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Chapter 180: Ancient Spirit Ritual

The forest, having regained its greenery, was bustling with people.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all the residents of Prochet had gathered.

“Wow, was this place originally like this?”

“It’s beautiful. To think that barren forest could become so lovely…”

“Is this really the Gray Forest?”

As the residents were looking around the forest, a boy who had entered deeper into the woods suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“E-everyone, look here. What is this?”

What the boy pointed at was a brightly shining light.

As people’s attention focused on it, the light immediately responded to the sound.

The light circled around the boy once, as if exploring, and then returned to the tree.

Everyone’s gaze followed it back, and an elderly man stared intently at the tree where the light had disappeared, muttering with surprised eyes.

“A spirit… That was a spirit…”

The old man’s voice trembled.

“A spirit?”

“What do you mean a spirit? There are no spirits here, right?”

“I’ve never seen a spirit before!”

The forest regaining its greenery. And the return of the spirits.

The residents were bewildered about what was happening.

But one thing was certain.

That a great change had occurred in Prochet. And that change had taken place in an extremely positive direction.

“The lord has arrived!”

“My lord! The, the forest has returned.”

“The spirits have returned too, my lord!”

The residents welcomed Lord Michael, who had come with the mages from the tower.

“Wow…”

“It really, really has returned.”

“To think this forest could become so lush.”

The mages that Michael had brought looked around the forest in awe. These were the ones who couldn’t believe that vitality had returned to the Spirit Forest.

It was understandable. For a dead land to return to its original state.

Moreover, among the mages, there were those who didn’t even know the old appearance of this land.

To them, this land had been dead from the beginning.

The beautiful forest teeming with life they had only heard about in stories.

They couldn’t understand when others spoke of reclaiming past glory, as the stories didn’t really resonate with them.

But seeing it in person was different.

Something began to well up in their hearts.

The Magic Tower Master was equally moved by the sight of the restored forest.

Michael looked around at the mages and residents. Then he shouted loudly on the spot.

“Hear me, residents! Our Prochet has been dysfunctional for a long time. We’ve been mocked as a declining territory relying on past glory.”

Because of that, many residents had left their homeland.

The market lost its vitality, and merchants turned away, no longer visiting this land.

“Now, that time of humiliation is over! As you can see, our Prochet… has regained its vitality. Do you see that forest? Do you see the spirits?”

The forest had regained its former vigor. Not only had it recovered its greenery, but the light of the returned spirits was making that verdure shine even brighter.

Up close, it looked even more impressive.

“Prosperity has come to Prochet!”

The residents and mages cheered loudly at Michael’s declaration.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The elderly shed tears, and as all the children rejoiced, their parents followed suit and rejoiced together.

“From today, we will hold a week-long festival. Our Prochet starts anew from now!”

“Long live the lord!”

“Long, long live the lord!”

Amidst the cheers of the residents, Michael pointed to the person standing next to him.

“This achievement is not mine alone. This person has been of utmost help. Without him, our Prochet would not have regained its vitality.”

Michael shouted in an extremely excited voice.

“This is the hero who has revived our Prochet!”

Ethan, standing beside him, naturally waved his hand towards the residents.

-Your reputation increases!

-Your reputation increases!

Every time Ethan waved his hand, his fame increased.

“Waaah-!”

His reputation also rose with the cheers of the residents.

“Long live Lord Ethan!”

“I never thought I’d see this sight again before I died, sniff.”

The older residents shed tears on the spot.

The forest had come back to life, and the spirits had returned.

Now Prochet can develop again.

The days of being despised as a dead land, a dead city, are now over.

When told that all this was accomplished by Ethan’s hand, it was only natural that reputation would rise with the cheers of the residents.

‘These cheers feel good every time I receive them.’

Ethan then summoned Tror. It was to put a definitive period on the quest.

Kuguugugung-!

As Tror appeared, the older residents were overcome with emotion.

This was because Spirit King Tror was the symbol that had led the era when Prochet was once called the best.

“It’s the Spirit King…!”

“The, the Spirit King?!”

“I’ve only heard about this in stories…”

When the children saw the Spirit King they had only heard about in stories, they opened their mouths wide in shock and froze.

“Everyone, your hardships are now over.”

Ethan said. Although he wasn’t speaking in a loud voice, everyone gathered here could hear him.

“At this moment, you are at the starting point of history where Prochet rises again.”

Having descended to the bottom without knowing where it would end, now it was time to climb back up.

“Let’s take that first step together.”

***

“It will be quite difficult at first. But don’t worry. With the contract with Tror and the connection with my disciple Roanna, I consider Prochet as a brother.”

“Sniff, thank you so much, Mr. Ethan.”

Michael said, seemingly moved to tears. He never expected to receive this much help for his territory.

“I will never forget this kindness. Let’s go together. I’ll help with anything I can.”

Of course, Ethan did this because he could gain great benefits through collaboration with Prochet.

‘With Tror here and the territory’s vitality restored, it’s only a matter of time before we reclaim past glory.’

In essence, this place only had development left to do.

‘Gold lying on the ground should naturally be picked up.’

Moreover, the trust of Prochet’s residents towards Ethan was skyrocketing without limit.

‘There won’t be any resistance. No, not just no resistance, they’ll actively try to help.’

Then there would be quite a good synergy between Whiskers territory and Prochet territory.

Ethan began to discuss business in earnest with Magic Tower Master Michael.

“We’re grateful. It will be a great boost to the depressed Prochet market.”

“Magic Tower Master, I don’t view everything that has happened to Prochet so far as negative.”

“……”

Since the territory lost its power, the Magic Tower Master had faced quite a lot of difficulties.

It had been days of hardship.

Territories that were once on good terms began to turn their backs one by one. When Prochet was doing well, they were the ones who spoke only kind words and said they would go together for life.

He thought it was an unshakeable, solid alliance relationship. But when Prochet was cornered, they changed their attitude as if flipping their palms.

Grr.

Michael gritted his teeth, seemingly recalling those thoughts.

“You must know by now. Who didn’t leave when times were toughest. You’ve clearly seen through past events things that weren’t visible when times were good.”

“That’s right. Yes, I understand well. I’ve clearly learned who to keep close and who to keep at a distance.”

Looking at it from that perspective, it was certainly so.

Those who stood by your side during the hardest times are the ones you should be with until death.

“Now Prochet will regain its past glory. In that process, flies will continue to swarm. It’s fine if they’re flies that can be shooed away with a wave of the hand, but beasts will bare their teeth and pounce on profitable businesses.”

“……”

Michael’s eyes became intense.

“The humiliation I’ve experienced so far is etched in my heart. I don’t intend to waver at any temptation. And above all, we have you, Mr. Ethan.”

He said with a smile.

“That’s enough.”

Ethan also smiled in response to that smile. When Ethan extended his hand, Michael grasped it.

Knock knock-.

“The preparations for the ritual are complete.”

***

“What is this?”

Hansen, the consultant mage of Duke Felix’s house and the Archmage of the South, was surprised by the different appearance of Prochet, which he was visiting after a long time.

“How is this possible? This shouldn’t be…”

He had received a report earlier that there were no particular issues in Prochet. Nevertheless, something felt off, so he visited Prochet in person.

He was certainly thinking that something must have happened.

But what he expected was not of this magnitude.

“This is impossible…”

His mouth fell open.

“The forest has been revived. I can feel the vitality.”

As an Archmage, he felt the intense vitality approaching him.

It was clearly the energy emitted by the once gray, dying forest that had regained its original vigor.

“What’s this now? Spirits? Why are there spirits? Could it be…”

Hansen was bewildered.

Could they really have revived the forest?

“Magic Tower Master Michael couldn’t have done this himself. Although his skills are excellent, it’s impossible for the power of a mere human to revive a land like this.”

Even he couldn’t handle a forest of this scale. The fall of Prochet was nothing short of a natural disaster.

How could humans handle nature?

It would be fortunate not to face a backlash if meddled with carelessly.

It was literally impossible to revive this place with human power alone.

And yet, that forest had been revived.

“Who on earth. Who could have done such a thing. Even if the Spirit King, the very cause of this state, came directly, he couldn’t fix it!”

Hansen urgently sought out Michael.

And soon after, he found Michael.

“Magic Tower Master Michael!”

Michael turned around, saw Hansen, and waved his hand happily. Hansen was someone who had provided considerable indirect help when Prochet was in difficulty.

“If it isn’t Sir Hansen! What brings you here… Ah! Did you come in person because of the mana powder matter?”

“That’s not important now! What is this? Is… what I’m seeing now reality?”

Seeing the excited Hansen, Michael was able to answer calmly.

“Yes. It’s exactly as you see.”

“How, h-how did this happen? Did you revive this place with the mana powder you took? If so, who…”

Only then did Hansen notice the man standing next to Michael.

He was quite a young man. He had a delicate appearance, but his eyes were remarkable.

“This person here is the savior of our Prochet.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

Ethan greeted with a slight bow.

“Savior? You’re saying this young man revived Prochet?!”

“Sir Hansen, let’s talk as we walk.”

“Walk? Where are we going?”

“We’re going to perform the ancient spirit ritual.”

“Th-the ancient spirit ritual?”

Hansen, frowning deeply, said in a surprised voice.

“Isn’t that a defunct ritual? It should be an impossible ritual, I heard no one has succeeded in over 100 years. Even the existence of ancient spirits is questionable, I can’t understand what’s going on at all.”

In response to Hansen’s words, Ethan smiled and asked back.

“Then was reviving this Prochet a possible feat, Archmage?”

At those words, Hansen was left speechless.

Author's Thoughts

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