Chapter 753: The Spirit and the Demon

The reports hadn’t stopped since the orcs attacked Otto’s village. More villages had been hit. At first, Luke thought the attacks might have something to do with the Kingdom Core, but it soon became clear that wasn’t the case. They seemed random to anyone who didn’t understand orcs.

Luke knew better. The orcs raided villages for food, weapons, and anything else that might prove useful. They killed some people, wounded others, and left survivors behind without the slightest concern for what they might reveal. They were testing humanity’s strength as they pushed deeper into human territory.

“I think that should be enough,” Luke said, staring into the cauldron.

He stood before the Great Tree. Over the past few days, he had only managed to speak with the spirit dwelling inside it a handful of times. She was incredibly weak, barely clinging to consciousness. Luke slowly poured the liquid over one of the nearby roots, letting the mixture seep into the dry, cracked bark. Little by little, the tree seemed to regain some of its vitality.

“That should do it.”

He placed a hand against the trunk and focused on [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya] and [Blessing of Artemis]. Darkness formed within his mind. Green particles fell through it like silent rain, gathering until they became two glowing eyes.

"Better, Botanist. I feel much better."

The spirit sounded stronger, but not healthy. Not even close.

Your name is Illyra, right? At least, that’s what I understood last time.

Luke had tried to communicate with the tree whenever the spirit remained conscious for more than a few moments.

"Yes. I am the guardian of every sentient creature within this territory. That is my duty as..."

I understand, Illyra, Luke interrupted. You know the system recognized me as Monarch of this territory, correct?

“I know. I can feel that this land has changed, both in the mana it produces and in how that mana behaves. It was volatile before. Raw and wild. Now it’s controlled. It flows toward the Core claimed by the Monarch.”

Correct.

"Botanist, out of respect for your position, I ask that you not kill my children. You call them monsters, but they are not. Not to me."

Children? The spiders and beasts? Well... sorry, but I killed some of them.

"Hmm... From what I can sense, your blade has not found my children. They are the ones who carry light within them."

Light?

"You would call it consciousness. They can speak. They are not ruled solely by the bestial urges of their bodies. They are intelligent. They understand family and society. They are like us."

I understand what you mean.

"I need your help, Botanist. I am sick."

Luke had already guessed that much. What mattered was what saving her could earn him.

Before we talk about helping you, I have a few questions. If you’re a spirit, why are you bound to this tree?

"This tree is my connection to the physical world. Not everyone can see spirits. More importantly, it is what allows me to exist as an individual."

It was just as Artemis had explained. Every nature spirit was part of nature itself, shapeless and nearly indistinguishable from the whole. A few developed identities of their own, becoming something closer to people.

So it’s the same kind of light you described in monsters, only in spirits. Is that right?

"That is correct."

Luke considered that for a moment. Illyra, how did you become sick?

"Lightless Monsters feed upon me like parasites. Many still remain inside the tree, weakening my connection to the physical world. It has been a very long time since I spoke with my children or walked through this forest. Will you help me, Botanist?"

I’ll help you, but I want something in return.

The tree went silent.

"Go on," she finally said.

I want you to become a citizen of my Kingdom. This tree is your bridge to the physical world, and it stands within my territory.

"I understand... From your perspective, that seems fair."

It is fair. I’ll have to protect you, and I will. One more thing. What is your relationship with the monsters who can speak? Will they be a threat?

"No. They... bring me gifts."

Gifts?

"I cared for their grandfathers, and for generations before them. I have known their kind for a very long time. Some worship me."

All right, I get it. Then they’ll listen to you. In that case, besides becoming my citizen, I want all your monsters to become citizens of my Kingdom as well.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence and darkness. The green eyes closed as though Illyra were thinking. When they opened again, her voice had sharpened.

"I will not aid your greed or your games of power. I know your nature. I know the title you bear, and I know what it means."

She sounded like a mother protecting her children.

"My children will not be forced to serve as soldiers for any Lord, least of all one inclined toward tyranny."

Luke didn’t take it personally. Good. Then there are no secrets between us. You know I’m a demon. You also know I’m the Monarch of this land. Everything within this territory falls under my authority. But I’m a very fair person, Illyra.

"Those who are fair do not need to announce it. They prove it."

And I proved it when I killed the spiders feeding on your sap and spent days nursing you back to health. Luke kept his tone calm. But I understand. You love your children, and I respect that. So let me make one thing clear. I have no intention of forcing anyone to fight my battles. I prefer handling those myself.

He removed his hand from the trunk for a moment and stared at the tree as if it were a person.

What I’m asking is simple. I need them counted as citizens. Nothing else about their lives has to change.

Luke could feel the spirit weighing his every word and intention. Illyra was different from humans. She didn’t see with eyes alone. Perhaps she could see his soul and sense every lie buried beneath his careful wording. In some ways, she was a higher form of life than he was.

I want harmony too, he continued. You said I have tyrannical tendencies. Maybe I do. But peace doesn’t survive unless someone is strong enough to protect it. I need the citizen count, and I can’t justify protecting residents who refuse to become part of the territory.

Silence lingered.

"That is fair," Illyra finally replied. "I agree. You and I have an accord. My word is sacred, and I do not break it. I will become a citizen of your territory for the sake of coexistence. I will also stand beside you and encourage my children to become citizens. Do we have an agreement?"

Luke waited until she finished. No. That’s not enough.

"I do not understand. I am doing what you asked."

If a monster lives in my Kingdom and refuses to become a citizen, it cannot remain on these lands.

"And you claimed to be fair... This sounds like blackmail."

Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t wish them any harm. They can continue living exactly as they always have.

"Then why demand their submission?"

Because the Kingdom Core considers them invaders. Anyone living inside the Kingdom without citizenship reduces its capacity. Every spider I killed pushed the border farther out and made the Core more efficient. I need it operating at full strength.

They’ll benefit too, Luke continued. The Core will grant them power, faster mana recovery, and other advantages as it grows stronger. They’ll grow alongside the territory. In return, they’ll have my protection without needing to do a damn thing. Lady Illyra, if you look at this objectively, I’m the one getting the short end of the deal by not demanding more.

Another silence followed. A long one. Through the green eyes, Luke felt Illyra weighing every word, searching for loopholes and hidden intentions.

"The concessions are acceptable," Illyra said at last. "The protection of a Monarch and his Core may keep my children safe. I will help you, and now I do so willingly. However, I cannot force them. If some refuse to become your citizens, I ask that you not banish them immediately. Give them time to change their minds."

Fine, as long as that time does not exceed ten years.

"Hmm... Why place a limit on it?"

Because I’m not a fool, Lady Illyra. I’m not saying you’re trying to deceive me, but the way you phrased it was far too vague. “Time” could mean one day or a million years.

"You truly are a demon..." the spirit said. "Always searching for loopholes in a contract."

I know a trick when I see one. I’m pretty good at them myself.

"I accept the terms. Do you?"

Agreed.

Something shifted beneath Luke’s palm.

"Good, Botanist."

A small sphere of green light appeared beneath his hand. It detached from the trunk and settled on his shoulder.

“Thank you for killing the spiders and healing me, at least a little,” the tiny green orb said. “I can speak through this. It is far from a perfect physical form, and we must remain in contact.”

Illyra explained that her connection was too weak for ordinary speech. Only the combination of Luke’s botanical powers and blessing allowed her voice to reach him.

“But no one else will be able to hear me in my current state. Only you.”

“And the parasites I need to eliminate? Where are they?”

“There are still spiders feeding on my other roots throughout the forest. I can guide you to them. Destroying them will strengthen my connection and benefit your Core by increasing its capacity.”

Luke activated his cloak and began leaping through the forest with the small green spirit beside him.

***

“Please! You have to do something!” someone shouted.

The plea vanished beneath a dozen others.

Maeve stood outside the guildhall in Nyvma, where the recent orc attacks had thrown the entire region into a panic. Villagers had flooded into the city seeking shelter. Some begged for healers, others for food, and some simply wanted someone to tell them everything would be all right.

The entire week had descended into chaos.

“Look, if everyone could just—” John began.

“Emerald Cloaks! You have to do something!”

The truth was, Maeve and her party couldn’t do much. They weren’t in Nyvma to protect the city. The Guild had hired them to guard Edrien Vossel, a nobleman recently appointed Baron of Nyvma.

The new baron was trying to read a prepared speech from a sheet of paper and failing miserably.

“Quiet,” Edrien Vossel said. “I can’t do my job while all of you are shouting. One at a time.”

The crowd gradually settled, and people began reporting their problems. The stories were almost always the same. The orcs had arrived at night. They attacked fields, broke into houses, and sometimes set buildings on fire. They hadn’t stayed or occupied the villages. They had simply swept in, destroyed whatever stood in their path, killed a few residents, and left. But there was one strange detail. There were far more wounded than dead.

Some kind of tactic?

The orcs could have slaughtered everyone. Most of those people were level zero in their classes. Some didn’t even have Professions. They were farmers, craftspeople, ordinary villagers. Even so, the orcs had left most of them alive.

They had left those people alive on purpose.

But why?

“Sir Edrien, my name is Otto. I’m from a village several days’ walk from here,” said an elderly man leaning on a staff. “We were attacked before dawn. My daughter nearly died.”

“Baron Vossel,” the man corrected him. “Not Sir Edrien.”

“B-Baron Vossel...” Otto lowered his head. “We’re afraid. People are dead, my daughter nearly died, and they might come back. We don’t know what to do.”

One by one, representatives from other villages spoke. The voices changed, but the fear remained the same. Once the reports were finished, Baron Edrien left the crowd to the Guild Master and entered the building with his servants, Maeve, and the rest of her party.

As soon as they were out of sight, the nobleman pulled out a cloth and wiped his hands. “Did you see how filthy they were? I hate the way these people smell. Why do they smell like grass?”

“Because they work the land, my lord,” Verena replied.

“Then they should learn to wash.” Edrien handed the cloth to a servant. “How much longer am I expected to keep talking to them?”

“You should... reassure them about the orcs,” John said. “Tell them the Kingdom is handling the situation.”

The baron nearly burst out laughing. “As if the Kingdom would waste time sending soldiers to protect a place a month’s journey from the capital.”

They followed him through the hallways, keeping close.

“I want all of you staying at my estate from now on. No more sleeping at the guild. After hearing those reports, it may be dangerous for me.”

“But if we do that, it’ll become obvious we’re only here to protect you,” John said. “People need to see us in the city. We should be walking the streets, helping where we can, letting them know we’re here.”

“Do they?”

One servant brought him tea. Another informed him that his carriage had arrived.

“I think we should send some of us to investigate the attacks,” Maeve ventured. “Leaving everything to the city patrols is a bad idea. We need to report the situation to Rosehall and request assistance.”

It was obvious Edrien had no intention of lifting a finger to solve the problem. Even so, maybe she could use the situation to force him into action.

The baron looked at Maeve with something close to disgust.

“Report it to Rosehall?” He handed his cup back to the servant. “Are you insane? My family was just granted this barony. If I do that, I might as well send Rosehall a signed confession that I’m an incompetent fool.”

You aren’t?

Maeve kept the thought to herself.

“Orcs are monsters like any other. Once they’ve caused enough damage, they’ll move on, like locusts. And as we’ve already seen, the damage is done. Now escort me back to my manor and keep any idiot who wants to speak to me away.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied.

That night, three of the six Emerald Cloaks remained at the baron’s manor: Gregor, Jhon, and Dorothea. The others stayed in the city to keep watch. Fortunately, Marcel and Verena agreed to cover the remainder of the shift, allowing Maeve to return to the guild.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Go,” Marcel replied. “We’ve got this, Maeve. Besides, you have someone else you need to protect. And I’m not talking about Baron Edrien.”

That earned a laugh from Verena. When Maeve entered the guildhall, it wasn’t as crowded as usual. Even Thea wasn’t there. She crossed the room and headed straight for the sleeping quarters. When she opened the bedroom door, she found her sister sitting on the bed.

“Good evening, Maeve,” Mabel said.

“You’re supposed to be asleep, young lady.”

“I was waiting for you so we could have dinner.”

“You haven’t eaten yet? You’re turning into a rebel.”

Maeve sat beside her sister, and they talked about their day while they ate.

“Have you been working a lot?” Mabel asked.

“No. This job is way too easy for me.” Maeve smiled.

Mabel kept watching her.

“But if everything goes well, I won’t have to keep wandering around without a real home,” Maeve continued. “We’ll have a nice house. I might even have enough money to send you to one of those schools for young ladies in Rosehall.”

“Are you going to that school too?”

“Me? I’m much too old for that, Mabel. But you’re a young lady. You shouldn’t have to suffer through boring trips with your sister. You deserve better.”

“But I like being with you.”

“Let’s see if you still say that when you’re a teenager.”

***

Luke found one of the massive roots jutting from the ground. Spiders clung to it, feeding without a care in the world. His kukri flashed. The spiders dropped before they could react. Then he cleaned the root, blasting away the webs with [Shadow Ball]. The surrounding area was practically dead. The soil had gone barren, as though the creatures had drained the life from it.

Luke cut open his palm and let his blood drip onto the ground. The soil responded, becoming firmer and more vibrant. Then he summoned a seed with [Tree of Mother Freya]. He let the tiny seed fall beside the root.

[Tree of Mother Freya (Legendary)]: Allows the botanist to plant a tree blessed by Mother Freya and linked to his consciousness. Through this bond, the tree shares its perception of the surrounding area, alerting him to movement, nearby presences, and intruders through instinctive impressions. As more trees are planted, they form a living network that expands the botanist’s awareness and influence, conceals structures and allies, confuses enemies with camouflage, botanical mirages, and mana-infused mist, and responds directly to his commands. The trees also release mystical pollen that draws in and filters mana, enriching the land, accelerating plant growth, and strengthening nearby vegetation. As the forest expands, its trees become more resilient, perceptive, and responsive, moving their roots, branches, and trunks as extensions of the botanist’s will while allowing his mana to recover more quickly within their territory. More than a sanctuary or a defensive stronghold, this forest is a living domain blessed by Freya, where nature itself crowns the botanist as its king.

Three thousand mana for one seed? It better be worth it.

[Tree of Mother Freya activated]

[Mana Cost: 3,000 MP]

[Mana Points (MP): 21,714/30,320]

“This will help heal you too,” Luke said. “It’ll draw mana more efficiently from the sunlight and the air, then channel it into the soil.”

“A most interesting power of Mother Freya, Botanist. I can feel that the seed is completely bound to you.”

“How do you know about Mother Freya? Isn’t our universe still young?”

“All of Nature knows Mother Freya. She was there when nature first took root. She became a mother to all who need one, Botanist.”

“Maybe you can help me, then. I have two books she wrote.”

Luke continued through the forest, eliminating spiders as he went. They didn’t attack beasts, didn’t move toward the village, and seemed interested in nothing but the tree’s sap. They fed, then slept.

They aren’t hunters. Just lazy things with an easy food source.

Night had fallen by the time Luke reached that part of the forest. Fireflies drifted through the air. Even though the canopy was thick enough to hide nearly the entire sky, the ground below was surprisingly open. The trees grew far apart, and the undergrowth was sparse.

Luke passed a river teeming with fish. He could probably jump in and come back out carrying dinner.

It’s peaceful here.

A figure fishing along the bank spotted him and toppled backward in terror. It was a goblin.

“Hello,” Luke said.

The creature rolled across the ground, scrambled to the water’s edge, and grabbed a wooden spear.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t do that,” Luke said, drawing his kukri.

"Wait, Botanist! The little goblin is one of my children."

“H-Human!” The goblin dropped the spear and ran.

Luke sighed. “Back to work.”

He activated the [Cloak of the Arcane Witch] and leaped once more. Fireflies shimmered around him as he moved. With so many spiders dead, Luke felt his faint connection to the Core grow stronger. His territory reached all the way out here now. Farther than he had expected.

Smiling, he continued forward.

“There is something I need to tell you. Something very dangerous is trapped inside the Great Tree.”

“Something dangerous?”

“It is the main reason I am sick. I have been keeping it trapped inside the Great Tree.”