Mythical Creatures Strategy Guide

Chapter 61 A Good Companion

Gray Area, Treehouse No. 127.

This little treehouse has never been so crowded.

Arthur lowered his head as he entered, but the doorframe still gently bumped his ahoge (cowlick). Ella followed behind, and as she stepped onto the wooden floor, the entire treehouse creaked.

Yinye's face turned pale instantly: "Gently! Gently! This house is older than you!"

Ella immediately lifted her other foot and stood on one leg by the door: "Then I'll only step on one foot."

"You think this will reduce the weight by half?!" Yinye almost lunged at her and grabbed her by the neck.

Audrey was the last to enter the house, carefully avoiding a string of empty fruit shells hanging by the door.

The room was full of things. A row of dried berries hung on the wall, their colors varying in shade; piles of grayish-white firewood lay beside the stove; dozens of strings of dried meat hung from the beam, wrapped in layers of oil paper and stacked on the cabinet.

There was a tea tree outside the window. The tea tree's branches were not thick, and its leaves were silvery-gray. The branches and leaves gently touched the windowsill, as if they were looking into the house.

As soon as Yinye entered the house, she saw it; it was her life-giving tree.

When I left home, it had just grown past the windowsill, but now it covers almost half of the window. The branches have been carefully pruned, and every leaf is clean and neat.

Yinye felt a lump in her throat and quickly turned her face to the other side.

"What are you doing standing at the door?"

An old voice came from the kitchen.

Immediately afterwards, a short, gray elf old woman came out carrying a pot.

Her hair was completely white, braided into a thin plait and coiled at the back of her head. Her light gray skin was covered with wrinkles, but her two pointed ears were still very alert, slightly upturned. She wore an old apron, which was covered with fruit juice stains, and the earthenware pot in her hand was steaming.

Yinye opened her mouth: "Grand...Grandmother."

Grandmother glanced at her, put the pot on the table, wiped her hands with her apron, and then walked over to Yinye.

Yinye's ears drooped down little by little; she was prepared to be scolded.

Grandmother reached out her hand.

Yinye closed her eyes.

Then, her grandmother placed her hand on her head and gently patted it: "You've grown a little taller."

Yinye's eyes widened.

Grandmother pinched her pointed ears again and whispered, "You've lost some weight too."

Yinye's lips moved, her voice barely audible, like a mosquito's buzz: "Uh...I..."

"Are you hungry?" Grandmother asked.

Yinye lowered her head, her shoulders trembled, and she stubbornly said, "I'm alright."

Ella immediately raised her hand: "I'm hungry!"

Yinye turned her head abruptly, her eyes and nose red: "I didn't ask you!"

Grandma smiled. When she smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes gathered together, making her look both small and old, yet inexplicably reassuring.

"Sit down if you're hungry." Grandmother pointed to a few low stools by the table. "There's not much good stuff in the Gray Area, but there's plenty of dried meat and soup."

Ella's eyes lit up instantly: "Jerky!"

She had just taken a step forward when the wooden floor creaked again.

Silverleaf felt a little awkward. Most of the grey elves were short, and when the treehouse was built, they hadn't considered that a group of giantesses would come: "Grandmother, shall we eat under the tree?"

Grandmother raised her hand and tapped Silver Leaf on the forehead: "What are you afraid of? I've lived in this house for nine hundred years. Do you think your guests will trample it down?"

Ella was so moved that she whipped her tail wildly, slapping it hard against Audrey's cloak.

Grandmother's gaze swept over Arthur, then over Audrey, and finally settled on Ella.

"Miss Knight, Miss Cat, Miss Dog," she greeted them one by one, her tone kind. "Our house is low, so let's sit down and talk. It hurts my neck to see you all standing."

Arthur gave a knightly salute: "Excuse me."

Audrey bowed slightly as well: "Thank you for your hospitality."

Ella copied their movements, ducked down, and bumped her forehead against the roof beam: "Ouch!"

Grandmother looked at the people in the room and suddenly beckoned to Yinye.

Silver Leaf dawdled over. Her grandmother rebraided her disheveled braids and picked the leaves off her shoulders.

"It seems you've made some great friends."

Yinye was stunned, then lowered her head and pretended to be packing her bags.

"Of course," she muttered. "I'm the number one girls' band on the mainland, the kind of people who will be performing at the Budokan someday. What's wrong with having a few strong teammates?"

"What kind of place is a martial arts hall?" Grandmother asked with a suspicious look.

Yinye was also stunned. She only knew that Chu Sheng had said the martial arts hall was very powerful, but she didn't understand exactly why it was so powerful.

"It's... a very big place."

The dinner party was very lively.

As soon as Grandmother brought out the first plate of dried meat, Ella's eyes were glued to it, her tail swishing wildly behind her. But she tried her best to sit up straight, placing her hands on her knees, not wanting to embarrass Chu Sheng.

However, her drool was almost dripping onto the table.

Grandmother found it amusing and placed the largest and thickest piece of dried meat into her bowl: "Eat it."

Ella held the bowl up with both hands: "Thank you, Grandma!"

Yinye remained silent: "That's my grandmother!"

With a mouthful of jerky, Ella mumbled, "Your grandmother made delicious jerky, so she's also my grandmother."

Arthur was very uncomfortable sitting there. All the stools in the treehouse were made to fit the height of grey elves, so when she sat down, her long legs could only be placed diagonally, with her knees touching the edge of the table.

Grandmother glanced at her, then suddenly produced an old cushion from somewhere: "Miss Knight, please sit here."

Arthur was about to decline when her grandmother placed a cushion behind her: "Don't be shy, Silverleaf sat in this when she was little."

Yinye, who was drinking soup, nearly choked upon hearing this: "Grandmother!"

Grandmother calmly said, "She used to be too short to reach the table when she sat on the stool, so she would lie on the cushion and eat on the floor, like a little squirrel that couldn't find any nuts."

Yinye blushed: "That happened sixty years ago!"

The table became increasingly crowded. At first, everyone maintained proper table manners, but then Ella reached out to grab some meat, and Silver Leaf also reached out to grab some. Audrey secretly used her tail to snatch a piece of jerky, but was caught red-handed by Ella.

"The cat stole the meat!"

Audrey remained unfazed: "It fell onto my tail by itself."

Grandmother laughed so hard her shoulders shook, and then put another piece of jerky on her plate: "Cat Girl, you can have some too."

Audrey thanked her quietly and put the jerky into her bowl.

Dinner in the Gray Domain wasn't as refined as a royal banquet; in fact, it was rather rough. The sweet potato pancakes were crispy on the edges, the conch soup was sprinkled with chopped wild vegetables, and the moon fruit stewed with beans was so sour that Silver Leaf wrinkled her face while taking another spoonful.

Only the dried meat was Grandma's specialty; the outer layer was crispy and fragrant, and inside was a slightly oily texture with a sweet and sour berry flavor. Ella ate it with tears in her eyes: "This is so delicious!"

"Slow down, no one's going to take it from you." Grandmother poured Ella a cup of silver leaf tea and then put a piece of dried meat on Silver Leaf's plate. "You have some too."

Yinye lowered her head, her nose twitching, and could only pretend to have been scalded by the soup: "Ouch, it's so hot."

"The soup's gone cold," Audrey added abruptly.

Yinye retorted angrily, "My tongue is rather delicate!"

Ella immediately stuck out her tongue and licked it: "My tongue isn't delicate."

Grandmother watched them play and frolic, her eyes filled with joy.

She is very old.

The gray elf, over nine hundred years old, was nearing the end of his life. His fingers could no longer straighten, his hands would tremble slightly when he picked up a pot, and he walked more slowly.

But as she sat at the table, watching Silver Leaf bicker with others, watching Ella eat with great satisfaction, watching Arthur try his best to maintain his composure, and watching Audrey pretend not to care but secretly drink half a bowl of soup, her wrinkles were full of smiles.

This little treehouse hasn't been this noisy in a long time.

But it's a good argument, a real argument.