Suddenly, as we were departing, Tear showed up out of nowhere! She wanted to come, but I had decided to leave her here so she could train her abilities and protect the village while we were gone.
She had actually a really high level, and was already an S Rank Ice Giant herself, even if mostly everything was done by the crown, she still earned EXP from all the… lives she took, so even without the crown, she was really strong by herself.
"Tear?! But I told you that you should stay here!" I told her from afar.
"No… I want to go too! I promised you that I would help you!" Tear said. "Please, Maria… Give me a chance!"
"Sigh…" I ended facepalming a bit. "Fine, come here. [Shadow Threads]!"
I expanded threads made of shadows and wrapped them around her body, dragging her towards us in a second.
"Uwaaah! Oh!" Tear panicked a bit but landed over Lucifer's back fine enough.
She was huge compared to any of us… As an Ice Giant, even if she hasn't aged in appearance since she got the crown, she was over three meters of height.
"Well, if you really want to come, be our guest." I sighed. "But please don't do anything reckless, and stay lowkey if possible."
"Okay." Tear nodded. "I'll help as much as I can!"
"Well, it sure is weird to bring along a former enemy …" Partner said. "Ah, well, the crown's gone so I guess you're different than before… Still trying to process everything."
"Come on Partner, don't be rude." Emeraldine sighed, crossing her arms. "Let's get along, Tear!"
"Sure! Thanks." Tear smiled, looking into the faraway mountains, while gently touching her necklace's jewel, Veredorr's Soul Core. "I'm sure Veredorr would had wanted to come along, and explore the beautiful world with us…"
"What about the two dragons that are always sticking with you?" Partner asked.
"Dwagons?" Nyx asked.
"I think she means Gjoll and Leiptr!" Said Takeshi.
"Yeah, those two are always at Tear's side." Lucia giggled.
"I told them to stay in the village and protect it. They're very strong, so I'm trusting on their strength." Tear smiled. "I've been practicing my magic a bit; I hope I can be of some help!"
"You'll sure be." I nodded. "Now, onwards, Lucifer! Go as fast as you can!"
"Alright!" Lucifer roared, flying across the skies as fast as possible.
The Order of the God of Light hasn't acted ever since the defeat of their combined troops with the Frost Queen's. They either have given up on us or think that we are not even worth their time anymore. After all, they've got an internal struggle against the Vampires that had infiltrated into their society.
So while they're working on something else, most likely to deal with them now that that suspicious Vampires escaped with some sort of treasure from the Tower of Skadi, we have to get done everything I wanted to do.
And the first thing is to visit Emeraldine's village and see if everyone is okay! Emeraldine had left her village to become an Adventurer, but after being captured by bandits, she ended becoming a slave.
Since then, she hasn't known anything about them, and even after I rescued her, helped her recover, and helped her take revenge on those nasty bastards, she hadn't said a single word about wanting to go back there.
Now that over a year has passed since then, and she has changed so much, I think it was finally about time she went back, I am worried about her family.
"Mama, why didn't Root come along?" Nyx complained.
"Ah, well, he is better off protecting the village, his enormous body and branches are strong, in an emergency, he'll protect the whole city." I smiled. "I wish I could had brought him along, I believe he would had really liked seeing the Ancient Spirit Forest…"
"It is indeed a rather mysterious place. I had never heard about it before." Tear said in surprise.
"Hmm, I have only heard a bit." Jonathan said. "I remember the members of the Order saying it was a forest where dangerous… spiritualists lived, and that they were protected by the mountains, so it wasn't easy to go there… I'm thankful that is the case."
"Well they're quite wrong, we weren't dangerous spiritualist. And there were also humans there, not just elves." Emeraldine sighed. "There's a lot of misunderstandings of our small settlement. But that spirit forest was born from the first elf that set foot on this continent thousands of years ago. It was said he was the prince of an Elven Kingdom that escaped from his country. And that carried with himself a seed of Yggdrasil."
"A seed of Yggdrasil! Like Root?" Nyx wondered innocently. "Oh! Is there a Root there?!"
"S-Something like that." Emeraldine laughed. "There's a huge forest that everyone calls the Holy Spirit Tree, it is a smaller, lesser type of Yggdrasil Tree that couldn't grow completely because of the lack of spiritual energy in this continent compared to Alfheim, where we originate. Nonetheless, it grew very big, and filled the surrounding forests with spiritual energy, turning that place in what now everyone calls the Ancient Spirit Forest, although it is quite a small forest."
"That sounds pretty cool, not going to lie." Partner smiled while rubbing her chin. "I guess your village is in the woods?"
"Yeah, there are some houses in the ground, but most elven families build houses on top of trees! It is very fun! You'll be really shocked when you see it!" Emeraldine smiled.
"Wow… It sounds so dreamy." Tear smiled faintly.
"I hope the elves aren't scared of a big dragon coming down though." Lucifer spoke, rather concerned.
"Oh, please don't worry about it, Lucifer! Once you speak to them on words, they'll understand and won't panic. We are used to speaking with Spirit Beasts that inhabit the forest with us, they're our guardians." Emeraldine smiled.
"Hmm, I see." Lucifer sighed in relief. "I hope so- Oh? OH! Where almost there!"