Though discouraged from making amends at his door, Eleazar is still ready to look outside Sir's estate.
A lordly beast. There's a creature like that in Crowe Town?
The lords are not technically creatures of darkness, they are guardian beasts bred by the druids, a very old neutral sect, the Guardians of Nature.
In this day and age, the over-harvesting of resources is obvious, and the only thing Eleazar can't figure out is the druids' means of resistance... why not call out the wolves, or a giant bear, or even a nest of snakes, which would be scary enough to scare people to death, and why send the lords, which is shocking, isn't it?
The truth might have to wait until he got outside of town to figure it out.
On the public tram, Eleazar leaned against the window and propped his head up in boredom.
"Dude, that's a pretty textured bracelet you got there, where'd you get it?"
At that moment, a man next to him suddenly came over and chimed in.
Eleazar looked up at the sound.
A fashionably dressed young man, or pompous.
A studded jacket, black leather pants, a skull necklace around his neck, a metal chain trailing from his pants pockets as well, and dyed green hair made everyone around him back off.
The outfit was still a little too ahead of its time for the town, and you could tell by the looks in everyone's eyes.
Eleazar propped his head up lazily, "Didn't have to buy it, made it myself."
"Wow, that's too cool, what's it made of?"
"Human bones."
The air around them choked.
The expression on the jacketed youth's face stiffened as well, and he said in a somewhat far-fetched voice, "You're kidding me, right?"
"Or what?"
The people around them were relieved.
Eleazar smiled faintly and turned his head to look out the car window.
The scenery kept swaying by, and in the reflection, his eyes weren't even smiling.
...
Eleazar gets off with the flow of people at the factory station outside the town.
The place is heavy with coal smoke and the air seems to be filled with a fine dust that makes the unaccustomed sneeze.
Eleazar covers his mouth and nose and looks around with a frown.
As far as the eye could see, it was shocking.
The land is blackened, the rivers are polluted and the air is muddy.
No wonder the Nature Guardians are raging.
He turned and walked toward the far countryside.
Exalted nobles certainly wouldn't live near a place like this, and the manor should still be a long way away from there.
Stepping out into the sparsely populated distance, Eleazar looks around.
The place is polluted beyond recognition anyway, so it's not like he's going to spoil it a bit more.
As he walks, Eleazar tests out the skeleton gauntlet.
With the infusion of spirituality, he suddenly felt as if he was connected to whatever energy was around him.
That's the wind...
As long as he kept up the spiritual infusion, he found that he could control the gases around him.
The energy intensity is not very high, only level 2.
But it was already perverted, he had consumed nearly half of his Frost Magic Potion now, and he was only barely able to utilize his level 2 Cold Energy.
Terrifying, almost worth the effect of a single serving of magic potion.
Eleazar had an idea, and maneuvered the air currents around him to converge into his hands, while also infusing them with cold energy and thrusting them heavily forward.
"Dang!"
There was a muffled thud of air, and an instantaneous blast of air pushed a layer of frost to curl forward, laying everything in its path in white frost.
Level 2 Airflow Manipulation + Level 2 Cold Energy Release combined to create a Frost Shock with a full Level 3 Energy Fluctuation, comparable in power to a Frost Detonator!
"Well, it's just a little consuming."
Eleazar covered his head in vain.
When a little bit of spirituality returned, he recognized the direction.
"Well, it's time to get down to business."
Eleazar embarks on a journey of no return in search of the Lords.
It was a long walk over a hill before the surroundings improved.
The vegetation is lush underfoot, and flowers fill the hills.
Below the hillside, an expansive manor came into view.
Outside the relief arch, an open turquoise lawn with a fresh breeze, a conspicuous lawn line spreading into the distance, undulating grassy slopes stretching out on both sides and in the center a wide and neat passageway, meandering around the manor in a large circle, leading straight to the end of the line of sight.
The skies were sunny and the cheering continued below.
Eleazar squinted and saw a bunch of bored people racing around the track.
"Strange, they don't look like they've been harassed by demons."
No matter how naive the lord beast looked, it was always a transcendent creature and an ordinary person would probably have their worldview collapse when they suddenly stumbled upon such a thing.
Eleazar didn't bother to disturb the men in their excitement, and after a large circle, he came to the hills behind the estate.
The ecology of the area is very well preserved, with hares, which are hard to see outside, popping up all over the place, and deer can be seen burrowing out of the undergrowth.
Eleazar stops abruptly and looks back slightly.
A ranger stood about ten meters behind him and raised the shotgun in his hand.
"Stop, this is a noble's territory, outsiders are forbidden to intrude!"
"Oh, is that so? I didn't know."
Eleazar turned around and answered.
The ranger's eyes narrowed before he lowered his shotgun.
"What the heck, so it's a kid, what are you doing in a place like this all by yourself, it's dangerous, come out."
After realizing he wasn't a poacher, the ranger's tone was less menacing.
"Treading." Eleazar walked backward.
"Trekking? To a place like this?"
The ranger was silent for a moment and said, "Did you know that there are bears in this forest and that people are bitten to death every year."
Whether he was bluffing or not, Eleazar didn't have an ounce of fear on his face anyway, and instead asked with interest:
"And have you seen any other fearsome creatures besides bears?"
"Your child..."
The ranger said breathlessly, "And the water ghosts, which specialize in catching kids who don't listen."
As he gets closer, Eleazar realizes that the ranger is also holding a hound.
Eleazar locked eyes with it, and the hound's ears immediately perked up alertly.
He was beginning to dislike these naturally sensitive animals a little.
The ranger's uncle urged, "Come on, I'll escort you out before you get shot by the others."
"Are there any other rangers here?"
"Of course, to stop those greedy poachers, we have a full dozen of us in the forest ranger squad, and some of them aren't as nice as I am, and to claim the credit, they'll take anyone and everyone to collect the reward."
On the way out, the ranger's uncle casually introduced himself.
"It's a hunting ground that Master William pays an ecologist to maintain, and you can't imagine that a dozen years ago it was just a bare mountain forest."
"Wow, that's awesome."
"Yeah, those scholars just don't have the same knowledge."
"By the way, what's your name, Uncle?"
"I-I'm Peek, and it's Nar."
"Woof!"
Seeing that he was about to walk out of the woods, Eleazar took out a black ring and put it on.
"Uncle Peek, what you just said about water ghosts, is that true?"