“Are you going to keep me tied up? I am your employer as well as the owner of this land. You guys are trespassing, you know that?” Davey asked.

One of the elves dressed in traditional clothing stood up and loaded his arrow. He commanded, “Shut up, human! I will kill you right…”

“Stop it! Elder Condae!”

Silencing the others with a loud voice, Yuria stared at Davey. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking about. She then said, “I assume you came because you have something to say? I see that you have come here in a completely different way than before.”

“I have my reasons.”

‘A still stone gathers moss.’

The elves were truly cut off from the rest of the world. They didn’t seem aware of what the barrier was doing to their forest.

“If you say so. Millia, please escort him to my room.”

“B… But Lady Yuria!” The female elf guard, who was teary and fearful, cried out.

“It’s okay. I don’t know about other humans, but you can trust him.”

* * *

Crunch… Crunch…

The wooden branches twisted around Davey’s wrists like they were alive slowly undid themselves. He reached for his tea on the table, but stopped. Yuria had given him something weird once when she had been in charge of serving tea when she was Yuri, a maid at the seigneur’s palace. He asked cautiously, “You didn’t steep cockroach wings again, did you?”

“Oh, no, This is my new tea that is both tasty and good for you. Try it, boss.” Yuria smiled pleasantly, but it felt somewhat eerie. She added before sipping the exact same tea, “It is a tea made by aging slime liquid for a long time. It is one of the tastiest teas among the ones I have made, and it is great for your skin.”

“…Well, okay.”

Whatever it was, Davey could drink it. He had quite a strong stomach; he had even eaten living bugs to ease his hunger before, so this was nothing. However, he just didn’t want to do it.

Also, the most important thing for Davey right now was to grab everyone’s attention and assure them. The fact that he wasn’t here to slaughter them made this interaction different.

“Eek!” The elves turned pale as if they all knew about Yuria’s strange sense of taste.

The deep scent that wafted up into Davey’s nose was surprisingly addictive. He commented, “It’s good. It also helps with mana movement.”

“Ah, right? It has such good effects, but why won’t anyone else drink it…?”

Avoiding Yuria’s gaze, the elders and some of the elf guards, who followed Yuria in, looked away as she stared at them with sincere sadness.

“Well, most can’t have things that they can’t stomach, even if it’s good for them.” Davey chuckled and glanced at Yuria as he set down his empty cup.

Yuria was a beautiful girl—actually, it would be right to call her a woman. Considering the particular scent of an adult elf coming from her, she certainly didn’t seem that young. Still, her appearance surprised Davey. Elves were said to be beautiful beings, but Yuria’s beauty made her stand out from the rest.

‘I guess being a High Elf has its perks.’

“You can serve this the next time you make tea. Still, cockroach wings are a bit too much.”

“Oh my, talking about something like that in this situation.” Covering her mouth and chuckling, Yuria glanced at Davey with an indiscernible smile. “All right, boss. For what reason did you come here?”

When Davey was going to answer…

Clang!

“Lady Yuria! What more is there to listen to?! Talking to this harmful creature makes me feel like I’m being tainted!” One of the elves stood up in anger and growled, looking at Davey like he wanted to rip him apart. It was the man whom Yuria addressed as Elder Condae. He added, “Human, you have no choice. I will kill you after I make sure to find out how you found out about this place! What are you all doing?! Drag him out and put him in jail!”

“Stop it,” Yuria said calmly.

Elder Condae seemed more infuriated than before. With veins bulging from his neck, he yelled, “Can you still not tell how big of a deal this is?! Do you want to sell your fellow elves as slaves because of your feisty eagerness?!”

“Stop…”

Elder Condae flinched when Yuria Helishana began chuckling.

“It. Can you please not make me say it again?”

Yuria was smiling but…

—Hm, charisma is something people are born with.

‘She’s pretty good. I like her even more.’

Davey began to think he would get along quite well with Yuria, especially if she was the elves’ spokesperson. Yuria was only staring and not glaring at Elder Condae calmly, but there was still something intimidating about her. She had an aura fitting for a leader, in a way.

“Will you wait for a little bit since I am in the middle of a conversation?”

“Ahem…” Elder Condae backed down and flinched.

Yuria smiled and said, “Sorry, we were interrupted. Shall we get back to the topic?”

“Sure,” Davey answered and met Yuria’s gaze. “You need some of my help to deal with this corruption, am I right?”

“That’s right. We need the spirit affinity that you have, boss. An incomparably deep and great affinity that even elves cannot compare to.”

“Are you trying to summon the highest spirit?’

“Yes, since we need a spirit with a high enough rank to purify the corruption. However, I cannot do it by myself. That is why I went to the Heins Territory to get your help.”

Yuria didn’t hide her intentions; it seemed like she thought that it was meaningless to play tricks on Davey when he already knew her identity. But…

“Screw that.”

Yuria widened her eyes and said, “What do you…”

“Let’s stop beating around the bush. I’ll offer you something: I will purify the forest, and I want you all to be official residents of the Heins Territory.”

Yuria then squinted at Davey. “The same thing you did to the dwarves…”

“You know a lot.”

“Goulda, the dwarf elder, is a loyal customer of my special tea.”

Of course, Grandpops Elder Goulda would freak out if he knew the ingredients, but perhaps it was best not knowing.

Yuria responded with a smile, “I’m sorry, but I will decline that offer. But we do need your help.”

“Hm…”

“However, I will pay the price for it,” Yuria said firmly.

62. The Groaning Spirits

Yuria rejected the offer, as Davey had expected. Not wanting to rush her, he agreed to help her out. After all…

‘It’s going to fail anyways.’

To Yuria’s surprise, the conversation went a lot better than she expected. Yuria seemed puzzled at how easily Davey had given up, but didn’t miss the opportunity. Then, she also allowed Davey to stay in the forest until the day of the supreme spirit’s summoning she planned.

Of course, there was a strong backlash from the elders, who were going against everything Yuria was saying, but she didn’t change her decision. The reason for that was simple.

“This is the home of the Moon Forest’s residents. If there is a way, I will choose to actually gain something than stubbornly abide by the World Tree. Since you are the residents of the Divine Tree, you seem to not have much love for the forest. If so, you may leave, elders.”

Perhaps it was because of Yuria’s determination, which was unlike her usual gentleness, that the elders backed down silently. Considering that…

—She must be pretty important to those elder elves.

‘Could be in a good way, could be bad.’

It seemed like the former, though.

Afterwards, Yuria led Davey to the origin of the corruption herself. Davey didn’t hide his frown and distaste for the place.

[It hurts…]

[Save me…]

Davey could clearly hear the surrounding cries of the spirits. The nasty odor was assaulting his nose non-stop. It was an odor that people who had average or low spirit affinity couldn’t detect, so this was only unfortunate for him.

Davey was put through hell by Elementalist Yuriana, who was trying to raise his spirit affinity.

‘She threw me in magma to raise my affinity to fire, and she sank me to the bottom of the ocean to raise my affinity to water.’

-Oh my, that’s beyond stupid… How are you still alive?

It didn’t seem possible, but Davey did accomplish that in the end. He had prepared to endure those extreme environments with everything he had, and he had forcibly raised his affinity while undergoing training that was close to reforming his entire body.

Spirits couldn’t be summoned in the Hall. Like how Shane Scrift, a summoner of mythical beasts, had created images of the three Kings of Mythical Beasts that had been in his memory, Yuriana had also materialized the spirits she was bonded to. The Hall was the soul world, and as such, living creatures like mythical beasts and spirits couldn’t reach it.

—That is the only way to raise spirit affinity without bonding with them, but…

It was too much.

“Are you sure this is where the corruption started?”

“That’s right.”

Davey knelt and put his hand on the ground upon hearing Yuria speak. The forest that should be beautiful and pure was destroyed and tainted because the spirits had become corrupted. There were no plants, and the dirt was sticky like tar.

“The ground itself is destroyed from this point onward. It’s an endless swamp, so I suggest you don’t go…”

Davey completely ignored Yuria and walked into the center of the swamp.

Yuria widened her eyes. It was natural for her to be bewildered as Davey, who should have sunk to the bottom in seconds, was floating on top like he was standing on hardwood floors. All he did was use air tiles to move a little, but it was difficult for elves to understand because they had very little understanding about magic.

“Is there something wrong?”

“N—No… Seriously, who…” Yuria answered in bewilderment while she stood at the opening of the swamp. Meanwhile, Davey inspected the sticky sludge on the floor.