted to see what’s going on back in the Bardi Empire anyways.”

My inference was that I wasn’t directly appointed as the envoy because the Mage Country was afraid that I would do something too ridiculous, like performing a God’s Descent or something like that.

Compared to an outsider like me, Cher counted as far more of a local and would probably look out more for the Mage Country’s interests.

I already knew my next plan. I would rest here at the Forest of Dreams and prepare for a few days before heading to the Bardi Empire’s capital city. I would stop by on the way at Nightrain City, which was currently in the thick of battle, depending on my judgment of the current situation.

Yes. I, simply me by myself. The envoy group would head directly to the capital city, while I wouldn’t be traveling together with them. We would arrange a place to reconvene in the capital city.

Rather than being a diplomatic envoy in everyone’s sight, I preferred to act alone in the shadows. There were many things that couldn’t be seen on the surface. And, if possible, I even wanted to try and make some free time to go take a look at the eastern battlefront where Bardi was fighting against the Holy Light’s army. Perhaps I would even see a familiar face or two there.

I roamed around by myself in the new areas of the Forest of Dreams. All this flourishment really was quite astonishing. Six months ago, this place was still Port Victoria of the Bardi Empire. Two months ago, this place was a magical forest with not a single human living in it. It managed to develop to such an extent so quickly?

“…Although many are injured, the adventurers seem to be quite spirited. Most of them are smiling. Is it because they see hope for the future? It looks like I don’t need to worry about the Forest of Dreams; I should find a chance to go take a look at what’s going on at the frontlines…”

It was now noon. I entered a random restaurant and ordered a few dishes. While waiting for my food to arrive, I listened to a barbarian bragging about his own adventures.

“It all happened in the blink of an eye. Our team was forced to the brink, and that meant it was time for a great thief like me to shine. I started off with a backstab, and then stunned the lich with a kick. I used my skills in combination and singlehandedly killed off that lich named Wofrida…”

Wait a moment; this barbarian was in the thief job class? I suppose that with enough people around, there would be no end to the number of weirdos. Still, after recalling that I previously met an ogre thief, I felt that it wasn’t anything to be shocked about. Yet, was it really possible for liches to be stunned? Either that lich was only an undead mage who was wearing a skeleton head mask as a disguise, or this barbarian was simply a tremendous braggart who exaggerated his accomplishments.

“Sir Holy Knight, are you by yourself?”

A young female priestess greeted me with a smile. The gold coin emblem on her chest exhibited the fact that was a mid-ranked priestess who served Beyana, the Goddess of Wealth.

Of course, she wasn’t greeting me to offer me any sort of special services. While other priestesses might indeed offer such services, those who believed in the Goddess of Wealth were only interested in money.

I was mystified for a moment before I realized what was going on.

The Forest of Dreams was a frontline of battle. Plenty of temporary adventuring teams would be created here.

Plenty of visitors would visit the bars and restaurants here, so this would undoubtedly be a place where adventures looked for companions. Since I was by myself, I probably seemed like someone looking for a team. This priestess must be looking for a teammate. However, the strange part was…

“How did you know I’m a Holy Knight?”

I had taken off my mage robe since I was no longer in the Cloud Tower. With an average cotton robe that could be found just about anywhere, I was devoid of weapons. How did she notice my job class?

“Your posture, your smile, and the marks on your hands.”

After undergoing long periods of training, those who became Holy Knights would have distinct postures while walking and sitting. Certain marks would be left on their hands due to long hours of practicing swordsmanship. As for Holy Knights’ smiles… the #59 smile used for business was practically copyrighted and instinctual.

“More importantly you don’t seem dissatisfied by the cheap beer you’re drinking here. Even the barbarian in my team complains every day about how bad the alcohol is, but you didn’t even frown when you drank it down. You were smiling, which likely means you aren’t that well off…”

Indeed. Nobles’ knights wouldn’t even dream about drinking some low-quality beer like this that cost only two copper coins, nor would they ever enter such a low-tier restaurant like this one. Only Holy Knights, who were used to being poor, would be used to drinking cheap wine and dining on rye bread.

I nodded in appreciation. While it wasn’t particularly astonishing to be able to discern a person’s job class from their physical appearance and behavior, it was still evidence that this person was a veteran adventurer. Only now did I seriously take a look at the priestess before me.

She appeared to be roughly eighteen or nineteen years old. Her clean, neat, and short flaxen hair and energetic expression overshadowed the tiny amount of acne on her face. The half-body armor she was clad in seemed somewhat used, but it was well taken care of, which could be seen from its sheen. The round shield and cudgel she wielded were the most common equipment for priests, but only that small shield was enchanted. It was quite obvious she wasn’t very rich as she possessed almost no magical equipment whatsoever.

“…At the very most, she’s in the Silver rank. If she’s the team captain, then her team’s overall strength is probably only at the peak of Bronze.”

I lightly tapped my index finger on the table, causing a golden Holy Light to flash for an instant, corroborating her guess that I was indeed a Holy Knight.

“Do you have any business with me?”

The priestess was first delighted to see the Holy Light but then became hesitant. Originally, she saw only a Holy Knight by himself who didn’t even have equipment. Not to mention, he appeared quite young, so she thought that he was only a novice. But from the way he was easily able to control the power of Holy Light, he seemed like a Gold rank advanced job class Holy Knight who specialized in Divine Arts. Her team would be unable to afford hiring such an individual, one far more powerful than they were.

“Our adventuring team received a task that pays quite well. However, our warrior, who was our tank, quit on us. We’re currently looking for someone who’s a melee combat class.”

I furrowed my eyebrows upon hearing this. She barely gave me any details about the task, which made her sound like she lacked sincerity.

No normal mercenary or adventurer would accept such an unclear mission. The more unknowns there were, the more potential danger there could be as well. Either that, or the person offering the job had devious intentions.

Life was no game. There were no do overs. Any adventurer that wanted to enjoy a long life despite constantly having to battle would need to always remain cautious.

The priestess seemed to notice my displeasure and hurriedly explained herself.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you the details, it’s because this is a large-scale operation of the wood spirits. We’re only a small part of it, and we won’t know the specific task requirements until they issue them to us.”

I hesitated for a moment before nodding and accepting her request.

“Wonderful! Our ‘Wood Spirits are So Cute’ mercenary squad finally has a tank again! We can finally accept missions!”

“…What? Could you say that again?”

This time, the priestess was the one who felt quite awkward. She lowered her head and explained to me in a soft voice.

“Our team consists of people who all met here for the first time. We tried coming up with several names, but they all already existed, so…”

In a way, I could understand. After all, the wood spirits were incredibly popular in the Mage Country as well. Their female fans spent entire days chatting with them in the coffee house section of Thorn Garden, difficult to chase away even after we closed in the evenings. This priestess here before me was probably a huge wood spirit fan as well.

Although it was quite common for females to become huge wood spirit fans, most wood spirit fan clubs were actually more like male-only lolicon fan clubs—didn’t she know this? Those perverts would be strictly investigated, so wasn’t she worried about others laughing their heads off at hearing such a team name? For some reason, I suddenly recalled a certain “Absolute Gentleman Alliance.” A terrible, terrible name which would leave run with regrets for eons. As expected, one must be cautious when naming something. Yep, naming things should be left to a grandmaster of naming like me.

“So, why did your previous warrior quit your team?”

I faintly guessed at the reason, but I asked anyways.

“…He didn’t like our team’s name.”

As I expected. Any male would suffer serious pressure and stares from other people when being in a team with such a name. Others would definitely think he was a perverted lolicon. I was even considering going back on my agreement to join them, yet I couldn’t help but sigh when I saw her looking at me pitifully with a gaze that had such expectation.

At any rate, I had wanted to check out the combat situation here at the Forest of Dreams, and I was only going to be here for a few days. It’d be harmless to just join this random team and make do for some time.

And so, I finally nodded again in agreement. I might as well make use of this and get some exercise.

“Alright, lady priestess. Holy Knight Roland is at your service, at least for the next few days.”

A certain lake in the forest was just as beautiful and calm as always. Moonlight reflected off of the lake water, and this area was far quieter than anywhere else in the Forest of Dreams.

I walked across the lotuses to reach the center of the lake. The sleeping beauty appeared the same as always as she slept in her flower bed. The only difference was that her complexion seemed less pale than before.

As I walked closer, she seemed to sense my presence as her long eyelashes twitched slightly. It was as if she was dreaming about something pleasant, since she was smiling sweetly. It appeared she was going to wake up soon.

“Although you’re a lot cuter when you’re quiet… maybe I really am looking forward to you waking up and annoying me like always.”

However, it was a pity was that there was still no response to my words. Finally, I could only leave Amelia alone in silence.

“I guess that there hasn’t been enough sacrifices yet?”

I was seemingly talking to myself, but I received a response just as I expected.

“…Please don’t worry so much. It’s only a matter of time before Mother wakes up.”

The bright red Samantha walked out from behind a tree. Her calm expression appeared to be slightly troubled despite her words.

I nodded and didn’t ask anything else. She was likely far more worried about Amelia than I was.

But just as I was about to leave, I recalled the priestess I just met.

“Oh, right, are you all about to undertake a major operation of some sort? Something that requires gathering many adventurers?”

“…Yes. I was intending on informing you about it, Father. It’s about expanding the Forest of Dreams…”

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