Chapter 111: Fight

"Hmm, if there really are cotton seeds in the seed vault, I can give it a try."

"Really? Oh hahaha, rest assured — regarding the compensation, I will definitely make sure you are satisfied."

To find the seeds they needed, they had to make it to the vault. And to get to the vault, they first had to reach the royal capital. Since everyone’s goals aligned, there was no time to lose — they should depart at once.

Leon and Elara began making preparations right away, and by after lunch, everything was ready to go.

"It’s a real shame you have to leave so soon." Eric came to see them off, reluctance plain on his face, he had wanted to keep Ethan for a few more days, but since his guests had important matters to attend to, he couldn’t well force them to stay.

"I’ve rested well, so it’s time for me to head out."

"You’re too polite, when you return, please be sure to visit again."

"I definitely will. I still want to tour your glass workshops, after all."

After a brief farewell with Eric, Ethan turned toward the carriage. Just then, two youthful shouts suddenly rang out from the crowd.

"Brother Ethan, goodbye!!"

"Brother Ethan, next time you come, I’ll treat you to something delicious!!"

Ethan followed the sound and saw Roll and Erin waving at him, he smiled, stepped down from the carriage, and walked over to the two of them. The surrounding elves watched him in confusion.

Ethan took out a leather water skin from his pack. "There’s sheep’s milk in here, right?"

"Ah? Y-yes... what about it?"

Ethan poured the sheep’s milk into a bowl, added an appropriate amount of sugar, and quickly stirred it until the mixture was evenly combined. Next, he placed the bowl on the ground and cast Frost, freezing the milk into a solid block of ice.

"Whoa... so pretty..."

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, Ethan placed the frozen block of sheep’s milk into a grinder and began grinding it finely. Before long, snow-white shaved ice filled the bowl, he diced some prepared fruit and placed it on top of the shaved ice.

Two bowls of sweet and tempting fruit shaved ice were ready.

[Delicious Fruit Shaved Ice]

[Shaved ice made from sweet sheep’s milk, topped with fresh fruit. Even more refreshing and cooling.]

[Lowers body temperature upon consumption.]

[Increases heat resistance upon consumption.]

[Delicious Effect: Increases strength.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★★]

"Here, give it a try." Ethan handed the prepared shaved ice to the twins.

"Wow, so cool and so delicious."

"It’s too delicious."

Watching the two of them eat with such relish, Ethan smiled and said, "Next time I come, you two have to treat me to something even more delicious."

"Hmm... that might be a little difficult..."

"We’ll do our best to find something." The two of them promised earnestly, faces beaming.

Ethan smiled, patted their heads, and turned back to the carriage, seeing this, Leon gave a hand signal to the driver, and the carriage slowly started moving.

"What was that you gave them just now?" Elara asked curiously after the carriage had left the Ashwyn family’s territory.

Ethan made another bowl of shaved ice and handed it to her.

"Mmm, so refreshing, so soft, so sweet... What is this?"

"This is fruit shaved ice. It’s very suitable for eating in hot weather."

"If this was sold in the summer, it would definitely be incredibly popular, the method is just freezing sheep’s milk with sugar and then grinding it, right?"

"That’s right. You can also add candied fruits and things like that to make various flavors of shaved ice."

"The process seems a bit complicated... not only does it have to be frozen, but also ground..."

To Ethan, freezing and grinding were both very simple. But to an ordinary person, it wasn’t an easy task.

As Elara continued calculating the production costs in her head, Leon smiled at Ethan and said, "Would you like to start a shaved ice business in the royal capital?"

"I’m not really interested in doing business. I prefer making it for myself to eat; it’s more relaxing."

"Hahaha, as you please."

"Meow, how much longer until we reach the royal capital?"

"A few more days." Leon’s tone grew somewhat heavy.

Both Ethan and Pearl noticed the shift in his demeanor. Leon turned to look out the window. "The closer we get to the royal capital, the greater Marquis Karloitz’s influence becomes. He should already know that we are heading for the capital. I just hope nothing goes wrong on the way..."

"It definitely won’t be that smooth." Marquis Karloitz would absolutely not just sit by and watch Ethan deliver the Mana Grass to the royal family.

"However, we won’t give up easily either."

"Hahaha, then I’d better prepare for battle." Leon leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest, it seemed the journey ahead would not be peaceful, he needed to conserve his energy to deal with whatever came next.

Seeing this, Ethan also closed his eyes and began to meditate.

"Monsters."

Not long after the carriage left the Ashwyn family territory, it came under monster attack, Ethan snapped his eyes open, Leon opened the carriage window and assessed the situation outside.

"There aren’t many of them. You don’t need to worry — just leave it to us."

"I should probably go."

"Hahaha, leave a minor matter like this to us." Once the carriage stopped, Leon was the first to step out, he led Elara’s soldiers to engage the monsters.

Elara watched Leon’s back with worry. "We’ve only just set off, and we’re already being attacked by monsters..."

"Do you think this is Marquis Karloitz’s doing?"

"Highly likely, although running into monsters in the wild isn’t rare, being attacked right after leaving the territory is too much of a coincidence, which means..."

Ethan sneered and gripped the Scythe of Gaia at his waist, the weapon, originally the size of a dagger, instantly transformed into a massive scythe.

"Meow, they’re here." Just as Pearl spoke, several dark figures darted out from the woods.

Dark Elves — Children of Chaos, the ones possessing Fragments of Chaos.

Watching the hostile Dark Elves approach, Ethan swung his scythe in a wide arc, forcing them back.

"Meow, why don’t you use Wrath of the Earth?"

"Too narrow here." Wrath of the Earth was an area-of-effect skill, with the carriages and cargo all around, friendly fire was too likely, Ethan didn’t want to cause unnecessary damage, so he simply used the Scythe of Gaia to drive them back, then drew his Holy Sword.

"Air Slash." Elara suddenly launched an attack from behind Ethan, several semi-transparent blades materialized out of thin air and shot toward the Dark Elves.

"Ugh?!" Caught off guard by the sudden assault, one Dark Elf failed to dodge in time, was struck by a blade, and collapsed to the ground.

Seeing this, the other Dark Elves erupted in fury, however, Ethan’s attack had already arrived.

With flashes of sword light, the Dark Elves fell into pools of their own blood one by one.

Ethan sheathed his sword expressionlessly, his gaze falling upon the last and strongest Dark Elf still standing.