As Nick entered the Forest Leader’s house, the first thing that caught his eye was a throne made from wood and different kinds of stones. It looked good and exuded different kinds of valuable aura from them.
The room was big enough to be a throne room. It did not have many things other than a flag and the walls that were mounted with blue lights illuminating the room, giving it a charming ambience.
Nick noticed the man sitting on the throne and slowly approached him.
The Forest Leader observed Nick and at the same time, Nick too was inspecting the status of the Forest Leader.
‘Druid Prince’
‘Level – Student Level 3 – Mid (Provec Level Mid) – 22.0 Magic Power’
‘Description’
‘A royal member of the druid race. He has royal tree and nature-bloods in his veins’
‘Abilities’
‘Nature Magic Level 10 (When using Nature Magic 200% more power, 30% lesser magic energy consumed’
‘Nature Defense (Using Nature Magic to perform ‘Nature Passive Defence’ energy and spell)’
‘Collective Power of Tree Domain (When User is surrounded by forest and nature, the magic energy that user spends can be recharged by the forest and plants)’
Nick studied the Forest Leader and learned that he was a ‘druid’ and not just any ordinary druid but a druid prince. A royal druid.
Druids, members of the learned class among the ancient, acted as priests, teachers, and judges. The earliest known records of the druids came from the 3rd century BCE. Their name may have come from a Celtic word meaning ‘knower of the oak tree’. Very little was known for certain about this race, who maintained no records of their own.
Nick recollected these words that came to his mind after he saw the druid.
At this time, the forest leader started talking.
“Hi, I am Foria, the Forest Leader and leader of the Forest Map Place or Forest Map Town. I welcome you. I also apologize my underlings did not help you against threats of the Ancient Stone Creatures in your previous visit.”
Nick was relieved to hear these words. Foria appeared to be a sincere person. Of course, Nick was no fool to trust him completely just because he knew how to talk well but he did have a good first impression of the druid prince.
“There is no need to be polite. I am happy to meet you.”
Foria smiled. He stood up from his throne and started talking.
“Please follow me to my room. We have a more convenient place to chat over there. You are not my underling, so it would not be good for me to talk to you as your leader.”
Nick smiled and nodded. He did not agree or disagree but followed Foria. Within a couple of minutes, they passed a big hallway and entered a room that had a tall green door.
Nick entered the room and Foria signaled him to sit on a chair made up of some kind of wool. Foria sat in front of him on another chair. At this time, a woman, aged-20, entered the room.
She was wearing simple green clothes and was most likely a maid. She brought two drinks for Nick and Foria. After placing the cups on the table, she bowed and left the room.
Nick inspected the room as well. The room they were in right now was simple but grandiose. There were flags and plants everywhere but it was placed tastefully and did not mess up the room’s decor.
Foria continued their conversation.
“I can see that you are a human, just like the Statue of Human, right? Oh, by the way, pardon my rudeness, please tell me your name.”
Nick calmly answered.
“Yes, Leader Foria. I am a human but I am not sure if I am the same as the statue you are referring to. My name is Epsilon, I am a mage.”
Foria nodded and took a sip from his drink.
“So, Epsilon, did you have any questions you wanted to ask me?”
Nick indeed had many questions before encountering the Manifestation of Fear and the Void Hunter Rat. Right now, however, he did not have anything he needed to ask. Once this meeting was over, he wanted to find his team members, especially Rabial, and leave this place and head back towards the Anderium Forest Base.
“Actually, my questions are already answered. I do not need to ask you any more questions. But I wanted to visit you because of your invitation. I did not want to be rude.”
Foria nodded and started thinking.
“It seems that he has had some kind of an encounter with something. So, his questions are already answered before he had the chance to meet me.”
As Foria was thinking this, the room’s door was suddenly flung open. Given that this was the guest room of the Forest Leader himself, this should not have been the case without his explicit permission for anyone to enter.
The person who opened the room was a familiar face for Nick. It was the Forest Lady of Beast. Foria looked at her and was not pleased.
Even Nick could sense some threat in his words.
“Lalia, what is the meaning of this rude entrance?”
Lalia, the Forest Lady of Beast, bowed down deeply and started speaking in a frantic tone, looking scared.
“My Lord and my Leader, I am sorry but there is an urgent situation. We are being attacked by ‘Batilors’.”
On hearing Lalia’s report, Foria’s eyes changed. He sprang up from his seat and ran outside. Nick followed without saying anything. At this time, Lalia started filling in the details for Nick.
“On this island, there are three different factions — Forest Map Town, Four Mountain Region Empire and Blind Kings. We do not see eye-to-eye with the Four Mountain Region Empire and now they are attacking one of our smaller towns at the border. The name of the town is ‘Lalmer Town’.”
Nick nodded. He did nothing other than following Forest Leader Foria. Things had taken a big turn but Nick felt excited that he was going to experience something different finally. He did not expect that he would be just in time to see the Forest Leader when his tribe was being attacked by an enemy faction of the island.
