CHAPTER 113.

The Sacred Forest was… lame. Or rather, it was just a forest, albeit it had very tall trees, so damn tall that it actually looked like it was night time inside of it. So needless to say it looked like a haunted forest rather than anything. The lighting that the carriage emitted was lugubrious as well, only allowing to see a few meters ahead, and the cabin itself was dimly lit.

“Say, ya ain’t that excited,” Frei poked Amber. “Does the Sacred Forest suck that much?”

“It’s lame,” Amber replied, her head resting on the window. “It’s like a scary movie or something, some killer is going to come to the woods and we’ll slowly die one by one. Maybe he’ll have a mask too.”

“What’s a ‘scary movie’?” Frei asked, confused.

“Stuff.”

“Is that some cultural thing from where you were born?” She tilted her head. “Though kinda odd to think you’re gonna be stabbed from a young age. But it’s fine.”

“Is it?” she asked.

Amber sensed Frei nod, considering she was still looking out into the dreary and creepy forest. The elven woman beamed as she continued.

“‘Cause, we ain’t at civilization yet, once we get there ya gonna be awed.”

“It does get way better,” Cecile agreed from afar. “Though it’s been a decade or two since I last came.”

“For me it’s been over two centuries,” Asil said, closing his eyes, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

Amber regarded the people in the carriage and nodded. Perhaps she had been a little too judgmental. She had expected some sort of mystical forest with floating spiritual lights, not what was essentially the aesthetic of the most haunted forest in existence.

In the end, she decided to just nap, choosing to fall asleep.

* * *

Amber awoke to being grabbed, but she slapped Frei’s hand away from whatever she had intended to do.

“What?”

“I was just gonna carry ya,” she said. “But good, you’re awake, we’re almost there. Let’s leave the carriage now, ‘cause entering is gonna be a pain otherwise.”

Amber paused and saw she was the last one there, before turning back to the mage. “Why is it gonna be a pain?”

Frei at this point began to walk away. “‘Cause if you’ve been here before, you’ll have a certain artifact to navigate the Sacred Forest to reach the main city. If ya walk into it from the woods you’re accepted, if ya walk through the checkpoint you’re a stranger which could be annoying.”

Amber followed after Frei, exiting the carriage. “Why can’t you just wander into the woods and go in the general direction forward.”

“They’re magical woods of course.” She smirked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The carriage was stowed away by Remmel and he began to walk forward into the forest, saying something about following him. Asil though was already ahead of him, walking with Cecile. Frei though, she didn’t pay it any mind as she continued explaining.

“So they move around and shit, and if ya don’t know what you’re doing there is a good likelihood you end up lost.”

“Has anyone tried to burn the forest down?” Amber asked, curiously.

The two of them chose to follow Asil, which earned a grumble from Remmel who seemed to be holding some sort of pendulum.

“Lots of times, and they all got hunted down and got labeled as heretics, then got buried deep into the woods to nurture the forest,” she said, smiling.

“Uh huh…”

Amber decided to not ask Frei too many things, even though she wanted to know how she was going to be awed. So in the end, she decided to wait out and just see what was waiting in store for her.

She had expected the walk to be grueling, but in reality it took about an hour before Asil paused. Craning his head towards the darkness of the forest.

“We’re here,” he said simply.

“Sure seems like it,” Remmel said.

Frei just smiled and Amber felt a bit confused considering they were all staring at a chunk of forest. Illusion magic, perhaps?

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Cecile asked Asil, grabbing his hand before pulling him. “Let’s go.”

And he was dragged into the darkness as they seemingly disappeared, even from her senses. Remmel shook his head and walked forward along with Aveline, also disappearing. And finally, it was her turn. Frei smiled and walked forward, and Amber followed after a moment.

Her vision went dark, but it only lasted about two steps before it all came rushing back with a bust of light and…

“What…?”

Amber blinked.

They were standing near the edge of a cliff, and the sight before them was grand. It was probably hundreds of meters away, but there was a gigantic tree that stood kilometers into the air, one with hundreds of lights and specks of things. Bridges were connected to it with multiple neighboring trees that were smaller yet just as spectacular. Below there was a large lake, one with farmlands and horses at the bases of the trees. And there was light.

Sunlight was streaming down on the hole that had been made in the forest, except that wasn’t quite right either. It was a mix of light and darkness, almost as if it were night and day at the same time. It was an odd sight, but one that captivated her. And from where they were standing, there was a single bridge to a tree that wasn’t too far away from them. There was also a waterfall.

She looked around and saw numerous bridges leading out of the forest, and in the distance, she saw a path with some carts going to some other small tree. Probably where the carriages were going in. The space where civilization was, was almost like a hole in the earth, surrounded by rocks and forest, one with multiple waterfalls pouring into it.

Amber turned to the bridge, where Remmel and Aveline were already leaving. She had discussed the details of the mission with him already, and the arrangement would be for him to send a letter when he needed her presence. Though she also had a concrete timeline of when they would act. Which was in about two weeks time. So for now, she was free to do whatever she wanted.

Asil was also admiring the sight with some tears on his eyes, Cecile was holding his hand. And Frei was sitting at the edge of the cliff, dangling her legs.

They stayed there for a few minutes before they set off again.

* * *

Apparently, the city inside of Sacred Forest was divided by districts, which were represented with each of the trees linked to the centermost and biggest tree. Also known as the Main City⁠— or so she had been told by Frei. Asil had called it the Mother Tree, but apparently they had renamed them some century ago or so.

Amber didn’t know what she expected as they reached the first big tree, which seemed to mostly be an outpost for guards. Which were all mages and their levels were…

[Barrier Mage. Lvl. ???]

[Battle Mage. Lvl. ???]

[Mage. Lvl. ???]

Every single guard she looked at was over level 214, which surprised her⁠. She also received some looks from the guards, mostly curiosity but also some confusion. Frei explained that humans weren’t all that common explaining that. However, another thing that surprised her at the outpost was…

“So many smiths…”

The tree itself was separated by inner and outer levels, and the outer levels had spacious walkways with buildings⁠— which felt like streets in a normal city with buildings on each side. And the outpost had an entire street dedicated to purely smithing.

“Ya wanna buy something?” Frei asked. “Don’t bother, these guys suck.”

A smith that was in earshot immediately raised his head in displeasure. “Oi, what did ya say girly?”

“I said your work sucks,” she hollered. “Ya fuckin’ dimwit. Whatever ya can achieve the top smiths of the Metallurgy Association can do it thirty times better.”

“If ya can even get them to acknowledge ya, but yer a nobody,” He grunted, going back to his work.

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Amber just blinked. “Is it really okay to disrespect them like that?”

“It’s just smithing culture,” Asil said, from the side, approaching with a happy Cecile. “They take pride in their craft but won’t deny the facts. Also, respect ought to be earned with them hence the language.”

“So you’re saying I'll be treated roughly for no reason?” Amber blinked.

“Unless they see how special you’re, nop,” Frei said, giving her a tap on the back.

“Huh…”

When she heard that elves were the best mages in the continent she had imagined a bunch of scholars, and that opinion didn’t really change all that much when she learned the smithing thing. But looking around, she saw a bunch of muscular-soot-covered men, and a select few had some rather small scruffy beards.

They’re kind of like dwarves…

They had only stopped because Cecile wanted to make some purchases, so after they were done they ended up heading forward to the next district. Which were military training grounds. After that came the mining district, which consisted of a rather dreary tree and mainly storage units and housing. The bottommost layer however was a big gaping hole that went deep into the earth.

Then, after there was the red-light district, which made Amber feel rather odd from getting catcalled by basically everyone they passed. Especially because she was human.

Apparently the districts got increasingly more important the closer one was to the main city. Though it was worth noting that depending on where you came in, one would find different things after the barracks and military districts, which were universal.

After that, they finally reached the Main City, which was an awe inspiring sight that made Amber crane her head to look upwards.

There were houses built into the bark of the tree itself, sticking out with seemingly not much support. According to Frei, they were built with elven mineralized square iron, and tree-friendly wood veneers, and built to last one-thousand years. Needless to say, Amber took that part with a grain of salt, but she was still impressed.

It seemed that gravity wasn’t much of a factor for building, and it showed. Unlike other districts there were also floating buildings. Etchings and carvings running through their length that were glowing. The tree itself was hollowed out, leading to an inner city and even the crown of it had a citadel where the Magic Association and Metallurgy Association resided, whose existence she had only learned after asking Frei about her earlier interaction.

Amber wanted to explore, but the first thing they had to do was find lodging. And the plan was simple. It was to stay in Asil’s family residence. While his family had great presence in the elven continent, it also was present in the Sacred Forest. Frei’s was an option too considering she had surviving distant family that had absolutely no clue about Ill’hine, but…

”Ye, my nephews and uncles are upset that I’ve turned into a terrorist, so dunno if they’ll let us stay.”

Or so she said. Asil’s family on the other hand; there was a decent chance that there were people here too that knew of Essence and how to use it, but he wasn’t entirely sure. But he had warned against potentially really bad reactions towards Frei’s presence.

Either way, they decided it was still the best course of action.

* * *

Asil felt excited, he was finally going to see his family. Sure, he had no idea what to expect, he didn’t even know if he would meet someone that was familiar, but he just wanted some form of familiarity. Even being in his family’s estate would be a blessing to him. The world had changed so much since he had last experienced it. Even the Sacred Forest had changed, there used to be floating rivers surrounding the city, mines surrounding the walls of sunken cirque that the entire city was in, there were even mana lights from all the concentration of magic in the air.

But all of that was gone. Probably because of the overuse of magic, and the struggle for nature to replenish mana in the environment⁠; though he wasn’t particularly knowledgeable for a mage so it was a mere hypothesis of his. However, even then it still greatly depressed him to know he had missed so much of the world.

That’s why he was excited for familiarity, and also to catch up on things he had missed out on. At least, though he was the only one disappointed with the city. While Cecile and Frei seemed rather indifferent for the most part, Amber was looking around like a lost child, which made him happy.

Hopefully Lathyzia hasn’t changed all that much, because if this is impressive then she’ll be blown away… He smiled thinking about that.

Amber had been the person that saved him, so he was glad to be able to do things for her past mentoring. Allowing her to experience more of the world was something that brought a certain fulfillment to him. And so, his mood only kept on improving as they made their way through the main city and eventually reached the teleportation hall.

Nobility resided at the fringe of the sunken cirque where a low plateau resided against its walls. And the shortest way to reach it was via teleportation.

The teleportation hall itself had a rather long queue, its halls were gilded with black and white marble, sculptures of gold and other metal littered the surroundings. And at the very center of it all, was a gigantic teleportation circle with guards and an operating mage. It had changed a lot considering that before you could just walk in and use it yourself.

Though just as they were about to form, Frei veered off and turned to a guard.

“Say, where’s the private teleportation circle for super duper important individuals? Like hyper duper important.”

The guard blinked. “Are you perhaps a noble miss?”

“Oh, why yes, indeed,” Frei smiled, changing her voice. “I’d like to bring my entourage along to my abode as a token of appreciation for their marvelous services.”

He paused once more, looking at Frei up and down whose white cloak still had dried blood from stabbing Remmel, her staff also had it. And finally, after staring at those factors and back at everyone else, he nodded very slowly in a dubious manner.

“Great lady, what’s your family name? Could you grant me that?”

“Lasren,” Frei said eloquently.

And the guard’s eyes widened momentarily before nodding, this time all the doubt in his expression immediately vanished.

“Right this way, esteemed lady,” he said, beginning to march.

Frei shot a wink at all of them before they followed after her, and Asil made a mental note of that. They walked under the stares of others, before going to the sidelines and finally entering a rather small room with a single person operating the teleportation circle. The guard stepped forward and informed the man of the situation, before leaving.

Asil stared at the man in uniform, he wore robes and has a scar across his cheek and short green hair. Yet there was an air of professionalism around him.

The Sacred Forest really has changed.

“Miss, what’s your given name?”

Frei blinked. “Frei.”

The man nodded and with his black staff he used a skill, indicated by its shine. Before frowning and turning to her once more.

“Miss Frei, it seems that the Lasren family has unanimously voted to ban you from visiting their home,” he said simply.

The Arcane Council member blinked. “Wait what?”

“So unfortunately, I cannot grant you access to the plateau,” he said. “Please leave the premises.”

Asil took that moment to step forward, getting the attention from the worker.

“Asil Dazdril, try that,” he said.

The man’s eyes widened. “Dazdril? Right away…”

He raised his staff almost with a hurry in his voice, and⁠— nothing. He immediately frowned, this time seeming pissed.

“You are impersonating a great noble family?” he growled. “Your name is nowhere to be seen in the archives… This could have you arrested, adventurer.”

Asil blinked, utterly befuddled.

“Sir,” Amber got the elf’s attention as she spoke carefully. “I’m a Duchess in the Kingdom of Cytel and I require to see the Dazdril family with great urgency. Would it truly not be possible?”

The man shook his head. “Unfortunately, the Sacred Forest no longer does things without a paper trail. Do show me a report concerning what you want to discuss with the Dazdril family and I shall let you pass.”

Amber flinched, “That’s very sensitive information…”

“I just require to see a small portion of it,” he said.

But Amber shook her head.

“You are lying just like your friends aren’t you?” he asked, now irritated. “I will ensure all of you are arrested⁠—”

But before the situation could escalate Cecile sighed and stepped forward before summoning a piece of parchment.

“Here, this should still be valid,” she showed it to the man.

He frowned, but still leaned forward to read it. His eyes scanned it before they slowly grew wide.

“A trade agreement with the Fanir family…” he said finally, pulling back. “Made twenty three years ago.”

Cecile nodded, stowing it away. “So?”

He seemed to relax as he spoke.

“That is indeed valid enough to access the plateau, but I cannot allow these⁠—”

Cecile interrupted, “These people are part of the deal I’m going to offer the Fanir family.”

The man once more frowned. “Miss Cecile, slavery is forbidden.”

“It’s not slavery, will you let us pass or will you continue to be difficult?” she asked.

There was a silence before the man reluctantly nodded and Asil, once more, felt grateful to Cecile. Not only had she constantly helped him come to terms with his feelings, she also cheered him on, and now she had even taken them out of a rut. She truly was amazing.

Finally, after a moment they all stepped forward onto the teleportation circle, the atmosphere finally relaxing and the man raised his staff. It began to shine as runes lit up on the ground, before a moment later it flashed and teleported them away.

Asil blinked as he saw a paved road ahead with a small forest to the side of it, and on the other there were houses, luxurious ones built of a mix of wood and metal. They were twisted as they were beautiful, he didn’t recognize them but he knew⁠—he felt, he was near his family. And that thought made his heart drum in excitement.

He was finally here.

* * *

Amber was glad that they were nearing their destination. She had seen so many wondrous things that it was a bit overwhelming, but the idea of getting to explore this place and also learning magic and expanding on her Essence usage was… exciting. So far, she had even managed to replicate the tiniest bit of darkness magic with Frei’s incredibly rough explanation.

So, if she found true scholars, maybe she could instantly reach new heights with their guidance. Given they accepted the bullshit explanations about curses anyway.

The group walked through the plateau where all the nobles resided, and Amber observed an eclectic selection of buildings, made out of wood from being entirely built out of metal. But every single one of them was massive, allowing to host an entire family.

And eventually, almost when they were reaching the end, they stopped before the gates of a different residence. This one was walled off, and its inside wasn’t visible, yet the roofing tiles of the walls reminded Amber of japanese or chinese architecture. It was none other than Asil’s family residence. Visiting Frei’s was out of the question at this point.

Asil stood before the doors with some nervousness, before raising his staff and knocking onto the wooden double doors.

Then they waited.

“Can’t we just break in or some shit?” Frei asked Asil. “I’m kinda annoyed so I just wanna hit the bed.”

“Is it because you were banned by your distant family?” Amber asked.

“Yeah! Who the fuck do those bitches think they’re? Fucking talking about morals when they don’t know jack,” she spat.

“Right…”

She decided to not interact with her for now, just like everyone else, and a short minute later, the door was opened. The person that received them was a white haired elf with golden eyes, a woman wearing a robe.

She blinked seeing Asil. “Uh, who are you?”

Asil frowned. “I haven’t been here for two-hundred years, get someone from the family that is that old, they’ll know who I am.”

“Why?” she asked. “And who are these people?”

The woman scanned the crowd before her eyes paused on Amber, and they trembled for a moment.

“You are…”

She stepped back, fear evident in her gaze. Finally, she bolted, teleporting away in an instant before her cry resounded for everyone to hear.

“Dad, the psychopath that freed the heretic of the family is here! I can’t kill her alone, she’s got company! Help!”