Starting with the sentries on the frontier

Chapter 12 The Tree Spirits' Habitat

I don't know if tree spirits are easy to deal with, but the main problem is that Zag can't communicate with them.

But Snowball seemed to be having a very lively conversation with them.

Tree spirits cannot speak; they communicate with each other through a special magical means, somewhat similar to snowballs, which are also magical creatures.

The difference is that snowballs can simulate the sound of speaking by using magical fluctuations—just as humans naturally learn to use their vocal cords to vibrate the air and produce sound, fairies also have this natural ability.

Although ordinary people or low-level mages cannot hear the voices of fairies with their spirituality, only people with terrifyingly strong spirituality like Zag can detect their signals.

Even so, the tree spirit did not possess this ability.

In other words, right now, only Snowball can communicate with the Treant and act as a middleman.

This harpy cat has a particular fondness for sneaking in its own stuff.

"Rosa was bitten by a Black Hole Hound, and the infection was severe. However, the tree spirits applied a healing mucus to her and gave her emergency treatment. She should be fine in about a year and a half. It can be considered a blessing in disguise."

"You're asking about that Black Border Hound? It's probably been turned into fertilizer by the tree spirits long ago!"

"Actually, you're pretty lucky, kid. Look, you didn't fight at all and just made two hundred shillings for free!"

"Heh heh, and also, the tree spirits are very grateful to the great snowball for letting me take this troublesome modo away—"

"They can't bring themselves to kill this modo, but they also have no experience in feeding modos, so let's get rid of her as soon as possible!"

"The tree spirits are right, Modo always means trouble! Endless trouble!"

Zag and Snowball huddled together in the cramped cave, where luminous fungi shimmered with a soft blue light on the cave walls. This was supposedly the usual dwelling of the tree spirits, but they had temporarily vacated it for the past few days to accommodate Rosa.

The tree spirits, these magical creatures, were much smaller than Zag had imagined; an adult tree spirit only reached the chest of a human. Because they couldn't speak, or rather, didn't need to communicate through vocalizations, tree spirits had no mouths. For the same reason, they also had no eyes.

According to Xueqiu, the tree spirit perceives everything in this world through elements and magic; the only reason it takes on a humanoid form is...

"God's gift, well, they are Kris's retinue."

Zag did know Kris, commonly known as the "Goddess of the Golden Moon," who, as the name suggests, was the mistress of the golden moon.

Although the goddess of the golden moon is not within the kingdom's orthodox Nine Holy Spirits belief system, she can still be considered a "true god." At least within the Eternal Supreme Kingdom, believing in Clysa would not be considered "cult" but would only be labeled as "heretic."

Well, although heretics are also a key target of suppression by the kingdom's various churches, at least they are not treated like cultists, who are burned to death without any mercy.

Zag asked curiously, "Do gods all look like humans?"

"Of course not! Our mother goddess looks just like us!" Snowball exclaimed proudly, raising her cat-like face high as she emphasized, "Therefore, the great fairy is the true servant of the Silver Moon God!"

"Then why is Lady Silver Moon depicted as a human in all nine Holy Spirit statues?"

"That's a god! It's perfectly normal for gods to have human incarnations!"

"Hmm, that makes some sense..."

In addition, the tree spirits' entire bodies were enveloped in a light green, sparkling light resembling a "star cluster," giving them a somewhat dreamlike appearance.

However, perhaps because he had just burned them, the tree spirits all stayed far away from Zag, clinging to the wall at the cave entrance, staring blankly at Zag with their "faces" that had no eyes or mouths.

It's also possible that it's chatting with the snowball. Anyway, Zag and the tree spirits can't talk to it, so they can only keep bothering the snowball.

"What are those green dots?"

Snowball seemed tired from flying and landed on Zag's shoulder, hooking its nails on Zag's newly sewn leather shoulder pads. It stretched and yawned, then lazily began to explain to Zag: "The manifestation of condensed magic, you can understand it that way for now."

"The more concentrated the magic, the easier it is for this kind of thing to be produced, and it has different colors, which is related to the specific magical elements that affect the magic."

"Seeing something like this means either there are powerful magical creatures or settlements of magical creatures here, or there are strong magical fluctuations here, and it would be easy for Modo to die if he got too close."

"Of course, these two situations often overlap, just like the proverb that circulates in the human kingdom: 'Do not chase after colorful lights, for they are the devil's temptation.'"

"If you ask me, what does this have to do with the demons? They're putting all the blame on the demons. Humans are the most evil race!"

"Okay, I have to admit, the demons aren't much better!"

Rosa finally woke up while Snowball was chattering away.

She was as if she were having a nightmare, her eyes filled with fear, until she saw Zag.

"Mr. Sentinel!?"

Rosa recognized Zag—or rather, Zag was the only sentry in the entire town, and everyone knew him.

Then, she quickly remembered the danger she had been in and said anxiously, "Sentinel! It's a Black Hollow! There's a Black Hollow here, it—wait, where is this…?"

"Don't worry, that Black Border Hound is dead for good. You were bitten, but this is a place where you can rest for now. Once you've regained some strength, we'll head back to town."

As he spoke, Zag took a cold loaf of bread from his bag and handed it to her, speaking as softly as possible: "You've been asleep for two days, you must be starving. Eat something first."

The poor girl had no idea that the tree spirits had saved her, and Zag had no intention of revealing this secret.

Snowball is right, humans are indeed an evil race comparable to demons.

If humans knew that there were tree spirits here, there would surely be greedy creatures who would hunt them down, imprison them in cages, and cruelly prolong their lives, constantly harvesting the "blood" flowing from the tree spirits—the healing sap they used to treat Rosa, which is a very precious alchemical material.

Strictly speaking, healing slime is a secretion of the tree spirits, which is produced normally every once in a while. Just like the Gore people of the past, they could obtain this alchemical material through normal trade with the tree spirits in a symbiotic relationship.

But the greedy Northrends didn't see it that way. In their eyes, why bother communicating with a "monster" like a tree spirit when there were cheaper and more convenient ways to obtain it?

In short, although Zhang Rui possessed a Norse body, he was not a Norse at heart, and naturally did not have the bandit mentality of a Norse.

He even despised this short-sighted, exploitative mindset, seeing it as barbaric, backward, violent, and bloody—the behavior of beasts disguised as "civilization."

"It must have been my father who sent you to rescue me, right, Mr. Sentry?"

Rosa, whose spirituality was too low, couldn't see the tree spirits in the cave at all. She thought she had been saved by Zag and her face was full of gratitude.

Zag nodded: "Yes, your father paid 200 shillings for this. He's been worried about you. Luckily, you're alright."

Rosa was so filled with remorse that she covered her face with her hands and cried, "Oh my God! 200 shillings! That's probably all his savings! I shouldn't have come out! I shouldn't have!"

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【Chrysa】Chrysa Hyle Rhizom, the ruler of the forest and the golden moon, is also often believed to have the authority over life and harvest. She is widely worshipped among the Gore people, and tree spirits are her attendants.

Clysa is not among the Nine Holy Spirits, but some scholars believe that the ancestral tree worshipped by the pureblood elves of the Kingdom of Lunaran is an incarnation of Clysa. However, this claim has been refuted by both the pureblood elves and the Gore people.

In addition, legend has it that He also created the vampires.

The format of the ritual incantation is as follows:

I call upon you, ruler of the forest and the golden moon, creator of blood life, Kryssa Hel Lozom.

This section contains the prayer; there is no specific format.

This section contains a blessing, which has no specific format and is usually a sincere blessing to Kris.