episode_0051
by adminMisty Forest, 129th day.
Tree Trunk House.
“Hehe. Hehehe. Hi….”
Shayella laughed strangely.
She was rubbing the fruit on the pillar in the center of the house, the fruit of the fire tree.
Swish~
She observed the fruit for a moment.
It had ripened into a purple color.
The color was strange, but inside, there was a white, slightly pink fist-sized fruit. It would probably be fully ripe within a week.
Swish, swish~
“Grow quickly~”
Even though she had never tasted it, why did she feel so good about it?
Shayella kept stroking the fruit.
Why was she blushing…?
“Do you not get tired of doing this every day?”
“If I do this, the effect will be better, right? Don’t worry. I’ll stroke your main body whenever there’s a chance.”
“I don’t need that. Is recovery still not complete?”
“Well?”
“Again with the ‘well’… You don’t know either, do you.”
Giggling.
“Curious?”
“…Yes. Since I’m curious, tell me.”
“Ah~ It seems like it will take a while for recovery. It seems like 10% has been recovered.”
“…What?”
Her forehead naturally furrowed.
Only 10%?
Really?
“Oh. Do you believe that?”
Shayella spoke as if she had seen my expression. Even with the blindfold on, she clearly discerned everything around her.
Is it really possible to discern objects while wearing a blindfold without recovery?
Of course, 10% was probably a lie.
Well, that’s right.
It was just a joke.
I roughly guessed his condition.
“90% has been recovered, right?”
“Well… I wonder if ‘recovery’ is the right term~”
“Are you pretending to be less recovered to take the fruit?”
“…Th-that’s not possible.”
“Your reaction is a bit suspicious.”
“Are you daring to doubt the goddess!!”
“Will that kind of talk work now?”
“I’m going for a walk~”
“Hey!?”
Whoosh!
Shayella ran out towards the open passage, leaving me surprised.
Honestly, where would it be bad if she just told me?
Even if she recovers, she can continue to produce fruit….
I should practice.
I still have a lot to practice to handle magic and spirits skillfully.
*
In the center of the Misty Forest.
“Hehe~”
Shayella flew through the forest with a hum.
Having almost regained her original power, she had no reason to walk tiredly.
She just floated like a ghost.
And if she saw a monster.
Thud!
Whack!!!-
“……!!?!”
She flicked her thumb and index finger, and the air pressure pierced the monster’s head in a straight line.
Thud.
She landed in front of the dead monster.
Then the vine wrapped around Shayella’s arm shot like an arrow and absorbed the corpse.
Swoosh~
Chirp!!
The vine that Mu Chan gave her.
It followed her very well, which she liked.
Raising Mu Chan was no problem.
Although it was an independent vine, it was still possible to merge and exchange nutrients.
“Chan, is it delicious?”
Twisting and turning!~
So she named the vine after Mu Chan, taking the one letter ‘Chan’ from it.
The vine wriggled happily.
“Hehe. Unlike Mu Chan, it’s cute, isn’t it? The kid should learn from this one. It’s just that the young one is too proud and acts as it pleases. In the old days, it would have been a coffin carrier.”
Swipe~
Pahh!!~
She stroked the vine with a hand that radiated a golden light.
The energy of blessing and abundance. When she used this power on plants, they grew quickly. So whenever she had a chance, she stroked everything related to Mu Chan.
Mu Chan’s main body.
Mu Chan’s clone.
The elf of the divine tree.
Mu Chan’s vines.
Then she felt it.
Mu Chan was getting stronger quickly.
Furthermore, the quality of the fruits provided by Muchan gradually improved.
Muchan’s fruits make one stronger.
It’s not just about recovery.
It truly makes one stronger.
More accurately, it expands the limits of one’s power.
However, the efficiency is gradually decreasing.
There is a limit to deliberately suppressing recovery.
Therefore, Muchan must be raised quickly to increase efficiency. If everything is fully recovered, the effect may not be as effective.
Therefore.
“Hehehe. Muchan. Grow quickly and eat (the fruits)!!”
Chuckle.
With a mouth watering at the thought, I moved again.
The Mist Forest is incredibly vast.
It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s like a whole country.
However, because I’ve been around this area a lot, I only encountered the same types of monsters.
So today, I went a little deeper.
About tens of kilometers.
Then, I suddenly remembered Muchan’s words.
“If you see something strange, let me know. Like a tree similar to me.”
Muchan had said.
There might be a presence similar to himself in the center of the Mist Forest.
The Mist Forest is so vast, and it’s difficult to distinguish directions, so I couldn’t properly search for it, but I’m slowly becoming familiar with the geography of this place.
It’s ridiculous to say I’m familiar with the geography of the Mist Forest, but it’s possible with the stems.
“Chan. Where is the center?”
Wiggle!
“Yeah, yeah. You have to tell me again if you think I’m going somewhere strange?”
Wiggle!~
Whizz!!~
I flew through the air quickly.
I advanced deep without hesitation.
*
Bang!!!!
“Korrk!……”
“Huh. There are a lot of monsters here that I haven’t seen before.”
A giant monster with a head as big as an octopus and ten legs fell.
Swoosh!
Without fail, the stem swallowed the corpse.
Then Shaela, looking satisfied, stroked the stem and turned back.
“But it’s a bit suspicious.”
As I moved towards the center, there were many strange monsters.
From a certain point, the monsters became much stronger and more diverse.
They were as strong as slave hunters, if not stronger.
Is this really a coincidence?
It doesn’t matter if there’s more food for Muchan, but I can’t help but be suspicious. It’s certain that there is something in the center of the forest.
Whoooosh!!!-
I continued without stopping.
I passed through the trees at a terrifying speed, floating in the air.
And then, at one moment.
“This is….”
In the center of the Mist Forest.
Shaela looked up.
Although it was obscured by mist, she could see what was in front of her.
A tree.
A huge tree.
A tree that reached the sky, shrouded in mist.
It looked very similar to the tree that grew in Muchan’s house.
At a glance, it was hundreds of times bigger than Muchan.
It was so large that it couldn’t even be captured in one’s sight.
An ancient and countless years old tree.
“It really exists, right? Another World Tree. And… it’s huge. Muchan must have been a brat to grow this big. It must have been tough to grow this big.”
Swoosh.
I landed on the ground and approached.
Since all the hindrances had been taken care of by killing the monsters, there were no more obstacles.
Thud.
I touched the giant tree.
There was no particular reaction.
“…Is it dead?”
The tree was withered.
It was cracked in many places, and there were many parts that had turned into charcoal from being burned. It was nothing more than a dead tree that maintained its shape.
“My world’s tree was like this too….”
Thud.
Shwoosh!!-
There was no hesitation.
I rose to the sky.
As I pierced through the mist and ascended, the shape of the giant and withered tree appeared.
And what was revealed was.
“It’s so big… This is the first time I’ve seen something this big.”
An overwhelmingly large tree.
It reached the end of the sky.
That statement is not an exaggeration.
It was so huge that it couldn’t be comprehended.
“Unfortunately.”
However, it’s a dead tree.
The power it held was much greater and stronger than the world tree of my own world, I must have died.
It’s hard to believe.
Who on earth?
There’s no good in worrying alone.
After examining the tree a little more, Shaela returned to the village with the news of the giant tree.
“Was there a tree in the center?”
“It was much bigger than you. It felt like you were just a child.”
Shaela brought astonishing news.
She had ventured deeper into the misty forest than usual and saw a tree much larger than herself.
It must be of the same species as me.
Another world tree as Neria mentioned.
My head started to feel a bit complicated.
I expected something to be there, but could there really be a world tree?
What should I do then?
Should I go and have a conversation?
First, I asked Shaela about her thoughts.
“What did you think of the tree?”
“It’s dead.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s dead. I didn’t feel any life from it.”
“Huh?….”
It was a slightly shocking story.
There is a world tree, but it’s already dead.
Then what is the mysterious sense of unease that I still feel now?
There must be something unknown in the center.
It’s more of a plant’s sensation than a sense of unease.
I feel an instinctive sense of danger.
Is this my misconception?
“Is it really dead?”
“That’s how it looked to me. But there might be something unknown even to me, right? Go check it out. You’re a world tree too, you might feel something.”
“Hmm….”
I didn’t hesitate for long.
Since I had planned to go there eventually.
It’s better to find out the identity of this strange unease than to leave it alone.
Let’s go and see.
“Shaela.”
“You’re going to go after all, right? You’re asking me to come with you, aren’t you? Haha! Sure, I’ll watch over you.”
“…I haven’t said anything yet?”
“Weren’t you asking for guidance?”
“I can go alone. I just didn’t go because of the strange feeling.”
“Hmm… So you’re going alone?”
“…No.”
Haha.
“What should I do for you? Hmm?”
“……..”
Shaela, pretending.
He wasn’t like this at first, but I miss the gentle days.
“What are you thinking?”
“…You were cute back then.”
“What, what are you talking about!!-”
“Why are you so unlucky now?”
“What!?”
“Tsk.”
“Don’t be cheeky!?”
Well, what can I do.
He’s the one who helps me. I can’t ignore his kindness.
“I’ll leave tomorrow.”
“Is that how you ask for a favor?”
“Then I’ll be off.”
Zap-
“Hey!?”
Ignoring him, I ran away with my body.
I wandered around the village and meditated.
130th day in the misty forest.
I went into the forest with Shaela.
While running at a moderate speed, I heard human screams several times.
Someone must have been abandoned.
Suddenly, I became curious.
Tap.
“Why did you stop?”
“Shaela. You said you had walked around the forest before accepting humans. Did you ignore humans and pass by them then?”
Shaela had wandered around the misty forest quite a bit.
She must have encountered several abandoned humans. How did he deal with them then?
It was just a simple question out of curiosity.
To this, Shaela replied.
“I rescued them.”
“You rescued them?”
“If I saw them, I rescued them and moved on.”
“…What if you die by a monster afterwards?”
“Then I die. Even if I am a merciful goddess, I can’t save everyone. And if I bring them to the village, you might not like it.”
“I might not like it?”
“…Let’s just move on!”
Thud!
He flew into the sky.
I had no choice but to levitate my body with magic as well.
Running is slower than flying. Even though it’s slower than Shaela, I could keep up with the acceleration of magic.
I arrived at the center of the forest.
Thud.
As I landed on the ground and looked ahead, something massive filled my vision.
“It’s really huge….”
“Yeah. You’re just a little kid.”
“…I’ll grow quickly.”
“Of course. That’s how it should be.”
Shaela led me to a place.
There was a truly gigantic tree.
The moment I saw it. No, even before that, I already felt its intensity.
Another World Tree.
That tree is like me.
But there was no connection. It was as Shaela said, a dead being.
“Why did it die….”
“Can you eat that?”
“Are you telling me to eat my own kind?”
“It’s already dead. Are you not going to eat it? Eating it will help you grow faster.”
This guy.
He’s getting more shameless.
Urging me to grow quickly.
Is it beneficial to him if I grow? Or is he trying to get more fruits?
Of course, I won’t refuse.
As soon as I saw this tree, I thought about whether I could eat it or not.
If possible, I could achieve significant growth.
However….
I feel uneasy.
It doesn’t seem right.
Even if it’s a dead plant, it’s still creepy.
Since gaining the sense of plants, I often had a gut feeling that trying to absorb something might lead to trouble.
In that case.
I have to take a chance with Shaela.
“Shaela. If something happens, call me-”
Whoosh!!
Before I could finish my sentence.
Dozens of root tendrils sprouted from the ground and wrapped around my body.
Squelch!!
“Ugh!?….”
“Mu-chan!!?”
Shaela reached out to me in surprise.
At the same time, a voice echoed in my head.
[Finally, you’ve appeared!!]
Swoosh.
My body merged with the tendrils.
Dragging me along.
Trying to swallow me.
At the same time.
“Get away right now!!!”
Thud!!!!
Crackle!!-
The stem of the World Tree disintegrated.
As Shaela stepped on the ground, the shock only spread to the stem and exploded.
Thud!!
I quickly stepped back.
I stayed still in place, not knowing if I would be attacked by the World Tree again.
“Mu-chan!! Are you okay?”
“…Thanks to you.”
In response to Shaela’s approaching words, I looked ahead again.
Fortunately, there was no sign of further attacks.
Or, were they even trying to attack?….
What was that voice I just heard?
Could it be that it was alive?
“Hmm… this is strange. I’m sure it was completely dead when I checked it… It can’t be. I’ll completely destroy it and then-”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Huh?”
I stopped Shaela.
I was curious.
Is this guy really dead?
What was he trying to tell me?
And… is the source of this uneasiness really because of the World Tree?
I’ve made up my mind.
“I’m going to have a conversation with this guy.”
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