Free Web NovelChapter 794: Chapter 49: I’m Back
In the mountains of a certain Eastern Country.
This is the borderland deep within the isolated mountains.
A massive barrier separates this place from the outside world, creating a boundary between illusion and reality, theoretically creating a world. Though geographically contiguous, this is not a physical barrier, but an ethical one, distinguishing "common sense" from "non-common sense".
The history of humans and demons also began a new Chapter here.
Time flows by...
It’s unknown how much time has passed...
...
This is a field of golden splendor.
Under the blazing summer sun, it is dazzling and mesmerizing, the endless golden field stretches out like a sea reflecting sunlight.
Indeed it is a sea, a sea of flowers seemingly extending to the horizon.
On this land, countless sunflowers bloom, stretching and spreading as far as the eye can see, a golden expanse reflecting the sun. The summer wind blows with scorching heat, making the vividly colored flowers sway elegantly, and the radiant sea of flowers ripple with waves of gold.
Standing on this vast field, a young man in white with black hair gently stretches out his hand.
A few swaying sunflowers bend down near his hand, perhaps just coincidentally blown by the wind or because the fairies behind the flowers are playfully engaging him in a game...
"Unknowingly, so much time has passed again."
Gu Mo sighed slightly, his fingertip lightly brushing across the surface of a sunflower.
"I thought it was some petty thief, but it turned out to be you..."
A calm voice came from behind, and a figure appeared unnoticed behind him. The owner of the sunflower field was holding a parasol, her crimson eyes carrying an indescribable elegance and a hint of danger, but after seeing who had trespassed into her field, the danger quietly dissipated.
"Yuuka, long time no see..."
Gu Mo turned around, looked at the flower demon behind him, and laughed heartily.
He took a moment to admire this beautiful figure; the master of the four seasons of flowers wore a red waistcoat and a matching knee-length skirt, with a yellow floral-edged ribbon at her neckline, and a white long-sleeve shirt underneath. She appeared as a tall girl with short green hair and red eyes.
It seemed like nothing had changed, yet so much had changed. In a daze, his mind drifted back many years, to his first impression of this figure in the sunflower field.
Many, many years ago...
Back then, Miss Flower Demon still had long hair...
"Has it really been long? It doesn’t seem that long..."
Kazami Yuuka remained noncommittal, she glanced at the young man in white and black hair in front of her, and reached out to gently touch the petals of the sunflower beside her, "But indeed, ever since the Fantasy Land was established, it appears you haven’t shown up, oh, except for the day when the Boli Grand Barrier was raised, you appeared once."
"During that time? I mainly happened to be busy elsewhere, so I couldn’t spare any clones..."
Gu Mo pondered for a moment, raised his eyebrows, and his expression became quite peculiar.
When the Fantasy Land was established, he needed to concentrate all his power to counter the fading shadow of the Mechanical God Civilization, a critical moment, so he temporarily diverted the power of all his clones. And afterward, he happened to return just in time for the day the Boli Grand Barrier rose.
He was timing his return well, almost missing it due to an unresolved issue with Akai Hinako, and didn’t know what nonexistent things she might have imagined, and even though he had spoken frankly, it seemed utterly absurd and filled with errors in the eyes of the opposite party.
The result was that the consequences Gu Mo had originally resolved to bear did not occur—
This was not necessarily a good thing.
He had mentally prepared for his persona to crumble and to bear the disreputable accusations, after all, "coveting a girl’s body" and "checking the girl’s body while she’s unconscious", no matter how it’s sugarcoated, inherently sounds like vile criminal behavior.
Even Gudah, who admired him wholeheartedly, perhaps would not approve of such things...
At the time, he could almost imagine the scene of the girl glaring at him with disdain, spitting out words like "pervert! Big creep!" with acrid satisfaction.
However, none of this happened, the situation instead took a particularly bizarre and strange turn, and in a sense, it became even worse...
Because Akai Hinako, Fujimaru Ritsuka, and others, none of them believed his explanation, they refused to believe it was so simple, firmly assuming there must be more than what appeared. This absurd answer was impossible to be the truth, even Akai Hinako began to doubt if she had forgotten something.
In short, things were not progressing smoothly, and Gu Mo found himself truly at a loss, finally managing to end the topic, forcibly detaching himself from the situation.
His state was quite poor, being able to maintain a facade of calm that concealed his issues was already pushing his limits.
But it couldn’t be maintained for long, so the topic had to be awkwardly ended... The plot direction was really off, let’s skip ahead quickly.
That’s roughly how it was. When the Boli Grand Barrier was raised, Gu Mo barely re-entered this Dungeon World, managing to support himself at that time. After a courteous appearance and ceremony, he entered a dormant period as per protocol, which lasted until today.
Because the time flow speed of this Dungeon World is relatively fast, digesting gains and healing injuries here is the best choice, it’s like purchasing a speed-up pack.
Since a dormant period was unavoidable, naturally choosing this Dungeon World to get through it was the best.
However, he wasn’t completely ignorant or insensible, he always kept a sliver of perception on the changes in the Fantasy Land, paying attention to the friends he knew, keeping basic control over the situations... So naturally he knew how much time had passed.
"I see, so you had things to do? That’s a pity..."
Kazami Yuuka implied, "I thought you two had a falling out."
"...How could we?"
Gu Mo blinked, gave a dry laugh, and his mouth twitched slightly. Why express pity over such matters?
Not wanting to discuss this topic too much, he surveyed the unfamiliar yet not foreign sunflower field and changed the topic directly: "Speaking of which, Yuuka, you really moved the Sunflower Field into Fantasy Land, I thought you wouldn’t agree."
"Why wouldn’t I agree? Although I quite dislike Yakumo Zi, Fantasy Land is indeed a good place..."
Miss Flower Demon turned her body toward the field, and just as a gentle breeze blew by, lifting the hem of her skirt, she spoke in a flat tone.
"Originally, various flowers that shouldn’t bloom at the same time, scattered across different seasons and places, have all been concentrated on this land. For me, that alone is enough."
Gu Mo thought about it and realized it was true. Kazami Yuuka, aside from having a dominatrix-like presence during battles, was usually a very quiet person, almost making him think she had split personality. She lived a regular life, acted gracefully, and liked a life as calm and stable as freely growing plants.
She almost never left her flower field, but there were exceptions.
That was to visit different flower viewing spots according to the seasons, wandering around for the sake of flower viewing... This was probably her only hobby.
So, like an independent and closed-off little world, Fantasy Land that integrates all the natural elements from the outside world, was a reason enough for Miss Flower Demon to move in... very reasonable, Gu Mo lightly nodded, others probably agreed for similar reasons.
Fantasy Land is the name of this land, a closed paradise.
Initially proposed by Yakumo Zi, this friend he was familiar with, over the past thousand years gradually became active under the name of "Demon Sage", becoming a well-known entity in the extraordinary world. It was she who, over five hundred years ago, along with a few like-minded individuals, proposed the plan to create Fantasy Land.
It’s not easy to say it’s easy, but it’s not difficult either.
Relying on her Power of Realm, and with the assistance of others, naturally, the project was completed easily. It wasn’t about creating a new small world from scratch, but isolating and separating an already existing region from the big world through the use of laws and principles.
It already existed in the world, just secluded from it.
And in this process, Gu Mo naturally contributed a lot of effort. As he looked over this somewhat unfamiliar land, he saw many familiar geographical features among it, including the Demon Mountain of the Tengu, Black Tortoise Creek of the Kappa, and the Bamboo Forest and Eternal Pavilion of Princess Kaguya.
These certainly could not have been geographic features included from the inception of Fantasy Land.
After all, their original locations were quite far apart, not to exaggeratedly claim poles apart, but easily hundreds or thousands of miles away. Although Fantasy Land is not small, it wasn’t enough to include such vast land from the start... so these environments and geography were naturally moved in later.
Moving mountains, shifting earth veins, splicing water bodies...
With inherent brute strength or astonishing spell wisdom, these were not difficult tasks, ultimately forming Fantasy Land’s current geography, distinctly divided and elegantly arranged.
Gu Mo, who always paid attention, naturally knew this.
"Shimotsuki Shrine recently moved in too, just on the peak of Demon Mountain..."
At this time, Kazami Yuuka calmly spoke, "I went to discuss with those two, besides Kanako still being able to maintain her power, Suwako’s condition is already very poor. Not to say maintaining power, being able to maintain existence is pretty good..."
"Discussed..."
Gu Mo’s mouth twitched, this must have been a discussion with a magic cannon.
But that indeed is Miss Flower Demon’s style, and now she voluntarily brought it up to talk with him, it’s quite good, indicating she does care about Suwa’s condition, with some worries... This is probably a Kazami Yuuka-style concern?
After all, those she recognizes are not many, probably not wishing to see Suwako disappear like that either.
Thinking this way, Gu Mo suddenly felt very gratified, as he observed Miss Flower Demon and nodded to show he understood: "Then I’ll go over and take a look afterward, it shouldn’t be a problem..."
However, Kazami Yuuka frowned: "Why are you looking at me with that kind of gaze?"
Really annoying...
What is with that seemingly satisfied elder’s gaze...
