How to Create a Farm with the All-Known Fantasy Book - 48: Into the Dark Forest.
What I had in my cart was the Apple, the Orange, the Banana, the Table Grapes, the Mangoes and the Strawberries.
If I take in the account of their shelf life, the longest lasting fruit to survive is the apple which last for about 2-3 weeks at most…the and shortest is the banana’s which last to about 2-5 days at best…
If only I had a cold storage to contain these fruits, they can easily last up to 2 weeks at most.
Seeing it be that way, I decided to to instead go and search for the Elemental Ice Crystal so that I could move forward with the creation of a Cold Storage.
“I’ll be gone for about 2 days at most, so please watch over the house.” I said as I jumped on my iron stead.
“Be careful, with how the flat bioma normally is, some people wouldn’t survive out here…”
“I know, also, please try to remember to feed the ruby cows their daily leaves of hail-mary plants…I don’t want to come back home with the house burned down.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything else.” as she said this, I felt relieved and went out of the barrier.
Riding across the rough terrain over hills and trees and rivers and monsters, with the All-known book as my guide, I was guaranteed to find the elemental ice crystal within a day…
As a snack for the Iron stead, I carried a few Jolly-mangoes and apples. As for my own rations, I carried dried jerky and a litre of water, paired with other survival equipment, from a self-made sleeping bag, a long rope, a few arrows and a bow, and lastly, the four carved sticks which in turn is possible in turning into a barrier.
“Hmm, this is going to be a rough day.”
***TWO HOURS LATER***
As I rode on for hours, avoiding as much of the dangers as I could, I finally came across…a dark forest that was reeking with the essence of death. It reminded me of looking into an abandoned house as a kid, thinking that it was haunted. That same feeling was put into my adult self when I was looking up in front of the trees before me.
“AK…what is this?” I asked
[WHAT STANDS BEFORE YOU IS THE GREAT TERRITORY OF THE DARK ELVES. NAMELY THIS IS KNOWN AS THE DARK CONJU FOREST. A VERY SHELTERED AND CAUTIOUS LOCATION THAT HAS A POPULATION OF 243 DARK ELVES. IT IS A PLACE THAT HOLDS TO THE TRADITION OF THE DARK ELVES WHERE THE FOREST ENGULFS LIGHT LIKE AND TURNS LIGHT INTO ITS ENERGY, MAKING THE FOREST AN IMMORTAL FOREST TO COUNTER DEATH.]
“Huh, so there are Dark Elves in this forest?” I asked.
[LIKE THE SIMPLE FOREST ELVES, THE DARK ELVES ALSO HAVE A LONG LIFE-SPAN THAT CONTRIBUTES TO THEIR SURVIVAL, PAIRED WITH THEIR FIGHTING CAPABILITIES ARE HIGHLY A THREAT AS THEY ARE PROFECIENT WITH THE USE OF A SPEAR AND SHIELD.]
“Is it alright for me to just go in?”
[DARK ELVES ARE A VERY CAUTIOUS RACE THAT SIMPLY AVOIDS THE INTERACTION OF ANY OTHER RACE ASIDE FROM THAT OF THE SIMILAR RACE, THE FOREST ELVES. AND THEY ESPECIALLY AVOID THE HUMANS WHO HAVE ONCE PUT A DARK RECORD INTO THEIR EXISTENCE. IT IS BEST THAT YOU TRY TO SIMPLY AVOID THE DARK ELVES AND MOVE FAST WHEN GOING IN AND THROUGH THE DARK CONJU FOREST.]
“.…right.” with a slight sense of hesitation, I went into the Dark Conju Forest.
And as soon as I did, I could already feel a gaze from somewhere in the forest.
Someone was watching.
***
As dark as the forest was, with only a limited amount of light passing through, It was hard to navigate even with the use of a lamp. But in this notion, as Shay was traversing through the forest, he made sure to keep the lights out and simply entrusted himself into the map made by the All-known book.
He wanted to keep as less of an attention to him as possible.
But it was impossible.
Already, one dark elf has noticed his presence.
Out by a few meters up in a tree, a single dark elf was found staring eye to eye at the back of Shay’s head.
There, her head tilted a little bit in the curiosity of his intrusion into the forest.
‘Who is that? Is that an elf?…no, his ears are to round and dull…and his face is to stupid to even compare to one.’
‘wait…is this what the village elders call a human?!’
‘A stupid face, a stupid ear, a stupid mouth and a stupid nose…this must be what a human is!’
‘i must quickly tell the elders about this….wait! But if I leave, I might just lose the human…’
In the dark elve’s thoughts, all of a sudden, she too felt an intentfull gaze be made her way.
“!?” and to her notice, as she turned back to look at the human, but the human was already gone.
“W-what!?”
Leaving her alone, she felt that he must have ran away, so to do something about this, she quickly ran back to alert the elders of the forest.
‘I must go back quickly…I must warn the elders!’
She thought as she jumped from tree to tree.
Meanwhile, Shay was simply found sneaking on a higher branch than she was while his iron stead was found running away to a random direction.
“…Hmm, maybe I should have just confronted her rather than I would have hidden myself. But its too late now, I better escape while no one is looking.”
So as he called back his iron stead with just a whistle, the the iron stead was slowly coming back and to it, Shay jumped on the stead and he made his way outside the Conju Forest.
Soon as he traveresed for about 15 minutes through, he suddenly felt the obvious gazes of not just one person…but about fifty of them.
“…oh god.” seeing that he was already outnumbered, he slowly had his iron stead slow down and he simply halted in places. Standing by next to the a river with black sand and misty air, Shay called to the following elves.
“Hmm, come out, I know your out there!” he said as he shouted at the forest.
….
But no response was made.
“Damn…I don’t want any trouble, I just want to get through this forest and go to the mountains!” he said in a shouting tone.
…
And still, silence prevailed.
Seeing as how they were not willing to communicate, he decided to move forth.
“Damn…” as he moved his stead forward, all of a sudden, a spear was thrown right at the front of the horse’s legs, startling it enough to make the horse jump, which made Shay fall.
An soon, from this attack, a male dark elf came with a spear on hand and a menacing gaze on the other.
As Shay stood himself up, the dark elf spoke.
“…A tresspasser…for over hundreds of years, we have not once meet a human visit our forest. None was strong enough nor stupid enough to even think of coming near us…”
“…Are you the leader of this tribe?” I asked.
But in response, the dark elf in front of him slowly raised his spear all up to a point that it nearly reached the tip of his nose.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that the Elder was asking for you…I would have cut your throat from where you stand.” he said with a rather threatening and smug smile
“…I’m not going anywhere.” said Shay, but as soon as Shay tried to go against the elf’s orders, the dark elf swung his spear horizontally in a manner of no remorse, and its blade was able to slice his nose in ease.
*Swish!*
But to this action, Shay was unfazed…and soon, his nose healed with the blessing of Tellus.
“!?…Interesting, you don’t seem human.”
“…” seeing as how his injuries was already healed, he slowly made his way to reach for his Tibula knife, but in his action, all fifty or so Elves came and raised their spears at him, telling him to not make a sense of struggle.
“Its best that you don’t try what I think you’re about to try…you’re outnumbered.” he said.
In that form of threat, Shay could only gaze back with a stare of indeference.
“…I don’t think you understand who I am…or what I am, but I don’t have time to waste on anyone one of you…just let me go.”
And in those words, he pointed his spare down to the elves…and to it, out of sheer will and silence, the once, flowing water…has now halted, causing everything to go silent and everything to go voilent.
The waters were manipulated; from a simple flowing state, to a controlled cycle who came around the area that formed the very shape similar to a dragon, surrounding the entire fifty elves around Shay.
And seeing this, the elves felt fear and confusion surrounding them.
From clear to raging, from fluid to almost solid…
The waters were very violent that day.
And it was all under the will of one man.
“…What is this?” asked the Elf as he stood face to Shay.
“A threat…leave me be or I drown everyone in this damned forest.”
“!?”
“…”
“Tsk!..D-drop your spears…let him go.” Ordered the leading Elf.
“…And in that command, the Dark Elves were made to let him go.
As Shay got on his horse, he simply moved away…looking back, he saw all of the elves glare at him like daggers.
“…” but it didn’t affected him.
In this moment, he showed an entire race, that even with numbers, they could not go against him.
“W-what do we do now?” asked one of the elves..
“I don’t know…but we have to tell the elders. That man is more dangerous than I could have imagined.” said the leading elf as he had his head look down in sheer regret,
“As you are right, Rafal, that man is dangerous…and that is the reason why I wanted to speak with him.” said an old voice that came walking near the entire group, as he supported himself with a cane.
It was the elder, and with him was the Female Elf who reported the sightings of the human who came by the forest.
“If you would not have pointed your spears at him and simply told him that you wanted his help, this entire situation could have been entirely different. A few more seconds, I could have meet the man…” said the Elder.
“B-but we never trust humans!” said the leader who was now known as Rafal.
“…That man is no mere human, you fool. That man right there is the only one capable of slaying our very enemy.”
“What!?”
“He is the only one capable of defeating ‘The Great Red!’”
“I-impossible! No human is capable of such a thing. Of all the lives I’ve lived, I have not once heard of the accomplishments of man capable of tearing down a being such as the Great Red!”
“Do you dare to question my abilities!!” shouted the old man.
“…N-no…I’m sorry Elder.” as Rafal tries to apologize, the female dark elf came and tried to come between the Elder and the Leader.
“Elder, if what you say is true, we must go to him and plead for his help.” said the female dark elf.
“Hmm…And how do you suppose we do that, Ruis?” asked Elder.
“We leave the Dark Conju Forest.” suggested the Female Dark Elf who was known as Ruis.
“It is forbidden for us to leave the Dark Forest, for we are tasked to protect our very home from the very thing that tries to ruin our tradition!” said the Leader
“…Leader, if what you say is true…if we want to protect our home, then he is the one who has the answer for it.”
“No! I do not accept this plead of yours…it is not our way! Everyone, go back to the village, we are done here.” said Rafal.
“…B-but-”
“Do not make me say it again Ruis, we must not leave our home!” said Rafal with a glaring rage in his eyes.
“…y-yes Leader.” as Ruis finally submitted to Rafal’s words, they all started making their way back to their village.
But as they made their way back, in the slumping form of Ruis, she suddenly felt the tug on her clothes.
“..?” and as she turned her head, she saw the Elder who had this scheming gaze in his eyes.
“…Ruis, go to the man…tell him, plead with him to save our home. Do whatever you must to secure our future.” said the Elder in a whisper.
“…But Leader Rafal said that we musn’t leave our forest. No one is allowed.”
“…I will handle Rafal…so you must go. I entrust everything to you.” said the Elder.
“I understand…”
And with that, in the opportunity given by the Elder, Ruis seperated herself from the pack in a sneaky manner, and made her way to the direction that the man was supposedly going with no hesitation at all.