Chapter 409
The One Who Took the Offering Dishes
I looked straight at the three Alraune and spoke seriously. I’m sure they’ll explain it in detail.
“I don’t know how to make the seeds sprout.”
The young tree that was a Tree of Life candidate, where the Alraune sisters used to live, apparently turned into seeds when it withered, and those were the seeds given to me.
The Alraune sisters brought those seeds with them when they came to the Tree of Life.
“What were you doing before the young Tree of Life candidate decayed?”
“The Tree of Life scattered seeds, and those two were able to grow little by little by absorbing mana from the land and the Great Forest.”
Are the gods telling me to do something that takes an absurdly long time to sprout?
“About the offering dishes to the Tree of Life the other day, did the gods take them?”
I also asked about the new dishes that had been bothering me.
“... Not all of them. As thanks for the dishes, they said that you would make the seeds sprout and plant them back where they used to be.”
But then the seeds taken by the gods were dropped onto Reinhardt’s head...
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Tricking the Alraune into handing over the seeds, dropping them on my head, and telling me to make them sprout, gods, that’s just cruel.
Brother Gerald, who had been listening, burst out laughing.
“Well now, are the gods playful or what? Making Hardt repay the favor for the food from the Alraune, that’s hilarious.”
“Brother Gerald, this is no laughing matter. Doesn’t this mean they might keep throwing unreasonable demands at me from now on?”
“That won’t happen. As long as you don’t forget to offer new dishes.”
“And what about the festival issue?”
As I shot back at Brother Gerald—
“From what the Alraune said, it sounds like the task is to make the seeds sprout and plant the young tree back where it used to be.”
“That makes sense. And if the withered Tree of Life candidate reverted to seeds, purifying the seeds will probably be necessary before they can sprout.”
Following Floria, Brother Gerald shared his thoughts as well.
Based on what the Alraune said, Brother Gerald’s idea seems spot on.
“In that case, we’ll have to bring back soil from where the withered Tree of Life candidate used to be, mixed with leaves from the surrounding trees.”
And if we’re purifying the seeds, we’ll probably need leaves from the Tree of Life or holy water.
First, I should negotiate with the Alraune sisters to guide us to where they used to live.
“Going there is fine, but...”
The Alraune glanced at Lucas and then hesitated, struggling to speak.
Is something wrong?
“Does this have something to do with Lucas?”
Perhaps resigned, the Alraune began to explain.
“... The purification of the withered Great Forest isn’t finished yet. Even with just the Tree of Life, it will still take a lot of time.”
So the place we’re planning to go is still affected by the miasma and tainted land left behind when Lucas, in his previous life, was cursed and on the verge of falling into darkness?
“I understand. We’ll stay here today, prepare, and come back again.”
“I’m sorry. But just purifying it will help us tremendously.”
“The gods told me to make the seeds sprout, so I’ll try no matter what.”
“Hey, Clarl, where do you think you’re going?”
Georges was chasing after Clarl the slime.
Clarl hopped over to me.
It seems like it was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t really understand.
I looked at Atre, but he responded with, “No way I can translate that.”
“Earlier, you said you couldn’t communicate directly, but that it seemed like Clarl was telling you to take it to the Tree of Life, right?”
When I pressed Atre, he reluctantly told me what happened last time.
Apparently, in front of Atre and Lucas, Clarl kept repeating gestures of eating leaves and handing Lucas an empty bottle of the liquid it usually gives him.
So Clarl was trying to communicate through gestures.
Atre and Lucas said it kept going endlessly until they figured it out, and they were already fed up.
Looking at Clarl now, part of its body is green.
So it ate leaves from the Tree of Life?
Wait.
Does that mean it’s saying that something like holy water can be substituted with Clarl’s liquid?
“Are you saying that purification can be done with your liquid, Clarl?”
Clarl did a single spin in midair in affirmation.
I decided to prepare so that we could move to where the Alraune sisters used to live starting tomorrow.
In the meantime, Captain Kyle and Brother Gerald went out with Atre, Ripka, and the others to hunt for food supplies.
Staying behind at the Tree of Life were me, Floria, Georges, the four Meyer assigned to me, Lucas, Lucia, Levin, Cherry, and Mignon.
Just in case, Captain Kyle asked me to deploy my defensive barrier around the Tree of Life, and after Brother Gerald’s group departed for hunting, I did so.
He said that if I didn’t deploy the barrier, he would reduce the number of soldiers going out to hunt.
I thought it was unnecessary, but since you never know what might happen in the Great Forest, I followed Captain Kyle’s instructions.
Here, I began preparing purification water, just like when I went to Lucas back when he was on the verge of falling into darkness.