This Baby is Scared
This time, Daeniste and Nar were brought to one of Golden Finch Pavilion"s "suite rooms," located within the center of the Golden Finch Pavilion. Their room was a small building that resembled a tree house. From the outside, it was an exquisite structure that was akin to the Forest G.o.d"s dwelling. The tree"s towering tree trunk was strong and lively, its vibrant emerald crown glowing with vitality; powerful, verdant vines twined around its trunk, and its branches were covered in a mult.i.tude of flowers, shaped like pom poms, that were irresistible to touch.
The Golden Finch Pavilion itself laid upon the branches of many trees; skyways connected the trees together. It fit in naturally, without a trace of artificial construction, as if it had sprouted from the trees.
The two maidservants had left after escorting Daeniste and Nar to their room. Before leaving, they did not forget to remind them, "Our two guests, you must take care not to use magic here. In order to curtail violent outbursts… the vines on these trees are all deathly figs, a plant monster which eats people."
The shorter maidservant feared that these two stupid humans didn"t believe her and added, “It"s true. Before there were guests who didn"t believe this and used magic. They were devoured without a trace."
Daeniste: "…"
Nar: "…"
Those pretty little flowers were actually the deathly fig flowers?! Also, aren"t deathly figs supposed to drain away the life force of their hosts? How is this large tree still so lively?!
Moreover, the flowers of a deathly fig should be colorful and aggressive, while these pom pom flowers… really didn"t match that image.
As expected, it was because the Holy Light Elves didn"t really like the Bright G.o.d Church… last time, they had been a.s.signed to the outer periphery and had no idea that the Golden Finch Pavilion housed such vicious plants.
Daeniste pulled his hand back.1 "Well then, for the sake of safety, we shouldn"t randomly touch things. Nar, it"s best if you don"t touch these flowers."
Nar: "…I never intended to touch them though?"
Currently, they were sitting and looking around within a tree house that appeared small on the outside, yet was vast on the inside. The Holy Light Elves disapproved of lavish styles of decoration; however, Daeniste found everything to be of great craftsmanship. Miniature golden stars and the mechanical figures of magical birds were suspended from the ceiling. Silvermoon Wolf fur carpeted the ground and simple paintings hung from the wooden walls. Daeniste saw that amongst these paintings, one depicted the heroic figure of the Sun G.o.d in battle, fighting in the ma.s.sive War of G.o.ds and Demons.
Now, the Sun G.o.d no longer existed. Within his heart, Daeniste quickly went through the Book of G.o.ds that was a part of the Bright G.o.d Church"s teachings. Inside, it clearly stated that Sun G.o.d"s spirit returned to the sky, becoming the eternal sun that shone upon the continent.
–In other words, the Sun G.o.d was dead.
Daeniste wanted to examine the painting more closely, but Nar held him back, and motioned for him to look at some hidden runes in the room. "This appears to be a freezing spell?"
As a Holy Knight, Nar wasn"t well versed in magic. He only knew the some inscriptions of runes and spells. Daeniste, however, as the Holy Son of the Bright G.o.d Church, had encountered a variety of magic runes. Before, he had been fascinated by the magical and gorgeous interior decor, but taking a closer look now…fire magic runes were inscribed onto the painting of the Sun G.o.d. The mechanical birds hanging from the ceiling were high-level combat puppets and the tiny stars had been cleverly arranged into a freezing spell. Furthermore, the Silvermoon pelt on ground had a magic puppet formation drawn on it. Once activated, a ma.s.sive Silvermoon Wolf would bound up from the floor.
There were also the deathly fig vines outside.
Daeniste was in a daze. Before, he had envied the outsiders who could live at the center of the Golden Finch Pavilion. In his heart, he thought that such powers must be quite friendly with the Holy Light Elves. Now, however, he didn"t envy them at all… was this truly a guesthouse and not a prison?!
The Bright G.o.d Church"s His Highness the Holy Son, Daeniste, felt as if he had returned to a few years prior, when he had just been brought out of the orphanage by the Pope. At that time, a lot of elders sought to make trouble for him, saying that he had no origin or knowledge. The him of then… would"ve been amazed by the sight of a pure gold, statue of a G.o.d.
Now that many years pa.s.sed, he had gained a lot of insights. He had even thought that in this world, there was nothing that could make him lose self-control, as, being the Bright G.o.d Church"s Holy Son, he had seen many rare treasures.
However, now… He knew that magic inscriptions weren"t that uncommon; however, high grade magic formations drawn with lines of monster2 dust, moreover an entire room filled with it! –This was just f.u.c.king inhuman alright!
Do the Holy Light Elves have so much money that they don"t know how to spend it?!
Do they have so much magic power that they could never use it all?!
"QAQ Nar, let"s not get on the beds and just stand on the floor. I"m scared…" Daeniste was crying mournfully. Just now he had thought the Silvermoon pelt to be precious and luxurious, now it appeared to him as an actual Silvermoon Wolf. Who the h.e.l.l knew when these would activate? Such magic formations activated based on how their masters had set them up. Who knew how the Holy Light Elves had set them up?
Daeniste remembered that his foster father, His Holiness the Pope, once said, "The Elves appear to be an elegant race, but in truth are an extremely powerful and unreasonable race. You must be careful when dealing with them. Usually those who are beaten, or even killed, by them, can only lament their own misfortune…"–Daeniste could not imagine what sort of activation conditions Holy Light Elves like this would set! However, no matter what happens, he could only grit his teeth and accept it!
Although he was esteemed Holy Son of the Bright G.o.d Church, Daensite was still just a young man in his early twenties. Although he has had a few life experiences, most of that had been going to preach at other cities. As for an experience like the one he was in now, trapped within the Elven race"s territory and surrounded by unfamiliar Elves, it was a first.
In this regard, Naw was understanding. In his eyes, His Highness the Holy Son was still just a young child. He often saw small n.o.bles that acted boisterously normally, but were completely useless when they encountered trouble. Compared to them, His Highness the Holy Son was many times better.
However, although he could understand and accommodate Daeniste, that didn"t mean he would unconditionally follow any and all of Daeniste"s demands.
At this moment, Daeniste jumped onto the bed, kicked off his shoes, and hugged his knees, curling into a ball. "Nar, come up and accompany me."
Nar was helpless. According to the etiquette he usually maintained, a Holy Knight could not get on the same bed as the person they were protecting, since it could easily lead to things that would accidentally spark fires.3 Although the Bright G.o.d Church was not a religion which advocated abstinence, it was still a scandal for unspeakable acts to be committed between a superior and a subordinate.
"Your Highness the Holy Son…" As soon as the upstanding Holy Knight opened his mouth, Daeniste began to frown. "You aren"t that inflexible of a person, right? His Holiness the Pope just wanted you to protect me. Now that I am scared, you are unwilling to take up the role of protecting and comforting me because of some etiquette?"
Nar knew quite well that the other was just acting shamelessly. However… His Highness the Holy Son seemed like he really was frightened. Nar couldn"t just ignore him. Even if it were a young stranger in this situation, he could not leave the other alone. Protecting others in both body and mind is the obligation of Holy Knights, Nar told himself.
In the end, when Xu Jun carried the young Elven Prince Loya into the Golden Finch Pavilion"s room, he saw Nar sitting on the bed with a shivering Daeniste cuddled up beside him.
Xu Jun: "…Are you guys cold?"
Daeniste"s eyes were full of tears, appearing like two pitiful, poached eggs. "Xu Jun, why did you kidnap a child again?"
Xu Jun really disliked hearing these words. He was just helping take care of children; how could it be considered kidnapping? Anyways, even if he were to kidnap someone, he wouldn"t kidnap this sort of brat who was all skin and bones! Xu Jun remembered Ti Na. If he had the option to choose, he would have preferred to bring Ti Na along. After all, Ti Na had tough skin and a lot of flesh on his bones: he wasn"t afraid of taking a beating. If once wasn"t enough, then beat him twice. Eventually he"d beat some sense beaten into him. →_→
He sighed, and under Daeniste"s horrified gaze, placed Loya on the ground–right on top of the Silvermoon Wolf"s fur pelt.
Daeniste: "Be careful not to trigger the magic formation."
Xu Jun took a moment to realize that the magic formation Daeniste was talking about was the puppet formation on the Silvermoon Wolf pelt beneath his foot. He laughed, thinking that the Holy Light Elves" interior layout was really quite awesome. It even had Daeniste scared. In fact, when he first arrived, even he had been surprised. At the time, there was an achievement for triggering a hundred different types of magic formations. Outside of this place, such things could not be begged for and only met through circ.u.mstance. At the time, he had been grinding the achievement ad nauseam, but a few magic formation remained that he still couldn"t find. Those magic formations, he found here in the Holy Light Elves" territory!
The Holy Light Elves really were a group of good Elves!
Therefore, Xu Jun triggered all of the magic formations in this room, successfully obtained his achievement, and even won the t.i.tle of "Erudite," becoming a true intellectual.
He reached out and picked up the wolf pelt, wanting to perform a trick of turning it into a live wolf. However, that small Elven Prince Loya spoke first. The child"s head swayed, displaying an arrogant expression that deserved to be punched. "Humans I haven"t met before, in our eyes, these magic formations are of the lowest grade!"
As soon as he spoke, Daeniste"s attention immediately shifted onto him. The small and childish Elf had already displayed that his affinity for the holy light element differed from that of ordinary Elves. It appeared as if a golden light was shining right beside him. The young Elf"s clothes didn"t appear to be anything special, but it was made from a magic cloth best suited for drawing defensive magic formations on. Furthermore, the magic formation on it hadn"t been painted, but rather st.i.tched on with fine needlework.
This person was… Daeniste"s eyes widened! He just remembered that this sort of feeling resembled something he had witnessed from afar years ago. It resembled the scene of the previous queen"s child being born atop the Tree of Life!
This child was not an ordinary Holy Light Elf! He was a prince of the Holy Light Elves!
Heavens! Daeniste had originally been feigning fright in order to tease Nar, but now he couldn"t keep pretending! –Xu Jun, do you know who you have brought here?!
–He had a feeling that, let alone the relationship between the Holy Light Elves and the Bright G.o.d Church… even the "friendly diplomatic relations" between humans and the Holy Light Elves was about to be destroyed in a day.
Xu Jun didn"t see Daeniste"s darkened expression. He squatted down and gently hit Prince Loya"s rear. "Is this how little kids should speak? There are lots of ways you can play with these magic formations. If you keep acting like this, I won"t activate it for you to see."
Small Prince Loya pouted, feeling that his pride had been deeply wounded. However, he wavered between being curious and being tsundere for a while. "…Then, quickly perform it for me to see."
Xu Jun shook his head. "You need to say please, Loya. Learn to be polite."
The small Prince, struggling, snorted out a nasally "please".
Daeniste felt like he was going to faint.
The author has something to say:
Daeniste is so clever, hehehehehe, let"s take a second to pity Nar.
Haah, little Prince Loya is really cute.
Later on he will grow into a very polite (on the surface) and very ferocious (his true nature) good Elf!
Translator"s Niche:
[1] I am missing a bit here, since I was confused. The full sentence was "戴尼斯特搜得把手伸回来" or something like "Daeniste searchingly pulled his hand back," and that searchingly confused me. I guess it could be interpreted as thoughtfully pulling his hand back. Just in case, I am leaving the uncertain parts out, because I think the current sentence captures enough of the scene. ⏎
[2]Sooo, the word here was 妖 (yao), and I translated that to monster, although it feels a bit too brutish. It"s more akin to like when animals can turn into humans and stuff like that. You see it a lot in cultivation stuff, like say, a fox cultivating a human form or something is called a 妖. Perhaps demon is a better term, but I"ve already used that, so Imma just stick with monster for the sake of clarity, unless someone has a better term. I am open to suggestions! ⏎
[3] 擦枪走火 (ca qiang zou huo) literally translates to "accidentally firing a gun while wiping it" and figuratively means, a minor incident that sparks a war, although the war in this case would be loooove. ⏎