Chapter 207

"I felt the breath of thunder and lightning."

Late one night, after finishing her lesson with Nashida, Lansemelo woke up from her dream—the golden Ancient King took shape before her eyes.

"Is it time?"

Gilgamesh appeared before her and asked her only this one question.

The wind blew through the gaps in the rainforest, bringing the fragrance of grass and trees in the middle of the night. The girl who temporarily exercised the power of the goddess of grass and trees answered Gilgamesh's question in a house shrouded in the shadows of the trees.

"Ah, time has come."

——There is still a long time until the Sumire Festival and the birthday of the flower god.

Elhaisen, who left Sumi Castle in the name of researching a new project, met Kawi, who had just been brought back from the Dead Zone by Tinari, and the Gale Officer Seno, who had just finished a mission and was on vacation. Tinari comforted Kawi, whose house was demolished because it was built in the Dead Zone, and asked Elhaisen for his opinion on the meeting that existed in his memory.

"...It's still at least several months before the Flower Goddess Birthday Festival is held."

Elhaisen was the first to point this out after listening to Tinari's retelling.

"Even though the Religious Council no longer officially holds the Flower Goddess Birthday Ceremony under the restrictions of the great sages of the past, they have not restricted private activities, so no one will misremember the date of the Flower Goddess Birthday Ceremony."

Seno leaned against the wall holding the Red Sand Staff and supplemented what Elhaisen said.

"According to what you said, it is even more impossible for Lord Wumeng Tree King to remember the date of the Flower God's Birthday Festival incorrectly." Tinali handed the Hunter's Path to Senor and asked him to hang the Verdant Bow back on the wall. At the same time, he carefully pulled his arm out of Kavi's arms, who had just vented his emotions. "When she said this to me, it was as if she had seen the Flower God's Birthday Festival held this year with her own eyes."

"Why is Lord Wumeng Tree King so sure?"

"...Dreamless Tree King? Did Tinari meet the Dreamless Tree King!?" Kavi held his head and screamed in shock, staring at Tinari who had just pulled her hand out of his arms with his shining amber eyes, "I also want to meet that lord. Although the Ministry of Religion always respects the Great Compassionate Tree King more, I want to meet the one who actually exists now."

"Why?"

The other two people in the room also turned their attention to Kavi.

"Because no one in Sumi can talk to me about the significance of architecture in the humanities and arts. This is a very important matter. It is not like the great sage who dismisses all arts as frivolous and unnecessary in Sumi..." Kavi frowned subconsciously and answered the three people's questions, "I cannot agree with that point of view."

"Although scholars miss the Great Compassionate Tree King more, they never deny the wisdom of the Dreamless Tree King. I believe that the Dreamless Tree King will definitely understand my pursuit in this regard!"

"I don't deny that." Elhaisen spread his hands. As a witness who had personally witnessed several quarrels that broke out in the Great Sage's office, he recognized Kavi's thoughts on the Dreamless Tree King in this regard. "But I hope you still remember one thing - all applications for an audience with the Dreamless Tree King must be reviewed and processed by the Great Sage. Only those who are summoned by the Dreamless Tree King on their own initiative have a chance of not being interfered with by the Great Sage."

"If you were the one who submitted the application, I believe it wouldn't be long before I would see the document that was rejected by the Great Sage in the office."

"El Haisen!!!"

"Let's discuss the question raised earlier." Senor started to bring the topic back on track. "Although I have never met Lord Dreamless Tree King, the group of scholars led by the Great Sage - including three sages - have not been very kind to Lord Dreamless Tree King."

“Indeed, and Lord Dreamless Tree King always covers his face when he appears in public…” Tinari stroked his chin in deep thought, his two ears shaking rhythmically on his head. “Well, Lord Dreamless Tree King usually keeps a low profile in the Church Order Institute—and, apart from the fact that Elhaisen has seen Lord Dreamless Tree King and the Great Sage quarrel many times…”

"The Dreamless Tree King rarely openly contradicts the Great Sage." As the only permanent resident of the four people in Sumi City, Elhaisen explained the situation in Sumi City. "Even if the Great Sage arranged so many mercenaries of 30 people to monitor her, she would just pretend not to notice - the positions of those mercenaries are too obvious. I can spot several of them on my way home."

"That's very strange." Senor changed his posture and leaned against the wall, looking at Elhaisen. "From what Tinari said, she is definitely planning to do something to the Great Sage. After all, although the Flower Goddess Birthday Ceremony is not banned on the surface, the fact that the Decree House no longer holds this ceremony proves that the Great Sage is at least planning to include the ban on the Flower Goddess Birthday Ceremony in the new rules of the Decree House."

"And under such circumstances, Lord Wumeng Tree King can still say with such certainty that the Flower God's Birthday Festival will definitely be held... and it will be more grand than in the past—" Kavi took a breath and looked at Elhaisen, "Did you run out of Sumi Castle because you knew something?"

"Huh!?" Tinari suddenly moved his ears and turned his head to look in a certain direction, his expression was more serious than ever before, "I think I heard a sound——"

The secret underground test site that was currently part of the artificial god project led by the great sage Azar was destroyed single-handedly by a blond man in golden armor. The numerous weapons that had previously poured down like a violent storm turned into golden spirit particles and dissipated, leaving only traces of the sharp blades that had once pierced the ground.

"I don't know what to say." Gilgamesh looked down at the scholars who were trembling, crawling on the ground, shaking all over, or curled up with their hands on their heads. "I thought I could see something interesting in the creations of you bastards, but I didn't expect you were just a group of fools blinded by greed."

"But how dare such a foolish person speak nonsense about God - hahahahahahaha!"

"My students have specially asked me to help them... Ridiculous." Gilgamesh ignored the group of scholars, including the four wise men who came here to welcome the Fatui Executives, and locked his eyes on the two Fatui Executives. "In my opinion, even she alone is enough to subdue all of you."

At the same time, Lansemero took advantage of the Great Sage's departure from Sumi City and, with the help of the two Sages Nafis and Iskander, successfully prevented the mercenaries in the Thirty-Man Group who were responsible for monitoring her from going to Azar to report the news - and summoned all the people in Sumi City on the platform in front of the Decree Court in the name of the Dreamless Tree King.

In order to prepare a surprise for Nashida, Lanthemello took off the Void End on her head after waking up last night - and now, she stood in front of all the people in Xumi City and unveiled the veil that had always been with this identity.

"Finally, I can meet you like this - everyone in Sumi." Lansemero stood in front of the gate of the Decree House, imprinting the faces of each Sumi person in front of him in his mind from top to bottom. "Although time may be tight and this time is not very suitable - but I would like everyone to listen to my voice for a while."

"Please allow me to tell you a story that started thousands of years ago."

She once danced for the wise princess - although Lansemelo repeatedly rejected the invitation of the Great Compassionate Tree King, she finally danced for the Lord of Plants.

The dance was not as beautiful as the one performed by the dancers at the Flora Festival, nor was it as natural and relaxed - it could even be considered just a prank between friends.

——But this is the birthday wish of the Great Compassionate Tree King.

So, no matter how you look at it, the Flower God's dance on the Grass God's birthday was a real thing that happened - the Flower God was not connected to forbidden knowledge like the Great Compassionate Tree King, so Lansemello took out the records of the long-ago era when the Three Kings ruled together and began to tell the story.

"This is the place where I absolutely cannot fail." The night before, Lansemelo half leaned against the head of the bed and looked at Gilgamesh with a smile. "In order to restrict us, although they did not suppress the belief in the Dreamless Tree King so obviously, they still banned the folk belief in the Small Auspicious Grass King. And most of the scholars in the Ordinance Academy were affected by the environment. Even those who originally believed in the Dreamless Tree King would become believers of the Great Compassionate Tree King."

"Is this an advantage for you?" Gilgamesh, who once participated in the construction of Sumi as the Red King, crossed his arms and looked at Lancermello. "Don't tell me you are not prepared at all."

"King Gilgamesh, you should know much more clearly than I do—" Lansemelo sighed, his eyes looking through the window at the treetops at the top of Sumi City, "For the gods, the most devout believers are never the most fanatical ones. Because within the fanatical believers, millions of voices merge into one, and everyone will only blindly obey the instructions of that voice—"

"And they don't care whether it is the will of the god himself."

"...I am not the successor of the Great Kindness Tree King." Lansemero waved his huge magic wand and changed the attire of the Dreamless Tree King into the Paradise dress of the Paradise Fairy that he wore when he descended as a flower god thousands of years ago. "My name is Nabu Marikata - I am the one who built the Great Oasis together with the Wise Princess thousands of years ago."

"I was entrusted by the Great Kind Tree King to take care of her family after her death, to watch over the people of the country that we laid the foundation for together, and to teach and raise her successor." After informing the residents of Xumi City of the preconditions fabricated based on the current situation, Lansemello took a deep breath and told the two most important truths in turn, "Human life span is not as long as that of demon gods, so in the five hundred years of inheritance, the wise men forgot the entrustment left by the Great Kind Tree King."

"First, she must not abuse or over-rely on the Void End; second, her successor is not as wise as she is; third, her friend, the Flower God, will be responsible for teaching this newborn god until she can stand on her own."

"And now... the great sage of Sumi has abandoned the successor chosen by the Great Compassionate Tree King. He does not believe that the god is the god of wisdom that belongs to Sumi, so he chooses to create his own god." Lansemelo let out a long breath and looked gently at the people below who had not yet reacted to the excessive amount of information. "This part of the violation has been handed over to the discipline officer in advance. If you are worried, you can also go and take a look."

"And now - is there anyone willing to go with me to greet the real Grass God?"