371 – Heart of the Forest

This chapter still needs some tlc, so it will probably be updated in a couple hours if there happens to be a change, although I’m fairly confident on the quality of the translation. TLC done.

Enjoy.

 

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As Roland walked to the center of the garden, he couldn’t help but to stare at it.

At the end of the garden’s passageway, a small room built entirely out of plants welcomed him, the trees’ trunks and the enhanced crops formed up the walls, the vines hung overhead, spread in a crisscross pattern as if being carefully woven by someone, and among their green leaves, the glittering grapes hung in bundles.

A bonfire was burning in the middle of the room, surrounded by furniture that had a tone of green—but on a closer look, that furniture was made up entirely out of strange plants that stretched out from the ground.

For a moment, he thought he had arrived in a world straight out of a fairy tale, and if not for the several familiar figures standing on the side of the bonfire, he really would have wondered if this was indeed a dream.

“What is going on?”

Tilly turned back, and with a look of admiration she said, “Leaf’s ability has evolved, she transformed into this garden.”

“But, where is she?” Roland was shocked.

“She has merged herself with the plants,” Tilly looked around, “In the sight before you, everything you see is a part of Leaf.”

The feeling that I was walking inside of a giant creature was not just an illusion, but when the “giant creature” was found out to be Leaf, Roland suddenly felt nervous, “Will she be able to recover?”

“As long as the ability is released, I’ll return back to normal,” the sound of Leaf’s words was suddenly heard. But after listening to it carefully, it was not like she was speaking with her voice, but instead it was more like the rustling of the leaves, and the branches grinding against each other that made that sound.

Leaf’s answer apparently calmed Roland down a little, then he asked, “Can you hear us?”

“Not only can I hear, but I can also see, smell, touch…” Leaf seemed to be very cheerful, “I can feel any small change occurring in the garden, including the nesting birds on the branches, the worms crawling inside the trees’ trunks… it is a feeling difficult to describe with words, but what Miss Tilly said is correct, I have become the garden itself, and I noticed your arrival from the moment you set foot in it.”

Just as she said this, a giant curled leaf came down from the ceiling onto Roland’s hand, and after slowly rolling open, a small cup with purple-red liquid was revealed. The cup was formed by four overlapping olive leaves, with the petiole as the ear of the cup, giving off a stylish and nifty look.

Roland grabbed it and placed it on his lips, taking a sip from it, discovering that this was a freshly-made wine, and with an acidity that gave off a refreshing sweetness. It appeared that both the wine and the container, came out from this garden.

After Roland finished Leaf’s “proposed toast”, he approached the campfire and as he observed the plant sofa-like bench with great interest, he sat on it—it was composed of interweaved branches with thick bark, the seat and back cushions were made out of broad wheat heads with grains in them, and after sitting on it, it felt very similar to a normal couch. At the side of the campfire stood several barbecue skewers, and Andrea was baking some apples and corn for everyone. Without a doubt, those too, were food provided by the garden.

“How did you accomplish all this?” the prince raised his head and asked.

“I’m not quite sure about the process,” the sound of the voice quickly answered, “All I did was take care of the new plants and the messenger birds as usual, and by studying and practicing my abilities—they suddenly answered to my call. Perhaps this was the path that I was searching for, truly making the forest and the life it breeds into a coherent one.”

“What if you were to exert your power over the Concealing Forest? Can you make it become a part of you?”

“I think… it is not likely,” she hesitated for a moment, “And even if I could, it is possible that it would take a long time. It doesn’t take that much magic to maintain this state, and even then, the woods can replenish it for me, but every time I extend my area of control, it makes my thinking feels slow.”

“Your thinking feels slow?” Roland stared blankly after saying these words.

“I don’t know how to describe this feeling,” Leaf said, “If I slowly expand the land under my control, after a few years, I should be able to become one with the Concealing Forest. But if I try an instant merge, I’m afraid I might lose my mind—the first time I fused with the garden, I had this feeling that my brain was not enough, as if my mind suddenly expanded dramatically, and I had to accustom myself for a long time before I was able to return to normal.” She paused for a moment, then added, “But on the plants that have already been controlled once, if I enter them again I don’t have that unfamiliar feeling, so as long as I have time to practice, I believe your idea can be achieved.”

Indeed, it is amazing, Roland thought to himself, Anna and Lily moved towards a micro-oriented evolution, but Leaf’s new ability is clearly a breakthrough in a macro-oriented direction. If she’s able to take control over the whole Concealing Forest one day, there is no doubt that any movements from the enemy will never escape her eyes and ears.

“Congratulations,” Wendy smiled, “Now the Witch Union has another evolved witch, and according to what Agatha said, this is equal to the scale of half of the Federation.”

“If she were here, she would be lamenting it for a while,” Roland laughed, then looked towards the little girl who was stealing curious glances at him, “And what about Paper?”

“About her ability… I’m afraid we still need further testing,” Wendy replied truthfully, “I found a strange phenomenon.”

As she said that, after a snap of her fingers, two packs of snow fell from the roof.

Wendy separated them both, placing one pack of snow besides the campfire, and the other was placed in a corner of the room, then she had paper make use of her ability, “I’m instructing her on how to use magic evenly, to stabilize her ability in order to exert its effect—like you originally taught me to. Right now, she doesn’t have a precise control, but in general, she’s getting there.”

Roland noticed that the snow near the bonfire quickly turned into a puddle of cold water, but the snow that was farther away only melted half way.

Wendy carried the melted water and walked towards the wall, after knocking on it, the tightly wrapped vines contracted to the sides, revealing a hole the size of a fist, and allowing for the cold wind quickly pour in.

“Now come, and use your ability on this,” she said to Paper.

The girl nodded, and after reaching out her hands, Roland was surprised to find that the cold water contained in the leaf-made cup had a thin layer of ice crystals over it.

“Is this… time acceleration, to make the results happen faster than they should? As soon as these words left his mouth, he immediately rejected that conjecture, That’s not it, time is just a concept that human beings set up out of convenience, and it, on itself does not exist. So, as a non-existing thing, how can you affect it?

“I began to think the same way, but Lady Tilly said that it was not the case,” Wendy attached a stone to a vine and as it hung, she slightly swayed it in front of Paper. The young witch used her ability once more, but the speed of the pendulum did not change, it just continued swinging, slowly decreasing its scope, until it finally stopped. “If it was time acceleration, the stone should swing faster, right?”

Indeed, Roland soon realized the nature of this girl’s ability—she was not affecting time, she affected the motion of the water molecules. Her magic changed the energy levels of the molecules, making it lower or higher, which on a broader scale means freezing or melting. It is likely that Paper herself may not understand any of this at all, so she’s only using her ability based on her feelings, that’s why the effect on other objects is small: Oxidation, for example, is a long process, it takes much longer to observe the results.

If he was actually right, her ability was surprisingly a perfect catalyst.

 

 

 

 

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