“Most organisms in the elves’ forest are heavily affected by spirit affinity, and I’m probably more advanced than any elf in terms of affinity.”

Davey had a higher affinity to spirits than the ones born with them. As he lived in a firepit for years, with increased fire resistance to strengthen his affinity to fire, the elves could not compare to him. This was the world-class training of the heroes that transcended species.

In fact, the Spirit Goddess Yuriana, the hero that bonded with all the spirits and also Davey’s spirit magic teacher, was also human. As she bonded with 13 Spirit Lords, the beings that even the Elf Priest, the highest rank of the High Elves, could not reach in their lifetime, she was probably exceptionally talented.

“Let’s see. Do you understand me?” Davey asked while lightly patting the elkdeer’s back, but it just stared at him with its head tilted in confusion.

-It’s not clever enough to understand words.

“Maybe I expected too much from you.”

As he was petting the elkdeer… Crunch… Bristle… A few elkdeers and fairy dragons began gathering toward Davey from inside the forest.

-How are the spirit beasts being so friendly to you when you haven’t even bonded with the spirits…?

‘You look envious.’

-Honestly, I am.

Perserque blushed. It seemed like she wanted to pet them, but perhaps it was because of her faint demonic aura that the animals instinctively ran away when she reached out to them.

-Why is it just me? You have devil mana, too.

‘Well, demonic aura and devil mana are similar…’

-Squeak!

From far away, a fairy dragon flew toward Davey and gave him an object it was holding in its mouth.

“Wow! How nice is this?” Davey widened his eyes when he realized what it was.

-Moon flower.

“Aw, thank you. Where did you get this?”

-Squeak!

The fairy dragon squeaked at Davey with glistening eyes, waiting for a compliment.

“Okay.” Davey understood what the fairy dragon wanted and petted it on the back. As it squeaked with joy, it flew around Davey before flying somewhere. Davey commented, “It seems like it’s going to show us the directions.”

-That’s a relief. The forest of elves is a lot bigger than it seems. We’d definitely be seen by elves if we just wandered around.

Davey did say he was going to cajole those long-ears, but frankly, he didn’t want to really encounter them.

The fairy dragon that was leading him soon formed a herd with other dragons, and began flying somewhere at once to guide Davey to a vast field filled with flowers.

-Wow…

Perserque’s face was filled with awe, and a smile appeared on Davey’s face as he embraced the view in front of his eyes.

“Squeak!”

“Squeak squeak!”

The flower field, where the fairy dragons danced around, was a blue-colored masterpiece.

-It’s all moon flowers…

The flower, which bloomed with the blessing of the Moon Goddess, was only found in the forest of the elves. It was exactly what Davey was looking for: the ones that only grew with special cultivation methods in the human realm.

“There’s quite a lot of them. This looks like it’s enough to plant on the entire territory.”

One flower had enough seeds to plant a one hundred square feet plot of land. It could be a problem if the elves, who considered the moon flowers to be sacred, saw Davey, but it should be fine, since he was just taking a little few.

“But first.” Davey stopped mid-sentence, then stood in front of the flower field with his eyes closed and raised his hands. At the same time, the weak aura of the spirit gradually started getting stronger.

The base of spirit power was mana, holy power, or devil mana, so it was convenient for people who had powers to call upon spirits if they needed to. Ultimately, how advanced one’s spiritual power was all came down to the level of affinity; since Davey had already reached the max level for affinity, it was safe to say that he would have no problem summoning spirits.

‘It would probably be too difficult to summon the Spirit Lord now.’

When Davey was training his spirit magic, he often borrowed Yuriana’s spirits to do so. Since no other spirits existed in the Hall except for the ones that had already bonded, he couldn’t create a new bond with any.

-Spirit mana? Are you trying to bond with the spirits?

“Everyone seems to get it wrong, but the Moon Goddess is also just a part of the spirits. So, it would be problematic if I picked these flowers, which have the power of the spirits, without permission.” As Davey explained this to Perserque, he released his spirit mana and slowly opened his eyes. Then, he let out a mystical voice in a language different from anything he had spoken before.

[Can you hear me?]

[Hm? A human?]

[A human!]

[It’s a human!]

Davey called the spirits, who were roaming around the field of moon flowers. The spirits, which were just faint lights in the air, began gathering near him one by one. They all had unique appearances: one was a pebble, the other was a water droplet, and one took the form of an ice crystal. The appearance of a spirit changed depending on the desire of the bonded individual, but natural spirits usually took on the form of the elements of nature. And so, the nature spirits here were like that as well.

[Woah! You can see us?]

[I think he can even hear us!]

Davey couldn’t help but laugh at the spirits, who were chattering nonstop. Spirits were innately good and pure, and they made people feel at ease just with their presence alone.

[Yes, I can see you and hear you clearly.]

Perserque had a grumpy expression because she couldn’t understand what Davey was saying, but the spirits understood him exactly.

[Wow wow!]

[How is a human speaking the spirit language?]

[It’s so cool! I want to talk to him!]

It would take forever to reply to everything the spirits were saying; they were chattering so much that Davey’s ears were starting to hurt. He interrupted them nicely and asked for a favor.

[I need some flowers. Can you lend me some?]

[Yes, of course! Take some! We can trust humans that are able to see us!]

[You have a nice aura to you! The flowers will bloom, no problem!]

[Take as many as you want!]

There was no need to hold back since Davey had the permission of these chattering spirits. All that was left to do was for him to take a good amount and leave this place before the elves found out. Since it would complicate things if he were to be noticed, it was best not to be seen. However, it seemed like at that time, Davey did not notice that someone was watching him from afar.

* * *

‘Amazing.’ It was a soft and relaxed voice. ‘Who is he?’

When the high-ranking elves spoke of the garden where moon flowers grew, they referred to it as the Garden of the Moon Goddess. It was a large field of moon flowers, which began growing as the spirits, which were attracted to the highly concentrated spirit power, naturally gathered. Since it was a very sacred place for elves, it was difficult to believe the situation in front of her eyes.

In the elves’ sanctuary, a human was speaking to the spirits to pick some moon flowers. If she were to send word of this to Elvenheim, the last standing city of elves, she would be laughed at. Even the elf priests, the most valuable ones of the High Elves, who had now closed themselves in, certainly could not easily communicate with the spirits of nature.

Her affinity was outstanding. She would have no problem bonding with spirits if she wanted to. Since she was of noble blood and had inherited the Helishana family name, she was born with enough affinity to be able to bond with the highest-ranking spirits. However, it was impossible even for her to see, communicate, and be granted a favor from the spirits of nature without any preparation. Even when it was that difficult for her, a human, who seemed like he wasn’t even 20 years old, was doing that. Her eyes were filled with curiosity.

He was a boy, who had easily deceived the eyes of the elf guards that protected the forests and entered the hidden Garden of the Moon Goddess with the favor of the spirit beasts. It was so natural that she wouldn’t have known if she didn’t happen to stop by. Since this forest had a forcefield that would make the other beings that entered this place wander and eventually leave, the boy sparked a strong curiosity in her.

“I want to find out more about him.”

“Yuria, my friend. What do you want to know?”

Yuria, who was mumbling long and hard, was woken from her thoughts by the male elf’s voice. She whipped her head over, her sky-blue hair fluttering. She smiled.

The man in front of Yuria was definitely not an elf from this village. He was one of the highest-ranking elf priests of Elvenheim, the last city of the elves, and also Yuria’s teacher, who had the most expertise in the elves’ spirit magic than anyone else. Yuria wondered how he would respond if she told him what she saw. ‘I think even Madis, who isn’t easily surprised, would be shocked by this.’ She began wondering, and so…

Yuria decided to ask. "Madis, my teacher.”

“What is on your mind?”

Yuria smiled brightly at Madis’ soft, questioning voice. It was an elegant and beautiful smile that would make the elves, who had a high standard of beauty, blush. “Why aren’t you drinking your tea?”

“…”

However, the most concerning thing to Yuria was not about telling Madis about the human boy, but the fact that her teacher was not drinking the tea she sincerely brewed for him. Yuria had found fat and nice carcasses of crickets, removed their wings, and brewed it after letting them dry for over a week, and yet her teacher was ignoring her thoughtfulness!

“Groan… Yuria, I’m actually not feeling well…”

At Madis’ grunting, Yuria’s eyes flew wide open. The expression was exaggerated, but it felt elegant and cute. “Oh, then that’s a big problem. I happen to have invented a new recipe while roaming around the forest. It helps with digestion…”

“N… No, that’s okay!”

“Hm… It’s quite effective, though.”

Madis backed away in shock. He sometimes forgot his student’s nasty habits and was tricked by her, but Yuria’s taste and desire for health was quite bizarre for an elf, who sought harmony. She was an oddball elf who would eat anything if it was good for her health and tasted good. That was Madis’ student and the girl with glistening sky-blue hair in front of his eyes.

“My teacher.”

As Madis was panicking, he realized that Yuria Helishana’s tone had changed slightly. He stated, “There is something that’s bothering you.”

“What if… Do you think there’s a higher possibility for a human, who entered the Garden of the Moon Goddess by deceiving the elves, to be able to communicate with the spirits of nature?”

“Yuria, what’s that…”

“Or is there a higher possibility that a great being has woken from a long sleep?”

Yuria had a smile on her face, but there wasn’t a hint of playfulness in her expression. Madis, who remained silent at Yuria’s question, met her gaze and slowly rose from his seat.