I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 676

Whether in the past or the present, the place where nations clash the most is always the border.

In particular, countries that have been bitter enemies since the past tend to have more conflicts, and it is not uncommon for them to throw provocations at each other from time to time.

This was the case for El Dorado (the Holy Kingdom) and Mephisto in the past, and even after signing a peace treaty, a lingering sense of anxiety remained.

Fortunately, both nations had withdrawn their armies. In that sense, it was safe to say that peace had arrived.

Title) Isn’t it normal to deploy troops along the border?

I’m a citizen of the Holy Kingdom, and I’m asking because I genuinely don’t know.

ㄴ Deploying troops along the border usually means they are in the middle of a war, or right on the verge of one;;

ㄴ If cavalry or knight orders push in, most of the soldiers deployed along the border will get wiped out;;

As such, unless it is war, deploying an army along the border is extremely rare.

In that sense, the actions of the Elf Queen, Elia, who led the Ghost Ship to the border, had a massive ripple effect.

Although it was revealed that the Ghost Ship was not built for combat, as a legacy of the gods, its inherent combat capability was still outstanding.

For Mountain, whose nerves were already on edge due to the location of Lucas’s Brewery, this was bound to come as a shocking surprise.

"How is Mountain reacting?"

"The majority are asking if we want to go to war right now. However, they are surprisingly cautious."

"Of course they are. If they wage a war right now, it will delay their search for the brewery."

The public was busy openly cursing, saying that Elia had finally lost her mind!

However, for Mountain, the party directly involved, it was highly perplexing, and they had no choice but to lay low until the brewery was found.

If, by some chance, the brewery was discovered within Alfheim, Mountain would be the one at a disadvantage.

Of course, they might gain international support due to the bad karma Alfheim had accumulated, but even that wouldn’t be easy.

"The Holy Kingdom will try to mediate, but it’s really just empty words. I hear they are slowly moving to elect a new Pope."

"Furthermore, attention is highly likely to shift toward the Martial Arts Tournament being held in the Central Plains."

"Exactly. If we exploit that gap well, smooth negotiations will be possible."

There wasn’t much time left until the Heavenly God Tournament.

From the perspective of the Central Plains, or more precisely, the Demonic Cult, they wouldn’t want to lose the public’s attention.

Therefore, there was a high probability they would use various events to draw focus.

If they navigated cleverly each time, they would make great progress in the negotiations.

’We also cannot rule out the possibility that the brewery is in Mountain rather than Alfheim.’

That was another reason why Mountain was hesitating.

If the brewery was within their own territory, they wouldn’t need to agree to negotiations in the first place.

They only knew it was near the Prime Forge, but lacked detailed information.

But, due to the nature of the legacies of the gods, they would need a steady supply of ’energy’ just to maintain their current state.

The entity supplying that energy was highly likely to be the World Tree. That was why they speculated it would be within Alfheim’s territory.

’They must also know that the Ghost Ship’s inherent combat power isn’t that high.’

There were already two crashed Ghost Ships. One in Mephisto’s territory, and the other in Setan.

They resisted, but when pushed with overwhelming firepower, they were utterly helpless. In reality, the Ghost Ship was an industrial vessel, not a combat one.

It possessed a basic self-defense system, but it was exactly that and nothing more.

"Now! Everyone, board the ship! It is time to go on an inspection and show off the prestige of Alfheim!"

Elia commanded the Senate elders and her close aides in an energetic voice.

Since her judgment itself was not wrong but rather correct, they had no choice but to board.

Besides, saying they had "no choice" was just talk; in reality, they were looking forward to it a little.

No matter how old and conservative they had become, boarding a Ghost Ship that floated in the sky was always an exciting prospect.

"I wonder when our Alfheim will be able to learn this technology..."

"Elves are a great race, so it will be possible in no time. Hohoho."

As soon as they boarded the Ghost Ship, the Senate elders began spouting trivial nonsense.

There were even elves flattering those Senate elders.

"Don’t you think so as well, Elf Queen-nim?"

"Of course. If the elves unite and develop our technological prowess in the future, it will be fully possible."

There were elves flattering Elia as well, and she responded with a smile.

On the surface, it was incredibly harmonious, but Elia’s actual thoughts were a bit different.

’In no time? This is a difficult technology even across several generations. It might be impossible until the day I die.’

Elia was realistic. Although she possessed the typical elven chosen-people complex and superiority, her perspective was very broad.

Even by elven standards, it would take several generations just to grasp a clue of the Ghost Ship’s technology.

One might think it would be easy to dismantle the Ghost Ship and reverse-engineer it, but being able to reverse-engineer it in the first place meant possessing a level of technology that was one step higher.

’On the other hand, the Dwarves have highly advanced technology. They probably know much more about the Ghost Ship’s technology than we do.’

She had to target this. Mountain’s technology was advancing day by day anyway.

Moreover, hadn’t Grylls’s exploits demonstrated the pinnacle of technology?

Though they were a race that lived and died for alcohol, Dwarves were still Dwarves.

They would pose a massive threat to Alfheim in the future, so she had to narrow the gap.Read this novel at no⁠velping.com for the best experience.

’The moment they reach a technological singularity, a great crisis will fall upon Alfheim.’

Through Grylls’s adventures, Elia had roughly grasped what kind of history the ancient gods had gone through.

Among those, there was an important point: at some point, technology had advanced at an explosive rate.

Although the gods had destroyed themselves due to excessive advancement, that was closer to an unexpected side effect of progress.

’I was startled when those giant chunks of iron suddenly appeared.’

This world would not be much different. Technology would accumulate and accumulate, and then explode in development at some point.

Elia decided to focus on this aspect and somehow extract benefits from Mountain.

Well, planting trees was a task she had been steadily carrying out since before. She had just gained more momentum now.

"By the way, Queen-nim."

"Yes. Speak."

"Are you not going to hold a wedding, Queen-nim?"

One of the Senate members asked with an innocent expression. At that question, Elia flinched, which was rare for her.

Her characteristic confident smile remained, but she couldn’t quite hide her fluster.

And the jackals were not about to miss this. One of the Senate elders seized the opportunity.

"Come to think of it, I am curious. Is there perhaps no man who catches your eye?"

"I happen to have a great-grandson, what do you think of him?"

"My grandson as well..."

Elia did her best to keep her smile.

Marriage was a weapon the Senate frequently used to pressure her.

And of course, it was because they wanted a political marriage. It was a calculation to somehow share and consume power.

"I am sorry, but I am one with Alfheim, you know? It is rude to make such a request of someone who is already taken."

"Such talk is..."

"Are you disregarding my chastity?"

When she brought up her chastity, the attacking Senate had no choice but to back down.

In fact, Elves are not strict about chastity and are rather loose. On the contrary, the Demon Race is stricter about chastity than anyone else.

Didn’t someone make a joke on the Gallery before? The rumor that old maid Elves who missed their marriageable age kidnap human men to make them their husbands.

This was not a joke, but something that actually happened frequently. Amusingly, most of the kidnapped human men ended up living happily.

So, while rumors abounded, no one actually expressed dissatisfaction, so it passed without much issue.

Also, Elves had a conscience, so if the other party refused, they often let them go quietly. If a human man resisted, both sides would lose.

Then, are there rarely cases where male Elves kidnap human women? It was safe to say there were almost none.

’Why on earth is the gender ratio of Elves so unbalanced? Did the gods play a prank?’

The gender ratio of Elves was extremely unstable. It was heavily skewed toward females.

This included not only Elves but also Dark Elves. At least polygamy was allowed over there, but not in Alfheim.

’It’s only forbidden in words; in reality, everyone tends to keep separate lovers.’

It was truly a complicated culture.

Since the Demon Race was said to have a slightly higher proportion of males, it seemed extremes met.

’But it would be best to think about marriage slowly.’

She just hated being dragged along by the Senate’s wishes; she hadn’t completely dismissed the idea of marriage itself.

It was just that there was no man she liked, so she kept postponing it. For now, she only planned to think about it.

Buuuung—

The Ghost Ship advanced toward the border at high speed.

Elia watched the Senate faction busy chatting and enjoying themselves on deck, then moved her steps.

The place she walked toward was the captain’s cabin. More precisely, the space where the AI was installed.

"May-ssi."

[Speak, Contractor.]

"How much longer until the border?"

[Arrival is expected within the next 10 minutes.]

The steel doll moved its mouth and spoke in a unique voice. It was the master of the Ghost Ship and the legacy of the gods, the AI.

Usually, she obtained tree-planting know-how through her. Conversely, Alfheim was steadily tracking the location of the Mothership.

They only knew the Mothership was in the Forest of the Four Seasons, but nothing beyond that, so it was practically permanent.

’As long as we don’t enter the Forest of the Four Seasons, there won’t be any problems.’

It was practically close to a fraudulent contract, but Elia didn’t care.

What wouldn’t she do for Alfheim?

If the Holy Kingdom found out about this, they would have protested fiercely. But there is a saying:

It’s an assassination if there are no witnesses. If the victim of a scam doesn’t know they’re being scammed, it’s just a normal contract.

The AI only had the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, but it was difficult for it to uncover hidden truths.Follow the newest chapters on novelping dot com.

"Great. Ah, the Forest of the Four Seasons is at the border, so you must not enter it. Understood?"

[Understood.]

Elia repeatedly warned just in case. It was a fact Grylls had told her before.

The moment they entered the Forest of the Four Seasons, the Ghost Ship would immediately rush toward the damaged Mothership.

If that happened, part of Elia’s plan would go awry. Of course, it wouldn’t completely derail, so it was fine.

After some time passed, the Ghost Ship arrived at the border, and they planned to wait for the Dwarves’ reaction.

"Queen-nim. Surely, waiting until they arrive is..."

"I am going to wait, though?"

"This wasn’t in the plan, was it?"

"I said it was an inspection, an inspection. Surely, I must sacrifice myself for the warriors suffering at the border!"

"...."

At Elia’s innocent reply, the Senate ultimately had no choice but to disembark.

Just as Elia was also about to disembark from the Ghost Ship.

Wiiiiing!

Suddenly, an alarm began to blare from the Ghost Ship.

Elia was startled by the alarm and couldn’t help but freeze.

"W-What is that sound?"

In her panic, her mind went blank for a moment. That was Elia’s mistake.

No, rather than a mistake, it was closer to an unexpected variable.

But she committed an even worse mistake: instead of disembarking immediately, she entered the captain’s cabin.

Naturally, it was to ask May what was going on.

"May! What on earth is—"

"Mothership location tracking complete."

"...Pardon?"

An ominous reply returned. Tracking the location of the Mothership.

Just as Elia’s mind went blank at those words, the Ghost Ship moved abruptly.

The direction of movement was... precisely toward the Forest of the Four Seasons. Elia could not understand.

She had clearly been faithful to Grylls’s advice and had not entered the Forest of the Four Seasons, so what was happening?

’C-Could it be because the forest opened up...?’

This was no time for this. Elia urgently decided to disembark from the Ghost Ship.

However, another problem erupted: the contract she had made with the Ghost Ship.

[Where are you going, Contractor?]

"There was no mention of entering the Forest of the Four Seasons!"

[You contracted to find the Mothership with me. Therefore...]

Wiiiiing!

Countless wires appeared in the captain’s cabin. The moment Elia saw those wires, she immediately drew up her mana.

Or rather, she tried to.

"My mana...!"

It was just that she couldn’t draw it up because they had already entered the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Flustered, Elia tried to break through physically, but the captain’s cabin had already been blocked off.

Elia struggled with all her might to break through the door, but she was already like a rat in a trap.

[Make your choice.]

The AI, May, spoke in a dry, mechanical voice.

[Whether to fulfill the contract, or face the appropriate consequences.]

At that threat, Elia could only stand dumbfounded.

’...Oh, gods.’

She had no choice but to look for someone who would be in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Meanwhile, Grylls, who was spending the winter in the Forest of the Four Seasons...

"Hey, hey. Cheongseol-ah. I told you, you have to eat this."

"Ppaeeeaek!"

"No, no. You have to eat this to grow big and strong."

"Ppaeeeaeeek!"

"Why, you little...!"

He was fully occupied with bickering with Cheongseol, who was throwing a tantrum over her food.