The Role of the Great Forest
So they caught me?
I answered that it was a magic stone made from a Skeleton Flower infused with my mana.
Although Captain Kyle had been the only one infusing mana into them, I had also started helping out.
But the other day, when an Alraune who had come to our house was given some of my magic water, she said, “The Captain’s magic water tastes better. The flavor is different,”
so several of the Skeleton Flower magic stones I'd infused with my mana became unnecessary, and I ended up putting them in the hot spring.
Looking at the dragon, its entire body was still pitch black.
However, when I looked at the hot spring water, I thought I could see something dark floating in it.
“Can you pour the hot spring water over the dragon’s body using wind magic, maybe over its head too, if possible?”
They said they could, so my brothers and Young master Rainhall began pouring hot spring water over the dragon’s whole body.
After a while, part of its body turned gray.
“I am saved, humans. You have my gratitude,” came a voice from above.
It seemed to be the dragon’s voice.
“Mr. Dragon, the curse hasn’t been purified yet, so please stay in this hot spring for now,” I said.
“Of course. This hot spring? It has eased the pain considerably.”
“Can you still talk? Or should we wait until the purification progresses a bit more?”
“I’d like to wait until I’ve recovered before speaking more. Speaking in human language takes energy as well.”
“Understood. We’ll pour hot spring water over you once more.”
Hearing our conversation, Brother Chris and the others poured water over the dragon’s entire body again.
The next day, when we went to the dragon, the curse seemed to have weakened—it now looked a pale gray.
Brother Chris and the others poured hot spring water over the dragon every few hours.
The following morning, when we went to see the dragon again, the curse had weakened even more, and it could now speak.
According to the White Dragon, this Great Forest is apparently the place where dragons reincarnate.
The White Dragon’s life was nearing its end, so it had come to the forest to prepare for reincarnation.
There, it found a location dense with mana.
Intending to purify the area before reincarnating, it instead nearly got swallowed by it.
It barely managed to escape and reach here, but the curse gradually took hold, leaving it almost unconscious.
So it really was on the verge of falling into darkness.
When I asked the dragon its age, it said it had lived over 3,000 years.
I asked if it remembered when Fenrir came here and told it to leave.
It said it remembered something attacking and it swatting it away.
So Atre’s mother had faced the dragon despite knowing it was cursed?
Perhaps she had wanted to protect the forest—and Atre—even if it meant sacrificing herself.
Also, the purifying effect of the hot spring was weakening compared to the beginning.
The dragon asked for help again, saying that if things continued like this, it wouldn’t be able to reincarnate.
“So this Great Forest is where dragons reincarnate... Now I understand why the mana here is so dense.”
“The mana accumulation point is probably on the beastkin country’s side. Considering the Saintess was teleported there…”
Right now, Brother Chris, Brother Gerald, and I were speaking inside a tent using a magic tool that blocked outside sound.
“Could it be that the mana accumulation point was near the village where Raul and the others lived? I was thinking trolls tend to appear in places with abundant mana.”
“They did say they were dealing with trolls, and they were near the dragon this time too.”
“Yes.”
“We can’t deal with things happening in the beastkin country. If the Westland side of the Great Forest is affected, then we’ll need to think about it, but since the Saintess is in the beastkin country, it should be fine.”
“More importantly, we need to come back here with holy water and get more leaves from the World Tree.”
We considered using the remaining holy water and World Tree leaves, but there was still a high chance of curse effects along the return path, so we decided to prepare once more before returning.
The next day, we told the dragon we would come back soon and returned to the estate via the World Tree.
We returned to the estate, but would go back to the dragon in three days.
A brief rest.
Brother Gerald came to my room. He said he wanted to speak just the two of us. Georges left the room.
Brother Gerald took out a magic tool that blocked outside sound.
“What’s the matter, Brother Gerald?”
“Hardt, the World Tree fruit you used at the dragon’s place… It was more than twice as large as the one you used in the backyard. What did you do?”
What do you think about this chapter?
