I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 223

After returning to her lair, Vanir immediately prepared for a deep sleep.

She could also rest easy regarding the safety of her precious child, Tyranno.

As she curled her body up and was right on the verge of closing her eyes, a sudden thought occurred to her.

She remembered that human who was quite an anomaly, even within the Forest of the Four Seasons.

’Come to think of it, he was strange. It felt almost as if he came from another world.’

The way he spoke, and in many other ways, he didn’t seem like someone belonging to this world.

She was an individual born at the tail end of the Mythological Age. Unlike the older dragons, she didn’t know the exact details.

She only knew that he was extraordinary.

’When I wake up later, I’ll have to investigate him a bit more.’

Ideally, she wanted to head toward the territory where other dragons resided.

But the Forest of the Four Seasons was a labyrinth that even dragons could not escape.

If she made a single wrong move, space itself could warp, making it impossible to ever return.

Most rules that she painstakingly discovered became completely useless after just a few days.

’Escape, huh...’

Vanir slowly closed her eyes.

A human clinging to a probability converging on zero, hoping for a chance to escape.

As she had thought in the distant past, humans were truly a fascinating race.

A race that worries about a 90% chance of failure, yet deems a 10% chance of success ’doable.’

Did that human possess a similar mindset? Or was it simply the sheer willpower stemming from survival?

Whatever the case, he didn’t seem like he would die anytime soon. As long as he didn’t act recklessly, that is.

’I’m getting even more curious about what will happen when I wake up.’

Vanir slowly closed her eyes. As fatigue accumulated, her body grew pleasantly heavy.

She had also made thorough preparations in case an intruder showed up. All that remained was a deep slumber.

"..."

Vanir’s consciousness began to sink downward bit by bit.

Looking forward to her child happily greeting her when she awoke.

Is this the kind of situation where people use the expression "a chill went down my spine"?

Goosebumps erupted over my skin as I read the post by Let’s Grow Trees—a post utterly consumed with madness.

Their way of thinking was a million light-years removed from a normal person’s. What made it even more dangerous was that it was actually right to some extent.

From ancient times, dragons had been known as evil beings. In fact, they had committed all kinds of atrocities during the Mythological Age.

This was a fact that Vanir herself had admitted. Although the origin of the gods remained a mystery, let’s put that aside for now.

’Did I give them that core for no reason back then?’

If they could give away a World Tree sapling, there was a high probability they were a high-ranking official, if not the supreme ruler.

Historically, extremists were the ones who caused accidents beyond imagination. Hitler was a prime example.

But the irony was that despite experiencing cases like Hitler, extremism still persisted.

Furthermore, the longer a peaceful era continued, the stronger such tendencies tended to become.

’Still, the leader of the elves... wait, didn’t they say that queen over there was a nutjob too?’

Anxiety crept up silently. Quite some time had passed since I handed over the core.

I had completely forgotten about it due to the situation that erupted in Eldorado, but there were rumors that Alfheim was unstable as well.

Though people say no news is good news, they said Alfheim was a different story or something.

There were even rumors that Alfheim’s national strength was growing wealthier and more powerful by the day.

’Whatever else happens, I hope Alfheim doesn’t mess with Eldorado.’

Asella, the Hero, had told me directly.

That on a national scale, not just an individual one, they would use every possible means to rescue me.

Honestly, it was closer to rescuing Ludwig rather than me. I was basically just part of a package deal.

’For now, I’ll just have to wait and see. If a decent deal comes up, I’ll have no choice but to take it.’

What Let’s Grow Trees gave me wasn’t just the World Tree sapling.

Gloves crafted from the cocoons of silkworms that fed on World Tree leaves. And cigars.

The gloves were extremely useful and even possessed self-regeneration capabilities.

Since I received three pairs, Ludwig could use them too.

It was a shame Lackey couldn’t wear them because the size didn’t fit, though.

’They make manual labor so convenient.’

Thanks to them, I never got blisters on my palms.

As I mentioned earlier, they had a self-regeneration ability, so their durability was sky-high.

’As for the cigars...’

I pulled out a World Tree Cigar. I still had plenty left.

Lately, I hadn’t been smoking them much since things hadn’t been too tough. Plus, there were the kids around.

Well, people said that unlike other tobacco, it was actually beneficial for the body, but I wouldn’t know.This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.

When my body and mind are truly exhausted, maybe Ludwig and I can light up one each.

"Ah. That’s right. Ludwig-ssi."

"?"

"Do you happen to smoke? Take a look at this."

Just in case, I casually showed the World Tree tobacco to Ludwig.

Rather than a cigarette, it was closer to a cigar. Since Ludwig was a paladin, wouldn’t he stay away from it?

"!"

The moment Ludwig saw the World Tree Cigar, his eyes went wide. He then looked back and forth between me and the cigar.

His expression said, ’Where on earth did you get this?’ From the looks of it, he seemed to recognize World Tree Cigars.

[Hmm? Isn’t this a cigar made from World Tree leaves? Where did you get this?]

Cain, who had been playing with Wonmo and Tyranno, subtly approached and asked about its origin.

Since I got it from the Gallery anyway, I answered in a nonchalant manner.

"I traded for it on the Gallery. I gave them a Guardian’s Core before, and they gave me these and the gloves. Ah, and I also got a World Tree sapling."

[They gave these away so readily when they aren’t even royalty? That makes no sense.]

Cain spoke as if he couldn’t comprehend it.

From Cain’s perspective, these were undoubtedly items of immense rarity.

But the era Cain lived in was the distant past. Times were different now.

"Things have probably changed now. Given the times and all."

[Is that so? There are so many suffocatingly rigid folks over in Alfheim that I find it hard to believe.]

"Do you also view elves unfavorably, Cain-nim?"

[There are plenty of good elves, but the race itself is just suffocating. If someone had bestowed something like this in the era I lived in? They would have been branded a traitor by their own kind. Even I only smoked a World Tree Cigar once in my entire life.]

Wow, they really are a race of boomers.

Seeing how even the noble Cain had only smoked a World Tree Cigar once, I could tell just how twisted their culture was.

I wondered if he also knew about the relationship between elves and dark elves. Out of curiosity, I asked.

"By any chance, do you know that the elves and dark elves separated? The dark elves are currently living in the desert."

[Don’t tell me those dark elves refer to the elves with dark skin?]

"That’s right. I heard they split up after a civil war."

[Tsk, tsk. Old habits die hard, it seems they finally went and caused a grand disaster.]

Cain clicked his tongue.

Judging by his reaction, a similar climate must have existed even back in Cain’s era.

As time passed, extremism ran rampant, eventually leading to the race splitting apart.

’Hearing this, are elves inherently toxic assholes?’

This was Cain, who was widely known to the world as noble.

His personal demeanor felt like a neighborhood uncle, but regardless, his noble status remained unchanged.

Seeing even someone like him bash elves for being suffocating gave me a rough idea.

’Mainly though, isn’t the Elf Queen remarkably open-minded rather than suffocating?’

The monarch who frequently popped up in conversations on the Gallery was none other than the Elf Queen.

A great figure who opened up Alfheim through enlightenment.

Furthermore, she captivated the hearts of her people with her brilliant speeches.

’Though the flaw is that she seems a little crazy in the head.’

Historically, humanity has been extremely sensitive about territorial boundaries.

But currently, Alfheim encroached on those territories every now and then, so there was no way people would say nice things about them.

The problem was that the elves were ridiculously strong. Historically, they were a race that stood shoulder to shoulder with the Demon Race.

If a race like that went wild while completely united, even if it was infuriating, nobody could easily protest against them.

"Would you like to smoke one?"

"Thank you."

Regardless, when I offered one to Ludwig, he gladly accepted.

Since he was a ’soldier’ before being a paladin, was tobacco something inseparable from him?

Soon after I struck a match and lit it for him, Ludwig took a deep, refreshing drag.

"Phew..."

The smoke exhaled from his mouth rose lazily and scattered into thin air.

As expected, smoking only looks cool when a cool guy does it; when Ludwig smoked, the aura was something else.

Although he had grown younger thanks to the Golden Apple, his beard was still lush and full.

It gave off the vibe of a battle-hardened veteran soldier taking a puff.

’Suits him perfectly.’

I didn’t bother smoking. I wasn’t a smoker originally, and I wasn’t feeling exhausted anyway.

[By any chance, could I get one puff as well?]

"How is a stone statue planning to smoke anything?"

Either way, after a brief rest, we finished our lunch.The source of this chapter is novelping dot com.

After lunch, we began formulating a full-scale exploration plan.

First, I considered visiting the areas I had previously explored.

I was familiar with them, but Ludwig wasn’t.

’Would it be better if we all moved in a big group?’

First of all, I was worried about whom I should bring along.

It was really ambiguous where I should assign Bbareumbo.

Unless I didn’t need to rely on Bbareumbo, I was still weak.

’Besides, if everyone goes, food will also be an issue...’

What if we all swarmed together and ran into a food shortage?

They already ate a lot, so if we got stranded, it would be the absolute worst.

Ultimately, dividing our numbers was essential. Let’s head to the previously visited areas first and think later.

"Mister, pack your gear."

"Understood."

"You guys stop playing around and let’s go too."

"Kkyuu!"

"Ppii!"

The first destination was the mandrake habitat.

I might need to feed them to the kids like tonic later, and they were essential items for crafting Elixirs.

It was about time to ask Starlight Lady to craft Elixirs, so I planned to harvest a few.

[Are you not taking me?]

"Just pretend to be a stone statue."

[How cold.]

"So, Cain-ssi, what can you actually do?"

[Cheer you on?]

"Are you a totem?"

What kind of Magikarp using ’Splash’ nonsense is that?

Maybe if he evolved later, but for now, Cain was just a weak little stone statue.

Still, he looked lonely, so I just brought him along. Whatever, he could just be an actual totem.

Afterwards, we all headed out in a crowd and arrived at the mandrake habitat.

And...

"Kkiyooooot!"

"Kkweeooork!"

We witnessed Mature Mandrakes engaging in a territorial dispute with each other.

It wasn’t just weird noises; they were genuinely brawling and beating each other up.

[Are those really mandrakes?]

"...Yes."

[But it’s throwing dropkicks? Even I have never seen that before.]

"I’m seeing it for the first time too."

Can we really eat those things?

It was right around the time Grylls was scanning his surroundings to begin a full-fledged exploration.

As the crisis in Eldorado gradually subsided, the international situation entered a period of stability, yet underlying anxiety still remained.

If one were to pick the most unstable place of all, Alfheim would be at the top of the list—the nation of elves and home to the World Tree.

Alfheim hadn’t erupted into a civil war or equivalent crisis like Eldorado.

It was simply that their movements were deeply suspicious. What was happening outside was far more concerning than what was inside.

Other nations were keeping a close eye on it as well, but because Alfheim was so quiet, there were no tangible results.

Even when a few countries occasionally provoked them, Alfheim merely brushed it off leisurely.

"So, have all the experiments concluded?"

"Yes! That is correct! The energy source replicating the core is stable, and the prototype’s movements are proceeding exactly as desired."

"Good. Very good."

But as someone once said: crouching down was merely to build momentum for a leap.

At the secretary’s words, the ruler of Alfheim—that is, the Elf Queen—exclaimed.

"Prepare an immediate national address for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, Your Majesty?"

"Yes. Now that all preparations are complete, it is time to announce our awakening."

The Queen of Alfheim, Elia, declared.

"Make Alfheim Great Again!"

A sleeping giant had awakened.