Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1012 - 127: The Chaotic World Tree

Chapter 1012: Chapter 127: The Chaotic World Tree

"Kyle, if you don’t come out now, we’re going to leave," Flare said, stepping out of her Inherent Psychic Domain as if nothing had happened, speaking in a soft voice to a corner not far away, "Do you really want to keep hiding there? Be careful, you might get lost in the top layers of the World Tree forever once I leave without someone to guide you."

"Tsk, your World Tree is the most troublesome," Pannis grumbled as he floated out from behind some branches like a Ghost, seeing his expression so similar to her own made the little banshee Annie feel incredibly close to him, giggling joyously. She wriggled free from Vivian’s grip, evaded the Teddy Bear’s restraint, and floated up to pounce onto Pannis, unwilling to let go once she clung to his neck. Pannis was startled by the little one’s actions, hugging Annie as he said, "Don’t fly around recklessly, it’s not just a canopy here. The World Tree, as the Tree of the Beginning, contains countless secrets. Although I don’t know what those secrets are, I know the fundamental fact that each layer of space in its canopy is disordered, and the area is far larger than the two square kilometers you see from below. Without someone who knows the way, even Elves could get lost in the Royal Palace and never find their way out again. If you fly around haphazardly, and should you slip outside the bounds of this layer, it would be a lot of trouble to find you. So you see, even the sisters who can fly are walking on the ground, be a good girl and come down to walk yourself."

"Mhm," Annie seemed to not understand much, showing no signs of being frightened, she nodded vigorously with glee, yet she had no intention of coming down to walk on her own. Faced with Annie who was becoming more of a handful, Pannis could only sigh helplessly and hold the little banshee in his arms, saying, "Ahem, I’m starving to death, when are we going to eat?"

"You, this guy," Catherine muttered discontentedly, not bothering to argue with Pannis about the two gold coins anymore after whatever Flare had discussed with the knight girl inside the domain. She walked over, took the eager Annie who was trying to climb onto his head for her daily routine game of swing from him, and whispered a complaint, "Knowing that it’s easy to get lost here, don’t just run around like you usually do, we’d have to go searching everywhere for you if you get lost."

"Heh, actually my home is not as exaggerated as he described," Flare chuckled and shook her head, "After all, practically every layer of space is inhabited, so if you can’t find the way, you just need to ask any resident you come across. Even if by chance you do end up in an unused layer of the tree, or you don’t meet any other residents for a moment, it’s fine. Any layer of the World Tree doesn’t escape my awareness. As long as I hold the Heart of the Forest, the entire World Tree acts like another body of mine, for instance, you’re standing on my fingers right now."

"Eh?" Lina, who Flare used as an example, jumped back a few steps with a startled exclamation, looking at Flare with a weird expression and hesitatingly asked, "That can’t be right, can it? It shouldn’t be that exaggerated."

"Hehe, it’s just a little joke, no need to take it seriously," Flare said with a smile, nodding at the female Elves who were respectfully waiting for her orders nearby. All along their journey, the Elves they met gave the impression of being free-spirited and unbound, showing only the most basic respect for their queen, but the Elven ladies who greeted Flare in the Royal Palace overturned that image. These ladies not only respected Flare, but revered her. Even without conversing with them, they waited without complaint, respectfully standing by until Flare nodded to them. Only then did the female Elves bow and slowly back away, not straightening up until they were a fair distance away before turning and dashing into the branches and leaves of the World Tree.

"Don’t be so surprised, they are not ordinary Elves; you can’t look at them with the same eyes as the common Elves," Flare explained to the puzzled girls, "They are all priests and acolytes of the great Yuktiraxil, devoted servants of the goddess, so they naturally follow the orders of I, her worldly proxy, without question. I’ve asked them to prepare everything, I’ll take everyone to the best guest rooms to rest first, and once preparations are done, we’ll dine together."

"They’re also preparing the guest rooms," Catherine mused, "It seems a large part of the Royal Palace, if not the entire palace, is actually the temple of the Forest Goddess."

"Yes, in theory, the whole Royal Palace is," Flare nodded, "although a part of it is used for administrative purposes. Consider it borrowed; the goddess doesn’t mind."

"That’s right," Catherine said, "Hearing you say that the ladies you sent to prepare the guest rooms are the lower clergy of the goddess, I had guessed the nature of the Royal Palace. Hmm, I was actually quite curious before, thinking that given the Elven customs, it’s unlikely they would have palace maids like in the human world, but then, how would such a large-scale palace operate regularly? Now, I understand. Since the palace is the same as the temple, it naturally relies on these lower clergy members for maintenance."

"Uh, actually, we Elves do have entities similar to human servants," Flare corrected, shaking her head, "Elves come of age at two hundred years old, so for the children’s safety, they are not allowed to leave the residential area alone before that. These children are few in number, but there are always a few dozen of them in the Elven Royal Court. It’s our custom for these children to serve as servers for various civil institutions apart from their regular studies, which allows them to learn many problem-solving methods in everyday life and earn a generous income of their own; it’s a win-win situation."

"Hmmph, it’s practically the exploitation of minors," Dillie, who had been lying at the feet of Maya and Tiya, licked his paws and muttered, "I’ve always said that it’s a grievously sinful practice."

Obviously, no one really took the complaint of the scorpion-tailed lion to heart. Flare merely patted Dillie’s mane-covered neck as a way to soothe him and said, "Hmm, it seems like everything is almost ready. Be careful, everyone, we’re about to go."

Having said that, the queen tapped the end of her scepter lightly against a tree branch, and the girls felt a blur before their eyes, and they found themselves in another