Firecress…mutant lettuce…honey lettuce…
Void cabbage…spinach…some frozen blue peppers…
Beryl radish… shield mushroom… pyladern sea mushroom…
Melted flying cow cheese…and squeezed clementine void…
Moritz uses materials taken from various etherealms. As a final topping, he gives a little vinegar and honey.
.
.
Now he gave a bowl of salad to the queen of moldrin who had been waiting for five minutes. Because Moritz added some materials from the Void and Mutant, its appearance looked a little terrible. The salad seemed to be emitting a black aura, as well as a tiny light ion emitting a deep sky blue and purple void.
“This… edible, Mr. Moritz?”
“Unfortunately materials in other etheralms have a unique appearance. Well, they were indeed born with dubious looks. Of course, the matter of their taste is even more skyrocketingly delicious!” said Moritz with a forced smile and looked suspicious.
Even the Rokurokubis, umbrella ghost, Bihice, and the survivors stayed a little away. They peered over Cockatrice's body.
Moritz looked back with a disgusted face.
(Hey that's an insult! Watch out for your share!)
Same with Mrs. Atilla, it seems Queen Moldrin Thessalia has no other choice. He tried a mouthful of the radish slices.
Then another bite...
Then another bite...
Then another bite...
Then another bite...
Then another bite...
Then another bite...
.
.
Until only the bowl remains. So focused on the bowl and salad, Queen Thessalia lost in thought for a moment.
“Queen Thessaly… hello…. you live?” Moritz moved his hand as if stroking the queen of moldrin's eyes.
Up to three calls….
"Ah! Yes… I am a bit nostalgic….”
(Thank goodness! If she gets poisoned I could be mobbed by moldrins all over etherealm!)
The queen says that Moritz's salad tastes very rare and is exclusive to moldrin gatherings in certain etherealm. She said the meeting was held once every three years.
After the queen of moldrin clarified that the salad was delicious, everyone who had been away from earlier started lining up asking for the salad. Moritz was a bit reluctant actually, but in the end he finished all the ingredients for everyone.
Everyone enjoyed the breakfast, but with an exclusive quality. Naturally, this was the first time that a monster and an intelligent race had sat together. Because of Bihice's magic, they can communicate.
***
Around 7 am…
Before repatriating the victims, they gathered first.
All beings gather to exchange information. All the confessions of the monsters, the victims of Pirn City, and the Queen of Moldrin were heard together. Moritz asked Cockatrice to keep an eye on, as he believed this matter was not over. He doesn't want the root cause of his problem to strike back.
The victims of Pirn City gave each other statements. The conclusion from what they said was that around a few days ago, their exploration took too long and it was already midnight.
One of them noticed an oddity. That the ghost race monsters rarely encounter, then there are some grizzly wolf corpses and shell dogs. The mercenaries ordered each team to move into the heart of the pirn forest.
But since the squads, apart from the mercenaries themselves, were at the forefront, sooner or later they were pulled in by something. Something like plant tentacles. Then, the mercenaries fled.
After that…
On the other hand, the monsters, especially the Rokurokubis and parasol ghosts, also have other explanations. About three days before the city squads and mercenaries came, in the pirn forest many strange things had happened.
Rinri, the Rokurokubi wearing red furisode, said that there was a small fight between the other Rokurokubis. They attacked each other, biting until one of them fell. They suddenly became obsessed with who was the strongest among the Rokurokubi.
Next up, Mira. Mira said that actually the ghost race monsters in the pirn forest were not only Rokurokubi and umbrella ghosts, but several such as Deathly Roosevelt, Ayaigasa Hunter, Sandogasa, Ectopsilon, and Will o Wisp. Mira didn't even feel their presence when the issue of the Rokurokubi civil war broke out.
Meanwhile, two umbrella ghosts, Perth and Pru, through information from several other umbrella ghosts, confirmed a strange presence long before it all happened. A woman suddenly entered the pirn forest. The woman had an unstoppable aura, almost the same as Cockatrice's.
“Just a moment, a woman, you say?”
"That's it, Nom! My friend Pru and I confirmed that the woman had short black hair, Nom! It doesn't look bad, but the aura is really big, Nom! We are afraid of being annihilated, Nom!”
(Aura that's as big as a Cockatrice…. Don't tell me….)
(*”Another ancient creature…. I'm not surprised since it was able to mess with my vision tracking down Miss Cute's daughter. Even though I know all three dark elves are alive.”*)
(Wait a minute, do you think the Lord of Grenaldine would step in to help?)
(*”Why? You want to ask them for help? I think you and I are enough, though.”*)
Moritz whose expression was filled with worry made Queen Moldrin Thessalia also worried.
“I-there's any problem, Mr. Moritz?”
“O-oh.. no. I just thought it was… pretty complex. Well, was it then, in this Pirn forest, that there was such a commotion, Queen Thessalia?”
The Queen of Moldrin first wanted to confirm the explanation of the two umbrella ghosts, Pru and Perth. She explained that it was true. But queen moldrin thought that the woman appeared perhaps to better maintain balance in the pirn forest or vaughtort forest. The reason was based on the woman's aura that seemed to be a natural race too but felt on a higher level. Perhaps, it could be said to be at the level of an elder. So she thought there must be something important to take the time to come to the pirn forest.
Then Queen Moldrin began giving explanations for the disappearance of the ghost race, the rokurokubi fight, and several corpses of shell dogs or grizzly wolves.
“After that woman came, a lot of strange things happened. The moldrins that I gave orders to investigate the forest reported that there were several interdimensional holes appearing in the corners of the forest. The moldrins were trying to learn where the interdimensional hole led. So they tried and then reported to me, that it was just pointing towards another corner of the pirn forest. We keep testing and it's still the same. It finally changed my thinking that it's an interdimensional hole that's just an ordinary portal that appears as a rule from the ethereal world. Ordinary natural phenomena."
(*”Sounds fishy I guess?”*)
(Indeed. Yregailia is the second most stable Etherealm. Natural problems like an strange interdimensional hole appearing suddenly at random places is the first time. Or….”)
(*”This is ancient….”*)
Queen Thessalia then said that after the incident of the interdimensional hole, there appeared a thick fog that had never happened before in the pirn forest. Then again, the fog still didn't prove any strange occurrences other than its presence, which wasn't triggered by anything specific.
“Because we, the moldrins, do not accept this strange occurrence, we continue to monitor the fog and try the interdimensional hole many times. Maybe they took advantage of my carelessness, that's when I started receiving news of Moldrin's disappearance. One by one…."
(Wait a minute, no matter how many times you do it there's still nothing strange? No, no, the fog and interdimensional voids were weird in the first place! I mean… where did the rifts of the moldrins disappear? I want to confirm something….)
“Did you confirm with your own eyes about that dimensional hole? Ah, also that fog?”
Queen Thessalia nodded confidently. The moldrins can use the forest portal for quick access to corners making it easier to try the interdimensional hole many times. As for the matter of the fog, Queen Thessalia and her subordinates just patrolled as usual. Only more intense.
“Ah, that's right, Mr. Moritz! I-I've seen that woman destroy those foreign interdimensional holes! The thing is… when we got close to it, it disappeared as if it was swallowed up by the fog!”
“I-Is that true, Queen Thessaly?”
Queen Moldrin Thessaly once again nodded affirmatively without hesitation.
(What's the point of this? Was it some kind of misunderstanding, Cockatrice?)
(*”Hm… this is indeed confusing. But I can say that ancient… elder creatures, they always have a choice. Even you are surprised at Mira, right? Why would ordinary monsters like them want to help?”*)
(Well, since you said that… I also feel something weird. Monsters I know don't have sense…,)
(*”When we are in etherealm praetor even the residents can be evil. Or in etherealm void, all the monsters only have one goal, which is to hunt….”*)
(Heh! I just realized we've been having a bad time! But since Yregalia it's the second most stable Etherealm….”
(*"Wait! If you think that way, we've been judging wrong all along! You remember that time right? Someone from the capital city of Grenaldine?"*)
(Sure… I might have to start all over again. But….)
(Something in the capital… seems suspicious….)
“Well… I actually know that woman….”
Moritz, who had been lost in thought, was shocked to hear that. “E-uh, what? I guess it was more difficult than I thought?”
“That woman… has an aura that makes the natural races somewhat… dare not disturb her. Including me. Until I noticed her aura…. Somewhat familiar and she must have been present at Moldrin's exclusive meeting….”
.
.
“Alraune.”
***
ns 18.68.41.141da2
