Lust-Eating Grimoire - The Witch Queen's Heir is a Man!

Chapter 83: Unending Greed

You see, human greed was impossible to satisfy.

There was a lot going on with the new city in our backyard now, and though it was surviving and rebuilding itself, both the people there and we knew a simple thing.

It won’t be able to sustain. A city was largely dependent on a lot of trade and economic balances that came through connection with the rest of human civilisation.

Now cut off from that very civilization, Serenia would stop sustaining itself in no time.

Weiss came over close to me and asked.

"What is the plan with these? I don’t want to send them away, can’t we just use them?"

Having just used one Ent as a means of information and transport, she and I were of similar thought.

It’s not like the City of Serenia was the same as before, and if we could get our hands on it...

"I hear your problem," I said. "Tell me first, is there no river connecting to this place?"

"A stream? There is one behind us," Enteki 2 answered. "But we can’t survive on that. Do you not see our numbers? In this small a place..."

That was precisely it.

There existed a stream here. Trees would generally grow, but moving monster trees had a lot more to ask for than normal trees.

That was why they were having a tough time here. This place was ’rich’ it was also too small for trees. With a large part of their forest gone with the city now, they had no choice but to huddle here.

"I don’t get one thing," Weiss said, whispering in my ears. "Why don’t they go beyond the stream then? Isn’t there a lot of forest there too?"

When I conveyed it to Entekis.

"That place is even more dangerous! The Four Heavenly Kings, it’s territory of the other Kings!"

"They will rip us all apart."

"This part of the forest was the only land for us Ents."

Hm. Hm. Hm.

"I have a solution," I said. "If you work for us, we will let you live in the city."

"In the city?" The Entekis screamed out loud. "As if! Get lost, we will never help you Humans destroy more of our land."

Oh, hey...

"What if its good for trees as well?"

"Never!"

In the end, the conversation came to a standstill. An elder tree came closer and started speaking to us.

"You humans... please, leave in 3 days. Or if we are to accept death, we will take it with a fight."

Enteki 1 sighed. It shook his head.

"There is no getting through them. Thy heathens, let me take you back."

Oh?

For now. We decided to go back.

***

Near the City once again, we sat this time with Enteki 1.

"I have been telling them that thou people are those who killed the Heavenly King Gryphon and orphaned its eggs, but they refuse to believe it. Even if we fight... it is over."

"Enteki..." Weiss said. This was the first time she spoke up to it. "You’re actually smart."

"Huh!"

Enteki was shocked too. Was he now promoted? Quite the curious deal.

"The thing is, Enteki. The land you guys are on right now is very important for us. We want it."

Weiss tilted her head at my words.

"We want it?"

"Yes. It’s great farmland. The city needs to survive on something, and right now they have converted parts inside the city into farms, but for how long?"

"I see... So you were thinking that. We could destroy the Ents, but I don’t want to do that." Weiss, her hands on Enteki’s branch, looked up to the sky. "It sucks when intruders come into your house."

That it did...

Hah...

A big sigh left me. Right now, the Ents were thinking that they would have to go to war too.

"We have no choice, Butler. Make a plan. We are going to convince these Ents to live with the people of Serenia."

"E-eh...!" Enteki 1 said out loud. "How will you do that? And what about people of your city?"

"Oh, that’s pretty easy," Weiss said. "The citizens of Serenia are terrified of me. They will just praise us even if I tell them to live with Ents out of fear."

***

A conference was called that evening in the city of Serenia.

Weiss stood, not on any stage or any platform, but in between the people on a simple street with residents of Serenia all around.

I and Enteki were here too, along with Mayor Gnome Golem

"You all know about the Ents protesting," she said.

The others nodded. Many voices rang around.

"If we push them away, what different are we from the Empire?"

That was it.

Every person in Serenia went quiet.

"I don’t care about what you feel for monsters, or anything of the sort. We will give this a chance. The forest was theirs first anyway, we can learn to live together. That is my request."

People started clapping. Some tears started to fall.

"First she saved us, now them...?"

"The Witch Queen is magnanimous."

"Son, I used to say if you don’t sleep the Witch Queen will come! I am sorry. I am sorry for misguiding you so. We must all become like the Witch Queen."

Weiss gave a bright smile to Enteki and I.

Enteki and I shared a glance.

’Terrifed?’

’Hey, I never said that.’

’This girl is cracked.’

We didn’t need to share words to communicate this one time. And well, he wasn’t wrong either.

And so, it was decided.

We will make the people live with the monsters.

That evening itself, I went back to the Grim Palace along with Enteki and the rest. Delka, I, Treska, and the tree spent most of the night coming with a plan.

Weiss? Well, she had some other plan too.

She decided she wanted to make rain.

And we began looking for a way to structure the city to house the Ents and humans as it was being rebuilt.

The night went by, and the next day came over.

We ran down stairs, and out from her room came Weiss as well, holding a potion.

"It’s done!" I said.

"It’s done," said she.

It was time to begin operation End the Ents.