The Martial Unity

When Ria departed from the hospital, a deep sadness overcame her. She had already managed to deduce condition afflicting Runark was thanks to her mind sense, her SOUL model, and her general familiarity with him over her entire lifetime.

She knew just how badly he had been wounded by his experiences post-resurrection. And it made her feel awful. She didn’t mention it, since neither Runark nor his parents seemed to intend to tell her anything. Clearly, they didn’t want her to know, for understandable reasons.

But that only made her feel worse.

’I will make this up to you, Runark.’

But Runark wasn’t the only person on her to-do list of things to do. There were other members on her team who had also suffered that Ria intended to do right by.

One of those was Siliscia.

’Time to pay a visit to East Genora.’

Not as a princess, of course, but rather as a co-founder of EsoQuest Solutions. She managed to track down the Norwana Tribe that Siliscia hailed from in East Genora, paying them a visit wearing a full-body stealth suit later that day.

*****

”So then, what is this about, Miss?”

In a tree in East Genora, Ria sat on the ground with folded legs. Her body was covered in a black suit that hid her appearance entirely, even to the highly prying eyes of the floral sensory apparatus all around her.

The air around her was rich with the scent of vegetation and tree sap, after all, she was in a hole in a tree. The sound of birds and critters rang in the air, while the gentle light of the evening sun illuminated the entire forest.

Before her was an elderly female elf, the matriarch of the Norwana Tribe. She wore attire fashioned from a specific kind of leaf of a tree that existed only in one part of the forest that the Norwana Tribe occupied.

Behind her were numerous elves who maintained their distance from Ria, gazing at her with wariness and curiosity.

”I’m sorry that I am unable to share my identity or ever show my face, I understand how rude I am being,” Ria spoke through a voice filter. ”Unfortunately, my identity is something that I cannot divulge, for I would incur tremendous personal risk. What I can tell is that I worked with Siliscia, as the documents I have provided show, and was with her on the operation in which she passed away.”

”I believe you,” the elderly female elf spoke with a calm, gentle tone of voice. ”Your voice, garbled as it is, is one of truth. Siliscia was… my descendant.”

She heaved a pained sigh. ”Her loss has been painful for us all. She had… undertaken a mission that would benefit all of elven kind at great personal expense. Very few elves enjoy civilization outside of our tribes. Unfortunately, the rest of human civilization and its cold, metal structures are extremely uncomfortable to us. She could handle it better than most, but she suffered nonetheless.”

She turned towards Ria. ”She told me she had met someone extremely remarkable. Someone unlike anybody she had ever met in her entire life. I can see now that she was referring to you. To have reached the Sage Realm at your youth. Your potential is as limitless as the vastness of nature.”

Ria had been trying to hide her power, so she was surprised when the elderly elf had managed to see right through her anyway. She shook her head, lowering it with a hint of guilt.

”I’m not great, Matriarch. I’m just blessed with gifts I don’t deserve. But…”

She turned back to the elderly elf. ”I’m not here to talk about myself. I’m here to talk about Siliscia and the fruits of her labor and sacrifice.”

”…And what might that be?” The matriarch raised an eyebrow.

Ria transmitted a command to the projector built into the wrist of her stealth suit, getting it to project the hologram of a tree midair.

Not any ordinary tree.

A manifold tree.

The manifold tree that the team had been captured from Planet Pinky.

The matriarch widened her sapphire eyes at the tree, gazing at it with amazement. ”This… this is…”

The manifold tree was common knowledge among elves in the Era of Expansion and one of the most coveted treasures that they sought. There was no way that they wouldn’t have recognized it, of course.

”This is the manifold tree that we have recently acquired from the operation that Siliscia gave her life during,” Ria told the matriarch. ”We had an agreement that Siliscia would get ownership over it, since that was the whole reason that she joined our team. I am here to honor that agreement, even if it was verbal. I would like to offer this manifold tree to her family.”

The Norwana Matriarch looked dumbfounded at those words. ”You’re just… giving us a manifold tree?”

”Correct.”

”…Are you sure about this?”

”Certain,” Ria spoke with absolute clarity.

It wasn’t even a question in her mind. She knew how valuable the tree was, of course. It was basically priceless. It was the kind of treasure that could spark war between major powers like the Kandrian Empire and the Evolutionary Army.

”…You are honorable.” The matriarch elf smiled at Ria. ”We will accept your offer with deep gratitude.”

Ria shook her head.

”I’m merely doing right by Siliscia. I will have the Manifold Tree transferred to you soon.”

”…If only Siliscia were here to see how much good she has done for her people. Not to mention Mother Maeria. She too would be very grateful.” The matriarch elf heaved a deep sigh. ”It’s unfortunate. The people you most want to see are not here.”

Ria frowned. ”Mother Maeria? I believe that is the first Mother of Nature among the elves, right? What about her?”

”Oh, you weren’t aware?” The elf turned towards her with a sorrowful expression. ”Unfortunately, Mother Maeria disappeared thirteen years ago. Nobody knows what happened to her. She was the one who sent elves like Siliscia outside elven civilization to find Manifold Trees. She would have been most happy had she been here. Regardless…”

She smiled at Ria.

”Both of them would be extremely grateful to you.”