Liu Shu went to look for Wert out of instinct. He was, after all, her go-to person when dealing with stuff. So, she began searching her entire city and soon found him by the lake’s side. The person there was a far cry from the tall, muscular, and stoic person she rembered. He was slim, his hair and beard fully white, and there were so wrinkles on his face. He was sitting comfortably by the lake’s side on a reclining chair, holding onto a fishing pole.
By his side, his wife, who has been married to him for over 70 years, sat peacefully, speaking away about nothing and everything. From the weather to the new things she saw in the market. Her voice was not loud, hushed and peaceful enough not to disturb the surroundings.
Liu Shu took in that scenery and felt the peace and serenity of the situation seep through her. Her initial bubbliness and eagerness beca milder and softer, and instead of interrupting, Liu Shu patiently waited for Wert to catch his fish.
It took 25 minutes of patience before one little critter pulled the fishline, prompting Wert to pick up the fishing pole and start a back-and-forth battle with the fish. His wife chuckled. “You caught one. Will it go away like the previous one, old man? You are losing your touch as the days pass.”
Wert answered humorously. “If I didn’t have a parrot talking by my side all the ti, I would’ve fished this entire place clean by the afternoon!”
The wife hit his arm, snorting. “You old fool! If you do that, you will upset Little Liu Shu! Has age started affecting your mind as well!?”
Wert laughed and then made a humph sound. “Uop! Co out!”
The fish was pulled out of the water, flapping around in the middle of the air. It was a gorgeous red fish with faintly golden scales, and the size was no joke, reaching almost 2 ters in length. Wert laughed. “Look at that! A rare !”
“Congratulations, Wert.”
Wife and Husband heard Liu Shu’s soft and gentle voice, and they smiled. The wife welcod her softly. “Little Liu Shu, you are here. How did the thing with those monsters go? Is everyone all right?”
Liu Shu answered her. “Yes. With this, no more threats are left on our half of the continent. With the Wall Forest captured by as well, we are in a natural fortress surrounded by water and large forest walls.”
Wert grinned. “That’s great.” He then asked as he slowly unhooked the salmon and returned it to the water. “Did you need anything, Big Girl?”
“Why? Can’t I co to say hello?”
Wert chuckled, patting his aging body as he sighed. “Lately, you are so busy that you only contact when you need sothing.”
“... Do I?” Liu Shu thought back and realized that it was the truth. “Ah… Sorry, Wert.”
His wife smacked his back again, almost making him stumble into the lake. “Don’t make Little Liu Shu upset! Such a pretty World Tree; she needs to be pampered! You are lucky enough that she rembers you! When I am gone, rember to call her if you feel lonely! Do you hear , old fool?”
Wert’s wife, being a low-level person, had a much shorter lifespan compared to Wert, even when both were human. Even when Wert was older than his wife, his high level allowed him to live a decade or two longer than her.
Wert nodded. “I know, I know, you wrinkled pea. Any more frowns and I will be unable to see your eyes!”
Smack!
Splash!
Seeing Wert fall into the water, she chuckled. “You deserved that, Wert.” Wert calmly swam to the surface and spat out a mouthful of water. Then, he chuckled and asked. “Shoot it, Big Girl. No need for pleasantries between us.”
Liu Shu didn’t hold back. “I think another will appear soon. Do you mind sending a letter to the leader of our city’s ?”
Wert was stupefied. “Another ? Aren’t dungeons sothing that happens once a millennium or sothing? Why are there so many of them popping up lately?”
“Well… Perhaps it is because of all the energy I am releasing as I conquer the place?”
Wert floated on the water, looking at the clear sky above him. Even while looking up like this, he could still see the gargantuan canopy of the World Tree. “... Perhaps.” He sighed. “Well, Big Girl. Why don’t you speak with young Adam yourself? He is not soone scary or sothing, right?”
Liu Shu knew that. She was not completely foreign to the man nad Adam. However, unlike Wert, who was more tied to her than the , Adam was quite loyal to the colossal and mysterious organization. Therefore, she wanted to treat him carefully. “I know. But we are still rather foreign to each other. He operates sowhat separately from and those close to , unlike what you usually did.”
Wert swam to the coast and climbed ashore. Then, using a strange red gem, all his clothes and his hair were instantly freed of moisture. It was as if he had not fallen into the lake at all. “Is that right? Hm… I am sorry, Liu Shu. I have so influence, but I can’t really force soone into my previous position. All I could do was give recomndations, but the girl I nurtured didn’t co up to par compared to young Adam.”
Liu Shu knew that. Wert had tried nurturing a girl so that Liu Shu would feel more comfortable communicating together. Not that Liu Shu had any problems with n; on the contrary, Wert’s attempt was born through a misconception that most people close to Liu Shu were female. The reason for that was rather simple: Sylvans were rather powerful individuals, so you would always see them in a certain place of power. Eventually, the vast majority of leadership positions fell upon Sylvans due to their naturally long lives and racial advantages.
After taking everything into account, there was a six-to-four female-to-male ratio in leadership positions.
I digress. After hearing Wert’s words, Liu Shu didn’t rush to answer as Wert had a pondering expression. As she expected, the old man spoke. “Well, I’ll give a heads-up to Adam. I will also have a chat with him about you. I don’t want my efforts to go down the drain in just one generation! At least they must go to waste after two!”
The wife shook her head with a smile. “I’ll go with you then. I also want to have a small chat with Adam.”
Liu Shu chuckled. “Thanks. Rember to call if you want sothing or if you just want company. I’ll never say no to you both.”
Wert and his wife smiled. While they had children and grandchildren, they didn’t really visit them often. Therefore, Liu Shu’s presence always filled that small void in their lives. Both of them basically treated Liu Shu as their family.
“By the way,” Wert asked, confused. “Don’t you have a new, strange voice that sounds like the voices of a thousand forest spirits?”
Liu Shu was baffled. “... What kind of description is that? Am I an evil being or sothing?”
Wert chuckled. “No, but now you just sound like always, but with an added echo. It’s quite…”
“Otherworldly? Beautiful? Ethereal? Enchanting?” The rapid-fire complints from his wife left both the World Tree and the man stupefied.
Liu Shu coughed. “I am trying to control it. I make people scared for so reason if I just speak normally.”
Curious, Wert prompted her. “Try it. Say sothing like…”
The wife interrupted with a smile. “You should say: I love Wert and his wife a lot, and I hope they pamper lots.”
Wert deadpanned. “Old witch, if you wanted more children, you could’ve told when we were younger! I had no problems in that regard.”
The wife chuckled. “I know. It is one thing I regret now. We could’ve had many more babies, but we only had four.”
Liu Shu relaxed her tone and spoke. “I love Wert and his wife a lot, and I hope they pamper lots.”
Her voice, which seed to spread everywhere as myriad voices spoke at once, reached the husband and wife, stunning them on the spot. “Um…” Liu Shu’s many voices asked, sowhat fidgety. “Is it weird?”
The wife blinked twice, hearing that strange voice ask them shyly, like the usual adorable but gentle voice she used, made them feel as many emotions as the voices Liu Shu used. Still, knowing that Liu Shu was awaiting an answer, the wife shook her head and smiled. “No, dear. It just reminds people that… You are a World Tree, not a random little fairy.”
Wert added to his wife’s comnt. “Right. You have really co a long way, Big Girl…” They looked at the mountainous World Tree that was slowly approaching 3,000 ters in height with a sigh. “To think that you were barely a few dozen ters away when I first t you. You could easily be confused by a tree of the forest, and that cunning fairy actually deceived , telling you were a Life Tree.”
Liu Shu chuckled. “Sorry for that~, we needed to be safe.”
“No need to apologize.” He smiled. “Either way, give a day or two, and I’ll have Adam speak with you. Oh, by the way, I heard that you’ve had children. I’ve only seen Dewna, so I’d love to see Eluan.”
The wife chuckled. “She actually had an and a . Truly magical.”
Wert nodded. “Now I feel a bit guilty for all the Alraune I killed in the past.”
Liu Shu deadpanned. “You are prohibited from seeing Dewna again.”
Wert’s eyes widened. “Huh?”
Leaving behind a baffled Wert, Liu Shu moved part of her conscience to the . The beautiful jade-green-haired woman opened her gem-like athyst eyes. Looking down, she noticed Dewna and Eluan playing by the bed’s side. They were doing sothing strange. Dewna was playing with Eluan’s petals, making them flap like wings as she laughed loudly. anwhile, Eluan’s tendrils tried to stop Dewna, but the older Alraune used her own vines to smack them away.
Liu Shu blinked. “... More than playing together, Dewna is playing with Eluan.”
Hearing her mother’s mutter, both little ones smiled widely and jumped toward her, using their vines to move their flower bodies.
Liu Shu chuckled and hugged them both. Not knowing how to express their happiness, both of them used the most affectionate action they knew. “Um… Are you both that hungry? I am sure that you were fed a few hours ago.”
Still, the World Tree didn’t interrupt the feast of both her children. “Hm… Eluan’s body is quite similar to a rafflesia. Of course, with additional tendrils and the humanoid, tongue-like body that can poke out from the middle hole. I wonder when he will grow big enough that the hole in his flower will fit my breast in?”
She spent ti with her children the next day while she swept the entire domain from top to bottom and fixed a few things. Eventually, she received Wert’s ssage. Simultaneously, she heard from her lovers that Tempestria would soon visit her.
Liu Shu knew why she had been warned, and her face blushed faintly while her eyes shone with anticipation. ‘With Verdantia, it was passionate and long-lasting. With Harmonixia, it was exciting and soul-stirring. I wonder how it will be with soone like Tempestria?’
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