BXBX NOVEL Vol. 7 - Chapter 360 - The army's creation (1)
At first they had planned on going to Baukis to help out with the maritime war happening there, but the Demon King\'s Army had chosen to retreat. There was no Demon General there, and all the others had been defeated already.
They were not in the Queen\'s audience hall, but a larger area, where two thousand elves conducted a rite before entering Allen\'s Army. Ceremonies and traditions were a very elven thing to focus on.
"Master Allen, I apologize for the extended wait. We\'re about to perform the ceremony to bless your departure, and celebrate the new post acquired by my men."
The Elven Queen had gone to that place as well and spoke to Allen. She had wanted to greet Allen before the ceremony took place.
The Queen\'s opinion of Allen had been improving greatly. Her attitude began to change that way ever since he obtained the floating island, which he now dubbed Heavy User Island. It seemed that the Spirit God\'s prediction since he was merely a Spirit King was correct. Allen was the savior of the world, known there as \'the boy who fends off darkness.\'
The Queen was giving him two thousand of her men, all with 2 Star Talents, just after the war was over. The number of casualties was quite low compared to other years, but it had still claimed the lives of a couple thousand elves.
Allen would have control over them for an indefinite period of time, so he was free to plan risky strategies where some casualties might emerge. The two thousand elves were under the direct command of General Lucidral.
There was a chance that they would all be part of Allen\'s Army for years. Those who had a lot of relatives or people they did not wish to leave behind, were allowed to take their entire family with them to Heavy User Island. The island could easily house thousands of people, but they also had to keep in mind that it would eventually become the frontline against the Demon King\'s Army.
"I\'m sorry, taking such a large number of your men, and capable ones with 2 Star Talents no less. Could I ask them if they\'re truly ready for this one last time?"
If the Queen told them to go, the elves had no choice but to obey. Allen wanted to make sure it was what they wished though.
"But of course, go ahead. We elves have a different outlook on life and death, so we…we… Eh?! Ah, ahh…how could this be…"
Death for elves simply meant returning to the roots of the World Tree. That was why they would easily lay down their lives in battle if it meant protecting the World Tree, the spirit of the World Tree Rosen, and their sovereign Queen.
Not to mention that Sophie, already believed to be the next Queen, and the Spirit God, walked alongside \'the boy who fends off darkness.\' No elf would refuse such an honorable role.
"Huh?! What happened?!"
The Queen seemed to notice something, her legs starting to tremble as she slowly fell on the ground. Her guards came running to help her.
She was not looking at Allen, but his party behind him.
"It-it\'s nothing. M-may I ask though, did…did my daughter make some sort of mistake?"
"Huh? Sophie? A mistake?"
That was hard to imagine, she had helped Allen a great deal in fact. Even the formation of Allen\'s Army was only possible thanks to her.
"I see, nevermind then…"
The Queen was clearly distressed. Her wavering eyes were looking at Cecile\'s Makris\' Sacred Bead. Looking to the side, she also saw Kurena with Luvanka\'s Sacred Bead. For a moment she wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her, but their shine was unmistakable.
Rosenheim\'s Queen had no Sacred Bead. That was why most elves did not realize their value. On top of that, the Tale of Prostia Empire was famous in the side of the world where a king would bestow the Sacre Bead to his consort. Rosenheim was ruled by a Queen, so the story did not latch on as much either.
But the Queen knew of them, and their value. She was shocked to see a Sacred Bead on the arms of both Cecile and Kurena. But then she was dismayed seeing Sophie did not have one.
Luvanka\'s Sacred Bead had been dropped by Basque, and Kurena kept wearing it even after Gushara was defeated. Dogora\'s attacks were powerful enough to end a fight with a single strike, so Kurena would benefit the most from wearing it. Allen decided on giving it to her after considering all that.
Not to mention that Dogora still had a long way to recover before he could join a fight again.
"U-umm…Your Highness, I\'m terribly sorry."
(Hm?)
"No, it\'s okay. We can talk after the ceremony."
Sophie seemed to realize what the Queen had seen. She bowed deeply and apologized. Even if she was the Queen, she was still Sophie\'s mother, so she instructed her to come later to talk. Allen was already thinking of letting a Wraith A summon spy on their conversation.
Soon after that the departure ceremony concluded. With the two thousand elves and their families and servants gathered, Allen used the Bird A summon\'s Awakened Skill [Homing Instinct] to send them all to Heavy User Island. The Skill allowed Allen to transport anything in a one kilometer radius, from small items and bags all the way to large crowds of people. But anything rooted firmly in place, like rocks embedded on the ground or houses, could not be moved. That had come in handy many times when rescuing people from Pagan Worshippers or when defeating the Demon Generals.
"What\'s this place?" "There\'s nothing after all, just like he said." "Nothing doesn\'t cut it, can people really live here?"
General Lucidral and the two thousand elves were flabbergasted. They had been transported near one of the edges of Heavy User Island. There was nothing there, not even a single tree or blade of grass. It was not the type of terrain where a Light User would survive.
"Welcome to the sky gardens."
Before the elves would lose their spirits, Allen smiled and spoke to General Lucidral. The elves were a key part in terraforming the island, so Allen would do everything in his power to keep them there.
The island looked like a recently emerged volcanic island. Everything was smooth rock, without any signs of life anywhere.
"""?!"""
Calling such a desolate place a sky garden sounded like nothing but a joke.
Allen needed the former cultists to pray to the Goddess of Fire Freya now, for Dogora\'s sake. Dogora\'s power was directly tied to the number of followers Freya had. Allen wanted the elves to put their spirit magic to use to transform the sky garden, giving birth to trees, earth, and water.
Only a few days had passed since the coronation ceremony. While the elves made the island habitable, word was spread from the Holy Land to the Dark Elves\' Village Fabraze, Kingdom of Carvaluna, and Clebeur, that anyone who was a former cultist was invited to become Freya\'s follower.
Allen was slowly getting an idea of just how many cultists were going to move into Heavy User Island. Once he summed together everyone from the four countries, they tallied up to 15\'000. Since some were mermen and mermaids from Clebeur, it was important to have lakes too, and Allen wanted to see what would happen if water spilled from the edge of the island, maybe it would float around as well.
"So you\'ve finally come. Is this a good location for the village?"
"Sorry for the wait, Lady Shea. And yes, a river should start flowing down around here soon, so we should build a village alongside it."
Shea and her two thousand beastmen were there too. They had been waiting for Allen and the elves.
Forming Allen\'s Army would take multiple steps. The first was to create a livable space for everyone on the island. There would be more than ten thousand people living together in the end after all.
The beastmen put their incredible strength to good use, building a village. Even though the elves could create trees with their Spirit Magic, they needed someone else to turn that into usable wood.
There were a few elves with the skill sets needed to build a village too. But the beastmen had more experience building bridges and forts, so they were in charge of the constructions.
"Also, this is your island, Allen. You\'re the chief here, no need to address me formally."
Shea had been thinking of saying that for a long time already, and finally felt like this was a good moment. Seeing the way Allen and Sophie talked to each other had made her desire more casual interactions. Now she had an actual excuse to bring that up though.
Shea was still a princess, but she was now living in Allen\'s island. Not to mention that she was planning on officially joining Allen\'s Abandoned Gamers party. It would be weird for Allen to speak to her formally when he was the leader of the party, and the owner of the island.
"I see. You\'re right. Let\'s keep up the good work then, Shea."
"Y-yeah. Somehow I didn\'t expect the transition to be so easy…"
"What\'s this sense of deja vu I\'m feeling?"
Shea was slightly taken aback by how easily Allen changed tones, like he never meant his respectful speech before. Cecile felt like she had seen something similar play out in the past. There was a time when a teacher in the Academy had asked for less formalities too. And thus, the creation of Heavy User Island continued.