Chapter 1600: Althea’s New Skill? (Part 1)
There were actually a few candidates for his fiance. Liaroa’s brother was not even one of them. The Trions were now the top family next to the Lord, after all, and she was still one of the main descendants.
It was just that the Roach family’s offer was pretty good—Leccher was really obsessed with her—and her beloved stepmother decided it was more than she deserved.
Anyway, after a bit of investigation, her parents decided on the one from Hassen.
His name was Chanak, and his family specialized in making intricate pieces of metallic accessories, something the people in her family tended to collect. She could imagine what they’d be asking for in exchange for their own daughter.
That man was famous for his harem. He was also a disgusting slob. She had already met him months ago when they attended Octavia’s wedding. In retrospect, she might have caught his unfortunate interest back then, though he was still busy with three women, so he only remembered her lately.
Piddes was also a womanizer, but at least he looked decent and was the Hassen King’s heir! What did that bastard Chanak have? Looking at him hurt her eyes! She was supposed to wake up every morning to see that face? Wouldn’t death be better?
And... more than that... she could already tell the kind of treatment she’d receive there. It was fine if she didn’t know men like the Golds existed, but she did, so how could she just accept a horrid life?
One of Estra’s main traits was her stubbornness. If she liked something, she liked something. If she didn’t, she’d rather die.
In that letter she left at home, she simply said that she was eloping with someone and not to look for her, otherwise she’d make a scene and humiliate the whole family.
Hopefully, that would be enough. Anyway, they could take one of her sisters (she had plenty of legitimate and illegitimate sisters and cousins) to sell off to Hassen in her stead. She never liked any of them, so she didn’t feel guilty when she put them in that position. In fact, knowing what kind of women they were, they might not mind it as long as they were given chests filled with jewelry every so often.
In any case, just thinking of going back made her want to jump into a monster’s mouth. And this was a very real possibility at this time.
Thinking of this, she dropped to her knees. "Please take me with you! I promise not to cause trouble! If you abandon me, I’ll really die!"
Veronica and the rest of them looked at each other awkwardly. To be fair, although Estra was annoying and obsessive, she hadn’t done anything to them except annoy them.
They didn’t know if Estra was the type to use her own life to swear, but it didn’t seem like a casual threat. Somehow, it really felt like she’d die if they left her be.
In the end, Vaughn made Veronica decide. After all, she was the one who knew both sides—the aborigine side and Alterra’s.
Veronica sighed, looking at the redhead. "Fine," she said, exasperated. "However, you will be under a strict oath when you get there. And don’t even think about contacting your family for the next few years."
Estra’s eyes brightened. "Gladly!"
...
While the last of the Bleulle party was heading back, a certain husband and wife were training outside the walls of Alterra.
They were in that space still within the scope of the territory, but unwalled. This area, while accessible to monsters and enemies, was protected from poisonous plants or bugs.
This was the perfect area to train without having to worry about accidentally stepping on something that’d make a person squirm in pain for days.
Today, Althea was trying out the cactus plants she got from Dune Town. All of their associate villages, even those who weren’t, knew by now that the best way to get to Alterra’s good graces (and earn a lot of contribution points) was to bring unfamiliar plants or objects.
Dune Town, as a place in a completely different biome, naturally had the advantage of this.
Through all the points they earned, the Dune Townsfolk bought a lot of things beyond the contents of their deal and significantly leveled up the lifestyle of those back home.
No one died of thirst or hunger anymore, and everyone had at least 2 meals a day (which was more than enough for people of their physiques, especially the desert folk who had evolved and adapted to eat less).
This was something Sahara had mentioned many times to them to show their thanks.
Anyway, Althea was now playing with one of the desert plants they had successfully grown in one of the greenhouses designed for desert plants. It had a higher temperature, was more open, and had very controlled humidity and soil composition.
By "playing", she meant using her ability as a wood user. The way to use wood powers was to use existing vegetation and manipulate those qualities.
Wood did not equate to organic matter. Wood users controlled the living plants, so the skills related to it always felt... alive. And using the wood elements in the air, they could encourage it to temporarily grow or behave in a particular way, though it’d require a lot of mana.
Further, if the wood user was not skilled, it could over-exert the plant and render it useless after a couple of uses. This was usually the case with aggressive-type use of wood.
As a plant lover herself, Althea didn’t want that, and this was another reason she took a while to use these plants in battle.
Anyway, she had been training with different plants the past few months, and she decided to use the cactus. The small succulent was on her arms, quite cute.
She was practicing the new skill she had awakened after several experiments like this.
It was called [Plant Manipulation].
It was a C-rank skill, and she discovered it quite serendipitously.