Chapter 75: Wallflower

Year 83 Month 12 (continued)

While the heroes decided to rethink their strategy, here in New Freeka, we had to fend off the little swarms of demons sent to ‘surround’ the heroes. 

And I spent quite a bit of time tinkering with the heroes’ tower.  As I kept poking, and trying to figure out what it is, I got a good update.

[Biolab, material lab and magic lab upgraded. Field equipments obtained. You are now able to perform investigations of objects using field equipments. Full analysis requires more comprehensive equipment]

There is a layer of somewhat-divine magic protecting it, so I reckon it’ll take more than one hit of the demon’s supercannon to be destroyed. Certainly not as fragile as they said it was. Or maybe it’s just fragile to certain kinds of demonic energies or heroes’ star mana. That same divine magic also shields it from me attempting to make ‘changes’ or ‘convert’ or ‘claim’ the tower.

Yet, it’s a ‘change’ barrier. That meant, I could look into it, but not change a thing. 

And look, I did. 

There was a lot to see, about how it weaves magic and mana into a structure like that, how it draws mana from the ambient surrounding and the connection, however wireless it is, to it’s ‘creator’. 

Unlike my [subsidiary trees] which form a linked network, all connected by roots, these towers are independent, freestanding structure yet have a ‘connection’. And it’s more complex than just some kind of ‘wifi’. It’s almost like... they are ‘entangled’ in some surreal way. As if it’s resonating with something else far away, and yet... it emits or absorbs nothing through the air.

Stumped. I observed, and looked for days. 

It’s as if I’ve invented a bow, and right here is an interstellar rail gun. 

How do I even replicate such a thing? 

How did the heroes even come up with such a thing?

It certainly feels like impossible that young kids would know how these things are, so... are the gods creating such objects and skills, and ‘implementing’ or ‘executing’ them via the heroes? Or is this a system thing, where’s there is like a ‘drawer’ or ‘library’ of hero-grade skills that they get access to?

Stumped again, I looked at other parts of the tower, my vines growing around the base. I attempt to use my vines and what powers I have, and even my long forgotten [inspection] ability. 

Perhaps the resonance is how it communicates with other towers, but the means which it acted as a conduit or ‘router’ for messages is something less ‘sophisticated’. Or not.

At this point, can I just build a massive X-Ray or MRI scanner around the tower so I can see what’s inside?

-

“Mom, Uncle Jura. I’ve got to go.”

“TreeTree says no.”

“I know he said that... but, but I want to go. I believe it’s good for my own growth, to see how I fare. I want to know where I am.”

“You know where you are, you’re here!” Laufen was furious, and worried. “Your place is here.”

“I know my place is here. But... I.. erm.. I want to measure my strength. I won’t die. Trust me, mom.”

Well, the heroes, utilising the now-restored [message] network, requested for help. And they asked for Lausanne to help with the attack on the demon supercannon. Not just her, of course. A lot more than her.

“You’re not a hero, Lausanne.” Laufen held her daughter. “Don’t do this.”

“But...” Lausanne sulked. “I want to go, mom. Please.”

“No.”

“I’m 14 and almost level 60. I can help.”

“Men higher level than you have tried fighting demon champions, and died.”

“They... they don’t have TreeTree’s powers. Or Thorny.” She pointed to the wooden staff on her belt. “We can do it.”

Laufen sighed. “TreeTree, can you talk some sense into my daughter?”

In my mind, should I let Lausanne go? Though I spent a lot of effort in grooming and training Lausanne, ultimately, should she be able to decide how she wants to wield that power. Lausanne’s turn to retaliate. Maybe she’s 14 and having a teenage rebellious age? Oh I sound like my mom, my mom used to tell me I’m rebellious. 

I think what Laufen is afraid of is death. With a few well placed giant attendant trees, I think I can ensure Lausanne’s survival. So, if I can do so, would it be a good idea for her to join the battle? 

Maybe... maybe it’s a good lesson in the brutality and the high levels that the heroes walk. A dose of reality. And I could use the chance to attack the demon supercannon with some of the roots, masked as coming from her...

I should let her earn her right to participate. Rather than just say yes. 

“Lausanne, there are a lot of demons coming from that direction. Among them, probably a few demon generals. If you take down 3, I think you can take part. And, I want you to restrict your familiar use to only two abilities.”

Laufen sighed. “TreeTree, what?”

“It’s training. If she can take on a few more demon generals, then she earned her right to participate. If she can’t handle the generals, she shouldn’t bother trying.”

“Yes! So... I’ll go hunt some demons!” 

Laufen shook her head. “I... I wasn’t expecting that.”

Jura shrugged, “I like that though. Want me to go with her?”

“She can go with the initiates.” 

“Someone’s gonna have to babysit the rest of the initiates...” Well, eventually, Yvon wanted to go. The mission was simple. Between us and the demon supercannon, there’s about ten to fifteen groups of demons, led by the knights and generals. With an attendant tree in place, a beetle force will engage the demons, and Lausanne can then challenge the knights and generals. Yvon, and a group of other captains will help out. 

She went all out. 

I guess a part of her wants to know that the gap between herself and the heroes isn’t that big? A path that’s honestly going to fail. Even Jura can’t keep up with the heroes, though he could probably give them a bit of trouble.

Still, it’s winter, and it’s hard to get the beetles to operate effectively far from the attendant trees, even with the [winter adaptations] and the giant trees warming the environment with the [heat transmission roots].

So, Lausanne complained and grumbled, but nothing much she could do. She can’t take on an entire army herself, nor does she have a summoned army at her beck and call. 

Year 84 Month 1

The presence of royalty, many living in the homes of the wealthy merchants here, made the political environment a little bit touchy. 

Mainly because the councillors each sought out the royals for some ‘shoulder-rubbing’, or as the euphemism goes, ‘building relationships’. It’s a sensible thing from their perspective, since royals by nature have strong skills. A prince or a princess could bestow ‘royal’ privileges, blessings and rights, improve or upgrade classes, and even create ‘gifts’ using their powers as royals. There are also certain ‘unique classes’ that only royals with the right skills can grant.

Like one prince I observed had the ability to create a custom ‘diplomatic gift’ out of midair, which was given to the princess of another country. And it’s a permanent item too. It’s like the prince skipped the entire ‘creation’ process, activates skill and the system gives him an item. 

It’s not totally strange, of course. Apparently some merchants and bankers can create small quantities of gold, some smiths and makers can create materials too. 

In a way, it’s like how I create ‘timber’ and ‘fruits’. It’s different derivations of the same kind of ‘mana/system to item’ process. If I can create wooden items, why can’t princes? Maybe heroes can make hero-items too!

So, with the councillors spending a bit more time trying to ‘manage’ or ‘please’ these visiting royals, that meant conflict. Even between councillors as they ‘serve’ different groups. 

Some of them rather silly, like competition of the best seats or rooms in New Freeka’s restaurants, or who managed to book out the entire bar or tavern for their respective entourage. It’s like billionaires trying to one-up one another in a ski-town. Silly, so I don’t interfere with this. 

The more annoying ones, are the horny ones, or those with a fetish. There’s an old duke or something who seemed to enjoy picking on young elven ladies and so, I sent a group of beetles into his temporary residence.

It scared him. 

But the councillor who’s supposedly his ‘buddy’ quickly came and complained to Jura. 

And I sent beetles and spiders into his house too. 

After that incident, I decided it’s probably best to amplify my show of force, to remind these royals that they are... ‘visitors’. So, we had more beetles around New Freeka. The locals are clearly not too bothered by the presence, but for the ‘foreigners’, it was a threat. I intended it to be a threat. 

The councillors, bore the brunt of the complaints. “What are all these monsters roaming around your town!” 

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“They are Aeon’s servants, and they execute his will. Please don’t say too much! Aeon listens!” The councillors quickly tried to manage some of the more belligerent royals or nobles. 

“So what if he listens?” It turns out, among the royals, many truly, truly believed that I’m actually just a puppet, a beast used by the council, controlled by some great item or equipment. The idea of an existence above the royal class is... alien to them. Except heroes, who are ‘divine’, those the only ones royals view as ‘equals’. 

Generally, of course. And I suppose in the history of this world, existences like myself are not common, or perhaps even if they did exist, they may not have the same ‘mindset’ as I do. 

Perhaps they are slumbering giants, a sleeping mountain. Or they are giant tortoises, the zaratans, although they carry massive cities on their backs, the zaratans are treated just like the captains of a cruise ship. The rulers of the cities still rule, and their rule is supreme. 

So, feeling a bit annoyed at all the murmurs and chattering, one massive projectile from the demon supercannon came. 

And this time, I intentionally blocked it just enough that it smacked right into the [telco tower]. The telco tower’s fine, of course. I calculated it just enough that it won’t be destroyed.

But I wanted to borrow the attack to weaken the divine protections, so I could look a bit more into it. 

And at the same time, scare the councillors and royals. The earth shook, and I had a wooden barrier created around it such that the blast radius was limited to the town square. Beetles, my vines and roots had cleared the square of all citizens. 

Jura was quick to figure out what I was doing. “TreeTree, that was intentional?” 

“Yes.”

Jura laughed, and then went out to make an announcement to the council.

“Aeon would like to remind that he finds the conduct of the visitors appalling, and he is tempted to not stop the next projectile from the demons. He would like to recommend the visitors are brought to the blast site for a tour.”

The councillors roared in protest. “Is he threatening us?”

Jura just smiled. “Yes. He is. What are you going to do about it?”

One councillor sat. “Oh. Nothing.”

I think it’s just a people thing, that after living in comfort for a while, they forget that there’s still a war and demons shooting bullets everywhere. Especially for some of these nobles who don’t seem like they’ve ever seen war, even though it’s just so common. 

Or maybe they are just desensitized to war and death, since it’s so common. 

Huh. 

Since war and death is bound to happen, might as well have my share of fun, go on a power trip and all since we are all going to die. 

I felt like I suddenly understood some of these royals. Sure, yes, we are going to die. We know that. So why can’t I do things my way? If the meaning of life is me just... hiding away like this, why bother?

Are these royals nihilists? Or is it some other word?

-

Lausanne spent time trying to hunt for more demon generals. The winter’s gradually clearing, and at certain parts of the region where it’s warmer, she finally took down one demon general herself. 

Still, the goal was three, so she had to hunt for 2 more. And later in the month she took down another one, bringing her total kills to 2. 

Meanwhile, the heroes are out gathering a strike force, again. Similar to what that other kingdom did, the strike force is meant to be an elite force, to help punch a path through to the demon supercannon, so that they can attack it directly.

As it is, they could already punch a way through, but between the summoned army and their OP skills used to get through the chaff, they don’t have much star mana left to actually take on the main body of the demon supercannon. 

-

“I heard that you might be King.” 

“Where’d you hear that?” Roma asked. He’s a quiet, studious young boy. Despite Yvon’s attempts to train him in fighting, his interests are more into magic, and well, reading. Although he is healthy, and fit, physical combat wasn’t his thing. He didn’t inherit Yvon or Prince Galan’s talent in fighting.

“The others were talking. I even heard one of the actual princes said it when one of their servants came to buy some bread.” The black-haired baker boy said. He had a small knife at the side. 

Roma sighed. “Mom told me about it, but I can’t accept it yet. Some of her friends asked whether I want to travel to Ransalah... What do you think? Should I be King?”

“I think you’d make a good King.” The baker boy said. “Then I can be your King’s Guard.” 

“You can’t even fight.” Roma laughed. 

“Well, you’ve never ruled.” The baker boy ribbed Roma. “Besides, all I need is your mom to teach me some tricks. I heard she’s really good.”

“We might die.”

“Or you’ll just be working as one of the employees of the Valtrian Order, and I’ll just be an ordinary baker. Why live, if not for honor and glory?”

“You’ve been reading too much of your uncle’s writings.”

“You’ve been reading too much.”

Salah is now ruled by a regent. One surviving archduke took the position of regent, to govern the state of Salah. Apparently, it is quite normal for the succession wars to only commence after the demon king is slain, and if a King falls without an appointed successor, a proper ‘contest’ for the right of the throne will start when the demon king is slain, something the regent will announce. After all, it is hard to properly choose a king in a time of chaos. At least, that’s the ‘principle’ of such a rule.

I suppose Kings do die quite often when the demon king is around, so there’s already a cultural norm for it.

 

In theory, that meant Roma has time to prepare. That also meant everyone else has time to prepare. 

In practice, whoever the ruling regent prefers has tremendous advantages, since this is the time where all the ‘things’ and ‘pieces’ can be put in place. Still, the regents will obey the norm, because to some extent, obeying the norms is what allows the [heir] to convert their class to [king]. Weird system rules like that, or so it is believed.

Or maybe just nobody tested whether that ‘norm’ is actually a requirement of the title [king], or whether it’s just a product of whether the citizens of the kingdom acknowledge the [heir] as the true [king]. 

Things I learn from eavesdropping on Yvon’s conversations with her advisors.

Year 84 Month 2

 

Lausanne finally killed two more demon generals, so her total kills is 4. And she gained some levels while she was at it. 

“Can I go now? Please?”

Laufen was similarly reluctant, but then privately, I told Laufen I’ll look after her. With my assurance, Laufen agreed. 

If it goes well, I’ll even get some experience out of playing a small part. 

And I was getting quite annoyed with all the shots fired at me. I wonder whether I could so like some kind of kung-fu stunt where an attack is deflected back at the demon. Like how so many manga main characters are able to do to show off their insane overpoweredness. 

In honesty, the heroes were just about ‘ready’ with their force too, and they were already prepared to strike the demon-supercannon, with or without Lausanne. So, Lausanne’s arrival at the battlefield was just on time. Just to be sure, I placed a few [giant attendant trees] in the vicity, as a ‘retreat-point’ for Lausanne. 

And the battle against the supercannon went well, all things considered. The heroes successfully destroyed the supercannon with their [star mana] abilities, but the cost was... a whole load of deaths, mainly from the adventurers and military leaders that decided to take part in the attack.

Lausanne returned from the battle, bloody, and there was a look of despair on her face. I was there, and perhaps there was something about watching the demon supercannon’s explosions incinerate people up close that just... uh... feels brutal. It wasn’t the first time she’s seen death. She had seen death when she fought the demon walker. 

It was, as expected, the despair of realising how high the mountain is. 

Laufen, of course, gave her daughter a hug. “It’s okay. You’re blessed by TreeTree, he’s just one tree spirit, but the heroes, they are blessed by all the gods.”

Lausanne, of course, instantly perked up. “Mom! You’re a genius!” 

“Huh?”

“Aeon’s blessings alone is not enough for me to be a hero!”

“What do you mean?”

“I will visit other spirits like TreeTree, and get their blessings. If I can get multiple blessings, I will be as strong as them!”