"Aaaaahhhhh!" A shout came from the upper floors of the Adventurer's Guild in the capital of Heavenlight.
The shout came due to our group.
The next days after we resolved Veria's request we returned to the capital and explained the situation. A beastmaster took us upstairs and told us to show him the 'Intelligent Alpha' obvious i summoned Veria herself causing said scream.
"This human is quite loud and unpleasant to the ears." She said in discomfort.
"Sorry i summoned you during the day." I said.
"It is of no concern, i have been able to absorb great deals of mana and moonlight within your dungeon so appearing indoors during daytime isn't an issue. That said i do indeed require a lot of mana and moonlight essence to be able to survive the birth of my child less i lose my 12,000 moons of cultivation of moon essence." She said.
"It is quite quick what we need. We had a mission to stop the rampage of your pack, since i, in human terms, tamed you the guild wishes to known why your wolves were going wild." I said.
"My kin wasn't going out of control. They were hunting to increase their level to possess a higher possibility of ascending into the realm of Spirit Wolf. If such an occurrence happened were my kin has injured humans i ask leniency." She said.
"S-spirit wolf?! You an Alpha Spirit Queen wolf!" The beastmaster said.
"No, i am an Ancient one, my power has declined to only 1/8 of its power due to being unable to allow my Moonlight Azure Blossom absorb a full lunar cycle of moonlight. This time i get four days worth and it may still cause my eventual death or supreme weakening due to the birth of my 11th daughter." She said.
"One eight so level 80 from a SS rank sentient magic beast. This already equals an high B or mid A rank mission. You kids were in so much danger if not for whatever reason made her accept your service. I will contact the headmaster and elevate you to C rank which is the max contributions are allowed. After that you require stats and skills at adequate levels." The beast master said and looked at me.
"At least for fighting classes, classes that use animals and monsters can depend on beast handling skills." He said.
"C rank is fine, also i would be happy if you didn't tell anyone besides your superior about her. It won't be fun for me if you did." I said.
"I shall call him this instant." He said and ran out.
Seeing the man leave Veria looked around and walked to the corner before laying down.
"Ah, the mortal's have so many worries, it shortens your lives." She said.
"Isn't it the same for you?" I asked.
"My worries are to simply find a place of strong mana to plant my blossom. I do what my true nature and purpose always was." Veria replied.
"You speak of death so easily? Do you not fear it?" Charlotte asked.
"No, the concept of fear is different for spirits. Death only comes to the body, our soul will just wonder the winds of the world. My true death as an Alpha Spirit Queen Wolf comes when my blossom is stolen from me. I will lack the energy to reform my true corporeal form and gather mana and moonlight essence that sustains my spirit kin." She replied.
At this moment the door opened to an old man with a heavy battle scar on the left side of his face going from the back of the head down over his eye to his chin. He had an eye patch over his left eye.
He looked at us then at Veria and his eye widened.
“Veria, long time no see bitch!" He said grinning.
"Indeed it has been many moons that i left that injury on your face. Seems to have healed into a nice scar." Veria said in a charming tone.
"You bitch! Just seeing you makes my blood boil and this scar ache!" He shouted.
"You say that but the moonlight essence you obtained from me from that attack has done you well, isn't that right Moonlight knight." She said.
He sneered and looked at us.
"I will commission your ranks to rise to C. Taming this bitch is worthy of that. Just make sure she doesn't die because i want to be the one to skin her after i shove my blade up her ass!" He said.
"Vain, you're so bold..." at this point her body began glowing and transformed into the human shape causing the beastmaster to fall on his ass.
She appeared and walked seductively to the couch and sat down.
"I didn't know you liked me to such a degree but if i had to give my first it would be from the front. I find it so strange, a human's sexual habits, like how you use the back." She said.
"Hmpf, even if you haven't been fucked in 1000 years it's probably sagging and loose all the same." Vain said.
"Alright that's good, Veria i think it's fine if you go back, the more time you spend there the greater the chances of you surviving." I said.
"Very well." She said and winked at the guildmaster before a magic formation appeared below her and her body vanished.
“Tch, damn it. I search for revenge and when i find her she is some brats pet. Anyway, you're the dungeon maker hero kid and swordswoman right? Crowned princess, excuse my tone before.” Vain said.
“Please i am not going under that title by mothers order, you can call me by name.” Charlotte said and he nodded.
“Anyway, as stated i will need to bump your rank up to C rank, know that the missions at this rank are normally for level 30-50. I can only give this to you because of her level, her forces, and the fact that i received word that you have something around C or B rank on you besides her.” Vain said.
“Yes, it’s a puppet minion i got as my first minion.” I said.
“Right, well you can take B rank missions and so on. I think only that fellow with the long sword had as much success as you and is already D rank after taking four E rank missions and two ended up being raised to D rank.” Vain said.
“Nickelous, i think was his name, he is a strong fighter i can say that.” Charlotte said.
“Anyway, what do you plan on doing now?” Vain asked.
We looked at each other.
“Well, we were going to take missions but as you said, C rank are around level 30-50 and i saw b rank is 40-60 with just that goblin mission with the red ogre.” I said making him nod.
“B Rank missions are between level 50 to 100.” Vain said
“Now i think we may take some time, rest up, train our own forces. I also had a huge burst of information i gained on Runes that i need to start training and understand.” I say.
“If it's runes then i suggest you head to the elven nation. I heard their hero has been in a pickle with how to fix the nation since her own world was more advanced and her magic studies are better but the rune magic is hurting her.” Vain said.
“Maybe after Veria does what she needs. We also need to talk with the queen. While we were out we couldn’t help but think how incompetent the agricultural advancement in this nation is.” I said.
“Good luck kid, if there is one sour topic in this nation then it's the poor agriculture. Nobles are hard headed and won’t change easy even with imperial decree. They will screw up your method to make it fail.” He said.
“I don’t need them to work it, i already have a working field so even if they fuck up i can simply blame their incompetence at following orders.” I say.
His brow raises and he chuckles.
“Alright, now hand your guild cards so i can pass on the order, i will be back in a bit and i will inform the queen you wish to speak with her.” He said.
“Much obliged.” I said
He nods and leaves before looking at the beastmaster who was on the ground.
"Get the blazes up man! If you are shocked from a simple thing like an ancient spirit taking a human form then you truly will never surpass B rank in your life!" Vain shouted.
"F-forgive me sir!" He said getting up.
"Now get these properly sorted, i need to get in contact with the royal family and see if the queen is still within the capital." He said
The beastmaster salutes and walks out with Vain leaves us to leisurely rest in the room.
I begin to look over all the new runes and find it surprising to find runes for numbers, living creatures, tons of actions and forms. But not many had actual combat capability that i could use as of now.
"What the guildmaster said was true. I really need to looked for someone to teach me to properly use runes. There are tons of runes that i don't see use for but i doubt they are useless." I said.
"We can check with the guild to see if there are missions near the elf border, if there aren't then we can simply go." Misaki said.
I nod and keep looking them over but part way through the beastmaster came back and handed our guild cards to us updated to C rank.
He left soon after and i put the book away and took out two normal books. One had the untranslated runes, the other was a copy of my rune dictionary.
I began to write the new runes within this book. What the girls didn't know was that i wrote them all with mana meaning the book could burst into flames. This so was that careless mages who would steal my book would get royally fucked by the backlash of so many runes activating. Obviously this includes the idiot hero and the trash king.
A few minutes later Vain came in and told us the queen was expecting us so we packed up and used the teleportation table to enter the castle as a means to not allow curiosity into the public.
In the study room we found the queen. She first asked about the wolves and we explained the situation shocking her but making a smile appear on her face.
After that was out of the way i pulled out a large parchment and rolled it out for her to see.
"I will be quick and clear, i want you to change the methods of farming within the royal families own farms, the ones you directly control, and use this farming method. Once the crops are gathered i want you to spread this method to the other nobles territory." I said bluntly.
The queen took the parchment and looked it over.
"Fertilizer to nourish the ground, straight line fields, crop rotation. Sir Ace, as mighty as these appear what use do they make?" She asked.
"I expected as much, first off you all probably use some form of earth magic to nourish the infertilite fields right?" I asked and she nodded.
"It’s quite expensive though since earth mage aren't exactly numerous." She said.
"Exactly, fertilizer is simply compost, put in a simply term, all the waste goods, rotting food, tree shreds and dust, bones and other dead organic matter when piled high and mixed with dirt and cover them completely with dirt, will slowly be turned into nutrition for the ground. Cow dung or chicken droppings are even better when used on the field because they hold unneeded minerals the animals don't absorb after eating but that plants need." I say.
"Wouldn't that cause a spread of disease, rotting corpses and trash indeed spread those." She asked.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Your highness, i would like to remind you of Cross-san's words. You take all the waste and mix it with dirt and finally cover it with a thicker layer. The dirt will block rats and flies who are the true carriers of diseases from reaching the rotting materials." Misaki said.
The queen ponders this a moment and nods.
"I see, i still wonder how we can introduce it without many troubles." She said.
"Your highness, does this world possess gods of elements such as an Earth god or a harvest god." I asked.
"We have the species god who rule over each sentient race and we have element gods who rule over nature. The goddess of earth is named Terresa." Charlotte spoke in place of her mother.
"If you were to say that this came as a message from her, that fertilizer was like an offering to the earth and the earth goddess do you think many people would find reason to object if the crops grow stronger?" I asked.
At that moment the queen and Charlotte's eyes widened before a bright glint appeared in her eye.
"By saying this, you are ultimately giving the fame you would earn to the goddess you know?" She said.
"I feel it is better, i have no need for so much attention. It would actually be an annoyance to me and my travels. Also it can spread faster this way as it will feel like the gods finally taking pity on this nation who has such a pathetic agricultural development." I said.
Her brow twitched as i admonish the nation's infrastructure but she knows she can't refute my claims since i am from a world of technology.
"Then please explain the crop rotation?" She explained.
"This is easier, crop rotation means that you switch between select crops in different times of years. The reason is that some crops absorb certain nutrients while releasing others. If you take a bean stock for instance it should be planted in a spring to be harvested at the start of summer and afterwards plant potatoes because the beans absorb iron in the ground but release a different mineral but the potatoes absorb those minerals the bean releases but not absorbing the ones the bean needs. This allows the ground to recover that specific mineral during the fall and winter season before the planting season returns. Also potatoes are a great food during the cold making a good crop for winter rations." I explained.
The look on the face of the queen and princess were of shock. It was obvious they didn't know these facts since modern science had only recently been able to analyze the actual process of what was happening between each crop.
"Amazing, all this is amazing but it will take years to completely implement this." She said.
"Mother, we don't need to worry, for now we can put the thirty farm villages under mother's name to do this farming technique. This will eventually alleviate the starvation in the surrounding area of the capital. With this progress, word will spread and commoners from far off villages will surely think of leaving to where more food can be located and with that it will force nobles to adopt the technique." Charlotte said excited.
My brows raise and a small grin appears on my lips as i think that this princess is quite open minded and smart enough to think of what would actually happen for the next few years.
"Ah, i see, if i simply collect information on the crop gathering and propose it, those nobles who think of others will instantly move to follow while the arrogant ones will eventually suffer for their negligence and i can eventually strip them of noble title and give it to my own supporters. On my i shall examine this a bit more before putting this up." She said with a smile filled with bliss.
"Don't forget to take the geography and weather into account. Different regions can raise different crops. With all the surplus that will appear being sold afterwards you will have to think of what to do with it as well." I say.
"Of course, now i cannot take your idea without a just reward but you have already taken the most precious treasure." She said.
"If you can pay in gold coin it is fine. Charlotte was able to get us 1000 off the adventurers guild when we sold a river side goblin village that can eventually become a port town." I say.
"This will clearly bring much more gold, is there anything else we can give you?" She said.
I looked at the girls for a moment and remember my puppets.
"If you can supply me 20 sets of knight armor, 20 leather armor, 20 sets of wizard cloth armor and 10 of swords, spears, low class magic staffs and other common weapons plus 200 gold i can accept it." I say.
"This involves bulking up your puppets correct?" She asked.
"Naturally!"
"Okay, it may take a few days so please have at least one of you remain in capital at most." She said.
With a nod and handshake, me and Misaki talk with her about the farming of both our cultures. Misaki spoke of rice fields while i spoke of plantations.
After that we had each accepted to stay in the castle.
For the next few days the items were gathered and I Archived them.
It goes without saying that i planned to make nature armor out of them but i went above and beyond and made four field rooms in my Farm Dungeon planting weapons in one and part of a second while the rest of the armor were planted in sets under the dirt.
Now we had gained all the items and informed the queen i had intentions of going to the elven nation so that i can study their runes and learn magic to a greater degree there once Veria has birthed her child.
With that said we went back to Hermes village and closed the farm dungeon hole and headed into Veria's dungeon.
The dull moonlight flames were burning bright white as today was the day of the full moon.
Countless wolves were near the flames sleeping under the moonlight.
Eventually we reached the boss room where we found the giant wolf glowing almost white under the bright moonlight of the main moonstone.
"Master, this giant moonstone is truly a precious item. With each passing minute it releases stronger moonlight that the blossoms greedily absorb. I feel they have each absorbed more mana than what one would gather within a single cycle." Veria said as her own body absorbed the moonlight.
"Has your power been recovering?" I asked.
"It has, my strength has reached the barrier of level 95 but does not grow more unless i take moonlight essence. Even now i feel i still cannot survive." She said.
"When will it happen?" I asked.
"When the moon reaches its highest peak. This will cause enough turbulence in the mana to attract hunters but master will have moved by then." She said. "Has master secured a food source for my mortal kin?" She asked
"I have purchased several white rabbits and was able to bind them and made a large dungeon for them to live in. I will eventually need to make another boss room once i want to create a boss for them but for now just common rabbits are growing. I will regularly connect your dungeon and theirs to a third for you to hunt." I say and she nods.
"Then all that's left is time." She says.
We nod and like her, wait.
We wait in the room and talk with her about her past. We were shocked to discover she had been captured several times by demons but when she was caught she used almost 30 levels worth of moon essence, this is equal to 90 moons of her gathering it, to summon her spirit wolves who massacred the demons and set her free once more.
She has seen the early days before the demon lord and told me that dungeon makers were once a noble sect. Remnants still exist but have long since moved away from the frontlines away from the reach of the demon lord.
I may be the only Dungeon maker in this part of the continent. The four nations we know are but one region of the continent. Beyond are much more dangerous lands that the demon lord himself doesn't venture. His plan may have always been to assault the four nations and merge them first before battling the other but these four nations have always been strong enough to push back after the situation grew desperate and has left this war at a stalemate.
The only thing preventing the four nations from advancing is the barrier erected by the demon lord but the barrier has a flaw where it hinders the flow of mana making the development of extreme demons difficult without the demon lord willingly giving them his own mana which is why his full force doesn't amount to much but with time they still grow with proper management.
All of a sudden the moonstone suddenly intensified to a whole new level and Veria obviously noticed because at this time a faint beam of light was descending on the three blossoms and the flowers were starting to move as they began to slowly unfurl.
“It is time!” Veria said standing instantly.
AWOO!
Her ear shattering howl resound through the entire dungeon. From the corridor we could see the moonlight torches were burning stronger and releasing a powerful moonlight and each wolf stared at them while the oldest and strongest wolves ran rapidly into the boss room soon filling it with many wolves.
Veria stood in front looking at the beam.
Her body began glowing as a faint white pulse began to emanate from her body.
As the moonlight beam grow more powerful and looked to be filled with more substance the flowers opened more and more.
“This is amazing, the dungeon is focusing so much moonlight into this point!” Veria said excited.
DONG!
Suddenly a strange gong like sound was heard as if the air itself rang.
DONG! DONG!
Two more songs sounded followed by a set of three.
This happened until a total of seven gongs rang at one time without pause and at that time Veria howled.
She howled first making a powerful vibration then the twelve elites further strengthening the vibration then finally every last wolf in the room and in the corridors howled at once like a chorus of singers.
The vibrations in the air was so powerful the effect it had on us was staggering.
All four of us lost our bearings from the sound as we covered our ears and collapsed in the corner we sat in hoping this will pass.
When one howl ended another followed in the same fashion. One after another they howled until an almost solid beam of light was formed over the flowers who had splendidly opened in their full glory.
I opened my eyes and at this time my eyes opened extremely wide. The reason was that within the beam of light was floating one massive rune.
“Moon!” i muttered and something in me seem to resonate as my hand left my ear and i drew a ‘Moon’ rune but the feeling it gave could only be called pathetic and there were many inconsistencies. Another, then another.
I didn’t stop drawing them because i wanted the same feeling i was getting from the giant moon rune in the light.
I didn’t even notice until something happened to Veria but over Veria’s head was a similar rune. It was moving forward and touched that same rune.
Soon it released a blinding light and spread through the entire dungeon. The moonlight flames extinguished leaving only the Moon rune that was floating to release the same light as its faults were made perfect. Natures rune was in true perfection.
The light also hit me and that feeling from the rune washed over me as i began writing the rune once more but this time it was more perfect. Another, more perfect still.
Under this light these moon runes were made and broken. This almost profound feeling i got from the rune seeped into my bones as i drew more and more runes. My book was open and with each correction and more profound knowledge of this rune i gained the moon rune in my book glowed brighter changing from a black ink drawing into a perfect silver that glowed with power. Eventually that rune lifted and moved to the first page where a section known as ‘Comprehended Runes’ was created while the rest remained black and obscure.
As i reached a point where the rune no longer improved i pushed more slowly making more fixes until nothing else appeared yet the rune still wasn’t perfect. But then i heard a powerful but also weak howl.
It snapped me out of it as is saw Veria howling countless times.
The light from the flowers was invading her body and pulses were spreading out. The twelve elites were being covered in mist as their grey skin turned silver and they became more transparent.
More than half the wolves were the same and more still were reaching this point but Veria held my attention as the amount of moonlight essence her body gathered was insignificant to the amount her body was releasing and gathering into a small orb above her.
Slowly her body began to lose its form and she began to turn transparent.
I opened my book and found her image. I saw her HP was lowering at a rapid pace and no mana was left in her body. Her level was dropping steadily 1 level every 10 seconds.
She howled again and three light rays came from the blossoms into her body stopping her level from dropping but soon the essence leaving her body grew even thicker and it continued to drop.
The blossom she planted soon began to split in half as a new head of the blossom was literally splitting from her own.
Hers was wilting while the other was growing vigorously.
As her level reached 10 it stopped and i noticed the body of a human baby with silver wolf tail, wolf ear and silver hair began to form in the light but suddenly a powerful suction force came from her as the 10 levels were instantly stripped into the baby who rapidly began to grow until she looked like a 2 year old girl.
Veria looked like a ghost as the pathways of moonlight essence moved to the baby now and not her.
“Take care of her master, until i return.” Veria said and let out a powerful howl once more causing one final massive wave different from the others.
Instantly my minions page gained a new minion, Grey Wolf. This meant she bound her minions to her daughter and in turn to me at once.
Her ghost body suddenly gathered into an adult male's fist sized orb and it flew right into my book where her name showed ‘Body dead, reconstructing. 50 infusions of Moonlight essence needed to begin.’
As i saw that i nod, “Don’t worry, she is in good hands.” I said and looked at the baby.
At this time the wilted blossom turned into particles and became a seed which flew up and into Veria’s image as well.
Then slowly a small chain of moonlight was formed between the newest blossom and the girl. Following that from the girl's body released two more chains and tied them into the other two flowers slowly invading them and binding them to her.
Below Veria’s image a second one appeared.
‘Newborn Alpha Spirit Wolf Queen, Nameless’
I walked forward and stood just below her and wait for this ritual to end but for 6 full hours she remained as most of the wolves in this room became spiritual wolves and kept howling to their new queen.
As the sun slowly rose outside the moonlight beam slowly weakened and the blossoms wilted and like Veria’s turned into seeds that entered into the child's forehead. The glowing energy around her slowly began to fade and her body descended. I hold my arms out and catch her very light frame in my arms where she snuggled close to the new warm body holding her.
I turned and looked at the wolves.
They were nearly as big as Veria now but were transparent with glowing red eyes.
One of the elites looked at me and at the girl in my arms.
“We serve the new queen, Name her, master of the queen, so we make bring glory to our new alpha!” He said.
Unsurprised that the spirit wolf was speaking i began to think of a name for the child.
After a moment i looked up.
“I shall name her Valery.” I say.
They all howled and turned into a dense fog that was soon absorbed into the child leaving the room bare of any being beside myself, the girl in my arms and the three others.
Everyone was in shock at what they just saw. I’m certain no one has been able to witness this scene in such close proximity and live to tell about it.
Looking at the girl in my arms, i look at the others.
“Come on guys! Let’s close the dungeon and get moving before anything bad comes after us.” I said to snap everyone out of it.
We soon left, i didn’t recall the girl since i don’t know what is needed but i did at least retrieve a blanket and wrap it around her since she was stark naked.
With the girl wrapped a blanket in my arms we teleport back to the capital and once more teleport to the border of the elf nation on the north east border a safe distance from the demon lands which also happened to be the Jagged mountains i first landed in.
From here, we must trek and face the wilds but that is after all what adventurers do so time to live as real adventurers.