Shades of the New World

Chapter 209: The wait

Half an hour later, Evin was sitting between a group of sobbing children, making sure that there weren't any excess lumps left on their bodies using his eagle eyes.

[mother]

[sorry]

The children chimed, thinking that they were being hurt because they did something bad. Evin could only try his best to reassure them that they didn't do anything wrong, that it was his fault that they were hurting like this.

He and Enri were walking around comforting the children one by one. He planned to make up for the World Sprites afterwards, but for the time being, he was just happy that the incident was over.

[I think they're all normal again, Evin,] Enri reassured, her face contorting a bit as she called Evin by her name. 

Although Evin trusted the fox, he wanted to make sure that everything was alright. His mind was also preoccupied with a variety of other thoughts and speculations.

'Maybe it was good if I let the lumps merge with the World Sprites through a less severe method? After all, the only one who seems smarter compared to before is Enri' 

Evin knew that the big fox had become smarter because he asked her to stop calling him mother and start calling him by his name. And so far, she was sticking to it pretty well. Evin obviously tried to have Enri do this before, but after a few minutes, the fox would be back to calling Evin mother again.

It was a bit of a flimsy proof that Enri had become smarter, but it was proof nonetheless. 

But Evin couldn't really say the same for the others. After Evin finished cutting off all the lumps off the World Sprites' bodies, his shadow which was filled with questions and chatter, had once again returned to its eerie silence, which would occasionally chime with the simple thoughts of the World Sprites.

It was a bit disappointing, but Evin didn't really have a different option in this situation. After all, he didn't wish for his shadow to house a bunch of random souls that came from the Age of False Champions.

'Well, maybe they would develop slowly, like normal children. After all, I can't expect everyone to grow up fast like Runa and Enri,' Evin then thought, looking at the complex appearances that the World Sprites have taken on.

For a normal person, these children would look like night incarnate with their completely black skins, but to Evin, who could see much better in the dark, they looked just like normal children, with a variety of differing features and characteristics.

'But if they were to all become smart, then I'd have to name them all, huh?' Evin thought with apprehension. Since the dangerous part was over, Evin was letting his mind wander off to random topics.

[Also, Evin, what happened to this place?] Enri asked with a grimace, still unused to calling Evin by his name. Truthfully, Evin was also a bit weirded out by how he was being called. He was shocked by how much he was used to beingcalled 'Mother' by the World Sprites. Shaking his head, he focused on Enri's question.

"Rith and I made some small renovations in here. It's basically a new world, that works similarly to the World I usually live in," Evin explained.

[What does that mean?] Enri asked.

Evin tried to reply, but found himself unable to. What did it mean? After all, he really didn't have any grand plans for this place. He just found it cool. Perhaps he would find a way to use this place in the future, but for the time being, he preferred to not give much importance to it.

'And besides, if I want to properly develop this place, I will need a lot of resources as well'

'I really need to make another deal with the Cosmics, huh?' Evin thought.

'But it's such a pain to maintain a proper business Ugh, why can't they just keep sending me more loan-projects so I can snatch a few for myself and call it my service fee?' 

'Ah, whatever we'll worry about that later.'

"It means that you guys can live a bit more comfortably here, with proper housings and everything," Evin said after the brief pause.

[Like the town that you live in?] Enri's eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Hmm, maybe in the future we'll have a small town in here, but it's going to be a mammoth task. And all the residents should be you guys for the foreseeable future, sooo if you didn't mind living in my shadows before, then you probably wouldn't feel much of a difference," Evin said. Realizing that he was spewing out some insensitive stuff, he hurriedly continued.

"But it's not like living more comfortably will hurt anyone, so I'll do my best to create a proper living space here."

Enri giant head smiled slightly upon hearing that, showing her excitement for the future. Evin had a good look at the fox's body, weirdly astonished by its growth.

"Now that I look at you, you've certainly grown big, huh? Who would've thought you were just a flying head with a smokey trail coming out of your neck," he commented.

[Yes, and also, developing a body seemed to make me much smarter as well,] Enri replied.

"In any case, I'll leave you here for a bit. Arza was also going through some stuff and I'll check upon the others as well," Evin said and willed himself out of his shadows.

Inside the wooden cave, Evin could see Rith and Ssatsko silently sitting on some bump with a lamp, doing nothing in particular. Ssatsko was admiring the scenery around, while Rith looked at Evin with a worried face, noticing that he had just appeared.

"Is everything okay?" 

"Yeah, Enri and the rest had just woken up and there was a little incident, but it should be fine now," Evin said and asked, looking at the pile of pink snakes that were blocking the entrance to the big open space: "What happened with Arza?"

"Ssatsko thinks that Arza's absorbing the World Sprites into his body. The amount of World Sprites around is have lessened greatly and we could see a bunch of them sliding through the wall of snakes," Rith explained.

"Now that you mention it, there really are a lot of World Sprites here, huh? Back in the Vulpine Mother's cave, wasn't there only about 300 or so?" Evin wondered.

"It's probably because the Serpent rules the entirity of this forest and also the fact that there's a town close by as well, with who knows how many mages casting World of Life spells daily," Rith explained.

Evin found the explanation plausible so he didn't dwell on it a lot.

"I had some suspicions that the boy would be accepted by the Guardian of the forest, but I still find it so surprising now that it actually happened," Ssatsko said with an awe-inspiring tone.

"I'm quite surprised as well. Now that I think about it, all of this wouldn't be possible without you, huh?" Evin smiled at Ssatsko, impressed at the man's knowledge of such places.

"For the Vulpine Mother's den, it was just something that my father once showed me. I feel like a lot of families keep similar secrets, you know? As for me finding this place through my horns, I'm pretty sure there are at least a dozen other who've stumbled upon this place in the same manner I did," Ssatsko replied with a chuckle.