"Really?"
"Yes, very sure. Be bold and accept reality. Everyone in your family is guilty, except you. Your father is guilty for being a male creature and your grandparents are also guilty for giving birth to such a beast. They are the murderers of your mother."
The blue eyes had more brilliance when I said that. Daisy hugged the boys in her arms, affirming the facts. Daisy was a 13 year old girl who was acting like an eldest sister. Her soft personality and her fire attribute were polar opposites.
"Don't doubt it. Only your father said you are guilty but all of us said you are innocent. You should believe in us more than him. If you are really a murderer, we won't want you. But now, we want you as a younger brother because you are the most innocent and a cute boy…"
All the human children nodded, relieving this child. My headache wasn't gone but it was still there. I had to take them with us. I guessed it wasn't a loss for me as all thirteen children were talented in magic.
The basic hair and eyes colour was brown in this world. When someone had talent and the magic attribute awakened, the colours changed according to the magic attribute. That's why the five youngest children were judged early for their talents. Daisy had a fire attribute. So, her hair turned red but she still has brown eyes. That would change after her level raise.
11 year old girl Dani's hair changed into copper colour from brown hair and eyes due to the influence of Metal attribute. 8 year old girl Ellie also has metallic gray hair and eyes. Her attribute was Metal. 5 year old girl Pepper had black hair and eyes. Her attributes still couldn't be judged. I heard Ellie and Pepper were orphans.
Most of the earth mages had brown hair and eyes. This group had three earth mages, 12 year old girl May with brown hair and eyes, 12 year old girl Honey with red brown hair and honey coloured eyes, 13 year old boy Theodore with brown hair and golden eyes.
The young Ellie, Pepper, Dani, Alfred and Nick whose ages were under ten couldn't help much but the older children should be a good helping hand for us with little man powers. Don't tell me I was abusing children, the elves were still in infancy if we calculated in human's way.
"We still don't know about you. What should we call you?"
"You can call us brothers and sisters with our names but you have to call her "Your Majesty, The Queen". She is the mother of elves."
Liam replied to Daisy's question. Even though our population was pitifully small, the momentum couldn't be lost. They should get used to it sooner.
The children shouted "Your Majesty, The Queen". They don't have much thought on how this little girl could be a queen like adults.
[ We should get going. Your next batch of children are on the way, master…]
[ So soon? ]
There were small buds already showing up on my hairs when I took a look.
[ Thankfully, I don't need to sleep this time. The realm upgrade is really important. ]
[ Thanks to that Emperor.. Heehee…]
[ Fuck off, Veronica. ]
Gratitude was a must but the dislike was also real. In the first meeting, he was talking about calling brother with a smile but his heart meant something else, hypocrite!!!
"Clean up. We should be on our way…"
I put all the burdens in the small world. This way, the elves won't be hindered on the way. I also sent Alex and Alice into the small world as supervisors. The two adult humans were still useful. They were ordered to cultivate the empty plots of land into vegetable fields.
It took two days with our speed to get out of the tubers' part. The part we see now is the starting point of the real Cursed forest.
Ordinary level 7 mages couldn't come here. There were strong beast's territories on the way. We could avoid them without a fight because the forest is our home. All of us have wood affinity which can merge with nearby vegetation anytime. I got it when my realm was raised to level 7 and I passed it to the elves.
In the beasts' perception, we are plants. What kind of beast would want to fight with a group of plants? It's a waste of energy and time.Beasts only fight for territory, food and because of provocation. Our group of plants didn't rob his territory, not his food and we didn't provoke them. We passed in flying colours…
I carefully matched the plants in this part with the Plants Encyclopedia. This part should be a fruit area. The trees here were the kinds that bear fruits. Pears, apples, oranges, mangoes…
Wtf…
Mangoes? Why did the tropical plants mix with fruits from the cold climates? There were even tamarind, avocado and jackfruit mixed in it, with peaches, plum, apricot and cherries.
"This forest is ... .indeed cursed. Nonetheless, it's a blessing for us, elves. We are staying here…"
I decided to stay in the fruit area. This place might be the outermost part of real Cursed forest but we can always spread out outwardly. There would be stronger beasts in the deeper part. Let's stay low-key for now…
[ Veronica, scan the area. Show me the junction of three or four beasts' territories. They will be our shields and guardians before we are strong enough. ]
Living in the junction of beasts' territories would be a good cover for us. Level 7 mages couldn't pass those beasts and level 8 mages wouldn't come here leaving their Empires unprotected. Level 8 mages are strategic weapons of the Empires.
Under Veronica's prompts, we got the specific place we wanted. The exact place where four territories met…
The space was wide enough to build a small town. Strong beast doesn't want his/her territory to be close to another beast's territory. The gap between them is enough for us to build our homes.
To be on the safe side, I anchored the small world on the ground. It became a pocket dimension which could blind the unrelated people because my permission was needed to enter the small world.
With the combined magic of the elves, three layers of massive trees were formed surrounding the area I claimed. If the outer layers were touched, we could enter the small world to avoid the dangers.
"Let's build treehouses to live in.."
We could form a small village with the addition of humans. The small world was left for emergency refuge. We all will live outside.
"We must build a palace for our mother."
Noah said with resolute tone. Noah and Liam lived in the Prince's mansion and they had been to the Palace of Bright Sun Empire with me. So, they were thinking of things befitting my status.
"No rush. We just arrived. We don't have much to do except for training, cooking and eating. Do it in your free time. For the humans, build two big tree houses, two for boys and two for girls. Build one small house for the two servants. Build them together first, after that, build your own house that suits your tastes.."
A big treehouse took the seven elves more than an hour to take shape. They were pouring magic power into the existing tree to enlarge the trunk and hollow out by guiding the tissues. It has two stories, with four bedrooms, two living rooms and six idle rooms. Bathroom and kitchen would be added later using the idle rooms.
If needed, another story could be opened up above the hollowed out two stories. By stimulating the plant's tissues __ stairs, beds, tables, chairs and wardrobes were formed.
It's time for dinner when the elves finish the treehouses for humans. Potato stew was more delicious than before after adding the small games we hunted along the way. Fruits became desserts after the meal.
As usual, I sat on the throne made from the roots of nearby plants. The children surrounded me in the centre.
"Mother, I want to get married."
"Cough…cough.."
Thank God!!! I wasn't drinking water. Even so, the fruit piece being chewed in my mouth stuck in the throat. Natalie gave me a bomb.
"With whom?"
I haven't seen her interacting with men under my eyes. The only time she was out of my watch was in Bright Sun Empire, hiding her face with a mask. I glared at Adam and Bryan with a look of "How do you take care of your sister?". The two brothers were also confused.
"Big brother Liam"
"Cough..cough…"
The cheerful voice stimulated me to cough again. Liam never left my side except for fighting since we left the Capital city. What signals did I miss? Am I blind? I look at Liam's face. He was as confused as me. Adjusting my chaotic windpipe, I asked again..
"Why?"
"Intuition!! I have an intuition that he is the right person for me. So I want to marry him."
"Liam…"
"Yes, mother."
"What about you?"
I watched as his stern face turned from white to bright red. I knew it could be done at that time.
"Your son doesn't know.."
I took a long breath. Yes is yes and no is no… Why was my son more cowardly than a woman?
"I see. I can preside over your marriage but both sides should agree. Natalie, get Liam's heart first. However, you can't force others. If one side disagrees, give up. Are we clear?"
"Clear…"
When I glanced at Liam, he face was stern as usual, with a touch of red on his cheeks, avoiding eye contact with Natalie. Tsk…. Coward. Noah and Adam are laughing secretly. Liam still has the elder brother's prestige that can avoid the younger brothers openly laughing at him.
However, these guys…. didn't have hope. Natalie was the only female available. Alice was still young, so she wasn't counted.
"You two should hurry up and make a decision before building your own treehouse. It should be your first home. Housewarming and weddings could be more memorable, for the rest of your life."