Gathered
Soon after picking up the third skull, he felt it vibrate. It was simply trembling in place whenever Edrick touched it.
The scion was uncertain what this meant at first, but upon further testing, he found out that the vibrations increased and decreased based on the direction the hollow sockets were facing. It was essentially acting like a compass. The vibrations also got more and more prominent the more he moved in the indicated direction.
Eventually, the skull pointed directly beneath his feet.
Anoteros let his two bestial assistants dig in his stead, and they unearth a small bone from the soil.
‘Mmh… Looks like a… Proximal phalanx? I think that’s it’
Thanks to his ‘expertise’, Edrick was quite familiar with the bones in the human body. However, he felt that this bone probably did not belong to a human, but instead to whatever being the skull he was holding had once belonged to.
As soon as he collected the bone, the vibrations of the skull momentarily stopped before starting up again–This time pointing to another direction entirely. He could already guess that the skull was trying to get him to acquire all of the other bones, but he found it bizarre that only a single bone would be buried here.
It was even more suspicious since the skull had come from a structure that had spontaneously popped out of thin air. Was he being guided to do something? Was the owner of this body trying to tempt him to complete their skeleton so that they could be revived? Was the realm itself giving him a puzzle to solve? Or was it just a bizarre thing that was happening on its own?
The problem of being in a world where everything was possible, and every rule was routinely bent, broken, and also had dozens of exceptions, was that it was very hard to actually make assumptions about something odd and have any level of certainty about it.
At the very least, Anoteros could not sense any energies being active when the skull vibrated. Though that might as well mean that he just wasn’t able to sense it because whatever caused it was beyond what he could detect.
‘I wonder… Do the other skulls that I have do the same thing now? This one didn’t do it immediately, so maybe now that I found all of the skulls, I need to find the rest of their bones? Maybe? I’ll test it…’
When he went to collect the two other skulls, he immediately realised that they were also vibrating now. Thus, it probably wasn’t a specific being or person trying to lure him to reanimate them. That, or three different beings somehow had the exact same, bizarre revival technique.
Which, while not totally impossible, was certainly a very big coincidence–Making this option the least believable of the bunch.
Considering that the Red Guardian had qualified the village from back then as being a sort of memory the realm had spat out... Edrick was inclined to believe that the realm–Which had been rather friendly since his very first visit–Was trying to guide him in some way.
Under this assumption, and being rather curious, the noble began to do some treasure hunting throughout the realm.
The bone pieces seemed to be mostly located within the Great Plains, buried underground for the most part.
Anoteros switched between the three skulls back and forth, collecting them simultaneously…
One day, as he was about to head out for another bone-seeking adventure, he spotted a red silhouette a distance from his camp.
“Well, well, well… I haven’t seen you at all since I came back. What have you been up to, Red Boy?”
“When there are no invasions going on, I usually spend most of my time at the temple…”
The Red Guardian scratched his chin, staring at Edrick with a raised eyebrow.
“...I didn’t sense your arrival at all. It seems like the realm doesn’t even consider you a guest or visitor anymore. It treats you like you are supposed to be here”
Anoteros slightly tilted his head, smiling.
“Seems like I have a pretty good reputation with the realm, huh?”
“You certainly do…”
“No need to act so sad. I certainly hope that you aren’t thinking that the realm likes me more than you do. That would be childish reasoning for such a big man like yourself”
The Blutgar sighed rather deeply.
“I do NOT think this way”
“Then what’s up with the tone?”
“You tire me, Edrick Lucien Anoteros”
“Do I? Then you should relax! Let’s grab ourselves some girls. Don’t give me that look, I know that you enjoyed last time. You know that you enjoyed last time. Everyone knows that you enjoyed last time–So let’s skip the faux-bargaining and get straight to it”
The Red Guardian looked left and right, rubbing his neck.
“...Very well. You said girls in plural. Are we going for different Underwood Elves than last time?”
“Indeed. Helteiel and Emeyla are nice, but Underwood Elves love muscular men like ourselves, you know? So we might as well spread some love around to the various Underwoods, what do you think?”
The red-skinned defender thought for a few moments and then shrugged.
“Sounds fine”
Thus, accompanied by Oswulf and Ansbach, the two of them went to another Underwood. Finding two pretty girls for themselves. Convincing them to follow along was incredibly easy. Not only were all Underwood Elves definitely attracted to tall, muscular, and masculine men, but when accompanied by the Red Guardian–Their idol–It was even simpler.
They could have literally convinced them to be claimed right in the village in front of everyone.
In any case, this is how they ended up in the woods with their heavy tools being gulped down by two enthusiastic Underwood Elves.
The Red Guardian was a rather active guy. Even if not speedy or rough in his motions, he was still actively thrusting his hips. He wanted to see as much of his shaft going in and out with every motion as possible, admiring the potent effects of Balls To The Wall…
It seemed like this ability was indeed a godsend in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Edrick was merely holding onto the elf’s hair, sometimes pushing her deep onto his sceptre, but not doing anything else in particular.
“I was wondering… How does evolution and the like work in this realm?”
“Mmh? What do you mean?”
“Since the realm is a god here, are all species created by the realm? If so, can they ever go extinct? Can it naturally occur, or does the realm make sure to maintain a balance?”
“Oh… I see what you mean. Frankly, as far as I remember, the realm has been the way it currently is. Things don’t change much. The only difference is that the Underwood Elves have progressed. When I was created, they had also just been manifested… Apart from this, though? The beasts have stayed mostly the same”
“Really, apart from some specific groups of certain species like the giant Flame-Maw Bears slightly differentiating themselves, nothing of note really happened on that front… At least since I have been around”
“So… I suppose the realm does indeed maintain things to some degree”
“Huh. I see”
Of course, the question wasn’t mere curiosity. Edrick was trying to fish for information about the previous sapient creations of the realm. Unfortunately, it seemed like the Red Guardian was only as old as the Underwood Elves.
Were there guardians before him? Or did the concept of a protector only arise alongside the Underwood Elves?
Regardless, the guardian did not appear to know much at all.
Edrick was just going to focus on the nice piece of meat slobbering all over him for now.