Chapter 14

Lorna couldn’t stop giggling. There were practically dollar signs in her eyes. She spent the next few hours collecting countless Phantom Leafs. “Woo-hoo, talk about a big haul! ” Lorna was positively beaming as she checked her item list and read Phantom Leaf x1,000. “If one Phantom Leaf is worth fifty thousand shil, then… I now have fifty million shil’s worth!” The work had exhausted her, but with gains like that, it had all been worth it. I just made fifty million shil in a single day… Heh…heh-heh-heh-heh… Initially, she’d only been hoping to make enough to get her out from under the Guugelheits’ thumb. But now she was absolutely loaded. According to the wiki, selling them all at once would lower the herbs’ value. But thanks to her Item Box, Lorna could keep them safe and sell them a little at a time to avoid flooding the market. “I guess I should go cash some of these in,” she said with a self-satisfied smile. She cast Enchanted Wings and flew into the sky, charting a course back to town. As she did, she popped open the internet to check if she was heading in the right direction. And that was when she noticed something. “Hmm… What’s this marker here?” Directly below her was a familiar icon. She’d last seen it when she was entering Aiphoné for the first time. As for what it meant… “Doesn’t this thing show the starting point for a side quest?” The moment she spoke those words… “Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!” …a piercing shriek burst up through the forest canopy. Somewhere inside the Ipple Woods, Elna, princess of the elves, was running from a pack of Forest Wolves. “Huff… H-hngh… Urk…!” She was usually careful to avoid spots where monsters were known to gather. But on that day, the elven princess was in a hurry and failed to realize how deep into the woods she had wandered. It didn’t help that the Lord of the Woods had suddenly disappeared. And though the elven people were used to walking through the forest, Elna was still just a child. The wolves were slowly gaining on her when… “Ah…?!” …her foot caught the root of a tree, and she fell to the ground. She glanced back in terror as the pack of Forest Wolves descended upon her. “L-leave me alone…!” Elna pulled out a small knife and pointed it at the wolves, but it did little to keep them at bay. They hunkered down, ready to pounce on her at any moment. Ngh… I practiced all that magic, yet I… Faced with a pack of monsters, Elna froze up and wasn’t able to fight back. Even if she managed to activate her magic, she wasn’t calm enough to focus it into a spell. Is…is this how I die? I wasn’t able to find the Phantom Leaf… And I couldn’t help Mother… How had it come to this? Until a short while ago, Elna had lived a peaceful life. But somewhere along the way, everything had fallen apart. Please… God… Help me! Just as Elna closed her eyes in prayer, she heard a voice from above. “Petit Ice!” The next instant— “…?!” Fwooooooosh!!! —an intense blast of cold air blew through the woods, and all the wolves fell silent. “Wh-what hap—?” Elna nervously opened her eyes and was struck speechless. Everything in front of her was now a mass of frosty white ice. The wolves had disappeared, and in their place were wolf-shaped ice statues, their faces twisted in terror. “Wh-what…?” Elna couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing. This wasn’t the work of an earthly being. It was more like a divine miracle… “…!” Suddenly, Elna felt a presence above her and raised her eyes to see what it was. A godlike girl floated above her on wings of light. One glance was all it took for Elna to sense the enormous amount of mana radiating out from the floating figure. There was no mistaking it… “God…! Is that you…?” “Huh? Um, nope,” responded the girl, scratching her head in confusion. “Oh, pardon me! You must be the Savior!” “No, no. You’ve got it all wrong.” Oh, I see. She’s being humble. But Elna knew the truth. One look at the item in the girl’s hands told the princess all she needed to know. That’s it… The staff of legend. The Staff of World Tree. Elven legends told of a legendary staff. It was said that when calamity befell the land, a chosen one would take up that staff and become the Savior. And that could mean only one thing: This winged girl, she was… “The gods must have heard my prayers and sent you here to help me!” Elna exclaimed. “Wha—? The gods…? Well, I mean, I guess I can see how you’d come to that conclusion, but…” “I knew it!” said Elna, tears in her eyes. She said a prayer of thanks to the winged one. “Please, O Savior! You must save my mother… You must save my village!” “Huh…? Um, okay.” The winged girl, for her part, was bewildered by Elna’s supplications. Wh-what have I gotten myself into…? All Lorna had been trying to do was check out the side quest marker she’d seen on the map. But in doing so, she’d gotten caught up in some kind of major incident and was now being revered as a savior by some elven girl. She scratched her cheek and popped open the internet to see what all this was about. Side quest: The Toxic Ambitions of Dr. Zariché Recommended Level: 50 Activation Conditions: Defeat the Lord of the Woods Location: Ipple Woods—Area 10 Rewards: Elf Queen’s Amulet (A), free access to the Hidden Village of the Elves Details: Meet Princess Elna and accompany her to the Hidden Village of the Elves to get to the bottom of the mysterious illness that has overtaken her people. This side quest contains a host of enemies that attack using status ailments, so it’s recommended that you bring along items like the Antidote Necklace or a Substitute Doll. Fire-based skills come in very handy on this side quest. Is it…too late for me to cancel this quest…? Lorna looked at Elna, whose eyes were sparkling, and sighed in resignation.