From Who?
Brother Chris and Brother Gerald had returned.
They told me we would be going to the Tree of Life tomorrow.
“Are you hurrying back to the royal capital?”
“No. We heard you came up with something interesting, so we came back to join in.”
“From who?”
“Bianca and Ripka.”
It seemed Ciel had gone all the way to the royal capital and told Bianca and Ripka. That was why they rushed back.
Ciel, what are you doing?
Isn’t leaving people out not okay?
Everyone wanted to go to Savai Village.
Since Atre—speaking through his interpreter—said that it might be rare for everyone to gather like this again, I couldn’t get angry.
The next day, we headed for the Tree of Life. Ciel, Luan, Lucia, Kamui, Levin, and Cherry were also coming with us.
As usual, we captured Cocotte and defeated the One-Horn Rabbits on the way, reaching the clearing.
We handed the Cocotte over to the knights returning to the fort and continued deeper inside.
From here, Ripka and Bianca’s families accompanied us.
We made smooth progress and arrived safely at the Tree of Life.
“Reinhardt, thank goodness you came. The pond water is about to run out.”
Alraune flew over.
“Even though we came early?”
When we approached the pond, we could see the bottom.
Apparently monsters had increased around the Tree of Life, and many injured monsters had gathered here, bringing the water to the brink of depletion.
They had been just about to ask Ripka’s parents to relay a message to us.
Atre and the others, who had been listening to our conversation, were all fired up to fight.
“It’s almost evening today, so the extermination is tomorrow.”
Atre and the others booed.
“If you return before dinner, it should be fine.”
When Brother Gerald said that, Atre, Bianca, and Kamui nodded, Ciel and Ripka spread their wings, and Luan raised one hand.
“Eh, Luan is joining the extermination too?”
According to Atre, she intended to hide her presence and observe.
Lucas, Lucia, Levin, and Cherry would not participate and would stay at the Tree of Life.
Atre, Bianca, and Kamui removed their scarves and hung their Magic Bags around their necks.
Now they could bring back whatever monsters they defeated.
“It looks like we should make some for Ripka and Ciel too.”
“If we add expand and shrink functions, we should be able to make them.”
They had been watching Atre’s group with a hint of envy, so it was better to make them.
Before dinner, Atre and the others returned and said “Look at our results!”
Atre, Bianca, and Kamui all at once pulled monster after monster out of their Magic Bags.
Three Frozen Spiders, six Ice Spiders, two Poison Spiders, nine Minotaurs, three Zumiya, and thirty-four Musto.
“You exterminated a lot in such a short time.”
“We were able to defeat them quickly because we fought in coordination.”
“A Zumiya around three meters is on the small side, but having three of them is impressive.”
“And thirty-four Musto… there might be a nest nearby.”
“Musto are needed for armor and breastplates, so we should exterminate them and bring them back.”
Atre said they wanted Bianca and Ripka’s families to handle our protection, and that Atre’s group wanted to go hunting again tomorrow morning.
Since they wanted their Magic Bags emptied, they asked the knights to collect the monsters.
When I told Brother Chris and the others, they said Bianca and Ripka probably wanted to move around as well, so they should go.
Right—Bianca and Ripka wouldn’t be able to visit the Forest for a while anymore, so they wanted to let everyone hunt together.
The next day, when I woke up, there was an even bigger pile of defeated monsters.
Apparently Bianca and Ripka’s families had gone out to exterminate them too.
Maybe it was rivalry—there were more than usual.
We had brought food as gifts, but it seemed we would need to prepare something else to thank them with.
Atre’s group, who had hunted monsters yesterday, went out again from the morning. We headed to defeat and collect the Skeleton Flowers and, after finishing spraying the colored water on the next designated area, we were on our way back to the Tree of Life when Ciel came to us.
I panicked for a moment, thinking we wouldn’t understand without an interpreter (Atre), but—
“We found a Musto nest and exterminated it, so please collect the Musto,” Alraune interpreted for us.
That helped.
But thinking about it, Lucas could translate too, couldn’t he?
Since Atre always interpreted, I had forgotten.
Following Ciel’s lead for about an hour, we found heaps of defeated Musto everywhere.
“This is even bigger than the nest we encountered when we went to see Varshe.”
The earth-magic knights carefully dismantled the nest, watching out in case more Musto were still inside.
The other knights collected the Musto.
Healing mages set up protective barriers around the perimeter.
It would take time to collect this many, and there was no guarantee other monsters wouldn’t show up, so we had to stay alert.
I should help with the collection too.
After everything was safely collected, we returned to the Tree of Life.
“There are a lot of monsters exterminated this time.”
“It wasn’t like this last spring.”
When we asked Bianca and Ripka’s families, they said the Tree of Life’s restored strength likely caused the increase in monsters.
They said it had simply returned to normal.
If the Tree of Life had regained its power, the forest around it would benefit, meaning many monster offspring had been born.
What do you think about this chapter?
