After the commerce square, the two decided that it was finally time to head for the Tribal Chief’s house. According to Grisella, the Chief held a lot of power within the village, second only to the head warrior.

The head warrior was someone who constantly honed himself through blood and battle. For most of the year, he was out of the village, and only ever came back for special festivals and events. During his absence, the Tribal Chief was the one responsible for the day-to-day workings of the village.

Ellis felt that their chain of command was somewhat strange. Why was their supposedly most important person gone for so long? Was it okay to bestow such a title to someone so disconnected from the village?

He doubted that such a set-up existed anywhere else in the world. After all, nobody wanted to be under a king who bowed down to his strongest general. It was a hierarchical structure unique to Ilpin village.

They left the market platform and passed through a series of interconnected bridges. Along the way, he quickly noticed something abnormal about the village. Aside from the busy commerce square, the place was surprisingly barren. Granted, he would occasionally see one or two people middling about on the various platforms scattered across the village, but other than that, nothing. What struck him as even stranger was the fact that most of the ones that he encountered were either female or very young children.

He wondered if this was natural. Were Squirrel Demi-humans the type with a disproportionate ratio of females to males? According to Grisella, that wasn’t the case. In fact, there was a higher proportion of men than there were women.

“It certainly is odd, but even more than that…” After listening to his observations, Grisella furrowed her brow. She felt that there was something off about the current situation, but she couldn’t quite point out what.

“Is the village always like this?” Ellis suddenly asked.

“… Not usually. The last time I was here, the population was more or less even.”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about,” he interrupted. “This, the atmosphere. I didn’t notice it at first because of how bright everything is up here, but this village, isn’t it a bit gloomy?”

He felt it. Hidden beneath the positive guise of vivid sunlight and rustic tree-houses was an underbelly of cheerless melancholy. The entire village felt constrained and somber, almost as if an important someone had just died and the villagers were going through the motions of recovery.

Again, he had to ask himself, was this normal?

There was a very real possibility that it might be. Ellis knew of some places in his old world that possessed a natural ambiance. Big cities carried with it a hectic pace that often-times overwhelmed its citizens, while small rural villages had an air of peace and calm. That sort of thing.

Maybe this village was like that. A place where dark metaphorical clouds hovered just over everyone’s heads.

Grisella shook her head. “It definitely wasn’t like this the last time I was here. The village was a lot livelier. Something’s different. Something happened…” After a few seconds of quiet contemplation, she suddenly shrugged her shoulders, “… then again, a lot can happen in five years. Last time, I had hair that went down all the way to my ankles.”

Ellis raised his brow. Now he wanted to see what the younger Grisella looked like.

As the image of a witch with Rapunzel-like hair kept playing in his mind, the two arrived at a new platform located near the edge of the village. There was only a single building on the platform.

A two-story wooden hut with a conical rooftop.

“This is the place,” Grisella stated as she passed through a fur curtain that acted as the door.

Is it alright to just walk in like that? Although he was hesitant, Ellis still followed her inside. Almost immediately, he was hit by the smell of incense. Or at least, he initially thought it was incense.

It was a scent resembling buckwheat and wet grass. A light layer of smoke wafted through the room, slightly obscuring his vision. For a split second, his eyes blurred. He blinked once and they soon returned to normal.

Hallucinogenics? He had experienced something similar when he was briefly affected by the Hydra’s poison. Luckily, his body’s natural defenses acted quickly.

He turned to Grisella. Her vision seemed slightly hazy. She pulled out a small vial from her spatial artifact. The liquid inside was clear white. After she ingested the contents of the vial, her eyes soon returned to normal.

She then turned back towards Ellis. Grisella had been prepared to give him an antidote, but he did not seem all that affected by the smoke. At first, she was shocked, but upon recalling how absurd this man’s existence was, she quickly calmed down.

“Is this normal?” He asked her.

Grisella nodded her head. “Well, the Chief’s like this. I’d like to say it’s part of the duties that come with being the leader of the tribe, but really, it’s just her hobby.”

So, a stoner, huh? Ellis completely did not expect to meet someone like that within a world so deeply ingrained in fantasy. No, more importantly… Ellis’s ears slightly twitched. Grisella definitely said it… The Tribal chief is a girl.

The women that he had seen out on the bridges of Ilpin Village were all high-level. Golden tans, fit physiques, and super revealing clothing. He couldn’t help but get his hopes up.

“Oh, yeah, Lisbeth isn’t here, huh?” After looking around, he was quick to notice that the squirrel from earlier wasn’t here.

“Even though she’s the chief’s assistant, she rarely comes by. The smoke bothers her.”

“I see…” Ellis felt somewhat disappointed. It was only a natural reaction. After all, Lisbeth was a cute girl.

“Come on, she’s upstairs.” Unaware of Ellis’s wandering thoughts, Grisella led him deeper into the house.

The smoke grew thicker the further they ventured. By the time they reached the second floor, the smoke was so prominent that it was almost impossible to see anything more than seven feet away from him.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“This is way too excessive!” Ellis muttered underneath his breath. If it wasn’t for his natural resistances, then he’d be as high as a kite by now!

Past all the smoke, he could see the vague silhouette of a woman seated in the middle of the room. They approached her and soon, Ellis finally witnessed the Chief in all of her glory.

A beautiful but fragile woman. Those were his first impressions.

Unlike the other tribesmen, she had pale-white, almost papery skin. She possessed thin arms and a slender frame. With a face that looked somewhere between forty and eighteen, it was difficult to discern her real age. She rested on a bed of silk pillows and wore a loose tunic that barely covered her body.

Again, despite her sickly appearance, there was no doubting her beauty.

A large black object stood behind her. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a giant incense bowl that was nearly twice as big as he was tall.

Large tufts of smoke billowed out from its opening.

The moment the pale woman laid eyes on them, a soft smile appeared on her lips. Such a small action seemingly took up a vast majority of her strength.

“Welcome, Witch.” She spoke with a whisper-like voice.

“Hello, Chief Mary-Lyn.” Grisella greeted back. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“I see you finally brought along a man.”

“H-he’s a companion. No, an old friend that I ran into while in the forest.” She stammered out a response.

“I see…” The Chief floated an ambiguous smirk on her face. “That’s not exactly what I heard though?”

Grisella’s face reddened. The rumor really did spread!

Seeing her reaction, the Chief let out a faint chuckle. “Regardless, it’s good to have friends.”

“….”

Ignoring Grisella’s awkward expression, she turned to Ellis.

“Hello to you too Miss Lorelei’s lover.”

A stiff smile filled stretched his lips. A feeling of déjà vu overwhelmed him. Ellis nodded his head. “Nice to meet you too, Chief.”

The woman gave him an imperceptible nod, before she turned her eyes back over towards Grisella., “As always, I thank you for the medicine. It helps us greatly.”

Grisella breathed out a sigh. She shook her head, “Don’t worry about it. Besides, you know that I don’t come here without a reason.”

Chief Mary-Lyn remained silent for a long time. Eventually, an inaudible sigh leaked out from her lips, “Lisbeth has told me already, but speak. Tell me what you want.”

For a moment, Ellis and Grisella exchanged looks. Ellis stepped up and spoke, “We need a guide. One that can take us all the way to the other side of the river.”

As if she had expected that answer, the Chief shook her head. “I’m afraid I cannot help you with that.”

Grisella frowned. “Why? I’ve come here numerous times before with the same request. You never once turned me down then. Why now?”

“Because now is different.” She hesitated for a moment. “… It is dangerous to wander so far into the forest.”

“What do you mean?” Grisella thought that there was something wrong with her words. In order to survive within a forbidden region, the squirrels naturally possessed great strength of their own. To them, unless it was a monster on the level of an Overlord, nothing was ever too dangerous.

The tribal chief suddenly turned her head to the side. Ellis had not noticed it before because of all the smoke, but there was a glass window by the wall. Mary-Lynn’s eyes could not penetrate through the smoke, but in her head, she pictured all the near-empty platforms scattered across the village.

“Have you noticed it?” She asked, “The problem with this village?”

“…” Grisella had definitely noticed.

“I have,” Ellis responded for her.

Mary-Lynn turned back. Her gaze was deep, almost as if she was sizing him up. “Then, have you heard of a race known as the Majin?”

Ellis was clueless of the greater world outside of Ilpin Forest. Even within the forest itself, there were many things he still did not know. Naturally, he had never heard of Majins before. Luckily, Grisella more than made up for his lack of knowledge.

“The Majins, as far as I know, are a race of Demons,” the witch explained. “They live in the northern parts of the continent, right where the old Demon King’s territories are.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but glance over at Ellis. He did not say anything, but he definitely reacted to the term, ‘demon king.’

Grisella stared at the Tribal Chief with a somewhat surprised expression. “I’m surprised. For a village as disconnected from the outside world like this, how do you know about Majins?”

She let out a sigh, “The Majins have invaded the forest.”

“What!?” Grisella practically shouted in shock.

She thought about it for a moment. “Was it a single individual? I know that Majins often go out adventuring in order to hone their skills.”

Mary-Lynn shook her head. “No. From our understanding, it is not a single person, but an entire tribe!”

“Are they really that big of a deal?” Ellis couldn’t help but interject.

“They are definitely a big deal.” Grisella grimly stated. The Majins were a race famed for their great strength and magical prowess. If there was anyone capable of entering a forbidden region, then it would be them. Still, they were so rare in number that any mention of a Majin would cause an uproar within the outside world.

“For an entire tribe to enter the forest… that’s definitely impossible!” Grisella furiously shook her head. “Majins live along the border of the northern peninsula! This forest, we’re all the way on the south-western tip of the continent. Why would an entire northern tribe be all the way down here?”

“I am similarly clueless, but their presence is an undeniable fact.” Her expression turned dark. “They have already inflicted numerous casualties to my tribe.”

Mary-Lynn then explained the root cause of the gloomy atmosphere that circulated throughout the village.

The Squirrels were currently at war.

For some reason, a tribe of Majins had been displaced from their original home in the north. After wandering the western part of the continent, they ended up settling within Ilpin Forest. At first, everything seemed to be going great, but then, disaster struck.

Apparently, the Squirrel’s head warrior accidentally killed a Majin. For the most part, the Squirrels maintained their stance that the Majin had attacked first. The Majins made a similar claim. From then on, the situation continually escalated, until a full-blown war occurred.

“My tribe and their tribe are currently at war. I am afraid we cannot spare even a single man to be your guide.” Mary-Lyn firmly stated.

“That’s…”

“I know what you want to say,” she interrupted, “but most of the men in the village have already been drafted to our militia. Right now, they are out on the frontlines. The ones that remained are here to make sure the village stays safe in case of an ambush. Everyone is doing what they can to help.”

“I can offer you more medicine in return.” Grisella offered, “If you are in a war, then surely you’ll need medicine.”

“No. Actually, the medicine that we have now is enough. In fact, in the fifty years since we started trading with you, we have saved up quite a bit of your potions. Even with the war, we still have plenty left.” She shook her head. “I’m afraid that your potions are simply too effective. A single bottle is enough to last our entire army a good two months in battle.”

“…Seriously?” Grisella’s face blanched. Right now, she felt the pain of being too capable.

Mary-Lynn hesitated for a moment, before she added, “I may not be able to help you, but you can try your luck out for yourselves. Whether you succeed or fail is up to your own efforts.”

****

A few minutes later, Grisella and Ellis left the building. Smoke lingered on their bodies.

Rays of golden orange and vibrant pinks illuminated the village. The sun was beginning to set.

The tribal chief had given them a spare room to sleep in for the night. Still, the duo did not feel all that excited. In fact, a heavy air of melancholy hovered over their heads.

“So, that went well.” After a while, Ellis finally broke the silence.

“I don’t need your false positivity.” Grisella slumped to the floor and buried her head in her knees. Right now, all she could feel was frustration.

“Actually, it was sarcasm.”

“What do we do now?” She asked him.

Ellis thought about it for a moment. He scratched the back of his head. “Well, given the situation, we don’t really have much of a choice but to do what the chief says.”

Of course, that was a lie. He could always just kidnap one of the villagers and force them to be their guide, but doing something like that felt a bit much.

I won’t throw away the possibility, but at the very least, I’ll save it for last.

He glanced down. Seeing Grisella’s current appearance, he could practically feel an aura of gloominess exuding out from her body.

Geez, does she really want to go there that bad?

Ellis shook his head. He wasn’t all that committed to finding the world tree, but it was better than aimlessly wandering this damn forest. He scrunched his face and grumbled underneath his breath. After a while, he breathed out a sigh. For now, he decided to put in a bit more effort than usual.

“We’ll just have to find a guide ourselves.” He patted her back and reassured her. “How hard can it be?”