Brain bloom

What if she really takes the slingshot and starts shooting randomly...?

There was nothing she could do; Morishige quickly grabbed the slingshot before she could and stuffed it deep into her bag. Luckily, Morishige had already put away the Book of Trillion Stars because of its overly prominent presence; otherwise, who knows what they would have been talking about all at once.

"...Mori, can't you let me see it?" Dandelion said sullenly.

"Well, this is something I made on a whim, just for shooting birds, it's nothing special..." She casually made up an excuse for herself.

"Wait, shoot birds?" This surprised Dandelion, who quickly asked, "But aren't birds our good friends? They can spread seeds... You want to shoot birds?"

"—Seagull." Mori looked towards the sea.

"Oh, I see." She suddenly understood and nodded in acceptance of Mori's explanation.

Melia silently noted that her father might still have a childlike heart and would make slingshots to play with. After all, in this world, slingshots are considered children's toys.

Since the slingshot wasn't meant for attacking Silvermoon City, the two were slightly disappointed, but they still had to seriously consider a solution. They started discussing the matter back and forth.

"Let the Peda Empire make a token appearance, and then give up?"

"Yes, that's all we can do. But after this, Silvermoon City's reputation will rise steadily, and I feel a little uneasy about that."

"I wonder where they got this technology from, how they managed to do something like this? What was Mori Toki thinking?"

"Well... there will always be other opportunities to make money, so let's skip this one. At least so far, no one has suffered any losses, and we Four Seasons Warriors are safe, which is a good thing." Mori Toki wasn't just being perfunctory; he genuinely believed it from the bottom of his heart.

Dandelion and Melia both nodded, taking it as Sen's way of comforting them.

They chatted for a while longer, talking about the realm of wishes and demons, and then about the operation of the winery, how too much wine was piling up and couldn't be sold.

But halfway through her sentence, Dandelion suddenly frowned.

"What's going on... Nature is in bad shape, it's crying out in distress."

"what?"

"Nature is crying out... Can you hear it?"

The father and daughter exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what Dandelion had suddenly said. But the princess's next actions were even more perplexing. She climbed out of the window, stumbled and landed among the flowers, then ran towards the grapevines.

Melia was very curious about this, and relying on her wings, she immediately flew down after it.

As for Morishi, she ran to the window, bracing her hands on the windowsill, intending to smoothly flip over and land perfectly. But she stopped as soon as she put one foot on the windowsill.

That's the height of two stories!

Sen had no choice but to turn around and obediently walk down the stairs.

She went downstairs and stepped into the air, and felt terrible. The world, which had been slightly cool but somewhat refreshing, now felt like torture.

It was as if a thin layer of gray was shrouding the air.

It's a bit like the industrial city I lived in, during its worst air quality period. Back then, every breath you took would get your entire respiratory tract contaminated with dust, so you had to wear a mask.

But now, it feels even worse here. Breathing is actually a bit painful, as if some kind of toxin is freely spreading through my body with each breath...

Not only was breathing difficult, but the dozens of small leaves on her head also weren't getting enough sunlight. A hazy feeling enveloped the air again, the sunlight thin. It was as if the contrast and saturation of a picture had been reduced, making the colors dull.

She wanted to call for Fufu for good luck, but the little guy wasn't there. Suppressing her worry, Sen Shiqiang ran to Dandelion's side to prevent anything from harming the princess, with whom she had finally reconciled.

Dandelion stopped tending to the grapevines and immediately moved several steps closer to Sen Shi.

She murmured softly, "...Something's coming out, something not good."

"thing?"

"I don't know where it came from, it shouldn't be around here... it must be some kind of ominous mist that has been dormant for a very long time."

After saying that, she continued to stare at the grapevine that was growing little by little on the tree spirit, and before she knew it, she had gripped the staff in her hand. Her body was also pressed tightly against Sen Shi, hoping to gain some peace of mind from it.

When the ominous word appeared, both she and Melia were taken aback.

"But... that thing didn't show up."

"The air is very polluted, and the sunlight can't get in. You are not one of the four seasons, so you can't hear the cries of nature, but I'm sure the ominous fog is at least passing through here."

Mori covered his mouth and nose, his heart skipping a beat.

It wasn't out of fear, after all, B and Melia were still there. The key issue was the appearance of the Evil Mist? Didn't that mean there were more easy monsters to defeat without taking responsibility, allowing her to gain experience? That was exactly what she needed.

The key question is, where did the ominous fog come from?

Once she knew the location, she could approach it and perhaps find some high-level cannon fodder gathered together. She could just burn them all down. With that thought, she took out her staff and inlaid a gem belonging to the fire element into it.

"This isn't a place where the Evil Mist would pass through; theoretically, it should stay far away..."

"Princess Dandelion, I still haven't seen the black mist that should be there."

"I also……"

"Could there be an outburst point nearby?"

After saying that, the dandelion suddenly raised its head, and the hazy feeling in the air disappeared, and the sun and sea breeze became gentle again. But everyone knew that something might not be right.

Melia asked calmly and deliberately:

"Why do you make this judgment? Is it the intuition of the Four Seasons Princess? I deal with the Evil Mist every year, and have fought with it hundreds of times. The Evil Mist may devour other monsters and gain the characteristic of hiding its form, but the newly emerging Evil Mist can at least maintain the appearance of black mist."

“I didn’t see that black mist,” Mori said. “So… where is it coming from? Could it be accompanied by a lot of monsters? Shall we go find it—uh…”

Mori interrupted herself, because she had some unpleasant thoughts.

After all, this happened far too suddenly. Silvermoon City, which had been peaceful and boasted an impeccable natural environment, was inexplicably eroded by the Calamity Mist?

The only thing that happened at the same time was that.

Volume 1, Chapter 226: Location of the Outburst Point

"Dandelion, are you sure this thing... has any oozing points?" Mori asked, wanting to confirm his thoughts.

"Yes, nature is crying out. If it were just a regular fog coming from across the sea, it wouldn't be this troublesome. You should be able to feel it too, right? Our leaves can't feel the sunlight anymore, and there was that stuff in the air just now..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her eyes met Mori's. There were many feelings that words couldn't describe, but compatriots could understand each other.

Mori nodded. Apart from not being able to sense the lamentations of nature, the princess was right about everything.

"This happened not long ago, and it occurred at the same time..."

"So, I guessed that there was a gushing point... and that it was suddenly dug out. In terms of time, the difference between digging out and overflowing was at most a few seconds, ten seconds."

Dandelion didn't speak explicitly, but her words still conveyed her speculation. Since Yuan wasn't here, and their thoughts weren't pure, all three of them easily connected the dots to that matter.

—The levitation plan for Silvermoon City.

If there's no connection, such a coincidental timing is simply unbelievable.

"As for the black mist, it's normal that you can't see it."

Dandelion continued to share her views; she was highly sensitive to the changes in nature, which gave her a significant voice on the matter. Even Melia cautiously considered her opinion.

“I suspect this ominous mist has been suppressed for too long. Once it was given the chance to be released, it immediately dispersed and went far away. And it was exceptionally powerful, even causing my land to groan... Fortunately, it didn't do anything evil here, it only left some traces.”

"trace?"

"The gloom that lasted for a short time, obscuring the sky, might not be noticeable to you, after all, this land and foreign tribes are not compatible. In any case, that trace has now dissipated."

Having said that, to clean up the damage, the dandelion removed its corolla and plucked a petal from its small yellow flower. Using a special method, it scattered the powder containing its power across the entire plantation.

In addition, she waved to the sky, summoning a passing pure white drizzle cloud insect to bring down gentle rain.

During this time, Melia asked—

"Assuming you're right, what's the situation now? My understanding is that an outflow point appeared near Silvermoon City, bringing some kind of extremely powerful Calamity Mist into the human world. But this Calamity Mist rapidly left Silvermoon City to wreak havoc elsewhere, and it left so quickly that no one noticed?"

"Yes."

Melia's face twisted in pain: "Let's put aside that for now. Is the surge related to Silvermoon City or something... Princess Dandelion, do you know the direction the Evil Mist went?"

"To make such a deal with me? That's a very high price to pay, Demon Queen."

"...Say what you want. I don't expect you to be a fair trader like the devil, just don't ask for too much."

Dandelion was merely imitating the ancient devil king, using witty remarks to lighten the mood. So she waved her hand, dismissing the joke. She didn't consider herself a heartless devil, and pointed in a few directions.

This is an island, so the places she's referring to are naturally all on the other side of the sea—

The Calamity Mist didn't go to the Chaos Lands, but instead headed towards the Kingdom of the Holy Coffin. Besides that, there was another path leading to a strange place… because along that road, there was no civilization whatsoever.

They didn't have time to investigate the latter, so they hurriedly called B over. The three of them talked at once and gave her a long explanation before she understood that her country might be in danger.

The ominous mist merely wanders the sea, so the damage is minimal. However, along this route lie two independent city-states and dozens of villages of varying sizes. Only after traversing these can one reach the Kingdom of the Holy Coffin.

Not only that, but a small number of wild monsters also inhabit the area. Although their levels vary, they will become troublesome once they come into contact with the Evil Mist.

The pitch-black, swift fog will devour everything it touches. Any resistance is futile; sooner or later, souls and lives will be cleansed, leaving only bodies strengthened by primal evil. Then, forgetting everything, it will go and engulf even more people.

This kind of attack, devoid of joy or sorrow, and purely characterized by ruthless engulfment, is the most feared enemy in the entire world.

Its existence caused immense suffering to the Peda Empire and the Chaos Land. It was also a nightmare for many merchant ships and independent city-states, as its appearance meant certain annihilation.

"Sen, it seems your country is in trouble," Dandelion said with genuine concern.

"Fortunately, that group of strong individuals all returned, so at least they weren't without the ability to resist."

“Dad, dealing with the Evil Mist is something the whole world should do. I’ll send Daniel to help too; he’s very experienced at dealing with that thing. But… I’m afraid we can only protect Silvermoon City, and the city by the sea… Silver Ring City, which will be the first to be touched… is probably doomed.”

“—B.” Mori said, because B was waiting.

"I...I'm here."

"You should go back now."

"Then you'll have to come with me—"

“I’m not going for now. If Dandelion’s speculations are true, then there’s something even more troublesome about this.” She turned towards Silvermoon City. “The source of the Evil Mist is right here, buried beneath the city. But Lord Balzac intends to make the entire city fly… What if there’s even more Evil Mist?”

B's initial astonishment gradually turned into admiration and respect. In her understanding, Sen Shi meant that she was to shoulder a heavy responsibility, to fight the outflowing points of the Evil Mist, which would be terrifying.

“I understand—but we will not hold you back, and we will certainly keep our land pure, waiting for your arrival with victory.”

"Go quickly."

B drank a bottle of holy water, and gradually her feeling of boredom faded away. Instead, she became invigorated by the heavy responsibility she carried. She bid farewell to the winery with a heroic air, and her final step displayed the demeanor of a nation's strongest ruler.

Her step crossed the vast ocean.

……