[ Author's Note: After looking back at the last chapter, I think that I rushed it, I should have divided the content into two chapters but with more details, Sorry about that.
And so, I decided that I'll start writing with more details, but that would take so much time and that'll increase the time between the release of each chapter, to solve that, starting with this chapter, there will be fewer pages/words in each chapter and the progressing speed of the story will decrease.
Please enjoy this chapter and comment on the chapter if you have any advice.]
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"Lao: Apprehend them!!"
"Solders: yes sir!!"
"Lanzen: unhand me!! Don't you know who am I?! I am the head of the council!! Unhand meee!!"
All the members of the council were apprehended and tied up, they tried to resist but they were in a condition of mana loss because they summoned seven demons at the same time and all they could do is throwing a tantrum and flailing around.
"Shalden: now, it's time for all of you to tell us where did the demons come from?"
"Lanzen: humph, I have no reason to tell you?"
"Shalden: after everything that happened you think that you can hide the truth?"
"Lanzen: you can do your worst I'll never talk"
"Shalden: you bastard!! After all, you did to your fellow elfs what's the deal with that attitude!! Have you no remorse?!"
"Lanzen: hahahaha, remorse? Why should I have any? Even that human over there said so, you guys are idiots and it's your fault for letting me fool all of you for more than two hundred years, at the start I was hiding all the evidence of what I was doing but after some time I noticed what that human talked about, the elfs in this village lived far too long isolated from the outside world and because of that they trust each other unconditionally to the point of following my orders even when I asked them to break the rules"
"Shalden: …you little-?!"
"Ryo: that's enough!... leave him to me and he will talk in no time"
"Shalden: ….Ryo… got it, sorry for losing my temper"
After calming Shalden down I walked toward Lanzen and placed my hand over his face and iron clawed him.
"Lanzen: Gehh, remove your hand from my face, filthy human!!"
"Ryo: calm down, this only the start…{Nightmare}"
"Lanzen: sto-...Gyaaaaaaaaaaa"
I used {Nightmare} on him and he started talking in no time, I found out that he encountered someone in the forest 240 years ago and that someone was the one who gave him the demons, and he learned how to control and strengthen the demons from that someone, but I found out that any other informations about that someone was erased.
Demon. is the name of a type of monsters that can only appear in dungeons, but they can be summoned by a special ritual using sacrifice magic, and that magic can be used by any race in one condition, and that is the corruption of the heart, but this condition doesn't apply to the humans and they can use sacrifice magic however they like.
Sacrifice magic works by sacrificing someone's life in a special ritual, and in exchange you can use very powerful and dangerous magic, summoning demons is only one of them, and the more people you sacrifice the stronger the demon you summon is, and this effect is applied to other types of magic as well.
Lanzen was using the elder and the previous council members as batteries to strengthen his demons, but if he used them as a sacrifice and killed them he would have been able to make them far more stronger than now, and when I asked him why didn't he do that, he told me that if he did that he'll be discovered because sacrifice magic release a lot of mana in the air and that will cause the other elfs to sense that.
"Ryo: now that we have the informations we need, let's go and help the elfs he used to feed the demons with their mana, Shalden I want you to bring only (S) rank people with us"
"Shalden: only (S) rank? Why?"
"Ryo: don't worry, we don't have to fight this time but if we take any weak-willed people with us they might die"
"Shalden: you mean we will find 'that' in there"
"Ryo: yes, but we will find out when we reach the place they are sleeping in"
"Shalden: Okay, I understand"
I and Shalden and Lao and Rex accompanied by five (S) rank adventurers went to a corner of the village that no one living in, the people of this village use this place as a quarantined area for the elfs who have a contagious sickness.
There was only one building in this whole area, I opened the front door, suddenly all of us were assaulted by a cloud of thick black smoke, the smoke was very weird, it was not affected by the wind and we could see through it even though the smoke was thick, and the smoke was clinging to our bodies as if it had a mind of its own.
"Lao: Guh…this is bad"
"Shalden: Geh, it looks like Ryo's speculation was right"
"(S) rank 1: t-this i-is....."
"(S) rank 2: I feel sick….."
"Rex: be careful!! This is miasma!!"
A miasma is a form of corrupted mana, it can be found naturally in the dungeons and the corrupted mountains and forests, but it can form when there is a lot of negative emotions collected in one place, and the source of this miasma is Lanzen and his cronies because they used this place to keep the elfs they are using to feed their demons, and the negative emotion they felt each time they came over here is greed.
"Ryo: stand back!! I'll get rid of the miasma…{Purification}"
I used the spell {Purification} to get rid of all the miasma in the building, this spell is from the holy magic attribute, it can be used to get rid of curses and miasma corruption and many other things.
"Ryo: let's take all of them out for now!! Hurry up!!"
I only removed the miasma in the building but the miasma inside the elfs bodies still remains, all of us started running and transporting the sleeping elfs one after one to the large space in front of the building, Lao went running towards one of the elfs as soon as he saw him.
"Lao: father!!"
"Ryo: so that is the elder"
"Rex: ….yeah"
Lao took his father and laid him down and started checking his condition, we continued transporting the sleeping elfs and laying them down in the sunlight, but miasma started to escape from their bodies before long, there is more than a hundred of them and the amount of miasma was building up fast.
"Ryo: {Holy Barrier}!! With this, the miasma can't escape from the space inside the barrier"
"Lao: is there any way to save my father and everyone here?"
"Shalden: they have been sleeping in that miasma for more than two hundred years, the miasma has corrupted their bodies far too much, you can see the black marks all over their bodies"
"Lao: but there must be a cure!!.... we have to save them!!"
"Shalden: …..the only thing I can think of that can fix this is Nectar but I don't know how to make it"
"Ryo: I know how to make it, but I'll need a lot of help to make it"
"Lao: really!! I'll help you with everything I have!!"
"Shalden: we are going to help too!!"
"Rex: that's right!"
"leave it to us!!"x5
"Ryo: I am thankful but that is not enough, we need the help of all the elfs and beastmen in the village, for now, let's go back to everyone to explain the situation to them"
We went back to where the elfs were Seth and the beastmen are staying and assembled all the elfs in there and explained the situation to everyone.
"Ryo: we can make the Nectar by diluting one part Elixir in one hundred part mixture of Low-grade healing potion and water. The Elixir part is ready but we need to make a huge amount of the Low-grade healing potion and for that I want all the adventurers and beastmen to go and collect all the crystal flower and bone grass you can find in the forest, and I want the rest of the elfs to go and bring all the large pots you have in the village and make a stone stands for them and collect all the firewood you can find in the village, Kage you and your family split up into groups and go help the adventurers and the beastmen collect the crystal flower and bone grass"
"Ouoooooooooo!!"x everyone
*AWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
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After everyone finished their jobs I had them collect water from the wells and from the river because we can't use water made using magic in alchemy.
They started filling the 25 large pots with the collected water while I was processing the crystal flower and bone grass with the alchemists and the guild workers who are used to processing materials, we gave the processed crystal flower and bone grass to the beastmen and asked them to grind the processed crystal flower and bone grass into a paste.
I had the alchemists help me to make Crystal Water the base ingredient for most magic potions, Crystal Water is made by infusing mana into the water till it starts to glow, that seems easy but it's hard to make because the water doesn't conduct mana very well, that's why you need skilled alchemists to do it.
After making 25 pots worth of Crystal Water we started infusing it with the paste made from the processed crystal flower and bone grass, we can't just mix them together, we need to channel mana through the paste and after that, we placed the paste into the pots and started using an alchemy technique to fuse the mana in the paste with the mana in the Crystal Water slowly thus infusing them together, we continue this process till the Crystal Water turn green and all the paste disappear, after that, we boil the green Crystal Water till it becomes blue and with this, we have Low-grade healing potion.
The boiling process will take two days to finish, so, for the time being, we went to tend to the sleeping inside my {Holy Barrier}, we started cleaning their bodies and cutting their hair and changing their clothes into new ones, I also used {Purification} on them multiple times to see if I can reduce the amount of corruption on their bodies.
After the boiling process is finally done we infused the Low-grade healing potion with normal water in equal amounts, after that we started infusing that with the Elixir I had with me, I had to use all the Elixir I had with me to make the needed amount of Nectar to cure all the sleeping elfs, all the alchemists who helped me were so exhausted that some of them are lying face down on the ground.
"Lao: Ryo are you alright? Why don't you rest a little bit?"
"Ryo: *sigh*…no, I need to test if the Nectar we made really works, I'll rest after that"
"Lao: .....if you say so"
I went with Lao and some of the (S) rank adventurers to the {Holy Barrier} to test the Nectar we made, I supported one of the elfs with my arm and made him drink the Nectar slowly, after some time the black marks on his body started to disappear and a huge amount of miasma started escaping his body, I had to use {Purification} multiple times to get rid of the miasma leaving the elfs body but after a short amount of time the miasma stopped leaving the elfs body and his condition started to improve and all he needs now is some rest and he will be back to normal, I had Lao and the guys give the sleeping elfs the Nectar and I started using {Purification} repeatedly to get rid of the miasma leaving the elf's bodies.
After making sure that all the elfs are back to normal I deactivated the {Holy Barrier} and signalled for the elfs standing a little bit away from us to come over here, they were standing away from us in case some of the miasma leaked outside the {Holy Barrier}, as soon as they saw my signal all of them started running towards us with happy expressions on their faces.
"Lao: thank you, really thank you very much for saving my father and my people"
"Ryo: you don't have to thank me, but if you insist thank me with some food"
"Lao: yeah!!, leave it to me!!"
"Ryo: okay, for now, I'll go back to the tent, I'm almost at my limits, I need to rest for some time"
"Lao: got it"
I went together with Seth back to my tent and had him take care of the beastmen till I wake up.
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"??: wake up!! Onii-chan wake up!!"
As I started waking up I could hear someone calling for me.
"Kon: wake up!! Onii-chan!!"
"Ryo:…. I got it! I got it!"
"Kon: good morning, onii-chan!"
"Ryo: Kon, what are you doing here?"
"Kon: I came to wake you up!!"
"Ryo: I see...Scarlet, how much time have passed since I went to sleep?"
{one day and a couple of hours}
"Ryo: did I sleep for a whole day?!"
"Kon: you did!! And I came to wake you up because you didn't play with me yesterday"
"Ryo: I see, it seems like I need to tickle this bad child as a punishment"
"Kon: hahahahahahaha!! stop it!! Hahahahaha!! Onii-chan stop!! Hahahahaha!!"
"Seth: Oh, master you woke up?"
"Ryo: yeah, thanks to this rascal"
"Kon: stop!! Hahahaha!! Ojii-chan!! Tell onii-chan to stop!! Hahahaha"
"Seth: master, you should stop soon, he is out of breath already"
"Ryo: okay, you escaped now but I'll get you next time"
"Kon: you can't!! if you want to tickle me again you'll have to catch me first!"
"Ryo: Is this a challenge for me?"
"Kon: yes it is!!"
"Ryo: okay, here I come!!"
Kon ran away from me and went outside, and I started running after him, I continued playing with Kon and the other beastmen children till the sunset, right after I finished having my bath Lao came to visit us.
"Lao: Ryo, good to see that you are still alright"
"Ryo: Ah, Lao. As you can see I'm all good"
"Lao: actually I came to inform you that my father and the elfs have woken up, we prepared a feast in the village square for everyone in the village and you and the beastmen are invited, and my father wants to talk to you"
"Ryo: got it, I'll call the beastmen and will meet you there"
"Lao: got it"
I went and told the beastmen about the feast and all of them were happy to go, I took Kon and placed him on my shoulders and headed toward the village square with the other beastmen when we reached the village square we were welcomed by most of the elfs in the village and in the middle of all of them was Lao and his father Laron Berlarn, he is a tall man with a short beard, his hair is golden blond and he had a long flowing hair and green eyes.
"Laron: nice to meet you, Ryo-dono. And thank you for all you have done for us"
"Ryo: don't mind the small stuff, all I did was to follow the words of my teacher"
"Laron: and by a teacher you mean my son Nash?"
"Ryo: yeah, and let me tell you that it is no use trying to play dumb with me"
"Laron: hahahahahaha!! So you noticed didn't you!!"
"Ryo: of course I did"
"Laron: hahahahahahahah!! As expected from an (SS) rank!!"
"Lao: what are you two talking about?"
"Ryo: this guy, your father. Was watching everything that was happening in the village, I noticed him the moment I entered the village"
"Lao: what do you mean by watching?"
"Laron: right after I lost my consciousness because of the miasma two hundred years ago I transferred my consciousness into a spirit and started watching over the village in a dream-like state"
"Lao: you mean to say that you knew about what my uncle was doing all this time"
"Laron: yes, but I couldn't do anything to stop him, I watched him as he brought more elfs into that building and use them to feed his demons and as he tried to get rid of all the people who supported me and the people close to my sons, but the best part was when Ryo-dono's wolfs eat his demons, I can't forget the look on his face, I laughed my ass off to the point I started to feel pain in my actual body. Really thank you for coming to our rescue"
"Ryo: I did this for Nash and Lao so don't mind it, but for now let us enjoy the feast"
"Laron: Umu, you are right, everyone eat and drink as much as you want!! Don't worry there is more from where all of this came from!!"
I placed Kon next to me and started eating the food prepared for the feast, there were all kinds of dishes from meat to fruits and all kinds of drinks from alcohol to normal fruit juice, me and Kon both liked the giant bird meat roasted with some vegetables and eaten by placing pieces of the meat with some vegetables into some kind of edible leaves and eaten as a wrap.
After the feast Laron, the elder stood up to announce something.
"Laron: attention everyone!! The events that nearly brought all of us to the brink of destruction were brought upon us because of our ignorance, just as Ryo-dono said we are fools for letting such a criminal do as he pleased with us, and here I am right now announcing for all of you that the head of the council and all the elfs who helped him are to be beheaded tomorrow morning in front of all the people present here now, and Ryo-dono is there anything you want from us in return for all you did for us?"
"Ryo: actually I want you the elfs of this village to form an alliance my village Armonis village, the village your son Nash living in"
"Laron: that sound interesting indeed, but how are we to form the alliance when we are isolated inside this forest?"
"Ryo: after the beastmen here finish building houses for themselves I'll build a teleportation gate in both villages to make it possible for the people of this village to visit that village and the people of that village to visit this village"
"Laron: ooh, that will also enable us to trade with them, that's a good idea"
"Ryo: and I'll use my position as (SS) rank to claim this forest for myself to prevent the people of the kingdom from harming you"
"Laron: got it you have a deal, and from now on I'll place my son Lao as the one responsible for this alliance"
Laron the elder of the elfs reached his hand for a handshake and I grasped his hand in mine, and with this, the alliance between Armonis and Elvens was made.