Okay, so what information did I get from Plantus? Eden thinks, as he summarizes the important things he learned from Plantus. For one, they did not always do these trials, and that I am most likely the first person who has ever been promoted from their status as a slave. Furthermore, the wood spirit kingdom only wants cotton from me, except for rare materials. Admittedly this is not much information, but given the profile one can give Cosmos, there are things to conclude from this. The most blanket statement that could be made is that something is going on in this kingdom, to the point that Cosmos would give up on some “entertainment” just to assumably focus on the issue at hand. But what could that issue be? If I had to guess, it could have something to do with a conflict with some other force, as he did say that the other factions in the forest had a disliking of him. But then why cotton, or more specifically why only cotton? If he was going to fight a faction of sorts, one would assume you would want weapon materials such as wood and stone. Eden ponders on about, finding no answer with his limited information.

  I am not going to get any results or a conclusive answer with just this. Eden realises as he glances around his small dusty room. Something that catches his eye is the bookshelf, the one where he found Truth in Hypocrisy.

  Perhaps one of those books is about history, or something else of note that will give me more details. I might as well scan through them, as I am sure the others are still drunk. Eden concludes, as he gets up from his hay covered stone bed and walks to the bookshelf.

  It only just now dawns on Eden just how few books there really are in this bookshelf, especially any that are readable. There are a few in a language that even with the help of Language Comprehension Eden could not understand a word in them, let alone the ones burnt or ripped all over. Eden begins to sort the books into three piles: books in an unknown language, books too damaged to read, and readable books.

  There were 9 books in the unknown language section, and 7 in the damaged section respectively. Unfortunately for Eden, the smallest pile is the readable books, only holding 4 books total, including Truth in Hypocrisy. The other three books were titled as follows: How to Make an RPG, Anime Addition, Basic Economics for Up-in-coming Merchants, and Crafting fundamentals, a Dwarf’s Guide.

  Damn, it seems I did not get all that lucky. Nothing here will give me any ideas on what is going on, and one of these books is flat out useless. I mean, who would ever try to make an RPG with the nonsense systems from anime? Regardless, I am most likely going to have to wait for the others to no longer be drunk, so I guess I will read the crafting book while I wait. Eden concludes, as he grabs the book and walks out of his room and to the exit of the house. He glances outside the house, and sees that everyone there has already passed out and is laying on the soft grass.

  Eden, having nothing better to do, grabs one of the stone bar stools in the kitchen and brings it outside to sit on while he reads his book.

  6 hours later

  “Yawn oh what just happened?” Old Man calls out to himself as he wakes up. He stretches his arms up and looks around; the other men who were drinking with him also begin the rise up as well. Old Man looks over and sees Eden reading a book, seemingly halfway through it.

  “Partner Eden! What might you be reading there?” Cowboy calls out in a surprising energetic tone. Eden raises his head to face Cowboy.

  Eden looks like a man who is suffering from insomnia with how dark the bags under his eyes are. There is a lot less life behind Eden’s face, but he still looks functional. Eden gets up and places the book, along with a few pieces of paper and some kind of makeshift pen out of the little bloodwood Eden carved off of one of his jars. The pen did not use ink but instead used red glue.

  “It seems you guys have finally woken up, thank god. I needed to discuss a few things with you all.” Eden informs the group of. He then gets off his stool, grabs it, and starts to walk inside the house, signalling for the others to follow him with his other hand. The others comply, and silently follow Eden, seeming to be recuperating and trying to deal with their hangovers. Soldier especially has a pounding head, which is clearly shown from his much slower walking pace and him holding his head in a facepalm.

  Once the group gets into the house, they all know where they are going to discuss: the kitchen. The seats are already set up well enough, so little has to be done for everyone to prepare to answer whatever Eden has planned. Once they all sit down on their stone stools, Eden begins to talk.

  “Now those of us who are awake enough to start thinking might be wondering why I have called for a discussion.” Eden says, getting nods from the group before he continues. “I got some information from Plantus, some intentional, some not so much. First and foremost we are no longer at the bottom of wood spirit society.” Eden leads off with, getting the shock of the rest of the group.

  “Are you sure?” Toxin quietly asks, visibly shaken.

  “Did you get any sort of reason from Plantus? I am of the belief that Cosmos of all people would never do something so humane.” Old man questions. Scepticism can clearly be heard in his shaky voice.

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  “I was quite unsure of this myself, but it would seem that Cosmos has granted us some amount of freedom, albeit we are unable to exit the cavern.” Eden informs the groups. The men still seem to be on edge however, not sure of why this action may have taken place.

  “Regardless, this is not the only thing I got from Plantus.” Eden states as he scans around the room, looking for anything that glows green.

  He has already placed the transmitter in his room just in case it recorded anything he says, along with taking a deep search of the kitchen to make sure there was nothing recording this conversation. Eden had no wish to let Cosmos know he was questioning what he was doing.

  Eden finds nothing in the quick glance, so he continues his speech. “Plantus has confirmed that there has been no case like ours; a slave being freed. Furthermore, the kingdom seems to only want cotton or rare materials. They do not want any other crop, nor any basic material such as stone. While this may be jumping the gun, I believe this to be a sign of something happening in the kingdom, perhaps a conflict of sorts.” Eden declares, meaning the shock of Toxin and Cowboy. This also places Soldier into deep thought, along with poking the curiosity of Old Man.

  “Now this is not to say you are wrong, but how could you draw such a conclusion? If anything, would not the purchase of only cotton tell us they are not going to war? Cotton is not an edible crop, and they are not even trying to get essential fort building supplies such as stone.” Old Man questions.

  “Well your argument would make sense if we were talking about a human army, but there is something you are forgetting; this kingdom is not one of humanity. From all my months here, I have never seen a wood spirit eat from necessity, and I doubt you have. They lack a mouth to even eat from, and all food they “eat” seems to not do all too much. After all, there would be no need for their alcohol to be so strong if they actually consumed food like humans do. Furthermore, given that wood spirits do need food, but just less, they can clearly grow plants at an accelerated speed, to the point that food can be made with a snap of a finger. But that leaves us with one big question; why are we growing cotton? The answer I am thinking is that cotton is some kind of catalyst for magic, or is used in a more traditional sense in making armour. They clearly have all the wood in the world, some of which can rival metal in building purposes, but sadly cannot be forged into armour, as wood burns far too easily. As such, they would need to make armour out of leather or cotton.” Eden explains, which meets the nods of his team. However, it would seem as though Old Man is not satisfied.

  “But do you not think that is a leap of sorts? There is a connection between your points, but there is little evidence to what leads each point to each other without another just as likely reason.” Old Man reasons. Eden sits there in silence, clearly having no real answer.

  “Eden, you are not wrong to worry about a chance of war. But I would rather there be more evidence to any war, which if you do not have any, I am almost sure none of us would have much more to work with.” Old Man declares, but is met with a rather surprising response, though it is not from Eden.

  “Sir, I have something that might be helpful, Sir!” Soldier yells out.

  “Go on.” Eden tells Soldier. He is not quite sure of what Soldier may have to bring, but it is not like any of them have any better ideas.

  “Yes Sir! As you all may know, I was once in the army for the creation of Elderwood in the Elder Forest, something like 300 or so years ago, Sir!” Soldier enlightens the group. Both Eden and Old Man look towards Soldier with a hint of surprise, but that is quickly washed away.

  “Oh, I have heard of that war once before. So that is where you got your military garments then I suppose.” Old Man thinks out loud while scratching his chin.

  There was a war 300 years ago? I guess in hindsight most places have some kind of war going on eventually, so it should be expected. Eden concludes. However, one thing he does not know is how this may connect to either sides point, but not wanting to let any details be glossed over, Eden sits in silence.

  “Yes, Old Man Sir! I am sure you have heard of the war the lowered the 25 forest kings down to the 13 forest kings, along with the arrival of humanity to the forest, Sirs! While I was not of the higher ranks, I do know a few things about the war that could be useful, Sirs! The most relevant thing in my opinion is the aggressors, Sirs! These aggressors would be the wood spirits, Sirs! They had attacked and caused a major war between the forests factions, but they had taken one ally, Sirs! This ally was the now fallen kingdom of spider queen Araina, Sirs!” Soldiers loudly declares to the group. Eden lights up at this new information and chimes in with a conclusion of sorts.

  “So, based upon this new information, I believe this supports my idea about some kind of war going on.” Eden firmly states.

  “What in tarnation are you on about partner?” Cowboy calls out to Eden. A clueless look is apparent on Cowboy’s face.

  “Did you not connect the dots, Cowboy? The wood spirit’s had gone to assumably take over the forest, but yet they allied with spiders in said forest, even though any nation with the power to start such a conflict would want all the benefits for themselves. And since the spirit kingdom took no other allies, it is safe to say that they did not take in allies for simple more fighting power, or for protection-.” Eden goes on about, but is interrupted by Old Man.

  “So you are saying that they allied for their silk? However, since that kingdom has fallen, they are now growing cotton to replace what the silk was for, as cotton can be used for somewhat similar purposes?” Old Man guesses, and with a nod from Eden, it is clear he hit the mark with his guess.

  “That is what I have concluded. Though I cannot say this is guaranteed, of course. However, I think it is reasonable enough to assume this is the case, and to plan around the fact that the wood spirit kingdom is going to enter another conflict, though what kind is unclear to us.” Eden confirms to the group. Eden then looks over the Soldier to see if he has any other information about the war.

  “Sorry Sir! The only other things I know are things such as some traps and other basic information about the kings in the forest, Sir! However, most of which is likely to be dated as wood spirits are the only species out of the kings to live anywhere close to 300 years, Sir. Any other bits of information about how those factions fought would be too outdated to be useful at this time, Sir!” Soldier informs Eden before he directly asks for more information. Eden looks down in disappointment upon hearing this, but recovers himself with due haste.

  “You are fine, Soldier. It is not your duty to investigate but to fire that bow of yours. Your information was already helpful enough. But I still believe that we need more. Do you all concur?” Eden asks the group. Everyone nods their heads in agreement.

  “Okay. With that being said, I do not think any of you will be able to get much information, or at least not as much as me. This is based upon our current standings in the kingdom, in which mine is a class higher than all of yours. This allows me to walk around the kingdom, though I am unable to leave it.” Eden informs the group.

  “That should be fine, Eden. Though I worry if you have the capabilities to be a spy or investigator, I shall place my trust in you. I believe everyone else has also placed their trust in you. Now if you would excuse me, I am going to get to farming. I recommend everyone besides Eden to do the same for the sake of profit.” Old Man states in his calm as ever demeanour. He then gets up from the old stone stool, and walks out of the kitchen. Soldier follows him out, giving Eden a salute on his way out, while Cowboy walks with him, tipping his cowboy hat down to Eden. Toxin is the last to leave, where he silently walks out, not making so much as a sound.

  Eden stretches his arms out and lets out a loud yawn once the others have left. He gets up himself, and goes to put the stools in their proper place in the kitchen; right under the small stone counter near the fridge. Once Eden does this, he walks with a slow stride to his room.

  I should get ready to go out tomorrow. But first, I am getting some well deserved sleep. Eden thinks. He reaches his room and goes to his cold, hay covered, stone slab of a bed. But Eden never feels the coldness of the bed, as he falls asleep before his head ever hits it.