Game of the World Tree

What are these guys up to now?

She instinctively hugged her younger siblings close to her chest and looked at the approaching players with vigilance akin to a mother hen protecting her chicks.

However, their next behavior had completely caught her off guard. What she saw instead upon them arriving were their faces beaming with smiles as they looked upon her with sparkling eyes.

“Hello, Miss! How are you doing?”

“Milady, you must have suffered at the hands of those humans but fret not, for we are here to save you!”

“Tsk…really now, those evil humans even scared off these little children!”

“Oh…how miserable…”

“Surely you guys must be hungry after being locked up for so long, right?”

“Come, come! This uncle has some fresh fruits here, all produced in the Elven Forest and they taste great!”

“Want some candies? This big brother has some delicious honey candy for everyone!”

After saying all that, the players licked their faces and took out some berries they carried with them along with the sugar cubes they also made using honey.

They showed a smile that they thought looked kind and stuffed these sweet treats into the arms of each young elves.

Nightingale: “……”

Young elves: “……”

Although these guys had some good intentions and wanted to appear benevolent to these newcomers, alas their outer appearance—especially the blood stains from their earlier battle with the mercenaries, was still visible upon their clothes and faces, thus making them look more frightening despite their friendly behavior.

Additionally, some were also sporting a somewhat obscene smiles, which was both equally scary and nauseating, making anyone rather hesitant to get close to any of them.

Most of the young elves were quickly frightened by this, and the youngest girl even inadvertently cried out loud. They all then retreated in fear and quickly hid behind their big sister Nightingale.

Players: “……”

“O-Oi, Oi! Look at you guys, you just scared them!”

“Is it you? Geez, what kind of idiot would give someone a fruit at their first meeting? Heck, did you even wash your hands? Look, you still have bloodstains on them!”

“Hahaha! This dude just called himself ‘uncle’ Hahaha! It’s so funny man!”

“Oh god, you have so much blood on your face, stop laughing! It’s scary! No wonder you scared off those kids!”

“Pffft…hahaha! You’re laughing too! Haha…hahaha!”

“You’re still laughing? Just hurry up and wipe your face already idiot, otherwise the NPCs favorability rating will further drop.”

“Oh shiet…no…hahaha…even though I know I shouldn’t laugh like this but…hahaha…what should I do? Hahaha…”

Despite the newcomers reluctance to approach them, the players were still taking it in stride and were even joking amongst themselves.

Boxlunch: “…..”

Nightingale: “……”

Boxlunch’s eyes flickered slightly upon this sight. He remained silent for a moment, then swiftly moved before kicking each of his team member in the butt and said in a low vocal tone,

“Get up and clean your faces!”

Seeing their captain speak, his teammates shrunk their necks and awkwardly laughed before taking a few steps back to wipe their faces.

Meanwhile, Boxlunch also wiped the dried blood off his face and then returned to Nightingale’s side.

Those young elves further shrank back yet again subconsciously upon his approach.

Boxlunch: “…..”

He fell silent for a moment before saying, “We mean no harm.”

Nightingale looked at him in the eye for a second before shifting her gaze towards the rambunctious elves at the distance.

She then nodded reluctantly and finally smiled a little bit.

“Maybe…”

“Well, you can probably tell.”

‘Yeah, it’s just that the brains of those fellow clansmen of yours seemed a bit abnormal...’ She added within her mind.

After speaking, she couldn’t help but asking once more, “Are you really not bandits?”

Boxlunch: “…..”

He sighed and replied, “We are the chosen ones summoned by the goddess.”

“Goddess?”

Nightingale blinked as a stunned look etched upon her face.

What goddess?

Boxlunch didn’t elaborated but instead asked, “What are your plans for the future?”

“…Plans?”

Nightingale was slightly taken aback, then understood that he was asking about their plans for the future…

After a moment of silence, she tentatively spoke with a hint of uncertainty within her tone, “Perhaps… we might seek out a new hiding place.”

Her expression then turned somewhat gloomy as she continued,

“The place we hid before had been already been discovered by humans. I’m afraid we can’t go back there anymore. But…as long as we’re alive, I’m sure there’s still some hope for us.”

Boxlunch nodded thoughtfully after hearing this. He then pondered for a moment before asking,

“Then… why don’t you go home with us.”

“…Home?”

Nightingale was taken aback, as she gave him a wholly confused look.

“Where’s your home anyways?”

“The Elven Forest.” Boxlunch replied in a sure and concise manner.

“T-The Forest of the Elves!?”

Nightingale’s expression instantly froze. She then looked at Boxlunch as if he were a compete fool.

A brief tense moment had passed by and after confirming that he was really serious, the ashen-haired maiden then sneered before asking in return, “Why the hell would we even go there? Are we simply asking to be caught once again?”

She then added, “Who doesn’t know that the orcs are constantly watching the elven forest, waiting for an inexperienced lone elf to be caught by them…”

Her expression then became was somewhat despondent as she whispered,

“That place is no longer the home of the elves.”

No matter how powerful the world tree was in the past, in the end, it cannot protect them anymore with its current dying state…

Moreover, didn’t he already know what was happening within the elven forest? It was evident since he himself was caught by the smugglers near the vicinity of the elven forest mere days ago.

Nightingale let out a bitter sigh, feeling a surge of complex emotions deep within her.

Home…

How long has it been since she heard that word?

Her family had always been wandering around since as far as she could ever remember.

If the Elven Forest was their home…

Then this home had already perished along with the fall of their patron god who once protected the elvenkind.

It is often said that home is where the family is…

Alas, this wouldn’t apply to her as her home had long vanished into thin air due to the constant attacks of humans.

Literally and figuratively speaking, she had already lost her home a long time ago.

Just as Nightingale was about to succumb into deeper melancholia, a crisp feminine voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

“No, the Elven Forest is the home of the elves.”

She looked up and saw a familiar figure. It was a short elven girl that’s sporting a rare pink colored hair while also wearing magnificent mage equipment.

If she remembered it right, this girl’s name was, Little Salty Cat.

Nightingale easily recognized her at a glance.

She was the elven mage who rode upon the back of a black dragon and possessed quite a strong magical power, but couldn’t hit any of her target at all.

“Hello! My name is Little Salty Cat.”

Looking at Nightingale, Little Salty Cat slightly smiled.

“What a strange name…” Nightingale murmured softly before nodding and introducing herself as well.

“I am Nightingale.”

“So it’s sister Nightingale!” Little Salty Cat smiled sweetly before continuing her explanation.

“Sister Nightingale, the situation is entirely different now… all the orc forces within the Elven Forest had already been eradicated by us.”

She then placed both her hands at her waist and proudly stated, “The forest is completely safe now.”

Nightingale blinked as she stood completely silent for a couple of seconds.

…The Elven Forest is safe?

Comprehension finally dawned on her and Nightingale’s first instinctual reaction was to latched out in utter disbelief.

“I-Impossible! There is still a large orc tribe nearby just a couple of days ago, h-how could they be eliminated!?” Nightingale retorted as a sliver of hope began to sprout from within her subconscious mind.

“Oh you mean the caverock tribe? Well…they are part of the history now.”

Little Salty Cat replied as she continued on with her confident manner of speaking.

P-Part of history?

Nightingale was shocked.

“Impossible! They just captured me the day before yesterday! I know some of their secrets… t-they have the backing of a true god. Without the intervention of another true god, then they could not have been easily eliminated!”

Little Salty Cat simply smiled assuredly and stated,

“Nothing is impossible.”

After speaking, her expression then became extremely reverent.

“Because…” The pink haired mage then paused deliberately while gesturing a tree-shaped symbol upon her chest before stating in a sincere and solemn manner,

“Our true god… has also returned.”

Seeing that somewhat familiar tree-shaped gesture the pink haired girl just did, Nightingale’s pupils shrank completely in utter disbelief.

T-True God!?