Harem System In A fantasy World

The moment Elion stepped down, he felt the familiar feeling of the thick mana envelope his body.

It was nothing like the artificial density of the royal training rooms, but the feeling was natural and deeply rooted beneath the earth. It moved slowly through the air, through the trees, through the soil, like the forest itself was breathing.

Kurogoroshi gave an excited hum at his side, as it began snacking on the ambient mana, devouring it greedily.

Elion placed a hand on the scabbard.

“Hungry much?” he muttered quietly.

Alexander glanced at him. “Talking to the sword again?”

“No.”

“You are a terrible liar.”

“And yet you keep asking.”

Before Alexander could respond, a group of soldiers and officers approached from the post, led by a tall elf woman in green and silver armour.

Her face was stern, her long ears partly hidden beneath braided silver hair, and a faint scar ran from the edge of her jaw down into her collar.

She bowed lightly toward Alexander.

“Your Highness. We received word of your arrival.”

Alexander nodded. “Commander.”

Her gaze briefly shifted to Elion, and unlike the retainers earlier, she did not stare at him with awe or fear. She looked at him like she was trying to see whether he would be useful or troublesome.

Elion gave her a smile.

“The forward camp has been informed,” she continued. “The other heroes returned from the front lines late last night, and they are waiting deeper inside.”

At the mention of other heroes, Elion’s brow raised with interest. It had been over a week since he last saw them.

’But what are they doing all the way back here?’ He thought quietly with a bit of confusion. Shouldn’t they be on the front lines where he left them?

Alexander noticed the faint change in his expression but said nothing, which told Elion that the prince knew something about this situation that Elion hadn’t been told about.

“Any trouble along the fringe?” the prince asked.

The elf commander’s expression tightened.

“We have had frequent sightings of small demon groups, some flying beasts, but there has been no direct assault since yesterday morning. The forest, however, has been restless.”

“The forest?” Elion asked before he could stop himself.

The commander looked at him. “Yes.”

Then she added, “You will understand once you enter.”

That was not ominous at all.

Peter looked like he deeply regretted waking up that morning.

Alexander gave the order for the mounts to be handed over and prepared for ground travel from there onward.

The retainers began gathering supplies, and the soldiers moved with tense efficiency around them. Elion, however, found his gaze drifting past the palisade, toward the shadowed path leading beneath the towering trees.

The elf commander led them through the outer post after the mounts were handed over, and the difference between this checkpoint and every other one they had visited was immediately obvious.

The others had been built to keep enemies out.

This one felt like it had been built while asking the forest for permission.

Roots curled along the foundations of the palisade, wrapping around wooden beams like thick veins, and the watchtowers were not simply constructed against the trees, but partially grown from them, their platforms nestled between enormous branches while ladders and rope bridges connected them above.

The air smelled of damp bark, wet leaves, and something faintly sweet that Elion couldn’t quite place.

Soldiers moved through the post quietly, most of them elves or humans, with a few beastmen and dwarves scattered among them, and even their armour seemed less polished here, as if it was dulled specifically to avoid catching too much light beneath the canopy.

Alexander walked beside the commander, speaking in a low voice as she gave him a quick explanation of the current situation.

Elion followed a few steps behind with the retainers, though his attention kept drifting toward the forest entrance ahead.

The path beyond the gate was not a road in the traditional sense. It was more like a scar cut through the roots and undergrowth, wide enough for carts and troops to pass, but narrow compared to the massive trees standing on either side.

Their trunks were absurdly thick, some so wide that even twenty men holding hands would not be enough to circle them, and their crowns reached so high that most of the sunlight was swallowed before it ever touched the forest floor.

It was nothing like the forest he had trekked while on the front lines or when he was intruding upon the demon’s territory.

Peter stared into the shadowed path with a stiff face.

“I suddenly miss the open sky,” he muttered.

Gareth nodded beside him in agreement. “At least in the sky, you can see death coming.”

Darin gave them both a flat look. “You two are very bad at keeping morale high.”

“We are being realistic,” Peter defended himself.

“Well, shut up, you are being depressing.”

Peter pointed toward the forest. “Look at that place and tell me it doesn’t look like something in there eats people who complain too loudly.”

Elion glanced at him. “Then you should stop complaining.”

Peter immediately closed his mouth.

Alexander, who had overheard the exchange, rubbed his brow. “I truly cannot tell whether you are improving their discipline or teaching them to just fear and respect you.”

“Both can be true,” Elion replied calmly.

The prince looked like he wanted to argue, then decided once again that it was not worth the effort.

At the gate, the elf commander stopped and turned toward the group. “From this point onward, keep close. The route to the forward camp is marked, but this part of the forest is not kind to careless feet.”

Peter swallowed. “Is that literal?”

The commander looked at him a little too long for comfort.

“Yes.”

Peter’s face lost colour. Elion almost laughed, but he just about held it in. The gate opened with a deep groan, and they stepped into the Great Forest.

The moment Elion crossed beneath the canopy, the world changed.

The light dimmed at once, filtered through overlapping layers of leaves until everything became tinted in shades of green and gold.

The air grew cooler, heavier, and far more alive than outside. Mana brushed against his skin like an invisible current, and beneath it all, there was a faint sensation that made him feel as though something enormous had turned its attention toward them.

It did not feel exactly hostile, but it just felt aware, and that bothered Elion enough to make him feel jumpy.

“What is it with this forest exactly? How come it wasn’t like this on the front lines, or on the demons’ side of the forest?”

The elf woman gave him a brief glance, visibly a bit annoyed with the uneducated question, but she decided to answer after letting him stew for a bit, perhaps as a show of strength.

“The great forest is an entity that is believed to have a will of its own, and the front lines have been far too devastated and scarred by battle for its will to still reach that far, and the demons’ territory is rotten with corrupted mana.”

“What do you mean by that?” He asked curiously.

The elf woman scowled and looked back to the front. To Elion’s disappointment, she didn’t answer him.

’What the hell?’

It seemed that what she had told him was all that she was willing to share. And the smug smile on Alexander’s face told Elion that he was enjoying watching him suffer for once, so the salty prince wasn’t going to elaborate either.

Elion decided to keep quiet and take his loss like a champ.

’Why is this woman so difficult anyway?’ He thought silently to himself.