Chapter 769 - Flower Garden
Chapter 769 - Flower Garden
Chapter 769: Flower Garden
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
There was an endless flower garden underneath the bright sun. However, unlike a natural flower garden, the flowers here were incredibly varied to the point of being uncountable. The most common types of flowers here were thorny flowers.
LIvely red roses, elegant white lilies, mysterious purple tulips, and all sorts of other flowers with different blossoming seasons were all simultaneously blooming here despite that being quite unreasonable.
Hundreds of different flowers’ fragrances all mixed together. However, this didn’t smell bad at all. Instead, just like in a cocktail, all the scents helped each other out. Just by standing at the edge of the flower garden, you would feel really refreshed and energized by the wonderful flower aromas washing over you.
A green-haired woman wearing a straw hat was currently busy working under the scorching sun. She was carefully watering and trimming the flowers while also chatting with them. The flowers also shook in the wind as if they wer using their own method to respond to the love and care they received.
A breeze blew past the flowers. The rustling plant sounds seemed just like a song of thanks.
The gardener saw that I had arrived, so she put down her watering can and happily waved at me.
Another breeze blew past like a prankster and sent the gardener girl’s straw hat whirling into the sky. Her silky smooth long green hair flowed in the wind. She had a gentle smile filled with delight from her work. It seemed as if time had stopped at this instant.
“…Isn’t there something wrong with this style? Shouldn’t Amelia be planting Piranha Flowers and cursed mandragoras in a really strange garden? With such a nice appearing scene, is this the wrong story?”
“No, but there’s something wrong with your head. It’s rare to see this side of Mother. Don’t you know what you should be saying here?”
Behind me, little Rosa suddenly used her head to press against my back. It seemed like she felt I was treating Amelia quite unfairly. But, since she wasn’t tall enough, she would have pressed up against a rather awkward location if it weren’t for the fact that she was on her tiptoes with an expression like she wanted to hit me.
“A lady shouldn’t use high heels to kick someone else in the butt… You really are kicking me!”
I embraced little Rosa who was beginning to kick me and messed around with her hair. It was probably difficult for anyone to truly get angry with someone so cute.
Meanwhile, Amelia was already beginning to walk over. She was also holding on to a flower basket that seemed to contain fresh fruits.
This scene was completely different from what I had expected.
Wasn’t Amelia injured? Wasn’t she just ambushed by that bastard, Karwenz? Why did it seem like she was someone enjoying the start of a vacation?
“You’re here now. Don’t listen to how the young ones made it sound so serious. I merely died once.”
1Died once? Merely? I was originally quite calm, but I was no longer as calm after hearing these words.
This flower garden was truly large as it was the royal garden of the Forest of Dreams. I never expected that I would even see a mansion and swimming pool within a flower garden. Judging from the weathering on the wooden mansion, this place was at least seven or eight years old… And there was even a kindergarten with all sorts of toys and playgrounds. I doubted that Amelia had such a secret interest, so this meant…
“…What are you thinking? All of this is for our newly born younger sisters. Rosa definitely doesn’t need a swing or a slide! Rosa hates sand pits the most! They always get my clothes dirty,” Rosa exclaimed from my side.
Alright then, Rosa truly needed to learn more from her older sisters. She basically told me what this was without me needing to ask. It seemed like this was similar to a daycare for the newborn wood spirits. Perhaps this place could also be called the home of Amelia and the Seven Virtues.
“The royal palaces outside? Those are just to show outsiders. Of course we’d invite Father into our own home.”
Little Rosa proudly explained things to me because she could tell what I was wondering about.
Indeed, this seemed more like Amelia’s style.
“Where are the other Virtues? Don’t tell me that they’re all busy. Apart from Samantha, your oldest sister, the other brats don’t have permanent jobs, right?”
Outsiders would never be able to understand wood spirit society. The first three Virtues had been born before receiving my “blessings”, so they were relatively more normal, especially “Temperance” Samantha, who was ridiculously disciplined and hardworking.
The latter four Virtues had probably received too many blessings from me, making them slightly more individualistic… Fine, I admit that they had slightly strong personalities, but at the very least, they were all good children… Fine, I was lying as it would be quite difficult by any standard for them to be good children, but at the very least, they were all really cute!
Yep, that’s right, cuteness was justice! A cute child being naughty would be only a slight headache, while an uncute child being naughty would be tied to a rocket.
1What? Were there no children who weren’t naughty? Um, I felt like there would be no meaning in having a cute child who wasn’t naughty.
Indeed, the wood spirits were all really cute. If I really did see a wood spirit being all proper, I would try to think of ways to liven the atmosphere and get her to smile. For instance, I recently purchased a potion from Olivia which was capable of corroding fiber-based clothing. This potion was truly effective at causing clothing to instantly evaporate. Unfortunately, the wood spirits were all really flat-chested, so there wasn’t much to look at.
2Still, the wood spirits were becoming more and more on guard against me, maybe because I was in a good mood recently with lots of free time, which meant ample opportunities to play jokes on them. Apart from Rosa, who was stupider than her other sisters, most of the other Virtues had hardly appeared in front of me at all.
The only other exception amongst the Virtues who often appeared in front of me was Samantha, who was also the current leader of the wood spirits. However, she was far too much of the serious type who also constantly lectured me. I felt like there would be no point in even trying to joke around with her.
I once again messed up Rosa’s braids that she just fixed, teasing her to the point where she used her tiny fists and feet against me. I then really enjoyed myself as I looked down on her with the advantage of my height. I laughed out loud in delight at seeing how she was becoming sadder and sadder.
“It’s fine as long as I’m taller than you. It really was a wise decision to eat Dusk Fruits so that I could grow taller.”
Rosa instantly burst into tears and kept hitting me with her tiny fists, yet I kept laughing even louder in delight, treating her hits as nothing more than a massage.
“…You really are just like a child who never grows up.”
Meanwhile, Amelia had finished making me a fruit salad and brought it to me.
The fruit salad was made from fresh fruits which seemed quite normal. Apples, oranges, bananas… and Harloys’ favorite eggplants.
1Since I mentioned Harloys, I now found it rather strange that I couldn’t see any of her clones anywhere in this flower garden. I actually felt unaccustomed to not having my personal professional commentator with me.
“My clones were all killed by this woman in front of you! Aaah! Another Piranha Flower! Can’t she at least change it up? This clone is about to die as well… Amelia! Changing things up doesn’t mean to change to tentacles! Let go of me! You’re not Beifeng, so why would you be interested in cats…”
Oh, so that was what was going on. Let us thank Harloys for always providing us with her professional commentating, and mourn her sacrificed clone #107 for one second. Now then, let us once again focus on what was important in front of us.
“…How did Karwenz come for you? Weren’t you with the humans?”
Amelia was a high-ranking member of the human allied army. She was both Bardi royalty and a member of the Truth Symposium, which allowed her to act like a lubricant between Bardi and the Mage Country, making her naturally indispensable to the human alliance.
Even if I shirked my responsibilities with the human alliance and ran off, she shouldn’t have been able to leave. Amelia should have been currently working hard on the northern battlefront, so why had she appeared in front of me? Also, what did she mean by saying that she had “died once”?
Amelia smiled bitterly when I asked.
“I really did die once this time…”
I learned what happened as Amelia explained things to me.
Amelia was suddenly ambushed by Karwenz as recently as 8:00 a.m. this morning.
The Abyss Prince’s method of attack was really direct. He descended from the sky with a fireball that completely flattened the nearby soldiers’ camp, creating a gigantic pit in the ground with a radius of 50 meters.
Amelia then had a big fight against him. Amelia lost in the end, but Karwenz didn’t have an easy time.
I clicked my tongue as I listened to her story. Although this story sounded ordinary, there really was a lot of information to learn.
As I already expected, Amelia had indeed reached Main God power level. In a way, the power of nature did have a natural counter as nature would fear the power of Chaos which would distort all that was natural and had rules. Druids and nature priests would hate facing demon warlocks and evil cultists more than any other type of opponent.
Nature Faction members would love fighting those who used Soul Worlds to change the environment. However, powerful demons would have their own personal Chaos domains that would distort everything natural around them, so these demons’ powers were a complete counter for nature powers.
If you summoned a plant, then the demon would cause the plant to corrode and die. If you summoned an animal ally, the demon would demonize the animal and make it into his underling instead. If you used nature magic to summon a powerful nature attack, a powerful demon would be capable of distorting nature itself with his will alone.
Still, when considering how the Nature Faction had formerly been one of the greatest factions in the Order Faction, and that the power of Chaos had forever been the core of the Chaos Faction, it was quite understandable how the Chaos Faction had constantly become stronger and stronger as the Nature Faction weakened with how Chaos countered nature.
Amelia’s powers could counter me. My powers could counter Karwenz. Karwenz’s powers could counter Amelia. This was a messy rock paper scissors power balance… Even so, the people of this world viewed the different factions countering each other as common sense already.
Countering an enemy’s powers could allow someone to win against an enemy who was several power levels higher.
If Amelia really did make Karwenz suffer significantly in their fight despite the fact that she lost and how Karwenz’s powers countered her, then that could only mean one thing.
“Amelia, are you already stronger than Karwenz?”
However, Amelia smiled faintly as she shook her head.
“I’m still weaker than the veteran Main Gods. I directly exploded that physical body of mine when I discovered that it would be very hard to quickly determine a winner and loser.”
The entire forest rustled as Amelia spoke. Every single tree, flower, bush, and vine were making identical sounds. At this moment, I confirmed a certain guess of mine—that the entire Forest of Dreams was Amelia herself, and that Amelia would be undying as long as the Forest of Dreams and wood spirits were still alive.
I felt rather complex inside as I looked at her, even though I wasn’t the competitive type.
Others who were extremely talented would work hard at cultivating for several hundred years while slaying demons or Gods before finally ascending to Godhood. The goal was always to live longer and become more powerful.
Yet, the undying trait received from such Godhood ascension would cause one to lose just as much as they gained. Amelia never had such ambition to reach Godhood in the first place. To my knowledge, she didn’t even care about gaining power. Yet, she managed to obtain true eternal indestructibility.
In fact, Amelia’s divinity was on the same level as that of the Creator Goddesses. This wasn’t a realm that one could achieve with only hard work and talent. Even I didn’t know any shortcuts to reach this realm.
If I had to find a reason for Amelia’s success, maybe it was pure luck? Or, would the word fate sound better?
The Order Gods were bound by their own Divine Concepts and Divine Kingdoms. Unlike them, Amelia’s indestructibility was completely free of all restrictions. She also had infinite potential for further evolution. On top of all that, her personal species shared her indestructibility. Most importantly of all, 99% of obtaining such indestructibility would depend on luck on the level of winning a lottery. Many Gods would likely go insane from jealousy if they learned the true nature of Amelia’s power.
The green-haired young woman in front of me smiled as she said, “Actually, if you want this type of indestructibility as well, I can give it to you.”
At this moment, I was finally certain that Amelia definitely had the ability to read minds.
Although she was using a joking tone, I knew that she was absolutely serious. If I agreed here, I could have my soul bound to the Forest of Dreams. With my accumulated power, I would naturally become the second ever Wood Spirit God and obtain indestructibility.
“…This does sound really nice, but I truly apologize as there’re still things that I must do.”
“Liar. You would have refused even if you had nothing to do at all. I’m sorry that I can’t give you the life that you want. I know that you like to roam around the entire world like a wild dog.”
Amelia was pouting, but her eyes were smiling. It was obvious that she was only pretending to be angry.
I really had a hard time dealing with such an Amelia who now seemed so “human” and “easy to get along with”, so I could only tell her the truth.
“You know that already, so why invite me? That’s so insincere.”
“Hmph. I’m filled with sincerity. Some things should be tried before they’re given up on. You’re saying that I’m insincere? Who promised me that he would often return to visit the children? Who was it that disappeared for so many years without so much as a single message? My children have spent more than 90% of their lives without a father. Every day, they ask me, ‘Where is Father?’”
Amelia had even learned how to pretend and cry. Rosa cooperated quite well with her by making a teary expression. This was even harder for me to deal with.
This version of Amelia was far more difficult to deal with than her past forceful self…
Thus, I directly brought out a white handkerchief and shook it as a white flag to indicate my surrender.
“We should probably talk serious business instead. Just how powerful is Karwenz?”
That’s right, my main objective here was to ask about Karwenz’s true power level rather than anything related to the so-called Chaos Girls.
Karwenz ambushing Amelia was already evidence that she was a Chaos Girl. Since I already fully understood what Chaos Girls were thanks to Ayer and my System, I had no interest in asking Amelia about Chaos Girls.
Even if she was a Chaos Girl, she was still Amelia, just like how Elisa was still Elisa. Neither of them would become another person just because of the source of their soul.
Besides, Amelia had already reached the level of a Creator Goddess. It would be impossible for other Chaos Girls, or even a Main God, to force her soul to combine with the other Chaos Girls’ souls. I surmised that Karwenz had given up not because he couldn’t win against Amelia, but rather because he found out that continuing to fight against her would be meaningless.
That was why I found it meaningless to ask Amelia about her being a Chaos Girl. But as for Karwenz…
“That sly bastard, he’s never seriously gone all out in front of me even once, nor are there any living witnesses to speak about his true powers. I don’t even know what his personal Concept and Myth-ranked weapon are!”