I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 694

The Elf Queen’s remarks briefly tempted me with some wicked thoughts, but I suppressed them. After all, she was the ultimate goal of this expedition.

Besides, this was a somewhat expected situation. It was the madness of the Elf Queen, who planted trees even after entering the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Of course, it wasn’t something I could just sigh and gloss over. She would have to live at my house from now on, and if she couldn’t suppress that madness, she might cause an accident.

"It’s nothing like that. I rescued you because I needed you, and I won’t do as you wish. Especially not planting trees."

I spoke politely, but there was firmness in my voice.

I didn’t come here to plant trees, so there was no reason to listen to her.

If the Elf Queen had ignored my words even after hearing them, it would have been a headache, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

"Yes! I will do that!"

"...Are you serious?"

"It is the command of the Chief God-nim, and besides, haven’t you already completed planting trees, Chief God-nim?"

"When did I...."

I was about to ask when I had ever planted trees, but stopped myself. The World Tree growing so well at my house came to mind.

It was something I received from a fixed-nick user who possessed madness no less than the Elf Queen’s, and it had been of immense help so far.

It was hard to flatly deny it, and it wasn’t just any ordinary tree, but the World Tree.

"There have been many times when World Tree saplings were planted, but historically, there has never been a case where it was grown as perfectly as you did, Grylls-nim. And..."

"Yes, yes. I get it. I get it, so let’s get to work first."

"Yes!"

She is quite obedient. I looked at the sparkling-eyed Elf Queen, Elia, and then lowered my gaze.

Perhaps because she was kidnapped by the Ghost Ship while performing her duties as the Elf Queen.

As mentioned earlier, she was wearing a flimsy, flowing dress, making it awkward to look anywhere.

The dress itself wasn’t particularly provocative, but Elia’s body was, which made it stand out even more.

"Are you cold?"

"I’m not cold! Huljjeok!"

I can hear you sniffing. I sighed and handed my cold-weather gear over to Elia.

While I could manage my body temperature through mana circulation, Elia probably couldn’t.

She looked deeply moved when I handed her the cold-weather gear, but only for a moment, as she suddenly began to sniff it.

Whether my face was rotting in real-time watching this or not, Elia spoke in a satisfied voice.

"It smells like nature...! And it also has the distinct minty scent of the World Tree!"

"Why would it smell like..."

I was so dumbfounded I was about to say something, but stopped. Why?

Because I remembered Lackey puffing away on World Tree Cigars all the way here.

If the scent had seeped in, it was perfectly understandable. However, sniffing it was a different story. It felt somewhat weird, so to speak.

Especially if Asella had witnessed this scene, she would have gone absolutely wild. It was a relief, if anything, that she wasn’t here.

"Sigh... Anyway, put that on and follow me. We’re not heading back immediately because there’s something I need to look for."

"Yes! Oh, and please speak informally to me! It feels burdensome when the Chief God, who is higher than me, speaks so formally."

"Sure. Got it. I’ll call you Elia from now on, okay?"

"Yes! Chief God-nim!"

"...You should also stop calling me Chief God-nim and just call me Grylls. Drop the ’-nim’."

She felt somewhat similar to Asella, yet different. Like Asella with an extra dose of madness added.

Still, it was quite comfortable since she didn’t blindly throw around her title as Queen and lowered herself on her own.

I knew that even when she was active as the Elf Queen, she was incredibly good at humbling herself when necessary.

This meant she was not only realistic but also very quick-witted. If not for that damn tree-planting obsession, she would have made an exceptionally outstanding leader.

"Master. That female is somewhat strange. Are all human females like that?"

"She’s the strange one. And she’s not a human, she’s an Elf. Don’t call her a female, call her a woman."

"Understood. I will call her Elf woman from now on."

"...Call her by her name."

Calling her "Elf woman" made it sound incredibly barbaric.

Well, given Lackey’s personality, and since it was probably his first time seeing a woman, I let it slide.

After asking Elia if she was cold, I approached the completely wrecked Ghost Ship.

Flames flared up here and there, but I easily extinguished them with cold energy.

"That is..."

"It’s the main body of the Ghost Ship."

On the way, we found an object that looked like a mechanical doll. Elia, beside me, mentioned it.

It originally seemed to be connected to numerous wires, but most of them appeared to have snapped when the Ghost Ship crashed.You are reading on NovelPing, the official source.

Judging by the occasional sparks, the power seemed to still be active. However, it was so utterly ruined that there was no need to salvage it.

"...."

Elia stared silently at the AI. She had a subtle expression, as if she had grown attached to it over time.

Indeed, even if it had kidnapped her, it was an entity that had provided great help before that, so she must be feeling complicated in many ways.

Just as I was about to let her pay her respects in her own way, a small murmur reached my ears.

"If I knew this would happen, should I have taken the saplings out beforehand...?"

"...."

Do you truly have no human heart? I lost my words at such a truly shocking remark.

If she was cold, she was cold, but this was a level where one could catch a glimpse of her madness.

Praying that her mindset wouldn’t be directed at me in the future, I moved my feet.

"Just in case, you’re not looking for saplings, are you?"

"Ah! How did you know? Don’t tell me, mind reading?"

"It’s because your actions are simple. Just simple."

I don’t know how every single principle of her actions is directly linked to tree planting.

Of course, because the Ghost Ship crashed, the saplings couldn’t be found. Even if we did find them, they wouldn’t be in their proper state.

Elia was disappointed for a moment, but soon wore her characteristic optimistic expression.

She didn’t say it out loud, but I grew increasingly terrified of what on earth she was thinking.

[Our house won’t be quiet from now on.]

"It was always noisy anyway."

[It will get even noisier from now on.]

"Sigh... I miss Ahjussi Ludwig."

It wasn’t a lie; I meant it. I missed Ludwig, who was always taciturn and just did his job.

But Ludwig had already gone outside and was happily spending the rest of his life with his family.

Besides, since he even had a grandchild now, how could I ask him to come back? That would be utterly shameless.

"B-But why are we entering the Mechanical Kraken?"

"To search and destroy it. This thing might come to our house again."

"Nipping it in the bud. I understand."

It’s a relief she understands. Since she was the leader of a nation, she must know how important this task is.

’No, wait. If she did, she wouldn’t have planted trees on the border in the first place.’

Elia was a case of making enemies because of tree planting. Mountain, in particular, suffered great damage.

Of course, it might also be because Alfheim and Mountain were always at each other’s throats anyway.

Amused by the utterly unpredictable Elia, I chuckled involuntarily and entered the interior of the Mechanical Kraken.

Since it had landed on the ground and its entrance was openly exposed, entering was not difficult.

"Wow... I don’t know what it is, but there are so many complicated things!"

Elia shouted with sparkling eyes, like a child visiting an amusement park for the first time.

As for my companions and me, having already explored the interior of Lucas’s flagship, we weren’t particularly amazed.

We simply went on high alert because we had entered the body of the Mechanical Kraken. Even though it had stopped functioning, there was no telling what might happen.

[Free!!! Dom!!!]

The core’s movement quickened. We moved in the direction the core was heading.

I wanted to search thoroughly, but since we couldn’t afford to waste time here, we planned to visit only the crucial spots.

After all, even if we looked at other places, we would hardly understand anything. We would just remove the Mechanical Kraken’s core and return.

"Is this... something like the captain’s cabin?"

"It’s incredibly spacious!"

We finally arrived at the Mechanical Kraken’s captain’s cabin. Rather than a captain’s cabin, it looked like a massive command center.

Panels that looked complicated at a glance were laid out, and in the center, a tube filled with green culture fluid was visible.

’The core is in there.’

Inside the culture fluid, the core floated around. It was moving here and there like a living octopus.

I realized someone had been consistently maintaining it. I didn’t know who that was yet.

Therefore, I decided to thoroughly search if any records were left here.

’Don’t tell me Aris is going to show up again?’

Every time I searched for records so far, Aris had always appeared.

Most of those encounters didn’t end well, and I was slightly worried if this Kraken would be similar.

To check the records before that, we would have to activate this Kraken, which made me hesitate.

"Hmm...."

[....]This story is hosted at novelping dot com.

"Mmm...."

[...What are you staring at like that?]

I was wondering if we could activate it by dropping Cain into the culture fluid instead of the core.

When I stared at him that way, Cain let out a hollow laugh and offered some realistic advice.

[...There’s no telling what will happen the moment it activates. If things go wrong, the Mechanical Kraken might run wild.]

"Then that’s a shame."

I couldn’t take that risk. Instead, I searched for records as much as possible.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any significant records, but it wasn’t completely empty.

Ttalkkak!

Perhaps because I had searched through so many divine ruins.

Even though it took some time, I found the record playback button and played it immediately.

Though it was too heavily damaged to move, the power itself seemed to be flowing, and the stored record was played.

Paaat!

Soon, a hologram unfolded, revealing a familiar face.

I had my suspicions, but my prediction was right on the mark again. It was Aris, a face that was now familiar.

However, Aris’s condition didn’t look very good; the armor she usually wore was utterly ruined.

There were even large and small wounds carved all over her body, showing just how many battles she had fought.

[Tsk, tsk... I told you to take it easy.]

In front of her was a man thoroughly inspecting her physical condition.

Intriguingly, he wasn’t an ordinary human but looked like a Beastfolk—specifically, a person with a lot of hair all over his body.

[...The Teacher has finally entered eternal rest, so I must endure at least this much.]

[I also agree that he should rest in peace. But can he truly rest in peace? When the kids who were like his own children are fighting to the death.]

[What my oppa is trying to do is also filial impiety. That is what I was taught.]

[Love returns in different forms, indeed.]

The hairy man spoke as he personally treated Aris.

Pouring a liquid presumed to be an Elixir onto her wounds, or even performing surgery himself if necessary.

But perhaps realizing that Aris’s physical condition was beyond hope, he let out a deep sigh.

[If you keep going like this, you won’t be able to live or die. Do nothing for the time being and get some proper rest.]

[I cannot. While I am resting....]

[Are you talking back when I, the doctor, say so?]

[....]

[You also have excellent regenerative abilities, so your body will recover just by resting well. So just decide where you want to rest.]

Sensing that she couldn’t override the doctor’s opinion, Aris looked at the hairy man and asked.

[...Alpha-ssi.]

[Speak.]

[What are you going to do, Alpha-ssi?]

[I’ll live my life treating animals as always. Leaving this ship to do as it pleases, too.]

[Where will you go, Alpha-ssi?]

[I’m going to go outside and live. Shouldn’t I start spending the rest of my days, too?]

Alpha. The progenitor of the Beastfolk and their deity.

I had never heard that he was a doctor. I only knew him as someone with strange tastes.

[You should also take it easy and rest. Start a family, have children. That guy Aragon is bound to fail anyway.]

[....]

[There. Now that it’s all done, off you go.]

[...Thank you.]

As those words ended, the record also concluded.

It seemed Alpha was one of the deities who sided with Aris.

"Hmm... As expected, it seems Aris suffered a major injury. She must be resting somewhere by now."

[Seeing as she hasn’t been active until now, that’s for certain.]

I had obtained a crucial piece of information: Aris was in the middle of recovering from her injuries.

I didn’t know where she was, but if we could find her, it would be of immense help.

Having extracted all the information we could from the Mechanical Kraken, I looked around at my companions and said,

"Now, let’s go back home."

There was still a long journey ahead.