I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 821

The Elder had absorbed Morgan into his own body in an instant.

Having already seen numerous Manatology entities and knowing that the monsters in the fog existed, I wasn’t utterly shocked.

However, I had no choice but to raise my guard to the maximum, and I grew curious about his true intentions.

He should have been hiding his identity, yet he was revealing it so openly.

"...I am Grylls. This is Elia."

"I am Elia."

At my calm introduction, Elia bowed her head and greeted him.

Though she was shocked, she was trying her best to maintain her composure, fitting for the Elf Queen.

At that reaction, the Elder raised an eyebrow in surprise and replied.

"A calm reaction indeed. According to Miren, you must have seen the monsters in the fog?"

"Yes, we did."

"Do you not think of me as the same as those monsters?"

"Since you are capable of independent thought, you aren’t a monster."

In my heart, I wanted to tell him that he was just a monster wearing a human shell.

However, this was the home ground of Manatology, and there were too many secrets we hadn’t uncovered yet.

It was frustrating, but I had to win their favor to find out more.

"Hearing you say that pleases me. Most outsiders treated us as monsters."

Well, of course they did.

You devoured people in that horrific manner, so what else would you be if not a monster?

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero) Never trust a single word those bastards say!

ㄴHeavenly Demon) Haven’t you already killed plenty of those Manatology creatures, Benefactor?

ㄴSword Matstar) Honestly, they’re the type that Grylls-nim detests the most.

ㄴPrincess Chaenggu) Could you ask what golf is?

ㄴPassing Dwarf) You... seriously, haha.

ㄴPrincess Chaenggu) Because it seems like something nobles would enjoy, haha.

For a moment, Princess Chaenggu’s words crossed my mind, but I brushed them aside.

I decided not to pay attention to the Gallery comments for the time being.

"Doesn’t a grand cause always have its reasons?"

"A grand cause... That sounds like a mere pretext. We simply wish to live."

"..."

"To be precise, we want to live a bit more comfortably."

They want to live.

The characteristic ideology of Manatology came out of the Elder’s mouth.

Though he added the explanation of wanting to live better, the root of it was ultimately the survival instinct.

’Then why did they banish that gas mask guy?’

At the same time, the gas mask guy who had his name and memories stolen came to mind.

A being who was once an Elder but was now banished, wandering through the fog.

He possessed only a clear sense of purpose to achieve his goal, yet he was reduced to a wanderer.

’There must have been a conflict of opinions. I want to know what it was, but...’

Since it might touch a sore spot, I had to hold back for now.

I gathered various pieces of information while doing my best to humor the Elder.

"Large Field welcomes outsiders. Since this is an isolated area, various problems are bound to arise."

"What kind of problems?"

"Inbreeding, most notably."

ㄴAllfather) That is quite a realistic problem.

ㄴSmart Demon) The Demonic Cult once suffered from that problem as well. It has improved a lot now, though.

It is one of the biggest problems of isolated regions.

Unless people are brought in from the outside, such issues are bound to occur.

It’s a similar reason to why nomads welcome outsiders.

"I hear that you and your companion are strong enough to slay the monsters outside with a single strike..."

"It’s merely a trivial trick."

"Such trivial tricks are highly valuable to our Large Field. If possible, I hope you get along well here. If there is anything you need, we can support you."

To hear him speak, it sounded like an offer from a ruler who possessed both competence and generosity.

In reality, most of the outsiders who came here were ’survivors’ wandering aimlessly.

From the survivors’ perspective, a civilized world where they could settle down would be nothing short of perfect.

’But not for me.’

I already have a ’home’.

Large Field went beyond being civilized; it evoked nostalgia for my days on Earth, but its dark side was incredibly unsettling.

There was absolutely no competition to be seen, just people satisfied with eating and playing.

It looked like a utopia, but paradoxically, there was absolutely no progress to be seen.

"It is fine. I have a place I must return to."

"A place you must return to... Do you mean outside the Forest of the Four Seasons?"Follow the newest chapters on NovelPing.

"Yes."

It was half-truth and half-lie.

Though I would eventually go outside and settle down, there were too many secrets buried beneath the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Starting with finding the whereabouts of the Twin Gods, Aris and Aragon.

"Speaking of which, do you Elders have no intention of going outside the Forest of the Four Seasons? With this level of technology, it seems entirely possible..."

"We have not thought that far. Why would we grow greedy when we are satisfied with our life here?"

"You would be able to meet many more outsiders, though."

"How amusing. In the first place, is it even possible to leave the Forest of the Four Seasons?"

He hit the nail on the head. I was left speechless.

I was the anomaly; from their perspective, the Forest of the Four Seasons was a demonic realm itself.

Since it was a region one could absolutely never escape, that was extremely common sense.

I wanted to somehow make him spill his true intentions or secrets, but I was completely hopeless at this kind of thing.

At least Elia would be skilled at this kind of verbal sparring, but unfortunately, she didn’t have the initiative.

Since I had visited as the representative of our group, if things went wrong, the blame might fall on her.

"We have absolutely no intention of leaving this place. It is not difficult to make a living, after all."

"Come to think of it, Miren mentioned there is a separate building for raising livestock. How does it work?"

"It wouldn’t be bad for you to visit it directly."

So it wasn’t particularly a secret.

I wondered if it was some other kind of livestock pen, but it wasn’t at all.

Or perhaps, from their perspective, it was just something trivial.

Once I go back, I should look around here and there.

"By the way, you said there are five Elders in total. Do we need to meet the others?"

"Ah. There is no need. Meeting with us is more than enough."

"Are the opinions of the others not required?"

"They are not necessary for us."

"..."

The way he referred to himself had been awkward since earlier.

Normally, one would say ’I’, but this person kept repeating ’we’.

How should I put it? Since they were already connected as one, the individual subject of ’I’ seemed to have vanished.

"...I see. May I ask another question?"

"You may ask anything."

"You distort Aris as an evil god, and conversely, treat Aragon as a good god. Is there a reason for that? It is far too different from the outside world."

I wanted to ask him outright, ’Are you Manatology?’ but I suppressed it.

If I provoked him for no reason and caused trouble, it would become a massive headache.

"That story? To be honest... we do not know well either."

"You don’t know?"

"Indeed. We merely obtained such memories and ideologies."

"..."

Obtaining memories. This must also be one of the characteristics of Manatology.

However, the more I thought about it, the more differences there were between the ’Elders’ and typical Manatology.

Because Manatology usually involves people merging together like meatball clumps, often losing themselves in the process.

But the Elders had not lost their egos; rather, they accumulated knowledge and developed.

They showed such vastly different behavioral patterns that it was hard to make a definitive judgment.

"However, we remember this much clearly. We wanted to live."

"You wanted to live?"

"Yes. Did you see the wedge driven into the World Tree?"

Of course I did.

It was suspected to be the culprit that made the World Tree wither away, so how could I not look?

"Aris was the one who drove that wedge in. At least, as far as we remember."

"Aris did?"

I had my doubts, but to think Aris really drove it in.

What kind of weapon was it that a wedge could exert such an influence?

Just as I harbored such doubts, the Elder seemed to ponder for a moment, then muttered softly.

"Ah... Is that so... I understand."

"Hmm?"

"It wouldn’t hurt to show you."

How bizarre.

Muttering to himself was one thing, but when his eyes rolled back, it even felt chilling.

It seemed like he was talking to someone far away, and I instantly realized who it was.You are reading on novel‌ping.com, the official source.

’Are they connected through some kind of Khala?’

I didn’t really know what the capabilities of Manatology were.

After a brief thought, the Elder stood up from his seat and said to me.

"It is better to show you than to explain with words. Follow me."

Hearing that, I looked at Elia.

She also had a serious expression, as if she had realized they were plotting something.

At this, I discreetly handed her a bottle of Holy Water.

It was to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, a measure taken so we could escape at any moment.

Jeobeok— jeobeok—

Following behind the Elder, we eventually reached the basement.

The basement was on a much larger scale than the building’s interior, equipped with various facilities.

Just like a laboratory.

"This place is..."

"A laboratory we once used. Currently, we are using it for technology extraction."

What did he mean by ’once used’?

That question was brief, as following behind the Elder, we reached a space far wider than before.

And what was in that space...

"Th-this is..."

"A Dr-dragon...?"

It was a dragon.

Moreover, just like the Tyrant Dragon King Lazar last time, it was a dragon corpse with nothing but bones left.

However, the most important Dragon Heart was nowhere to be seen, as if they had sold it off somewhere.

"The ancestor mentioned by the villagers. It was also a test subject we used."

"A test subject?"

"We were attempting to resurrect the Chief God using the dragon’s powerful physical body."

The Elder spoke of it casually, as if it were a thing of the past.

However, the statement that they had used even a dragon as a test subject left me deeply shocked.

’Come to think of it, Gerdi...’

He said they had stabbed the faction taking the peaceful route in the back, but to think it was like this.

I gradually grasped the gravity of the situation as I listened to the Elder’s explanation.

"It was an experiment that was progressing smoothly. Especially since we even received the help of the grown World Tree, there was no issue with energy."

"..."

The gods had used the World Tree as a sort of generator.

If they used such a colossal World Tree as a generator, energy would have been no problem at all.

"The problem began with Aris’s raid. Once the wedge was driven in, the energy coming from the World Tree was reduced by over ninety percent."

"Ninety percent? You don’t mean ninety percent was usable, but that over ninety percent vanished?"

The Elder nodded grimly.

What on earth was the identity of that wedge that it could greedily suck dry even the energy of the colossal World Tree?

"In the end, we had no choice but to halt the experiment and take countermeasures. First and foremost was spreading the fog to set up defenses. After that, we became like this in order to survive."

"...Why did you tell us all of this?"

"Isn’t that obvious? It is to give you a choice. Decide."

Saying so, the Elder looked at us and spoke.

"Live here."

However, there was one thing they were gravely mistaken about.

"Or become one with us. I sincerely hope it is the former."

They knew absolutely nothing about me.

To this, I replied.

"...Understood. We will live here for the time being."

"A wise decision. I hope you live here not just for the time being, but from now on as well."

"I will think about it slowly. Ah, by the way. Do you happen to know a man named Gu-chil?"

"Gu-chil? Ah, do you mean that obedient outsider? He is quite a likable fellow."

Just how much brown-nosing did he do to be called likable?

"He boosts our self-esteem, after all. But why do you mention him?"

Well, he certainly had a reason to like him.

I chuckled inwardly and opened my mouth.

"I’d like to have a brief chat with him."

"Is he someone you know?"

I answered.

"He is my servant."

I wasn’t lying.