17 Harvest Festival (5)

"To be honest, I had several ideas on how to do such a thing. The first idea is for me to conquer or kill the being within the Dreamless Savannah. Since it is a B-rank Danger Zone, there is no actual owner, though it is within the borders of the Everd Kingdom. If I successfully do so, then I'd have to use some of my more... ridiculous methods to create the city as fast as possible. However, the village may end up being abandoned, and we cannot separate our guardian spirit from her oath. While I have other ideas for keeping the village from being abandoned, they all involve minor alterations to the surrounding trees, and thus I have not considered them," Seran briefly explained one of his ideas to his audience, who were listening with rapt attention.

Layla, her posture indicating that she was deep in thought, said, "What sort of alterations..? Will they be harmful?"

"No, of course not. It would actually require the help of life magic to accomplish, though. I would move some of the trees to another location that could potentially benefit from an additional tree, or to places you would require them. I would keep several of the smaller ones, and grow more of them over time in the city. Some of the older trees, which would take time to find since these trees are enormously large, could be magically altered into a living house without harming its growth. However, the intricacies of such magic would limit those who use it to the elves or those given training by them, since it requires harmony with nature, and the elves are naturally gifted with such ability."

This prompted Layla to say, "That kind of magic would be perfect for us elves. Someone once thought of something similar, but it would still end up harming the tree, so it was scrapped. If you could prove its abilities, I'd be extremely grateful if you could pass the method to us. That alone would convince the entire council, save a few, to ally with you."

"I'm not capable of using such magic yet, but I should be able to... tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? That kind of mastery is impossible so quickly!" Brannon interjected, knowing just how hard such magic was.

Etienne smiled, "You haven't met my son, then. On his tenth birthday, he awakened with a total of 13 jobs. Of those, 3 were second-grade mage jobs. Furthermore, you haven't seen his control over his magic."

"That may be so, but I still don't believe it. I'd have to see it myself." Brannon's stance was solid, unshakeable even.

Layla then spoke, keeping Brannon from continuing, "Seran, if you can truly pull off such a crazy stunt, along with such an amazing kind of magic, then I would have next to no reason not to ally with you and give you a small portion of the area we are in now. While that might sound like a lot now, it's not worth even a scant amount of such magic's worth."

"No worries. In all honesty, you can also treat it as a gift for giving us a safe haven here in the Primeval Forest for so long, divine contract or not." Seran had a smile that was both kind and sagely, which did not match his youthful appearance. "Our biggest problem, in all honesty, is being able to trade easily with your people without building roads. So, I would have to also add space magic to my list of abilities by tomorrow... Actually, you know what, I'll just skip all of that and add all of them at once."

The latter comment was so ridiculous that Brannon nearly coughed blood, while Layla paled instantly. This kid sounded so laughably absurd, actually believing he could do such a thing overnight!

"As insane as that sounds, I am confident that I can do it. Anyway, let's move on. While I can't prove it today, I can do so tomorrow. For now, we should decide how our alliance should work." Seran just waved his hand dismissively of the previous topic before continuing, "An alliance of mutual benefit would be best, honestly. You help us, we help you. Any new inventions made by us, you will be the first to receive them. As for what you choose to do, it has nothing to do with us unless it, in some way, causes problems for us, financially or otherwise."

"You speak like you are certain that you will succeed in an overnight power-up," said Brannon, who was halfway between glaring and laughing.

"You think I'm not capable of it? Do keep in mind that I single-handedly brought the Golden Crows back from extinction, gave [Physical Manifestation] to our guardian spirit and awakened 13 jobs during my first awakening. Tell me that all 3 of those things are impossible and can't be done when I did them all in one day." Seran's purple eyes were no longer shining as they were before, but were dark and cold. His good mood from the festival had slowly deteriorated, and he was close to just walking out of this, despite knowing how important it is. "Whenever I am confident in being able to do something, I will do it. I may be a child, but I am not a liar."

The change of attitude from the white-haired boy was rather startling to the two elves, who briefly felt daunted from Seran's emotionless eyes before recovering. Layla looked to Brannon, who had once again activated [Eyes of Divination]. While it was meant mainly for divination, it could also read the emotions and even some thoughts of the target. Brannon peered at Seran, who had William remove the [Inspection Immunity] cheat from the console. After he did so, not just Brannon, but even Layla and Etienne began to see things.

From the young lad's body came abnormal sounds, like the booming of thunder, waves of water and the rumbles of a landslide. Behind him, 3 phantasms began to shimmer: one was a man with short white hair and a full beard, muscular but not overly so, wearing only chainmail greaves and holding a bolt of lightning, a crown of lightning around his forehead. Another was a woman of unearthly beauty, hair a mix of browns bearing a crown of various gemstones while wearing a dark brown dress, seeming to give off a presence as heavy as the world. The third was a man similar to the first, muscular but not overly so, bearing a crown of sea-stones, wearing chainmail greaves and holding a trident. All 3 gave off domineering auras, none of which were mortal in nature. Behind them, two vague forms also appeared, but they were only silhouettes, one of a woman and another that was indistinguishable from the darkness around it.

The auras forcibly deactivated Brannon's [Eyes of Divination], the old elf's eyes slightly bleeding from how powerful the auras were. After groaning in pain, the way he looked at Seran changed dramatically, as did Layla's expression. Both of them were well-traveled and had visited the Monastery of Fate, the Oracle's residence along with the Sisterhood of Fate. A lifelike statue of every major deity existed in the Monastery, so they recognized the three phantasms clearly. Neither of them had anything to say, or even think of, as they saw this scene.

Etienne, while he was affected, was not as stunned. He knew Seran's biggest secret, which made it easier for him to understand how he had such overbearing bloodline auras. As he wasn't the one being targeted by the auras, he was only affected lightly, and even then, he knew his son would never hurt him.

As the two elves were reeling in shock, an emotionless voice spoke from the one causing the scene, "Does this convince you enough of my confidence?"