Cthulhu Gonfalon

Would Mifata end up taking on the flag of the “jellyfish tribe”? This was unknown as of now.

However, someplace else, this became reality. This place was originally the southeast portion of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, adjacent to the Great Marsh, Dahl Baron’s Hill. Ever since the Void Mask Lord had intervened and settled the issue of the lack of wood for those in poverty, Baron Dahl had been thinking about ways to increase their ranks within the Church of Void Mask as well as their sense of belonging to the faith. He had understood that the Church of Void Mask was strong as well as extremely willing to develop and bless its disciples. Baron Hill felt that it was an honor to follow a charitable god like Sui Xiong and be his disciple. If he were to increase his ranks in the church, he would definitely gain from it. Furthermore, if he were able to increase the sense of belonging in overall, the entire land, especially the Dahl family, would receive many benefits. It also went without saying that with the prison rocks bestowed upon them by Sui Xiong, within three to five years, those living in poverty would not need to worry about suffering in winter anymore.

Ever since the Void Mask Lord had visited the nearby forests, the druids’ attitudes had improved considerably, and they had even sent out ambassadors to negotiate with Dahl about their migration instead of forced settlement here. Their attitude change had only been possible because of Sui Xiong. Although they had not met Sui Xiong, they had met Tragic Wind. Tragic Wind had first beat them up before advising them to not fight against Sui Xiong. The world was extremely big, and even if everyone had different opinions, they could always choose to live someplace else instead of staying and fighting daily.

Although the druids were extremely stubborn and resistant to change, they were not stupid. Would they fight a god who could materialize at any time? There was nothing stupider than that! They thus accepted the advice of Tragic Wind and decided to leave as a group for the depths of the Great Marsh, an area of the forest that Tragic Wind had chosen for them. Tragic Wind had hurriedly come to warn them as he did not want these druid tribe seniors to lose their lives for foolish reasons. When entering the forest, she had stayed in Dahl City for a few days and even visited the Church of Void Mask. In the temple of the church, she had seen a strange altar, and Archbishop Kabbalah had explained that it was used to summon Oracles. When the flowers bloomed in the near future, he was planning to summon various Oracles to discuss matters with the druids.

Kabbalah had faith that using physics and magic to settle discussions would bring about great results. One could also say that this was because he had great faith in his own luck. Whichever legendary-level Oracle he summoned would be able to suppress the druids, and he would decide their punishment (using them as mops for the floor or hanging them up for beatings) based on his mood later on.

As one of the most skilled on the Main Plane, Tragic Wind was naturally aware of the power of the gods in the Church of Void Mask. After meeting Kabbalah, she immediately rushed to the forest to find the druids and give them a pre-beating so that they would listen to her advice. Another reason would be that Tragic Wind secretly wished to take in these druids as her underlings. There were several sects among the druids with different mindsets. The famous “Orc Judge” Buddy Buress was of the stubborn sect, which preached that those who followed had to follow and assimilate into nature. This was made mainstream from the culture of the Kingdom of Fairies in the past.

Afterward, half-elves in the ancient forest continued to perpetuate this idea, and this was exemplified by their choice to live in trees. Tragic Wind, on the other hand, belonged to another sect that interconnected man and nature. She was an extremist and believed that man should continuously adapt and grow towards the goal of becoming part of nature. She had carried out extensive research on the field of deformation spells as well as body transformation. Because of that, rumors regarding Tragic Wind wanting to acquire wild beasts even started. As to whether that was true or false… In any case, Tragic Wind would not do such a thing in the present day. When she was mentoring, she would not mention such frivolous things as well. If one wanted to gain the strength of wild beasts, all they needed to do was to swallow wild beast meat whole, and through the analysis of its blood, they could assume the stature of said wild beast.

Whether or not such a method was legitimate, a little evil did not concern her. Currently, druids on the Main Plane wanted harmony between man and nature. One could cut down trees, but they were obliged to replant new ones afterward; one could hunt, but only for their own consumption needs… These druids maintained their boycott towards city life but did not constantly attack towns and villages, unlike their elders. One could say that they had shifted their extremist stance to a warmer and more neutral one.

What Tragic Wind needed, ironically, were the extremist druids which believed in fundamental extremism. This was because if a druid was willing to make peace with city culture, he would not possess a heart wild and passionate enough to accept Tragic Wind’s life journey. Thus, once she knew of the existence of extremist druids on the plane, she immediately rushed over to win them over as her own underlings. Tragic Wind’s first step was to convince the druids to move to a specified forest. In this forest, she had made many preparations. When the druids arrived, they would naturally see many scenes of nature and man in harmony. Maybe some would disapprove of her manipulative ways, but others would see sense in it. Although Tragic Wind seemed like a young woman, she was actually extremely old and often worried about the aging sensation in her soul. After all, she had not been able to enter the Demigod Realm yet, and there was a limit to her life.

When Tragic Wind was younger, she had participated in a few dangerous experiments which reduced her life expectancy. With some effort, she could possibly live for a few more years, but to scholars, she was already considered to be at the age where she had to look for successors.

The more successors one had, the better. This was why she had remained in the Human Realm longer this time as she intended to choose her successors and teach them her path before returning to her own half plane. There, she would hibernate deeply in the magic tower in order to extend her life expectancy. As to whether she could enter the Demigod Realm… well, she decided not to focus on such lofty ideals anymore.