Chapter 239 – Dangerous secret
Noah watched the expressions of the two Dryads in front of him for a few seconds before turning to Queen Marva.
“This raises another problem, Your Highness. The issue of trust that we have already discussed in the past. The relocation of your younglings requires me to let the Dryads into my mind realm.” Said Noah, raising an eyebrow. A queen could not have forgotten the agreement they had made before.
“Not Dryads. Girls here, as I said, can travel unnoticed when they are on their own, so they can travel by themselves. We would require your help only with the younglings, those that have not yet gained a name, and thus are not considered Dryads. As long as they are under Dahlia, Zinnia, and Aster's watch while in your mind realm, I can guarantee that they will not bring any harm to you. I believe this does not break our agreement.” Said Queen Marva with a smile.
“Aunt, I am responsible for the safety! I can’t just go by myself; I will accompany…
“I reject.” Said Noah, taking a sip from his cup.
“This is unacc…” Started to protest Mystin, but was stopped by the Queen's raised hand.
“That is unfortunately non-negotiable, my dear.” Said Queen Marva, looking at her nieces. “Noah’s skill requires him to let people into his mind. Letting someone into their mind may cause irreparable consequences. And you no doubt agree that allowing someone into his mind whom he does not completely trust is justified. And you girls made sure to not gain an iota of his trust so far. So, as per our agreement, only three Dryads have permission, and only Dryads that he trusts.” Explained the Queen.
“I trust both my daughters and I trust Noah. So I ask you to trust my judgment on this issue.” The Dryad Queen said, and Mystin nodded in compliance.
“Do you agree?” The Queen asked, turning to Noah.
“Alright. So where exactly do you want to build this dungeon? As I understand, you have a specific place in mind.” Said Noah.
“Yes. Look at this.” Said Dryad Queen, waving her hand, and a three-dimensional map of the entire human realm appeared in the air above the tea table.
“We had several spots we wished to use.” She said, and a red dot appeared on the map in the eastern beastmen kingdom. The Queen then moved her fingers, spreading her thumb and index fingers apart, and a map zoomed in on the red dot.
“But in view of the latest information, we have come to an agreement on this spot. Which is why Mirronia and Mystin were chosen as the keepers.”
“This is… a frontier?” Asked Noah, in surprise.
“Exactly.” Queen Marva replied with a smile.
“You said you want to make it safe, so I thought you’d make it somewhere in the human realm, but…how exactly do you…” Said Noah, in bewilderment.
“The best protection for this new forest would be its invisibility and its ability to remain hidden. Within unending marshlands, Mirronia and Mystin will guarantee it better than anyone.” The Queen said.
Noah rubbed his chin thoughtfully, thinking over her previous words, and after a few seconds, understanding dawned on him.
“I see. So these two ladies are not the strongest candidates, but the chosen one for this spot? Because of their ability? So you build the Labyrinth that will enhance their skills to keep it hidden. That’s why you need to find an evil seed in the spot that will meet certain criteria." Said Noah thoughtfully, nodding in understanding.
“See? That’s why we need this man’s help. He catches on to these things very fast and will be able to find a wonderful spot for us.” Said Dryad Queen, smiling at her nieces.
“So what criteria exactly do I need to keep in mind?” Asked Noah.
“For that, I will explain to you how exactly we will build the hidden labyrinth. You see this spot?” Said Dryad Queen, zooming the map further, showing the very border of the western kingdom, that spread through the unending swamp and marshland, which was not even properly mapped, as no one could travel to the end of it so far.
“Did you know that the eastern kingdom has no Dryad forest?” Asked Queen Marva.
“Yes. They have many small above-ground labyrinths, built by Bog Fire Lantern Spirit creatures instead, as Zinnia explained.” Answered Noah, nodding slightly.
“Good. Do you know what the Bog Fire Lantern family’s ability is?” Asked Queen Marva.
“The fog. They weave a labyrinth from fog, just as you make it out of dreamlike illusion." Answered Noah.
“Yes. So, you see this whole area where their Labyrinths are placed is covered in a dense fog at all times. This not only traps the monsters but also stops monsters that did not get caught in them from forming any large hordes.” Explained Queen Marva. “But pay attention to how these Labyrinths are placed.”
As she mentioned it, Noah instantly saw a pattern in how the labyrinths were placed. They had some distance between them and were situated like squares of the same color on a chessboard.
Queen Marva waved her hand once again, and small circles formed around the labyrinths.
“These circles are approximate areas of influence of each Labyrinth core. In human kingdoms, Labyrinths are built so that their cores' areas of influence intersect, not leaving a single spot that isn’t covered by at least one area. But this is because we make large Labyrinths that cover a lot of area. Here in the eastern kingdom’s frontier, they have very small Labyrinths that can’t cover the whole area of the border if they pack them tightly. They would not have enough Labyrinth Lords and Guardians to make enough to stretch through the entire border.”
“So they built them at a distance, leaving some areas between Labyrinths uncovered. This way the Labyrinth absorbs most of the miasm and captures most of the monsters, but not all. However, this is alright, because it is a frontier. It has the kingdom's army; the Archduke and a large number of adventurers are posted there. The leftover monsters get regularly cleaned, and dungeons that do break out in those uncovered spots produce such weak hordes, they pose no threat.”
“Interesting. All other countries built fortified frontiers with the Labyrinths at their back, so that they would be able to venture into the wilds and conquer dungeons and new territories. But beastmen build labyrinths as a fortification wall and stay behind it, killing only what gets through.” Said Noah, in amazement.
“Only in the marshlands. They do that because they do not intend to venture further into the marshlands. Capturing that land is meaningless. You can’t build a safe city on the other side of it when your backup would never be able to get to you through that marshland.” Explained Queen Marva.
“Same as the south country that has no meaning in holding the desert land in the south. So both countries are rivals, expanding into the southeast.” Said Noah, nodding.
“Exactly. That’s why they strive to conquer the southeast as soon as possible. Which makes spending too many resources on marshland a huge waste. But this opens an opportunity for us. You see Mystin has a similar ability to control mist and can build an impassable area that can hide the spot around our Labyrinth. Her terror vine control would ensure the safety of that marshland, while making it seem natural, so that the area would not stand out. Her task is to make sure the Labyrinth is not found by anyone from up close, even if someone finds it there.” Queen Marva explained Mystin’s ability.
“On the other hand, as the Labyrinth Lord, Mirronia would be building a special Labyrinth that would be hidden from view even if someone managed to venture into that area, avoiding Mystin. With the special ability she gains from Sky Water Lily, she will make it so that even the strongest humans or demons would not be able to sense it, unless they know exactly where to look for it.” Said Queen Marva.
“What ability is that?” Asked Noah.
“The Sky Water Lily is a spirit plant that lives in the depths of the border world and has the wondrous ability to mirror the world on the surface of water.” Said Mirronia.
“Excuse me? Mirror the world?” Asked Noah, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Mirronia.
“You know what this domain of our aunt is?” Asked Mirronia sipping her tea.
“A reverse dream world or something like that.” Said Noah.
Mirronia looked at her aunt Marva, surprised.
“As I said, he is a very smart and capable man.” Said Marva, smiling. “He figured it out on his own.”
“I see.” Said Mirronia, placing her cup on the table. “Then it will be easy to explain. Sky Water Lily creates a physical copy of the world on the other side of a mirror. The plan is for me to create a domain similar to this forest. Only, instead of a reverse dream, I will make it a reverse mirrored world. Similar to how Sky Water Lily mirrors the surface, creating a sub-world on the other side of the mirror, I will build a domain hidden from sight, behind the mirror image of the water surface. For anyone who sees it, it will be just a water surface, and if they try to enter it they will simply plunge into the swamp. We will build a forest on the surface of the water, so to speak. Or, to be exact, in the thin layer of water that mirrors the Sky.” Explained Mirronia smiling at Noah’s wide-open mouth, and Queen Marva gently pressing at his chin to push his mouth close.
“You’re saying the mirror world is actually a thing?” Said Noah in shock, awakening from his bewilderment at Queen Marva's touch.
“If the dream world is, why can’t a mirror world be, dear Noah?” Said Dryad Queen with a smile. “That is only part of what spirit magic is capable of.” She added, with a serious face.
“So let me conclude. You will cover an area in spiritual illusory fog that can’t be dispersed, and will make anyone who gets there randomly walk in circles, like in a labyrinth. As a second layer, you will make a mirror out of the water, and hide on the other side, so that everything you can see in that area is one solid cloud of fog and nothing else. This way, those who intentionally come snooping around or have the skill to pass the fog will either not be able to find the entrance or will plunge into the bog, where Terror Vine will make sure they never get out of there alive." Said Noah.
"Yes."
"But what if it's just a curious adventurer?"
"That's an area that brings no interest to anyone. Adventurers come there for easy leveling and don't venture into the swamp. That's a pointless risk. If someone is there with full intent to pass through the fog, they are there to harm us and will be dealt with as we deal with them here in my Labyrinth. By fertilizing soil with their bodies." Said Queen Marva.
"But the place where your fourth forest will be situated will stop a lot more monsters, and dungeon breaks will stop. Also, Labyrinths die and have to be remade. When the Bog Fire Lantern family would be making a new one, they would see something wrong. Sooner or later, the strangeness of that area will attract attention, and people will be sent to investigate.” Said Noah, with doubt.
“We will just have to move it from time to time.” Said Dryad Queen with an innocent smile. Her words, though, shocked Noah so hard he almost dropped his cup.
“Move?” He said, looking at all three Dryads in turn, noticing the strange expressions of doubt on the High Dryads faces as if they were unsure whether to complain about what their aunt had said.
“Holy crap! That’s why you are so wary of humans. You can move them!” Exclaimed Noah
“The Labyrinth core makes the soil it is placed in indestructible; it is simply impossible to break its connection with the ground. But in the above-ground Labyrinth it is imbued into plants, such as this tree.” Said Queen Marva, spreading her hands. “And we, Dryads, are the rulers of all the plants.”
“Ents. You can turn them into Ents and make them change position.” Said Noah, in excitement, remembering the way Dahlia and her sister moved the dead trees in Theressa’s garden.
“Yes. As long as one of the roots of the plant that holds the Core remains planted in the ground, the others can come out. By changing roots that ground the tree, we can move it from the spot.”
“This ability can allow us to position Labyrinths however we want.” Said Noah.
“Giving us great power and influence. Power that humans do not wish to share. When we first made an above-ground Labyrinth our godmother suggested we hide this ability from humans, so we denied it when they asked. But we did not know why she suggested it back then, until we heard of her death.” Said Queen Marva, with a sad expression and a note of anger in her voice.
“I see. That’s why you are in such a hurry. Once humans find out that you can build smaller Labyrinths with High Dryads and that you can move them, they will covet this power as they coveted the power of the Fairy Queen to make Dryad Queens. But now that a demon war is coming, one of you may need to move her Labyrinth to protect your daughters. So humans will find out the truth. This will paint a target on all the Dryads.” Said Noah thoughtfully.
“They will also know that we lied to them. The consequences may be very unfavorable for us. We will become targets not only of greedy nobles, but also be specifically marked by demons, because this will pose a threat to their plans. And what's worse is that they may cooperate.”
“What?” Said Noah, surprised.
“In previous Demon Wars, not a small number of idiotic nobles chose the demon side, undermining humanity’s power from within. We have no doubt a similar thing would happen this time as well. Without strong connections in human nobility, it would be too easy for them to turn us into enemies, and we always held everyone at a distance, so we have no one who’d take our side. We are trying to improve it with your mate’s help right now, but it may not be enough.” Said Queen Marva.
“I gave you my word, Your Highness. I will stand by you and help however I can.” Said Noah.
“We are happy to hear this, dear Noah. But you yourself would need to be extra careful. After all, most of the heroes in history died in strange circumstances. The general cause of Heroes' demise is not demons, I believe it is betrayal. Yes, they die on the battlefield; however, not because the demons were that strong, but because they were led into a trap.” Said Queen Marva, looking at Noah with a raised eyebrow.
“How can this be?” Said Noah, in shock.
“I heard this from the previous Sage himself. Pendragon Merlin. That’s how he met the Fairy Queen in the first place. That day he wasn’t defeated, but fell prey to betrayal. He survived by the lucky coincidence of meeting a fairy, and when he left back to the human realm, he conducted an investigation and concluded that the most common cause of Heroic humans death are not demons but humans themselves. That’s why the Fairy Queen was always so wary of humans. That’s why we are so wary of them. And that’s why you must be wary of them as well, Noah.”