With Mells timely return, Wind sat back down.
Whatever the commotion in the distance was, it didn't really matter.
The moment she stepped back into the booth while carrying a large wooden tray, several layers of mouth-watering smells intertwined, and immediately drifted through the air.
The ears of Rose twitched, while Lira's tail shot up and quickly swayed. Petra's head, still a bit lazy, snapped toward the entrance like a predator locking onto its prey!
The food had arrived!
Mell calmly walked over and set the tray down on the table.
Clack!
Almost instantly—Swoosh!
Petra, Rose, and Lira all abandoned their seats and surrounded the table from three different directions, looking like three starving wolves ready to pounce on their prey.
"…Oooh~!"
"…Hmm?"
"…Wait, what's this…?"
The three of them leaned closer, but immediately, all three pairs of brows furrowed at the same time. Soon, silence filled the booth as the greedy eyes seemed to lose some of their luster…
What they saw was—
Placed atop the table was an extremely strange dish...
It resembled a fluffy loaf of freshly baked bread split into six, but each slice was stuffed with two thin layers of caramelized cabbage. A sweet and sticky brown sauce drizzled down the sides, while tiny decorative sheep-shaped cookies surrounded the plate. At the very top, there was a cute little wool-like puff, a bit like a piece of cotton candy, but made from a golden cream that seemed to be slowly melting.
Petra stared at this strange food blankly.
"This…It's Uuo themed…?" She couldn't help but ask.
Mell sat down calmly, then nodded. "Apparently, these kinds of 'themed dishes' are being sold everywhere around the festival right now."
Petra continued staring at the plate with an increasingly conflicted expression.
It looked delicious, but also—
Somehow wrong, very, very wrong!
Slowly, she reached out her tiny finger.
Poke…!
Poke, poke, poke!
As if to play along, the 'cabbage' even jiggled slightly!
Petra's face became even stranger.
"…What is this creature…"
Wind sighed before pushing Petra's face away, which was hanging directly above the table.
"Scram! Stop breathing on the—foo-food!"
Petra puffed out her cheeks and backed up as Wind calmly began dividing the meal. The first plate naturally went to Petra, the second went to Mell, and after that, Rose, Lira, and finally herself. As for Poya, if she wanted one, which she did not, she could grab it from the side later.
Wind elegantly returned to her seat and began eating with the composure of a noble lady.
Ahem! One bite later—
Her face subtly grimaced, and Petra immediately noticed.
While holding back a laugh, she rolled her eyes. Without hesitation, Petra slowly placed her own plate back onto the table… then jumped back up and ran away. She clearly did not intend to eat, and after seeing this, Wind quietly continued, but the tips of her ears couldn't help but twitch aggressively.
Petra, after returning to her seat, was sprawled upside down across the cushion with her little legs hanging over the side. She looked around, and seeing that Lira and Rose were enjoying the strange cake, she couldn't help but wonder what it really was.
As her mind began to wander—
Crunch!
Crunch!
Unlike Wind, the two beast girls, Rose and Lira, seemed completely unaffected by the strange Uuo-themed cuisine and continued devouring it enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, Mell calmly took a bite before finally speaking to avoid taking another. "…By the way, what was that commotion from earlier?"
Wind turned her head.
"The crash?" she asked.
Mell nodded, then said, "I heard it while I was downstairs. It sounded like it was coming from here, but I guess it came from outside." Her eyes turned to the amphitheater wall, which was only a few meters away from them. Petra had actually found the most isolated seating booth in the whole stadium. Although it was very private, it didn't really have a great view of the stage.
Wind leaned back and looked at this rustic girl named Melllillyan Tibon.
It was understandable that she, as a White Whistle, could hear it, but if Petra and Rose couldn't, then why could Mell? Wind immediately found this strange. One should know that aside from a few exceptions, all the other servants had a similar cultivation realm, and excluding Levy and Soryn, none of them exceeded the third order. As a 'normal human', it was hard to believe that Mell had any special traits that could improve her hearing, but she didn't want to rule that out.
Her thoughts were born from curiosity, not suspicion, and it was possible that it was just a coincidence.
While squinting, Wind thought to herself that she wasn't the only girl still hiding some secrets.
Mell, turning her eyes, met Wind's gaze and smiled kindly.
Wind nodded, feeling the strangeness of her smile all the more so…
After deciding not to think about it, Wind turned back to Petra, who was playing with the pillows.
"…No idea... It was probably another fight, but it should have already been dealt with by the city guard. Llynun's overcrowded right now, and more than a few people can't hold back."
Winds words were naturally directed at Mell, not the playful Petra.
Despite the distant noise, none of the girls paid it much attention. Compared to the upcoming calamity, 'random' festival fights really weren't worth worrying about in their eyes. Instead, the conversation naturally drifted back toward the Verdelith Castle.
More specifically—
The upcoming expansion plan!
"Before we leave, we still need to decide what kind of forest we're planting beyond the boundary river."
The 'boundary river' referred to the large circular river that encircled the inner ring at the edge of the one-kilometer region around the Emerald Ghost Tree, the place where last night's visitor fought the Sea Spearing Centipede. This demarcated the 'initial territory' from the 'future territory', or the area that had not yet been filled but was still within the expanded barrier. In other words, everything beyond the boundary river still needed to be built, and although they had plans to plant a forest and fill it with special soil, they still needed to decide what to use before extending the roots of the Emerald Ghost Tree and integrating it into the castle as a whole.
Immediately, all the girls looked over! Even Poya turned her head!
They had been wanting to talk about this for a long time!
This was important! Very, very important!
This forest would mark the first real addition to the Verdelith Castle, so they all wanted to be a part of it and contribute their own selfish ideas.
After all—
A moving castle certainly needed a cool forest!
Naturally, Wind was the first to speak.
"We should plant a rare type of tree called 'Wind-Wave Wood'..."
Petra blinked curiously, not remembering such a name in any of her studies.
After cycling the name through her inner library, a piece of information popped up and flashed in her mind, appearing as if it had always been there. As Wind spoke, Petra also read through the knowledge she possessed, while Wind's voice overlapped with Petra's inner thoughts.
"The Wind-Wave Wood Tree is a pale blue tree with long, hollow branches. When wind passes through them, the entire forest will produce layered, flute-like sounds that can affect the mind and keep people away. The wood itself is lightweight and naturally resistant to magic corrosion, so it's useful for woodworking and carving runes. In addition, it can also function as a barrier that will keep most of the poison from passing through, thereby keeping much of the ambient toxins within the inner area of the boundary river. This way, we don't need to worry about extra means of purification, because the forest will essentially work like a natural filter to separate the inner and outer areas."
As she spoke, everyone could imagine an enormous silver-blue forest swaying around the border of the Verdelith Castle, while soft songs echoed in the wind.
Rose and Lira felt like it was a good suggestion, and even Mell nodded in agreement.
Only Petra shook her head.
After referencing the knowledge in her mind, she knew that to create a forest capable of filtering the poison from the poison garden, the size of the forest would need to be over a kilometer, and that was only for their current output. In the future, it was likely that any Wind-Wave Wood Trees planted would wither and die, but it was understandable that Wind didn't know about this.
"…Not bad," Rose muttered, nodding firmly.
She crossed her arms. "But I have a different idea! We should plant Ironwood Trees, a huge number of them!" Not only were Ironwood Trees a great material, but they could also be sold for a lot of money when needed. In addition, they also had the possibility to mutate, and certain types of mutated ironwood trees were so rare that they were impossible to buy on the market.
Lira's eyes immediately lit up.
"Oh! Oh! Then I want Silver Song Saplings too! We can recreate the Silver Song Forest!" She nearly jumped up while speaking. In Lira's little mind, she felt as if this were an opportunity to recreate a little piece of her hometown. Now that the Western region had become a land of death, it was impossible to return, so this was the next best thing.
Petra's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
After several seconds of consideration, she proudly raised a tiny finger and then spoke her own idea.
"I think we should build it into a haunted forest!"
…Silence!
Wind and Mell looked over, feeling that there was something left unsaid, but Rose just looked at her as if she were an idiot, while Lira's ears drooped in disappointment.
Wind pursed her lips, then asked, "Little master, care to clarify?"
"…What do you mean by haunted?" Mell asked from the side.
They both felt as if Petra wasn't trying to make a joke; she was serious.
Petra explained—
"If we theme the outer forest as some kind of 'haunted forest', then we can follow through with this theme and make the areas surrounding the Emerald Ghost Tree some kind of hidden fairyland. If the Verdelith Castle continues to grow, then the original territory will become like a separated domain within a separated domain, and the forest can act as its borders, instead of the boundary river. Like this, we can add a spectral fog to make it all mysterious, twisted and terrifying creatures to act as some kind of guardian, and all kinds of 'Yin' and 'Dark-type' plants that will add to the atmosphere!"
Petra rolled her eyes, speaking faster.
"In the future, if the territory continues to grow, it should eventually reach the size of a small continent, and this ghost forest will become one of the forbidden lands! We can even give it a cool name!"
The more Petra spoke, the more she liked her own idea.
"After the forest matures, if something can enter the forest and still pass through, then that means they can defeat the guardians, suppress the poison, defend against the dark element, and traverse the mist without getting lost. Mm, let's add some illusion formations and soul-type creatures as well, for an extra few tests! Yep! If anything from outside can still enter the inner area of the Verdelith Castle, then that must mean they're worth our attention!"
Petra nodded vigorously.
She really liked this idea!
"…That sounds terrifying," Wind muttered.
"…Really? Why do I feel like it sounds awesome," Rose whispered.
Meanwhile, Mell quietly thought for a moment before finally speaking. "…Honestly, I think something like a rainforest would be better…"
The others looked at her, and Petra also perked up.
Mell calmly explained, "Petra's idea is not much different from wanting to recreate the forest that was surrounding the Emerald Ghost Tree back in the Green Wind Forest. As for Rose, she just wants to build a place to train, and Lira is just a bit homesick."
Petra rocked her head, then realised that she was right.
Mell continued, "If we're going to build a forest from scratch, then our best choice is to create something that can serve multiple purposes all at once, not just function as a glorified wall." She looked at Wind and Petra, who both seemed to steer towards this idea. "By creating something akin to a small-scale rainforest, although it won't have any immediate use, there's no rush. We can let Petra create and grow a new kind of tree that will allow us to create a dense ecosystem that can sustain a huge variety of flora and fauna. Like the farmlands and the poison garden, we can turn the forest into another type of garden, only this time it can be a garden focused around the cultivation of life."
In other words, Mell wanted Petra to create a new type of tree that would not only grow to a massive size, but could also support an enormous amount of life.
Mell had three reasons for suggesting this…
First, Mell wanted to plant something that would rapidly amass weight. By doing this, the Castle Crawler would hopefully stop growing outwards and focus more on creating a solid foundation for its future growth, a little like weight training, but just for an island-sized spider.
Second, she wanted to create a place where Petra could throw all her failed experiments and allow them to live where the one true rule was survival of the fittest. In the future, Mell also planned to clean up the Verdelith Castle and eventually move all the miscellaneous creatures that were hidden within the canopy, poison garden, and spirit stone mine into this forest.
Excluding the ants and the bees, everything else had to go.
Last but not least, Mell's ultimate goal was to pick the forest with the greatest versatility. Whether it was flora, fauna, or even the natural materials that would eventually grow, all of these needed a lot of time, so Mell wanted to begin preparing early.
After she finished, they all looked towards the little green-haired girl who was clearly lost in thought.
After an unknown amount of time, Petra finally—Bang!
The loud sound of a crash came again, but this time, they all heard it.
Petra frowned.
Although she could not tell what it was, it was clearly coming closer. Petra could tell that there was some kind of fight happening in the distance, but she couldn't tell what was going on.
While pursing her lips, she snapped her fingers and—swoosh! A black shadow appeared beside her…