Back To The Forest

Richard stared at the dazed Marquess for some time, but he quickly grew bored and clapped to snap the man out of his daze, “Now, where’s my divine gold?”

Brahms suddenly looked up, his eyes turning bloodshot, “Don’t even think of getting it from me! I might lose everything, but I’m taking your child with me!”

Richard chuckled, “You’re the one who provoked me, and you still act like the victim in all this. Such honour, such dignity... Pathetic. You know what? I’m getting a new batch in a few days, straight from the reserves your uncle had before he died. Enjoy that knowledge while you can.”

He then got up and nodded to Senma before walking out of the hall. The Blood Paladin remained at attention until he was out of sight before shifting her gaze to the Marquess and flashing a charming smile. Her expression was bright, but it left Brahms shivering in fear.

Senma gestured to a few of the rune knights, “Send every member of his immediate family to the back.”

Brahms’s expression changed immediately, fury overcoming him as he pounced towards her, “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

However, even a gravely injured Blood Paladin was far stronger than the Marquess could handle. She nonchalantly grabbed the sword and knocked its sheath on his head, leaving him crumpling to the ground. She then stepped on his face, grinding against it until he recovered from the momentary blackout, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m killing them all. Don’t worry, I’ll leave your wife alive or something. She can choose which of your nieces and nephews gets to succeed you.”

“You... Khech!” an attempt at cursing was cut short by a heel to the mouth.

......

Dragonwing Castle suddenly went up in flames at dusk, the traditional residence of the Brahms Marquess for centuries turning to ruins amidst the fire. The Marquess and his family all died in the conflagration.

The Blood Paladin returned to Blackrose Castle the day after Richard, but when she said it had been taken care of, he didn’t ask her a single question. Brahms was only a small pawn in this battle, and destroying him meant nothing. The Church of Glory and Sacred Tree Empire had gone quiet as though nothing had happened, with no way to know whether the fight between Saint Martin and the pope had continued or died down.

However, Richard had to admit that the Church was quite impressive. The deaths of all the bishops and a quarter of the cardinals hadn’t created any commotion at all; had he not witnessed it himself, he wouldn’t ever learn of something so huge having occurred. Martin himself proved to be very efficient, a few paladins from him reaching Azan by portal in only three days. The small troop spent more than the cost of the five portions of divine gold just getting there, also bringing more than 10 million gold in ingredients.

Richard was quite thrilled once he saw all the items that he had been given. Some of these materials had already gone extinct They were payment for repairing the four angels and replicating Michael, but he could use his existing reserves for that. These could instead help him move forward with a number of ideas that he was waiting on resources for.

By this point, Coco had grown extremely frail. Druids had been brought in to heal her every three days, but even so she could only hold on for a month. Richard immediately headed to the Forest Plane once he received the divine gold, spending two months there to build the grade 5 Mana Armament.

At his current level, Richard could sense the upper limits of the plane. With two divine cores, the new Mana Armament was nearly as powerful as Midren’s battle edition, and the plane itself had started fluctuating whenever he neared completion. While he succeeded in the end, that had come off the back of four repeated failures. Other runemasters would be over the moon at that result, but to him it was actually disappointing. Thankfully, the process had at least stimulated his mana growth.

Most legends were bottlenecked by their comprehension of their chosen laws, but things were different for Richard. Having started on that process while he was still a grand mage, he controlled a number of them already. His analysis of the laws of life were even approaching completion; he only had the sixteen foundational laws left. The moment he finished that, he would be on par with the World Tree itself..

Nyris had stayed by Richard’s side the entire time he spent modifying Mana Armament, not speaking nor moving as she merely watched him quietly. As someone who grew excessively focused when at work, sometimes he grew absorbed for several days and nights. Whenever this happened, she sat along for the same duration. Even with her saint strength, she was on the verge of collapse whenever he returned.

The idea of the princess waiting by him with anticipation left Richard’s heart fluttering a little, leaving him with the urge to flee. Thankfully, he managed to keep himself in check without doing anything, even if the patient Nyris felt more charming by the day. Sometimes, escaping a problem was just the best way to deal with it; runecrafting provided that escape. However, no matter how difficult the rune was, it was eventually finished. He finally had to look her in the eye.

“You’re setting off?”

“Mm, soon.”

“Can I come with?”

“Ugh. No, it’ll be dangerous this time. I’m not sure I’ll be able to take care of you.”

“Alright,” she nodded, never bringing up the topic again.

......

The Forest Plane’s sunless skies were gloomy as always, the dull grey threatening to wear down one’s soul. Thankfully, Emerald City had been adapted to this environment; stonewood bonfires constantly burnt in the streets to create warmth, and not far away was the Golden World Tree that provided a semblance of time’s passage. The tree was now fifty metres tall, its vast crown more than twice its height in width. It was still only a tiny sapling compared to a real world tree, but its warm light already showed its uniqueness.

When Richard first saw a small elven village amidst beautiful golden light, he was taken in for a moment by the magnificence of the scene. The evernight elves had already built a small shrine to Alucia and a moonwell; although it was a little slow, the well was filling up with moonwater. It was currently filled to the brim, and just being in proximity to it left his elven bloodline trembling with excitement. He scooped up a bucketful and examined it for a while, and when he eventually took the first sip he immediately felt intoxicated. A bit of this water could restore even a legendary mage to full mana in minutes, and it could raise one’s upper limit as well. During the downfall of the elven empire wars had been fought over mere jugfuls.

This moonwell was still young, and not nearly as powerful as those in Norland, but it still managed to awaken his elven affinity. He finished off the entire bucket as the tree above him rustled gently, the rays of light slowly dimming down to indicate dusk.