Chapter 231. Ripples.

Words : 1360 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

Chapter 231. Ripples. After Amapola transformed, Flor flew out with her. The Rose Fairy that saw them going out was stunned when she saw the new Rose Fairy Queen. The dress she had before was too small, so she was currently wearing one of Flor's dresses. Due to their difference in build and height, it was somewhat short, but it didn't look bad on her. The Rose Fairy blinked, looking back and forth between them, and she asked. "Um... Why did you call, Queen Flor?" Flor pointed at Amapola and smiled. "Now she is the Queen. I want you to call all Rose Fairies to gather tomorrow night around Liu Shu to pass down my position to her as your leader." The small Rose Fairy opened her mouth, stunned by Flor's words. However, seeing that Amapola has transformed into such a comparatively large Rose Fairy, she really couldn't find any other answer except that Flor was telling the truth. "O-Okay! I'll make sure everyone is there!" Flor smiled and looked at Amapola. "Well, think about what you will say tomorrow night. From now on, the Rose Fairies are under your rule." Amapola nodded thoughtfully and flew off. After seeing her leave, Flor returned to her office and landed on her desk. She extended one arm and opened and closed her hand to feel her own strength. Noticing the noticeable drop in strength, she looked at her stats. "Hm... Quite a big drop. That's what, twenty percent of my total strength? Perhaps a bit more?" Looking at her system, she took a deep breath and asked. "Can I still gain the <Flower Fairy Monarch> title?" [Would you like to gain the <Flower Fairy Monarch> title?] Reading that message, Flor's heart finally settled, and she released a big sigh of relief. "It seems that this path didn't close when I passed down my title." She walked to her personal desk, took a rectangular white leaf, and started writing with a feather to Wert and other people in charge to inform them about Amapola's change. One hour later, Flor finished and looked out of the window. The Sun was already down, leaving an orange glow on everything bathed by the gorgeous sunset. The sunset's light illuminated half of the giant World Tree while the other half was covered in shadows. The image gave a sense of peace in her that she couldn't really put into words. "Level 21... Who knew that the little Rose Fairy back then would reach these heights, eh?" Flor laughed about her journey. "All because I trusted that a little tree which was shadowed by the surrounding trees would grow into something more than the one we were staying with." Rose Fairies had an innate ability to feel flora's feelings, so from the very beginning, she could tell that Liu Shu was different. Her emotions were much more varied; her actions felt more profound. Flor leaned back and sighed. "And yet I couldn't tell that the Tree Houses were in distress for so long. That's probably my biggest regret yet since we started this place." Due to how young the Tree Houses were, their intelligence and emotional intelligence were not deep enough to be easily understood. With everything that was going on at that time, Rose Fairies failed to sense their uncomfortableness. Flor looked to the side, spotting a mirror, and flew there, landing on the ground and looking at herself. She didn't expect to see any change. However, she was surprised to find a visible change. Leaning sideways, she used the light coming from the window to look at herself. "Hm? When did I gain these wrinkles?" The wrinkles were faint, but unlike her perfectly healthy and pristine skin previously, there were faint but certainly distinguishable wrinkles at the sides of her eyes. She couldn't help but smile somewhat sadly. "I am getting old. I wonder how much more time the strength I'll gain from this title will extend my life for." Flor sighed and used her Wind Aether to move the letters with her, placing them in the desks outside her office to be distributed later. "Now the question is, should I accept the title now or later?" The human man risked his neck and commented further. "Powers that aren't under the influence of a World Tree are either too weak to even be looked at by the larger powers, or they have a treasure or person who can deter even those powerful beings from taking action. I don't think we have anyone or anything like that, at least not to my knowledge, Madam." The bear woman looked at him and nodded. "Well, you are not wrong. We are relatively free because we, the <Deep Prairie Merchant Alliance>, are just that, a merchant province with enough military power to defend ourselves." A snake woman at the side smiled and spoke. "Madam, what if we take a side in the conflict and help that one win?" "Denied," The Madam didn't hesitate. "If the side we supported loses, we are done for. We leave ourselves with the option of taking a step back. It's better to stay neutral and then approach the victor. While we lose a chance to ally ourselves with a powerful World Tree deeply, we will also manage to keep our neutrality." The snake woman blinked and hummed. "I wouldn't call them powerful." The bear woman snorted. "When two World Trees fight, the victor usually comes out many times stronger. If right now they feel somewhat menacing, when they are done fighting, you'll feel that they can swallow you whole with one bite." When she saw that the bearkin she first slapped was awake, she asked. "Hey, what is the situation in the surrounding provinces?" The world was divided into Villages, Towns, Cities, Provinces, States, Countries, Empires, and finally, Continents. Some provinces, like the one Liu Shu was in, had separate cities fighting for power. Still, it was much more common for all cities in a province to be under the command of a single governing body. The bearman rubbed his cheek and commented. "Without taking into account the Provinces beyond the <Wall Forest> and the <Dark Aether Swamp> further south, they are pretty much in a wait-and-see situation. The <White Forest Province>, where Fortuna and the new World Tree have emerged, are in a state of restlessness. The most powerful families there have started trying to fight for more dominance, knowing that one World Tree is about to swallow the entire place soon." The bear woman hummed. "We know of our <Deep Prairie Merchant Province> situation... Tell me about the other four." The bearman sat down again and nodded. "Yes, Madam. The <Glimmering Stone Peaks Province> is not too interested. Due to their mountainous terrain, they don't fear World Trees much." The Madam snorted. "Naive." "Meanwhile, the <Veiled Amber Marshlands Province> is difficult to assess. The powers over there are quite... Well, they act very erratically. Right now, they don't seem interested, though." The Madam hummed. "Fair." "<Sunbound Shores Province> is where a man named Lord Stormrider has started to gain a lot of strength thanks to owning a very powerful flying mount that he uses cleverly." "I heard about that man. He was going to involve himself in the <White Forest Province>, right? But, in the end, he changed his intentions... Investigate into that." "Understood Madam. Finally, the <Ironwood Highland Province>... Well, they are there. Nothing new." The Madam waved her hand. "They have degraded almost into a vassal province to the Glimmering Stone Peaks, so they are not that important. Keep an eye on them, though." "Understood, Madam Thalgryn." The bear woman sighed and looked at the chandelier in the middle of the room. "It seems that things have started to get a bit messy. I wonder what those big shots will do?"

Chapter 231. Ripples.

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