BXBX NOVEL Chapter 81 - Guardian
"Of course you can. I\'m not an unreasonable Beast, young-one!" The Elder Red-Panda said with a smile while stroking its long white beard.
"Thank you, Elder!" Ban exclaimed happily as he proceeded to hug Eva more tightly and even kissed her cheeks, which she liked very much.
Eva\'s eyes also went wide in surprise after hearing that they could leave here alive. She witnessed the Elder Red-Panda\'s strength firsthand and she knew that no matter what kind of skill she possessed and used, she wouldn\'t still be able to beat the Elder Red-Panda.
"Follow me!" The Elder Red-Panda said while waving his hands in the air.
Ban did not waste any more time and immediately followed behind the Elder Red-Panda.
The Elder Red-Panda walked calmly with its two hands clasped behind its back.
Some time later, the Elder Red-Panda stopped in front of a dying Elder Monk Tree. The Elder Red-Panda caressed its dying trunk with all tenderness, and could feel the pain it was feeling while touching the dying Elder Monk Tree.
"Young-one, I\'ve seen what you\'ve done earlier. You managed to slightly rekindle the life of one of my dying Elder Monk Tree. If you can also do it to the other Elder Monk Trees, I\'ll let you take as many Elder Monk Tree branches as you want and I will even give you an extra reward if you manage to do it splendidly." The Elder Red-Panda said with all seriousness with its voice.
All its life, it\'s been taking care of the Elder Monk Tree. It only neglected it a bit after it went to seclusion to try and pierced the next rank.
In fact, not only was it the Guardian of the Elder Monk Trees, but it was also the Guardian of the entirety of the Beast-Filled forest, Tranquil Forest.
The Elder Monk Trees were a very important component of the Tranquil Forest. The scent that it emits covers the whole Tranquil Forest, making the Beasts who smelled it become calm, and not attack anyone without a reason.
One could say that the Tranquil Forest became tranquil, mainly due to the Elder Monk Trees. However, if they start to die, the Beasts will rampage and attack anyone just like what a normal Beast would do.
The Elder Red-Panda explained it to Ban thoroughly. What will happen if they die? Who will be affected, and what kind of damage it will cause?
The Elder Red-Panda said that it was not only the Elder Monk Trees that were not harvested properly that were dying, even the other Elder Monk Trees that hadn\'t experienced any harvesting yet also started to dry and die.
Ban listened carefully and after hearing the truth, he was now even more willing to help. After all, if not treated immediately, the Tranquil Forest might also release a Beast Tide, even greater than the ones at the Lagom Forest
"So what do you think, young-one? Will you be able to fix what\'s happening?" The Elder Red-Panda said.
"This might be harder than what I initially thought, Elder! But, I think I can do it with your help. Elder, are you the one who planted these Elder Monk Trees?" Ban said.
"Yes! Although, I only planted one and they just propagated themselves until they became this numerous."
Ban nodded his head in understanding. It still fascinates him that he was now conversing openly with a Beast that was openly known as being savage and ruthless towards humans. He wondered how did the Elder Red-Panda learn to speak their language, and he even wondered whether Eva would also be able to speak their language fluently like that.
However, he knew that it was not yet the time to think about these things. He needs to remedy the dying Elder Monk Trees first to stop a future Beast Tide that might befall on the Eagle City in the future.
"Then Elder, can you bring me to that particular Elder Monk Tree? The oldest, and the first Elder Monk Tree of this bunch?" Ban said.
He already had a vague idea of what was happening. At first, he only thought that it was only due to the improper, or brute way of harvesting the branches that the Elder Monk Trees were dying. However, when he heard the Elder Red-Panda say that some of the Elder Monk Trees that have not experienced harvesting yet were also dying, he immediately abandoned that trace of thought.
The Elder Red-Panda tilted its head in confusion upon hearing Ban\'s request. A while later, it finally nodded its head in approval.
"Alright, follow me!" The Elder Red-Panda said as it hopped into one of the Elder Monk Tree branches. It then proceeded to jump towards another one, and one after the other until its silhouette was now far away from Ban.
Seeing that, Ban immediately followed, but he did not jump towards the branches to hop around just like what the Elder Red-Panda was doing. He just settled running on the ground along with Eva that had now moved back to his shoulders.
After a few minutes, they finally arrived at their destination.
The Elder Red-Panda was staring at a huge Elder Monk Tree in front of it with great nostalgia.
The surroundings around the Elder Monk Tree were clean and devoid of any unwanted vines or leaves. From that alone, Ban could tell that the Elder Red-Panda took great care of the Elder Monk Tree that it had planted.
However, unlike before, the oldest Elder Monk Tree that the Elder Red-Panda planted personally… only the dried trunk could be seen on it now.
"I planted this Elder Monk Tree as a seed more than a hundred years ago. At that time, I was not the Guardian of the Tranquil and it was also not yet called Tranquil Forest. I only named it after another twenty years when I already became the Guardian, and the Elder Monk Trees became abundant while slowly emitting scents that started to cover the whole forest."
"So what do you think young-one? Did you notice the problem already?"
Ban nodded his head enthusiastically as a reply. "Yes, Elder!"