Novels2Search

Chapter 41

This Dewy Leaf was not one of the Elders who had an outburst. Something seems to be out of place. I do not know anything about what is happening right now.

“It seems the great Matriarch already has found out. I wish to discuss this between ourself without those outsiders here.”

“It was you, Grandmother?”

“Do not call me that traitor. Go back where you came from!”

“We will not accept you calling one of Our subjects that, Eldest Mother.”

Chaos is brewing. I never thought it would have such a twist. How exciting!

“The other Eldest Mothers only protest, while We understand their concern, they understand Our ruling like how sunshine and rain work together, but your work behind the shadows of the trees are an obvious breach in trust We can not accept!”

“I am sorry my Queen.”

Wow, this is all right in front of us. The reasoning I can understand. The happenings laying bare right now and showing the ugly behind the scene, shows sincerity, as we are the aim for her. What I rather want to know is why, as they are obviously blood related.

“Do you have anything to say to Us?”

“Not in front of the two outsiders.”

“No, We order you to speak now!”

“… My Family is proud of our roots always being aligned with you my Queen. We live and die for the Forest. To have someone in our branch to not only leave the Forest, but fraternize with an outsider, I had to act to show our dedication.”

“I am not fraternizing…”

“SILENCE WHORE! Do you think I did not see how you denied your former Queen to the question, of coming back to the Forest? Your face showed how you do not want to! Your branch is CUT!”

“That was not because… I cannot tell you why!”

“Leaf, I allow you to speak freely for a bit. Although do not overuse that privilege, otherwise I will be stopping you.”

To be honest I want to know what is in her head going on as the next one. If they show a bit of what is going on, I show some too. She does not know anything worthwhile anyway.

“Lord… I… Understood, Lord. My refusal was because of the Queen wanting me to ‘take’ back.”

“That is why…”

“Silence, let her speak.”

Strange, how Leafy is talking right now. Luckily the queen blocked her grandmother to admonish her.

“It is dangerous to ‘take’ anything from Lord Null. He will not allow it, he may ‘bargain’, ‘exchange’ or ‘give’, but if someone ‘takes’ something from Lord, it incenses him. His anger can be furious, so please never ‘take’ anything!”

Huh? Well I am rather possessive sometimes, but what would be so bad about… Let’s make a thought experiment, someone takes away my pickled radish I am testing right now… My reaction would be appropriate taking his lif… No, that would be excessive, maybe his arms are enoug… Also excessive… I hate it, when people taking something I do not allow. They will pay a hefty price for it. Always!

OK, I am rather damaged in that way, so at least I know my slightly skewed bottom line. But what about Snow taking some grasswalker to eat? Nothing is there for me to rage. Well she takes something it already belongs to us.

...Huh. Everyone I accept is exempt from it it seems? It might be the reason I can take things so easily, then that would be what the Void had given me as kind of Power. Experiments will be needed to understand.

“...not an excuse, Lord can get really dangerous, when he thinks someone might take something from him. When Snow was sick and transforming his whole Domain shook with voices form everywhere saying how he will take…”

“That is enough Leaf.”

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Shock made her stop talking by hearing my voice. It was close to a heart attack how she starts sweating. Luckily I snapped out right before she talked too much about something even I did not remember. I need to ask her what I did in that time frame, I remember only being out for a bit, but not why or what happened between.

“You have not said too much. Do not worry Leafy. It is OK.”

“Yes Lord.”

“As you heard, there is no reason for hostilities against her.”

“That is not for you to decide, outsider!”

“No, it is Us that decides that.”

That shut her right up. Nice catch Queen.

“We see no traitor here, only someone dedicated to her role, she was accidentally pushed into.”

“And I might even assure you further about that, your Majesty.”

My queue to make it a bit easier for Leafy. Well I just take it farther to make it even more awkward for her Grandmother.

“We would like to hear your opinion of that.”

“Leaf never directly felt like a member of my Domain. She is there, but rather than being Family, she keeps her distance from any of us. Her role is clearly defined, as she wants to show Root are trustworthy and how it would be beneficial to not go to war.”

“Spouting about war, like you would win!”

“Further, Leaf never ever said something like ‘our Domain’ or ‘my Lord’. She defines perfectly of her being inside my Domain, but never includes her as citizen. The last reason for her loyalty to the Forest is for her to casually be saying ‘our Queen’, when explaining to me something. She never once stopped her faith and to you, your Majesty.”

I just ignore the rabble. Some are more poised, but many are incensed of this forced alliance. Leafy on the other hand seems to be a bit ashamed. I just told the truth, but seems to understand, how I understand her stand more than clearly.

“We heard your testimony and got hope for her coming back to us in the future. I understand how it might not be possible right now, but maybe in a later time, we can discuss a… ‘trade’ maybe for her freedom.”

“Her blood is already red from your pollution, take that pretty flower and leave!”

“Silence!”

This Grandmother really annoys me to no end. Lets just make her regret ever opening her mouth.

“Leaf is no pretty flower, and I would not be able to make her blood red.”

Taking of a gauntlet I make now a statement to make them even more confused. I hate those bastards thinking of them high and mighty, because they have some kind of plant in their DNA.

“Your useless slander just shows, you do not even care and rage blindly, as you do not even know who you are speaking to.”

My Hand is already green. A really inconvenient effect all over my body. The Mana infusion was close to a disaster, luckily Red survived.

“While you old weed are blabbering about how red someones blood is, you should know…”

My own Fingernail rips into Reds flesh and a drop of blood deep dark green flows over my palm.

“...my blood is way greener than yours!”

Shock was immediate visible, even the composed Queen shows a rather perplexed look.

“This is a trick! You are human, you were seen!”

“I have many faces, but that is none of your business. You just spout holier than thou phrases and never think of outside of the Forest as anything worthwhile. While I protect you from what slumbers below the crater, you would rather see me gone for a century of peace, even if it means destruction later!”

“Only you say that. Making us fear some unknown we never saw.”

“Your Queen believes me, the Soldiers saw the dregs invading and Leaf sacrificed herself for that purpose!”

“And how do we…”

“Silence! We already warned you so much Dewy Leaf and you now have finally reached Our limit in patience!”

Wow, her rage is heavy. She seems to have some kind of presence also. Everything feels heavy.

The whole audience hall was silent until the pressure stops. Afterward the Queen looks at my hand. The wound has already healed automatically, as the Artifact right next to the heart holds Reds body in top condition.

“We might a bit presumptuous, but would you please remove your Mask?”

“Albeit, it would be no problem, my face would say nothing, as I am not bound to this shape like other people.”

“Rather mysterious, but We would still know what lies behind. If you could humor Us, it would be a great boon.”

sigh… Well I have no problem with that. Maybe it would be nice to at least be on good terms with her. She seems more amiable than the Elders. She looks young, but has a frightening Aura of age, even the tree we are on recognizes her as an equal.

With reluctance I open the latches on the helmet and take it of. Green hair looking like fresh grass is appearing, while gasps are heard from the onlookers. Removing the face plate was sadly impossible, as it was linked with the helmet for protective reasons, so the whole helmet had to go. Such a design flaw...

The face was luckily changed and the obvious parts of root were mutated. The ears got extended with a leaf pattern, they are now wider to the back and seem to hear nearly every plant clearly. While the skin has turned from gray to a whitish green, thanks to the green sap like blood flowing through the body. Even the hard shell on the back is now leaf patterned with the spine the central vein, but that was luckily not visible. It is still hard but flexible now. Well flexible is an overstatement, it still feels like a heavy plate and only bends a bit.

Eye color is a glowing green, I transformed him into a Dryad it seems.

“Woodwalker…”

Or… A Woodwalker?