Ep. 733 Return to the Elves Part 3 (Patreon)

"Alright, first I need a group to carefully remove the leaves from the branches. Then the branches and the leaves need to be carried to the village."

Silverstream says "I can be in charge of that!"

"Okay. Second, we are going to need to build a cradle at the village to hold the tree trunk. It can be made from the bones of the legendary beast."

Stillwater says "Okay, I will take the craftsmen and get it started!"

Brightfire says "What about me? What can I do?"

"I was careful with the first two branches because they will be the masts. The rest of the branches aren't as important. Once I send them down I want you to cut all the smaller branches off and give them to the first group."

Brightfire says "Okay, I can do that!"

Taking a saw out of the pouch I hand it to Brightfire, then I go back up the tree. I leave the division of labor to Stillwater and Silverstream while I start removing branches from the tree. Each branch I lower down, Brightfire takes off the branches, then the elves take the branches.

The human kids strip off the leaves, then the elves take the branches to the village. Other than having to use a lot of mana, my job is probably the easiest. I am able to remove and lower five more big branches before I run out of mana.

Since by then it is getting late, I head down and gather up the workers. Then we carry what we can and head to the village, where I provide a feast for everyone. While everyone is eating I head over to check on the progress of the cradle.

They have the right idea, but they are underestimating the size of the tree. So, I track down the crafter in charge and explain to him how much bigger the cradle needs to be. I also explain how heavy the tree is likely to be so he can make the cradle strong enough.

Other than that, I also make sure they aren't using the bones I had set aside for the ship. Since a lot of bones have been taken out of the storage shed, the leaves are put in there. I won't need them until much later since they will be used for the sails.

The smaller branches I plan to flatten out and turn into planks for the decks. I will use everything I can from the tree, nothing will go to waste if my plans work. For now I need to recover my mana and get some sleep, tomorrow will be busy.

When I wake up I have Nala on one side of me and the foal on the other. From the looks of it I should probably start thinking of a name for the foal. The problem is, I have no idea what kind of name would suit a unicorn.

While I am thinking about it, I wake them up and give them their breakfast. Then I provide breakfast for the elves as well, mainly to give the cooks a break. Then, once everyone has eaten, I lead my work crew back to the tree and get to work.

The branches get smaller as I work my way up, making it easier to remove them. Those branches aren't as important so I am only worried about preventing damage to the trunk. After a break for lunch and to recover my mana, I continue working.

By the end of the day about half the branches are removed from the trunk. At this rate, the trunk should be clean and ready for me to bring it down tomorrow. Of course, that is only the start, once the trunk is at the village the real work begins.

When we get back to the village it turns out the cooks have already prepared a feast. It is a mix of meat from the legendary beast and the two-headed wyvern. It is well prepared and delicious so I end up eating way too much and passing out.

When I wake up in the morning my back is itching like mad, but when I try to scratch it, it hurts. I crane my head around and take a look, my wings appear to have grown. They are still not big enough for me to fly, but they are about three times the size they were before.

One more growth spurt like this and it should be enough for me to fly without shapeshifting. Taking a look at the rest of my body, I would say I am now about the size of a normal lion. I have outgrown Nala by a little bit, but she isn't finished growing yet either.

I wonder how Haku and Ekard are doing, it has been a while since I have seen them. In fact, I have some free time before everyone wakes up, so I create a soulscape. Once it is created I invite Kechara, Asuna, Haku, and Ekard, then spend a few hours playing with them.

Ekard goes a little insane when he sees me and the entire time he won't leave my side. It makes me feel guilty for having left him alone for so long, I am a bad parent. Before I can get him to leave I have to promise to bring him into the soulscape every day.

In fact, I should name the foal and then invite him and Nala to meet the rest of the kids. If I can come up with a name by tonight, that will be a good time to do it. All day long, as I am working, I keep trying to think up a suitable name for him.

I can't remember any unicorns from any shows or anything that had names. For some reason the name Albion pops into my head, but I have no idea what it is from. However, after thinking about it for a while it starts to sound pretty good for the foal.

After lunch, I finish removing the last branches from the top of the tree. While the elves are stripping the branches I meditate to recover my mana. Then I call over the foal and try to ask it if it wants to stay with me, which gets me a nod.

"Alright, then I name you Albion!"

The sudden thunderclap startles the elves, but they calm down quickly. Albion glows for a bit, but other than that he seems happy with his new name. I pet him for a bit and then meditate again to restore my mana to full.

By the time my mana is full the elves have taken all the branches and leaves and left for the village. Only Nala and Albion stayed with me, but that is what I wanted them to do. I don't want anyone extra around when I bring the tree down, just in case.

Before I try to bring the tree down I have Nala and Albion move to a safe distance. Then I start getting rid of the roots on one side of the tree, before long it starts leaning. As soon as it starts leaning I stop and start casting Transport Barges in a line.

Luckily, nothing goes wrong and the tree falls onto the barges just as planned. Then I remove the rest of the roots and the tree is ready for transport. Using some rope I rig it up so that Nala, Albion, and I can pull the thing together.

Along the way to the village I keep having to stop to recast the Transport Barges. My mana lasts just long enough to get the trunk all the way to the village. However, I run into a problem, the barges don't raise the trunk high enough to put it on the cradle.