Chương 254: After the War: Seeds of Growth

It was Verdantia who answered Flor's question. She brought out a few documents and shared them with Flor while saying.

"Usually, Liu Shu ignores everything that happens around the forest. We've received reports of all types while she was awake, and they happened within her detection range. Therefore, this assumption is easy to make." Flor took the documents and nodded.

"She has been very verbal about allowing nature to take its course. She has never intervened personally unless the people committing the crimes are doing so against those Liu Shu considers close." Verdantia agreed.

"That's right. However, lately, Liu Shu has been much less… restrained when dealing with those who commit offenses against the forest. Look at this one, for example." Flor looked at it and read aloud.

"Day four of month five, a Level 12 Sylvan woman tried to use a Tree in the forest to 'relieve' herself. Witnesses say that the Sylvan was dragged underground by roots with glowing blue veins…" Flor hummed.

"I mean…" She blinked.

"Does this happen often? With wild trees?" Verdantia shook her head.

"Of course not. Does sexual interaction between humans and animals occur often? This is a similar case. Wild trees are like… I don't know… wild dogs for humans. To summarize, only those that are a bit touched in the head would do something like that." Verdantia refocused on the problem at hand.

"Regardless of that, this is one of the most understandable situations where Liu Shu intervened. Look at this one." Flor picked the leaf report and read.

"Day five of month five, a Level 14 Human man was scratching a tree with a knife out of boredom when the tree slammed him down, breaking most of the bones in his body. He was unable to survive the injuries and eventually perished in the healing grounds. There are no previous reports of offense from this man." Flor was a bit startled. While what he was doing was something uneducated and honestly puzzling, a simple scratch like that wouldn't be noticed by a tree to the degree that provoked such an answer.

"Is this common?" Verdantia sighed.

"We have at least one case like this a day. With our population size, that's a bit too much." Flor looked around and asked.

"Any idea why this is happening? Also, what does this have to do with our decision to attack these places? From what I know, there are a few low-level powers over there that are just doing their thing, right?" Wert commented.

"The problem is that Liu Shu's roots are spreading really fast. Only on Fortuna's side have they decelerated. However, during these four months that you were gone, Liu Shu's roots have spread around two more kilometers. At this pace, she will swallow these places in less than half a year. Unlike most World Trees, her growth is accelerating instead of stabilizing." Flor hummed.

"So, you plan on taking these powers under our rule to avoid them provoking Liu Shu without knowing and being wiped out with no apparent reason? If they are under our rule and something happens, it will be harder for other people to accuse us and initiate another war with us, right? Not to mention, they can become mercantile nodes if we pour some resources into them and ask Liu Shu to build a few Tree Houses around there." Wert blinked twice, raising his eyebrow.

"That's completely right." Flor hummed and crossed her arms, pondering about the consequences of this. She didn't notice how many people in the room were looking at her with surprise at what she just said. Ignatia looked around, and her lips arched smugly.

'My little Flor's intelligence is back on track~.' After giving Amapola her title, Flor's intelligence had been lowered, so she was somewhat muddled for a long time, and people noticed. They all felt that Flor's limit was near. Now, she had proven all those doubting her wrong, returning stronger, more youthful, and sharper than ever. Flor's mind felt clear as she looked at the map of the province.

Their province had the Golden Sap Forest right in the middle, surrounded by some large landmarks like Fortuna City, Sirol City, and Mareful City. There were also other forests, like the one to the northwest called <Small White Flower Forest> and the one to the northeast called Lakeborn Forest. This made an arc above them that, going from left to right, read Fortuna City, Small White Flower Forest, Mareful City, Lakeborn Forest, and finally, directly to the east, Sirol City.

While those were the major landmarks, there were small towns and villages strewn around in the middle whose importance was not big enough for big players to take into account. Still, they had their play in this dance between the larger powers. That role was justification. If any larger power decided to abuse a small village or town, it would give its enemies moral justification for declaring war. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Flor could see a future where they would be condemned as an evil faction if the current Liu Shu decided to eliminate one town, regardless of what evil shenanigans they were doing there. So, to avoid that, there was Wert's suggestion. The Flower Fairy had some doubts, though.

"What is Fortuna's City's situation? It can't be calm after losing so many soldiers and the battle. Not to mention, they are a power backed by one of the global superpowers. Yet we are seeing, to my knowledge, no retaliation or answer whatsoever." Nobody withheld information, and they started informing on what had happened during the last months. First of all, after returning defeated, there was a big backlash against the newly appointed City Lord, Eila Neoflora.

However, since Eila still had Fortuna World Tree's support, those protests had little to no effect. After all, while they might not respect Eila, most residents in Fortuna City had grown up under the World Tree's influence and trusted her to a very large degree. That aside, the sects and powers that lost many people during the war became targets of rival sects. Elowen's army's annihilation and the large number of deaths on the other side left many powers looking like an empty shell.

Taking advantage of their misfortunes, a long era of conflict has arisen during all this time. Flor commented.

"So, our successful defense has allowed those other powers to put pressure on our enemies." Wert nodded.

"This is very common. If a power with complicated relations attacks another and loses a large part of its strength, those looking at them from the shadows would quickly jump and try to usurp their position." He then sighed, tapping the wooden table with his finger.

"The bad news is that a few of these groups in the shadows are from the Nexus. Our war has indirectly given them a bigger reach. I know a few powers that have already been conquered by a few Nexus branches." Wert took a feather and surrounded a few places.

"These are now entirely under the Nexus's influence. Towns that openly support them have been built here, here, and here." Wert marked places inside the Small White Forest, inside the Lakeborn Forest, and in the prairie east of Sirol City. Flor looked to their south and commented.

"Nothing in this area?" Kenneth, the man who was in charge of the human military force of Golden Sap City, answered.

"Lady Flor, this area is just too close to the <Dark Aether Swamp>. It is similar to how the area to the West of Fortuna City is also uninhabited due to the <Wall Forest>'s proximity."

"I see." Flor blinked and looked around.

"So… what is the plan of attack?" Cinderielle asked, a bit surprised.

"You agree?" Flor smiled.

"It depends on what the plan of attack is. Have you tried peaceful assimilation? A relatively strong person usually governs these villages and towns, right? So, if we make that single person submit, they will be the ones convincing the rest to follow him. Their influence is higher than ours over the residents, and forcefully taking the town away can result in violent retaliation.

Instead, we should do it in a peaceful manner and make the leaders look greedy, making them receive us as saviors of their town by increasing their prosperity. This will slowly flip their confidence from their current leader to us." Everyone silently looked at Flor, not knowing how to react. That plan had so many layers, yet it was relatively easy to carry through. When Liu Shu awoke and started building the Tree Houses, the increased quality of living alone would be enough to shift those people's loyalty.

Ignatia smiled faintly and said.

"That sounds great." Flor walked over and smiled, feeling satisfied and proud of herself.

"Really?" Ignatia picked up the Flower Fairy and sat her on her lap, squeezing her body between her soft mountains.

"Really, really. My little Flor is so clever~." Wert rolled his eyes.

"Can you do that in your nests or something?" Ignatia snorted.

"If you are jealous, go to your wife!" Wert sighed.

"I am being worked like a cargo beast, you know that I haven't seen her in like a week?" Igantia snorted twice this time.

"That's your fault. Look at me. Even with how inconvenient it is, I make time and manage to see my Little Flor daily!" Wert looked at the Ant Queen and asked.

"Do you ever plan to reveal yourself? People in the town are singing praises to the ants. I've even seen shopkeepers throwing food at them and children playing around them."

"I don't plan to reveal myself ever. And…" Ignatia puffed her chest, making Flor bounce.

"Of course! My babies are the bestest in the World! They did so much in the war. If they still didn't look at them highly, I would be disappointed!" Everyone in the room had no rebuttal to that. Instead, they smiled faintly and just agreed with the Ant Queen. Almost all the people in this room had participated in the war, so they understood it well. Their perception of the ants had completely changed, and they made sure to treat them with the respect they deserved after what they did. Flor looked at Wert and said.

"Take a few hours this afternoon to go visit your wife… Speaking of which, I've never asked, but do you have children?" Wert clicked his tongue.

"Two brats and one little princess. They are all a handful, but thankfully, they have grown to be respectable people. The girl is currently working far away. She went on a trip because she wanted to explore the world. The two brats are in the Explorer Association, participating and wanting to take over my position!" Cinderielle asked, curious.

"What are their names?" Wert shook his head.

"I don't want them to have preferential treatment because they are my own. Just let them flounder about by themselves." Everyone respected Wert's opinion and didn't insist. After that, Flor was informed about the City's economic situation, which was basically blooming. She also learned that all the empty spaces around the city had started to grow Tree Houses and other similar structures.

With all the new information and the fact that they were not being bothered, time passed really quickly, and soon, two more years passed.