I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 793

Because Grylls spent so much time hunting for World Trees day in and day out, there was a fact easily forgotten.

By the standards of the outside world, the World Tree existed exclusively in Alvenheim.

It could never be found anywhere else, which was precisely why Alvenheim was treated as a sort of holy sanctuary.

There were even sayings that the only reason the Elves were tolerated despite committing all sorts of public nuisances was thanks to the World Tree.

One might argue that World Trees were scattered all over the Forest of the Four Seasons, but that was something possible only because it was the Forest of the Four Seasons.

The Elves revere the World Tree as a sacred tree, and it wasn’t as if they hadn’t attempted to plant them in various places.

However, even when planted, they did not grow well and only desolated the surrounding environment, forcing them to give up.

There was a reason why even Elia, the Elf Queen who was obsessed with tree planting, refrained from planting the World Tree.

’Yet this World Tree shows no signs of wilting at all. What on earth is going on?’

It was confusing.

No expression was more suitable than that to describe the current situation.

Why was a World Tree located here, instead of inside the Forest of the Four Seasons?

Moreover, how could a World Tree—a total mana-devouring hippo—grow perfectly fine under a mountain?

The blossoming questions were far from just one or two, and the repercussions that would follow if this fact were revealed were equally concerning.

"They’ll raise a storm in Alvenheim, won’t they?"

"Wouldn’t Alvenheim try to hide it instead? It could damage their own legitimacy, after all."

"Now that I, the Hero, have found out, doing even that will be tricky for them."

If the Elves had found it first, it might be a different story, but these were two individuals of high international stature.

They had no choice but to be careful due to the weight carried by every single word they spoke.

"This really is a World Tree, right?"

"It’s my first time seeing a World Tree in person too, so..."

"You’re the Hero, and it’s your first time seeing a World Tree?"

"I was driven out the moment I was appointed as Hero."

"Ah. I’m sorry."

They exchanged small banter to lighten the heavy atmosphere, but it only grew more awkward.

Asella offered an embarrassed smile and looked back at the World Tree.

Following that, she hesitated slightly before slowly reaching out and placing her hand against the World Tree.

Ash also watched her action and took a couple of steps back just in case something happened.

"..."

Even when she placed her hand on it, no reaction occurred.

Only the distinct, fragrant scent of the World Tree washed over her.

Asella felt the mana inside become denser than before and pulled her hand back.

She thought there might be a change like what happened with Grylls, but that wasn’t the case either.

"...It seems there isn’t much we can do right now."

"Are you going to make this public?"

"Since Ash-nim saw it as well, of course I have to. However... it’s true that I’m worried about Alvenheim’s reaction."

Currently, the internal political situation in Alvenheim was extremely complicated.

The faction waiting for the reinstatement of the Elf Queen, and the Senate faction arguing how they could possibly wait until then.

The Senate was still holding the helm, but intelligence reports kept trickling in that even the Senate was suffering from severe internal conflict.

If the existence of a World Tree were to be revealed in this situation... there was no telling what might happen.

"Isn’t Mountain casting greedy eyes on this brewery?"

"Beyond casting greedy eyes, they revere it as a Holy Land. As you saw earlier... ah, you wouldn’t have seen it. At any rate, they even recruit artisans nationwide just to be evaluated by Jinro-nim."

The situation had become damn convoluted all because of a single World Tree.

There was only one clear way to resolve this.

Requesting Grylls to determine whether this World Tree was real or fake.

To be precise, obtaining Lucas’s direct testimony.

’It would be better to ask this slowly.’

Currently in the Forest of the Four Seasons—strictly speaking, at Grylls’s shelter—it was winter.

She wanted to ask for help only after winter had completely passed at the very least.

Of course, if it were Grylls, he would gladly accept even if asked now, but it was no different from being a nuisance.

What’s more, without Cheongseol around during winter, he would have no choice but to travel on his own two feet.

In other words, he would have to bring Lackey along, which was also impolite.

"It seems best to conceal it as much as possible for now. Ash-nim, you too..."

"I will keep my mouth shut as well, so you don’t need to worry."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Of course, even though Ash said that...

[Sword Matstar: (Photo of the World Tree installed in the brewery) Honey? Can you see the photo?]

[Wild Grylls: Huh?]

[Wild Grylls: What’s that? Did I take a photo like that?]

[Sword Matstar: Most surprisingly, it’s a World Tree installed in Lucas’s Brewery.]

...she did not forget to report directly to Grylls right away.

This was because she had no idea that Asella was Orange Badge, Don’t Abandon the Hero.

Of course, since Selena had given her advice before, she had a rough guess, but she didn’t care much.

Because this fact was quite important to Grylls as well. It wasn’t just because of simple political risk.

[Wild Grylls: That was in the brewery? What the? World Trees aren’t supposed to be that common, right?]

[Sword Matstar: It might be common in the Forest of the Four Seasons, but in the outside world there’s only one tree lol]

[Wild Grylls: Hm. What gives? Alright, got it for now. I’ll ask Lucas.]

[Sword Matstar: Thanks for granting my favor even though spending winter must be tough.]

[Wild Grylls: It’s nothing. By the way, are you going to keep calling me honey?]

[Sword Matstar: You don’t like it? You can call me honey too.]

[Wild Grylls: I’m pretty naive when it comes to stuff like that, so I’m bad at it.]This chapter is updated first at no‌velping.com.

[Sword Matstar: If you call me that, I can send you a nice picture, you know? hehe]

[Wild Grylls: There are plenty of nice photos on the Gallery nowadays anyway?]

[Sword Matstar: Mine is home-made handicraft hehe]

[Wild Grylls: HAHAHAHAHAHA]

At the joke "home-made handicraft"—which was shocking in many ways—Grylls burst out laughing.

Ash too, if not for Asella standing beside her, would have laughed like an idiot.

Exchanging lighthearted jokes while aware of each other’s identities like this.

For Ash, who had no lover nor even a friend to share her heart with, it brought a sense of happiness and satisfaction all at once.

[Wild Grylls: Can I call you noona instead of honey?]

[Sword Matstar: Why would someone older than me say something like that? Feel free to just call me honey lol]

[Wild Grylls: I don’t think I can do that here lol;;]

Couldn’t do it here, huh? Did that mean he would do it in real life then?

Ash formed a deep smile. It was probably because Orange Badge was watching.

As mentioned time and again, offline meetups in real life were strict grounds for a ban.

’I should be satisfied with this.’

It was just when they were exchanging warm, friendly words.

Sensing an inexplicably hot gaze, she looked to her side, and what do you know?

Asella was staring at Ash with a mysterious expression.

Because she was someone who usually walked around smiling, it even gave off an inexplicable chill.

"...Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It’s just that you look beautiful when you’re focused?"

"Ayy. That’s not something the Hero-nim should be saying."

At Asella’s silly-sounding joke, Ash waved her hand.

In truth, Asella was a thoroughly beautiful woman as well.

Exchanging compliments like that, they stepped out of the power generator room.

There were still many places to look around, and they also had to inspect the storage room, the most important space in the brewery.

"Woah... All of this in here is alcohol, right?"

"Wouldn’t it be?"

And the moment they entered the storage room, the two had no choice but to gasp in admiration.

While the distillery wasn’t particularly large, the storage room that housed various liquors was remarkably vast.

If Dwarves had seen it, wouldn’t they have shed tears of overwhelmed joy?

Right around the time the two were looking all around the storage room...

"Hm? There’s a box here?"

Ash discovered a stack of boxes in a secluded corner of the storage room.

They were cardboard boxes, ones that had not yet been opened.

Normally, opening them recklessly was forbidden, but curiosity was impossible to suppress.

In the first place, Asella opened a cardboard box first, so Ash followed suit and opened one too.

"This is..."

"A lunchbox... perhaps?"

And what came out of it was none other than...

"To call it a lunchbox, it seems to have liquid inside..."

It was a Yukgaejang meal kit that someone had stocked for drinking snacks.

"Well, it’s definitely past its expiration date."

"Since at least several thousand years have passed."

And a meal kit whose expiration date had lapsed by thousands of years, at that.

It was a time span long enough that the moment one ate it as a snack, they themselves might age just as much.

Meaning even their bones could be neatly decomposed. In fact, it was practically equivalent to poison.

Under normal circumstances, disposing of it was the right move, but it could be used conveniently for research purposes.

Right on cue, she knew someone who lived and died for research.

’Kadir-nim would probably love this, right?’

Of course, all of this had to be reported to Grylls.

Just as Asella logged into the Gallery to send a message to Grylls...

[Sword Matstar: (Photo of Yukgaejang meal kit) Honey. I found something like this in the storage room, do you know what it is?]

[Wild Grylls: It looks like a meal kit?]

[Sword Matstar: What’s a meal kit?]

[Wild Grylls: You can think of it as convenient, easy-to-eat food. That looks like Yukgaejang. Is it for drinking snacks?]

[Sword Matstar: Then it would be convenient for supplies too?]

[Wild Grylls: Rather than that, there were separate things called combat rations. Didn’t you have something similar back when you were active, Sword Matstar-nim?]

[Sword Matstar: We had tasteless combat rations. But they were high in calories, so they were decent.]

Was she not reporting to Grylls faster than anyone else?

What’s more, the vibe of their conversation was unusual—it was subtly sweet and flirty.

It felt almost like vividly watching the firsthand accounts of people having an in-office romance posted on the Gallery.

Even if one pretended otherwise on the surface, the tenderness contained within could not be hidden.

’Whew. Calm down. Getting jealous over something like that... it’s pathetic.’

An unpleasant emotion crept up, but she suppressed it with superhuman patience.

If Ash knew her fixed handle, it might be one thing, but she was doing that because she was entirely in the dark, wasn’t she?

To direct her attention elsewhere, Asella thoroughly inspected other areas besides the storage room.Get faster updates on novelping . com.

However, as if to prove it was a brewery built secretly behind the back of the Sovereign—that is, the Chief God—there was nothing noteworthy.

’Planting a World Tree in a roughly constructed brewery... Gods truly are amazing.’

Having thus fully explored the brewery...

"Hero-nim. Since we’re here anyway, would you like to have a drink?"

"Um... sounds good. But doesn’t Ash-nim hardly get drunk even when drinking alcohol?"

"That’s exactly why I’m suggesting we drink."

Asella accepted her offer so that Ash couldn’t do anything unnecessary.

As mentioned before, during the winter season, I planned to stay home for the most part.

I had lived that kind of life up until now, and recently I was so busy running the bathhouse that I barely had time to blink.

However, because of the news I received from Ash, I had no choice but to hurriedly head toward Lucas’s flagship.

Outside the Forest of the Four Seasons, there was only a single World Tree located in Alvenheim.

Even if it was a brewery created directly by Lucas, the emergence of a new one was quite a serious matter.

Therefore, I rushed to find Lucas, and was able to reach the flagship heavily piled with snow.

"Why am I..."

"You didn’t have anything better to do either."

"Honestly, I feel like Master running on his own two feet would be faster than this helicopter."

"Too bothersome."

Since Cheongseol had been taken away by her mother, I used the helicopter.

Lackey, who had been dragged out while idling about, grumbled, but it was lightly ignored as an extra.

Before long, I found Lucas and explained the whole situation.

As always, Lucas, who listened quietly to my story while sipping a canned beer, said:

[Ah. That? That’s just a replica. Am I crazy to plant a real World Tree there?]

"As expected, it’s not a real World Tree, right?"

[Even if it’s not the real thing, it is a species close to a lower-tier version.]

I didn’t know whether to consider it a relief or worry about the fact that it was a related species.

It was a consolation that I could calm things down to some extent in the future.

[Ah, right. Speaking of that bow you found.]

It was just when I was about to leave after sharing various small talk.

As if remembering something, Lucas called out to stop me.

"What about my bow?"

[What was it... Ah, right. Was there really only a single bow in the charnel house?]

Out of nowhere, a question asking if there was only a bow in the Chief God’s tomb.

Upon hearing that question, I tilted my head in confusion, then nodded soon after.

Because inside the Chief God’s repository, only a single bow was left sitting alone.

[Strange. Then where did the other weapons Sovereign-nim used go?]

"Didn’t Aris use them?"

[That’s not it. Like the bow, they were mana-devouring monsters that only Sovereign-nim could use. Normally, they should have been buried together in the tomb... Did Aragon take them?]

The possibility was high. However, it wasn’t as if there were no baffling points.

There was knowledge Allfather had shared before, that a demonic sword that drained mana once existed.

The so-called ’Gluttony’ blade, which appeared at one point and was said to have been discarded into a volcano due to its ferocious performance.

"Is its form a sword by any chance?"

[To be precise, it had various forms. Sovereign-nim simply used them in the right place at the right time.]

"There must be a basic form, right?"

[The basic form was a banner spear. The flag fluttering from that banner spear served as the focal point.]

A banner spear. I nodded.

It certainly wasn’t an incomprehensible choice.

Even in medieval times, a person holding a banner spear was extremely important.

It was easy to rally allies scattered by intense fighting, and it intimidated the enemy, among other things.

It boasted such a heavy status that they even assigned bodyguards to protect it.

’Then maybe the one stuffed in the volcano isn’t it?’

Since he said the basic form was a banner spear, I wasn’t so sure beyond that.

At any rate, it wasn’t urgent right now, so it could be brushed aside.

After sharing various conversations with Lucas, I returned home.

There was an unexpected waste of time, but while I was away, Elia would surely be running the bathhouse.

"...Could you explain what on earth this situation is?"

The problem was that she operated it in an utterly bizarre fashion.

As everyone knew, right next to the bathhouse was the guest lodge.

Firing up the fireplace there to let them savor the warmth.

Because of this, there were many guests sleeping there, and here Elia had committed an eccentric act.

"I’m giving them cucumber packs, though?"

"No."

Why are you giving them cucumber packs?

And why are the guests submissively receiving the cucumber packs?

"Ahhhh~ Ahhh~ Ahhhh~"

And why did you place the Jukebox Mimic here and play classical music?

Words I wanted to say welled up right to my throat, but I barely managed to hold them back.

"Muo-o-o."

"Master. It’s saying it really likes it here."

"...Sure. Do whatever you want."

If they liked it, that was enough.