– Pov: Quinlan –
I’m happy with the morale boost I’ve managed to produce in my slaves through a few simple sentences and tasty meals. By the end of the feast, none of them were truly depressed. They formed smaller groups in which they ate and chatted with each other amicably. There’s a reason why humans are said to be good at adapting.
Even with their bleak future prospects they managed to live in the moment and enjoy life as much as they could.
With the rest of the coins we got from killing the Phenom wannabe teams, I bought 5 more low-level guards, making the total to be 10. I also bought more magical traps which I laid down on the outskirts of the veil’s range.
Now, however, it was time to resume the Trials. I didn’t mean to stop here for longer than a silent check-up, but seeing their state I had to step in.
I glanced at my girls who were standing a few meters from me and conversing among themselves. I think the topic was Ayame giving me herself in full as well since she is the last one whom I didn’t bed yet properly, but she wasn’t very receptive to their words of encouragement.
I opened the warp gate and Seraphiel’s divine visage welcomed me when I stepped through. She had no issues whatsoever during her outing in the forest throughout the night and early morning. I checked on her a few times with my Master’s Link but only received jovial responses, telling me that she is loving the forest life.
Being held up in captivity at the slave house must’ve been extra harsh on this nature enthusiast.
We then continued the journey towards the location, and a day later found ourselves exactly where we were meant to be.
We stepped out of the dense forest only to come face to face with a massive clearing that sprawled out before us like a scar in the earth. We were supposed to be in the forest still, as it encompassed the entire eastern part of the duchy and the western part of the Beastman Confederation, but instead, we were met with a giant patch of land made up of fields.
Thousands upon thousands of trees had to have been felled to achieve this sight.
Beside me, Seraphiel stood deathly still as soon as she laid her eyes on this place. Even though her face was hidden beneath her mask and hood, her emotions were plain to see through the intensity of her glowing eyes. Anger. Pure, silent fury radiated from her as she took in the desecration of the forest. This place- the destruction wrought here- was an insult to everything she stood for.
The way she tightened her grip on her bow told me she’d heavily prefer to purge this place than peacefully enter it.
What’s more infuriating for the young elf was the fact that the forest’s loss had made way for something far darker- meticulously maintained fields filled with rows upon rows of strange plants could be seen everywhere. Their flowers bloomed in hues of violet and deep crimson. The leaves were unnaturally large and black-colored.
I was no botanist, but even I could tell that these plants weren’t exactly right. They might be some fantasy plants, or the Consortium members managed to force some strange artificial evolution in them because back on Earth such an eerie plant sure as hell didn’t exist.
Seraphiel kneeled in front of one and examined it, then spat the next words out with overbearing anger in her otherwise always serene tone. “They culled the beautiful forest to make drugs.”
So that’s how it is. It was a field designed for the sole purpose of cultivating drugs, the kind that could warp the mind and body beyond recognition. Psychedelic plants. I had a strong suspicion in the back of my mind that this was the fuel behind the nightmares, the drugs that Beatrice and Anna’s parents had consumed, the ones that had driven them to their early, tragic deaths.
The plants themselves were beautiful in a twisted sort of way. Their stems were pulsing, as though filled with something alive and sentient, while their buds opened and closed sporadically, revealing spiny interiors coated in a viscous, glittering sap. The flowers exuded a sweet perfume that hung in the air. If I didn’t know what the source was, I would even call the smell ‘amazing’.
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I could already see that some of the plants had been harvested, their leaves and petals plucked, leaving behind hollow stems.
Nearby, workers in gardener robes moved through the fields with careful precision, using enchanted sickles to harvest the plants.
They carried baskets filled with those same flowers and leaves to a nearby facility, where the real work was to be done- refining the raw plant material into tablets, potent little disks no bigger than a coin but capable of utterly wrecking the minds of those who consumed them.
At least so I theorized. I had no real proof that my guess was correct.
We continued our walk toward the entrance of the outpost, which stood in the middle of the clearing like a fortress. The guards there were less subtle than those we met in the forest doing escort duty. These ones were wearing heavy black armor with their eyes hidden behind helmets that gave them a cold, insect-like appearance.
I approached one of them. “I’m Devil, here for the Trials. These five are my Heralds.”
The guard nodded, after which he pulled out a list. “Yeah, found you. Good job on getting here. Go in. There’s someone waiting for you at the central building. Don’t cause trouble while inside, or we will be forced to retaliate.”
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Who could be waiting for me specifically? I had no connections with the Consortium besides with Aurelion, but he surely wouldn’t be here. Not only was he too high-ranked to be a simple organizer, but also, this place was clearly the drug department’s outpost. He, as part of the finance department, shouldn’t be present.