Chapter 56 : Elf Queen’s Diary

The Mechanic Emerged Above the Water.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Even with bare hands, most beasts of magic were no match.

Now, add a laser sword to that.

It was literally a clean cut.

A sharp blade made of laser.

Even if the beasts had extremely tough hides, it was like slicing through butter.

As it rose from the water, the automatic drying system activated immediately.

[Automatic drying initiated.]

[Unit drying progress: 3%]

Whoever made this left no function missing.

There was a dive mode, an automatic drying mode.

Somi said it even had flight mode and space exploration functions.

Such technology was beyond anything humanity in this dimension could ever imagine.

Since there was no reason to linger, we headed straight back to the Elf Village.

Why?

Because we had to pay for the robot.

It was a request from the Elf Queen and the guardians.

We needed to find the cause of the beasts’ corruption.

There must be a connection between the corrupted beasts and the fallen human world.

But it was all so long ago.

Five thousand years had passed, and it wasn’t surprising that not even a trace remained.

But perhaps the elves were different.

They lived far longer than humans, so maybe some records still remained.

To gather such information, we returned to the village, where everyone greeted us with surprise.

“That, that’s… what is that?”

Among the Rusol Sisters, Sol’s mouth fell open in shock.

Well, the Rusol Sisters hadn’t been with us when we found the Mechanic.

Only the four guardians and the queen had accompanied us.

From the elves’ perspective in the village, such a reaction was natural.

Even I, familiar with modern civilization, was surprised.

How shocking it must have been to the elves living in primitive harmony with nature.

The towering mechanical robot was far larger than even the tallest trees.

When it took a step, the ground beneath trembled.

Bbiee!

Soon, the Mechanic’s helmet came off, and Somi waved her hand.

Then Sol smiled brightly and shouted,

“Lady Sol!”

At that, Somi ran over and threw herself into Sol’s arms.

Looks like they had become close by now.

Just then.

“You returned much faster than expected.”

From among the gathered elves, Silpia slowly stepped forward.

She had sensed us entering the forest by hearing the World Tree’s voice again.

“Yes, it was closer than I thought.”

“That’s really fortunate.”

I replied, and Silpia smiled brightly.

Her smile was forever mysterious.

It was no wonder she could captivate anyone.

But that was beside the point.

Now that we had the colossal Mechanic, we had to put it to good use.

“Your Majesty,”

“Why do you ask?”

“Is there any human-related scripture or records? Because it seems the corrupted beasts are connected to them.”

At my question, Silpia closed her eyes in thought for a moment.

Then she smiled gently and spoke.

“In my home, there are diaries left by the previous queens. They’re better than history books for young elves. I’ll ask the World Tree as well.”

As expected.

I knew Silpia would be helpful.

Diaries left by the previous queens must hold much information.

They said contact between humans and elves was amicable until the war that led to humanity’s downfall.

So there might be something about the Black Tower.

And.

“Also, is there a place where Somi can practice piloting the Mechanic?”

We also obtained a weapons warehouse.

She needed a suitable place to train.

It wasn’t that I doubted Somi’s control skills.

But handling weapons was a different story.

Since she hadn’t been in charge of combat before, Somi lacked real battle experience.

“If it’s practice…”

“Hahaha, I suppose it would be difficult.”

True, even for a queen, this was quite a demanding request.

Where would such a large machine find a place to train…?

“If you don’t mind, I can make one for you myself.”

“What?”

What did she say?

Not only did she have this place, but she could make one herself?

How?

For a moment, I doubted my ears, but Silpia shrugged as if it was no big deal.

Then.

With a simple gesture—

From the ground, green sprouts began to twitch and grow.

Soon.

Whoosh—

The sprouts started to rapidly grow.

The tree trunk grew endlessly.

Leaves unfolded, and a huge staircase took shape.

At least a kilometer in length.

Yet Silpia showed no sign of exhaustion.

“If you climb to the top, you’ll be able to summon the scarecrow you desire. I wish I could help more, but this is the limit of my power.”

No wonder she was the queen.

To freely summon a colossal tree like this.

It wasn’t just the corrupted beasts.

I could understand why humans armed with science coexisted peacefully with the elves.

Humans were greedy.

If there were other races, they would attack and plunder.

But the elves?

Look at the queen’s power.

Who could dare defy that?

We had to tread carefully.

No wonder the greatest leader entrusted the keys to the Elf Queen.

If she decided, no one would dare cross her.

In a way, she was the safest person.

“Th-thank you.”

Before I knew it, Somi’s training ground was complete.

There were over ten types of weapons to use.

Let’s see what we have.

Although Silpia kindly built the stairs, we had the Mechanic.

We all boarded the tower and activated flight mode.

The rocket boosters on its back emitted red flames as it lifted into the air.

We reached the summit.

A sturdy canopy of branches stretched out, forming a wide, flat space.

At the end, several clusters of fruit hung in various shapes.

We picked one that looked the toughest and scattered its seeds on the ground.

Zzzt—

Twin sprouts formed instantly.

Sssshhh—

A scarecrow with a hardened surface appeared.

This must be the scarecrow Silpia mentioned.

Judging by the variety, there were five types, each with a specific style.

First, the fruit with a hard shell was the defensive-type scarecrow.

It didn’t move much but looked impenetrable to most weapons.

Then.

Bbiee!

Weapon equipped.

When creating a solid defense, there’s something better than a laser sword.

What?

A sledgehammer.

Let’s smash it with a hammer.

A red projectile flew from the sky and merged with the Mechanic.

Soon, handles unfolded from the hammer’s head.

Then.

Flash—

I swung with all my might at the scarecrow.

But it didn’t even flinch.

Was our power insufficient?

It was a much tougher opponent than expected.

Somi couldn’t afford to retreat.

She took a deep breath and activated something.

The hammer’s head opened, spewing blue flames.

Rocket thrusters!

It compensated for the lacking power with speed!

The air rippled from the intense flames.

Then.

Boom—

A sonic boom ripped through the air!

The impact was incomparably more destructive, knocking the scarecrow down.

Only then did cracks begin to appear on the hard shell.

Even a scarecrow imbued with the Elf Queen’s power couldn’t withstand a single rocket-powered strike from the colossal Mechanic.

One more time.

Boom—

The hammer strike shattered the scarecrow’s surface completely.

Is this balanced?

With this power, conquering Earth would be no problem.

***

After watching Somi’s training a while longer, we headed to the queen’s residence.

Along the way, I talked with Silpia.

“With such power, why do you only protect the village? Why not wipe them out first?”

“My power is limited to this forest. And I can only use it to protect the village.”

Though Silpia wielded immense power within the forest, it wasn’t just hers alone.

It was part of the World Tree’s power that protected the forest.

Because of that, her abilities had limits.

“Then why did traces remain?”

“About that…”

Silpia smiled softly and answered in a gentle voice.

“It is our elves’ mission to serve the World Tree.”

To serve the World Tree.

She must have meant the World Tree that exists in the original dimension.

“By the way, you are truly incredible, Stranger.”

“Huh?”

“I only barely left traces by borrowing the World Tree’s power to cross dimensions. But you appeared in this different dimension like this.”

Suddenly called incredible, though I hadn’t really done much.

I just used the departure stone.

If anyone was incredible, it was Silpia.

“We’re almost there.”

As we shared stories, the queen’s residence appeared in the distance.

Silpia stepped forward and looked back at us.

“The diaries left by the previous queens probably contain the most human-related information. I’ll go get them now.”

With that, Silpia entered the residence and soon returned with a wooden-bound diary.

“This is it.”

It was clearly an old diary.

Untying the rough wooden strings, we found pages densely filled with small writing.

“Take your time reading and let me know.”

“Won’t you read it with us?”

Silpia stepped back after unsealing the diary.

She was the queen, so surely she had more authority than us.

But she shook her head.

“Unfortunately, we cannot read this diary.”

What?

We couldn’t read the diary left by the previous queens?

The meaning became clear the moment we opened the book.

It was written in familiar letters.

Not the curly, ancient Elf script.

It wasn’t being translated by the World Tree’s power.

It was intact writing.

It was Han-gul.

To be able to read Han-gul from a distant dimension.

The shapes of vowels and consonants were slightly different, but it was definitely Han-gul.

And.

A leader?

The diary was full of content about a great leader.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t just a diary but more like a love letter.

The leader’s name was Yoo Min.

A young man of thirty, the last leader who bore humanity’s hope.

Unlike greedy humans, he was a man with a pure heart who loved others more than anyone else.

The pages were filled with stories of time spent with him.

One day relaxing near a nearby lake, another sitting happily on a mountain where flowers scattered.

This felt like something we shouldn’t be reading.

Even Seolha, who was beside me, flushed bright red.

Thud—

In the end, unable to find anything useful, we closed the book.

Silpia smiled wryly and asked,

“Did you not find what you were looking for?”

“Yes, you could say that.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it was a love diary, so I vaguely dodged the question.

There was nothing about the Black Tower or the beasts’ attack.

Only a pure girl’s innermost thoughts.

“I see. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

Silpia bowed apologetically.

We, embarrassed, waved it off and helped her up.

Then.

Bbyak, who had been quiet, suddenly sensed something and sprang up.

Bbyak had never been this flustered before.

With a tense expression, he stared north.

“What’s wrong, Bbyak?”

Worried, I petted Bbyak.

Then he hurriedly barked.

A massive, intense aura was clearly present.

Similar but more aggressive.

The ominous feeling was overwhelming.

The enemy is drawing closer!